Making digital content graspable ("digital into the physical") is the main subject behind PhD student Fabian Hemmert's talk at TEDxBerlin.

His vision is to make technology a bit more warn and human instead of altering humanity into something cold and technical.

An interestingly charming approach to attain this goal is his demonstration of a cellphone (in this case, the iPhone) which has 3 additional intuitive properties to it's already awesome user interface. 

The first is mass. A weight shifting mobile can be practical for many different reasons. Navigation without looking at your phone and 'feeling' to turn right is a cool example presented.

A second alteration to the iPhone was it's shape. A shape shifting iPhone can change its shape to an upright alarm clock or an indicator of a 'thick' ebook. 

The third and final demonstration was pretty wacky but it made me think of those 1996 Japanese Tamagochis that digitally pooped and need to be fed periodically. Does anyone still have one? They'd be 14 years old by now... maybe you'd have to play hockey for them :) 

The idea behind this alteration is the intuitive factor. The phone has a mechanical heartbeat and simulated shape shifting breath pattern. If your girlfriend calls, it breathes faster and you can 'pet it behind the ears' to slow down the breathing. This kind of empathy and organic feel could change the way we use smartphones. 

I must say, while watching this video I laughed pretty hard. Why on earth would I want to increase the size of my iPhone when clearly one of the reasons I got it was because it was slim? And who wants a phone that artificially breathes? My next thought was a biologically altered phone inserted into a dog who barks when someone calls you. You can then pet it behind the ear to send a busy tone! 

But after seriously thinking about the weight shifting feature, now that's something I'd be interested in. Also, I use my phone as an alarm clock, so being able to see the time without picking up my phone would be nice. Sometimes ideas present themselves as eccentric or useless, but the underlying practicality of it just makes sense. 

I think that Fabian's vision is spot on. Unless we are to evolve into a cyborg clan of destruction perhaps we can metaphorically represent the appliances we use so many times each day into something more human. Perhaps this would cure our dependencies on these appliances and be more empathetic when our loved ones ask us to step away from our 'toys'.

What would you use those alterations for?

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