Monday, August 29, 2005

Are incessant calls making you nuts?   Is your phone driving you squirrelly?  You need the Cellular Squirrel – an animatronic "desktop squirrel" (did you even know that such a thing existed? I thought squirrels were inherently tree-top devices myself…) which deals with your calls for you. The squirrel answers phone calls, works out if you are busy or asleep, evaluates how important the incoming call is and takes messages.

Why a squirrel? Creator Stefan Marti explains: "If you have a less intelligent metaphor that you base your interface on, humans are less likely to be disappointed with the limits of the interaction."  In other words, squirrels are stupid, and we would expect a squirrel (even a desktop squirrel) to also be stupid, so it’s okay if it makes the occasional mistake.

Marti does understand the problem.  He believes that future technology needs to "have a deeper understanding of how humans like to interact, what humans want, and eventually what humanity stands for. This includes our immediate context, our thinking and our goals, but also our morals and ethics."

In other words, a world where the calls we receive are relevant.

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