INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Mr ChriZ on February 09, 2008, 11:51:53 am

Title: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: Mr ChriZ on February 09, 2008, 11:51:53 am
I was quite dissapointed to find that Coverflow that
we see and many love on everything from ITunes
to the IPhone wasn't actually innovated by Apple

It seems it was originally made by some chap named Andrew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Coulter_Enright)
Originally it was hosted at his website here (http://www.steelskies.com/coverflow/)
as a bit of Javascript or similar.

It seems these larger companies with their shed loads of money don't fund innovators anymore,
they just buy the innovators out after they've been succesfully innovative...

I've no idea where your Carousel Idea's going but keep on going with it :-)
Roll on More Innovation JR!
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: datdude on February 09, 2008, 12:46:08 pm
Yeah I remember that.  At the same time, thats how capitalism is supposed to work, at least in one aspect.  You come up with a great idea, and you get rewarded for it.  I doubt he was going to develop his own full fledged media player, so it was a good move for everyone. 

I am excited to see what carousel does, I think there are a lot of 3-d variations that would be killer for browsing.

Think of a giant sphere connected together by thumbnails, etc..
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: park on February 09, 2008, 09:30:34 pm
How do you see the carousel view? I can't find it.
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: datdude on February 09, 2008, 09:58:45 pm
Ctrl + shift + T

Use the arrows to browse.
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: Doof on February 10, 2008, 09:22:09 am
I think that' supposed to be Ctrl-Shift-T.

I'm guessing that you missed an f in Shift and Interact automatically censored you?

Let's test my theory... ready?

SHIT
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: marko on February 10, 2008, 09:25:14 am
I think that' supposed to be Ctrl-Shift-T.

I'm guessing that you missed an f in Shift and Interact automatically censored you?

Let's test my theory... ready?

nuts
:D :D
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: hit_ny on February 10, 2008, 09:35:55 am
lol...this forum is da nuts
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: datdude on February 10, 2008, 10:59:15 am
Ctrl + nuts + T

Use the arrows to browse.
  ?
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: park on February 10, 2008, 11:31:23 am
I thought you were taking the p**s when you said nuts  ;D
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: Alex B on February 10, 2008, 12:27:08 pm
Oh nuts!

... seems to be working fine.

 ;D
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: mlefebvre on February 10, 2008, 12:56:37 pm
I was quite dissapointed to find that Coverflow that
we see and many love on everything from ITunes
to the IPhone wasn't actually innovated by Apple

It seems it was originally made by some chap named Andrew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Coulter_Enright)
Originally it was hosted at his website here (http://www.steelskies.com/coverflow/)
as a bit of Javascript or similar.




It's not clear to me from the article when Cover Flow was invented, only that Apple bought in 2006. But I remember seeing Matt working on a prototype that was very similar to what became cover flow back when I visited JRiver's office in April 2005... We didn't discuss it very much, but I'm pretty sure that the basic technology for the carousel originated from that work, almost 3 years ago now...

Nice to see that JRiver fosters internal development like this... But then, we already knew that, didn't we? ;-)

...Michel.
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: RhinoBanga on February 12, 2008, 05:52:09 am
Personally I think cover flow is eye candy, designed for those who have small collections.

I tried to use it with my kids 80gb iPods with only 60 albums on it and it took ages to navigate.  I'd hate to think what it'll be like when I shove my 800+ albums onto my 160GB one.
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: johnnyboy on February 12, 2008, 07:52:38 am
Have to agree with RhinoBanga - I tried it on my huge collection and was basically a meaningless, long, impossible way to browse.

Having said that though, its only through experimenting with things like this that some side uses that are actually helpful are found. Its when you stick to the 'tried and tested' methods every time that you dont innovate anymore and become stale.

Look at MS Office as a prime example - the latest version is a huge innovation and jump from the previous 400 versions which were all just the same things basically with a few bug tweaks and some extra features no one used along with of course 'prettying it up' each time (ok 400 is a SLIGHT exageration).


Things like visually having a 'pile' of photos in the middle of my screen and being able to drag them and throw them into smaller 'piles' in the corners to group them for instance is a replication of real life action and would be a great feature to see - I believe its what MS has for their new fancy table :)
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: prod on February 12, 2008, 07:54:07 am
Even with a larger collection it's nice sometimes to dip in and dig out a random album. Cover flow is a great way of doing that, the cover art catches your eye as you're spinning through it much better than text. Reminds me of afternoons spent in the local second-hand vinyl store back in the day when I had afternoons to spare.
Title: Re: Coverflow Innovation
Post by: JONCAT on February 12, 2008, 07:56:46 am
I agree about Cover Flow not being pragmatic when it comes to large collections (where Tile views really shine), but I do see potential if it were integrated into an Tile view (replacing the top pane) so you could "flow" through a particular Artist's albums or maybe even search results when less than 50 albums?

DC