Oct 15
display, gadget, input, research
Carnegie Mellon University - OmniTouch, a wearable projection system developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research, enables users to turn pads of paper, walls or even their own hands, arms and legs into graphical, interactive surfaces.
In other words, there will be no need to find that pen you keep misplacing — or even to dig your smartphone out of your pocket to record a note.
The system employs a depth-sensing camera, similar to the Microsoft Kinect, to track the user’s fingers on everyday surfaces.
This allows users to control interactive applications by tapping or dragging their fingers, much as they would with touchscreens found on smartphones or tablet computers.
The projector can superimpose keyboards, keypads and other controls onto any surface, automatically adjusting for the surface’s shape and orientation to minimize distortion of the projected images.
Aug 11
health, input, research
CNET – Engineers at the University of Illinois have unveiled novel, skin-mounted electronics whose circuitry bends, wrinkles, and even stretches with skin. The device platform includes electronic components, medical diagnostics, communications, and human-machine interfacing on a patch so thin and durable it can be mounted to skin much like a temporary tattoo.
What’s more, the team was able to demonstrate its invention across a wide range of components, including LEDs, transistors, wireless antennas, sensors, and conductive coils and solar cells for power. ”We threw everything in our bag of tricks onto that platform, and then added a few other new ideas on top of those to show that we could make it work,” said engineering professor John A. Rogers in a news release. The research is described in detail in the online journal, Science.
The range of medical applications includes EEG and EMG sensors to track nerves and muscles–something that tends to be limited to a lab given the number of electrodes and wires involved.
And the patch itself, mounted on a thin sheet of water-soluble plastic before being laminated to skin with water, can be applied not only like a temporary tattoo, but even on top of a temporary tattoo to help conceal it.
Jul 14
health, input
Fast Company’s Design – A combination of a sensor-infused wristband and a smartphone app will provide nudges for healthier living, based on your behavior.
[...] On stage at TED Global, Jawbone announced the grand project they’ve been quietly working on for years: A wearable band called Up, which is infused with sensors and smartphone connected, allowing you to track your eating, sleeping, and activity patterns.
The interest grew when people realized how large this market is.
“The CDC says that for the first time in history, lifestyle diseases such as diabetes are killing more people than communicable diseases,” Travis Bogard, Jawbone’s VP of product management, tells Co.Design. “We’re trying to solve that problem.” The Up’s sensors collect data about how much you’ve been sleeping and how much you’ve been moving. That data is then fed into a smartphone app, which also takes in information about your meals. (You enter meal data manually, in part by taking pictures of what you’ve eaten.) Based on all that information, the smartphone program provides “nudges” meant to help you live healthier, day by day. For example, if you haven’t slept much, when you wake up the app might suggest a high-protein breakfast and an extra glass of water.
Jun 21
health, input, research
MIT Technology Review - Do you know how much REM sleep you got last night? New types of devices that monitor activity, sleep, diet, and even mood could make us healthier and more productive.
On a quiet Wednesday night in April, an unusual group has assembled in a garage turned hacker studio nestled in a student-dominated neighborhood outside Boston. Those gathered here—mostly in their 20s or 30s and mostly male—are united by a deep interest in themselves. They have come to share the results of their latest self-experiments: monthlong tests of the Zeo, a consumer device designed to analyze sleep.
The group is part of a rapidly growing movement of fitness buffs, techno-geeks, and patients with chronic conditions who obsessively monitor various personal metrics. At the center of the movement is a loosely organized group known as the Quantified Self, whose members are driven by the idea that collecting detailed data can help them make better choices about their health and behavior. In meetings held all over the world, self-trackers discuss how they use a combination of traditional spreadsheets, an expanding selection of smart-phone apps, and various consumer and custom-built devices to monitor patterns of food intake, sleep, fatigue, mood, and heart rate. [...]
Mar 09
editorial, input
ZDNet – ZionEyez announces “Eyez”, eyeglasses equipped with a built-in 720p HD camera designed to stream first-person video to your favorite social site. The recorded data can also be stored on the 8GB of flash memory within the Eyez™ glasses, transferred via Bluetooth or Micro USB to a computer, or wirelessly transferred to most iPhone or Android devices.
Rich Harris at ZDNet is not impressed — “I’m usually a pretty open-minded person. In my line of work, innovation and crazy ideas are a staple. It’s part of the reason I enjoy what I do. However, I have to draw the line somewhere.” [...]
“Their press release reads as if first-person-video-on-a-website-from-your-everyday-Joe Q. Public-for- everyone-to-see‘ is a brand new idea. When you go to their website, it’s flash-heavy, enshrouded in dramatic music and provides a ‘Place Order’ link that spawns a window containing placeholder copy from lipsum.org. Sigh.
All I see so far is less revolution and more known technology with the words ’social media’ attached it. ZionEyez, the “social media company” (it says that on their website) should consider chilling out on the buzz words and concentrate more on delivering their own version of putting personal video on the internet.
Sorry guys, a product that does what most of us are already doing isn’t innovation. Also, a little website QA goes a long way.”
Apr 19
display, gadget, input
Wearable Computing — Christian over at Tailor Made Toys has created a way-cool Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Augmented Reality Headset. The headset is composed of Eye-Trek goggles with the addition of a USB laptop webcam. On his blog, Christian says:
“First thing I should probably say here is that I built this without even thinking what its function would be. I just thought it would be cool to add a cam to the front of my Eye-Trek goggles. As it turned out these where ideal for use with augmented reality applications. I am also working on putting them to use for other software. Such as gps overlays and night vision (like being the terminator, but more scrawny).” [...] “Other idea is to have it on all day and log on to chat roulette, give them that “being john malcovich” feeling.”
Mar 29
input
engadget — In December 1968, Douglas C. Engelbart introduced the world to two brand-new computer peripherals. The first was his invention, the computer mouse — which, as you’re well aware, revolutionized user input two decades later. The second, the chorded keyboard, still has yet to take off outside the Braille community. But after forty years, Doug Engelbart hasn’t given up on the latter device; he recently commissioned an industrial designer, Erik Campbell, to modernize the antiquated keyset into this lovely jellyfish-inspired, five-fingered keyboard replacement. Made of silicon rubber and recycled plastics, the concept peripheral uses pressure-sensitive pads at each fingertip to detect key-presses, turns combinations of presses (the “chords”) into letters and words, and sends them over wireless USB to the host computer. Sure, chorded computing isn’t for everyone (else we’d all be sporting iFrogs and typing gloves), but if this concept ever comes to fruition, we just might be tempted to learn.
Mar 26
input
BBC News — Tapping your forearm or hand with a finger could soon be the way you interact with gadgets.
US researchers have found a way to work out where the tap touches and use that to control phones and music players. Coupled with a tiny projector the system can use the skin as a surface on which to display menu choices, a number pad or a screen. Early work suggests the system, called Skinput, can be learned with about 20 minutes of training.
Jan 29
input
cnet – crave — Canadian firm Deanmark’s wearable mouse comes almost close to aping the glove interface worn by Tom Cruise’s character in “Minority Report.” Though it’s no power glove or highly calibrated gaming hand sock like the Peregrine gauntlet, the AirMouse does seem capable of addressing repetitive strain injuries. Even with the best of ergonomic mice at your fingertips, there’s no avoiding wrist fatigue. Take it from yours truly.
Since a certain late entertainment icon has made the one-gloved look chic, you shouldn’t feel weirded out donning the AirMouse around your palm. This rodent works on wireless, uses an optical laser, runs a week on a single charge, and is said to be pretty fast and accurate as it functions by aligning itself with the ligaments of your hand and wrist.
Mar 10
display, gadget, input
Google Hosted News — US university researchers have created a portable “sixth sense” device powered by commercial products that can seamlessly channel Internet information into daily routines.
The device created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists can turn any surface into a touch-screen for computing, controlled by simple hand gestures. The gadget can even take photographs if a user frames a scene with his or her hands, or project a watch face with the proper time on a wrist if the user makes a circle there with a finger.
The MIT wizards cobbled a Web camera, a battery-powered projector and a mobile telephone into a gizmo that can be worn like jewelry. Signals from the camera and projector are relayed to smart phones with Internet connections.
“Other than letting some of you live out your fantasy of looking as cool as Tom Cruise in ‘Minority Report’ it can really let you connect as a sixth sense device with whatever is in front of you,” said MIT researcher Patty Maes.
Maes used a Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference stage in Southern California on Wednesday to unveil the futuristic gadget made from store-bought components costing about 300 dollars (US).
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