Time machines

You might know that Apple's operating system Mac OS X has a backup utility called "Time machine". It creates incremental backups of files which can be restored at a later date. It allows the user to restore the whole system, multiple files, or even a single file. For example photos, contacts or calendar events. That's awesome.

But what about the "time machines" in the applications we use every day? Take the web browser for example. I can give you an example: you’ve just visited Yahoo's home page and then clicked on a News header to read a certain story. Then you have the choice to go back where you came from (Yahoo home page) using the built-in "Back button" (arrow left). That's choosing to go back in time where you came from. Let's say you've clicked the "Back button". Then you're back to the Yahoo home page again. By clicking the "Forward button" (arrow right) you'll come back to the News story. That's choosing to go forward in your browser history to a page you've already been to. Back to the future, if you know what I mean.

Another example of going back and forth in time is in the media player (such as a movie clip from YouTube). The round indicator shows where in time the movie is right now. You can also stop the movie (and time) by clicking the "pause button". By dragging the indicator back and forth you can navigate over time in your movie.

In my first post I wrote that the inbox of an e-mail client uses a list – the stack, to order messages by time. The last message received comes at the top of the stack. To locate a message from two years ago you have to adjust the scrollbar position until you find it. Yeah of course, you can search for it as well, but that's another matter.

That's three examples which illustrate how to use "time machines" in our most popular applications. They might seem very obvious and natural since you're used to them. But think how nice it would be to reduce the number of ways to navigate over time. Maybe to a single one. A time navigator which is context sensitive and adapts to the current application and it's own time representation.

Hey Mr DJ!

Have you ever visited a really fancy night club? With the coolest, the most good looking people. But there is one guy at the place who is cooler than the rest. He's often standing in a corner by himself. Looking very serious. He is Mr DJ. At least he thinks he's cooler than the rest. But really, he controls the place. He makes people dig, he makes people dance. So why do we need Mr DJ? Wouldn't be easier to put a tape recorder in a corner? No. The rhythm and beats have to be unchanged when switching songs. The change must be seamless. So how does he do it? He has some important tools. Two turntables and his headphones. Right? One of the turntables is playing the current song. The other one is used for the next song to come. With his headphones he controls the transition between the two songs. He adjusts the position of the needle on the second record until both songs are in sync. Then releases the second song to the sound system. In an earlier post I tried to argue for a round all-in-one mobile device, just for the sake of it. And how you might could navigate through your messages and content over time using the clock metaphor. Think about it. Mr DJ's turntable is exactly that. It's a circle that navigates over time. Spinning the record back and forth is a Time Machine to find tracks and tunes. Wouldn't it be cool to be in control like Mr DJ? Spinning the circle, finding your messages and content over time? Being cool, controlling your own club - your mobile device, at ease.

Shape - The round mobile device (discs)

One advantage with a round all-in-one mobile device would be the ability to load media content from discs such as CD:s, DVD:s, Blu-ray etc. Just insert the disc into your device, and you're ready to consume the media content. Just like an ordinary portable CD player. I guess you could have a disc player in a rectangular device as well. But the round one would be optimal when it comes to minimization of a device's size.

Shape - The round mobile device

I have to start somewhere. Why not explore shapes? So, in the name of being exhaustive, lets start with the circle. Why would you need a round mobile device? I don't know. It sounds ridiculous, I know. But think of it this way: If the human race faced extinction unless we all used round mobile devices, then what would we do? Create one of course! How would it work? Are there any advantages with a round mobile devices compared to a rectangular one? Let's see...What other things are round? Well, the clock of course. Lets take a look at the clock.

It measures time. It's a metaphor we're very used to. Time goes round and round. A day is a single rotation of earth with respect to the sun. How could we apply this metaphor to a round mobile device? Well, the obvious answer is the ordering of things by time. All of our applications today such as the e-mail inbox, the SMS messages received to our cell phone, uses a list. The last message received comes at the top of the list. It's a stack of messages. It works quite well. Can you beat the list? What if you could steer the circle somehow using your finger to move in time back and forth among your messages. On the outside frame of the device? Inside the device, like an Ipod? What if a certain span of the circle would represent a time unit such as a day or a week. So, in order to find all messages from one week ago, you would rotate the circle the same distance as you would to find other messages from one month ago. The circle would just be in different "period modes", such as the "week mode". Maybe this circle steering could produce narrower lists, such as all messages two weeks ago? But would that beat the list we're used to? I don't know. But it might work better for other types of messages we will receive everyday. Maybe the switching between "period modes" will be difficult to manage. But I guess it could be done. The idea of a round mobile device needs to mature in my head and explored even further . It may not be convenient to have a round thing in your pocket. But on the other hand, who says we have to carry our mobile devices in our pockets? To be continued...

Prologue

Welcome! In this blog I will try to think of how tomorrow's computers, the handhelds, will function and look like. This blog is about getting my thoughts out. Stupid or clever ones. No filtering. To be completely exhaustive. If you find one of my ideas interesting, don't hesitate to comment or add your own perspective and thoughts to it. I'll embrace them all.