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Does Gestural Computing Break Fitts’ Law?

Fitts’ Law has quantified human-computer interaction for decades. But is it still relevant in a post-GUI world?

You’ve probably never heard of Fitts’ Law, but if you’ve used a computer in the past 25 years, you’ve felt its influence. Fitts’ Law mathematically models how quickly you can point to something–whether it’s with your finger, or with a device like a mouse. It’s a foundational principle of human-computer interaction in the WIMP era–“windows, icons, menus, pointer”–pioneered by Xerox PARC and made mainstream by the original Macintosh. It says that moving a pointer a short distance to a large target is faster than moving a larger distance to a smaller target. This has a distinctly “no duh” flavor to it, but Fitts’ Law has many fascinating and subtle implications for GUI design. If you ever wondered why Apple puts its menu across the top of the screen (instead of anchoring menus to individual windows, like Microsoft does), Fitts’ Law is the reason.

Crackle Movies & TV updated with improved streaming support, new UI and more

Crackle is one of those apps that I've tried in the past but given the bugginess of the app, I always just gave up on. Now though, a new version has hit the scene and while the changelog is small, it packs quite a few nice additions that will hopefully make it an app myself and others actually want to keep installed on their devices. Here's what we're looking at for changes:

• Newly re-designed based on feedback from our 11 million mobile users
• Support for even more handsets and tablets
• Easier to find your favorite movies & shows
• Improved video quality
• Watch on your TV via HDMI out

Why the HDMI portion was never added before, I'll never know but it's there now and that's a good thing. The UI revamp is nice as well as it makes things a lot easier to find rather then having it all buried within the menus. I can't comment on the improved streaming but it's a welcomed addition that's for sure. Crackle has been updating their content recently as well, so now might a good a time as any to give it go if you've not done so already.

Upgraded Office web apps for iPad and Windows 8 are now out

Many users have been complaining that MS Office doesn?t exactly work smoothly on the iPad, but soon this dogma is going to be altered from its core. Microsoft has just announced it is going to release updates for its Web Office apps.

This means that Microsoft is trying to integrate itself into the world of tablets, a world that leaves keyboards behind and creates a universe based on touch gestures. The official Office blog post highlights in quite some detail how Microsoft struggled to design and build a version of Office that feels intuitive and easy to handle in a tablet environment.

The update brings some important changes in the user interface allowing users to touch certain previously ?obsolete? areas of the screen, without having to touch something else in the process. Microsoft now uses simple gestures like swipes, pinches, long taps or drags to allow users to go about their usual Office work without turning it into a frustrating struggle. The improved version also comes packed with updated menus, text selection facilities and larger buttons.

At the moment the tablet apps are quite experimental and Microsoft hasn?t set an official release date for them yet. What the software giant did announce is that the apps will work on the iPad as well as on the Windows 8 tablet. As far as Android tablets or BlackBerry?s PlayBooks there is no information available still.

By Radu

Source: Office Web Apps integrate touch support on iPad and Windows 8, brace us for an Office 2013 world — Engadget

Google Translate for Android updated to v2.5, offers several new features

The Google Translate app in the Play Store has an update waiting for you to install, and I suggest you install it soon because it offers some great new features.

Google Translate for Android updated to v2.5, offers several new features

The Google Translate app in the Play Store has an update waiting for you to install, and I suggest you install it soon because it offers some great new features.

How to use Motion gestures on the Galaxy S3

The Galaxy S3 breaks new ground in lots of areas; one of the ways this phone separates itself from the pack is with the use of Motion.

When you first turn on your Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) you may not immediately be aware of all the Motion capabilities as most of them are turned off by default. Once you begin to explore the Settings and menus you will find yourself opened up to quite an array of new ways to use this phone. 

Accelerometers and gyroscopes are not new anymore to mobile phones.  Anyone who as use their phone like a steering wheel in a racing game or taken advantage of a gyroscope in navigation software knows how cool this technology is.  Essentially, when a phone can sense movement and gravity it can do all sorts of things.

Samsung has really raised the bar in this technology with the Galaxy S3. In order to use all these cool new features, we need to know how to turn them on.

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Solid Explorer is the best looking Android file explorer around, and it may be the best overall soon [Beta App Review]

I’ve often overlooked ugly Android apps because they performed well enough. But as time passed and more apps emerged that are just as pretty as they are functional, it’s become hard to put up with apps that aren’t easy on the eyes. Solid Explorer has found that balance between beauty and power to quickly become my favorite Android file explorer, and it’s not even out of beta yet.

Solid Explorer is an Android 2.2+ app that looks incredible. The app features a white-to-gray gradient design with great icons and sensible menus that put the cluttered look of other apps to shame. There’s even a dark theme that looks just as good, and the ability to view by list, grid, or detailed list or grid. The interface then makes it easy to filter, organize, bookmark, or search to quickly locate items. And if you need to move a file, wait until you get a look at two-panel browsing.

Aside from the looks of Solid Explorer, the features are also beautiful. The app can read ZIP, TAR, and RAR archives, as well as create ZIP or TAR archives from the files stored on an Android device. Users can even connect the app to their box or Dropbox cloud storage. That makes it easy to manage files directly from Solid Explorer, enabling things like cut, copy, rename, delete, and open files.

Solid Explorer is still in beta, but its feature set is rock solid. The app is available for free in Google Play. Here are just a few more features supported, as well as quick video demonstration:

• Two independent panels for browsing
• Drag and Drop inside and between panels
• FTP, SFTP and SMB/CIFS clients
• File sharing via FTP
• Root access (file rooted devices)
• Indexed search, also available from the system (search for files from the Google Search widget/app)

Related Stories

• Flipboard for Android leaks and is available for download; here’s what it looks like
• Google Tasks Incredible is a gesture-based to-do list that’s like Clear for Android [Video App Reviews]
• Best Reading List Apps for Android: Pocket vs. Readability vs. Papermill vs. Pulse

Savored finds restaurants with great food and great deals with OpenTable/ZAGAT mix [App Reviews]

Hungry for a new app to tell you where to eat? What about an app that can find a quality restaurant and a tasty price at the same time? Well, then you should satisfy your cravings with Savored, an Android 1.6+ app that does both.

Savored is a partner of OpenTable and ZAGAT, and it acts as the happy medium between both services. The first stage of the app is telling Savored where you want to eat, filtered by neighborhood or an entire city; how many people are in a party, up to 18; and the time of your visit. The app then creates a list of venues capable of meeting your party’s needs.

Restaurant availability is determined by a link with OpenTable, but restaurant choices are made possible by ZAGAT ratings. Savored lists several restaurants and indicates pricing, as well as tips for time of day that can yield better discounts (push dinner to 9:30 PM instead of 8:00 PM and you can save 30 percent). ZAGAT ratings for food, decor, service, and cost then provide a snapshot of what kind of restaurant to expect.

Still not satisfied? Well, then read the “Why we love it” section to learn about a restaurant’s atmosphere and tips about the best dishes to order. The menu section has additional recommendations for appetizers and entrees, but menus aren’t available for all restaurants. Savored can then place a reservation as soon as you make a decision on where to grab your next meal.

Savored isn’t as robust as ZAGAT or OpenTable because it limits the number cities that are supported. That limitation, a very inconvenient if you aren’t in a big city, severely limits the app’s usefulness. However, the combination of the two popular restaurants services, with a dash of deal hunting as well, makes for a great app in select places. Download Savored from Google Play if you live or travel frequently to the following cities: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington DC.

Related Stories

• Flipboard for Android leaks and is available for download; here’s what it looks like
• Gate of Time offers a taste of Zelda through an Android live wallpaper [Video App Reviews]
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Android Central Editors’ App Picks for April 21, 2012

Each week we like to bring you some of the favorite applications we use regularly, and here we are again. Let's hit the break and check out what your favorite Android writers are using regularly, and be sure to let us know in the comments some of your favorites!

Sean Brunett – Goodreads (Free)

If you’re not familiar with Goodreads, it’s a social network for people who love to read and share books. The Android app is fantastic and I highly recommend it to anyone who is active on the site. With the app, you can search and review any of the books that are in the catalog (which is a lot!), view your stream and updates from friends or people you follow, view and edit your shelves, use the barcode scanner to scan your own books into the Goodreads shelves, and find more friends via your social networks. It’s a well designed app and it’s very functional. If you’re already on Goodreads, it’s a must and for anybody else not familiar, I’d suggest checking it out (if you like to read). [Google Play Link]

Alex Dobie – MX Player Pro ($5.62)

Video files come in all kinds of formats, and it can be frustrating when your phone or tablet simply refuses to recognize your content. Unless you're down with codecs and headers and all that stuff, it's not always easy to know what'll play and what won't.

Fortunately, MX Player is a media player app for Android that'll play just about anything you can throw at it. It includes optimizations for the most common Android hardware setups, including Tegra 2 and ARM NEON, as well as a variety of subtitle formats and full ICS support. This allows it to decode files through software that your phone's hardware decoder may not support.

If you're happy to view a small banner advertisement while you're navigating menus, you can grab the free ad-supported version. Alternatively, there's the ad-free MX Player Pro, which sells for £3.44 on Google Play. [Google Play Link]

Richard Devine – Photo Editor (Free)

We're not short on photo editing software on Android that's for sure. But this week I stumbled upon another simply titled Photo Editor. It comes free and ad supported, but you can purchase an ad free version.

So why do I like it? Because what it does it does very well. One touch I'm quite fond off is the ability to alter your photos using curves. There's also a wide range of tools for resizing, sharpening, drawing and text, frames and various filters and special effects.

Coupled with the camera on my new One X I've really been having a lot of fun with this. I'm no photographer, but for free this is a must try for anyone who likes to edit their phone taken photos on the go. [Google Play Link]

Jerry Hildenbrand – Real Silent (Free)

RealSilent is a nifty little tool that will tie the media volume mute function to the ringer and notification mute settings on your ICS phone. With stock Ice Cream Sandwich, when you drop the volume down via the volume rocker switch, it only affects the ringer and notification volume. I can see why it's done this way, and I can see why people would prefer it that way, but I like everything but the alarm to mute when I crank it down to zero. There's several solutions that do this that work great, but I'm happy to have found one that sits quietly out of the way, doesn't affect anything else, and works just the way I want it to work. You can set the app to work with both silent and vibrate mode, and it runs in the background as a very small service. It's free, and has no special permissions. Give it a look. [Google Play Link]

Chris Parsons – Marvel Comics (Free)

If you're into comics then the Marvel Comics app for Android is pretty much a no-brainer. You need it in your life. Whether it be to grab old back copies of comics you once had and have long since lost or if you're a new comic book fan and just want to start out digitally. The app is free, you're required to create a login and from there — you're off to the races. With plenty of free content available as well as paid downloads, it's easy to get caught up in the Marvel universe when using this app. [Google Play Link]

Kevin O'Quinn – 500px (Free)

Photography at its finest.  That's what you get with 500px.  It's a simple app, but it works really well.  On the left you have the navigation buttons, which are clearly labeled and easy to understand.  Every picture that you see is extremely well done.  Just about anything you want is available.  I find myself spending more time looking at random pictures than I'd care to admit, but these are all just so well done.  Swiping left and right will navigate through seemingly endless pages of pictures, none of which fail to amaze me.

You can log in to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and share directly from the app to those services.  Notable absent is Google+, which is a shame.  Another  improvement that I would like to see is support for pinch to zoom. Other than those two things the app is awesome.  Also, it's forgivable given that the app just came out the other day.  I'm sure we'll see some updates, and with those functionality is sure to improve. [Google Play Link]

Anndrew Vacca – TWC TV (Free)

This week, I finally splurged on something I’ve held out on for the past three years: cable TV. A necessity for most, cable was always my final holdout, until Time Warner introduced its live TV app for Ice Cream Sandwich. With the app, you can watch live television on any Android 4.0 smartphone or tablet, which means that though my TV is in the living room, I can watch most programs from anywhere in my house. As unnecessary as it may sound, I’m completely hooked. I watch the morning news while brushing my teeth, the evening news while taking a shower, and late night talk shows while falling asleep in bed. 

You’ll need at least the standard cable package from Time Warner (which runs around $50/month here in New York City) to use the app, and while the channel lineup is respectable, it isn’t quite as full as what you’ll get on your TV. Oh, and one small caveat: you need to be on your home Wifi network for the app to work, so don’t expect to watch TV while driving to work in the morning. Regardless of the few limitations, TWC TV works flawlessly, with nary a freeze up and quite impressive image quality. If you’re already a Time Warner customer, stop reading this immediately and grab the app from the Google Play store. Now. [Google Play Link]

First look: Tapatalk 2 beta

Tapatalk is a great way to browse forums from your Android phone, and the bar just got moved a notch or two higher with the beta release of Tapatalk 2. It's the same basic premise —  an app that connects to forums software (through a plug-in installed on the server) so it can deliver an experience optimized for mobile devices. You have controls designed to be easy to use, forum-specific menus and features that you just don't get from a web browser, and a bandwidth-saving U.I. that focuses on delivering content versus themes and other fluff designed to look good on a computer. 

Tapatalk 2 just does all this better. There also are a couple new features, namely an improved UI with multiple theme support, improved moderation tools, a nicer conversation style, and cloud-based account sync. Move past the bullet points and this means all the things you love about Tapatalk work better, look better, are faster and sync back to your phone when you reset the data on your phone. 

We know a lot (as in a lot) of people use Tapatalk to peruse the Android Forums here at Android Central. Tapatalk 2 is going to make all of us happy.  You'll love the new UI and theme options, forum moderators will love the new moderation options, crack-flashers will love the new sync option, and everyone will love how much faster it is. This is how you provide a major update — everything works just like you're used to it working, and the improvements make the entire experience better without any change in the way you use the app. If you spend any time on forums from your Android phone, you need to give this a try. After the break you'll find a bunch of screenshots and a Google Play store link to the current version of Tapatalk (Android 1.5 and up, $2.99). You can also hit the source link and learn more about the beta from the folks at Quoord Systems Ltd.

More: Tapatalk forums 

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