Apple Watch owners use their nose to navigate the watch | Hacker News Reader

Apple Watch owners use their nose to navigate the watch

wsj.com

40 pointsdoener43 comments

Michelle Vandy uses an Apple Trackpan on a tripod to control her MacBook. It's quite impressive to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAokWwilHGk

"The last few years my arms have largely shaped my work setup. I used to struggle with severe pains and cramps in my lower arms and couldn't design unless I had my special equipment. Basically I assembled a device from a Manfrotto Table Top Tripod Kit 209, 492 Long, tripod adapter plate and an Apple Magic Trackpad and placed it in front of my 15 inch MacBook Pro. I then used the tip of my nose to draw and maneuver the mouse, while my arms were resting in front of me. Yes, it was pretty frustrating at times and yes, it looked ridiculous and yes, it took a long time to increase my precision and speed, but somehow I ended up becoming extremely efficient!" - Interview on The Setup: https://usesthis.com/interviews/michelle.vandy/

I'd prefer RSI in the wrists vs. the neck, ijs. Probably works great for a healthy young woman though.

I remember seeing somewhere that she's regained full use of her arms sometime in the last couple years and no longer uses that setup. Still pretty cool to see though.

This goes to show how slow human interface innovation is. Human hands are magnificent tools but she can use a computer (except for typing I guess) as well with her nose, as she did with 10 fingers.

I'm guilty of the nose tap, as well as the forehead-tap and chin-tap to dismiss the screen. Wearables are fun!

Nose-tap seemed obvious, but I never thought of forehead-tap or chin-tap. (I dismiss the "usual" way ... covering the screen with my other hand.) I'll add those to my repertoire, thanks!

A knuckle tap is a good one too. Works well when fingertips are covered in BBQ sauce, grease, etc...

Knuckle tap and scroll are common among smartphone users.

Oh I almost forgot, you might like my preferred way of dismissing Apple Watch / Android Wear: I call it the "Karate Chop". The surface area of the outer edge of your hand is enough to cover the screen :)

My favorite part is the guy who programmed his nose into his iPhone's fingerprint sensor. I wonder if it can really tell the difference between his nose and any other person's.

You can also use toes, and if you want to get more weird: you can also use your nipple ! Not only it can tell the difference between your and any other person's nipple, it can also tell the difference between your left and right nipples. Don't ask me how I know...

I have personally programmed my toe into my iPhone last year sometime. Purely for testing. It does work.

This is one of the weirdest articles I have ever seen on WSJ

I love the stipple picture of the guy nose-tapping his watch

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/HC-GU128_Watch_G_2...

It's a submarine article [1] for Apple. It's not usually this clumsy done though where any common sense reader immediately sees through the ruse of only referencing the Apple devices and the omission of other smartwatches

[1] http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Necessity, mother, invention etc http://www.wired.com/2010/02/korean-iphone-stylus-its-made-o...

> Mr. Desarnauts recently tried nose tapping himself for the first time in the shower when his wrist started to vibrate from an incoming phone call while he had shampoo in his hands. He sent the call to voice mail hands free.

This whole article smacks of solutions to problems these people paid to have. Why are you wearing a smart watch in the shower? What call or email is so important that it couldn't wait until you get out of the shower?

Yeah. From what I recall, sending a call to voicemail has always been hands-free. In fact, prior to 2015 you didn't even need to be near a device to do it!

Yes, but letting it ring out and go to mail on its own isn't very satisfying. Sometimes you want people to know that it was you that sent them to the mailbox after only two rings. It says you busy, but not so busy that you cannot tap your phone.

Better question: Do you really want Apple monitoring what you do in the shower?

Siri: I noticed you spent an extra five minutes shaving yesterday and suspect your razor is a little dull. We sold that little factoid to Braun. Now every website in the world will be filled with their razor ads. Please do not disappoint. Braun is an important customer, unlike you.

not really how apple operates

Not at the moment, but it's coming. Also, it's rarely the manufacturers themselves that are selling the data, but applications installed/given access.

Google already can guess where I park my car and can provide me with relevant traffic data for my commute both to and from work without me having to ask for it.

With highly accurate GPS, and information about the user, you could probably guess what user's home layout looks like, and what they do in each room.

Got a heartbeat monitor on your wearable? Sleep in the same location every night? Haven't had an elevated heart rate in your bedroom for a month? Unmarried (because that's public record)? Time for ads targeted at lonely singles.

Who has sex wearing a watch?

> Google already can guess where I park my car and can provide me with relevant traffic data for my commute both to and from work without me having to ask for it.

iOS 9 does that kind of stuff as well but when it was announced Apple made a point to emphasize that they've implemented it all on-device to protect privacy.

Selling ads is just not in Apple's DNA. Even iAds was a kind of a flop.

In what world is Apple, one of the strongest protectors of individual privacy in SV, concerned with how long you shave?

A world where data tracking people's behaviour is useful to those wanting to sell them products. Is it really all that speculative to suggest that an apple algorithm (or google) might correlate persons who suddenly take a few extra minutes shaving with persons who in the next week will buy some shaving products?

Apple is a supporter of individual privacy, not group privacy. They have and use lots of behavioural data, anonymized and sorted, but data nevertheless.

> A world where data tracking people's behaviour is useful to those wanting to sell them products.

Like...Apple-branded shaving cream?

In all seriousness, this is not a situation Apple cares enough about to spend time parsing logs/activity streams.

Apple have made a point that a lot of their learning is done on the device itself - stuff like the keyboard and Google Now-esque "if you leave for home now it will take X hours" never leave the device as a conscious privacy decision even though it results in a slightly less intelligent product.

Hi Siri,

I noticed you sound exactly like GLaDOS from Portal; is it on purpose? Please don't kill me.

Your friend.

I've done pretty much that exact thing with my watch. I had just done a workout so needed a shower, didn't take the watch off, got a phone call and answered it. I shouldn't have answered it because it was impossible to talk in the shower.

My thoughts as well... don't really think wearing my $400 dollar non-waterproof device in the shower is the best idea

I've worn mine in the shower every day for almost 6 months. Why bother to take it off?

To each his own, I suppose. I wouldn't wear a regular watch in the shower, so it's just habit to take it off. Apple also doesn't recommend exposing it to the shower / soap [1] but based on your experience it seems that might be to cover themselves just in case.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205000

Keep forgetting the Apple Watch is actually a thing

When it is very cold outside and I am wearing thick gloves I use my nose to silence alarms etc on my phone. It is very practical.

> One thread about a month ago carried the subject line, “The nose tap. We’ve all mastered it amirite?”

Looks like copy pasting reddit threads to people who don't use reddit is modern journalism's new plan to survive.

Touchscreens? I've been using my nose for light switches for years.

You must be quite short.

Doesn't work for me, would be good to check the time on my bike.

It's only because the UX is so terrible. I think the closest to fixing the UX on a smartwatch so far has been Samsung with its Gear S2. It has a circle bezel that rotates through everything. Very easy to use.

https://youtu.be/2VTBkOVhRwM?t=1m37s

So the solution to fixing interacting with a smart watch when your hands are otherwise engaged is not to use another conductive piece of your body, but to instead turn a bezel with your hand?

GG thinly veiled ad.

How do you propose to rotate a bezel when both your hands are busy?

That's when I nose tap my watch.

It has nothing to do with the UI and everything to do with the tool at hand.

Or, tool at face

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