The Future is Driven by Interface Changes-Nir&Far

Hi, I'm Nir Eyal and this is the near and Far Podcast. This podcast is about business, behavior and the brain. On this show, I do a few things. I read quick articles I've written about topics shaping your behavior. I interview authors of books I enjoy, and from time to time I devote episodes to answering your questions. If you want to ask me a question, visit the podcast page on itunes, go to Ratings and Reviews and ask me a question. By leaving a review, I promise to read it and possibly include your question in a future episode. So please ask me anything now. Enjoy the episode and for more, you can always Visit me@nearandfar.com.

The future is Driven by Interface changes by nearandfar.com.

Nears Note in this guest post, Ryan Hoover takes a look at how interface changes drive innovation. Ryan blogs@ryanhoover me and you can follow him on Twitter rrhoover.

What do motorized vehicles, broadband Internet and smartphones have in common? These technologies all introduced new forms of user interface, transforming its users daily lives and behaviors. I've been studying Nir Eyal's work and recently read his article on the power of interface changes. As stated in his post, interface changes have the potential to radically change user behavior, disrupt incumbents, and enable new opportunities only imagined in film and sci fi novels. If you're building a new startup or operating an existing business, look out for interface changes. Interface changes have the power to catapult your startup to success or kill it on arrival.

So if interface changes are such a big deal, what opportunities or threats can we anticipate? Here are a few.

Wearable computing smartwatches e.g. pebble, Apple's rumored iWatch, Google Glass, Mio and other wearable technologies will enable new interactions and become strong drivers of habit formation as our ability to interact with technology increases.

Quantified Self, Nike, Fuel Band, Fitbit, Jawbone up and other biometric monitoring devices have seen traction with early adopters. I anticipate greater adoption as new use cases arise as this technology increases in fidelity and connectedness.

Connected Vehicles Ford, a company founded more than a century ago, is innovating with its SYNC technology. Their Internet connected platform brings apps to the driving experience. Skitcher and Pandora have already been integrated to take advantage of this new interface.

Fast, ubiquitous, uncapped Internet this has already started to take shape with lte, enabling higher fidelity media to be consumed and shared on the go. For example Vine, HBO Go. Faster speeds and unmetered bandwidth may also finally make cloud gaming a reality. Through PS4's cloud gaming service OnLive or other competing technologies.

Microtransactions Microtransactions and free to play model have revolutionized the gaming industry, disrupting traditional game studios. Frictionless payments will continue to spread into other verticals and platforms such as console gaming e.g. xbox, PS4, Wii U TVs eg, Google TV, Apple TV, Samsung labor devices e.g. taskRabbit, exec and others.

Ambient Apps, Highlight Circle and Google now monitor user behavior and context, surfacing relevant information at just the right time. To a large extent, the interface becomes invisible as these services push to the user rather than pull information from the user as with traditional interfaces and self driving cars, affordable virtual reality, Oculus Rift, alternative currencies, Bitcoins, Lucid Dreaming, Remy Burger making robots, Momentum machines, and many more interfaces. Changes are in our future. Not all these interfaces will succeed, and even those that do will often be dismissed as a toy in the beginning. What new interfaces do you see shaping the future?

This guest post was written by Ryan Hoover.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the near and Far Podcast. You can always find more at my blog, nearandfar.com and don't forget, if you have a question you'd like me to explore in a future episode, leave me your question. The form of review for the podcast on itunes.

Sam.