Kinect Effect. Touchscreen Braille Writer Lets the Blind Type on a Tablet | Gadget Lab. One group of people has traditionally been left out of our modern tablet revolution: the visually impaired. Our slick, button-less touchscreens are essentially useless to those who rely on touch to navigate around a computer interface, unless voice-control features are built in to the device and its OS. But a Stanford team of three has helped change that. Tasked to create a character-recognition program that would turn pages of Braille into readable text on an Android tablet, student Adam Duran, with the help of two mentor-professors, ended up creating something even more useful than his original assignment: a touchscreen-based Braille writer. Currently a senior at New Mexico State University, Duran arrived at Stanford in June to take part in a two-month program offered by the Army High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC).
“How does a blind person orient a printed page so that the computer knows which side is up? How does a blind person ensure proper lighting of the paper?” 6 Realities of Teleportation Star Trek Didn't Warn Us About. With most technologies, we can only guess what they will look like 1,000 years from now. We don't really even know what the "ultimate" video game or cellphone would even look like.
We're waiting for the technology to show us. But everybody knows what the end point of transportation technology is: instantly being able to go anywhere, at any time. Just like Star Trek's transporters, where you can send a person from Point A to Point B just like sending an email. So how far away are we from that? #6. Of all the different types of teleportation that have been thought up in science fiction, they basically all involve disintegrating a human body, shooting it to another location as some kind of data signal and reintegrating it on the other side.
So that would imply that The Fly was onto something when it warned against stepping into a teleporter while something else is in there with you. Life finds a way. But The Fly was playing it pretty conservative. . #5. Or, think of it this way. . #4. This insect eye will one day be built into your smart phone. Imagine feeling texture on your touchscreen. 3D Printing - MakerBot Replicator Prints a Plastic Bust of Stephen Colbert.
I just stopped by MakerBot's far-flung booth somewhere in the back caverns of CES (I believe it may technically be in Arizona) to check out their new Replicator 3-D printer. Check out the video below--pretty sure that's a bust of Stephen Colbert being slowly brought to life with swirling circles of molten plastic. The Replicator is the newest MakerBot, a relatively inexpensive 3-D printer that can print in either ABS (the same plastic LEGO uses) or PLA (a corn-based bio-material). This version is much bigger, capable of printing objects 9 x 6 x 6 inches in size, and has a "dual extrusion" mode to print two-colored objects, a first for MakerBot. It also ships fully assembled; previous MakerBots required the end user to construct them at home, which is described as being about as difficult to assemble as a piece of furniture from IKEA, so there's that little inconvenience taken care of.
Augmented Reality and the power of imagination. The incredible world of Diminished Reality. Hoverboard from Back to the Future. Soon Your TV Will Watch You, Too | Digital. iPhone 5 will have rubber bezel, aluminum back? Smartphone Booklet by Ilshat Garipov. Not a Pamphlet, It’s a Smartphone Clutch your pearls because I’m about to say something amazing – nanoparticles! Yes these tiny, near invisible objects can revolutionize the bio medical, optical and electronic fields so designer Ilshat Garipov put pen to paper and came up with the Smartphone Booklet – a disposable phone as thin as a cardboard made possible by switching from traditional silicon to nanoparticles. The Booklet unfolds like a pamphlet with each side representing a commonly used application or function. Manufacturers can cut it to any size and once it’s worn out, just recycle it. How close is this to reality? Designer: Ilshat Garipov.
Try On Clothes Without Getting Undressed. While perusing the newest releases at CES yesterday, I have to admit the main reason this software came to my attention was because of the name of the company that created it: “FaceCake.” Immediately, the image of a printer that created “face cakes” came to mind, but after I did some research, the real thing, Swivel, was almost as cool.
Swivel (not to be confused with Swivl) uses the Microsoft Kinect to let users try on clothing without getting down to their skivvies. Once the user is the right distance from the Kinect, a menu of different items pop up that can be selected with the wave of a hand and overlaid on the body. When the shopper selects an outfit, she can move around as she might when physically trying on clothes. She can also accessorize to create an entire outfit. Via: LA Times Blog Credit: Tecca This article is part of our ongoing coverage of this year's Consumer Electronics Show. A Sneak Peek At The TVs Of The Future. Each year begins for technologists and geeks with the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for CES. It's easy to write off this massive technology trade show as an outdated, overrated, and overhyped gizmo-fest. But I think it's incredibly valuable, and often results in real marketplace knowledge ahead of the curve. That said, I go into CES each year with some insights and some crystal ball gazing that often helps me focus on what I'm expecting to see.
This year, 2012 CES has a handful of trends that will impact media, content creators, and devices. Here are FIVE CES PREDICTIONS you can expect to see come true in Las Vegas this year. TVs get sexy. The year of the app. The cable-cutting dilemma. "We're taking broadcasters OTT in less than 5 minutes at no cost," Perry told me. And in non-TV-related news, laptops will make way for Ultrabooks. Good times in Vegas, if you're willing to place a bet or two. Is Video The New Software? Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo. Follow him @ashkan. VC (TechCrunch contributor) Mark Suster published an article on his personal blog about one of his portfolio companies, Maker Studios. Other players in that space include The Collective and Fullscreen. While Mark is clearly rationalizing his investment, his reasoning is worth understanding.
[A]nybody who follows this blog knows that I believe television disruption has already begun and it is more likely to resemble Internet content than streaming long-form content to our living rooms. He concludes that video content represents the ultimate “lean startup”. Don’t try to build “television” online, it won’t work A lot of the early video startups were anything but lean: Ripe Entertainment burned through $45 million, Next New Networks plowed through $25 million before being acquired by YouTube. Content and Distribution go hand-in-hand Let’s face it: VCs tend to suck “in the aggregate” GOAB. A TV Experience Concept. Surface. Control a PC with body motions. LAS VEGAS – Don't trash your keyboard and mouse just yet. But three companies at the International Consumer Electronics Show demonstrated depth-sensing cameras that let you to control your computer by moving your hands or body. Microsoft's Kinect add-on for the Xbox 360 console has already popularized these cameras for gaming.
Now, the technology is being set loose for use on other devices. However, like many gadgets shown at the annual Las Vegas-based extravaganza of phones, PCs and TVs, the cameras aren't quite ready for the mass market. The companies showed off their cameras to give software developers and gadget makers a chance to work with the technology and incorporate it in their products. WHY IT'S HOT: The cameras represent another challenge to the keyboard-and-mouse regime, which is already being eroded by touch screens.
BEHIND THE LENS: The cameras can tell how far away things are in their field of vision. Corning and Samsung to marry Lotus Glass with OLED displays in new joint venture.