Mint Usability

Today I stumbled upon an article (Apple vs. Palm) in Engadget, where they analyze the rather blunt patent infringement threat that Apple made towards Palm (and Android) when asked what do they think of ‘em. Now, I’ve never been a particular fan of software related patents, just because you basically seem to be able to patent anything, be it simple or complicated. However, now I’ve got new pet peeve: user interface patents. (I try to keep this short, as I have tendency to rant…)

Patents, bad!

Patents started as a way to protect something that was basically expensive and time consuming invention to develop, and could be copied by competitors thus earning unfair edge; gaining new tech without the resources spent for actual research. In those golden ages patents were good, in fact, in many cases they were essential for upstarts and thus healthy market. The problem comes when they are applied directly to the fuzzy world of IT; they just don’t work. In fact, they start to work against the market, restricting the possibilities of upstarts and fortifying the big companies. Basically, patents have become a stick that you keep beating your competitors with, by patenting everything and all you absolutely can. *wham* *bam*

Continue reading “Is Apple becoming evil?”

Couple of guys in University of Toronto have come up with prototype for pen (stylus) driven computers/displays. It utilizes the usually untapped resource of pen pressure as part of input system. The great thing about stylus pressure is that it’s analog input, meaning that you can have “infitine” (at least when compared to digital) amount of different levels. In the video they use it for fluid zooming, video track control and dynamic controls. I personally loved the zooming eyedrop tool. Why doesn’t my Photoshop do that?

Video in the full post, head on.

Continue reading “Stylus interface with dynamic, pressure sensitive, controls”

Lots of silencio lately and here come the explanations… I’ve been sick, broke my knee while snowboarding and just generally out of energy. I know, I know. I’ve been a bad blogger when not giving updates or such but I didn’t feel like writing anything pointless (like: sick, no posts today). I guess I should. I know I should.

Heads up; lots(!) of parties during next weeks (yeah, that’s plural) so depending of the hangovers, there might be some “down time” around.

Anyways, let’s get back to business.