Interacting with Machines: Preferred Human Interface Devices

We were posed as a challenge in my New Media Applications class to come up with a "convergence" topic to talk about. This was literally right as commercials for the Galaxy Note smartphone started up and I was fascinated by the fact it was technically a step backward in terms of interaction with our computer devices. The trend is touchscreens for everything, right? We'd dealt with stylus systems for a significantly longer time, with old-school PDAs and artist tablet peripherals. It seemed like it was "old" news for them to now be releasing a new smartphone utilizing a stylus rather than it simply being a larger screen on a smartphone but at the same time, I've been saying for years touchscreens drive me crazy because they lack the same tactile response which you get from a keyboard and mouse or some type of analog input device.

Before you read further, DO ME THE KIND FAVOR OF FILLING OUT MY SURVEY. It's only 3 questions, but they get right to the heart of the matter: How do you prefer interacting with your computer media in today's world?

In the research I did looking up sales figures, the Note has sold pretty well despite being panned by electronics gadget critics, and has high user satisfaction ratings from those who actually consume it. My mother owns one, and the insight I've gained from her is she always felt regular smartphones had too small of a screen and she hated making typos from struggling to calibrate where her thumb naturally landed on the keypad of her old iPhone versus the precision controls the stylus offers. Plus, she enjoyed the ease of use of the photo manipulation programs offered on the Android platform in conjunction with the device's release.

It's interesting to me this is the case. It's not like stylus input was always that great. A comic example of this is a Tool-Assisted Speedrun of Brain Age for the Nintendo DS. If you enjoy silly things and people breaking video game code for comic effect, check this out. It just highlights the problem with handwriting recognition software. Let's face it: it hasn't always been that reliable in the past hence the shift toward touchpads in the first place.

But technology has come so far, is it worth revisiting mediums of old? Also, what does this mean for the future? I believe the future is in voice recognition software and things formerly viewed as simply input systems for the handicapped (things like eye motion sensors). The more people who have access to these devices and therefore the internet and social world at large, the better.

In my survey, I listed a bunch of electronic devices that all sell for roughly $399 dollars. It fascinates me how wide the gamut is on products that all serve a similar role and yet have such a huge disparity in processing power. Yet the early results of my survey (which I just posted to a bunch of friends and had them link on their facebook page before starting to edit this into more than a bunch of links!) shows most people at least in my social world prefer sitting at a desktop. You can't exactly do a lot with a $399 desktop, especially if you're a gamer like myself. The latest and greatest video card from nVidia, the GeForce GTX 680, goes for $499 alone on newegg.com. Yet still the folks I associate with still prefer using good ol' keyboard and mouse for their computing needs. This would explain why there are so many people who buy a tablet computer, and immediately turn around to get a keyboard accessory.

Now to share the data from my survey:

1. Which form of Human Interface Device do you prefer using for general computer interface usage?
	answered question		82
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Mouse and Keyboard		72.0%	59
Laptop-style Touchpad		12.2%	10
Analog Input (joystick or controller)		0.0%	0
Stylus-touchscreen (i.e.: PDAs, Nintendo DS)		1.2%	1
Touch Screens (i.e. Smartphones and Tablet Computers)		14.6%	12

2. Which of the following devices do you own? (Check all that apply.)
	answered question		83
	skipped question		0
		Response Percent	Response Count
Desktop PC or Mac		80.7%	67
Laptop PC or Mac		74.7%	62
Smart Phone		65.1%	54
Tablet computer		27.7%	23
Current-Generation video game console (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 only)		42.2%	35

3. Which of the following would you prefer to own?
	answered question		82
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
64 GB iPhone 4s		31.7%	26
Samsung Galaxy Note		6.1%	5
16 GB iPad 2 (wi-fi)		19.5%	16
32 GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1		3.7%	3
A $399 Desktop or Laptop PC of your design		30.5%	25
X-Box 360 with Kinect		3.7%	3
Playstation 3 with PSMove		4.9%	4

If there is any one thing I want people to come away with is that there are devices out there tailored to suit your specific needs. With the prevalence of the current generation of technology, if you are dissatisfied with the input required to use it, go find something which you enjoy using.

------------
Links to back up my data and the key figures I retrieved from them, in no particular order:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/03/galaxy-note-sales-so-far/
Key figures: 2 million devices sold in Europe, on pace to sell 10 million worldwide in 2012.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/benzingainsights/2011/10/17/what-do-the-iphone-4s-sales-figures-tell-us-about-consumers/
4 million units sold opening week, boasted 1 million pre-sales.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/03/22/will-the-iphone-5-be-super-sized-what-a-bigger-screen-means-for-data-usage/
Hypothetical: Larger screens = more data usage = ???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Firstmouseunderside.jpg
History of the Mouse (1962)
http://inventors.about.com/od/computerperipherals/a/computer_keyboa.htm
Patent of typewriters: 1868

Mass Effect 3 has the worst ending of any video game, of all time.

And it has 5 distinct ways to all be terrible! (For the record, I didn't even know there was internet-wide outrage about it until I actually did beat the game. Turns out I am not alone in my disgust.)

Let me say this straight out of the gate: There will be spoilers, and lots of them. Despite that, even as a fan of the series, you should still read this anyway.

Mass Effect is a franchise that's all about choice, all about how your decisions impact the larger galactic scene. We were introduced to things in the very first game that come into play in the very last one, and yet none of it has an impact on the ending.

They pull a Deus Ex Machina on you. You run into this God-type figure and are presented with various choices. Literally. BioWare decided to close out one of the most deeply personal, choice-ridden franchises of all time with a Select-An-Ending mechanic, none of which take into account the thousands of choices you have to make over the course of the series.

I am frankly hurt. I spent so much time thinking about if not actually playing the first two Mass Effect titles. I beat each of them 6 times, with various characters who reacted to various situations in different ways. It was an interactive narrative, one I really enjoyed. Obviously. I felt like the various squadmates in the game were real friends. Garrus in particular is one of my favorite game characters ever.

And the way it ended? I feel cheated. I've been cheated out of year's worth of plotting and deciding and growing attached to characters. Every ending sucked. There wasn't a single one which ends in a good feeling, not a damn one. All of them basically end with "galactic civilization is completely null and void now, thanks for playing!"

I can think of a zillion ways to improve the ending, too. Make Shepard die in a meaningful way, protecting the people he/she loves. Give me a run-down of what each of the surviving characters do after the war ends. Remove the entire God mechanic thrown in literally last moment and make it so the Crucible does what you think it should do leading up to that point. Anything, really, that doesn't feel like I wasted the last couple years of my life in anticipation for this climax.

I am officially done with BioWare. I hate to say it. They were literally my favorite game developers of all time. Planescape: Torment and the Baldur's Gate series? Masterpieces. Knights of the Old Republic? The first one is easily the greatest Star Wars game of all time. I even loved Jade Empire despite it's plot basically being a Chinese version of KotOR. The first two Mass Effect games changed my life. The first Dragon Age was brilliant.

Then Dragon Age 2 shat in the face of everyone who loved the first one, and Mass Effect 3 had to drop the single worst ending in video game history. It's a shame.

Confessions of a know-it-all

My mouth tastes like feet right now. I really need to shut up in classroom situations.

But I just can't. It's my only social outlet. Yes, this post is another desperate cry for help and I know it'll fall on deaf ears (blind eyes?) once again.

I have this overwhelming need to try and entertain or exude confidence or impart knowledge. I can't turn those switches off. Believe me; I've tried. The only things I haven't done in the efforts to calm down my social neediness is drugs and alcohol.

I simply do not get the basic social needs a person requires in order to psychologically function in a healthy way. Humanity is social by it's very nature. We're brought into the world in a social construct of family no matter what, as it is physically impossible to not be birthed and still exist. All people have some inherent need for socialization.

And I simply don't get enough of it. Out of all the people in my life right now, there is only a single one who seeks me out to talk to me and it's via text messaging the majority of the time. I've felt like a societal outcast for so long, and the fact I simply can't find a job does not do me any favors in that area.

I have never, ever felt important. I have such crazy abandonment issues, it's unreal. I was always a disappointment to my father growing up because I never lived up to the things he wanted me to do. My only friend growing up turned to drugs around the age of 16 and we grew very apart. I was ostracized in grade school for being awkward and (I hate to admit it) somewhat of a bully simply because I didn't understand how to interact with other kids my age. Every woman I've ever cared about in a meaningful way never saw me as anything more than a friend and have all rushed into long term relationships or marriages with guys they hardly knew, and the vast majority of them are not happy in those relationships.

It doesn't matter how much I try and psyche myself up and tell myself that I am worth loving, because those facts all still remain. The evidence contradicts what I tell myself, even if I know that I am still a worthwhile person. I have missed class two days this week because when I got up and saw myself in the mirror after taking a shower, I was unable to convince myself someone will give a shit if they saw me that day.

I would kill to have someone, anyone, give me a call out of the blue just to say hello. It would mean the world to me to invite someone to go grab lunch or to grab a snack or something and have them actually accept it. I have a free meal down at Honolulu Grill right now as I filled out a stamp card, and I really want to take someone with me so I could be friendly and offer them that free meal, and I can't even find that.

This is what it's like to be alone. It's not because there is no one in my life, but because there are so many and I feel unwanted and invisible. I can't even apologize without making people more angry at me.

And so here I write. I have a bajillion big projects in need of doing, and I just can't lift a finger because right now my only companion is this blog no one reads called "Get Serious." I have had deeper and more meaningful conversations with a psychic blue alien chick with a tentacled head this week than with any real person.

SO IF YOU HAVE READ ALL THIS AND IT MOVED YOU TO CARE: I am even going to give you something we can do. Just give me a call or toss me an e-mail, and we'll go splits on a pizza from Domino's, and we'll just enjoy the pizza while watching TV. That'd be enough and I'd love you forever for it.

Dear Classmates, stop being stupid.

Confession: If I'm any schoolastic archetype, I'm the know-it-all. I don't try to come across as condescending most of the time, even though I'm aware I do. I genuinely thirst for knowledge, and part of growing intellectually is to ask questions and debate meaning.

I get a lot of flak from people for doing so. I realize I tend to take over conversations in a classroom setting and that can be annoying to people. But here's why I do it:

No one else tries.

If someone brought up a strong argument for how I was wrong, I'd sit back and ponder it. I do this on the rare occasions it comes up. But it never happens. People are so complacent to sit back and just let the class pass them by. I hate it. I hate it to my very core.

Today in my media law class, we were given take home essay questions. We then had a "study session" in which people asked the teacher questions pertaining to the essay questions, in order to try and clarify things. Half the people basically asked for the answers to the questions (at least one person had the courtesy and humor to literally ask so!) and everyone else asked just stupid questions.

The saying "There are no stupid questions" is bogus. There are stupid questions. If you are seeking clarification on something in which the person answering it can simply repeat the SAME THING OVER AND OVER, they are stupid questions. I was trying my best not to rip into people during class, and apparently my seething anger at the general stupidity of my classmates boiled enough to the surface someone else caught on and asked the teacher to let me out of the class early. Thank god. I about had it in there.

Do people not get it? I am not saying I try that hard at all when it comes to classes, but at the very least I don't attempt to make things more complicated than they really are. The task is to write an essay about X; why would I then go and find a Y and Z totally unrelated to it in order to confuse myself beyond task X?

Best Device writeup

For my New Media Apps class, we were tasked with looking into the future and trying to find the "next big thing."

Honestly, all my techie nerd friends and my own research didn't turn up a thing on the horizon people haven't been buzzing about for years. The iPad3? It's not new. I hate to tell people this, but the iPad 2 was not really a huge improvement over the original iPad. Yeah they slapped a camera on it. Big deal. Essentially it serves the exact same purpose: a bigger touch surface for people who want a little more processing power out of their smartphones. The latest and greatest in Tablet technology will still essentially be a tablet computer. The inherent functionality will not change; it'll simply have more bells and whistles.

The only, only, only thing I could find was unfortunately what our example was for the assignment! Google's HUD glasses they are working on are, to them, hopefully the next big thing. Basically, it'll be the android platform draped right over your eyes as opposed to a handheld device.

I have to say I see a lot of problems with this ever catching on. For starters, it'll lack the textile feel holding a tablet/smartphone/whatever has. I can't even fathom how the interface will work. Do you look at one of the displays as a button and blink twice to double-click? Voice activated, maybe? I imagine that would only end in tears as the inevitable rise of the evil AI soon takes over the world. Understandably, Google is very tight-lipped on the subject.

The only things we know for sure are it's going to look like a pair of Oakley's, and they are supposed to come out "sometime this year." (Too bad this is not in development by Valve, because then we know that'd mean they'll for sure hit the shelves by 2016.)

Let's get in to the rubric's talking points:
Convergence- Access seems like it'll be a tricky thing. It will run off the Android platform, though, so chances are it'll have 4g speed capabilities in terms of internet connection and interactivity. Considering an actual pair of simple Oakley sunglasses can run up to $210 dollars, I can't imagine Google glasses will be affordable to anyone but the most dedicated tech trendsetters. I suppose this ties in to fair value. As it's an unreleased product, any attempt to name the potential price is pure speculation and the entire question behind fair value (ie: is it worth the dosh?) is unanswerable.

The potential utility of the glasses is obviously why it would be "the next big thing." A New York Times article by Nick Bilton published just a few days ago on the 22nd mentions a few things they could potentially do with this technology. 1) Augmented Reality courses. Bilton seems to focus on this one quite a bit because I think the novelty appears to him, but basically it would display virtual obstacle courses for you to navigate, much to the hilarity of everyone not also wearing the glasses. 2) Google Goggles. If you don't know what that app is, in short, it's a thing that lets your smart phones/tablets display information on buildings and what not as you point your camera over them. In essence, just looking at something will turn on a google search for it's history. 3) Facial recognition. That cute girl you saw at Jim's sexy party and forgot to ask for her number manages to show up in your life again at some coffee shop, it would let you know you've seen this person before and potentially where at, and how many facebook friends you have in common.

Consumerism-
Choice: We still only have theoretically what these glasses will look like, but I can't imagine Google would be simpleminded enough to not release multiple looks and styles. At the very least, colors. The thing about eye-wear is that it's even more of a fashion statement than the bejeweled rhinestones adoring the back of your tablet's gel covering and ignoring that would be folly. Also, chances are if this comes out at the time Google hopes to get them out, they will have the monopoly on smartvision (or whatever you'd want to call it) for some time as to my knowledge, Apple or Facebook or Microsoft or Sony do not have any plans to create something similar.

Convenience I imagine is one of the strong points of this potential product. Imagine this scenario- Stick on my GoogleShades, walk down the Boulevard looking for a place to eat. I could just eyeball every building I passed and get how the community rates the food joint, discover historical facts about landmark buildings (as many as we have here in St. George), and discover services I didn't even know existed because of all the little tiny hole-in-the-wall stores that dot that particular street. I personally think that'd be pretty cool, and a helluva lot easier than trying to do this using the Internet. Or perhaps it'd give me a 3d layout of my truck's engine and help me pinpoint problems within it. Or a million other practical uses. I'd be all over something that helped me understand the world I live in a little better.

Performance is difficult to judge. Again, unreleased product. Still, Android phones and tablets seem to work fine and I can't recall at any point in my life using a Google product or service which was launched prematurely to the point it wasn't as ready for public consumption as it needed to have been. Funny thing what a bajillionty dollar corporation can do eh?

Interactivity:
Individualism will be an interesting idea when it comes to these glasses. Will it have one standard display for the HUD, or will there be many? Can I switch between how the Terminator sees things vs. how Tony Stark does in his Iron Man suit? What colors does it come in? Where exactly can I stick my "Team Jacob" stickers?

Controls for now seem a bit goofy. I recall when people first started using BlueTooth headsets and seemed like they were talking very loudly to themselves. (This reminds me of a time this crazy dude with dreadlocks was browsing the store I worked at the time talking to himself and I actually had to peak to see if he was wearing a headset. He was not. Guy was just talking to himself for reals.) It was new, and people didn't know how to react to those utilizing the new tech. Imagine now seeing a guy with a hoodie and shades, tilting his head about, dodging invisible objects, and issuing verbal commands at nothing. I hope it ends up being as creepy to utilize as it seems on paper because it would be worth it to me just so I could act like a crazy person and a creep and blame it on my glasses.

Security is an interesting concept to look at in terms of the digital age in general. Applying it to this specific product, though, I am not sure there's anything to say beyond what any other ditigal internet-ready device already has to offer. It's Google. I imagine having a thing on your face to allow their mind-aliens to sorcerer away your every thought will be just as bad as utilizing Google Chrome. What do you expect? It's the internet.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I see this product being kind of a failure. I know a vast number of people who dislike wearing glasses in general, let alone ones that actually add more crap for your eyes to process. I can't help but wonder if it's worth the R&D. Are people really going to switch their touchpads for a device which requires audial and physical motion to use? I don't see it. If anything, the Google glasses will have a much more limited market than smartphones and tablets. I can see it being developed more for a military type environment than for the every day consumer and I fully expect that's what will end up happening to it. I think at this point, consumers are not yelling "speed up and give me more" but "slow down and let me figure out the thing that came out 3 years ago so I can figure out the thing that came out 2 years ago."