Hivelogic has a great post about workspaces, and “getting in the zone” to do creative work. I’ve been thinking about this more as I recently started working from home, contracting as part of a virtual team for a remote client. Although my home office is quiet and comfy, I do miss the energy of having others around, at least when I want them. Even with email, IM, and twitter, I still feel like a hermit. I like the idea of “coworking” but from the examples I’ve seen, it’s a bunch of folks dumped into a big room with shared tables – not much private space, and perhaps too much potential distraction. One of the commenters make what I see as the best suggestion – have an office which opens onto a common area where you can interact with others, and even leave your door open at times, but be able to close the door when you really need to concentrate.
Author: Ben Wood
Web 2.0 Design & layout trends
Here is a great bunch of screenshots and analysis of a certain “Web 2.0” style, where sites are designed with horizontal groups of content. Contains a two dozen or so example screenshots.
Wonder what it would be like if you could use the iPhone’s gesture-based interface on a really large screen? In one of the coolest video’s I’ve seen in a long time as a UI geek, inventor Jeff Han shows off a futuristic user interface much like the sci-fi screen Tom Cruise uses in Minority Report.
(you might see a commercial first)
Here is the accompanying Fast Company article.
My unnecessary commentary: We’re going to see all kinds of very cool apps using this technology in the next 5 – 10 years. (Artists? You thought the Wacom Cintiq was cool?)
I don’t understand the technology they’re using for the touch tracking and sensitivity, but this is quite a leap beyond a mouse-based GUI.