Dear Ron: Any Advice for someone to escape the ‘telecommute’ career path?

I get this question quite frequently, so I thought it best to address it in its own post. Here is the question.

Any advice for someone with tons of experience as a designer and developer, but stuck in upstate NY with a dearth of telecommute opportunities?

Answer

The first thing I would tell you to do is to watch and read everything from Daniel Pink you can get your hands on. If you are like me and you just want the lazy route, atleast watch this video of a talk he gave at TED (embedded below).

I’m a big fan of Daniel and the things he has to say. Basically, he sums up the threat of telecommuting and how innovation and decision making will solve many problems. Anything that can be done by telecommute, WILL be done by that method. If it does not require decision making, it will be done by telecommute. It’s cheaper, easier, and faster. Many of the offshore development houses have an unlimited amount of resources they can throw on the project, so scalability is never an issue.

The key to success in this day and age is in design and decision making. Put yourself in the position to make decisions that directly affect the product’s success. Being a designer that can actually shape the product is the key to accelerating your career path. Make an impact and ensure it’s success.

Development is a great skill, but you only need to know enough to make good design decisions. The ability to work out a specific worker algorithm to accomplish a task is beyond the scope of your needs. If you are talking about web design, then development plays a much higher need. The ability to understand and incorporate web development into your designs will save you, your team, and the development team tons of wasted cycles.

Summary

Know enough development to propel your designs to the front of the pack. Concentrate on a specific part of design or interaction and own it. Become it.

Does anyone have recommendations for a decent webhost?

I have been getting a few emails about the blog being down. It’s rather silly when my blog is being linked from international news sites and they get a memory error instead of content. I’m getting tired of the lack of performance. The dreaded “Out of Memory” error is because my current host cannot handle the load from the readers on Wordpress. I have moderate traffic and run a few websites. I’m currently paying $30 a month, which seems outlandish for what I’m getting.

Movie Interfaces: Code 46

One thing I always enjoy, when seeing a movie with other designers,  is the discussion afterward. Talking about different things we each captured and then having some in depth critique is always fun. The format will probably change with each additional new movie, but I want to keep it digestible. Also feel free to point out any interfaces that I miss!

Movie: Code 46 (2003)

[it contains Organic User Interfaces, transparent monitors, futuristic workstation with a touch pad]

IMDB Link

This is a futuristic movie so there are several experiences that could be captured. I want to capture the two interesting ones.

The first is the Digital Photo Album. It’s a normal pocket sized photo album, but instead of 4×6 pictures, it has 4×6 bendable lcd screens. On these screens they play home movies that have been recorded. This is a great concept because you use the already current mental model of pocket sized albums to store memories. This would be a great leap into the household.

The other interesting thing about this is the interface is nothing more than an onscreen “jog” mechanism. The user rewinds and fast forwards by moving the thumb north and south on the jog. By pressing the center, the movie pauses. Great device and very understated, which as you know I like. :)

Summary

For further reading, and for classification, this interface would called an Organic User Interface. Mainly because the interface bends into shapes other than flat. There are some very interesting studies and prototypes around this model. If you are feeling particularly brave, you should head over to the Organic User Interface site (a spinoff of the ACM Magazine), that has a ton of information, videos, and papers that have been published on the subject. Of particular note about the actual implementation would be the speed of the video and no apparent view of the battery pack. These futuristic things are what will really start pushing the need for modern user interfaces.

The second piece is wonderful setup for a futuristic workstation. This is their vision of the modern workstation. It consists of multiple monitors, above eye level on opposite walls, and a controlling device near the hand rest area. Of course it’s a natural interface due to the lack of mouse and traditional keyboard, but I also like what they did with the monitor position (above eye level, which prevents tiring of the eyes). I also like that they blended the controller and monitors in with the environment. The monitors are transparent when they are not on, and the small keyboard-like controller is small, clear, and flat, almost concealing itself when not in use.

Transparent Monitors are just around the corner! The recent work over at Purdue into optically transparent electronics shows a lot of promise.

The development of mechanically flexible and/or optically transparent electronics could enable next-generation electronics technologies, which would be easy-to-read, light-weight, unbreakable, transparent, and flexible. Potential applications could include transparent monitors, heads-up displays, and conformable products. Recent reports have demonstrated transparent thin film transistors (TFTs) using channels consisting of semiconductor nanowires (ZnO, SnO2, or In2O3) and random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs).[1,2] [Source]

Gizmodo posts about Courier: Microsoft’s new tablet?

UPDATE: The story hit engadget as well, but the story isn’t quite as positive. The comments are though, here’s the story.

I saw an interesting article on Gizmodo, ( http://gizmodo.com/536.. ) discussing some apparently new top secret laptop/tablet at Microsoft called Courier. The funniest thing is they mentioned what team it is, E&D, who is developing it, and who the head of the team is. Quite specific I think. I doubt if even half of it is true, but I must tell you. It is beautiful, … from the pictures of course.

As a Natural User Interface Designer working at Microsoft. I can tell you, this has piqued my interest. Things to note, they mention Multi-Touch and Stylus support.

I also particularly loved the comments. Quite surprising actually.

If this works exactly, and lives up to the video, as shown Ill buy it. and if they can beat Apple to the market, I’ll forget the iSlab (even as a mac user).

add mp3 capability, and why would i need a laptop at all?

I can see this being HUGE in schools. I know Drexel just replaced all their medical textbooks with iPod Touches (and I’m surprised to see nothing on Giz about it) but I’m sure if they knew this was on its way from Microsoft, they would have waited to see some prices.

Two Words, BAD ASS. I’ve been wanting to get a new laptop, but if this thing is truly on the horizon I’ll be saving up.

I love Apple and their products so much that I (Ed. pee)  apple juice, but this… this would have my money damn near instantly.

(All quotes taken from http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet)

Does anyone else have any comments they would love to share? Or how about a Feature Wish List? Thinks that you absolutely MUST have or you will die a slow and painful death. I know I have my list of things I would want in a product like this, but I would like to compare mine to yours. So, Asus if you are reading, here are a few tidbits for you. :)