Friday, June 25, 2010
10 Interactive User Interfaces for the Future, Via Gizmo Watch; CNN's Eatocracy Site for Foodies - Food with Stories
I changed the name of this blog to reflect my focus on interactivity. The World Is My Interface is now The World Is My Interactive Interface.
In keeping with the change-of-blog-title, I thought I'd share a quick link to a recent Gizmowatch post, Ten Interactive User Interfaces for the Future. Bharat, the authro, reviews a variety of interfaces, input methods, and interaction techniques, such as Skinput, a water-based touch screen, a muscle-computer interface, air gestures, brain-computer systems, and even a mud-tub interface.
I was fortunate to see some of these interaction techniques and interfaces when I attended CHI 2010 this past April, and plan to share some of my photos and video clips on this blog soon.
Totally Unrelated
Online connection for foodies
Eatocracy is a new website within the CNN pages that provides news- and more- about all things related to food. The categories on the site include "main", "news", "bite", "sip", "make", "think", and "buzz". The best part, in my opinion, is the heirloom recipe collection index, where people can upload and share family recipies and the stories behind them.
Here is the description of Eatocracy from the website:
Eatocracy "is your online home for smart, passionate conversation and information about food news, politics, culture. We'll highlight regional and family recipes, dive into restaurants and food shopping, chat with celebrity and local chefs, and show you what's for dinner around the world tonight. Grab a place at the table and read with your mouth full."
Enjoy!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Video: Nokia Services + Intelligent Adaptive Devices: Interactive content & communication across platforms, screens, and situations
Nokia's The Way We Live Next 3.0 conference was held November 10-11, 2009, and I was fortunate to come across the concept video shared during the opening presentation.
-Via Putting People First and Nokia Conversations
RELATED
Nokia The Way We Live Next 3.0 Putting People First post
The Way We Live Next: Social apps and open-source R&D (Jesse Sutton 11/11/09, Wired UK)
(Discusses Life Tools, Health Radar, Mobile Job Hunt applications.)
Nokia- life in 2015 (JBC, Nokia Conversations, 11/11/09 - a review Heikki Norta's presentation. Norta is head of corporate strategy.)
Multiplying our Efforts (pdf) Presentation: Henry Tirri, SVP, Head of Nokia Research Center
Communities creating Computers – Computers connecting Communities (pdf) Presentation: Peter Schneider, Head of Technology Marketing, Maemo Devices, Nokia
Communities of the Future (pdf) Presentation: Purnima Kochikar, VP, Head of Forum Nokia & Developer Community
Go Mobile with Cash (pdf) Presentation: Teppo Paavola, VP, General Manager of Mobile Financial Services, Nokia
SOMEWHAT RELATED
The Nokia Braille Reader (Experimental)
The Nokia Braille Reader is a joint project between Nokia, Tampere University, and the Finnish Federation of Visually Impaired.
Cross-posted on Interactive Multimedia Technology
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Microsoft's Future Interface Visions, Original Version, Parody Version
Parody Version from Sarcastic Gamer
I'll update this post soon with some comments and pictures. I'm missing the link to the Microsoft video that talks through the various technologies highlighted in the first video.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The World as a Networked Interface: GENI, the Global Environment for Network Innovations
Today I learned that Rudra Dutta, an associate professor at North Carolina State University, is participating in the GENI project. GENI stands for Global Environment for Network Innovations, and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Here is the information from the GENI website:
Exploring networks of the future
"Evolving technological and social networks, intertwined and wordlwide in scope, are rapidly transforming societies and economies. The Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI), a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is open and broadly inclusive, providing collaborative and exploratory environments for academia, industry and the public to catalyze groundbreaking discoveries and innovation in these emerging global networks...GENI is a virtual laboratory at the frontiers of network science and engineering for exploring future internets at scale. GENI creatse major opportunities to understand, innovate and transform global networks and their interactions with society."
GENI at-a-glance (pdf)
GENI's mission
"The GENI mission is to: open the way for transformative research at the frontiers of network science and engineering, and inspire and accelerate the potential for groundbreaking innovation of significant sociio-economic impact."
Press Release, Reuters, 10/12/09
GENI Project Office at BBN Technologies Announces $11.5M in NSF Funding for 33 Academic and Industry Teams (The complete list of proposals funded in GENI Spiral 2 is listed in this press release)
About BBN Technologies
"BBN Technologies is a legendary R&D organization that leverages its substantial intellectual property portfolio to produce advanced, repeatable solutions such as the Boomerang shooter detection system. With expertise spanning information security, speech and language processing, networking, distributed systems, and sensing and control systems, BBN scientists and engineers have amassed a substantial collection of innovations and patented solutions. BBN now employs over 700 people in seven locations in the US: Cambridge, Massachusetts (headquarters); Arlington, Virginia; Columbia, Maryland; Middletown, Rhode Island; San Diego, California; St. Louis Park, Minnesota; and O'Fallon, Illinois. For more information, visit www.bbn.com."
SOMEWHAT RELATED
BBN's Boomerang State of the Art Shooter Detection
Put this in the hands of some technically-grounded artists and musicians, and just think of what could happen!
In ubiquitous computing, we need to rely on a range of networks, and not the traditional kind. Although the Boomerang was specifically developed for military purposes, it has features that I think would be very useful in public, non-military settings. It uses passive acoustic detection and can operate in motion and in stationary positions. The mast is an array of microphones, and the system is programmed to detect information about incoming fire. It works in urban terrains as well as in fields, and can quickly detect information and relative information, including information about elevation, about the "shooter. The system can detect the differences between various sounds, such as door slams, firecrackers, and so forth.
I want one, but not to detect shooters! (I wrote some experimental code snippets when I was studying AI for Games that might work with something like this, in real/augmented reality environments.)
Another thing about the Boomerang, it sort of looks like something that was in one of my recurring technology dreams - the one about wireless sensor networks. Also read my loosely related posts highlighting the multi-disciplinary approach to this topic, unrelated to military settings:
"Web Meets World" User Experience of Embedded Systems and Interactive Wireless Sensor Networks
Albrecht Schmidt's User Interface Engineering Blog: Great Links, References, and Resources
The UX of SmartGridCity: Control Your SmartHouse Remotely, Online
Other links of interest:
SILO Project: Services Integration, controL and Optimization for the Future Internet
SILO Project Overview
Future Internet Information Meeting Webcasts (held on 7/29/09)
FIND: NSF's Future Internet Design Initiative
Questions from the FIND website:
- How can we design a network that is fundamentally more secure and available than today's Internet? How would we conceive the security problem if we could start from scratch?
- How might such functions as information dissemination, location management or identity management best fit into a new network architecture?
- What will be the long-term impact of new technologies such as advanced wireless and optics?
- How will economics and technology interact to shape the overall design of a future network?
- How do we design a network that preserves a free and open society?
UPDATE
As I was exploring Dr. Rudra Dutta's website, I found his resources for graduate students considering Ph.D. research. If this is something you are thinking about, I'm sure you'll find Dr. Rudra's words of wisdom well worth it!
Introduction to the Process of Research, A Personal View
Tips on Research Reading
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
World Builder Video: Dream of the future of technology- supported human-world interaction?
World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.
If you've seen this 9-minute video, you won't mind taking another look. It was created by Bruce Branit depicting a man who builds a holographic world sometime in the future. Branit is a visual effects artist, who reportedly used the Lightwave 3D graphics platform for post-production.
The music was composed by Randy Skach.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Internet of Things Europe 2009 Conference:- wish I could go!
The Internet of Things Europe 2009 conference - "Emerging Technologies for the Future" - will be held on May 7th and 8th in Brussels at the Sofitel Brussels Europe hotel. Rafi Haladjian, a co-founder of Violet, will be presenting at the conference during the following session on Thursday, May 7th:
Session 2: Innovation and emerging technologies and business models
"This session will explore what emerging innovations, technologies and market trends are being seen now, and which are likely to emerge in the future. What are the research requirements and obstacles in terms of affordability, usability or accessibility that need to be addressed? How will economic, technological and application trends drive the evolution of architectures for the ‘Internet of Things’? What successful business models are already being seen today, and how can these be adapted with future technological developments?"
In a previous post, "The Internet of Things can be Cute: MIR:ROR by Violet", I discussed how RFID is being used in a variety of playful ways to trigger a link to information.The following video from the Violet website explains how MIR:ROR uses little RFID stamps to interact with the Internet and activate things through the MIR:ROR. Each stamp has an e-mail address.
The rabbit in the picture below is called Nabaztag, from Violet, the first Internet-connected Rabbit. He hears, he reads, and he speaks. He can wake you up, give the weather forecast, update you on your friends face-book and twitter status. He can also send music, e-mail messages, and read stories.
The little rabbits have been around for quite a while. Below is an opera composed by Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birge, following an idea by Guylaine Monnier:
90 of the rabbits were brought to the performance by their owners, and ten were supplied by Violet.
On a more serious note, here are a few other sessions that I'd be interested in attending at the Internet of Things conference:
Session 5: Privacy, Security & Data Protection
"Although privacy and data protection policy has become increasingly sophisticated since the emergence of the Internet, controversies are likely to accelerate with the new applications likely to be encountered in the Internet of Things. Security issues, particularly surrounding unauthorised access to and unintended disclosure of data are becoming more prevalent. What qualitatively new challenges are presented by the Internet of Things? How can the rights of citizens or businesses in one country be safeguarded on global networks? Whatrights pertain to Things on the Internet of Things?"
Session 6: Service Architecture and Communication
"The range of connectivity options available is bewildering - but the challenges of scalability, interoperability and ensuring return on investment for network operators remain. How will communication needs change as a result of the Internet of Things? What new service architectures will be required to cater for the connectivity demands of emerging devices? How will spectrum rights holders participate in the Internet of Things"
(A similar post is in the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.)
Monday, December 1, 2008
Usability & User Experience, A work in Progress: "Ubicomp is like a 5-year-old wishing for a pink pony"; "Ubiquitous Computing and UX Design"
I came across a post from the Near Future Laboratory's blog:
Ubicomp is like a 5-year-old wishing for a pink pony -Julian Bleeker
"Complete Ubicomp fail. I mean..they can't even get this most simple of scenarios straightened out and they want to put my refrigerator and toaster oven on the network?"
The author of the post was a guest at an upscale hotel room that featured sensors that turned on the lights. Unfortunately, the lights turned on at random times, resulting in a sleepless night, and a grumpy, resentful blogger. A great example for the Usability Hall of Shame.
Via Thomas Purves: "Apparently no one really wants to reboot their socks."
To learn more about about UX and ubiquitous computing, see Mike Kuniavsky's post, "Ubicomp UX Design at Dansk-IT" and the link to his keynote presentation, "Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design".
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Disney's House of the Future - reminds me of my childhood memories of Expo 67..
I came across an article in MIT's Technology Review on-line about Disney's revival of the "House of the Future". According to the article, the "$15 million (euro10.32 million) home is a collaboration of The Walt Disney Co., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., software maker LifeWare and homebuilder Taylor Morrison."
This brought back a few memories from my childhood.
I remember visiting a "kitchen of the future" at Expo 67, in Montreal, Canada, when I was a little girl. The most amazing thing that I saw was a video phone. I was so excited to be told that in the very near future, all families will have video-phones in their kitchens!
Are we there yet?!
This clip of the Telephone Pavilion has a brief demonstration of a video phone. Even better is the demonstration of the "Telephone of the Future". Here is an excerpt:
"The Telephone of the Future - you can make a call from the palm of your hand, you touch buttons, instead of dialing, and it has an electronic tone, instead of a bell.. And one day, completely portable!"
There is a demonstration of call forwarding, a picture phone, and a means to pay bills by phone. (Listen the lyrics of the music in the background.. "this is the way we pay our bills..")
The family takes a trip to Expo '67 - (Not my family!)
(Music on the clip reportedly is from Isao Tomita's electronic music interpretation of Debussy's Pictures from an Exhibition, recorded in 1975, but somehow appropriate.)
Tour of Man in the Community pavilion - discusses man, community, and technology.
Expo 67 in Montreal
(John Whelan)
The Expo Lounge Blog
All about Expo 67!
