Ambient Clock - Not Too Ambient
Ambient Devices is the maker of some very nice, info-at-a-glance, minimalistic gadgets that provide useful data in an unobtrusive manner. We’ve made note of the Ambient Umbrella that flashes at you when rain is forecast, and the Ambient Orb that glows red when your investments are under-performing. Both of these gadgets, and the Ambient Weather Beacon are nice examples of glanceable devices that do not require active participation by the user in order to understand the message.
But now we have the Ambient Clock which is an analog clock with generated hands that integrates with Google Calendar so as to display your daily appointments along the clock face. The Clock is cleverly designed, and may well prove functional, but unfortunately represents a departure from Ambient Devices’ presumed design philosophy.In order to be useful, the data points represented on the clock face must be “read”, and can’t readily be “glanced”, unless one is blessed with uncommonly sharp peripheral vision.
Ambient Devices’ devices are supposed to make life calmer by abstracting information for our benefit and communicating it subliminally - this new clock, however, is too ‘busy’ for that. Perhaps the clock and that needle gauge thingy will be sold through their new Inambient Devices Division…
November 6th, 2006 at 7:13 pm
I think it is a little unfair to say that the clock isn’t “Ambient” because it has to be “read”.<br />
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I prefer to think of it as having multiple levels of meaning and fidelity.<br />
<br />
Given that it glows when meeting are nigh, it notifies you in a truly glanceable manner the lightweight bit of information that you need to be somewhere.<br />
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If you need to know exactly when, you can look at it, and either read its dots or its text.<br />
<br />
Let’s face it, knowing if it is going to rain today is (literally) a single bit of information. You schedule is much more. But Ambient’s definitely trying!
November 6th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
I think it is a little unfair to say that the clock isn’t “Ambient” because it has to be “read”.<br />
<br />
I prefer to think of it as having multiple levels of meaning and fidelity.<br />
<br />
Given that it glows when meeting are nigh, it notifies you in a truly glanceable manner the lightweight bit of information that you need to be somewhere.<br />
<br />
If you need to know exactly when, you can look at it, and either read its dots or its text.<br />
<br />
Let’s face it, knowing if it is going to rain today is (literally) a single bit of information. You schedule is much more. But Ambient’s definitely trying!