Safer driving with hands-free texting

Researchers at Clemson University’s Human Centered Computing Lab (HCCL) have developed a hands-free alternative to cell phone texting while driving.
The team at the Universities Human Centered Computing Division has created an application called VoiceTEXT that allows drivers to speak text messages and keep their eyes on the road at the same time.
VoiceTEXT works by connecting [...]

Mobile text entry – drag, don’t tap A review of Swype

By Dr. Alex Dewitt,
Senior Research Consultant
at fhios.

Text-aholics will be familiar with the sore fingertips that come with composing SMS messages, as well as the frustratingly long time it can take to enter long words accurately. New paradigms for text entry have appeared which may be about to revolutionise typing on mobile devices. One such method [...]

Phone Surveys can’t last, says SurveyUSA boss in call for ‘new research paradigms.’

By Jonathan Outlaw,
Business Development Executive
at fhios.
Jay Leve, CEO of polling firm Survey USA, says we are seeing “the tail end” of the life of telephone surveys.
Leve, whose firm specialises in automated telephone polls using recorded voices, told the Joint Statistical Meetings in Washington DC that phone research “has proven to be an excellent method of [...]

NPD Vrs Nostalgia

With a recent surge in companies re-launching old products and switching to nostalgic packaging, is there a case that a war has broken out between Nostalgia and NPD?
The recent success of Cadburys with their re-launch of Wispa was an early indication of how brands are reviving old products to tap into the consumers need for [...]

Facial expressions and the new wave of usability research

By Jeremy Wyatt,
Senior Research Consultant
at fhios

If the eyes are the window to the soul, is the face the sky-light to the unconscious?
Computer programmes have become sufficiently reliable to accurately detect spontaneous facial expressions, and thereby infer emotional states. Could this be applied to commercial research? The answer most likely, is yes.
In the world [...]