This is too cool: Sixth Sense, a wearable device with a projector that “enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data”. Awesome video!
The Inamo restaurant in London uses interactive dinner tables to let you browse through menus, play games and select different colour moods.
There is a wonderful video on Youtube of a kid explaining the system:
I love the idea of the kid showing how easy and fun the system is to use, its great PR for the restaurant.
This is very cool. Instead of using the mouse or keyboard to control the dials in Reason or Final Cut (or any other knob twiddling software) Girtonlabs have created magnetic knobs which you can stick onto your computer screen:
You then twist the knobs to control your software! Very nice, much more satisfying that trying to twist knobs and dials with the mouse.
Powercursor allows you to simulate haptic feedback creating a tactile experience in GUIs.
Simluate pressure, stickiness and roughness in your GUIs!
There is a lot of cool work being done with wearable computers delivering real work haptic experiences. Check out http://www.cutecircuit.com. You give your partner a hug whilst they are wearing the shirt, the shirt remembers the pressure of the hug, then when you are away on business your partner can press a button and recreate the hug!
Philips have created a shirt which promises to deliver “emotional immersion“; shivers up the spine and muscle contraction.
Beautiful projection from phedhex made by beaming light onto an array of vertical wires, giving the illusion of 3d objects floating in space:
What’s even cooler is that the entire project is open source so you can build your own!
Everyware, or wearable computing, can provoke interesting reactions. Does it engender a community spirit or scare everyone into staying at home?
A positive viewpoint:
Take the popular Nike+ system. By putting a small computer chip in your running shoes and synching it to your iPod, you can track your run, monitor your progress, and perhaps most importantly, connect with a community of runners.
http://johnnyholland.org/magazine/2009/04/the-power-of-personal-informatics/
A negative viewpoint:
Police regularly use information on the adult Oyster card system to get details about passenger movements. BBC London has learned that in the past year they made at least 3,000 requests for information.
….Transport for London [has] made it mandatory for children aged between 11 and 18 to carry an Oyster photocard in order to gain free travel. A spokesperson for TfL said the card holder was required to abide by its Behaviour Code.
A young person with criminal convictions, warnings, reprimands and other sanctions committed on the public transport network could have the right to free travel withdrawn, the spokesman said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7473959.stm
So how long before ‘Big brother is watching you’ becomes a reality? Not long, in fact it’s already happening.
http://www.verichipcorp.com/ supply implanted RFID chips for ‘Patient identification’, ‘Infant protection’, ‘Wander protection’ and ‘Asset tracking’. Hmm, Asset tracking sounds handy, I might get my Flash developers in work implanted…
Here’s an interface made of mud!
“By sloshing, squishing, pulling, punching, etc, in a tub of mud (yes, wet dirt), users control games, simulators, and expressive tools; interacting with a computer in a new, completely organic, way. Born out of a motivation to close the gap between our bodies and the digital world, the Mud Tub frees the traditional computer interaction model of it’s rigidity, allowing humans to use their highly developed sense of touch, and creative thinking skills in a more natural way.”
http://tomgerhardt.com/mudtub/
This would be awesome at a music festival. Glastonbury is ridiculously muddy anyway…