NeatTrix

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.

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/

Since we have a burgeoning thread of articles about this sort of thing, here’s yet another gestural display interface. iPoint 3D promises display interaction without a data glove. Two firewire-interfaced cameras feed live video to a dedicated processor which then tracks the motions of  hands and fingers in real time and relays the information to a computer. See www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090220075312.htm and www.hhi.fraunhofer.de/en/departments/interactive-media-human-factors/overview/ipoint-presenter/ for more information.

According to the New York Times, Amazon will unveil the Kindle 2 at a press conference next Monday (Feb 9th).  The site boygeniusreport.com leaked supposed photos of the new device last year.  According to the article, the Kindle has been out of stock since Oprah shilled for Amazon in November.  There is speculation that those who have already ordered their Kindle will receive the new version instead.  If the leaked pictures are indeed, the new Kindle, it certainly looks nicer.  Whether it functions better, time will judge.  The key improvement will most likely be graphic speed.  It is expected to use the Epson/E Ink display currently used by the Sony Reader 700, potentially allowing for touch-screen capability.  It doesn’t look, however, like it yet match the Rex Iliad with it’s 8.1 inch screen and 16 shades of color (I think I’m having an CGA flashback).  It will be cheaper than the Iliad, however.

Either way, I’m sure my employer will buy me one of each for thorough reviewing. (hint, hint)

I love to play the guitar.  I’m good enough that I can find the chords or tab of most songs that I like to listen to, sit down and play it.  Well enough so that it’s enjoyable to me.   And really, that’s all I want.  I can’t, however, translate my love of songs and my, I think, astute appreciation of good music (would I like any other kind) into any kind of a music writing ability, lyrical or otherwise.  My chord progressions are uninspired, dull affairs, and my lyrics, maudlin effusions of love and death with the occasional scatological reference. In a word, bad. (continue reading…)

Palm announced and demonstrated their new phone, the Palm Pre last week at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.  The phone runs their new Linux-based WebOS and it looks very nice.  Palm, the one-time undisputed leader of the PDA have been playing catch-up for several years now, chasing the blackberry and the iPhone -not to mention all the windows-based systems.  It’s definitely late to the party, but it looks like they have put a lot of work and thought into the functionality of this phone, unlike a lot of the crappy touchscreen phones that surfaced in the wake of the iPhone.  Here’s hoping.  Videos after the jump. (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/

I met this guy at a siggraph in 2003, I think,  in the developing technology section.  I checked out his website and keep checking in on it from time to time. He works for Microsoft Research now, doing some really cool stuff. I recommend checking out the whole site.  You download and try some of the programs, others have been incorporated into commercial products.   His specialty is on interfaces and he’s done some very cool work.

This is what he was showing at siggraph.  It’s called a focus-plus-context screen. Basically, it’s a massive low-resolution display with an embedded high-resolution display.   It gives you the benefit of seeing the big picture, while still being able to focus on a particular part of it.  The two displays are linked so when content scrolls into the high resolution display, the content is shown in high resolution.

http://www.patrickbaudisch.com/projects/focuspluscontextscreens/index.html