Luke Tipping writes. 

Hey y’all. A lot happened on Day 4 at SXSW. Most excitingly I did a wee next to Tim Berners-Lee. Attended a fantastic talk by Russ Tedrake on the future of robotics. Another by Fred Ehrsam about whether Bitcoin is the future of money.

Today though I’m going to share with you something a little more present and actionable: What we can all learn from the UX of porn. 

Morality aside for a moment 25% of web traffic is porn. So it’s a good place to look for best practice. There’s a wide array of content and category types in porn. The porn industry’s also incredibly well-known for effectively embracing new technologies before most other industries.

So late into the afternoon experience designer Stephen Johnson’s observations about the UX of porn were actually really insightful. With lots of useful application for the ways in which we design UX and service layers for the brands we work with.

So what did he talk about?

His overall observation is that the big players in the industry can teach brands a lot about immersion. Creating the perceptual illusion of non-meditation.

He suggests that for immersion to occur three things need to happen:

1. Richness: A number of senses need to be engaged
2. Realism: There needs to be a sensory fidelity. Those senses needs to be stimulated realistically
3. Participation: Users needs to feel like they are influencing a scene or scenario 

He then observed how some of the big players in the porn industry are beginning to emrabce new methodologies and techniques to create more immersive states.

First up was Porn Hub. Basically the biggest player in video porn on the internet. Succesful because of the incredible way its streamlined navigation. 

It has predictive search. Meaning that for minimal keyboard input the website will still return results. Searching the entire PornHub network based on just one, two or three keystrokes.

To keep users on the platform Stephen then pointed to how brilliantly PornHub serves up playlists of content similar to the video the user is watching within the same window. To make it easier for users to get lost down the content rabbit hole. 

Who else does this brilliantly? The Daily Mail and New York Times actually. By surfacing similar stories on the same page as the main story you’ve clicked on you’re 8x likely to stay and read other stories.

So how is your brand tagging and grouping product sets to make it easier for people to discover similar products or services? Staying on your platform 8x longer. 

Next Stephen talked about the incredibly popular gay website Dominic Ford. A platform beginning to achieve greater sensorial fidelity due to the way that they’ve embraced 4K Ultra HD content. Compatible for viewing on larger and more immersive 3D TVs.

Dominic Ford has also started to shoot using Google Glass. Creating a situational illusion that you’re actually there. Feeling more involved.

Who else is doing this incredibly well? GoPro of course. With a human-eye view they create a powerful visual realism. You watch their videos and feel like you’re really there.   

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So how is your brand capturing more detail? Changing the point of view? How more helpful might your product demos be shot from the perspective of the user?

Lastly Stephen talked about RealTouch. A platform that’s embraced internet connected toys and wearables for men and women. At one end of the screen you basically attach a wearable device to yourself, shake it like a polaroid picture and your lover will experience that replicated movement the other end. Quite profoundly creating a new haptic (touch) based sensation above and beyond any of the other pornographic platforms. A sensory fidelity beyond just sound and vision.

What other brands have recently achieved gigantic acclaim by embracing internet connected objects and touch? Coca-Cola.

So how is your brand giving users the ability to cause change at greater distance? Using touch to reward customers for a desired business outcome?

More tomorrow.

1. What it’s really like to live with Google Glass

The Google Glass #GlassChat Meetup was lots of fun, and hugely eye opening. I gate crashed a meeting of Glass early adopters, or ‘Explorers’ as Google wants us to call them.

We discussed some of the amazing potential applications for glass, and the ways it’s being used already, by surgeons, film makers and travellers etc.

One idea that really stuck out was in emergency healthcare. Imagine if first aid kits contained a Glass device. Someone has a heart attack and needs CPR. The first-aider puts on Glass, connects to the emergency services via a hangout, and the paramedic on the other end sees what they can see, and literally shows them where they need to put their hands and what to do. It’s just one of many incredible potential applications.

But, the problems are still hard to ignore. Much of the backlash from the public has centered around Glass’ ability to take photos and films without the knowledge or consent of the people being filmed, raising fears about privacy. The ‘Explorers’ argued that we’re constantly being filmed on CCTV anyway, so what’s the difference? Well, I think there’s a massive difference between a camera mounted high up on a wall, and a camera mounted on the face of the person you’re trying to have a conversation with, but still.

Whether we like it or not, Glass and other devices like it are likely here to stay.

2. Understanding your genetic code costs a mere $99 and will change the way you live your life

Founder of 23andMe (and wife of Google founder Sergey Brin) Anne Wojcicki talked about the potential understanding your own genetic code has to revolutionise healthcare and the way you live your live. The $99 service can tell you what diseases and health issues you’re genetically predisposed to, and provide you with advice on how to avoid them. This is technology that has been talked about for quite a while, but it’s now finally here, and affordable to just about everyone.

However, they have recently suffered a massive setback, with health regulators in the US ruling that their analysis products do not have enough evidence to support their claims, and therefore forcing them to suspend their service. But, make no msitake, we're going to be seeing plenty more of this sort of thing.

3. SparkFun CEO Nathan Seidle shares some awesome ideas on computer interfaces for people with disabilities

We accidentally ended up having hotdogs with SparkFun CEO Nathan Seidle. SparkFun make and sell lots of incredibly useful parts that hackers all over the world use to build physical computing projects (many of our window projects at WK have been built using SparkFun parts). Over dinner he shared with us some great ideas for computer control interfaces for people paralysed from the neck down, including a type of interface users can control with their tongues.

Nathan also talked about some of his other favourite ideas he's seen people create with the products he sells. "It's artsists who are coming up with the most surprising and inspiring ideas" says Nathan.

4. ExtraSolar – Volunteers wanted to explore newly discovered planet

The gaming world is dominated by big AAA first-person shooter titles, that while impressive, tend not to be all that original. So it’s refreshing when you come across something completely different.

ExtraSolar is one such striking idea for an Alternative Reality Game. The game asks you to volunteer to help a NASA-like organisation exploring a fictional extra-terrestrial planet using robotic rover. Go sign up now and take part.
 

5. Forget wearables. Get ready for Embeddables.

While wearable technology is without doubt one of the biggest trends of SXSWi 2014, it’s embeddable technology that may make the biggest change to our lives.

Imagine if you had a taste sensor embedded in your tongue, that’s connected to your Nespresso coffee machine. You make a new coffee, and take a sip. Yuck – not so good. The sensor in your tongue senses your distaste, and analyses what was wrong with it. Then without you lifting a finger, it 'phones home' to the Nespresso factory, and creates you a new coffee blend, specifically blended to appeal to your tastes. Nespresso then send you a sample of your new personalised blend, and a discount coupon to buy more of it. Sounds scary? Perhaps, but it has less to do with science fiction that you might think.

6. Leetcoin lets you make Bitcoin wagers on multiplayer gaming

Leetcoin is a platform for computer game players to raise the stakes when competing against each other, by making wagers with Bitcoin. Leetcoin think it’s going to create a new breed to professional computer game players, almost like professional athletes in sports. £50 large game, Dom?