Supertouch Group: Use an iPhone or iPad to Send Balls into Kinect Dodgeball

See how they inter-"kinect"!



"The SuperTouch group mission is to generate wonder through simple, fun, entertaining and educational uses of interactive technology and HCI."


RELATED


iPAD + Kinect + Processing

IPAD + Kinect + Processing = stellar foundation for interactions from SuperTouch Group on Vimeo.

Video: DROID & Interactive Display in Times Square; Droid Voice-activated Search

The video below shows people in NYC's Times Square using their Verizon Droid phones to interact with the Verizon Wireless digital signage billboard:


The Droid offers a voice-activated search feature. Users can ask a question, and the search engine, powered by Google, will provide the search results from the web or from items stored on the phone. One feature I like is that it provides turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps, as well as other helpful geographic information. This would be a great tool for city dwellers and visitors alike.

The video below is a demonstration of how the Google Maps Navigation feature works on Android-based phones:


RELATED
Verizon, Motorola Unveil the Droid
Marguerite Reardon 10/29/09 CNN Tech

Verizon Droid Gets New Google Innovation: Real-Time Internet-Linked Navigation
Michael Hickins, BNET

Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0
Google Mobile Blog

DRIOD by Motorola Fact Sheet

Cross posted-The World Is My Interface

Adobe's Resources: Contextual Solutions, Rich internet applications across devices, and Open Screen.

I thought I'd share a few interesting resources from Adobe.  The company is focused on the future, and I plan to watch what unfolds.  Adobe believes that the next generation of the company's products will move us forward to a world of seamless access to content, across screens of all sizes, everywhere we go.

I'm hoping that this will not lead to an environment where we have difficulty escaping "skip intro" ads everywhere we turn.  Hopefully it won't be too bad!

I found a few gems of wisdom in the Adobe white paper,   Designing Contextual Solutions and Applications.  The paper provides a conceptual framework that I think would be helpful to web designers/developers who are interested in off-the-desktop application development.


Here is an excerpt from the introduction of the white paper:
"With its platforms and products that are inherently multichannel and multidevice, Adobe envisions a new class of “contextual solutions” taking hold in the marketplace. These solutions are broader in scope than a device, a campaign, or a single service; rather, they encapsulate the various contexts in which the end user exists, interacts, thinks, consumes, and purchases. And when content owners understand the different types of users and how they differ in their contexts, they are in a much better position to design experiences that are compelling and sticky. At the heart of every contextual solution is at least one or more contextual applications—an emerging type of application that spans multiple devices and uses system, user, and network contexts to provide an optimized user experience and deliver improved business results.

This white paper provides an overview of the types of contexts that compose a contextual solution and application. With examples given along the way, it culminates with a framework for considering all appropriate contexts while designing and developing a new contextual solution or an application that is part of an existing solution."


Another Adobe white paper is quite useful - Rich Internet Applications across devices: The emergence of contextual applications.  It provides examples of RIA's across devices, such as Amazon Video On Demand,  Demandbase, Atlantic Records: Fanbase, Finetune, and Times Reader 2.0.

Additional Adobe Resources
Contextual Applications
Open Screen Project:  "Singular experience, multiple devices"
Adobe Flash Platform

Interactive Multimedia Across Platforms and Screens: Adobe's Open Screen Project; MEX Mobile User Experience Manifesto.... (Please don't annoy the user!)

I'm not sure what I think about ubiquitous Flash 10.1. and Adobe's Open Screen project. I like the idea of anything that is seamlessly cross-platform, but I shudder to think that this might let out a wave unwanted or annoying "push" advertising on on-the-go screens of all sizes. I'm assuming web developers, along with TV ad producers, will be jumping on this train without fully thinking about how their applications and designs will play out in the off-the-desktop, digital-out-of home world.

I decided to take a look, drill down through the hype, and share a few links related to this topic.

Adobe Pushes for a Flash-ier Mobile Web
Rob Pegararo, Faster Forward, Washington Post (10/5/09)
"Are you anxious to bring Flash to the mobile Web, even if it means being subjected to some over-eager Web coder's song-and-dance routine? Or would you rather do without it on the go, even if that means having to switch to a "real" computer to use some Web sites' features?"

Hopefully the "over-eager web coders" will heed the MEX Manifesto:

MEX:  Mobile User Experience 2009 Manifesto (pdf)
"The Manifesto sets out our beliefs as to how user-centred design principles can enhance the experience of multi-platform digital services."

A framework for user journeys in a multi-platform world:  Marek Poawlowski, founder of MEX

MEX: User experience journeys in a multi-platform environment from Marek Pawlowski on Vimeo.

"User experiences are evolving into increasingly complex sets of interactions between multiple devices.  In this video presentation, Marek Pawlowski of the MEX Mobile User Experience strategy forum, shows how a framework can be used to map user journeys through the multi-platform environment."

"Unencumbered by wires, information is flowing into every corner of our world at an ever increasing rate and through an ever increasing range of digital platforms. The single greatest challenge facing digital industries is understanding how this explosion of data will be woven into the fabric of consumers' lives." -- Marek Pawlowski, founder of MEX.

MEX Blog 

OPEN SCREEN VIDEO

Open Screen Project from Vyshak V on Vimeo.

"The Open Screen Project is an industry-wide initiative, led by Adobe and backed by other industry leaders who all share one clear vision: Enable consumers to engage with rich Internet experiences seamlessly across any device, anywhere. Partners in the Open Screen Project are working together to provide a consistent runtime environment for open web browsing and standalone applications — taking advantage of Adobe® Flash® Player and, in the future, Adobe® AIR®. This consistent runtime environment will remove barriers to publishing content and applications across desktops, mobile phones, televisions, and other consumer electronics." Learn more

Reinventing Storytelling in the Digital Age Across Platforms, Across Screens

NAB 2009 presentation by Shantanu Narayen of Adobe and A.D. Albers, of Disney Interactive Media Group, from NAB 2009
Adobe and NVIDIA Deliver Rich Web Experiences on Netbooks and Mobile Devices
Reuters (10/5/009)
"At Adobe MAX, Adobe's worldwide developer conference, Adobe Systems Incorporated and NVIDIA Corporation..announced that both companies are bringing uncompromised browsing of rich Web content to netbooks, smarphones and smartbooks built with NVIDIA GPUs. The companies have been working closely together as part of the Open Screen Project to optimize and dramatically improve performance of Flash Player 10.1 by taking advantage of GPU video and graphics acceleration on a wide range of mobile Internet devices. NVIDIA customers embracing Flash Player 10.1 for their new devices include HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Acer, Asus and more..."


RIM Joins Open Screen Project  Reuters (10/4/09 )


Honey I Shrunk the Flash Player Simon Bisson and Mary Branscome, ZDNET, 10/12/09

Teaming up with Adobe and the Open Screen Project -Google Blog   Bill Coughran (10/5/09)


Paramount Digital Entertainment Launches Interactive Thriller on MySpace  Tracy Sedlow, InteractiveTV Today (10/28/09)
"The company says that it can deliver the show's multiple interactive elements to viewers across devices using Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR, "because of efforts by the Open Screen Project, an industry-wide initiative led by Adobe and supported by PDE and close to 50 other industry leaders, to enable people to engage with rich Internet experiences across any device, anywhere." -

Interactive Touch Screens Out and About: Touch Screen Party Planner for ASDA, by H Squared LTD

Found on YouTube:



The video below was produced by H Squared LTD, a creative retail design company based in the UK. It demonstrates how a single-touch application is used to help people plan their parties when they visit the ASDA store.



This company just uploaded a number of videos, which can be viewed on the H Squared LTD YouTube channel. It looks like this company has some experience with interactive television. I'm not sure if this company has ventured into multi-touch.

To learn more, I visited  the H Squared LTD website, and found that it works pretty nicely on my TouchSmart PC. You can turn the pages of Issue 1 of the magazine.  The music's fun, too, and it sounds as if someone put some thought into how it was mixed.

If you are contemplating what sort of outfit you'd like to wear to your next costume party, take a look at the styles  in the ASDA's photoshoot video.  The music? "Somebody's Watching Me".

A great beat, and you can dance to it.

Touch Screen and Interactive Displays Biz News, Part II - LocaModa

From LocaModa:

Visit the Web Outside: "Get Your 15 Seconds of Face Time in Times Square!"

The above picture shows Viacom's MTV screen located in NYC's Times Square, linked to the web. User-generated text messages and photos can be submitted by mobile phone or the web, and displayed for 5 minutes an hour. Email notifications are sent to the senders when messages and/or photos have been approved and are on the giant screen.

Take a look at the website, and view the screen in real time.

WIFITI

"Wiffiti publishes real time messages to screens in thousands of locations from jumbotrons to jukeboxes, bars to bowling alleys and cafes to colleges.You can interact with Wiffiti from your mobile phone or the web."

"Wiffiti 4 by LocaModa has been used at thousands of large-scale events (concerts, gallery openings, corporate conferences, nonprofit fundraisers, several major inauguration events, South by Southwest, and political conventions -including both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions). It is also used extensively in digital signage networks ranging from huge jumbotrons in Times Square to thousands of screens in bars, cafes, schools, entertainment centers and even churches! We've used our deep understanding of user experience in digital out-of-home, web, and mobile to distill your feedback and requests for new features into this latest release."

JUMBLI

"The game is displayed several times per hour on Clear Channel’s Spectacolor screen in New York’s Times Square, located at 48th Street and Broadway. When Jumbli is live in Times Square, all other connected screens (including those on iPhones and in Facebook) indicate that the game is live in Times Square, and all plays made during that period are displayed in real-time on the Spectacolor Jumbotron, giving players one of the world’s most prominent screens for their plays."

McDonald's Digital Signage "Interaction" in Piccadilly Circus

McDonald's has launched a fun approach to interactive marketing in the UK. The following video shows passers-by interacting with the content of a large digital billboard in Piccadilly Circus. Watch all of the poses!

Advertising without the annoyance. Cute.

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus Flickr Group









I can see this concept spreading. Outdoor signage is going digital, and the web will connect it all!