Google Glass

There is much hype about the Google Glass. Some say it will be as revolutionary as the iPhone. However, I find fundamental flaws on Google glass. It does not advance the user experience, but it is an alternative to the existing technology, therefore it cannot be revolutionary. The brilliance of the iPhone is that it simplified complicated devices into one single device. Revolutionary, because it made life easier and richer. Google Glass is a wearable smartphone that you have to wear on your nose. I hate wearing glasses. I wear them only because my eyes are bad. I don’t want to walk around and look like I’m talking to myself…out loud. Weird~ Imagine talking to the Glass on a subway in Japan. Talking about bad manners. How about when you are just tired and the only thing you can do is moving your thumb and keep your eye lids open? That’s me right after work. Constant voice commands are tiring and do not give you an immersive experience. In this sense, iWatch makes more sense as far as the wearable computer is concerned. It is less intrusive.

I hope I’m all wrong. Who knows? The augmented reality and the voice command work flawlessly that I might feel like I am talking to Jarvis in Iron Man. Stark Industry rocks! For now, I just don’t want to wear my smartphone on my nose.

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Kawehi

It’s always fascinating to see the process and the final form at the same time. The process of making music and the end result of musical performance. Something like the Broadway musical the Lion King where you see the performers behind the masks and the mechanism of the props. Another example is the audition TV program.

Siri, the interface of the future

Siri is going to be the next generation interface for digital devices. The first Siri was clumsy and machine-like, but The current Siri has gotten smarter and more intuitive. Perhaps, it’s not that Siri got better, but it’s just that I now understand its language and speak Siri. When asking the information in the Siri data base, it gives relevant answers and actions. However, anything outside of its data base, it is so dumb and frustrating that I almost want to throw my iPhone down and break it in half. So my point was…I see so much potential in Siri and get excited just by imagining how it can transform the current visual based interfaces to multi-sensorial interfaces like using voice and motion. In 7 years from now, typing and using a mouse will feel like reversing a casette tape.

Here is the language Siri understands:

iPhone 5: Little bit of everything. :(

Let’s imagine an iPhone 4 with a lighter, thinner, and longer batter life. Yes, that should have been the iPhone 5, but by betting on the bigger screen, Apple failed to practice the art of “choosing what not to do.” The bigger screen does provide a better viewing experience especially for websites, but it definitely gave up the perfect size for grip and the ease of use when using with just a thumb. If you want to move your thumb from the very top app icon to the physical home button, you have to adjust your grip or else you feel a strain on your hand just like the other smartphones. If Apple wanted to make the best smartphone for visual contents, then they should have made it just like the Samsung Galaxy with a much bigger screen. This time around Samsung stuck to its strategy and Apple sought to have everything: the view-ability, the grip feel, and the ease of use for the thumb. They did get a little bit of everything, but also lost a little bit of everything, namely the overall user experience. This time around Apple made choices in desperation to beat the competition, but not for the users. I’m waiting for the next iPhone, and it should be called the iPhone Retro.

Things I like about the iPhone 5:

1. Lighter weight.

2. Fast CPU and LTE.

3. Bigger view-ability.

What I hate about the iPhone 5:

1. Bigger size (for a thumb).

2. lackluster battery life

3. App store lay-out.

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Email is for business.

Interesting fact. I now use emails for business related purposes 99% of the time. 1% for friends who don’t use SNS.

Steve Jobs on Computer in 1983

I think I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs. He was in my dream after I listened to this recording. haha.

3 things I got out of this recording.

1. Jobs knows how to crack a complex and abstract concept and make it simple and concrete.

2.  He finds solutions from within.

3. The power of “a piece of shit.” the minute you say this is “a piece of shit,” you think of ways to make it better–>innovation begins.

iPhone: Home Button Malfunction Distress (HMD)

So my friend found out I was suffering from a chronic Home Button Malfunction Distress for the past several months. He came to rescue me and prescribed the AssistiveTouch, which allows you to use the touch screen for various functions including the home button. Although it is more cumbersome than using the home button, it does the job and will save me from buying a new phone for a while. Here is how:

1.Settings –> 2.General –> 3.Accessibility –>4.AssistiveTouch.

Here is more tutorial on AssistiveTouch.

*Apple knew about HMD all along and added the on-screen home button, but they are not brave enough to advertise it.

What’s missing in Samsung Galaxy?

One cannot help thinking that Samsung is chasing after iPhone’s success regardless of the market share. It will take decades for Samsung to catch up. Apple did not build a smart phone with fancy technology, but Apple built an icon. Apple as a company is inseparable from their products. Apple = iPhone. The team that developed the iPhone made it for themselves. On the contrary, Samsung made the Galaxy for profit and by accountants. Galaxy will disappear as a gadget and the iPhone will be remembered as a cultural phenomenon. Samsung must not be trapped in the race against superior technology. Right now, all they need is just a touch of humanity.

iPhone 5

I watched the keynote today. Apple came out with great new features on iPhone 5, but I was hoping that they addressed the home button problem. Using after a year or so, you have to press the home button like 5 times to get it to work. It annoys the millions of iPhone users around the world.

At the Samsung Car Museum

Let’s face it. We live in the worst period of car design, e.g. the 80’s and on, kind of like how we ended up with McDonald’s, Spam, and frozen food.

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