life = life; kludge = workaround
There’s always going to be different options required for alternative input devices according to differing abilities.
So it’s great to see the research and experimentation going on around this area, mostly driven I suspect by the need for different control of mobile technologies.
Here’s one using acoustics of taps on the body.
[via: Make - Skinput: projecting a UI onto your own body
]
Thought: Feedback can be turned to alternative input if inverted.
Fabian Hemmert does research through and about design and creates projects like shape-changing-mobiles, weight-shifting-mobiles, breathing and pulsating ambient-life mobile device feedback.
The mobile concepts are designed to provide different feedback mechanisms that are physical.
I’ve often written about the importance of feedback when operating all manner of devices and manipulation the environment for those with disabilities to compensate for a loss or lack of some ability.
The interesting thing about some of these projects that hit me is that maybe if you inverse the ideas behind these feedback projects you could actually change their function and use them as different, alternate input devices.
Just a thought.
One project that does have this “input” focus more was the basis of his thesis which involved closing your eyes to enrich your visual media [eyesclosed.org].
[via Making Digital Content on the Mobile Phone Physically Graspable - information aesthetics]
Dave - Lifekludger
Touchco was a New York company that, according to it’s now closed website title, was developing “IFSR* multi-touch resistive sensors”. It has now reportedly ben bought by Amazon.
The impressive thing about this technology is this.
“Unlike the more common and more expensive capacitive touchscreens, Touchco-equipped screens can be used with a stylus as easily as a finger, are sensitive to different levels of pressure, and can detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touch points.”
[Amazon reportedly gets its hands on touchscreen tech for Kindle | Good Morning Silicon Valley]
[Hat tip @ccarfi]
*Interpolating Force-Sensitive Resistance technology [link]
Dave - LifekludgerLast year I captured this video, and has been on my youtube channel, yet seems I never posted it here.
iTouch iStick iKludge
From: lifekludger | August 10, 2009
The iTouch/iPhone needs skin so it doesn’t work with my mouthstick. In this video I show use by running copper wire down the stick from mouth. Contact to the device is using a pogo stylus. Taping the stylus to the stick and the wire to the stylus conducts whatever it is in y skin that the iTouch needs.
This kludge was an experiment and is not very serviceable and therefore unsatisfactory as an end solution.
The video alsio shows the lack of ability to perform the pinch gesture to zoom in and out when only having one point of contact.
For more of the ongoing “Touch Barrier” issues see these past posts.
Meanwhile, over at the ATMac blog is a good post on the way one person’s overcome the ‘Touch Barrier’, based on my mouthstick experiments.
I’m concerned about the way the pervasive use of (capacitive) touch on all manner of devices is causing increased inaccessibility to those who can not use their hands. In essence we are seeing the options decreasing that are available for controlling devices as everyone moves towards ’skin based’ touch. This again puts more barriers up and less choice with yet another thing to kludge our lives around.
The feeling of technology turning from being an enabling to disabling I wrote about on this Lifekludger blog in this post : http://bit.ly/touchbarrier
While we can find work arounds with wire and tape, I’d like to see some more sophisticated solution maybe coming via material sciences to deliver a material/substance which emulates the properties required to use a capacitive screen without the requirement of conducting from skin.
Dave - Lifekludger
Wireless door access using the TI hackable watch
What seems “novelty” can often be essential in a different context. This type device could be great for access.
The TI Chronos development kit will allow many great projects that cleverly exploit the resources of the Chronos watch.
This video shows a hack that wirelessly unlocks a door using the built-in accelerometer to detect coded taps on the watch.
[via Hack a Day]
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Dave - Lifekludger
Closed Caption symbol
The goal of the Mac Video Tutorials Subtitle Project is to caption the Apple video tutorials that help users learn to use the Mac.
To make this great resource available to non-English speaking users, and to those with hearing impairments or language processing problems.
A great use of crowd sourcing.
[Mac Video Tutorials Subtitle Project via atmac.org]
Dave - Lifekludger
Make has put together a list of Open Source Hardware projects.
These are projects in which the creators have decided to completely publish all the source, schematics, firmware, software, bill of materials, parts list, drawings and “board” files to recreate the hardware – they also allow any use, including commercial. Similar to open source software like Linux, but this hardware centric.
Wikipedia: Open Source Hardware
Dave - LifekludgerThe Miniguru keyboard is a compact keyboard that has a cut down, rearranged, minimalistic layout, layers for additional function keys, is reconfigurable and has a ‘TrackPoint’ style mouse pointer.
Blowing into the Zyxio SensaWaft
Wired Gadget Lab has the full report on a breath-enabled interface recently shown at CES. To scroll blow steadily. To click, blow a forceful puff.
Using ’suck, puff, blow’ switches is nothing new in the area of Assistive Technology but seeing them developed as alternative options for ‘mainstream’ Joe Public is.
Wired thinks that “The popularity of touchscreens has led human computer interaction beyond the traditional mouse and keyboard”.
I don’t know about that, but a lot of these different methods of input I find are being developed around the booming gaming sector. As seems the case with this device as the manufacturer, Zyxio, says among the first products to use it will be a gaming headset.
Read Full report at Wired: To Scroll, Take a Deep Breath and Blow
Zyxio SensaWaft
The One Touch Automatic Jar Opener is made to make life easier in the kitchen for those without the strength or with any weakness or disability.
Will open all kinds of jars at the touch of a button. It is fully automatic, just attach it to a jar and press the button.
Operates on 2xAA batteries and suitable for left or right handed people.
Via Gadgetuser: [One Touch Automatic Jar Opener « Gadgetuser.net – The latest gadgets reviews and gadget shop]
Dave - Lifekludger
CNN report on the future of brain controlled devices.
In part :
“Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) come in two varieties. Noninvasive techniques use electrodes placed on the scalp to measure electrical activity. Invasive procedures implant electrodes directly into the brain. In both cases, the devices interact with a computer to produce a wide variety of applications, ranging from medical breakthroughs and military-tech advances to futuristic video games and toys.
…
Much of the research focuses on neuroprosthetics, which offer a way for the brain to compensate for injuries and illness. “
[The future of brain-controlled devices - CNN.com]
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Call me a heretic, but surely there’s got to be something inherently awry (not to say anything about accessibility) with a device that has to have specialised, modified clothing for humans to use it! Just sayin.
[Etre Touchy - Gloves for your iPhone, iPod Touch, Nintendo DS, Blackberry, PDA and more...]
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m.lifekludger.net
