Cold Constructs Blog

An instant improvement for any software interface would be a new quasimode that allows structural manipulation of the application when activated.

In other words, by pressing say a Function key and holding it down, the application in focus would switch to a mode where the user can resize the window, rearrange buttons or even add new ones or delete others, and so on. When the user is done editing the interface with his mouse, he simply lets go of the Function key and normal operation continues. It should be made clear what can be edited (but un-editable items remain unchanged), such as new icons that tell a user the that the edges of the application can be resized. Those icons themselves could be used to grab and stretch the application whichever way they indicate is possible.

This is to keep the user from accidentally altering the face of a program.

Introducing the TactaPad. Use your computer in the most natural way possible - with your fingers. Check out these demos to see what I mean.

This should be the new standard input device for all desktops and (hopefully) computing devices. There are new display technologies available that are flexible and thin, so I’m sure one of these could be put under it and work just as well, but you might run into problems when you don’t know exactly where your finger will fall. Nevertheless, in its present form it is still exponentially better than a mouse or stylus.

Snatched from WorldChanging:

It may not be getting many headlines just yet, but H5N1 — Avian Flu — is likely to be one of the bigger stories of the next few years. There are signs that H5N1 is becoming easier to transmit from person to person. As a result, Dr. David Nabarro, heading up the UN’s response to the Avian Flu, has projected the very real possibility of 150 million people dying this winter from an Avian flu pandemic.

Awareness of H5N1 is not enough, in and of itself, to prevent a pandemic. It is, however, a necessary step.

Be sure to add Flu Wiki to your regular online haunts, and here are some other useful Avian Flu-related resources:

# Basic Scientific Information
# The Coming Influenza Pandemic? Blog
# H5N1 Blog
# New Scientist round-up of Avian Flu information
# Preparing for the Coming Influenza Pandemic (PDF), by Dr. Grattan Woodson