Egon (EGG) Kuster's Home Page

June 22, 2006

BumpTop Prototype

200606222157 There is some really interesting research happening in the area of user interface metaphors. With the advent of really powerful computers and very fast video cards it is becoming easier and easier to use these expensive resources for more basic things like general graphical user interfaces. We are already seeing this with full graphics accelerated desktops as used in Apple's OSX and Microsoft's soon to be release Windows Vista. But these user interfaces are still based primarily on the standard windows metaphor. BumpTop is different as it uses the more physical piles metaphors. This is based on the concept that in people's offices normally piles of documents are created and physical location and orientation become the primary cues for finding things. BumpTop uses these same metaphors in a pen based user interface. What results is a very clean and interesting user interface which makes lots of sense for tablet PCs or some of the newer displays that are either using large touch screens that support multiple user inputs or screens that use cameras to track gestures for inputs.

The best way to understand is to have a look at the video that shows the possibilities of the BumpTop interface.

Links
BumpTop Page

Posted by Egon Kuster at 10:57 PM

February 05, 2006

Spam filter using Gmail

Mail Help Images Logo Recently I started automatically forwarding my email from my original email server on labf.org to my google account so that when I am not at home I can read my email on Gmail as it has a wonderful web interface. This way when I am not at home my email client will not download emails (because the computer is not on) and therefore all my emails are left in my Gmail account for online viewing. If I am at home then I use the POP download feature of Gmail to get my mail and automatically remove it from the Gmail server. Now I receive a very large amount of spam, like most of us with a web presence. Both my labf.org and Gmail server have spam filters and I also use the Apple Mail junk filter. Since redirecting my email through Gmail I have noticed that the spam filter on labf.org that only marks emails as potential spam are then filtered by Gmail so that when I actually download my email to my email client I only receive the very occasional spam message which is easily handled by Apple Mail. The upshot is that I now do not have to download large amounts of spam just to get a few messages.

Therefore, if you want to reduce the amount of spam you are downloading I would recommend to either use Gmail directly and use the POP access feature to download you email to your computer or forward you existing email account to your Gmail account and then download it through POP. By doing this you will drastically reduce the amount of spam that actually needs to be downloaded. A word of warning though, this does mean that you need to check both the Apple Mail junk filter folder and also the Gmail spam folder to make sure that no legitimate emails are deleted.

Links
Gmail

Posted by Egon Kuster at 01:04 AM

July 30, 2005

Egg Time

J.Bove Images Egg 260 This is a great idea, however, that is all that it is. It is called the egg and is a physical extension to a collaboration project that uses a community calendar. The egg glows and as it gets closer to an appointment the light slowly diminishes. If you turn the egg upside down it resets the glow and notifies other meeting attendees that you are going to be late. This is a great idea if you have lots of meetings with fellow researchers, in my case, who are notorious for being late to meetings. If they are going to be late then you automatically know this and therefore you can spend a little more time working rather than sitting around waiting for your colleague. The only problem that I can see is that this may breed a bad habit of always being late to meetings, which will become very annoying for all around you; therefore, this should be coupled with a penalty system of some kind.

Links
Jennifer Bove's Egg

Posted by Egon Kuster at 06:50 PM

October 23, 2004

“Rich” Web Clients

I am a keen advocate for “Rich” internet clients. By “Rich” I do not mean Java Applets, but web pages that provide a more complete user experience without having to request new pages from the server whenever the user clicks a button or link. There are few different approaches that provide this type of functionality including XUL (Mozilla Platform), Macromedia Flex and traditional JavaScript and DOM. Many web developers do not exploit the powerful capabilities provided with JavaScript and DOM. A recent example of this type of “Rich” client is Google's new Gmail capability that uses JavaScript and DOM to create a very quick and snappy user interface. By using JavaScript Google has been able to only send the basic requests and data transfers rather sending whole page changes back to the client. This of course takes quite a lot more client-side JavaScript development but does create a very powerful user interface. If you are interested in more information about the Gmail Agent API have a look here.

The Mozilla Platform is a more developer friendly approach as you define your application's interface in XUL and then link it together with JavaScript. However this approach requires your users to use a Mozilla-based browser (Mozilla or Firefox).

For the most interactive “Rich” client experience that will work on any browser Macromedia Flex is your product. Flex is based around a similar concept of Mozilla by defining your interface using XML documents and then linking it together with a scripting languages (Macromedia ActionScript). The difference is that Flex's client is built inside the Macromedia Flash player (available on almost every platform and browser), which allows for highly dynamic and pretty user interfaces. Flex is deployed using a J2EE server and can communicate back to the server by making Web Service calls or exchanging Java objects.

Gmail's approach works on all browsers but is technically much harder to implement. Mozilla's approach works well but requires a Mozilla-based browser. Macromedia's approach provides the best of both worlds but is not free and requires extensive server support. So if you are a web application developer please consider one of these options and provide a more advanced experience for your users.

Links
Mozilla Web Site
Firefox Site
Gmail Agent API Article
Macromedia Flex Site

Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:56 PM | Comments (1)


	Category: Ideas June 22, 2006 BumpTop Prototype There is some really interesting research happening in the area of user interface metaphors. With the advent of really powerful computers and very fast video cards it is becoming easier and easier to use these expensive resources for more basic things like general graphical user interfaces. We are already seeing this with full graphics accelerated desktops as used in Apple's OSX and Microsoft's soon to be release Windows Vista. But these user interfaces are still based primarily on the standard windows metaphor. BumpTop is different as it uses the more physical piles metaphors. This is based on the concept that in people's offices normally piles of documents are created and physical location and orientation become the primary cues for finding things. BumpTop uses these same metaphors in a pen based user interface. What results is a very clean and interesting user interface which makes lots of sense for tablet PCs or some of the newer displays that are either using large touch screens that support multiple user inputs or screens that use cameras to track gestures for inputs. The best way to understand is to have a look at the video that shows the possibilities of the BumpTop interface. Links BumpTop Page Posted by Egon Kuster at 10:57 PM February 05, 2006 Spam filter using Gmail Recently I started automatically forwarding my email from my original email server on labf.org to my google account so that when I am not at home I can read my email on Gmail as it has a wonderful web interface. This way when I am not at home my email client will not download emails (because the computer is not on) and therefore all my emails are left in my Gmail account for online viewing. If I am at home then I use the POP download feature of Gmail to get my mail and automatically remove it from the Gmail server. Now I receive a very large amount of spam, like most of us with a web presence. Both my labf.org and Gmail server have spam filters and I also use the Apple Mail junk filter. Since redirecting my email through Gmail I have noticed that the spam filter on labf.org that only marks emails as potential spam are then filtered by Gmail so that when I actually download my email to my email client I only receive the very occasional spam message which is easily handled by Apple Mail. The upshot is that I now do not have to download large amounts of spam just to get a few messages. Therefore, if you want to reduce the amount of spam you are downloading I would recommend to either use Gmail directly and use the POP access feature to download you email to your computer or forward you existing email account to your Gmail account and then download it through POP. By doing this you will drastically reduce the amount of spam that actually needs to be downloaded. A word of warning though, this does mean that you need to check both the Apple Mail junk filter folder and also the Gmail spam folder to make sure that no legitimate emails are deleted. Links Gmail Posted by Egon Kuster at 01:04 AM July 30, 2005 Egg Time This is a great idea, however, that is all that it is. It is called the egg and is a physical extension to a collaboration project that uses a community calendar. The egg glows and as it gets closer to an appointment the light slowly diminishes. If you turn the egg upside down it resets the glow and notifies other meeting attendees that you are going to be late. This is a great idea if you have lots of meetings with fellow researchers, in my case, who are notorious for being late to meetings. If they are going to be late then you automatically know this and therefore you can spend a little more time working rather than sitting around waiting for your colleague. The only problem that I can see is that this may breed a bad habit of always being late to meetings, which will become very annoying for all around you; therefore, this should be coupled with a penalty system of some kind. Links Jennifer Bove's Egg Posted by Egon Kuster at 06:50 PM October 23, 2004 “Rich” Web Clients I am a keen advocate for “Rich” internet clients. By “Rich” I do not mean Java Applets, but web pages that provide a more complete user experience without having to request new pages from the server whenever the user clicks a button or link. There are few different approaches that provide this type of functionality including XUL (Mozilla Platform), Macromedia Flex and traditional JavaScript and DOM. Many web developers do not exploit the powerful capabilities provided with JavaScript and DOM. A recent example of this type of “Rich” client is Google's new Gmail capability that uses JavaScript and DOM to create a very quick and snappy user interface. By using JavaScript Google has been able to only send the basic requests and data transfers rather sending whole page changes back to the client. This of course takes quite a lot more client-side JavaScript development but does create a very powerful user interface. If you are interested in more information about the Gmail Agent API have a look here. The Mozilla Platform is a more developer friendly approach as you define your application's interface in XUL and then link it together with JavaScript. However this approach requires your users to use a Mozilla-based browser (Mozilla or Firefox). For the most interactive “Rich” client experience that will work on any browser Macromedia Flex is your product. Flex is based around a similar concept of Mozilla by defining your interface using XML documents and then linking it together with a scripting languages (Macromedia ActionScript). The difference is that Flex's client is built inside the Macromedia Flash player (available on almost every platform and browser), which allows for highly dynamic and pretty user interfaces. Flex is deployed using a J2EE server and can communicate back to the server by making Web Service calls or exchanging Java objects. Gmail's approach works on all browsers but is technically much harder to implement. Mozilla's approach works well but requires a Mozilla-based browser. Macromedia's approach provides the best of both worlds but is not free and requires extensive server support. So if you are a web application developer please consider one of these options and provide a more advanced experience for your users. Links Mozilla Web Site Firefox Site Gmail Agent API Article Macromedia Flex Site Posted by Egon Kuster at 07:56 PM \| Comments (1)

Category: Ideas