The Medium is Behavior

Here is a short list of interesting posts that I came accross earlier today, enjoy...

Earlier today I came across an interesting, though disappointingly short, post on Core 77 about the keynote speech from the Interaction 09 conference. This conference, recently held in Vancouver, featured an interesting keynote from Robert Fabricant. In his speech, Robert outlined his thesis that "Interaction Design is not about computing technology, it's about behavior. Behavior = our medium." His theory is based on the premise that the evolution of interactive technologies has changed our relationship not with information, but also our ideas about what constitutes proper behavior. He goes on to convingly argue about the power that interaction design yelds to impact behavior. [since I didn't attend this conference, all of my knowledge is second-hand].

Another interesting feature currently available on Corre77 is the Greener Gadget Design Competition. The design brief for this competition was for designers to explore the concept of "Greener Gadgets." They were asked to develop consumer electronic prototypes that consider the environmental impact of their designs multiple levels: energy, materials, lifecycle, recicyling, social impact, and educational development. Two of my favorite gadgets are: the Bware Water Meter helps you measure how much water you are using (I already have an alternative idea to this one that I want to develop and market); the Blight blinds capture energy from the sun during the day and function as lights during the night time;

Lastly, since we are on the topic of gadgets I recommend checking a post from Mashables titled 6 Gadget Trends and Their Effects on Social Media. This piece provides a brief overview of 6 interesting technologies that are quickly gaining in adoption. What are these trends?

1. Social TV enabled by services such as Boxee, Netflix and Sling allows you to watch all your favorite shows streaming on your TV. You can then automatically share playlist and comments with your friends.
   
2. High definition geo-tagged content enabled by the advent of mobile phones with hi-res cameras and GPS functionality
3. Real-time uploading of content offered by mobile phones and photo and video cameras with special data cards that offer wireless upload capabilities.
   
4. Gaming immersion continues to spread as gaming expands to new devices that are increasingly connected, enableing users to maintain centralized profiles that aggregate their game scores from multiple platforms.
5. Pico projection is here. Now you can get pocket-sized projectors for under $400. These little guys are also beginning to make their way into cellphones and other GPS and communication-laden devices.
6. The rise of the pocket bands and mobile phone musicians. The craze in iPhone and Android music applications continues to spread. Check out these Yamaha music-phone prototypes.