Monday, May 18, 2015

From Interaction to Understanding

This Thursday evening's Gibbons Lecture is by Mark Billinghurst of the Human Interface Laboratory New Zealand, at The University of Canterbury. The lecture titled From Interaction to Understanding  will focus on Empathic computing where computers can recognise and understand emotions. The lecture is this Thursday the 21st at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. Click the lecture link for full venue details and if you can't attend the lecture will be streamed live and after the event.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Do you want a computer for $9


Can't afford a Raspbery Pi ($35), well they have a competitor now. The ultra cheap CHIP; a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, with 4GB storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, support for most monitors and even a mobile capacity. It runs Linux and therefore supports many free productivity apps. As you can see from the picture it's very small and so can be easily embedded in pieces of equipment. CHIP is a Kick Starter project and be honest for just $9 (US) can you not afford to own one.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Innovation in Airline Human Computer Interaction

This Thursday evening's Gibbons Lecture is by Paul McGlashan, Chief Architect, for Air New Zealand. The lecture titled Innovation in Airline Human-Computer Interaction: from ALC to IoT  will describe how Air New Zealand has taken control of its IT in-house and has been correspondingly more innovative than its competitors. The lecture is this Thursday the 14th at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. Click the lecture link for full venue details and if you can't attend the lecture will be streamed live and after the event.

Friday, May 8, 2015

404 Not Found

As we come to rely more on the web as a research and reference tool it's important that references to other works from a web page remain constant. But visit any old research web site and chances are half the pages it refers to will result in a "404 Not Found". An article in Nature called The trouble with reference rot highlights the issues involved. Recommended. This article was brought to my attention by my colleague Mark Wilson.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Beyond Touch: using everyday tools as input devices

This Thursday's Gibbons lecture titled Beyond Touch: using everyday tools as input devices is by Dr Beryl Plimmer of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Auckland. The lecture is this Thursday the 7th at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. Click the lecture link for full venue details and if you can't attend the lecture will be streamed live and after the event.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Apple's Knowledge Navigator

At last week's Gibbons Lecture Mark Apperley gave a fascinating history of human computer interaction and made a few predictions. As part of the talk he mentioned Apple's Knowledge Navigator a device which predicted the iPad and Siri decades before its release. This blog featured an item on the Knowledge Navigator back in 2012 when Siri was released. It's such a fascinating thing I recommend you visit that post and watch Apple's video.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

From the Mouse to the Smartphone and Beyond

It's that time of the year again, as the nights draw in the free public Gibbons Lectures in Auckland take place. The first lecture is this Thursday the 30th at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start. Every year the lecture series has a theme and this year it's human computer interaction. The first lecture is by Professor Mark Apperley and titled From the Mouse to the Smartphone and Beyond: tracing the development of human-computer interaction. Click the lecture link for full venue details and if you can't attend the lecture will be streamed live and after the event.