Hey who wants to get drunk, strap on one of these jackets and throw in Evil Dead 2, eh?
FTA: Sometimes you may feel a shiver go up your spine as you're watching a chilling movie scene, but a new jacket can actually give you a real shiver. The haptics jacket, designed by scientists at Philips Electronics, can enable movie viewers to feel movies through a sense of touch, in an attempt to provide full emotional immersion in a film.
Look for that family down the street that everyone only kind of likes to be the first to adopt this tech...
Showing posts with label ar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ar. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Bionic Eye
Well, technically, its not bionic exactly, but none-the-less making the blind see is pretty impressive. Hey, didn't we do something special for the last guy that could do that?
Still this is tech's far from perfect, FTA: The system works with the aid of eyeglasses, which hold a camera mounted on one of the lenses that captures images and sends the information to a video processor, also located on the glasses, according to the description of the technology on Second Sight's Web site. After the video processor converts the images to an electronic signal, a transmitter on the glasses sends that information wirelessly to a receiver attached to the surface of the eye. From there, the information is sent through a tiny cable to an electrode array implanted in the retina, stimulating it to emit electrical pulses. These pulses trigger signals in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots that correspond to the electrodes stimulated.
It's easy to imagine a day when it won't just be spots of light and dark. As we get better at restoring site, this tech will have other applications as well in AR and VR for example. Very exciting stuff.
Still this is tech's far from perfect, FTA: The system works with the aid of eyeglasses, which hold a camera mounted on one of the lenses that captures images and sends the information to a video processor, also located on the glasses, according to the description of the technology on Second Sight's Web site. After the video processor converts the images to an electronic signal, a transmitter on the glasses sends that information wirelessly to a receiver attached to the surface of the eye. From there, the information is sent through a tiny cable to an electrode array implanted in the retina, stimulating it to emit electrical pulses. These pulses trigger signals in the retina that travel through the optic nerve to the brain, which perceives patterns of light and dark spots that correspond to the electrodes stimulated.
It's easy to imagine a day when it won't just be spots of light and dark. As we get better at restoring site, this tech will have other applications as well in AR and VR for example. Very exciting stuff.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Nifty.
Not really world changing tech, but we can expect a general trend away from both buttons and touch screens towards augmented reality... as soon as it doesn't make you look like Larry from Arrested Development Season 3.
FTA: The folks at MIT have christened their wearable prototype Wear Ur World (WUW), a device cobbled together using everyday gizmos like a mobile projector, Webcam, and mobile phone. Hopefully, when the final product does ship, it'll reveal a sleeker, less clunky rendition without the colored finger bands, and one that has a discreet mode for when you need to access information privately.
Particularly neat: As a demonstration of its capabilities, the wearer can draw a circle on his wrist, prompting the gadget to project a digital clock face.
I had previously read about either this, or a similar system, but now I can't find the original article. It had other details, like holding your hands in front of you in a square activates the camera mode. By incorporating common gestures the device is very intuitive and, thus, very likely to catch on.
FTA: The folks at MIT have christened their wearable prototype Wear Ur World (WUW), a device cobbled together using everyday gizmos like a mobile projector, Webcam, and mobile phone. Hopefully, when the final product does ship, it'll reveal a sleeker, less clunky rendition without the colored finger bands, and one that has a discreet mode for when you need to access information privately.
Particularly neat: As a demonstration of its capabilities, the wearer can draw a circle on his wrist, prompting the gadget to project a digital clock face.
I had previously read about either this, or a similar system, but now I can't find the original article. It had other details, like holding your hands in front of you in a square activates the camera mode. By incorporating common gestures the device is very intuitive and, thus, very likely to catch on.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Who Could Possibly Object?
FTA: The Department of Defense is soliciting proposals for a computer program that would enable young children to interact with a virtual version of their parent. Officials hope it could provide reassurance and general chat when phone or internet contact is not possible.
I really can't quite figure out who's pitching this project. Pro-Family Hawks aren't usually too big on science, Pro-Science forward thinkers aren't usually too big on war. Also, the tech's not remotely close yet. This would be like a glorified AIM bot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for funding personality mapping software and fully believe that one day we'll be able to get something pretty close to what they're proposing... just not today. Its much more likely we'll get general AI before we get specific AI.
I really can't quite figure out who's pitching this project. Pro-Family Hawks aren't usually too big on science, Pro-Science forward thinkers aren't usually too big on war. Also, the tech's not remotely close yet. This would be like a glorified AIM bot.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for funding personality mapping software and fully believe that one day we'll be able to get something pretty close to what they're proposing... just not today. Its much more likely we'll get general AI before we get specific AI.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Future: There Will be Perverts!
The porn industry (pr0n industry to my leet friends) has always driven technology. To Wit... (SFW... though you might get some looks.)
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/real_touch_devi.php
Setting you back $150 dollars (and your sense of self worth) the 'Real Touch' well... it uh... look you stick your pen15 in it. It syncs up to your porn, matches speed... provides warmth... and lubricant... OK I don't really want to talk about the device itself, but the implications are interesting.
I've often speculated about how different sexual development will be for kids being born today. When I was a boy, acquiring a playboy was a right of passage and it was no mean feat. Essentially you either had to steal one, buy one at an outrageous markup from someone older or hope that an older family member was inattentive with their collection. Now you just type 'boobs' into google. It lacks a certain romance...
Consider though what devices like the Real Touch might do to further erode these coming of age moments (no pun intended). Couple this device with any virtual reality technology and how would this effect dating among the youth? A little? A lot? Not at all?
If you could, as a teenager, have had a sexual encounter with any celebrity that was (and I'm not suggesting the Real Touch is at this level) indistinguishable from the real thing, would you have tried to date the same way you did? Would you still go for the prettiest girl or would your tastes slide back towards personality? Would you have minded taking it slow if you could go home and simulate an encounter with a virtual version of your date? Would there be a new intermediary relationship phase? (We've done everything in VR, but only third base in real life.) And will this further the social isolation of the chronically shy (especially if coupled with any AI that can approximate human interaction)?
Consider this (sfw):http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mm8l_futurama-antirobot-propaganda_shortfilms
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/real_touch_devi.php
Setting you back $150 dollars (and your sense of self worth) the 'Real Touch' well... it uh... look you stick your pen15 in it. It syncs up to your porn, matches speed... provides warmth... and lubricant... OK I don't really want to talk about the device itself, but the implications are interesting.
I've often speculated about how different sexual development will be for kids being born today. When I was a boy, acquiring a playboy was a right of passage and it was no mean feat. Essentially you either had to steal one, buy one at an outrageous markup from someone older or hope that an older family member was inattentive with their collection. Now you just type 'boobs' into google. It lacks a certain romance...
Consider though what devices like the Real Touch might do to further erode these coming of age moments (no pun intended). Couple this device with any virtual reality technology and how would this effect dating among the youth? A little? A lot? Not at all?
If you could, as a teenager, have had a sexual encounter with any celebrity that was (and I'm not suggesting the Real Touch is at this level) indistinguishable from the real thing, would you have tried to date the same way you did? Would you still go for the prettiest girl or would your tastes slide back towards personality? Would you have minded taking it slow if you could go home and simulate an encounter with a virtual version of your date? Would there be a new intermediary relationship phase? (We've done everything in VR, but only third base in real life.) And will this further the social isolation of the chronically shy (especially if coupled with any AI that can approximate human interaction)?
Consider this (sfw):http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7mm8l_futurama-antirobot-propaganda_shortfilms
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