Fabian Hemmert: The shape-shifting future of the mobile phone

Translator: Evridika Cuder Reviewer: Sašo Braz

I am a PhD student.

Sem doktorski študent

And that means I have a question:

kar pomeni, da imam vprašanje.

How can we make digital content graspable?

Kako lahko digitalne vsebine naredimo oprijemljive?

Because you see, on the one hand, there is the digital world

Kajti

na eni strani je digitalni svet, v katerem

and no question, many things are happening there right now.

se trenutno gotovo dogaja veliko stvari.

And for us humans, it's not quite material, it's not really there --

Ta svet ni materialen in za nas ljudi ni popolnoma resničen.

Je virutalen.

it's virtual.

Na drugi strani pa ljudje

On the other hand,

we're humans, we live in a physical world.

živimo v fizičnem svetu.

It's rich, it tastes good, it feels good, it smells good.

Ta svet je bogat, ima dober okus, lepo diši.

So the question is:

Vprašanje je: kako digitalni svet

How do we get the stuff over from the digital into the physical?

prenesti v fizičnega?

That's my question.

To je moje vprašanje.

If you look at the iPhone with its touch

Če na primer pogledate, kako se iPhone odziva na dotik

and the Wii with its bodily activity,

in Wii na telesno aktivnost,

you can see the tendency; it's getting physical.

lahko vidite tendenco: prilagaja se fizičnemu svetu.

The question is: What's next?

Vprašanje je: kako naprej?

Now, I have three options that I would like to show you.

Imam tri odgovore, ki bi vam jih rad pokazal.

The first one is mass.

Prvi je masa.

As humans, we are sensitive to where an object in our hand is heavy.

Ljudje občutimo

težo predmeta v naših rokah.

So could we use that in mobile phones?

Bi se dalo to uporabiti pri mobilnih telefonih?

Let me show you the weight-shifting mobile.

Naj vam pokažem telefon, ki spreminja težo.

It is a mobile phone-shaped box

To je škatlica v obliki telefona

that has an iron weight inside, which we can move around,

z železno utežjo v notranjosti, ki jo lahko premikamo.

and you can feel where it's heavy.

Lahko čutimo, kje je škatlica najtežja.

We shift the gravitational center of it.

Premikamo njeno gravitacijsko središče.

For example, we can augment digital content with physical mass.

Na primer, količino digitalne vsebine lahko povečamo

s fizično maso.

So you move around the content on the display,

Vsebine lahko premikamo po ekranu

but you can also feel where it is just from the weight of the device.

in hkrati čutimo, kje so, zaradi teže naprave.

Another thing it's good for is navigation.

Dodatna prednost je, da je naprava primerna za navigacijo.

It can guide you around in a city.

Lahko vas vodi po mestu.

It can tell you by its weight,

Teža vam lahko narekovala:

"OK, move right. Walk ahead. Make a left here."

"Ok, premakni se desno. Hodi naprej. Tukaj zavij levo."

And the good thing about that is,

Dobro pri tem je, da ti ni treba ves čas gledati naprave,

you don't have to look at the device all the time;

oči imaš proste za opazovanje mesta.

you have your eyes free to see the city.

Masa je torej prva stvar.

Now, mass is the first thing --

the second thing, that's shape.

Druga stvar je oblika.

We're also sensitive to the shape of objects we have in our hands.

Občutimo tudi obliko predmetov, ki jih imamo v rokah.

Če si naložite e-knjigo, ki ima 20 strani --

So if I download an e-book and it has 20 pages --

well, they could be thin, right?

lahko so tudi tanke, kajne --

But if it has 500 pages, I want to feel that "Harry Potter" --

toda, če ima knjiga 500 strani, bi radi začutili "Harry Potter" težo.

it's thick.

Debela knjiga.

(Laughter)

So let me show you the shape-changing mobile.

Naj vam pokažem telefon, ki spreminja obliko.

Again, it's a mobile phone-shaped box,

Zopet imamo škatlico v obliki mobilnega telefona.

and this one can change its shape.

Tale lahko spreminja obliko.

We can play with the shape itself.

Lahko se igramo z obliko.

For example, it can be thin in your pocket,

Na primer, v žepu je lahko tanka,

which we of course want it to be.

saj nam tako najbolj ustreza,

But then if you hold it in your hand, it can lean towards you, be thick.

če pa jo imamo v rokah, se lahko razširi proti nam.

It's like tapered to the downside.

spodnji del je tanjši.

If you change the grasp, it can adjust to that.

Če spremenimo prijem, se temu prilagodi.

It's also useful if you want to put it down on your nightstand

Uporabna je tudi za gledanje filmov na nočni omarici

to watch a movie or use as an alarm clock.

ali kot stoječa budilka.

It stands.

It's fairly simple.

Je precej preprosta.

Another thing is,

Naslednja stvar je,

sometimes we watch things on a mobile phone

da včasih na mobilnih telefonih gledamo vsebine,

that are bigger than the phone itself.

ki so večje kot sam telefon.

In that case -- like here, there's an app

V tem primeru -- kot tukaj, kjer imamo aplikacijo, ki je večja od ekrana --

that's bigger than the phone's screen --

ti oblika telefona lahko pove,

the shape of the phone could tell you,

"OK, off the screen, right here, there is more content.

"Ok, izven ekrana je več vsebine.

Ne vidiš je, ampak je tam."

You can't see it, but it's there."

Lahko pa jo čutiš, saj je tisti rob debelejši.

And you can feel it, because it's thicker at that edge.

Oblika je druga stvar.

The shape is the second thing.

The third thing operates on a different level.

Tretja stvar deluje na drugi ravni kot prvi dve.

As humans, we are social, we are empathic,

Ljudje smo socialna bitja, čutimo z drugimi ljudmi

and that's great.

in to je super.

Wouldn't that be a way to make mobile phones more intuitive?

Kaj ne bi morali biti tudi naši telefoni bolj čuteči?

Think of a hamster in the pocket.

Pomislite na hrčka v žepu.

Well, I can feel it, it's doing all right. I don't have to check it.

Lahko čutim, da je z njim vse v redu, ni mi treba preverjati.

(Laughter)

Dovolite mi, da vam pokažem živi mobilni telefon.

Let me show you the living mobile phone.

Zopet škatlica v obliki telefona.

So, once again, a mobile phone-shaped box.

But this one, it has a breath and a heartbeat,

Toda tale lahko diha in ima srčni utrip.

and it feels very organic.

Občutimo jo kot zelo organsko.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Kot vidite, je trenutno sproščena.

And you can tell, it's relaxed right now.

O ne, neodgovorjen klic, nov klic,

Oh, now -- missed call, a new call,

mogoče je vaša nova punca.

new girlfriend, maybe -- very exciting.

Zelo razburljivo.

(Laughter)

How do we calm it down?

Kako lahko telefon pomirimo?

You give it a pat behind the ears,

Tako, da ga pobožamo za ušesi

in vse je spet v redu.

and everything is all right again.

That's very intuitive, and that's what we want.

Tako, to je polno občutij in tisto, kar hočemo.

So what we have seen are three ways to make the digital graspable for us.

Kar smo videli, so trije načini, ki

poskušajo narediti digitalni svet bolj oprijemljiv.

In to, da postane bolj naraven

And I think making it physical is a good way to do that.

je po mojem mnenju pravi način.

What's behind that is a postulation,

Za vsem tem se skriva trditev,

namely, not that humans should get much more technical in the future;

da bi morali

ljudje v prihodnosti postati bolj tehnična bitja.

rather than that, technology, a bit more human.

Raje kot to naj

tehnologija postane bolj človeška.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)