A transformation from intelligent to emotive – no, it’s not your girlfriend during an argument. According to Philips, it’s the future of technology. While the trend in recent years has been to produce self-thinking (intelligent) products, the people at Philips believe that in another decade or so there may be a shift toward products that are more intuitive to human emotion.

Philips Design Probes program is a “far-future research initiative that tracks trends and developments that may ultimately evolve into mainstream issues that have significant impact on business”. The program uses research in five areas – politics, economy, culture, environment and technology – to stipulate what the future might hold. Though the language on Philips Web site is a bit obscure, the ultimate aim of the program seems to be to try to get a sense of what life will be like after 2020, and identify how technology products will fit into that world in new ways.

And, so far, the Design Probes project has resulted in a number of innovative ideas. One of those ideas is for SKIN: Dresses (pictured), which are dresses that use emotive technology to read a person’s mood and respond with color and pattern. This idea is part of a whole SKIN area that posits a shift will take place in technology from “intelligent” products to “sensitive” products. These sensitive products will use high-tech materials to sense emotions and the surrounding environment. So, an individual wearing one of the dresses could see its appearance suddenly altered as it senses her emotions change.

Along with the SKIN: Dresses, another related idea conceived by Philips is SKIN: Tattoos. According to a video on the Philips site, these tattoos would expand and change on the skin based on mood and sensation. In the video, the emotional states of two lovers are visualized by tattoo transformations on the skin. Certainly, the idea of items like clothes and tattoos communicating human emotion is an intriguing one – even if it still seems like science fiction at this point.

But the Probes program is intended to encourage product designers to think outside the box. While many of the ideas may never be produced, the program creates anything from narratives to prototypes to help get the ideas across, and stimulate debate. Philips also hopes that looking into the far future will eventually help the company improve the way they innovate.

For companies, developing new tech products can be crapshoot. Essentially, you have to look into the crystal ball and hope you don’t waste time developing a product (a) people won’t want or (b) that is no longer relevant at the time of its release. And, according to figures in Business Week, “up to 96 percent of projects fail to meet the targets for return on investment.” Such numbers have led Philips to believe there may be better ways of creating new innovations. And, who knows, in the future when your girlfriend gets mad her dress may turn a burning red and her entire body may become covered in demonic tattoos.

By: Shad Connelly

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In the past few years, the internet has seen the rise of many technologies that have completely changed how people access and use the world wide web.

There are Social Networking Sites that have added a new meaning to the word community. There is a new technology know as XML that allows functions that were unheard of a couple years ago. Further, and some see as the biggest leap yet, it is not necessary to have a computer to access the internet now!

Mobile phones are now available that come complete with fully functional web browsers and the more basic web browsers! Version 2 of the best website building software refuses to be left in the past.

With every new technology that emerges, you can count on developers of this software to be there with updated functionality and new features to help you utilize all of these great new discoveries.

The Mobile Site Wizard

There are some mobile phones out there that come equipped with fully functional web browsers that can easily access any website on the internet. However, due to restrictions in just how much data a phone can handle, most mobile web browsers are streamlined versions of the ones we all know from our home computers.

Another great limitation is the screen size of these phones. Your website may have a layout so beautiful that its worthy of being printed on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but if your visitor is using a phone and can only see a small portion at a time, the effect is ruined.

Well, the developers of this highly regarded software thought of this and came up with an answer.

Following the design of all their other great and easy to use wizards, they now offer the Mobile Site Wizard. This simple wizard can automatically output your website in a format that is specifically designed for use with mobile phone and WAP browsers.

Now, your site’s visitors can access your content from anywhere and have a great experience regardless of whether they use their home computers or their mobile phones.

Social Networking and XML

Social networking sites have taken the world by storm, counting subscribers on every continent. With so many people using this new form of networking, you have the opportunity to get new visitors and customers for your website.

Social networking tools have been built into this revolutionary software package, allowing you to insert links to your pages with the aim of them becoming viral more quickly. And don’t worry, despite the way it sounds, on the web, viral is a good thing!

XML also presents great new options on the internet. This software supports XML Page Syndication that allows you to quickly create RSS feeds that you can syndicate across the web.

This feature is a great way to build traffic with your existing content, and more traffic is always good.

By: James Schramko

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