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The typical American home is cluttered with PCs, set-top boxes, answering machines, Caller ID units, security systems, video games -- plus as many as six different remote controls and a phone on the family room coffee table.
MAYA designed and developed a functional prototype of a hand-held personal information portal (PIP). It‘s an easy-to-use, multi-function prototype for Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse (PDG), a consortium with corporate sponsors such as Sony, Casio, and Sima.
User Study
We feel besieged by rapidly proliferating, beeping, buzzing, blinking, button-filled, battery-eating devices. The authors of a January 2001 cover story in U.S. News & World Report called these devices "fiendish new instruments of mental torture" and said that "consumers may not expect all their new gadgets and gizmos to be fun, but they are demanding that at least they don‘t make them feel like idiots."
Before designing a new hand-held device for Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse (PDG), we conducted an in-depth survey of the existing market for hand-held technology devices. Which products did people respond to? Where were the opportunities?
System Architecture
In MAYA‘s electronics lab, we rapidly carved ideas out of circuit heat dispersion, wireframes, modular control architecture, orientation-sensing displays, failure modes, and the code that connects hardware, software, and human desire. We ended up with more than prototypes: we discovered and dispelled myths and assumptions.
Interface
MAYA designed the interface to make the features of the interface appealingly self-revealing. We reduced the perceived complexity of this sophisticated device by "unfolding" its functionality and power. This enables users to turn their attention away from the technology and towards their task:
What if you could check messages, turn down your lights, channel surf, and buy the soundtrack from that movie you just watched -- all without leaving your spot on the couch?
What if an aging population had easy-to-use tools to assist them with controlling their environment as it becomes harder for them to do so?
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Taming Coffee Tables
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The Big Picture
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Related Project
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