January 28, 2011

Digitalized turntable

Greg Kaufman tried something new for DJs so that they don’t have to carry their mixer console and vinyls all the time to the clubs and install the console in the dark clubs. So as Greg said in his video, we are now in the digital age and that’s why he (was able to) digitalized the console. So if all clubs have such turntables, DJs only have to carry their USB device with their music on it.

That’s a great idea for using so called natural user interfaces, especially because the consoles are easily customizable. But that’s also the critical point of this device. Different DJs have different visions for the perfect mutlitouch turntable, I think. One wants to modify the display and the other to change controls. And these controls seem to be a little bit tricky to me. You have to use one finger for ABC and two finger for DEF and three finger for GH? and four for ?U?. And that’s the thing for both hands and you have to approximately hit the right locations on the table and that without haptic feedback. Looks great but needs closer exmination.

[kcai.edu: Kansas City Art Institute]

January 21, 2011

Human-car interface

Ford (in co-operation with Microsoft) provides an interesting human-machine interface for their cars called Ford SYNC. The driver mostly controls this interface with his voice (apparently except the volume level) and with that he is able to call people from (connected smart)phone book, get through radio news, be led to a unknown business location and so on.

Ford doesn’t have a lot of visual output of navigational data nor tactile interface. And I think that’s because they don’t want to distract the driver in such way. But so they have to do a lot of communication processes in an auditive way and the driver has to remember many things (menu options, etc.). Thinking about his options is mentally demanding and this is also distracting the driver from the traffic, from my point of view. That’s also the case if the driver lets read out the options by the ‘car’ because he has to focus to that.

I don’t like this interface really well. In my view the perfect interface is multimodal and therefore balanced with more visual and also tactile elements.

[ford.com: Ford SYNC]

PS: Why the most of auditive machine outputs are female?

January 14, 2011

Third eye in the back of the head

In the name of art the New York University professor Wafaa Bilal had implanted a titanium connection base for a magnetically camera in the back of his head.

That’s a really nice thing for new use cases. For example think about hacking at the computer in the front and watching TV in the back. *fun* But seriously you can have more overview while walking in dark streets. I’m sure this is very interesting for military purposes.

The questions are: Is the human brain able to process this third eye? Actually W. Bilal is looking at the video data with his own two eyes via laptop. But what if one connects the camera with a brain computer interface directly with the mind? Why didn’t do nature such things? Is the human going crazy because not knowing where he is going (forward or backward)? Is this a new step towards cyborgs?

December 31, 2010

“Experience” by printing in 3D

Printing stuff in 3D is a exciting way to innovations. The research assistant Amit Zoran of the MIT Media Lab has printed a flute with this technology. After 3D software design the printing process of the first functional prototype took about 15 hours. The result ist impressing because of the complex structure of a flute (I think).

As Zoran said in his video “the new technologies can enable new designs that are not durable otherwise and may help to develop new acoustic experiences“. His design draft (at the end of the video) looks interesting and lets one divine many more devices we only know by science fiction romans respectively can’t imagine yet.

[media.mit.edu: MIT Media Lab]

November 15, 2010

Touchless UI with ultrasound

The firm Elliptic Labs has developed a prototype for touchless user interfaces which is easier to implement and cheaper than today used camera-image-based technology and utilizes ultrasound. I like this “hand gesture – in / out (play / pause)”.

This can be a cool technology. Imagine to sit on the sofa watching a film and just have to use this gesture “out / pause” to hold the film. It’ll be something like “Minority Report” (again).

But what’s with animals (especially pets)? For example dogs can hear these (ultra)sounds and I think it’ll hurt them! Or will this attract bats to come around?

[ellipticlabs.com: Elliptic Labs]

November 8, 2010

3D dynamic hologram

Nearly three years ago the University of Arizona (UA) developed | announced a system which was able to print a three dimensional hologram in a couple of minutes. This 3D picture can be seen by human without special glasses.

Today the UA College of Optical Sciences is one step further. 3D, no glasses, one color – it’s all the same but now they can produce one picture in about two seconds!

That’s really nice. Project conferences can be hold virtually in realtime in the future and so for example exhaust fumes can be reduced. OK, one has to check CO2 emissions and so on which is needed to produce 3D hologram systems. But in my opinion that’s the right way and many applications are waiting for this technology.

[optics.arizona.edu: UA College of Optical Sciences]

October 10, 2010

Navigation: head orientation & LED

The following video shows glasses extended by LEDs (connected to mobile navigation system) to navigate pedestrians only by LED lights.

That’s a good idea to prevent pedestrians from the constraint permanently looking to the navigation system (display). But I guess (primarily at night) these lights are annoying.

[www.uec.ac.jp: The University of Electro-Communications]

October 3, 2010

Transparent displays

There are coming more and larger transparent displays like these ones:

That’s an interesting technology. It enables us to transfer more (visual) informations and in different ways than today. For instance we can augment the reality and thereby enhance team communication (e.g. in offices: visualize important informations of your in front sitting neighbor). Or many people around a display can see (and in the future: can interact with!?) the same data. Maybe soon one interacts with the data in the back of the display and sees his fingers interacting without covering the visualizing with his hand. And maybe … or …

September 26, 2010

Accessibility of programming software for blind people

It’s great to see that disabled persons are integrated in normal life. The video shows how a (blind)human-machine interface can be built so that the people are able to program software. (The video also shows how they are teached to do so.)

[www.siue.edu – A.M. Stefik: Dissertation (2008, PDF)]

September 19, 2010

Automatically catch thoughts

This video shows the today’s circumstances to use a BCI (brain computer interface). You need a lot of tools and time to gather simple text messages.

But it’s impressive and I’m sure something like this is the human machine interface of the future! Maybe I saw to many films like “Matrix” and so on but seriously: The brain is the only body part we all have! So in fact e.g. deaf people will be able to speak. Maybe we can make an advance in communicating with sick people, think of paraplegic people or people in coma. Perhaps we will be able to communicate in some way with animals!

[engr.wisc.edu…: Department of Biomedical Engineering]

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