the future’s bright….the future’s Intel

With the swap over to the Intel chip over at Apple just a fading memory now, it seems clear that Intel’s future is very bright indeed. They are commited to providing more power for their chips any way possible. And now they are looking to power a whole gammut of mobile devices shown here in a demo of possible future apps. I must say this ad has me drooling (thanks to whoever sent this round the agency today). The only problem is that I am impatient. I want this technology now. I do, however, understand that there is a big gap between dreaming of a technological future as perceived in science fiction and actually living, breathing and using the tech in day to day life. As I sit outside working on my laptop I think nothing of the incredible technology that is in place to power my surf on the net. Yet here it is. The future is, in fact, now. But the dream of a perfect future where technology is so advanced that it blends seamlessly into one’s life is really appealing. Oh and I do love the minimalist look that so many of these films sport (has there ever been a cluttered vision of the future sporting hi-tech gadgets? I suppose Children of Men came close). Any thoughts?

Tweet This

museum of lost interactions

The museum of lost interactions is a collection of forgotten communication and entertainment media. What is interesting is that gadgets we consider modern technology were actually born a long time ago. For instance, iTunes may be dominating now with their music download service but it was with the acoustograph back in 1925 where familes could request musical compositions via morse code down a telegraph wire, that the idea was born. Or the text message: actually first invented as the social communicator back in 1932 using wireless morse code technology people could commuincate throughout the bustle of a city. And when do you think portable video was began: try 1979, with the release of the video case, VHS on the move complete with an ashtray. Check out the complete collection as it makes for a fascinating read!

Tweet This

the future is nigh

So with all the media attention being firmly on Apple and the imminent release of the iPhone we should really look at why this technology is important. It is not because the product looks pretty (which inevitably it does) and certainly there is nothing ground-breaking about what this device is capable of. What is revolutionary is the interface that has been developed and with it an era of ‘multi-touch‘ technology. What Apple is doing here is actually taking existing ideas and creating a viable product with an intuitive user-interface (the iPod and Newton are past examples of this). This MT system has been around for a quite a while though, with the likes of Jeff Han working on some incredible interfaces (check out his work in the video below). The product was created after the inventor studied the effect of his finger pads on the outside of a glass of water noticing where his fingers actually made contact. You have to wonder as to the influence of science-fiction in many of these new technologies with Minority Report being an obvious example. Or is this just an evolution of the way in which we interact with our devices? Are we tired of using a mouse and keyboard and is this the next step? Of course there are new things to learn. Gone are terms like ‘point and click’: enter terms like ‘pinch-zoom‘. Are we bringing in a new energetic way to interact? Certainly it is much easier to interact with the physical world and actually being able to move objects around a screen using our fingers seems like a great (if a little tiring) way to interact.

So what is the future going to hold for us in this field? Will there ever come a time when we can simply look at an object and will it to move around a screen? Sounds far fetched? Well believe it or not scientists have developed a system whereby a person’s actions can be represented as brain activity in a computer. This computer can then be trained to respond to that same activity even if it is only a thought and not the actual action: hence the ability to move objects with the power of your mind. Check out this crazy monkey brain control video here (thanks to blunt for this one). But this is not the stuff of small research labs, this technology was showcased this week at a gaming conference in San Fransisco. A device that scans the brain can interpret brain activity as intended action and move objects about onscreen. This is cutting edge stuff and we are a long way off having home computers with the computing power to read our minds in an effective way. But the work has begun and the technology is there. Science fiction becomes science fact.

Everything you can imagine is real.
Picasso

Tweet This

etsy

I really like this novel way to navigate through a site. It is basically a time machine of sorts allowing you to go back and see what you have been looking at in the past. Say you are browsing for items in Amazon this feature would be a visual way of navigating through your past choices. I think the execution of this is really nice and the spiral of images works well. I also like the way you can toss images to one side (this could be used in a different way: I’d like to see it implemented as a selection method whereby you could toss things onto an area and that would set up say a wish list for want of a better example). Check the site out here

Tweet This

multi-touch

Check out this unbelieveable demo of multi-touch software. If you thought the technology behind the iPhone was cutting edge you won’t believe the tech behind this GUI (graphic user interface). I think that interacting using your hands and arms like this would be tiring over time. But it definitely has some interesting applications for the real world. Jared, in the agency, had a great idea that this tech could be used by doctors to perform remote operations. They could be half-way across the world and yet be able to control the operation using techniques that are more human than using tiny remote controls. I also think it is interesting to be able to expand and explore images onscreen using gestures similar to the ‘pinch’ technique shown in the iPhone. The exploration of Google earth using this technique is also really cool.

Tweet This