Altia GUIs “on Display” at ESEC 2012

May 14th, 2012 by Cheryl Falk No comments »

Last week, Altia was back on the road – joining our distributor, CATS Co. Ltd., for the 15th Annual Embedded Systems Expo (ESEC 2012) at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, Tokyo Big Sight in Japan. We were joined by an impressive list of companies from across the embedded systems landscape.

Check out these photos of Altia’s User Interface Engineering tools on display at ESEC 2012.

 

Altia User Interface Engineering tools showcased at the 15th Annual Embedded Systems Expo in Toyko, Japan.

Altia's graphical user interfaces displayed on a PC and on demo hardware boards.

Altia's Hironobu Takei discusses graphical user interfaces with a booth visitor at ESEC 2012.

 

 

Wrong, Sir, wrong! You CAN Innovate Like Apple

May 3rd, 2012 by Steve Tengler No comments »
Golden Apple

My proposed author-inspired Apple Idol. From http://i21.ebayimg.com/02/i/001/9d/69/dda8_3.JPG

I recently read an article entitled, “You Cannot Innovate Like Apple” and I’m appalled. It would seem Alain Breillatt, the author, is ready to erect a golden apple idol at the base of Mount Product-Sinai and worship the false god of Apple. “We are not worthy,” he essentially says in the midst of detailing the unique processes in Cupertino. Yes, later in the article he attempts to inspire the author with a yellow-brick-road-to-success, but this comes after demoralizing pronouncements that you cannot get there from here.

My retort: Apple failed and then Apple succeeded. Their failures have been well documented, and they have had successes based upon the vision of a few. Was that a magical roulette wheel that landed on the green 00 a couple of times, or was that a passionate genius that briefly sparkled and flared out. Only time will tell that.

Where the article was correct:

READ MORE >>

WEBINAR | Becoming User-Centered: Recruit, Test and Iterate Your Embedded GUI

April 18th, 2012 by Jesse Marble No comments »

WEBINAR  Becoming User-Centered: Recruit, Test and Iterate Your Embedded GUI

Tuesday, April 24th, 1:00-2:00 PM EDT

It’s commonly held wisdom within the user experience (UX) community to test and refine your interfaces with real users. However, recruiting and managing the usability testing process is where many organizations fall flat. The strategy is understood but execution is poor. Results are skewed, outcomes are weak, and the product suffers.

Steve Tengler, Altia’s User Experience Director, will use research, best practices, and his 20+ years in the usability field to dig into this exact question during our upcoming one hour webinar. Register now to learn and share in a discussion about:

  • The “uncentered” design of today
  • Internal recruitment – the pros and cons
  • Advice for outside recruiting
  • Time to test – a model (on hardware) is best!
  • Making the most of user feedback

No matter where you are in your embedded GUI development cycle – if you want to deliver a winning UX to your new product, please join us for this important event!

Altia Talks Key to Product and UX Success with Embedded News

April 5th, 2012 by Cheryl Falk No comments »

The team at Embedded News caught up with Altia’s President, Peter Abowd, at embedded world 2012, and they sat down to interview him about the growth in embedded displays – especially in new areas like fitness, home appliance and medical devices. What challenges are these companies new to embedded displays facing? Peter weighs in – giving his recommendations for the best approach for user interface development and explaining how Altia helps these user interface development teams get a great user experience into production on their next product.

Here’s the interview. Enjoy!

Is Apple falling behind? The future of multiple input modalities

April 2nd, 2012 by Peter Abowd No comments »

apple user interface user experience UI GUI HMI UX–Peter Abowd is Altia’s President. –

A recent article in EE times asks the question “Is ‘vision’ the next-gen must-have user interface?”  Sure, you can control your device via touch, but what about other inputs such as voice, vision or “mental telepathy”? The article argues that Apple has made great strides for touch, but isn’t bringing new technologies to market that feature other innovative inputs.

READ MORE>>

#DESIGNwest and the Chevy volt

March 30th, 2012 by Jason Williamson No comments »

The new Chevy Volt made an appearance at the 2012 DESIGNwest conference in San Jose. It actually snuck up on me, it’s so quiet.

A couple other relevant articles include teardowns of the Chevy Volt at DESIGNwest 2012.

http://www.driveforinnovation.com/chevy-volt-teardown-design-west

http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=240499

Altia on the road…and land, sea and air!

March 28th, 2012 by Jason Williamson No comments »

We’re on theRYNO motors with touchscreen GUI road again! Today, we’re taking some time away from DESIGN West (formerly ESC Silicon Valley) to attend Electric Vehicles Land, Sea & Air USA 2012 at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in San Jose, California.

It’s exciting to be here to take part in big picture discussion inspired by keynotes from BMW, Daimler, Toyota, Phoenix International, Pipistrel, iRobot and other bold industry innovators. Though the show is small, the electric vehicle technologies at its center are a huge deal. The exhibition hall is chock full of impressive companies who are poised to take “green” to the next level – bikes, batteries, motor cycles, large vehicles and much more.

Even better? The products on display are fun! So far, my favorite has to be this RYNO Motors concept scooter. Here’s Chris Hoffman, CEO of RYNO Motors, posing for us on his single-wheeled electric ”dream bike”.

Stay tuned to our blog for updates from DESIGN West. Make sure to follow us on Twitter, too, for our live commentary at the show. @AltiaHMI

2012 HMI Report is now available from Telematics Update

March 14th, 2012 by Cheryl Falk No comments »

Telematics Update, the reference point for telematics, mobile and web industries and a cornerstone for communications within the automotive industry, has just released their 2012 Human Machine Interface Report: “Develop a Winning HMI Strategy for the Connected Car to Enhance User Experience and Create Product Differentiation”.

Altia’s User Experience Director, Steve Tengler, sat down with Andrew Tolve, Deputy Editor at Telematics Update, to talk about the difficulties that telematics suppliers and OEMs face when differentiating their brand in the HMI market. Click the link to hear what Steve has to say about balancing software development cycles with design to build a unique and successful HMI business model.

The HMI Report will address this topic and others related to HMI, including:

  • HMI Market Forecasts to 2016
  • Leading OEMs Do’s & Don’ts
  • Mitigating Driver Distraction
  • Regulatory Trends
  • HMI and Connected Car Technology Roadmap

Dave McNamara, former Advanced Infotainment Systems Manager at Ford and report author (with more than 30 years of experience in this field) collected data from an impressive collection of automotive OEMs and suppliers, including Ford, Honda, Volvo, Toyota, Panasonic, Delphi, OnStar, Altia and more to compile the latest information on HMI design, implementation, driver distraction, legislation and market trends. The report will also include detailed case studies from Apple, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Garmin and others.

For more information, visit the 2012 HMI Report Page from Telematics Update.

electronic displays Conference 2012 Keynote Presented by Altia

March 8th, 2012 by Cheryl Falk No comments »

We wanted to share this great “action shot” of our own Peter Abowd delivering his keynote, “Converge User Interface Vision and Hardware Capability – A Systemic Approach”, at electronic displays Conference 2012.

Peter Abowd addresses audience at electronic displays Conference 2012.

The conference took place from Wednesday, February 29 – Thursday, March 1, running in parallel with embedded world 2012 in Nuremburg, Germany.

 

Webinar – Usability: Design for the Novice or the Expert?

March 6th, 2012 by Jesse Marble No comments »

Webinar-novice-expert-usability-user-experience

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usability: Design for the Novice or the Expert?

Thursday, March 15th, 2012
1:00-1:30 EST

 

 

Building user interfaces that appropriately fit the needs of different audiences can be difficult. How do you present all the available functionality and depth and keep the design simple and intuitive at the same time? User experience professionals typically boil it down to one simple question — should I design for the Novice or the Expert?

Steve Tengler, Altia’s User Experience Director, will use research, best practices, and his 20+ years in the usability field to dig into this exact question during our upcoming 30 minute webinar. Register now to learn and share in a discussion about:

  • The uncentered design of today
  • Designing for the Novice
  • Key considerations about “for whom do you design?”
  • Building effective use cases

Whether you are a Novice or Expert to user interface development, we invite you to join us for this important event!