Greg Detre
10:30 Wednesday, September 11, 2002
he did invent the IBM Trackpoint
a trackpoint is 15-20% faster than a pad
thumb is best for pad
IBM wouldn�t sell their trackpoint design to Toshiba � so it�s a knock-off
Hebe is to blame
Toshiba big difference � tried to send beautiful women over, and he�d run testing software on their thing and they�d write notes
they did tactile feedback versions � the blind people preferred the pin poking out, whereas sighted people prefer the flat top vibrating
Toshiba lacked the testing experiments to do with the speed, relating to eye tracking
������� the IBM is much better for fine movements � we�re talking about a 5-10% difference
they had cross-licensing with IBM on patents (hardware) but not copyrights (software) � they were able to copy the software, but it was the experimentation behind the software that was important
building experiments to find out if you�ve succeeded, against initial intuitions etc., is what�s important
a digitising tablet is better than a mouse (which is very good � because you�ve got big movements as well as hand-down fine dextrous movements) for pointing
the mouse is in a different place every time, and it takes c. 0.9 seconds to move back from the mouse to the keyboard (smaller object)
after 10 minutes you reach more or less the top of your learning curve for pointing devices � even within 20 selections, you�ve improved by 20%
IBM lacks the Windows key though
two bad things about the mouse � run out of runway (you lose half a second re-positing the mouse � so you use acceleration) and you have to take your hands off the keyboard
teflon was pretty fortuitous
did some experiments pointing with the tongue (because of its representation in the homunculus) � but it�s so carefully designed for speech movements � you can manage 9 places with it
Neck built a sensor around it (Mouth Orifice) to teach people to talk
is it better to have a simple useful tool or something that does many things?
things should either tell you their function from their design (harder for multi-function), or through metaphor, or with a prosthetic (help)
rather than trying to create a new language, he�d rather piggyback/sense what already exists without requiring anything more from the user
committing to vs blurting out ideas � people get possessive about their own ideas, and meetings get politicised
a magician is someone who makes something look continuous that aren�t � acting out a mock-up is good because it makes something believable, helps you fit it into a cognitive model
role-playing encourages a critical as well as a generative side
invention forums never talk about evaluation
the opposite extreme is over-reliance on 100,000 people voting machines � just using it does not constitute an experiment � sometimes you�re better off with 2 or 3 people
GSR measures the conductivity of your skin
speech recognition detecting laughter was pretty accurate
GSR couldn�t have been used on its own, because it doesn�t tell you why the person is aroused � good with other information