Hipster at http://www.hipster.mobi is in Beta – the Web version works. The mobile version which is its primary target should be out in January – it was completed first but delayed due to iTunes shutting down over the holidays (but that is okay).
Hipster lets you post pics of hipster sightings and tag-vote other people’s pics.
So come on in and try it out – just a fun free thing – no pressure. But please, if you know of someone who would like to partake, pass them the URL.
http://www.hipster.mobi – iOS, Android, BB10, Windows M coming soon. Web is working now (Flash).
For the last while I have been prototyping mobile devices as medallions in a way to make wearable computing easy, affordable and practical today.
I have used iPods, iPhones, iPads, Galaxy Tabs as medallions hanging around the neck but my favourite size and device is the Blackberry Playbook. This is an excellent device with superb sound and screen – and is the perfect size for a medallion.
I am working on apps that let you express your mood, communicate, mesmerize and promote using simple gestures or grid based interfaces – which work as you wear. As far as I know, I am pioneering this technique. I have had dozens of people research for examples and have come up empty. Still to this day, there are no pictures of people doing this.
The odd thing is that I can do it with any existing device with a couple pieces of tape and a string in less than five minutes. That means you can do it too and along with the apps I will be launching will come instructions.
My prototypes also include pockets with plastic or cut out areas to see the screen of the devices as well as packs, headbands, sashes, pouches, etc. There have been arm bands to hold devices but the purpose has always been individual usage. With Medallions, etc. the purpose is to communicate with others.
Touchy, the mobile game from Dan Zen will be featured in a short segment on CBC’s Dragon Den on January 18th, 2012 at 8PM.
Touchy – visit http://touchy.mobi – is available on the Apple iTunes store and Android Market. It is a social game where players physically try to touch each others’ mobile screens. So it is a game of reaching and protecting – with shrieks of laughter!
Arlene and Robert play Touchy on Dragons' Den
Arlene and Robert laughing after a game of Touchy
The pitch went well – but I was called in the day after a three day conference with late parties each night and this was just after a long open house – after I stopped talking, I could hardly get my mouth open – all I could do was nod and smile! Oh well – Inventor Dan Zen.
Touchy Inventor Dan Zen on Dragons' Den CBC
We would love your help getting Touchy out to the people – please check out the game on iTunes and Android Market – just search for Touchy – links are available at http://touchy.mobi, leave a review and tell anyone who you think would like to play – it is hard getting the message out to the youth – the primary market.
If you are interested in getting involved in an upcoming Touchy Tournament – find us on facebook and leave a message on the Wall – http://facebook.com/touchymobi – all the best!
Dan Zen has just launched three mobile apps on iOS, Android and Playbook. The apps were made efficiently with Adobe Flash and Flash Builder. Just search the stores for the apps by Dan Zen.
TITLE: SWOODLE
BUILD: 2 Nights
DESC: Swoodle to hone your finger tai chi!
TITLE: WAVY!
BUILD: 1 Night
DESC: Wave your device to make sounds!
TITLE: TADA!
BUILD: 10 Nights
DESC: Decision and Faves tool.
The apps were uploaded to the three stores in one hour. This is amazing cross device efficiency from Adobe Flash and Flash Builder.
Dan Zen is the creator of TOUCHY the mobile app where players try to touch each others’ devices.
There has been a lot of buzz about how Adobe has “Killed Flash on Mobile”. This is not true.
Flash on mobile is being focused to make APPS. Adobe will focus on HCJ (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) for mobile browsers.
The current Flash plugin is still supported on mobile including security updates so any legacy content on mobile devices will continue to work. Adobe will not be developing future plugin versions on mobile.
BACKGROUND
In general, the mobile browser is for looking at things and mobile apps are for doing things. Flash is great for making apps. HCJ is fine for presentation and animation on the browser. Flash would have been fine as well if you discount legacy pages that were not designed for mobile and of course if all platforms supported it.
Flash remains on browsers on desktop and if indeed the plugin architecture fades on desktop, there is AIR for desktop apps which will support Flash. Also, there are experiments in streaming Flash interactive content to browsers without the use of plugins which would be ready I am sure by any demise of desktop/laptop browser plugins. Below is a link to some excellent Flash experiences should you need a more positive reminder of what we can build.
Quickly and easily rank options with Tada! Enter items to rank like sites, apps, people, food and rate them on factors such as usability, fun, nose, taste, etc. When you are done rating press to reveal the results!
Save multiple files, do secret rankings, and get tips if you are stuck. Helps solve dilemmas in a real way as opposed to a random way. A few presses and Tada!
Available on the Android Market and soon for Playbook and iPad.
Have fun! Tada! was used to come up with the name for the product.
Here we look at inventing for a medium (and we define a medium) and see some examples. Topics include: chat, facebook, social media, mixes and mashes, Tapoll, Focuso, comment activism, parties, aliens, groups, Flash, feathers, interfaces, Snipisode, story telling, playing Touchy, mobile, iphone apps, Nodism, hierarchies, the environment, mediums, and McLuhan. Come on by and have a read!
TouchyTV has launched at http://touchy.tv with three episodes. Kayla and Alex commentate on games of Touchy.
Host Blip.tv shows the episodes one after the other with a slight delay or you can roll over the bottom of the video for a navigation.
Touchy is the mobile mediated game where you try and touch other players’ screen but do not let them touch yours. It is an iPhone/iPod Touch game available on the Apple App Store for $0.99 – look for Touchy by Dan Zen.
The Touchy site is at http://touchy.mobi. There is also a facebook application to challenge friends to a Touchy Duel – see the facebook page at http://facebook.com/touchymobi and go to the Touchy Duel application tab.
Have fun and please help spread the word. From our testing, Touchy is a transformative game with old friends laughing a new – teens finally finding that social icebreaker – parents getting an update on the old wrestle. We thank you for being a Touchy Ambassador!
You and your friends, foes, yoga mates, family, competitors, party goers, etc. press the TOGETHER button at the same time and then try and touch each other’s targets. The Touch application records how long each target is touched and awards points at the end. Past scores and win-loss-ties are saved and totaled and an average is calculated.
WARNING – playing Touchy can easily result in minor injuries so play carefully – Dan Zen is not responsible for any damage to yourselves or your devices.
The first mobile app I created was “phone says” in 2001 where you have to do what the phone says no matter where you are…
This was an early example of a mobile mediated game. Touchy is another where the game is outside the mobile device but the device acts to enforce rules or some aspect of play.
Mediated means to sit in the middle. Like a medium. Mediated reality is made up of augmented reality and diminished reality. Augmented is when we add to reality like adding descriptions to shapes we recognize. Diminished is when we take away from reality such as removing advertisements.
I have been involved in hundreds of mobile prototypes all with the focus of multimedia pioneering to take the extra aspect of location in to account. I cannot recall coming across an application like Touchy. So simple a concept and execution – but very inventive none the less.
The implementation of the “Together” button avoids complex multiuser functionality. It allows for synchronous play much like the starting gun in a race. Yet as far as I can tell, this functionality has not been implemented in a mobile game. If you find an example, please let us know.
Now why not try Touchy – you will need to get some friends involved too!
A humorous look at current texting on mobile devices.
Possible variations:
We grow skinny thumbs
People fork long thumbnails
We wear pronged thimbles (thumbles)
Alternative Interfaces:
Mind Control – here now in early stages
Projected keyboards with IR or laser sensors
Keyers (three keys ala Steve Mann)
Scroll OLED touch screens (ScrOLED)
Guttural commands (mouth words)
Imagine we have a mobile device with hardware and software that can capture tilt (pitch, roll, yaw) and translation (x, y, z) motion. An accelerometer can more readily find tilt but a camera can find tilt and translation.
If hardware and software can leave this information in the format of a TiltML (Tilt Mark-up Language – XML based) then front-end software such as Flash can make use of the information as interface.
A simple example would be to look down on the mobile device and tilt the device to roll a ball through a maze.
A device can be looked at in either horizontal or vertical orientations. But there are a number of different ways these two orientations can be viewed. We will call these ways, modes. Here are six modes of interface:
MODE 1: Top View Tilt
Looking down or up at the device and tilting in pitch and roll. Rolling a ball through a maze.
MODE 2: Front View Tilt
Holding the device in front of you vertically and steering with yaw. A racing game where the device is like a steering wheel.
MODE 3: Top View Translation one Axis
Looking down and using one translation (y axis) as motion and tilt to steer. Walking or running creates motion in the game, pitch and roll or yaw to steer.
MODE 4: Front View Translation one Axis
Looking forward and moving forward causes forward motion in game (z axis). Walking, running or driving creates motion in game and then steering with yaw.
MODE 5: Top View Translation all Axes
Looking down and mapping out two or three dimensional space with translation and yaw. Finding virtual items in real space looking down (or up)
MODE 6: Front View Translation all Axes
Looking forward and mapping translation z plus pitch or roll to map real space. Avoiding obstacles or capturing items as you walk
Combining these modes leads to Full Space where the device acts as window to alternate virtual space in full 3D. Putting these devices in front of your eyes is a form of mediated reality where you can diminish or augment reality.
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Dan Zen 
Inventing for the Internet Part 2
October 20, 2010Just posted Inventing for the Web Part 2 (2006-2010) on the Inventor Blog as a continuation to the first part (1995-2015).
Here we look at inventing for a medium (and we define a medium) and see some examples. Topics include: chat, facebook, social media, mixes and mashes, Tapoll, Focuso, comment activism, parties, aliens, groups, Flash, feathers, interfaces, Snipisode, story telling, playing Touchy, mobile, iphone apps, Nodism, hierarchies, the environment, mediums, and McLuhan. Come on by and have a read!
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Tags:activism, aliens, app, chat, comments, environment, facebook, feathers, flash, focuso, groups, hierarchy, interfaces, iphone, mash, mcluhan, medium, mix, mobile, nodism, party, snipisode, social media, story telling, storytelling, tapoll, touchy
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