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Thursday, March 22, 2001 By David Radin
Do icons on computer desktops represent the best user interface? If they did, I probably wouldn't receive as many questions as I do from listeners and readers.
Yet that's the type of interface we deal with on a daily basis. It's better than having to remember commands -- as we used to have to do, but not as good as the way we interface with other items in our lives. Good thing that the future will yield more intuitive ways to interact with electronics.
Last week, The Interface 2001 conference at Carnegie Mellon University brought together inventors, scientists, business people and students who collectively are changing the way we use computers. They're humanizing them, if you will, by helping us interface with them better.
Astro Teller, for instance, has started BodyMedia, a company that produces wearable devices to monitor body functions automatically, then report the results wirelessly to a central source that can analyze them. And his company makes believe the devices are jewelry -- fashion and function in one handy package.
Have a question for David Radin? Contact him at his Web site
Currently, people with pacemakers connect to a telephone on a prescheduled basis to make sure that their pacemakers are working properly. Such concepts as Astro's can free these people from having to be near a phone at a pre-arranged date & time, and make sure that they don't miss a beat -- at least with their vital signs analysis.
Taking the interface a step further, imagine a box of laundry detergent with electronic codes. Place the box near a sensor on your washing machine to determine the exact parameters of your load -- water temperature, amount of detergent, etc.
There are many ways for us to humanize the way we interact with our electronics. In currently marketed products you can see the most noticeable advances in handheld personal digital assistants. But that's minor compared with the types of innovations being cooked up by the participants in CMU Interface.
Q: I would like my system to automatically defragment my disk when I'm not around. Is there a way to do this?
A: Windows includes a feature called Task Scheduler that lets you start up most applications on your system. If you have Windows 95, 98 or ME, click on [Start], then [Programs] -- [Accessories] -- [System Tools]. Then double-click on [Scheduled Tasks]. If you have Windows NT or 2000, click on [Start], then [Programs], then [Administrative Tools]. Then double-click on [Scheduled Tasks]. This will start up the Scheduled Task Wizard.
Upon launching the wizard, you'll see a dialog box with a brief explanation. Click [Next]. In the resulting window, if you see the application you want to launch, highlight it by clicking on it with your mouse, then clicking on [Next>]. If your application is not in the list, click on the [Browse...] button to find the application. In the next window, give your task a name you can recognize, then select how often you want to have it run. After you click [Next>], you'll be able to choose the day and time it runs.
Some applications, such as Disk Defragmenter, require parameters to be set. So on the final page of the Scheduled Task Wizard, check the box labeled "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish." Click [Finish], which will bring up a new dialog box. On the [Task] tab, click on the [Settings...] button to tell the system how you want to set up the application. In your case, you'll need to choose the drive to defrag and whether to rearrange your program files.
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