Microsoft Tag

Both of my faithful DigitalEdu readers know that I'm always interested to see innovative new ideas when it comes to the computer/human interface. Microsoft has a new idea with something they are calling Microsoft Tag. They are trying to solve the big drawback in the new generation of mobile devices. Anyone who has used one knows how frustrating it can be to type on it because the keyboards are so small. I've got an iPhone and it can be a maddening experience to type on it. I'm getting better at it over time and I've learned to just keep on typing because their algorithm that filters out the typos is pretty darn good. Typing a URL won't work with that though, and one typo makes it a meaningless string of text.

Enter Microsoft Tag. It's a way to encode information in a graphic and it uses the camera on your cell phone to grab the image, send it to their server to decode, and then it triggers an action associated with your device. You can encode text, a URL, trigger a text message or a phone call. It requires that you preload their software on your phone, but that's a simple one-time process. I created the tag for this web site in about 5 minutes (pictured to the right). Go ahead and try it out and you'll be able to get all of the miniatured wonders of DigitalEdu on your phone without once touching the keyboard.

Obviously posting this on a web site doesn't make sense because you can just click on a link much easier. But picture a restaurant or store encoding the directions to their location in a print ad. Or having this on a business card so it automatically loads all of the information into your address book. Or having the graphic on a bus stop sign and it gives you real-time status of when the next bus will arrive.

I don't know if this will catch on but it's a real interesting idea.

Siftables

I'm fascinated by the human/computer interface and I love to see new and innovative ways to allow people to do their work (or play). Check out the video below - it's a demonstration by David Merrill, an MIT grad student, on a new type of interface using building blocks that recognize each other and adapt their behavior accordingly.

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft announced today a remarkable new interface called Microsoft Surface. It is an entirely touch and gesture based interface and the demos look very impressive. Initially it will be out of the price range of your typical individual, but I'm sure that will come down over time.

At this point it's hard to tell if this is just marketing hype or a truly new innovation in computing. What always impresses me though is when systems adapt to the natural way that people behave. In the demo videos, people shrink and enlarge photographs by squeezing or spreading their fingers together. They download pictures by setting a camera on the surface, and the system automatically connects to the camera and "spreads" the pictures out for viewing.

It doesn't take much imagination to see how a system like this could be used effectively in education. Any time the interface doesn't get in the way, we have a much better opportunity for learning.

It looks very exciting and it's great to see something this innovative come from Microsoft. Check it out!