Continued with Rockmelt, the mobile version

RockMelt Mobile, The Demo Video by TechCrunch

Although I was not satisfied with Rockmelt desktop version because of the cluttered UI and following disturbance. Rockmelt iPhone version might change that experience into something different.

One thought here is that within the tiny display of a mobile phone, applications are not treated as "windows" as they were usually treated on the desktop computer. These mobile apps' UIs usually occupy the whole visible area and there were little efforts done for switching between "windows" (there might be also little space for any improvement). Therefore, the jumble functions of Rockmelt could be well utilized when only a application window can be served at once.

However, Rockmelt might face even more fierce competitions on mobile platforms since there are many uprising stars already such as Flipboard, Pulse, and Feedly.

Some thoughts about Rockmelt

Rockmelt is a social web browser which is based on core technology of Google Chrome web browser. Like another social web browser, Flock, which has been in the field quite some time, Rockmelt attempts to embody Facebook into the web browsing experience.

The interface of Rockmelt has several features. It has a chorme-like awesome bar that put link address and web search together. An additional search field that acts like Google Instant search. Moreover, the two columns next to the content frame reside a Facebook instant messager and aggregated feeds of all your social network feeds including facebook, twitter, and so on.

One interesting behaviour of Rockmelt is that you can see your friend log into Facebook instantly and arrange the favourtie list for instant messaging. Personally, I have never found chatting on Facebook can be any easier.

However, like its biological big brother, Flock (which also change to Chrome based technology). I think the problem of Rockmelt is presenting too many information at the same time. It did solve the questions of how to integrate Facebook nicely with web browsing experience. However, considering the use of day-to-day base, the interface and the user interaction of using Rockmelt is a little bit too much of distraction and a little bit less of concentration. Users could shift their visual focus frequently when friends log into Facebook and social feeds get updating. Eventually, That is the tough question for Rockmelt to solve if they are ambitiously trying to fight over other web browsers, name: chrome, firefox, explorer, safari, opera...

In conclusion, Rockmelt is still a nice alternative option if you just want to kill some time by surfing Internet. Otherwise, maybe the original browser of Chrome will still be your liable tool.

Where did Wallop go?

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="455" caption="image from Techcrunch"]

I am very curious about where did Wallop go? Did Microsoft just decide to snap it?

Back to 2005, I just had my first personal blog on some blog service platform for shortly several months. After some low-satisfaction moments with the service, I decided to move all the content to Blogger. The process was annoying and exhausting. It was basically just copy-paste. But after the moving, I did feel much comfortable of what Blogger was offering and got excited about the social media phenomenon. Well, I would totally laugh at that excitement when compare to what we have at present, twitter, facebook, foursquare, and a lot of more, uncountable social media services

Then I bumped into Wallop (I don't remember how I started to use it), a Microsoft-proclaimed blog service which heavily incorporate "the social aspect" by visually displaying all your blog activities, friends' activities, and some interrelationship between. Since Wallop can automatically import my blog's RSS feeds and display the content on its website, so I just decided to keep two weblogs running at the same time.

Like all other forgotten social networking website, after a while I just don't remember to log in Wallop anymore. Not until recently, I remember there was such a thing and decided to look out where it went.

Sadly, it seems Microsoft decided to end Wallop in 2007. The whole Wallop team/company went through organization restructuring and became an iPhone-accessory design company.

Microsoft social app co. Wallop rebrands as Coveroo
Coveroo

Wallop wasn't something very user friendly in services but it did have a fancy concept of why it should display visually what you and your friends are doing in social networking. That interface is still very fresh and inspiring even compare to what we have right now in 2010.

Well, I feel kind of ironic about the answer I found out. But all I can say is that "hope you have a good life in another world, Wallop." "And, try to take care of your new friends, discontinued Bloglines, Delicious, and maybe Flickr in the future."

Just finished my thesis

I started my master thesis last December, and approximately after one year I finally finished it. It was such a long journey. In fact, I was informed this opportunity of writing thesis for a Finnish company in the beginning of last summer. After the long waiting of meetings, writing the thesis plan, and looking for tutors, it eventually started in last December.

In a bright side, exclude summer vacations (Finnish companies have famous long summer vacation), my trip to Shanghai, and parents visiting Helsinki, I guess I wasn't out of the track that much.

Anyway, I couldn't be happier and more relieved to see my thesis has been completed. I even tried to crack a joke on my thesis when I was designing the book cover for it.

True story :)

That's it for year 2010!! I wish to explore more in life and in career in the coming year! Yup!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

New writing plan

I had just finished my thesis writing around two weeks ago. That's probably the heaviest writing tasks I have ever done (even compared to all different Chinese articles I wrote in the past).

I started to write on blogs in Chinese since 2004, and I'm always thinking of writing some of my thoughts in English as well. However, this idea has never been realized.

To celebrate that I'll receive my master degree in Industrial and Strategic Design from Aalto university in the coming season. I'm going to realize this long waiting wish. (Well, in another hand, it's also because I'm much more comfortable to write in English now.)

So, two main ideas in this new writing plan. First, I will try to write new post at least once a month. Second, the main focus of this blog (compared to my Chinese blog site) will be design, no matter from industrial design field, design thinking, or interface/interaction design. I will try to cover the subjects I'm interested in in each post with a little personal thought and try to avoid introduction/newsletter style writing.

All right, let's start from here.

This week's favorite interface design findings

Facebook new profile
Blogger new edit interface.

Learnings from Lecture of Esa Saarinen

Esa Saarinen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Facebook | Aalto Social Impact

Esa Saarinen is a famous philosopher in Finland. He is currently a professor at Helsinki University of Technology.

My friend say he might be the relative of famous Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen.

Today's topic is "inspiration, motivation and meaningful things in life"

In his speech, there are seven elements he think that construct what we have become and in what kind of situation we are at the moment. These seven elements are also the key points that could turn ourselves become what we might want to become. They are micro-behaviours, leverage points, big picture, expectations, non-obivious, attitude, up-lifted.

Before these, he is talking about he trying to bring this style of speech, tender but dynamic.

Micro-behaviours means the micro scale interaction between you and the others. Everyone has certain rules when he/she encounters social situation, but the rules wasn't a must-obey one. What brings interests is when people didn't follow their rules and why they don't. What create the good things out of micro-behaviors are still the tacit respect and encouragement to the others.
Leverage points means that: think of a person's life span. There is always an important point for himself. And the outcome of a leverage point always somehow define what we are and where we are at the moment.
But all these things will happen still align to some Big Pictures, how much gift (talents) we have shown (pursue), and how much we haven't shown (pursue).
Then it leads to the question of what are our expectations and how they affect our life. We could expect more then what really happens and vice versa. And it definitely affects how we handle the situation and opportunities.
It influences how we choose between obvious and non-obvious choices. Quite many times we don't know how the non-obvious can be helpful or significant to our life. But back to the leverage points, it quite often is a non-obvious situation.
So how is our attitude to the life become important here. How we face the difficulties of obvious and non-obvious. Are we always somehow "holding back" because the mixing effect of expectation?
can't remember what is about up-lifted

He also talks about naivete. Somehow this word contains negative meanings. But think about those successful people, didn't they always hold some level of naivete inside their mind that brings the power of trying to achieve the aspired goals?

In the end he talked about couple of interesting things. How to have balancing act? Our focus should be trying to grow, to compete against our own possibilities and opportunities. Think and re-think about that life is an axis, what is happening on this axis now and then.

reference:

• Amazon.com: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (9781400062751): Carol Dweck: Books
  
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9OlmPyjsNU
  Muhammad Ali @ Atlantic Olympic 1996
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYHguBEXkac
  Michael Jackson Earth Song
  
• Maailman ihanin tyttö
  Miina Savolainen's photography project