Friday, March 30, 2007
Possible is the Impossible's Opposite
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
David Lynch on product placement
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Speak of the devil...
I didn't expect that it would come so soon.
My last post was about using practical mind control devices to operate technology in the real world. No sooner than this week Wired reported that Duke University - home of the Blue Devils (ha, title tie-in!) - is working on just such technology in partnership with the Pentagon. Mind control technology could be used for everything from video games to practical applications, like prosthetics, nano-sized tweezers for medical purposes, and weaponry.
This technology begs the question asked previously: if machines can interpret thoughts one direction, what is stopping them from thinking the other direction? Of course researchers are depending on the other human senses to interface with the devices we will control with our minds.
But it stands to reason that if, for example, someone was using such technology for a prosthetic arm they would only be able to communicate with the arm to grasp, lift, bend, and reach. However, you would ideally want to use the arm to sense the weight, texture, temperature, and other physical properties of objects. Thus, for the arm to work ideally, there would have to be technology to communicate the properties of objects back into brain language.
If they can create technology to do that, believe me, I will be an early adopter of the robotic arm.
Labels: mind control, prosthetics, technology
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Convergence: Two Webs and a Shower Cap
I don't normally like to dwell on the overly techno cerebral, but I came upon three things today that caught my interest:
1. This video on the thinking behind web 2.0, the development of a web that is user-friendly.
2. This graphic of the progression to Web 3.0, a web that allows web applications to think and behave more interactively and our machines to become hyper-technologically interactive (depending on hardware that can communicate fluidly).
3. This technology that is now adapting to the consumer level:
The first consumer application of Brain/Computer Communications, which can now interpret your thoughts literally into words on the screen (and you can play Pong, too).
Currently, the device only reads one way - from brain to computer; users have to use their eyes to interface the other direction. But how soon until the device interfaces both directions?
The self hating Luddite in me relishes the thought of the potential for convergence. Imagine a wireless miniature technology that could be plugged into your ear, or, better, planted into your brain to direct your thoughts into computer action. Where can I get a pizza?, you'll think, and up on your computer will pop a list of pizza places ranked by general popularity, and the computer's customized learning of your personal preferences! Can I get my Moto-Robot to walk the dog and get the mail?, you'll ponder, and off will trot your personal wirelessly connected bot. "Assassinate the president while you're out there", you'll shout after him (with your brain of course).
Sometimes I wonder whether scientists are inventing this because they really think it's good for humanity, or they just want to see how close they can get to replicating the world as it must have existed a few years before "Mad Max" happened.
[UPDATE: Add this thought to the mix:
Sony's simply titled "Home" game for Playstation takes the concept of Second Life, which blew the Sims out of the water, and adds a few improvements. (These games are pretty serious. One woman claimed to have earned her first million by selling fake real estate in the virtual Second Life). How soon until faux-reality "games" give way to hyper virtual reality? And when brain interface technologies read both ways, what's stopping us from giving up on real real life altogether?
This post written using fingers, eyes, and computer. And a brain. A real brain.
1. This video on the thinking behind web 2.0, the development of a web that is user-friendly.
2. This graphic of the progression to Web 3.0, a web that allows web applications to think and behave more interactively and our machines to become hyper-technologically interactive (depending on hardware that can communicate fluidly).
3. This technology that is now adapting to the consumer level:
The first consumer application of Brain/Computer Communications, which can now interpret your thoughts literally into words on the screen (and you can play Pong, too).Currently, the device only reads one way - from brain to computer; users have to use their eyes to interface the other direction. But how soon until the device interfaces both directions?
The self hating Luddite in me relishes the thought of the potential for convergence. Imagine a wireless miniature technology that could be plugged into your ear, or, better, planted into your brain to direct your thoughts into computer action. Where can I get a pizza?, you'll think, and up on your computer will pop a list of pizza places ranked by general popularity, and the computer's customized learning of your personal preferences! Can I get my Moto-Robot to walk the dog and get the mail?, you'll ponder, and off will trot your personal wirelessly connected bot. "Assassinate the president while you're out there", you'll shout after him (with your brain of course).
Sometimes I wonder whether scientists are inventing this because they really think it's good for humanity, or they just want to see how close they can get to replicating the world as it must have existed a few years before "Mad Max" happened.
[UPDATE: Add this thought to the mix:
Sony's simply titled "Home" game for Playstation takes the concept of Second Life, which blew the Sims out of the water, and adds a few improvements. (These games are pretty serious. One woman claimed to have earned her first million by selling fake real estate in the virtual Second Life). How soon until faux-reality "games" give way to hyper virtual reality? And when brain interface technologies read both ways, what's stopping us from giving up on real real life altogether?
This post written using fingers, eyes, and computer. And a brain. A real brain.
Labels: 2.0, 3.0, brain, interface, technology, web
Always on Your Side
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Chris
Hey, I just wanted to introduce y'all to a new friend of mine named Chris Doucette He's a local comic and pretty darn funny. He doesn't know I'm giving him a shout out. His humor is topical, so you'll have to forgive this clip for being a little outtdated.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Techno Procrastination
I've got a big midterm in about two hours. So what do I do to keep me from obsessing and reading over the material so I can do well? Catch up on my very important Engadget reading.I've recently added the site to my top three link checks when I first get on the internet. I won't say that I know much about technology but there is some kind of allure to it that is unexplainable. The gadget world is definitely very sensual. The design, marketing, even the names of products are engineered to access the same areas of the brain that are stimulated by the smells of food and attractive people.
Check out the project above for instance. In Germany, you can now send google map directions from the web directly to your car's GPS. In other words, you can skip the entire step of remembering or writing down your destination and then to entering it into the GPS in your car, and have it automatically sent instead!
How could this possibly be useful or significant enough to warrant mentioning? I guess if it keeps Germans from driving through road signs it could have some function. But other than that it's just something fun to piss off the Luddites with.
Labels: cars, engadget, german, technology
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Acutal Headlines
This one goes out to Shiela and Jumoke, who seem to be forgiving me for not knowing anything about sports. I'm learning...
It's not my fault if this is what I thought when I saw the headline.
It's not my fault if this is what I thought when I saw the headline.Labels: climate, express, global warming, Harry Potter, wizards
Pan
Tried and failed to see Zodiac tonight after taking a break from homework. Saw Pan's Labyrinth instead. It was excellent. Go see it. If you looooved the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy you'll......hate this movie. Sorry.Labels: Pan's Labyrinth
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Clip Art
I got a call from a telemarketer tonight and it really bugged me. My hands were full, and it was raining, and it was during peak hours on my cell phone plan, so I didn't really appreciate it when I answered and heard from someone offering to me a beautiful free cruise. Well, I the offer of a free cruise was nice, but it kind of annoyed me when I dropped everything in my arms just to take the unwanted call.When I came home I went onto google image search and looked up "telemarketers" so that if I saw any of them on the street I could go up to them and knock everything out of their hands and talk their ear off for ten minutes about something irrelevant. But most of the pictures are of people who look like this guy.
That could be almost anyone in the world! How am I supposed to tell him apart from all the other douchebags wearing ties in this city? Is he going to be wearing that headset all the time?
Not only that - his photo also appears on websites for thirty different telephone related services, including several software companies, and a sheep breeder. Well, I come to find out that that's not even a real telemarketer. He's a model for a clip art service. He gets paid to pretend to be a telemarketer! And it looks like he's doing a great job.
There's other clip art out there on the web, from unique designs with text to beautiful illustrations. The best one I saw though would have to be from this software site who I won't name by name, but here's their homepage:
They sell a lot of productivity enhancing items - spreadsheets, concept mapping, dictation devices. But look up in the corner there:
Just what is that fellow doing? They have him labeled as "JCV Gantt Pro 2" which means that he himself could be a productivity enhancer that they offer for sale. However, he also is holding that pencil in his hand and looking thoughtfully at the gallery of purchasing options.
I like to think that he is a bright young procurement officer for a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company, and he's thinking, "Productivity software, huh?" and then he'll look down at the pencil in his hand and say, "Number two, it looks like it's time to retire you." He'll sigh and put the crisp yellow pencil, so minimally used that the eraser bears no scrub marks and the lead is fully sharp, into his desk drawer with other forgotten items: some paperclips, pages from an old desk calendar, a pager, a novelty abacus. He will shut the drawer on the pencil, saying goodbye to its hopes of being used in the service of commerce or imagination.
And then he will be mauled by a bear.
I don't know why. Just because.
Labels: bear, clip art, procurement, software, telemarketer
