Surf the Web Like Tom Cruise
Remember in the movie, Minority Report, Tom Cruise had that screen interface he controlled with gestures as he browsed through information? Eventually we’ll probably be browsing through the internet in a similar way. Over the last several months there have been some new tools released inching forward in the move from a flat browsing experience to truly browsing through the “space” of cyberspace.
Here are four recent releases that are taking baby steps in that direction, attempting to give us a “bird’s eye view” of the internet, the interconnectedness of sites, and even connections between people in social networks.
TouchGraph
Offering a Google browser and a Facebook browser, TouchGraph shows how sites and people are connected in an interactive visual map.
Walk2Web
Users of Walk2Web can visualize the connections between sites as they’re browsing, while allowing them to view, review, bookmark and vote for their favorite sites.
TwitterBlocks
Twitter Blocks is a new tool that allows users to visualize 3D Twitter “neighborhoods” in an abstract block formation and discover other users with similar interests.
SpaceTime
SpaceTime displays search results from Google, Yahoo, and even Ebay in 3D space. The browser also offers 3D tabbed browsing.
There are also tools on the horizon such as ICCARUS, a 3D network visualization tool, and Sun’s open source Looking Glass project that turns the user’s desktop into a 3D environment.
Interesting stuff, but is it really all that useful? Maybe not, but you have to start somewhere I suppose. The difficulty is that trying to visualize data that is so complex with so many interconnections becomes unwieldy and difficult to use and understand in 3D space. You only have to take a look at the ICCARUS demo to see how impossibly complex a basic social network appears when rendered visually in 3D.
What do you think web browsing will be like in 10-15 years? Will we gesture through the web on giant screens like Tom had in Minority Report? Would browsing the web in 3D be inherently better? I think we’ll end up with some combination of the two, and in fact I think that the Walk2Web example is maybe the most useful of the 4 and is the closest to how I imagine browsing a decade from now. Not only does it contain the social aspect of Web2.0, but we see connections between sites, thumbnails and scrolling feeds as well. Have you used any of the four? Have you found them to be useful, or just eye candy?
This article was written by Randa Clay. Read more about design, marketing, blogging, branding and all things creative at RandaClay.com.
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[...] think of that would be cool, would be me fighting Mike Tyson, face to face, fist to fist at last.read more | digg [...]
By Online Marketing Should Be Fun! » Surf the Web Like Tom Cruise on September 7, 2007 10:40 pm
[...] shows you how to surf like Tom Cruise. Surf the web that is. Read the article and you’ll understand the connection between the [...]
By By Design: Charting, Surfing, and Color | Logo Design Works on September 10, 2007 1:06 am
I had not heard about three of the total four websites You’ve showcased here , lol . But now I do . They all look awesome .
By Switzerland on September 11, 2007 11:21 pm
[...] hålla reda på vem som har en koppling till vem på Facebook kan vara svårt men idag råkade jag ramla över TouchGraph och deras Facebook browser. Med applikationen kan man på ett enkelt visuellt sätt se [...]
By Som jag brukar säga » TouchGraph, visuella kopplingar i Facebook on September 12, 2007 2:22 pm
[...] the Web like Tom Cruise. No, not like this, but like you’re in Minority [...]
By Say It With Links #2 at TRENDWATCH DAILY on September 14, 2007 2:14 pm
I’m glad someone else hopes browsing will be as cool as ‘Minority Report’…
What I would like to see is a more tactile sense of browsing, with the web, or with the applications I have open on my work computer. I think the only way to explain it is an intersection of Leopard OSX browsing with Microsoft Surface technology. Let me explain (especially if you’re turned off by the mention of Microsoft… because even I’m turned off by that):
I love the thought of placing a wireless USB flash drive onto, say, my desk at work, and with my fingers being able to drag out files and folders, to put my spreadsheets to the left up in the corner, the pictures down towards the bottom and, oh wait, the pictures can go back, so just place my finger onto the icon and push it back into the USB drive… you get the idea, right? Basically, the Tom Cruise thing going on…
Ok, now add to that 1) the (anticipated) beauty of Leopard’s graphic design, and 2) the (also anticipated) intuitive information sorting scheme of Leopard. Anywho, am I crazy or wouldn’t that be a beautiful marriage?
As far as the lists you mentioned, I’ve used Walk2Web… it’s an incredible idea, and I hope we see it brought to its full potential, but I found the information a little too overwhelming at times (such as ‘walking’ a website with tons of links) and at other times, a little incomplete. I looked at the Spacetime browsing you mentioned, but I agree, I think it’s on the weak side. I think the mark of a successful turn in visual browsing will be that application’s flexibility, i.e., look at your co-worker’s desks: they all look different. Some are super clean, some are cluttered and a mess, some have a lot on them but they pile of stuff is super-organized… all this goes to say people organize their information differently, and an application that allows a fair measure of flexibility for each user to customize their flow/organization of information.
By Adrian P. on September 24, 2007 1:29 pm
[...] We’ll Need Soon So the writers over at Wisdump got me to thinking with a post about surfing the web like Tom Cruise. If you’ve watched the movie “Minority Report,” you know exactly what the author [...]
By The Application We’ll Need Soon « Branding Me on September 28, 2007 1:27 pm
Try ‘Favo’ it is about to be Beta Released at http://www.favo.com/
By jariellp on July 31, 2009 9:26 am