Spring Fever: Links for March 14, 2008

March 14, 2008 ⋅ 1 Comment »

It’s finally feeling like spring in Toronto; 6° and sunny today. Here are some links to help you procrastinate on a sunny Friday afternoon:

Thank god for Spotlight: A Mac user decides to experiment with saving EVERYTHING to the desktop and relying on Spotlight to find things again. Looks like the computer equivalent of compulsive hording. Hat tip: Paul J. Sherman/Usability Blog
Where’s My Stuff? Beyond the Nested Folder Metaphor: Paul J. Sherman looks at the problems with the traditional file-and-folder metaphor, and points to some alternative interfaces that are inspired by the physical world. BumpTop is of course mentioned.
Cool 3D, zooming tree browser: Not quite sure how else to described this…you have to see it.
3D molecular visualization UI using head tracking: Cool project from U of T that does 3D molecular visualization using head tracking, either using a Wiimote or face recognition.
Less is More (More or Less): Uncommon Sense and the Design of Computers: Bill Buxton’s classic essay arguing that instead of convergence, divergence should be the dominant model in computing technology. For a while now, I’ve been meaning to write a post that provides a counterpoint to this argument.

Sheila - March 19, 2008:

Well I'm glad to hear at least SOMEBODY is getting good weather. In Ottawa mother nature has decided to by-pass the process of providing solar energy to melt the snow on the ground into slush, and is instead spewing slush straight from the clouds! How innovative!