Smart Bar
Technology should be smart enough to know what you want it to do. Context is important, and that's the hardest thing to design into software or hardware. The question is- how can we shortcut that.
First- limit the number of contexts you support. Make clear what context your device is currently using in a completely obvious way. If there's any confusion about what context your device should be in, default to a "safe" state. Never force the user to perform actions in a specific order, and don't hit them with modal interactions. Give them an obvious path to follow to achieve their goal, but don't misbehave when they go off the path. The user needs to find their own work-flow.
First- limit the number of contexts you support. Make clear what context your device is currently using in a completely obvious way. If there's any confusion about what context your device should be in, default to a "safe" state. Never force the user to perform actions in a specific order, and don't hit them with modal interactions. Give them an obvious path to follow to achieve their goal, but don't misbehave when they go off the path. The user needs to find their own work-flow.