stevenf.com - WARNING: A long, rambly exploration of the state…
A few days ago I posted a short video on Grape, a desktop ‘service’ to play around with data/files. Today I want to go a bit more into detail and explain how I think a possible future could look like.
Steven Frank wrote an essay about how we deal with computer and data today. Though he has no ideal solution or grand new idea it had me thinking.
I use Blacktrees Quicksilver as the most convenient way to acces my files and information. It’s just Cmd-Space and starting to write what I want to access. In about 97% of the time I get what I wanted.
It’s dead simple, and I like it.
There are times that I want to access a pdf document I downloaded or received from a professor or somebody else. I don’t know what it’s called, but it is filed in a specific folder (like university/programming/somename.pdf). Then I start up Yep. I have all these folders structered into tags. I usually type or click the tags (university -> programming ->) and find the pdf that I was looking for.
It’s dead simple and I like it.
Both are similar approaches. You know more or less specifically what you are looking for and find your way through the mess of files and folders. Only for yep, I seem to need a structure/hierarchy of folders.
For me, a possible solution for the future would be to use a Quicksiler-y way of accessing files. Only it shouldn’t require typing. I am thinking of speech and using your voice to tell the computer what you want. Like in Star Trek. The learning curve would be minimal and almost everybody can use it. Of course deaf/dumb people would need another way of interaction.
The next big step should be a big display, like a tabletPC only bigger and lighter. Just like a big iPhone. You can use your voice to tell the computer what to do, like I outlined above. To interact, you can use the gestures introduced by Apple on the iPhone. The issue of text entry could be dealt with by hand-writing – using just your fingertips. Or even dictating with your voice. The computer probably would go on creating files, but you shouldn’t be bothered handling them.
It’s by no means an elaborate model I am proposing here, just some simple thoughts. I would love to here your take on it. No matter how fancy it might be.
