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Diagrams from Apple’s leaked patents for a multi-touch tablet give us a glimpse into some interesting new developments in the evolution of touch UIs.

Some of the cool elements include iPhone-like scroll wheels and lots of touch-and-zoom experiences.

But perhaps most interesting is the full-screen QWERTY keyword. It will be interesting to see how Apple implements this feature. As an iPhone user, I find typing on the screen to be difficult–mostly because of the lack of tactile response. I wonder how this will play out on a more expansive interface with full-sized keys.

I’ve been working on a new research concept and prototype that will illustrate some future directions of search engines. New emerging technologies like the semantic web, RDF, the mobile web, and social media may open up unprecedented opportunities for controlling the ebb and flow of information. This control will be enhanced and increased as more powerful UI platforms like Adobe Flex and MS SilverLight continue to evolve. Accessing the WWW may become more akin to operating a customized application GUI than the linear browsing behavior we see today.

Key issues:

• So what will this new search/information retrieval look like?
• How will our web browsing experience change?
• How can users design a search experience? What types of tools and UIs will they need to manipulate and customize their information?

These are questions I’ll be addressing with the team at RDVO. More coming soon, and any interesting ideas or links would be helpful!

There are some insane developments in the works in Dubai.

According to World Architecture News, a concept will soon be revealed for the Ziggurat, a carbon-neutral super structure that could house over 1 million residents all connected with a public transit system that runs both horizontally and vertically. New energy management technologies enable the entire pyramid to be self-sustaining and completely off the grid.

While a structure like this is clearly decades away, many of the technologies and concepts have been patented and are in development. Is this a glimpse into the (not too distant) future?

iPhone users are finding lots of little tricks and shortcuts. It’s strange that Apple doesn’t publish a complete user’s manual…

Taking screenshots is easy. Just hold down the home button and press the sleep button. The screenshot is stored in your camera role. Very useful!

More iPhone tips.

Every once in awhile you see a presentation that just makes you say “wow”.

Alan Cooper’s keynote address at the Agile2008 Conference, titled The Wisdom of Experience presents a deeply insightful perspective the software development process.

The presentation starts by painting a clear, broad picture of the software development landscape and then dives deeper into the development process. His main premise is that the Agile Methodology is the best (and only) way to effectively implement modern software projects because it facilitates true collaboration between engineers and interaction designers.

We try to use the Agile Methodology on all of our development projects at RDVO. I think we’re one of the few agencies that have embraced this approach–the majority of interactive design firms still use the broken Waterfall Model as their core implementation process. We’ve found that Waterfall essentially sets you up to fail. A reason most agencies embrace it is because it’s much easier to “sell” to clients. Go figure.

So back to Cooper…not only is the subject matter of the presentation important, he is a master of medium. The presentation is perfectly organized and executed. While it would have been interesting to watch the presentation, the main points are clearly organized in the speaker notes.

There has been a lot of talk about the Steve Jobs presentation style, and how all business presentations should follow his model. As great as “Jobsian” presentations are, they also have a lot to do with his subject matter. While this may sound nice, the vast majority of business presentations simply need more “meat” to be relevant. I think that Cooper’s presentation provides a perfect happy medium.

Some more good news from RDVO…we were recently awarded with an Outstanding Achievement Award from the IMA.

We won for work we did for the Gillette Young Guns website. Congrats to both the awesome team at RDVO and our great clients at Gillette and P&G.

As much as I’m enjoying my new iPhone 3G, I’ve been more than a little frustrated with it’s failings, like poor battery performance, software bugs, slow UI response, and the disappointing lack of speed from the 3G network.

While I’m not planning to go back to a Treo any time soon, in my opinion the iPhone has failed to live up its promise (or its hype). I just hope they keep the software updates coming.

Apple’s latest commercials taut the iPhone’s blazing speed. If you own one it’s hard not to get a little sick your stomach after watching it. Some guys made a real world versus ad comparison and posted it to YouTube…I’m sure you can imaging the results…

I’ve been doing some research on Web 3.0 and semantic search. There are a lot of exciting and groundbreaking new technologies emerging that could reinvent the Internet. It will become increasingly important for web marketers and digital strategists to stay on top of these advances—there are numerous communications and marketing applications.

One of these new technologies is the Friend of a Friend project, or FOAF. FOAF is an XML-based method for organization and cataloging the relationships between people’s profiles. By understanding the relationships between people, data, and relationships, FOAF attempts to build a uniform method for sharing the types of information users store on social networking websites like Facebook and LinkedIn. In fact, a great example of FOAF-like technologies is the “People You May Know” feature on Facebook.

The real promise of FOAF is to create a new data model that will suggest connections between people and—more interestingly—people and information.

Just imagine the value this type of data and intelligence could have to marketers and advertisers. Online ad targeting hasn’t evolved much in the last five years. Protocols like FOAF may be the catalyst to take online advertising to the next level. Imagine being able to target a campaign based on psychographics. Understanding how your target market operates on the web is one thing that FOAF can help to define.

Clearly there are issues with the technologies. Not only has adoption been slow and held back by the confusion and inherent geekiness that’s held back the growth of the semantic web. There are also many issues about security and data protection. Regardless, these technologies are on the move and it won’t be long until the possibilities seen with FOAF (and similar protocols like XFN and SIOC) are realized.

Anyone can create a FOAF profile. You can use a this wizard to create the file and upload it to your website.

The recent launch of Cuil.com and Microsoft’s acquisition of Powerset.com has piqued some new interest semantic search engines. To deliver on their promise, these new search tools must provide a new experience for search, integrating a number of new paradigms and experiences.

In preparation for a new project, I put together a quick presentation that compares design approaches for a number of prominent semantic search engines, including Powerset.com, Sindice.com, Cuil.com, Twine.com, and hakia.com. Specific attention was paid to general presentation, input methods, display or results, and categorical results approach.

Worth a look if you’re interested in semantic search.