Category: News

A Curiosity Christmas!

marsHey all! It’s a new year, a new day, but hopefully, there’s still some holiday cheer to go around! And in that spirit, I thought I’d share some news which came in over the holidays concerning Curiosity’s mission to Mars. For the rover, Christmas was celebrated at a location dubbed “Grandmas House”. Well, technically it spent it at Sol 130, a designated point in an area known as “Yellowknife Bay”. This area is a small depression located in the geographic region known as Glenelg, some 400 meters from “Bradbury Landing” where it first put down.

Curiosity-at-Yellowknife-Bay-Sol-130_3a_Ken-Kremer-580x208It is in Yellowknife Bay that Curiosity has been engaged in searching for its first target site to drill for a rock sample. The purpose of this to test out the rover’s high powered hammering drill, a test which has been put off because the Mars Science Team feared that the rock samples at other locations were not optimal. But the Glenelg area – which lies at the junction of three different types of geologic terrain – features a different type of geologic terrain compared to what Curiosity has driven on previously.

Curiosity-Yellowknife-Bay-Sol-125_2c_Ken-Kremer-580x151While there, Curiosity snapped a series of panoramic pictures of the area, which NASA compiled into the photos seen here and at the top. The rover also used its the APXS X-ray mineral spectrometer, ChemCam laser and MAHLI hand lens imager to gather initial science characterization data on the region and its rocky outcroppings. As you can plainly see, Yellowknife Bay was aptly named, being quite similar in appearance to its namesake here on Earth.

Hard to say what Curiosity will find once its begins drilling, but NASA is sure to be raving about it, either way. Everyone knows those Mars Science Laboratory people can’t keep anything a secret, even when they’re not sure they’ve got anything. Yes, MSL, that was a veiled reference to that “Earthshaking news” story you got us all excited about. And to answer you’re next question, no, I haven’t gotten over it yet. Can’t you tell?

Stay tuned for more news from the Red Planet! And while you’re at it, check out the video below where MSL team member Colette Lohr, the Tactical Uplink Lead, provides the latest video update on the Curiosity rover.

Source: Universetoday.com, (2)

X-47B Stealth Drone Completes Sea Trial

X-47BFor some time, the US Navy has been conducting tests on a new stealth drone known as the X-47B Unmanned Aerial Combat System. A vast improvement over earlier generations of drones like the Predator and the Reaper, this new vehicle combines jet propulsion, autonomous control, and a stealthy fuselage in one package, making it the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle in the world to date.

In its latest trials, the drone completed a series of test trials which were in preparation for its first take off and landing from an aircraft carrier. This consisted of seeing whether or not the drone had any “sea legs” – basically, if it is capable of fitting on a carrier deck and remaining in place while the ship is performing maneuvers at sea.

??????????????????All of this took place over the course of the past few weeks aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, where a prototype of the X-47B was towed by flight deck tractors, taxied on the flight deck, and had its digital engine controls tried out amidst the rampant electromagnetic fields that are common on a carrier. This last aspect was of particular concern, as developers and naval personnel weren’t sure if the carrier’s radars would interfere with the drone’s remote controls.

TrumanX47BflightdeckAccording to Mike Mackey, the program director for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, the most hostile electromagnetic environment on Earth happens to be “on the deck of a Nimitz class Navy aircraft carrier”. By proving that it can fit and function aboard, the navy now knows with some certainty that they will be able to deploy these drones to all corners of the world to take part in military actions, reconnaissance, and ongoing anti-terrorism efforts.

Naturally, this and other developments relating to the X-47B have got many people feeling nervous. Unlike the Predator and Reaper, this new class of UAV is autonomous and not controlled by a remote operator. No telling how this might fit in with Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter recent promise that measures will be taken to ensure that all killer robots will have a human at the helm. Could it be that all that was merely a political promise? For shame!

Plans to conduct the first take off and carrier landing are scheduled for some time in 2013. By 2014, they also hope to have successfully conducted an autonomous aerial refueling of the craft as well. Anyone feel scared? I kind of feel scared…

Source: news.cnet.com

2012 In Review!

fireworks1The end of the year, in review, as provided by the nice folks at WordPress.com! I have to say, 2012 was pretty good to this little blog o’ mine! In addition to me getting the bulk of my current followers, I also received the vast (and I mean VAST) majority of my views in this one year. Consider… of the a grand total of 186,878 hits, over 180,000 took place between Jan. 1st 2012 and today.

Not only that, but of the 769 posts I’ve made since the sight went up, 670 were put up in this last year. Wow… I do love to go on, apparently. To top all that off, 2012 was the year that I published my highest articles of all time. The first was “A Tribute to the Joker” (which remains my top grosser) which currently holds the top spot at 27,974 views. Second place went to “Bath Salts and the Zombie Apocalypse” with 25,697, and rounding up third was “Zombie Guns or How to Prepare for World War Z” at 6,049. Fourth place went to “Dystopian Science Fiction” which earned 4,775 views and is the only article on this site to have been “Freshly Pressed”.

Yeah, its good to see all this stuff in review. It helps you take stock. It also lets you know what you’re doing right and what people seem to like the most. Judging from these hit counters though, I’d say people like sociopathic clowns, zombies, and guns way more than they do classic literature. Hmm… Should I be worried?

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 180,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 3 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Top Stories of 2012

biotech_alienAs Dec. 31st fast approaches, I find myself thinking about New Years resolutions. And part of that is taking stock on what’s been accomplished in the past year. For me, one of those resolutions was to stay current and share all the new and exciting news from the field of science and tech all my followers people; to the best of my abilities, that is.

In keeping with this, I wanted to create a list of the most important developments of the last year. Many sites have produced a top 10, top 12, even a top 7, list of what they thought the most significant accomplishments were. Well, I wanted to do one of my own! Opinion varies as to what the biggest leaps and bounds were over the course of the last year, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get my say in. Lord knows I’ve spent enough time reading about them, so here’s my comprehensive list of the greatest inventions, developments and advances made during 2012.

I think you’ll all agree, the list packed with stories that are intriguing, awe-inspiring, and even a little scary! Here are the top 12, as selected by me, in alphabetical order:

3D Printing:
cartilage1As far as tech trends go, this one has been in the works for some time. However, 2012 will be remembered as the year that 3D printing truly became a reality. From tree-dimensional models to consumer products to even guns, 3D printers have been featured in the news many times over for their potential and frightening abilities.

However, one of the greatest potential uses will be in the field of artificial cartilage, organs, and even food. As the technology is refined and expands to the field of organic molecules, just about anything can and will be synthesized, leading to an era where scarcity is… well, scarce!

Bionic Implants:
mindcontrolledprostheticPerhaps the years biggest achievement came in the form of bionic prosthetics, artificial limbs which are calibrated to respond to the nerve impulses of the user. As a result, amputees, veterans and accident victims are able to receive artificial limbs that act like the real thing.

The most notable case was Zak Vawter who scaled the 103 flights of Chicago’s Willis Tower using an artificial leg. In addition, two men in Britain had their sight restored after undergoing the first ever case of retinal surgery where bionic implants were placed in their eyes.

Brain Implants:
digital-mind1In September of 2012, scientists grafted an implant onto the brain of Chimpanzee, enhancing its brain power by ten percent. This consisted of an electrode array that was attached to the cerebral cortex of several monkey subjects, researchers were able to restore and even improve their decision-making abilities.

The implications for possible therapies is far-reaching, such as with brain injuries and cognitive disorders. But additionally, it also heralds the beginning of an era where human beings will be able to enhance their intelligence, recall, and memory retention.

Commercial Space Flight:
skylonThough not yet fully realized, 2012 was a big year in terms of commercial space flight. For example, Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic announced the first successful fully-loaded “glide test” of SpaceShipTwo, the rocket craft that will be taking passengers into low orbit as soon as all the kinks are worked out of the design.

In addition, Reaction Engines announced a breakthrough with the design of their hypersonic engine, which they claim will be fitted to their proposed spaceship – the Skylon. Capable of achieving speeds of up to Mach 5, this new craft is expected to be able to take off from conventional airfields, propel itself into low orbit, and deliver supplies to the ISS and make commercial trips around the world. No telling when either company will be conducting its first real suborbital flights, but the clock is ticking down!

Curiosity Rover:
Curiosity_selfportraitOne of the years biggest announcement was the deployment of the Curiosity Rover on the Martian surface. Since it landed, the rover has provided a constant stream of scientific updates and news on the Red Planet. Though the Mars Science Team did not find the “earthshaking” proof organic molecules, it did make a number of important discoveries.

Amongst them was solid evidence that Mars was once home to large rivers and bodies of water. Furthermore, the x-ray lab on board the rover conducted studies on several rock and soil samples, determining what the chemical and mineral composition of Mars surface is.

Faster-Than-Light Travel:
alcubierre-warp-drive-overviewIn the course of speaking at the 100 Year Starship, scientists at NASA began working on the first FTL travel system ever. Long considered to be the stuff of science fiction, physicist Harold White announced that not only is the math sound, but that his team at NASA had actually started working on it.

Relying on the concept of the Alcubierre Drive, the system involves expanding and contracting space time around the ship, allowing it to move faster than the speed of light without violating the Law of Relativity.

Geo-engineering:
converted PNM fileIn October, the world’s first – and illegal – act of geo-engineering took place off Canada’s West Coast. The product of a “rogue geohacker” named Russ George, who was backed by a private company, the project involved the dumping of around 100 tonnes of oron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean. This technique, known as ocean fertilization, was meant to stimulate the growth of algae which metabolize carbon and produce oxygen.

The experiment, which is in violation of two United Nations moratoria, outraged many environmental, legal, and civic groups, many of whom hail from Haida Gwaii, the traditional territory of the Haida nation, who had enlisted by George as part of a proposed “salmon enhancement project”. Though illegal and abortive, the act was the first in what may very well become a series of geoengineering efforts which will be performed the world over in order to stay the progress of Climate Change.

Google’s Project Glass:
google_glasses2012 was also the year that augmented reality became… well, a reality (oh dear, another bad pun). Back in April, Google unveiled its latest concept device for wireless and portable computing, known as Project Glass. Combining an active display matrix, a wireless internet connection and a pair of shades, Google managed to create a device that looks like something straight out of cyberpunk novel.

HIV and Flu Vaccines:
HIV-budding-ColorWhen it comes to diseases, HIV and the Flu have two things in common. Until 2012, both were considered incurable, but sometime in the near future, both could be entirely preventable. In what could be the greatest medical breakthroughs in history, 2012 saw scientists and researchers experiment with antibodies that have been known to fight off HIV and the flu, and to good effect.

In the former case, this involved using a new process known as Vectored ImmunoProphylaxis (VIP), an inversion of the traditional vaccination method, where antibodies were introduced to mice. After allowing the antibodies to reproduce, researchers at Caltec found that the mice were able to fight off large quantities of the virus. In the latter, researchers at the Friedrich-Loeffler Institute in Riems Island, Germany used a new RNA-based vaccine that appeared to be able to fight off multiple strains of flu, not just the latest mutation.

Taken together, these vaccines could bring an end to a common, but potentially deadly ailment, and signal the end of the plague of the 20th century. In addition, this could be the first in a long series of developments which effectively brings all known diseases under our control.

Medical Implants:
enhancement2012 also saw the culmination of several breakthroughs in terms of biomedical research. In addition to the world’s first medimachine, there were also breakthroughs in terms of dissolving electronics, subdermal implants that dispense drugs, and health monitoring patches.

Little wonder then that Cambridge University announced the creation of the Center for the Study of Existential Risk to evaluate future technologies, or that Human Rights Watch and Harvard University teamed up to release a report calling for the ban of “killer robots”. With all the potential for enhancement, it could be just a matter of time before non-medical enhancements are a reality.

Mind-controlled prostheses:
woman-robotic-arm_650x366Researchers at BrainGate created a brain-machine interface that allows users to control an external device with their minds. The first person to use this revolutionary new system was Cathy Hutchinson, a stroke victim who has been paralyzed from the neck down for 15 years, who used the robotic arm to drink a cup of coffee.

This news, combined with other advances in terms of bionic prostheses, could signal the end of disability as we know it. Henceforth, people with severe injuries, amputations and strokes could find themselves able to make full recoveries, albeit through the use of robotic limbs.

Self-driving cars:
googlecar2012 marked an important year as three states (California, Nevada, and Florida) made autonomous vehicles legal. Self-driving cars, once perfected and produced en masse, will help with traffic congestion and significantly reduce the chance of auto accidents through the use of GPS, radar, and other technologies.

*               *               *

All in all, it’s been an exciting year. And with all that’s been accomplished, the future is certainly looking a lot more interesting and even frightening. What is clear is that predictions made for some time now are becoming realizable, including replication, a cure for all known diseases, advanced robotics, implants, cybernetics, and even post-humanism. Regardless of where one sits on these developments, be you pro, con, or neutral, I think we can all agree that it is an exciting time to be alive!

Happy New Year to all, and here’s hoping 2013 proves just as interesting, and hopefully a lot more peaceful and sound. And may we ALL find ourselves able to keep our New Years resolutions and build upon all we’ve accomplished so far. And of course, with all the potential for medical and technological enhancements that are coming, I sincerely hope we can find ways to improve ourselves on a personal level too!

The Future is Here: The Microsoft 3D “Holodesk”!

holodeskHang onto your hats! Of all the future concept videos to be produced by high tech firms of late, this one has the potential of being the most badass! It is known as the Holodesk, a prototype system that allows users to interface with a computer by seemingly manipulating 3D objects with their hands. The result of ongoing research over at the Sensors and Devices group at Microsoft Research Cambridge, the Holodesk is one of several 3-D based concepts that are expected to take to the field in coming years.

According to Microsoft website, the group has “the goal of understanding how advances in technology will impact traditional computing and the ways in which people use and interact with computing devices.” Using technology adapted from their popular and award-winning Kinect gaming system, Microsoft has developed this new device which it believes will fill a niche market in computing.

holodesk1Amongs them are physics students, who will use this system as a possible “playground” to test hypothesis involving subatomic particles and atomic models. It is also believed it will be useful for people who conduct remote collaborative studies from long distances, and to test out 3-D models of various kinds. TechNet blog even had one suggestion on one of its comment boards where a user claimed it could be slowed down so that he or she could learn how to juggle.

Per the MicrosoftResearch Youtube channel, the Holodesk is described as follows:

HoloDesk is a novel interactive system combining an optical see through display and Kinect camera to create the illusion that users are directly interacting with 3D graphics. A virtual image of a 3D scene is rendered through a half silvered mirror and spatially aligned with the real-world for the viewer. Users easily reach into an interaction volume displaying the virtual image. This allows the user to literally get their hands into the virtual display. A novel real-time algorithm for representing hands and other physical objects, which are sensed by the Kinect inside this volume, allows physically realistic interaction between real and virtual 3D objects.”

Check out the video of the Holodesk in action:

3-D Printed Guns. The Future is Frightening!

AR-15In what has proven to be a frightening development to many, it now seems that it may be even easier for people to get their hands on guns without background checks, identification, or licenses. All you need is a computer, an internet hookup, and access to a 3D printer. It might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but thanks to at least one group of people who have all three, it appears to be entirely doable.

One such group is Defense Distributed, an online, open-source, non-profit organization that seeks to create a “Wiki weapon” – i.e. a weapon downloaded and printed with 3D technology. The group recently claimed to have downloaded the specs for a weapon from the internet, inputted them into a 3D printer, assembled the resulting plastic pieces, and then used it as one would a regular gun.

According to Cody Wilson, a University of Texas law student and the  “Wiki Weapons” project leader, the group last month test fired a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle which was built with parts created on a 3-D printer. The gun was fired six times before it broke. Though no independent observers were on hand to verify the test, but a short video was posted to Youtube to back up the claim.

Naturally, the news has a number of people nervous, not the least of which are gun control advocates. Not only is an AR-15 an automatic weapon that was used in last week’s Connecticut School Massacre, the technology could also give countless people the ability to generate deadly guns in a way that remains unregulated and unmonitored. With gun control already at the top of the US government’s agenda, this news is expected to influence the debate.

What’s more, the fact that the issue of gun control has been gaining so much momentum in the last week  could be seen as a likely influence for the group’s efforts. Wilson, who apparently expressed concern over the recent shootings, is motivated by his belief in the Second Amendment. In the end, he claims, free access to firearms is far more important than a single terrible tragedy, which he also characterized as an inevitable result of having the right to bear arms.What’s more, his group made it clear that though they discussed stopping in the light of the recent tragedy, they have no intention of stopping, believing their work to be “too important to stop.”

I imagine they would feel differently if they had children that were amongst the victims.

So I put the question to others, is this a development which holds frighten the general citizenry? Are tougher gun control laws, should Congress approve them, coming at a time when they are in danger of becoming obsolete? And if so, what’s to be done about it?

Personally, I am quite worried. For some time I have been extolling the virtues of new media, the internet, and the freedom it engenders, specifically in terms of information. When it came to 3D printing and other revolutionary fabrication processes, I figured the potential for good outweighed the potential for harm. But at Wilson and his compatriots at Defense Distributed may have demonstrated, bad people, or simply misguided people, can use it for entirely harmful purposes!

Source: CBC.ca

Happy Post-Apocalypse Day!

End of Days by taenaro
End of Days by taenaro

Hello folks and welcome to the post-apocalypse. For those of you who didn’t sell your possessions yesterday and head for the hills, might I offer my congratulations. As for the rest, I’m sure they’ll trickle back when they realize the sun is still rising in the east and setting in the west. I have to say though, now that we’ve reached the point in our cosmic cycle where the Mayan Calendar is now done – a dating system invented by people whose concept of time went far beyond our own – I do feel a bit sad.

Seems like whenever one epoch ends, things seem a little open and uncertain, the future somehow more free. And I do worry what the Apocalyptics will be tapping into next to feed their End of Days frenzy. If I had to guess I’d say it will be personal branding and implants, since there’s already plenty of folks out there who insists this is the “Mark of the Beast”.

But hey, count your blessings, right? We’re all still here, still breathing, and the world is still spinning. And I for one am pretty happy about that, even if it does mean we’re all still prone to the heartache and the thousand natural shocks the flesh is heir to, some of us more than others! The only thing it really means is that we’ll have to deal with said problems, and work hard to ensure that the world doesn’t end by the slow, natural causes we’ve spent many millennia unleashing.

And on another happy note, I just bought a new computer! My old one was already slouching towards its inevitable demise when a little accident involving some beer and too many glasses caused some of the keys to stop working. So as an early Christmas gift, the wife took me shopping and I scored a new one. Expect plenty of productive weeks and months ahead as I exploit the speed and capacity of this new machine to its full potential. I might be a little slow at first, as it is the holidays, but come January 2013, expect to hear plenty from me!

Oh, and of course, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013! Hope you all have a lovely holiday filled with plenty of friends, family, fun, holiday eats, and some precious swag! See you all in the New Year and hope to have plenty for you 😉

SpaceShipTwo Makes First Flight!

For years, Richard Branson has been promising the world commercial spaceflight with his proposed aerospace line, Virgin Galactic. And with the advent of SpaceShipTwo, the rocket-powered vehicle designed for this end, the company has been promising to conduct a successful test flight by the end of the year. This past Wednesday, Virgin and the development company – Scaled Composites – delivered on that promise, as SS2 conducted its first fully-loaded glide test successfully and landed safe and sound.

Granted, the company has yet to test out the ship’s rocket motor, the propulsion that will be used to put the ship into the Earth’s atmosphere. However, it was the first flight where the space craft was deployed by itself, without assistance from its carrier, WhiteKnightTwo. It was also the first time the vehicle conducted a glide test with all its components and fuel tanks installed. By showing that it is capable of gliding while fully-loaded, Virgin Galactic has proven that SS2 is capable of making safe landings, which is just as important as getting into space when you think about it!

“It was also the first flight with thermal protection applied to the spaceship’s leading edges,” said Virgin in a press statement. “It followed an equally successful test flight last Friday which saw SpaceShipTwo fly in this configuration but remain mated to its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.”

Virgin also claims it intends to conduct two more glide tests before attempting a powered flight, where the rocket motor will be put to the test and the ship will finally acheive suborbital flight. And once all the bugs are ironed out, Virgin Galactic will then be able to finally offer the sub-orbital rides that have been the subject of talk for many years. One of the first to go with be Branson himself, along with five others who will travel aboard SS2 as it acheive a suborbital flight which will take it over 115,000 meters (350,000 feet) above the Earth and acheive weightlessness for the crew.

Source: Wired.com

Thoughts On The Recent Tragedy…

https://i0.wp.com/fondmir.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/mir.jpgFor days I’ve been wondering what I could say, or even if I should say, anything about the recent tragedy that took place in a small school in Connecticut. Many of my friends were speaking out on this atrocity almost immediately after it happened, offering their condolences and speaking out against the issue of gun violence and the need for tighter gun control measures. I was sure to be there to add my voice to theirs however I could.

When something terrible happens, its only natural to want to speak out. But when its a symptom of a larger problem, people need to speak out. It’s not enough that a “conspiracy of silence” can allow these things to continue unabated, but the prevalence of people out there who will try to exploit it for their own ends also makes it that much more necessary.

But until now, I’ve remained silent as far as my own site was concerned. Somehow, writing about didn’t seem appropriate. The words just wouldn’t come. But as the days went on, a number of things began to urge me to do something. As if the shooting in Newton CT wasn’t enough, another shooting take place at a mall in Clackamas Oregon, killing two people and wounding a third before taking his own life.

My sister, I should note, lives in Oregon and I immediately wrote to her to make sure she was okay. After confirming that she was nowhere near the incident and none of her friends were either, I breathed a slight sight of relief, but it didn’t last. Somehow, with all the violence taking place in 2012 alone, I began to wonder when the hell people were going to decide they’d had enough!

So let me be frank. The United States suffered through one of the worst mass shootings in its history on Dec. 14th 2012. Not only did the senseless act of violence lead to the deaths of 28 people, most of them children, this event occurs amidst a backdrop of violent crime which is spiraling out of control. To illustrate this trend, consider some of the following facts:

  • 16 mass shootings have taken place in 2012 already, resulting in the deaths of least 88 people dead and untold numbers  wounded and psychologically scarred for life.
  • In the vast majority of shooting sprees that took place between 1982 to 2012, the killers obtained their guns legally.
  • An average of 10,000 people die ever year from gun-related violence in the US.
  • From 1976 to 2004, the number of homicides in the US committed using handguns outnumbers all other forms of homicide combined
  • Of the 142 mass shootings to take place in the last 30 years, 103 involved a semi-automatic handgun or an assault weapon

Sources: Citizens Crime Commission of NYC, Mother Jones.com, The Wall Street Journal, Wikipedia (Gun violence in the US)

However, despite the obviousness of this problem and the availability of information that makes it abundantly clear that access to  guns is a major problem, any and all attempts to push forward with gun control measures have been hampered. It’s gotten to the point where liberals and advocates have thrown up their hands and have all but admitted defeat, citing lobbyists, special interests and partisan obstruction for the failure to get even basic legislation passed.

But, as it happens, this may be the one good thing to come from this tragedy. After going to Avaaz.com and starting a petition to ban hang guns and assault weapons, I noticed from a friend of mine the White House already had such a petition going. As it turns out, it is the largest petition they’ve had to date, breaking all records for most number of signatures. Apparently, American citizens are demanding, in record numbers, that the Obama administration do something about gun violence in America.

At times like this, it feels weird to look for a silver lining, best to just acknowledge the tragic circumstances and offer condolences. But considering that the issue might finally come to a head and future tragedies like this and other such shootings could be prevented… well, that gives me hope! And it makes me want to ditch my previous efforts to hold my tongue and speak from the heart, let everybody know where I stand and hope they will join me in this!

I know I speak for more than just myself when I offer my condolences to all the families in Newton, Connecticut who lost someone they hold dear. I can only hope that their deaths weren’t in vain, and that the tragedy has finally sent the message home that something needs to be done and there are rights more important and sacrosanct than the 2nd Amendment. And to all the victims of gun violence, rest in peace and know that you are not forgotten! This fight will not be over until we get the last of the guns out of the hands of psychos and the madness of the gun culture is finally reigned in!

Peace!

Here’s a link to the Whitehouse Petition for those who are interested: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition

And if you feel like signing two, here’s the Avaaz one I started: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition

Omnitouch Projection Touch Screens

OmnitouchOne of the most interesting areas in which computing has been improving lately has been in the realm of interfacing. Concepts like the XBOX Kinect gaming console have not occurred in a vacuum; in fact, they are part of a larger research trend that wants to make projection and scanning the way of the future. After all, why rely on a monitor or a console when you can project images onto any surface and use them like a touchscreen?

That’s the idea behind the OmniTouch technology. Using the same technology from the Kinect gaming system, a research team made of developers from Microsoft and Carnegie-Mellon University revealed back in October that they’ve come up with a system that can turn virtually any surface into a touchscreen. By combining a miniature camera and a portable computer, the user can write documents, check email and carry out their daily computational tasks simply by finding a surface.

Chris Harrison, a postgraduate researcher at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute in Pittsburgh and a former intern at Microsoft Research and co-inventor of the device, describes the process as follows:

“OmniTouch works by bringing together a miniature projector and an infrared depth camera, similar to the kind used in Microsoft’s Kinect game console, to create a shoulder-worn system designed to interface with mobile devices such as smart phones. Instead of relying on screens, buttons, or keys, the system monitors the user’s environment for any available surfaces and projects an interactive display onto one or more of them.

“OmniTouch does this automatically, using the depth information provided by the camera to build a 3-D model of the environment. The camera acquires depth information about the scene by emitting a patterned beam of infrared light and using the reflections to calculate where surfaces are in the room. This eliminates the need for external calibration markers. The system rebuilds the model dynamically as the user or the surface moves—for example, the position of a hand or the angle or orientation of a book—so the size, shape, and position of these projections match those of the improvised display surfaces.”

Hrvoje Benko, another researcher who developed the device, admits that the current shoulder-mounted model is impractical. However, all the components involved in its creation are off-the-shelf electronics which are being miniaturized all the time. “But it’s not where you mount it that counts,” he says. “The core motivation was to push this idea of turning any available surface into an interactive surface… So I don’t think we’re so far from it being made into a pendant or attached to glasses.”

All of this calls to mind the SixthSense concept invented by Pranav Mistry many years ago. Presenting at TedTalks, he demonstrated how a wearable camera, finger mounted devices, and a portable computer, a person could use just about any surface to interface with their computer and even be able to transfer documents and programs to stationary computers.

While he may have beaten the IBM research team to the punch, this represents a step forward for portable computing and touch-technology since it shows that the results can be duplicated and made commercially viable.

Click on the video below to watch the OmniTouch device in action, and check out Pranav Mistry’s presentation to TedTalks at the bottom. Both enlightening and worthwhile video segments, trust me on that!