This new video for Arcade Fire’s We Used to Wait demonstrates the potential of HTML5 and emerging web standards. A nice fusion of music, video and google maps, the easy to operate interface delivers a new type of experience to a broader audience. The user is invited to enter the childhood address in exchange for an experience tailored to the submitted information. Entitled The Wilderness Downtown the (required) Google Chrome browser utilizes the new HTML5 tags for audio, video and canvas tags to trigger a journey that takes you back to your own childhood and where it took place, seeing development and growth which can be felt in reflection, even on an individual level.
What I found particularly interesting was the way some of the images are presented in their own window, cropped images into another space.
With all the hype about the iPad and other tablet devices, this item truly is cutting edge. Developed by Pranav Mistry and demonstrated at the TED Global Conference in 2010, this technology is sure to change the world. Again.
Truly a revolution, this items consists of a pendant worn around the users neck that incorporates a projector, video and photo capture and a whole host of amazing advancements. The user wears thimbles that transfer the gestures for interaction. The project is apparently open source, enabling people to make their own. Nice touches were the picture taking technique and the drag and drop from paper to digital. Genius.
So, back to the interface. This time the Emotive Brain Computer Interface Technology. This lecture by Tan Le at the TED Global Conference 2010 demonstrates the phenomenal power of technology paired with the human brain. This technology employs a headset that reads the electrical impulses of the brain and transfers them to digital instructions, making it possible to control virtual objects. In this video, we are shown a user ‘pulling’ a virtual object on the screen towards them, using only the power of thought, before making in disappear all together.
Le’s next example features a wheelchair user that can control their mobility using thought. The user has the ability to move forward by smiling, and turning left or right by blinking. This technology really is incredible and once developed, will empower the disabled to new levels of independence. Although the example here is a wheelchair user, I imagine that this technology will help, among others, those in rehabilitation to speedy recovery, those with motor neuron disease the ability to be more self sufficient and even enable the dumb to speak.
The demonstration also shows how the technology can (and almost certainly will) be brought into the home, for actions such as drawing the curtains and turning on the lights and other appliances. Will it enable us to drive? I hope that we’ll be riding in auto-driven cars before this technology is released unto humans that are easily distracted and find it difficult to concentrate for more than a few seconds!
Making the statement that the operating system (OS) is essentially the interface.
Talks about teaching computers ‘space’ ie keeping digital objects in physical containers, much like the sixth sense where we are making the line between the digital and the physical worlds even smaller
This demonstration from 2008 shows us some interesting applications available for use with the hardware. The first application is ‘Snowboard’: we are invited to imagine the environment of a store where we would purchase and customize a snowboard. The client would first select their snowboard from the the wall display, remove a card from the display which contains an optical tag, and touch this tag against a sensor on the Surface unit. The optical tag supplies the snowboard’s data, such as the shape and dimensions and the user is presented with a virtual copy of the board on the computer. A variety of board designs are available to be dragged onto the snowboard, and the client is able to change the colour with a colour wheel facility, and then add, enlarge and rotate graphics fully customized to their requirements. When the design is complete, the client may finish their customization by adding bindings for the feet. The customized design can then be saved to a Windows mobile smart phone by touching the phone onto the table and is then presented with two options for saving; one to the users Windows Live account or directly on to the phone.
The next application is a photo lightbox. Once the user has recorded still or moving images on their phone, they can simply touch their phone to the unit and all of their photos and videos will be displayed ready for interaction. One advancement over the item in my last post, apart from the connectability, is that if we have a particularly interesting shot, a simple touch and hold gesture will bring up a small menu where we are able to send the image as a ‘postcard’, by flipping the ‘card’ and writing on the back. The stamp icon on the card contains all of our contacts and we can customize it before sending it on.
I found the next application very innovative; it is an interactive wine menu that presents us with information about the wine selection. We browse by picture and a description. We can pick by type, colour, acidity, body, depth and then order it from the table top, where a virtual coaster appears. The glass contains an optical tag so the waiter can identify the customer, and which wine went into the glass. When the glass is placed on the table, all the information about the specific wine is displayed for the user, who can then rate the wine. The interface also supplies good food matches and the ability to order the food from your table. And finally, we can virtually visit the wine making region and even the farm itself.
Overall, I think that it is an excellent product with massive potential, although I do think that like other products in its class, the power really lies in the applications rather than the hardware.
Although this may not seem revolutionary to us now that we have the iPhone and iPad, without this research, I doubt that we would be where we are now.
Presented by Jeff Han at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in Monterey, California in 2006, his multi-touch, multi-user screen interface has, quite simply, changed the way we live our lives. Developed at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the table/touch display has eliminated the need for an interface altogether by employing the users’ intuitive instincts to navigate the machine.
Items that really stood out for me were the photo lightbox, where one can grab, move, rotate and enlarge photos by simply touching the images using ‘gestures’, such as the two-finger stretch technique to enlarge the photo to the required size. Again, this isn’t new to us anymore due to the advent of (what we know know as) the Apple interface, but the demonstration and its subsequent response really hit home as a revolution. Also the tilt gesture demonstrated on the WorldWind app (developed by Nasa) brought a three dimensional axis into the arena. I did find the on-demand keyboard particularly insightful because it allows the user to scale the object to their own ergonomics, eliminating the need to conform to a physical device, and Han’s suggestion that in the future, the keyboard will follow our movements should we have to relocate it to another area of the screen/table.
The BeatBearing is a tangible music interface. By placing the steel balls in docks on the board, the user can create a rhythm sample. Developed by Phd student Peter Bennett of Queens University Belfast, plans are available to make your own at http://www.beatbearing.co.uk
I have seen a very similar interface available to use on the internet before, and although the basic principles are the same, this project does add tangibility, although I don’t think I’ll be making one myself.
The iBar is an interactive table top designed for bar counters
Although quite a nice artwork, I do feel that the iBar could have been better presented on video; the marketing and demonstration is limited and I feel that although this would be a good experience for the first 15 minutes, it will lose its appeal very quickly!
Milo the Virtual Human was developed by Microsoft and debuted at the E3 Expo in Los Angles in 2009. Designed to react to a persons voice, emotions and body movements, Milo is the brainchild of UK games designer Peter Molyneux and was designed to be used in conjunction with Microsoft’s (XBox) Kinect hands-free controller, that utilises cameras, sensors and microphones to interpret a players intentions.
Milo will recognise the user after a mere 45 minutes of initial use, and through voice and facial movement, he mimics and reacts to the emotions of the user.
What really made an impact on me was the moment when Milo threw the goggles towards the user and the user instinctively prepared themselves to receive them, even though they physically do not exist. The creator of the project claims that every single person that has used the interface delivers the same reaction! This is because the user feels ‘connected with Milo’s world’. I especially loved the part where the user ‘dipped’ their hands into the water and began moving the liquid with utmost fluidity, becoming complete immersed in the environment. Taking this communication exchange one step further, the user then drew a picture on a piece of paper and handed it to Milo, who took the piece of paper and interacted through conversation with the user. To make this possible, the hardware scanned the picture for Milo to look at, and recreated it for him, so he could then study the image and respond.
For me, this type of interface really pushes the boundaries of technology and entertainment but I can’t help feeling a little scared of what will be produced next!
The Reactable is a tangible music interface developed within the Music Technology Group (Sergi Jordà, Marcos Alonso, Martin Kaltenbrunner and Günter Geiger) at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
Unlike most other items in its class, the idea was conceived first and the creators then discovered how to build it.
The outcome was a round translucent table, backlit display. ‘Tangibles’ are the objects placed on the table and come in several forms; square objects are sound generators, rounded squares are sound filters, circular objects send control data to its closest object, rotation changes the frequency, amplitude can be controlled by the finger. ‘objects are dynamically connected by proximity’ ‘
