NeatTrix

With fewer pickups and sensors than the Emotiv EPOC headset (Emotiv Epoch Continued… & Emotiv Epoch) the NeuroSky headset offers the simplicity of a single brainwave pickup on the forehead and Bluetooth audio.

From the MIT Media Lab is BiDi, short for “bidirectional”. This display can “see” what happens in front of it. For more information see: New Scientist Article, Details.

In the Lumino post, we saw how object placed on a Microsoft Surface project patterns of dark and light that can be used for 3D interaction with the computer. According to Microsoft, the Microsoft Surface “uses cameras and image recognition in the infrared spectrum to recognize different types of objects such as fingers, tagged items and shapes”.

BiDi, then, is an enhancement of that concept and extends the interaction depth to 50 cm.

Now, add multi-colored gloves …

Lumino is an concept for interacting with touch screen computer in 3D. With a system of glass-fiber-filled objects, Lumino is able to discern the particular block, or stack of blocks and modify the output accordingly. So it not only knows what’s sitting on it surface, it knows what’s sitting on top of that. Check it out.

OK, it just looks that way. Still, an interesting and inexpensive implementation using a webcam as input device. For more information please see: web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/gesture-computing-0520.html

Gestural Interface Gloves

No, it doesn’t see dead people (not yet). It’s a wearable gestural interface.

Description

Videos

NeatTools (an open-source project I work on) is finally (thanks to me) getting some documentation and media, out there on the web.  It’s early days yet, but there is a new wiki and a YouTube Channel both with growing amounts of information.  Here’s the first video to get you started:

In February, Amazon is having a limited beta for the Kindle Development Kit, which will allow development of third-party applications for the kindle.    There is very little information about it at the moment, but they do say this

Voice over IP functionality, advertising, offensive materials, collection of customer information without express customer knowledge and consent, or usage of the Amazon or Kindle brand in any way are not allowed. In addition, active content must meet all Amazon technical requirements, not be a generic reader, and not contain malicious code.

I can think of a few dozen useful things I’d like to see right off the bat, although I’m sure if you thought about it you could think of a few of your own.

http://www.amazon.com/kdk/

These guys have come up with a really neat 3D electrostatic or E-field mouse. The whole thing is a few chips with a PIC microcontroller (one with USB support) as the brain. The big brains at the MIT Media Lab had a smaller implementation going in 1998 (MIT Media Lab Device Video and web page). Still, pretty damn neat.

3D Computer Interface from Free Flow on Vimeo.

In keeping with the recent “green” theme, here’s Botanicalls (botanicalls.com), a device that senses soil moisture in a potted plant, and then send you an e-mail or voice message when it needs water. This device is sold as a kit and is available from a number of sources including Adafruit (adafruit.com; http://neattrix.com/?p=175) for around $100.
(continue reading…)

Lucky, the German Shepherd, is truly lucky. He’s going to get a nice, warm place to sleep…outside, where he belongs. When he gets tired of watching the buffalo roam (Seriously, there’s a herd of buffalo nearby), and chasing rabbits he’ll have a warm retreat from the snow, ice, freezing rain, not-so-freezing rain, fog, drizzle, snizzle, and 40 other kinds of precipitation that only maybe the Inuit have proper words for, and which try our souls practically every day. Right now, there’s like 3 feet of global warming in the yard, and another foot or so due in the next 36 hours.

The intent is to build Lucky a doghouse controller with a Bluetooth connection. The controller will regulate a heating pad, sense Lucky’s presence in the doghouse, measure temperatures inside and outside the doghouse, automatically dispense food, and maybe control some lights or a fan (we have occasional summer weather). We’ll have the capacity to add other features. The Bluetooth connection gives us the ability to monitor Lucky’s use of his house and remotely change operational parameters. Eventually, we’ll take Lucky’s house off the grid, and convert the power source to wind and/or solar.

Stay tuned for further developments. We’re going to do this in installments, mostly from things we have lying around.

SpokePOV

Adafruit Industries (adafruit.com) sells all-original DIY electronics hobby kits for a variety of neat projects.  The projects range from geeky to uber nerdy and are beginner-friendly.  I was looking for simple and useful electronics projects a while back and found them. (continue reading…)

This is an old video, and a little long, but worth watching.  Great visualizations.  Recorded at the TED talks (ted.com) in 2006.  His talk demonstrates so clearly that while having good data is so important, being able to see what it’s telling you is equally important.

Here’s the link to his organization’s site.

http://www.gapminder.org/