We Live In The Future

theantidote: Prototype Real / Digital Info Interface...

mattlehrer — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:58:32 -0400

Prototype Real / Digital Info Interface System

Using projection and gestures to create interactive relationship with information - video embedded below:

Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a next generation user interface which can accurately detect the users finger and what it is touching, creating an interactive touchscreen-like system, using objects in the real word.

“We think paper and many other objects could be manipulated by touching them, as with a touchscreen. This system doesn’t use any special hardware; it consists of just a device like an ordinary webcam, plus a commercial projector. Its capabilities are achieved by image processing technology.”

Using this technology, information can be imported from a document as data, by selecting the necessary parts with your finger.

More at DigInfo here

RELATED: This is very similar to a concept developed in 1991 called ‘The Digital Desk’ [link]

(via prostheticknowledge:)

Graphene is Amazing

msg — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:00:54 -0400

toddsampson:

Graphene has been found to be a supercapacitor; a nearly unbreakable touchscreen; and now an uber-efficient filter for creating cheap, clean water from seawater. This is pretty amazing considering graphene was only discovered about 10 years ago; and its discovery didn’t win the Nobel Prize until 2010.

Now that you can make Graphene using a standard DVD drive and etch designs that act as electrodes with a CO2 laser things are going to get really interesting.

thisistheverge: Fujitsu’s futuristic cane does so much more...

mattlehrer — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:52:49 -0500

thisistheverge:

Fujitsu’s futuristic cane does so much more than help you walk

We’d always thought the cane was a relatively mature technology — it’s very good at helping you walk around, and really can’t be improved. We were wrong. Hidden against a bright white wall inside Fujitsu’s booth at MWC was the Next Generation Cane, which is more or less what you’d get if you brought a bunch of science fiction writers into a room and asked them how to make Cane 2.0.

This is impressive. Click through for video of a cane that can guide its owner to a destination, monitor heart rate, and let family members know where it is.

MYO - Wearable Gesture Control from Thalmic Labs

giantrobotlasers — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 12:43:05 -0500

MYO - Wearable Gesture Control from Thalmic Labs

jstn: Thinking about getting implanted collamer lenses. They...

mattlehrer — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:50:43 -0500

jstn:

Thinking about getting implanted collamer lenses. They insert a rolled up lens through a tiny incision behind your iris and it actually unfolds inside your eye, without cutting or reshaping your cornea like LASIK.

“The ICL can be removed and replaced if vision changes substantially after the procedure.”

parislemon: stoweboyd: PaperTab: Revolutionary paper tablet...

mattlehrer — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:52:04 -0500

parislemon:

stoweboyd:

PaperTab: Revolutionary paper tablet reveals future tablets to be thin and flexible as paper. (by Plastic Logic humanmedialab)

Fascinating to see bending the paper used to scroll, and touching papers to exchange information.

We’re getting closer to the Harry Potter animated newspaper.

heyitsnoah: This comment pretty much sums it up: “It’s like,...

mattlehrer — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:20:31 -0500

heyitsnoah:

This comment pretty much sums it up: “It’s like, how much more metal could this be? And the answer is: none. None more metal.”

(via Compressorhead Ace of Spades - YouTube)

peterbaker: The Gibbs Quadski amphibious four-wheeler, for...

mattlehrer — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:54:31 -0500

peterbaker:

The Gibbs Quadski amphibious four-wheeler, for Popular Mechanics

And yes, I got to ride it.

Time: Best Inventions of the Year 2012 Four Ukrainian students...

mattlehrer — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 16:00:05 -0500

Time: Best Inventions of the Year 2012

Four Ukrainian students have created gloves that allow speech- and hearing-impaired people to communicate with those who don’t use or understand sign language. The gloves are equipped with sensors that recognize sign language and translate it into text on a smart phone, which then converts the text to spoken words.

How is it possible that these could be only $75?

Time on Bounce Imaging: An MIT student and an Army Ranger have...

mattlehrer — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:28:36 -0500

Time on Bounce Imaging:

An MIT student and an Army Ranger have come up with a way to provide first responders with the kind of technology elite SEAL teams have. To give firefighters and cops a full picture of a burning building or a hostage situation, the baseball-size orb is tossed into the area. Its six cameras snap pictures while its sensors detect air quality, temperature, radiation and other hazards. It then beams the data to mobile devices.

The projected price is only $500.

Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand is finally a reality: The...

mattlehrer — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:43:00 -0500

Luke Skywalker’s robotic hand is finally a reality:

The Bebionic3 is a myoelectric prosthetic hand that uses residual neuro-muscular signals from your muscles to operate a number of precise functions. To see the hand in action is to immediately recall the scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in which Luke Skywalker examines his new robotic hand after losing it to Darth Vader. The hand is about as realistic and functional as the one in the film, with the ability to write with pen, delicately hold glasses and bottles, and even crack eggs.

Click through for some videos.

industrialist: Designer Jinsun Park has designed the Color...

mattlehrer — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:24:58 -0400

industrialist:

Designer Jinsun Park has designed the Color Picker concept, a marker that is made with a color sensor and ink cartridges.

When you spot a color that you would like to use in the real world, simply scan the sample with one end of the pen, which will detect the color and use the RGB cartridge to mix the necessary inks to produce the target color.

springwise: Trackable suitcase automatically follows its...

mattlehrer — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 22:29:11 -0400

springwise:

Trackable suitcase automatically follows its owner

Holidays are supposed to be relaxing, but with all of the organization involved they can quickly become more hassle than they’re worth. We’ve already seen Ogomo save stressed travelers from worrying about the little things by delivering travel-size toiletries to the hotel, and now the Bluetooth-enabled hop! robotic suitcase from Ideactionary could make lost luggage a thing of the past. READ MORE…

nbcnews: Click your heels and GPS-enabled shoes guide you...

mattlehrer — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 12:13:50 -0400

nbcnews:

Click your heels and GPS-enabled shoes guide you home

(Photo: Dominic Wilcox)

A British artist has created a pair of shoes that, like Dorothy’s ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” take you home with a click of the heels. But unlike Dorothy, you’ll still have to walk — while the shoes point the way with GPS and a clever LED array.

Read the complete story.

Meet Baxter, a New Kind of Industrial Robot

mattlehrer — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:26:07 -0400

Meet Baxter, a New Kind of Industrial Robot

theeconomist: Self driving cars are just around the corner....

mattlehrer — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:58:09 -0400

theeconomist:

Self driving cars are just around the corner. They promise to reduce road accidents, ease congestion and revolutionise transport. But how do they work?

Magical heart rate monitor iPhone app

mattlehrer — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:54:07 -0400

jkottke:

Using just the camera on your iPhone, the Cardiio app can accurately measure your heart rate. Here’s how it works:

Every time your heart beats, more blood is pumped into your face. This slight increase in blood volume causes more light to be absorbed, and hence less light is reflected from your face. Using sophisticated software, your iPhone’s front camera can track these tiny changes in reflected light that are not visible to the human eye and calculate your heart beat!

This video shows this process in action (with a short explanatory intro of the mathematical technique):

That is flat-out amazing. (via @delfuego)

DIY Subtitle Glasses Translate Foreign Languages in Real...

mattlehrer — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:32:30 -0400

DIY Subtitle Glasses Translate Foreign Languages in Real Time via @DIY

Smart Headlight System Will Have Drivers Seeing Through the Rain

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:42:37 -0400

http://news.cs.cmu.edu/article.php?a=3174

Disney researchers put gesture recognition in door knobs,...

msg — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:09:37 -0400

Disney researchers put gesture recognition in door knobs, chairs, fish tanks