interface

Three years ago, when Napster and Microsoft were close partners, Napster was one of several music stores whose interface was embedded in Windows Media Player 10. I tested it along with some other Windows Media-based stores, but I found the service hampered by a nearly unusable interface.… Read more

If you've been dying to give your Windows XP machine a Windows Vista makeover without the pain of upgrading, WindowBlinds' latest offering will probably seem like a gift from the interface fashion gods. Or, if you're into pain and you'd like to cover up that snazzy Vista interface with an XP look, you can do that, too.

Heck, you can even add a flaming-spewing, animated dragon if your desktop skin is crying out for some orc-love.

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There are many pundits who herald Apple for its "convergence strategy:" iTunes is on more than 300 million computers, Apple TV has been launched, and the iPhone has emerged as the most talked about new consumer electronic device in history and is expected to fuel the launch of more all-in-one gadgets from competing consumer electronic makers. Convergence is -- once again -- all the rage.

But what does convergence exactly mean? Let's try a very simplified overview. First of all, there is the media convergence between the worlds of telecoms, TV, Internet, and computing, including fixed-mobile convergence, … Read more

You might not believe me, but preparing paella is more complicated than using TweakVista.

Among the many criticisms of Windows Vista, one that even Microsoft's own engineers should agree upon, is that it's not easy to access essential system information. Stardock's TweakVista unifies all the bits and pieces that you might want to change under one circus tent, but TweakVista's interface is no chaotic circus.

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Some of the more interesting exhibits at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show are hidden up among the automotive equipment makers, such as this stealth touch interface by Siemens VDO. Although not implemented in any cars yet, Siemens VDO is showing it off as a concept. This black panel uses similar touch technology as the iPod, with no actual buttons. This example is an audio controller, and Siemens VDO demonstrated it with a USB drive, a docked iPod Nano, and a CD. You only have to brush your finger over any button to activate it. For volume, you slide your finger … Read more

Web design purists who favor simplistic pages like Google.com can take heart. A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed software that can measure the clutter of a page or map, and potentially point designers in a direction that's less eye-crossing.

Ruth Rosenholtz, principal research scientist in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), and her colleagues developed a mathematical model of what makes an object harder or easier to see in visual display. That model incorporates measures of an object's color, contrast and position on the page. The team then used it … Read more

Bluetooth developer Open Interface announced today that it has a new lossless audio codec that leaves the existing A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) standard in the dust. The codec is called SoundAbout Lossless and promises low-latency, low-complexity, multichannel Bluetooth audio, without compromising audio fidelity. Open Interface's Chief Operating Officer Rick Romatowski ran a demo of the new Bluetooth codec at our CNET offices last week, and we were definitely impressed. Jasmine France and I viewed a few scenes from House of Flying Daggers and were blown away by both the sound quality and the undetectable latency introduced by the … Read more

Less than a week after the iPhone was released, a group of dedicated individuals announced in a wiki this morning they have successfully unlocked the phone, potentially allowing the use of carriers other than AT&T.

The site and its various mirrors also plan to issue an Internet tool to "expand the functionality" of the device, perhaps later today. The site, which describes itself as "a place for people who want to make iPhone even more awesome than it is already out of the box," reminds those who want to try any these tasks that … Read more

It's an amazing thing to build a piece of software that is adored on an industry-wide scale, but the Spring Framework fits this bill. My own company uses it, and I bump into enterprise users daily. It's an exceptional project.

The founder of the project, and the man who has since built a company around it, is Rod Johnson, CEO of Interface21 I talked with Rod to glean his expertise in building a successful company from a successful project in this twentieth installment of the Open Source CEO Series.

Name, position, and company of executive Rod Johnson, CEO and Co-founder, Interface21, the provider of the leading Java application framework.… Read more