Author name: Apoorva Kavitkar

The MouthPad^ is a tongue controlled device made by Augmental, a startup that came out of MIT’s Media Lab. It looks like a thin retainer that sits on the roof of your mouth. Instead of using your hands, you move a cursor around by sliding your tongue across a small touchpad built into the device. To click, you press your tongue against your palate. To right click, you do a quick sipping motion. If someone has more head control than tongue control, they can switch to head tracking instead. Everything connects over Bluetooth, so it works with a laptop, phone, or tablet without needing any special software installed.

Wise is a money transfer platform that lets users send funds abroad, receive international payments, check exchange rates, and pay bills globally. In this critique, I examine the experience of a user who depends on a personal Wise account to exchange money with her sister studying and working overseas. My analysis draws on Don Norman’s