It's good in some ways. The telly is a massive, communal screen that everyone knows how to use and knows the social conventions around it. A PDF is a common format and useful enough to most people for sharing information. The car thing simply reads what was last "playing" on my phone, which connects automatically through Bluetooth.
But it's all happening by accident. Or as a workaround. Bits of technology that talk to each other, but weren't meant to talk to each other in this way. And the UI is terrible. You can fight your way through it, but it makes little sense unless you know the tech behind it.
It's certainly not explaining itself like good UI should. And I can't help thinking it should just be html in a browser. A missed opportunity.
Anyway.
I've been thinking about this a lot recently. It seems like the stars are aligning so that pretty soon we actually could do some quite interesting stuff in the gaps between all these different interfaces, but no one's quite figured out what yet. The car part is fascinating. For example, how will my attitude towards cars and mobility change when I plug mine in every night and it can run citymapper? Could I be encouraged to change my energy usage across the board if I see my entire footprint in one place?
I started putting getting some sketches done of a few scenarios but I think it needs a lot more discussion and thought. I'd be interested to know what you think? http://www.palumbus.co.uk/project/a-connected-journey/
Posted by: Tom Harle | Nov 12, 2015 at 15:53