Nick Bilton also wrote on this topic today -- it seems shortsighted. This comment [1] sums it up: "Maeda's observation about user-facing design isn't going to

Nick Bilton also wrote on this topic today -- it seems shortsighted. This comment [1] sums it up: "Maeda's observation about user-facing design isn't going to last very long. Mark Weiser's long-predicted age of 'quiet computing' wherein a computing systems know enough about individuals and groups to act automatically on their behalf (and therefore, requiring no user-interaction) is incrementally coming to pass. Such systems are dependent on instrumentation, granular data collection, and high-volume analytics. ... While design is important right now, its ultimate successor is intelligent invisibility. That profound advance is almost entirely dependent on the hardest core science and engineering." Take Prismatic [2] for example, one of the more interesting new apps from 2012, one of its primary features is how little user interaction it requires to generate a personalized news feed. Other apps in its category have nice design but require much more user interaction to setup. "The best interface is no interface." [1]. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/disruptions-design-to-propel-technology-forward/?comments#permid=1 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/disruptions-design-... [2]. http://getprismatic.com/ http://getprismatic.com/