Tableau
Physical interface to the photo cloud
Remember when we made a connection by handing someone a photo? Now we fiddle with too many cables, menus, and communication channels, and those individual connections get drowned out. Can we return to physical experiences while retaining the collective intelligence of the network?
Tableau is a nightstand that stores and retrieves memories. It may put friends' photo postcards in the drawer, or post mementos to your online scrapbook. This is an example of task-centric computing, where the interface is distributed across connected physical objects. Apps that run in the cloud can weave available objects into environmental I/O, giving users computing experiences that fit into the flow of life.
User experience
Tableau integrates a photo printer, camera and wireless Internet connection. It quietly drops photos sent to it through Twitter into its drawer, for the owner to discover. Images of things placed in the drawer are posted to Twitter as well. A softly glowing knob that almost imperceptibly shifts color invites interaction without demanding it.
Tableau is an example of humane computing, overlaying new functions onto established interactions rather than shifting computer interfaces to new contexts. It acts as a bridge between users of physical and digital media, taking the best parts of both.
Product design
Principles of reuse are applied to both the physical and electronic qualities of Tableau. The table is an old one, and as it was refinished, previous finishes were preserved in a strip to celebrate its history. This is intended to encourage an emotional attachment that contemporary consumer electronics do not have. A supporting language of digital patinas is explored by the green "pixel moss" motif on top and a vestigial cable knob for the paper drawer. Tableau's physical and digital affordances suggest a longer life for electronic objects in which they may be reprogrammed and repurposed.
Ubiquitous computing
The table is one of a network of connected objects focused on input and output, which is exposed on Twitter for software agents to control. This makes it possible to manage many computing objects in the same way we manage human relationships.
