Meet Bill Shannon. Bill was born with a condition that prevents him from being able to hold his body weight with his legs. The miracle is not some spontaneous healing, but that he has taken what he was given, and made something beautiful. Something that surpasses the norm and inspires others to overcome their own struggles. He performs all over the world. Watch the RJD2 video below.

I was able to witness the captivating experience they created first hand when my 4 year old daughter spent just over an hour on their web site and didn’t once ask me for help. Seeing as she can’t spell, I enter the url and she does the rest. It’s amazing that the human mind is naturally adept at identifying patterns and trends within an interactive system, as seen by a 4 year old with no previous computing experience. If your content is worth experiencing and finding, people will overlook design flaws and usability deficiencies. You see it all the time in sites like myspace, craigslist and pollypocket. I’m not trying to short the value of a design in your site, it’s just not the only factor to consider when it comes to success.

Looks like HP was the first to release a touch screen PC for the general population. I was surprised. Their demo is a bit cheesy, and doesn’t give you any insight into how the interface actually works (multi-touch, or simply a touch screen). It looks like it is not much more than an over sized PDA screen, I don’t think this is what the future has in store.

The touch screen interface will start shaping how we interact with PC’s when it does the following:

• Multi-location touch sensitivity (more than 2…multiple users working off the same display)
• Pressure sensitive display (pushing harder or softer on the display has different effects…Photoshop finger painting)
• Flexible display panels (work at/on any surface in any location…solves the shoulder cramp dilemma)
• Freezable portions of the display(Lock down specific sizable parts of the display so they are not accidentally manipulated)
• Time sensitive touch response (reactions based on amounts of time hands are placed in a single location on a display)

Jeff Han is on the forefront of this type of interface. For those that haven’t seen it, he and Perceptive Pixel are getting things going. He was also on TED.

That’s what some people are saying after the $200 price drop on the iPhone. (Smart move, now college kids can get them for Christmas). Thinking about the previous post on The Mobile Web, I thought I’d mention the move they made in that space. In lieu of the iPod Touch & iPhone built in Wi-Fi capability, Apple is enabling mobile access to iTunes for instant music to either device. The multi-touch interface is now figuring more prominently, and I think we’ll start seeing more (at least from Apple) exploring it’s use. A flat multi-touch keyboard maybe, you can rearrange the keys for efficiency in typing and not for a typewriter (did you know your current keyboard design is the way it is to prevent pairs of typebars from striking the platen [of a typewriter] at the same time and sticking together). It will be a while before the youth in America despise us enough for being tied to such an outdated trend, so don’t expect something too drastic too soon. BTW, if you did buy an iPhone before the price drop, don’t worry it’s not all bad news. You can score a $100 credit to any Apple Store.

Cameron Moll has written a book, Mobile Web Design. I’ve only read the excerpt, and just downloaded my copy today. I’ll read it this weekend, especially since I’m new to the Mobile Web Design field. There will be a large increase in need for accessible sites/applications through mobile devices over the next decade. Lot’s of statistics to back this up, you can sneak a peak at them if you read the excerpt. The W3C knows it, and companies are beginning to think like it (Paypal’s mobile checkout system, and you can send money using SMS. Imagine a mobile bidding war on ebay.). The simple facts are:

1. More people have access to mobile devices than they do computers.
2. Mobile devices are becoming more and more capable of web access (iphone).
3. As the audience grows (and it will) so will the need for this type of interface design.

Not everything we’ve learned on the desktop translates over, I hope to not learn it the hard way. Get yourself a copy if you ever plan on designing an interface for a mobile device. Thanks to Cameron for putting the time in and giving us a start exploring this strangely familiar territory. His work is a great source of inspiration, be sure to check out his blog as well.

I’ve been a fan of Sigur Rós music for a few years now. They have a unique sound. Turns out they will have a documentary film, Heima. I’m not usually a fan of documentaries, but the trailer certain makes me take a second look. Beautiful cinematography and music. Via Scott.

Welcome to the first edition of a somewhat irregularly post topic. In recent news, Avoid smoking in enclosed spaces. I guess they needed a dedicated team of scientists to establish credibility.

I was surprised to see the interesting line of specialty products Rust-Oleum offers. White board, and Magnetic paint to name a couple. They market it for kids, but I think it would make a great addition to a conference room or office space. Drawing your ideas while you work through them is be a great way of exploring new ideas.

Honestly, there is no easier way to have a nice interactive map on your site. Google has developed a YouTube-style embeddable url on your map searches. Simply copy and paste for a rich interactive map experience, no javascript required. Visit the Lat Long Blog for more information.

Thank you Olav Frihagen Bjørkøy. If you code web sites, be sure to try blueprintcss, a framework that gives you a jump start on perfecting your grid, typography and much more. Some kinks are still being worked out, but it is definitely usable for most of what you need. Check the wiki for known issues before you try. I used to start with LayoutGala before this.