Getting Physical

Over at the Canonical Design blog, Christian Giordano offers some ideas on how webcams could be used as ancillary input devices. For example, the computer could detect when the user shifts her head sideways, and use this information to let her «peek» behind windows. When the user leans back while a video is playing, the computer could switch to full screen, and when the user walks away, it could change how notifications are displayed so they can still be read from across the room.

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But wait, there's more!

Want to read more like this? Buy my book's second edition! Designed for Use: Create Usable Interfaces for Applications and the Web is now available DRM-free directly from The Pragmatic Programmers. Or you can get it on Amazon, where it's also available in Chinese and Japanese.

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written by
Lukas Mathis

Hi. My name is Lukas Mathis. I studied Computer Science/Software Engineering and Ergonomics/Usability at ETH Zürich. I work as a software engineer and user interface designer for a swiss software company creating process management software. I've written a book about usability. It's been translated to Chinese and Japanese. My first computer was a Performa 450, my first programming language was HyperTalk, my first electric guitar was a cheap Peavey, my first videogame was a VCS 2600 and my current snowboard is from Lib Tech. I live in a small cottage in a remote part of the Swiss Alps, and you can reach me at or on twitter.

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