Apple’s iPhone 4 antennae problems have no doubt made me more aware of the way we hold things. Specifically, it made me think about the way we hold a camera for capturing stills vs. a capturing motion and the ergonomic design of those devices. How much of the variation in the hardware design of image capture devices comes from convention and restraints of bygone technology?

For example, movie cameras used to require two large spools to hold the film. I’m sure a number of physical constraints generally forced cameras to have a certain design. For example, a spool may fill more uniformly when its axis is horizontal to gravity vs. perpendicular. As cameras became more portable, I’m sure weight and fatige were factors in moving to the shoulder mounted design. Now, the modern camera is even more compact despite the addition of other technology, such as the microphone. However, notice that method for “holding” it is generally the same. Support the camera from the bottom, either using a palm, shoulder or a tripod to support it. The basic form factor remains unchanged.

Modern cameras use CCD or CMOS technology to capture the light and record it to a digital medium. These sensors are very thin so for sake of this discussion add very little depth to the camera beyond the length of the lens. So unlike traditional film that had to be protected from light, transported into the path of the light, removed and protected again, a modern camera doesn’t require this. Beyond the lens, the other large component a camera is the battery. However, batteries are not constrained in their placement nor their shape, so they are not the limiting factor in the ergonomic design despite adding weight to the camera. The only component of a camera (video or otherwise) that cannot be changed is the lens, everything else can be arranged to place it in the best possible location for holding the device steady, working the controls and so on.

Still cameras (at least smaller format ones) have gone through similar technological changes, yet at a distance look very similar to their film based ancestors. They do of course differ in the way in which a user interacts with them. The idea being the user will hold the camera with two hands, the right holding the body while the left supports lens. Notice this is different than how a video camera is typically held. Is this difference still necessary? Many SLR cameras can now capture HD video as well as stills. The additional features of a digital camera have more to do with software than hardware design.

Given that the physical space constraints have been lifted and battery technology has come a long way and will continue to evolve: what form factor really is the best way to hold a device for capturing high quality motion and stills?

Watch this TED video of Neil Gershenfeld entitled The beckoning promise of personal fabrication. Neil says, “it’s over”. He also discusses fungible computer resources and how the study of Computer Science restricts the promise of advancement of computing and science. I was particularly impressed with how he sees technology and advancement being driven from the bottom up instead of the top down. I think we see some application of computer resources on a pay per drink model being implemented in the cloud, however, his talk goes further and looks at computing resources being material and even atomic in nature which is where the real future lies.

NewsGang posted this tonight, it’s been picked up on CrunchGear as well – the long awaited Silverlight Watch Instantly, available to PC’s for a long time, is now in beta!

Thanks Netflix!

– Update: 9:10pm

Apparently Netflix has been harder at work than I had realized! Netflix will be offering TiVo subscribers access in December – W00t! Amazon may have gotten there first, but the UnBox – Video on Demand offering hasn’t impressed me.

The Cisco Applying Web 2.0 to Your Business Challenges video is a must watch for every company not fully immersed in the world of social networking and new media. Robert Scoble and Jeremiah Owyang. I can’t recommend this video about how using wiki’s, blogs, social media and interaction is changing (and has been changing) business for a long time. Basically, if your company doesn’t have someone immersed in social networking tools first hand – hire one. Get someone in your company to give you feedback on what’s going on in this space. You only need to see the first 30 minutes.