Software engineers call it “user experience”, the phrase that describes the way human beings interact with computers. Unfortunately this “user experience” is often not the most “human” of experiences, as it seems designed more for engineers than regular people.

Now the iPad comes along and human beings are learning something new about how we can experience a computer screen.  And maybe it is something quite old as well.

Recently I had lunch with a friend of mine who developed several applications for the iPad before its launch. When she started work on these applications she went through a month long period where she was working around the clock on this new device with no time for anything else.

Once she was finished she was happy to have some down time so she could read a book on her favorite device, the Kindle.  Much to her surprise, she found herself getting angry that she had to press buttons to interact with the screen—when all she wanted was a screen that would respond to her touch.

Last week I was in a store owned by a large consumer electronics manufacturer, (not Apple).  On display they have a frame for showing digital photographs, a beautiful device that can sit on your shelf at home.  One of the store associates told me that they have had to replace the screen twice in the past month.  Why?

Because people keep touching the screen, waiting for it to respond, but alas, it is not a touch screen device, so it does not do anything.  They poke it so hard and so relentlessly the glass screen finally cracks.

And then there is Babe Ruth and Michelangelo who had no computer screens to touch but understood something very fundamental about human communication.

In the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, Babe Ruth was at bat and pointed to center field.  On the next pitch he hit a home run.  He could have yelled to the crowd, “I am going to hit a home run”. But all he had to do was point and the crowd knew what he meant. The gesture carried all the meaning he intended.

John Paul Stevens, our soon to be retired Supreme Court Justice, saw it with his own eyes as a 12 year old attending the game with his father.  He understood what Babe Ruth “said” with his hand.

Between 1508 and 1512 Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, at the commission of Pope Julius ll.  Nine scenes from the Book of Genesis are depicted on the ceiling, the best known of them, The Creation of Adam.  This central panel shows God reaching out with his index finger to give life to Adam, who reaches up his index finger to God.

Millions of tourists go through the Sistine Chapel each year and see what Michelangelo created.  On the one hand, they see the most godlike gesture depicted and simultaneously on the other, the most human gesture as well.

In all these disparate examples; the anger with buttons, the broken screen, the gesture to center field, the touching of God and man, we see a reference—indeed a pointing to something buried in our evolutionary past.

Before spoken language, before written language, before art, before technology, our evolutionary ancestors pointed to create and exchange meaning–to communicate with each other.   That evolutionary past is still embedded deep within the structure of our brains.

This ability to create meaning with our hands through the simple act of pointing is a central part of what makes us human.  With that gesture we join the physical part of ourselves with the mental part of ourselves.

Apple has properly recognized that these two different “selves” are in fact made for each other and indeed, really not separate at all.

By doing so, they have created a “user experience” that is actually “human”.

This is the central reason why people respond so enthusiastically to the iPad.

The Apple engineers have taken the most sophisticated technology humans currently create and married it to the most primitive part of our nature.

Or put it another way.

Apple simply figured out what Babe Ruth and Michelangelo knew all along.

consumer electronics, digital tools, experiences, innovation, internet, technology, user experience

Something very dramatic is going on and so far I have seen no good detailed reporting about it.

Netflix is quietly becoming available on massive numbers of TV screens across the US and no one seems to be noticing.

The Netflix streaming service is now available on PS3, XBOX, and Wii, all gaming systems that are hooked up to the internet and to the TV.  How many of these boxes are in the US marketplace?  20 Million, 30 million?

Sony, LG, Samsung, Vizio, all the major manufacturers of connected TVs and blu ray players in the US are now shipping these devices preloaded with internet access and Netflix.  So by the end of the 2010, will this group of devices be in 15 to 20 million US homes?

Is it possible that by the end of 2010 Netflix will have a base of 50 million homes in the US able to get its streaming service on their TV?  If so, this is astounding. It is even astounding at half that number.

A subscription platform with movies and TV shows in SD and HD is available for less than $10 per month.  And, by the way, you can also get a DVD shipped to you in the mail, if the program is not available on the streaming service at no additional cost.

Forget HULU, forget Cable VOD–Netflix  is becoming ubiquitous and no one seems to be noticing.

Talk about the success of an over the top service that is priced right for the consumer.

Pretty soon, people will be saying, “Why should I use HULU when I can get Netflix on my TV? or Why should I have cable TV if I have Netflix on my TV?

Netflix is TV Everywhere right now!

And no one is talking about it.

consumer electronics, consumers, innovation, internet, media, technology, TV

Today in the Wall Street Journal I saw that Sony has announced that it will soon be launching  a new media platform called Sony Online Service.  This service will offer TV shows, movies, songs and games to all its devices.

On January 2, 2001 Apple announced the launch of iTunes, the service that offers TV shows, movies, songs and games to all its devices (and to all PCs whether Apple or not).  In September 2009 it announced iTunes 9, the most recent version of the service.

So let me get this straight.  Apple is on version 9 of its service and Sony is just announcing the launch of its service (presumably to launch in 2010).  According to my math it has taken 9 years for Sony to simply replicate what Apple created. That is right–9 years.

Is this what they call–Speed to Market?

Survival in today’s marketplace requires innovation.  Innovation requires focus and speed in execution.

Perhaps there is a fundamental truth revealed in the letters of the new Sony Online Service, as Sony raises its flag and says–SOS!

consumer electronics, innovation, technology

If you wanted to know about the state of media and technology today–look no further than these three headlines in the New York Times on 3.3.10.

Disney and Cablevision Take ABC Fight Public

Apple Sues HTC, Saying It Violated Touch-Screen Patents for Phones

Viacom and Hulu Will Part Ways, Removing Comedy Central Shows From the Video Site

It is little too much coming apart, not enough coming together.

consumer electronics, media, technology, TV