Wonders of technology

We tend to take a lot of the things we regularly see for granted, and it is disturbingly true of technology where the complexity of their circuitry and the intricate workings of their few minute mechanical parts are comfortingly hidden from our eyes by thin plastic casings.

The level of sensitivity that the dial on an iPod must have without adversely impacting the durability of the product is astonishing. But the mechanical wonders of technology are far more apparent than their aesthetic delights.

Perhaps very few of the technological marvels in a computer is rendered invisible by their sheer elegance as the science – or art as some may argue – of User Interface (UI) design, especially Graphical UI (GUI). Even those of us who boast of how soon we learn to master computers and even specific applications are hardly capable of giving due credit – let alone appreciating – the countless thousands of hours that scientists of many disciplines including psychologists, doctors, sociologists and even anthropologists have spent (and of course the funds spent on them by software developers) to find out the optimal and most intuitive placement and organization of each image, colour, name and size of each button and menu on a computer application.
The latest and most prominent step in the evolution of GUIs has been the ribbon in Microsoft Office 2007.

Next week, we will reveal the story behind how it was developed, but in the meantime, share your views on UI design by writing to us at technopage@gmail.com

A Web office is a hosted application, with bundled tools that allow users to share and collaborate on a broad set of information and ideas such as documents, tasks, and calendars. At its most basic incarnation, a Web office is used for sharing information online and Web-based collaboration. Depending on the needs and size of the organization, other features may be important, such as integration with common word processing applications or more advanced communication tools and database applications.

A privacy statement is a web document found on a company or organization's Web site that details the type of personally identifiable information the company collects about its site visitors, how the information is used - including who it may be shared with - and how users can control the information that is gathered.

A report by the US Federal Aviation Administration had warned that passengers may be able to hack into the control systems of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet. The plane may have serious security vulnerabilities in its onboard computer networks, allowing passengers to get access to the plane's control, navigation and communication systems, according to US FAA documents that were quoted by wired.com two weeks ago. The vulnerability comes from having the plane's in-flight internet access computer system connected to the plane's flight-safety, control and navigation network. According to the FAA document, the design "allows new kinds of passenger connectivity to previously isolated data networks connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe operation of the airplane."

"Because of this new passenger connectivity, the proposed data-network design and integration may result in security vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane," the document states. A more secure design would be to separate the passenger and flight computer networks, wired.com reported. Boeing told the website it was aware of the issue and has designed a solution it will test shortly. The 787 Dreamliner mid-sized Jet is in the final stages of production and is scheduled to be released in late 2008.

Google Inc. may have plans to expand its search engine beyond static text. Google filed a patent application for technology mid last year - and published last week - that can recognize text in images. It could be used to retrieve text from video or from photographs. The company is seeking the patent for methods, systems and computer programs that can extract image text. For example, the application noted, the technology could search a collection of keywords extracted from text and retrieve an image associated with the extracted text.

The digital images that the technology aims to scout for text include illustrations of landscapes, people, urban scenes and other objects, according to the application. "Image text typically includes text of varying size orientation and typeface," the application noted. "Text in a digital image derived, for example, from an urban scene (a city street scene) often proves information about the displayed scene or location. A typical street scene includes, for example, text as part of street signs, building names, address numbers and window signs."

Duncan Riley, a blogger at TechCrunch, noted that if Google really has found a way to index text in static images and video, "this is a great leap forward in the progression of search technology. This will make every book in the Google Books database really searchable, with the next step being YouTube, Flickr and more."