It seems everyone is working on some “revolutionary” new input mechanism for computers. Of course, eye-tracking is nothing new, but it sounds like it’s getting closer to becoming a useful tool – though only in certain areas, such as medical applications. I doubt that we’ll actually be ditching mice for eye-tracking systems anytime soon.
Popular Science has an article explaining the physics of time travel, saying that it’s certainly theoretically possible. That doesn’t mean it’s likely any time in the near (or perhaps even distant) future. The theories all sound good (in theory), but when it comes to a practical application, there are quite a few difficulties.
There are a number of different things that people are looking to do with MEMS, but putting them into handheld devices didn’t seem like an application near the top of the list. However, it seems there’s a growing interest in doing so, mainly for gaming purposes. The idea is that you can use the MEMS for “tilt” control, so that as you tilt the device, that acts as a form of input. They also think that tilt control can be a useful navigational tool. Trying to scroll through the names in your phone book? Just lift your phone towards you. The more vertical the phone is, the faster the names scroll. Does this mean that maybe we can add an Etch-A-Sketch “delete” feature where we just have to shake our phone or handheld to erase everything?
I remember spending quite a lot of time in the library when I was at school looking stuff up. I was recently wondering how much time students today spend at the library, and how much they simply look up on the web. Of course, the web doesn’t have nearly as much published information, and also has very little information that’s not recent. According to this NY Times article, some folks are working on ways to correct that, by creating special library robots that find and scan materials for patrons. So, you could log in to the library from your computer, request a certain book chapter, and the robot would find the book, scan the pages, and send it on to you. Of course, this brings up all sorts of copyright questions, and publisher groups (who, in the past have tried to ban libraries for stealing intellectual property) will flip out. I imagine that instead of embracing this technology that will help people perform vital research that will increase the community of ideas, we’ll be forced to waste away through many years of lawsuits before these systems ever become usable.
Since September 11th, there’s been a much great focus on many security-related technologies. The latest focus seems to be on systems that catch people when they’re lying. Things have apparently progressed beyond the old polygraph test into all sorts of more advanced lie-detector technologies, from brain scans to voice scans to face scans. Of course, as with any such thing, the fear is about the possible consequences of false positives (saying the person is lying when they’re really telling the truth). How would you feel if a computer told you you were lying, and it messed up your life, even if there was no other evidence? Sounds like an ad for that new Spielberg movie, I guess.
With all the hype over the “chipping” of a family in Florida last month, very few people pointed out that the chips didn’t really do very much useful. However, Business 2.0 points out that there are a ton of “cyborgs” already among us with “useful” implants. In this case, they’re talking about medical devices like pacemakers and neurological implants. The next step for these products is to connect them to the internet somehow, to allow for more active monitoring and other new features. While some people are (perhaps rightfully) worried about the Big Brother aspect of these technologies, many feel they’ll be accepted no matter what – simply because they help people live longer and healthier. They have a point. You’re not likely to be as worried about what people know about you if you’re dead.
MLO writes “…because those robots, they are alive. Or at least one of them is. Courtesy of the good folks at arstechnica (www.arstechnica.com) comes this link to a story about a robot making a break for it. I don’t know whether to be intrigued, or to head home and start packing.” Also mentioned by Joe Schmoe in a comment on the RoboCup story.
A number of researchers are working on the relatively new field of smart matter: tying sensors and actuators together, so that not only can a system determine what’s happening, it can act on it. The article suggests that many of the initial uses for smart matter will be military applications (auto piloting tiny aircraft, for example), but that it has a number of other uses as well. The article mentions things like roads that automatically monitor their own traffic levels, and estuaries that monitor their own water purity (though, it’s not clear what the “action” part of both of these examples are – they could be done, it seems, by sensors alone).
With all the talk about just how small mobile phones can get, I’d say that some engineers in the UK have come up with the next stage in shrinking phones. It’s a mobile phone that is implanted into a tooth in your mouth. The sound is transferred to the inner ear by bone resonance. While this makes it difficult to “hand the phone” to anyone else, it solves the issue of actually having to carry around a phone ever again. Not much in the way of details, unfortunately, so I have no clue how it “rings”, or how you answer or dial phone calls. It’s not even clear if they’ve figured that part out themselves, or just worked out the basic concept. I imagine that a working version of this is a long ways off.
We recently wrote about the fact that many doctors prefer not to use email to contact patients, but that doesn’t mean technology isn’t being used in great detail in the medical profession. Newsweek has an interesting look at how UCLA’s medical school is using technology to train new doctors. From medical simulation technology to requiring every medical student to have a PDA, they’re trying to use technology to improve a new doctor’s medical education.
