The Important Intersection of Technology and Design
Despite the daunting look of motherboards, routers and memory cards, technology – like architecture – is an incredible way to experience the duality of function and design. From Bose speakers to Sony VAIO, customizing your Gmail theme to choosing applications for an iPhone, there are limitless examples of these converging worlds.
I first became aware of this when I got my very own cell phone, a Nokia, which I must confess, was customized to the fullest extent – with pink buttons and a zebra snap-on cover (don’t judge). Since then, I have come to appreciate the design of the technology I own and the interfaces I use on a daily basis.
Luckily, I have grown past pink accessories and have stumbled on bigger and better examples of the mash-up between form and function. One that has been on my radar this past year is Cooliris. Formerly known as PicLens, Cooliris transforms your Internet searches into a cinematic wall of images, allowing for an interactive, visual experience built right into your web browser. Cooliris shines when searching through photos and video, with a black background and seemingly endless expanse of images, suddenly, the mundane task of Internet research morphs into an artistic, space-aged experience. But not only is your information presented in an artistic way, it makes the process of searching faster and more dynamic. Cooliris currently works on several sites including Facebook, MySpace, Hulu, Picasa and Flickr
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download Addams Family, The They also offer CoolPreviews, which let you preview links instantly – something I always thought Google fell short on. Now, all you have to do is mouse over a link to preview content on that page. If you are an iPhone user, they have a client that allows you to search via their 3D wall as well as Tweet about your content finds directly through the Cooliris application.
With a second round of venture capital funding under their belts and few competitors in sight, Cooliris may be the front runner in the race to change the way we browse, search, and stumble through the Web.
Check out their recent coverage in PC World, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and ReadWriteWeb. For their company blog, click here.