Earthquake in Canada: Did You Feel It? USGS Interactive Earthquake Website

Today there was an earthquake in Canada on the Ontario-Quebec border region.  It was felt around the region, including Michigan.  Curious, I took a look at the United States Geological Survey interactive website about earthquakes to learn more: Did You Feel It?  The Science Behind the Maps

Here's some info about the earthquake from the USGS website:

"This earthquake occurred near the southern edge of the Western Quebec Seismic Zone. Earthquakes within this zone are mostly small. They tend to cluster in a wide area that is slightly elongated northwest-southeast. Historically, earthquakes in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone have caused damage roughly once a decade. Three or four smaller events each year are felt in the region but are generally too small to cause damage. The largest earthquakes known in this part of Canada occurred in 1935 (M6.1), about 250 km (150 miles) to the northwest of todays event, and in 1732 (M6.2), about 150 km (100 miles) to the east. The 1732 earthquake caused significant damage in Montreal" -USGS


Here are a few videos uploaded to the web regarding the earthquake, which provide the human side of the story:






EARTHQUAKE IN QUEBEC: "I think we DID have one"


For some reason, I like this one. The man is narrating a video clip about the BP spill, pretty boring, and at 1:15 or so, he notices that the ground is shaking. He tells someone in the background to go outside. I like the Canadian accents.

3D TV Post, Are we there yet?

Here is the link to my post, part of a series about 3D TV, on the Innovative Interactivity (II) blog:

3D TV: Are we there yet? 

New iPhone, 3G, NOT 4G, June 21st: Front-facing camera with HD video and editing capability. Available through AT &T. Post includes video.

Fast Facts:
3G, NOT 4G :[
The square rim is the antennae.
960 by 640 resolution.
3.5-inch screen.
Multiple applications at the same time.
Stronger battery life.
Video recording in high definition: Shoot and edit capabilities!
Front-facing video camera for video calls and conferences.
5 mega pixel camera.
AT&T. No Verizon : [


-Wall Street Journal

Apple iPhone 4 Website


-Wall Street Journal Online

Off Topic: Reflecting on some of my top YouTube videos (includes video clips)

I rarely check the stats of my YouTube videos.  Today when I checked the stats, I was surprised to see that I have a nice following, without really trying.

I started uploading video clips to YouTube in 2006, to share vacation videos with family and friends.  This was before YouTube was bought out by Google. Nearly everything that I've "produced" myself was not done in HD. There were strict guidelines about the size of video uploads during the earlier years of YouTube, so my videos look pretty low-tech. Most are lightly edited, if at all.

I used YouTube to store a few video clips I made when I was taking computer courses (HCI, Ubicomp, etc.). Again, most of my video clips were less-than polished.

One of my secrets is that I do know how to produce/shoot/edit video.  This summer, I plan to re-do my most popular videos, and add some new ones that I'm sure my YouTube viewers will enjoy.

I have lots of HD video of vacations that I'd love to share! For now, take a look at my mostly low-def, low-tech "showcase":

Cute Kitty Video: My daughter's pets. I uploaded this for fun, and now it has over 210,000 views!


Monet's Gardens (no-music version)


Monet's Gardens, With Music (I added music from iMovie to the video after a request from a viewer.)


The following video one was taken by my younger daughter as we were driving to NYC in July of 2001, just two months before the 9/11/2001 tragedy. I was trying to figure out my route, my daughter was trying to capture video of the Twin Towers in the distance, and in the middle of it all, a huge plane flew across the highway.


My first attempt at a "travel" video clip:


Beach at St. Lucia
I have much better footage of this beach.


Cute Kitty Video: "Very Happy"
This is the "cute kitty" grown up a bit. The music is something that came with my Yamaha Motif keyboard. The "Very Happy" part of the music is a sampling from a voicemail message left to me by my daughter. This sample, among others, found a home in some music I composed/created but never quite finished.


This video was taken in Cozumel, just after the region experienced a devastating hurricane. I loved this music! The video was shot with my low-tech point-and shoot camera, and not edited, as you can see by the last frame of the video...


Labadie, Haiti:  We were on a cruise and Labadie was one of the ports.  This was taken before the earthquake.



I'm experimenting with "monetizing" some of my most popular YouTube videos. If you happen to see an ad related to any of my video clips on YouTube that is objectionable, please let me know.

Quick Post: Video- Electroactive Polymers (EAP) for a Robot Head; link to OpenMaterials.org

Electroactive Polymer Robot Head


For more information:  
Electroactive Polymers (EAP) as Artificial Muscles (EPAM) for Robotic Applications
Wikipedia:  Electroactive Polymers

Electroactive Polymers Robot "Flying Fish" Transparent Blimp

"The worldwide first EAP propelled airship was made at Empa in collaboration with aeroix GmbH and the Technical University of Berlin. This lighter-than-air vehicle with 8 m in length consists of a slightly pressurized Helium filled body of a biologically inspired form with Dielectric Elastomer (DE) actuators acting as muscles and deforming the body and tail fin in a fish-like manner."


I wonder if the Blimp's surface could be transformed for interactive ads....I'm sure someone is working on this now!

RELATED
OpenMaterials.org (This is a rabbit hole I'll need to explore further.)

"OpenMaterials is a research group dedicated to open investigation and experimentation with DIY production methods and uses of materials.

In the spirit of the open source software and hardware movements, we hope to promote materials to be researched and developed in a public, collaborative manner. We see materials as an open resource, and wish to establish an open process for exploring and sharing knowledge, techniques and applications related to materials science."

Smart & Adaptive Polymer Lab, University of Toronto

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Last night I dreamt about haptic touch-screen overlays... (IMT post from about a year ago that focuses on haptic/tactile feedback, electroactive polymers, and nano-materials.)

For a smile:  "Musical Heads" Watch the Neurosonics Audiomedical" video (via Chris O'Shea)

Video and Links about Google TV : Another Flavor of Android - "Google TV brings everything you love about the web to your television"

"Google TV brings everything you love about the web to your television"

INTRODUCING GOOGLE TV



Transcript of the Google TV video:


"Back when there were only a few networks, watching TV was pretty simple.  You turned on the TV, and if you didn't like what was playing, you changed the channel. But these days, TV can be pretty complicated. Figuring out what you want to watch is hard enough, and that's only the beginning. Once you've chosen a program, you have to figure out when it's playing, and which of hundreds of channels it's on.  It's like you have to change your schedule to fit your TV's schedule.  In fact, many of us end up watching videos on the web, because it is easier to find things that you want.  I mean think about it, more and more of our favorite shows and videos are showing up online these days, and you can get to them really easily, whenever you want, just by typing in what you're looking for."


"The problem is, these smaller screens don't really compare to our home entertainment systems.  Which leads us to a pretty big question:   If the web is so smart, and our TVs are so fun to watch, why do we have to choose?  Why can't they work together?   


"Well, now they can.  Introducing Google TV.  Google TV brings everything you love about the web to your television. Some new TVs will come with it built-in, or you can get a separate box for the TV you already own. Either way, the way it works is very simple. Right on your TV screen, you simply type in what you're looking for...anything you're looking for, and Google TV will find it."


"It's basically an entertainment hub that searches all of your channels, recorded shows, YouTube, and other web sites. If you find something you like, you can add it to your home screen where you will always see your favorite channels, shows, websites, even music playlists and photo albums. That way, you can get to things really quick.  And with a full web browser, you get unlimited access to the entire Internet, so you can do stuff like browse photos or update your status.  And that's just scratching the surface."


"By opening up your TV to all of the improvements and innovation that the web has to offer, Google TV will make your TV smarter and easier to use.  So you'll be able to spend a lot less time finding what you want, and a lot more time watching what you want."

Here is some information from the Google TV website:

Watch

Google TV is coming to a living room near you.

Watch the Google TV announcement.

Learn

Learn about the partners we're working with.

Visit Sony, Logitech and Intel.

Develop

Optimize your web apps for Google TV.

Android SDK coming soon. Learn more.

Google TV is a new experience made for television that combines the TV you know and love with the freedom and power of the Internet. Watch an overview video below, sign up for updates, and learn more about how to develop for Google TV.

More Information about Google TV from Google

Announcing Google TV:  TV meets web.  Web meets TV

"Google TV is a new experience for television that combines the TV that you already know with the freedom and power of the Internet. With Google Chrome built in, you can access all of your favorite websites and easily move between television and the web. This opens up your TV from a few hundred channels to millions of channels of entertainment across TV and the web. Your television is also no longer confined to showing just video. With the entire Internet in your living room, your TV becomes more than a TV — it can be a photo slideshow viewer, a gaming console, a music player and much more."

Google TV Developer Page

Designing Websites for Google TV

Related Google TV News and Links

Google: A new consumer electronics power broker

Tom Krazit, CNET News  5/20/2010

Google I/0 Keynote Day 2: Android Day (Live Blog)

Tom Krazit, CNET News  5/20/2010

Google tries where others failed: shaking up TV biz
Yinka Adegoke and Jennifer Saba, Reuters  5/21/10
Google Introduces Google TV, New Android OS
Priya Ganapati, Gadget Lab, Wired 5/20/10
Sony Internet TV
Logitec and Google TV
Logitec Google TV Box Will Have Special Powers
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo, 5/20/10
Google Combines TV, Android, and All of the Internet
Jason Chen, Gizmodo, 5/20/10

Picture of Google TV Box, from Gizmodo:




SOMEWHAT RELATED
I wonder what the user interface will be for navigating around Google TV.   This just might be the opportunity for a next-gen universal remote control to emerge.   I hope so, because I've had usability issues with the current state of my remote controls and my DVR +  HDTV viewing experiences.


FYI:   A few of my previous posts related to remote controls, web-browsing on HD TV's, and so on:

Usability of a Remote Control
The UX of ITV:  The User Experience and Interactive TV (or Let's STamp Out Bad Remote Controls)
WebTaps HDTV and Touch-Screen Web Browser:  Share the view of the web on your couch!
Silverpac's Multi-touch website, by Ciplex features Evolution 5500, a user-freindly universal remote control, using Wiindows 7 SlideShow
Jonathan Kessler's Hand Eye Technologies:  Coordinating your cell phone with Interactive TV
An Example of Convergence:  Interactive TV:  uxTV 2008

UPDATE:

Maybe a something like the iPad app below will be created for a slate-application for Google TV?

Remote Control News:  Comcast Shows Off Sweet iPad Remote Control Prototype


This application supports socializing remotely via your remote....watch the video to see how it works:

Xfinity Remote Powered by Comcast (on an iPad)

Beautiful Nature by Numbers by Cristobal Vila & Eterea Studios (via Infosthetics and Flowing Data)

Here is a video from Cristobal Vila, of Eterea Studios inspired by "numbers, geometry and nature":


Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.


RELATED
Images of the process of making Nature by Numbers

Facebook and Privacy Issues: Reflections about the ever-changing interfaces of Facebook and the growing number of Facebook-connected websites.....

I joined Facebook in 2007 when I was taking a graduate HCI-oriented course about privacy and security.  Heather Lipford, the professor,  and some of my classmates were working on a study about Facebook and privacy, so I agreed to participate as a subject.  What I quickly learned is that even graduate IT students can be puzzled about Facebook privacy settings. Facebook has made numerous changes to the way it handles privacy settings, and this has fueled research on this topic for the past few years (see links below).  


Too many "regular" folks are unknowingly sharing things they do not want to share with the world, and it is difficult for most of us, including myself, to keep up with these rapid changes.   For example,  last month I came across a video of Mark Zuckerburg (founder of Facebook), announcing Open Graph which is a way of making "connected, mapped web that is more "social, personalized, smarter, and semantically aware."  Zuckerburg's keynote presentation at the f8 conference was delivered on April 21st, yet on the day I posted about it, only a handful of people had viewed the video. 


As of this post, only about 731 people had viewed the presentation, yet the key points that were reviewed will impact how the information we provide Facebook is used, stored, and perhaps shared by third-party web-based applications.  With over 400,000,000 people on Facebook, this is an open invitation for those "in the know" to manipulate things in a way that many of us may not understand.  


In the video below, Zuckerburg mentions that Facebook's policy for applications integrated with Facebook prohibited the storage or caching of  data and information from the user for more than 24 hours. The rationale for the rule was to protect the privacy of Facebook users.  

At about 4:58 in the video, Zuckerburg discusses this policy, and announces that it has been changed. He then goes on to say, "We're going ahead and getting rid of this policy."  (5:09) This made the audience very happy (about 5:10):

Zucherburg introduces the "One Step Permission" feature that provides third-party websites a simple means for users who have Facebook accounts to connect with the site.  The hitch is that the user can't move forward and access what they'd like to access on the site unless they make the quick decision to give up quite a bit of their Facebook information. This will now give the  host application use of your information, which they now can store ...forever, I assume.


Here is a screenshot of the single permissions dialog from the video at about 4:16:

Zucherburg's words:
"Now, if a person comes to your site, and gives you permission to access their information, you can store it. That means no more having to make the same API calls day after day. No more having to build different code paths just to handle information that Facebook users are (unwittingly?) sharing with you. We think that this step is going to make building with Facebook platform a lot simpler." 



I knew there was a BIG problem with Facebook's privacy settings when Nathan Yau, author of the Flowing Data blog, tweeted about his discovery of information that Facebook somehow shared without his knowledge. Nathan's recent post, "Evolution of Facebook Privacy Policies", contains a interesting visualization, created by Matt McKeon of the Visual Communication Lab at IBM, that provides an interesting look at Facebook's privacy policies from 2005 on.


The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook (Interactive graphic with options for viewing an animation or an image-based version.)


The blue area represents the default settings regarding the availability of your personal data. As you can see, the default settings allow a large set of personal information to be shared among your Facebook connections as well as the outside world.  As a member of Facebook, you must manually change your settings to make sure you have your preferred level of privacy. Don't assume this is taken care of for you by the application!

RELATED

Five Hidden Dangers of Facebook: Security Expert on Big Risks You Should Be Aware You're Taking When You Use the Site (CBS News.com 5/8/10)

"Your information is being shared with third parties Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign Facebook ads may contain malware Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable Scammers are creating fake profiles "

Privacy bog causes Facebook to disable chat
Caroline McCarthy, CNET News 5/7/10
Video: Major Facebook Security Hole Lets You View Your Friends' Live Chats
Steve O'Hear, TechCrunch 5/5/2010

Nathan Yau and Flowing Data

f8 2010 Breakout Session Videos

Previous Post:  Mark Zuckerburg's Recent Keynote at f8: Facebook's OpenGraph

HCI Lab at UNC-Charlotte:

"At the Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCILab) at UNC Charlotte, we investigate novel ways for people to interact with computers, and through computers with their environments. Our research covers a broad range of areas within Human Computer Interaction, such as Novel Interaction and Multimedia, Privacy, Creativity, and Visual Analytics. We collaborate with researchers in a number of areas related to HCI, such as visualization, gaming, art, and psychology. We also study interaction in a variety of domains such as intelligent information systems, information privacy and security, image processing and graphics, and intelligence analysis."

UNC-C's HCI Facebook Research Articles
Lipford, H. R., Besmer, A., and Watson, J. "Understanding Privacy Settings in Facebook with an Audience View." In the Proceedings of the USENIX Workshop on Usability,
Psychology, and Security (UPSEC 2008), April 14, 2008. pdf
Lipford, H.R.,  Hull,G.  Latulipe, C., Besmer,A.,  Watson, J. Visible Flows: Contexual Integrity and the Design of Privacy Mechanisms in Online Social Networking. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Security & Privacy in Online Social Networking, August 2009. pdf
Lipford, H.R., Watson, J., Whitney, M., Froiland, K., and Reeder, R.W. "Visual vs. Compact: A Comparison of Privacy Policy Interfaces. In Proceedings of CHI'10. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. April 2010. pdf
Strater, K., and Lipford, H.R. "Strategies and Struggles with Privacy in an Online Social Networking Community". In the Proceedings HCI 2008, Liverpool, UK. 2008. pdf
Watson, J., Whitney, M., and Lipford, H.R. "Configuring Audience-Oriented Privacy Policies." In the Proceedings of the Workshop on Assurable and Usable Security Configuration, ACM CCS, November 2009. (abstract)
SOMEWHAT RELATED
IBM's Visual Communication Lab is behind the Many Eyes website, which I used as a resource during when I was taking a course in information visualization and visual communication. At the time, I was looking at data related to the high-school drop-out problem in the US. I loved how the on-line Many Eyes application provided me with a variety of ways of looking at the data I had collected for my team's project. Since then, thousands of other people have utilized the Many Eyes website. Warning: If you are interested in data, stats, and information visualization, be prepared to spend a while exploring. It is an enticing rabbit hole!
Many Eyes: For Shared Visualization and Discovery

Cross-posted on The World Is My Interface

Android Tablet Prototype Runs Flash (Video and quick links)

It is interesting to watch how this unfolds:

Part I

Part II


The above videos can be found on ZedoMAX's YouTube channel.
(Thanks to Justin Ireland for the link.)

RELATED
More videos about Adobe products and new forms of tablets can be found on TheFlashBlog. (Thanks to Christian Moore for the link.)

YouTube HTML 5 Video Player Info
Google Chrome 5 Beta: The Top Five Features 
Ian Paul, PC World Blog, 5/5/10
"HTML 5, the new programming standard for Web pages, may not be officially ready yet, but that hasn't stopped Google from implementing some of its new and exciting features. Google Chrome 5 beta introduces file drag-and-drop capabilities, Geolocation (such as Google's MyLocation feature), and offline application caching (Google Gears replacement ). The new version of Chrome beta also offers Web sockets, which make it easier and faster for Web-based applications to communicate with their host servers." -Ian Paul

Multi-touch application developed by an all-women team from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology for the Imagine Cup Competition

According to a recent article from the Microsoft News Center, "statistics from high schools and universities suggest that percentage won’t change any time soon. Only 17 percent of Advanced Placement (AP) computer science test-takers in 2008 were women, even though women represented more than half of all AP test-takers. At the college level, fewer than one in five computer and information science degrees were awarded to women."


Microsoft's Imagine Cup competition is a way to encourage female students that they can use technology to help make the world a better place, and that computer science is a field that provides an outlet for creativity a innovation.

One of the teams that participated in the Imagine Cup Competition was "Team Blob". The young women in this team attend South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Their work can be seen in the video presentation of Team Blob's Multi-touch Designer, which allows teachers to create multi-touch presentations for their students. The application was written in C# using Windows Presentation Foundation.


The team developed a interactive timeline to highlight history's famous women in math and science, and demonstrated it on a 40-inch multi-touch table to girls who visited their university campus. The time-line can be seen in the video clip at about 3:34.

"Team Blob members, from left, Lori Rebenitsch, Robyn Krage and Jaelle Scheuerman demo their application that aims to bring emerging multitouch technology into K-12 classrooms. The all-woman team is from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology."

Thinking Like a Storyteller: Words of Wisdom from Cindy Chastain on the use of storytelling in for interactiondesign (IXDA 10 Video)

Cindy Chastain is a Creative Director, Experience Architecture at Rapp, a global, full-service agency in NYC. Her background is in screen-writing. She also is a film-maker and technology consultant. The video below is of her presentation at IXDA 2010. It is well worth the 47 minute watch!


Here is a quote from Nasir Barday's post on the IXDA blog about Cindy Chastain's presentation:


"Designing with a narrative in mind can make a difference between a product that merely functions well and a product that engages the minds, emotions and imaginations of users." Nasir Barday, IXDA 2/26/10


Here are a few quotes from the presentation:
"How can we, as designers, provide cues that will deepen that narrative connection?"


"What can we learn from the discipline of storytelling that will help us design for more meaningful and engaging product experiences?"

"If we can move away from thinking of products in terms of interfaces and start thinking of them as representations or environments, in which agents perform actions,  we will get us to a place where we can design more fluid and engaging dialogues/experiences."



Cindy Chastain-Thinking Like a Storyteller from Interaction Design Association on Vimeo.

Near the beginning of this video, Cindy discusses the concept of the user's narrative, described as a stream of self-talk occurs when someone interacts with a design product. Two types of narratives are likely to occur.  According to Cindy, this phenomenon was noted by cognitive scientists.  One is narrative of use,  and involves the person's self-talk about  the products features and affordances. The other is a personal narrative, which focuses on what the product means, how it might fit into one's life, and how it might be used.

LM3Labs' Catchyoo Interactive Koi Pond; release of ubiq'window 2.6 Development Kit and Reader

Catchyoo Koi FX, from LM3Labs

Catchyoo Koi FX from Nicolas Loeillot on Vimeo.

The music on the video clip is by the band Remioromen, from Japan.

LM3Labs recently released ubiq'window 2.6 Pack, a development kit and reader that handles gesture interaction for proximity touch-less technology based on computer vision.  It includes a calibration mode, usage statistics, and is compliant with Windows 7.  In the near future, LM3Labs will release new software for their partners and ubiq'window developers.

About LM3Labs:
"Focused on fast transformation of innovation into unique products, LM3Labs is a recognized pioneer in computer vision-based interactivity solutions. LM3Labs is a fast growing company based in Tokyo, Japan and Sophia-Antipolis, France."  -LM3Labs Blog 

Interactive Alice in Wonderland Book for the iPad

I missed this one!

Alice in Wonderland Interactive Book for the iPad

Exploring Post-WIMP Interaction- "Manual Deskterity: An Exploration of Simultaneous Pen + Touch Direct Input

The video tells it all.

From Ken Hinckley's YouTube Channel

Thanks to Tony Uhrick for the link!>

NY Time's David Pogue: iPad Town Hall Video

My daughter called me this morning to let me know that one of her house-mates has a brand-new iPad. So stay tuned. If I get a chance to play with it, I might do a hands-on review!

Here it is. The Apple iPad Official Ad on YouTube.

If you haven't yet seen it, here it is:



Lots of potential for education, from what I can tell from the video. I wonder if Apple has tested it out with kids....

More Multi-touch: So touch Multi-touch Presentation Software for Windows 7

So touch is a creative software company that has developed So touch Presention for creating multi-touch presentations for Windows 7.  You can download a trial version from the So touch website.  Minimal requirements are a 1.6GHz processor (Core2 Duo), 2 Gb of RAM, and a 512Mb graphic card.)

Here's the promotional video:


Here is the promotional information from the So touch YouTube site:

"Create your own multi-touch presentations! Discover the NEW So touch Presentation software!


Get your audience captivated and make your presentations more intuitive and entertaining than ever!


Manipulate images or screenshots of your usual documents with multi-touch gestures! Navigate multi-
images format, scroll up and down long images. Then open the original file or document in one tap on the screen leveraging the usual Windows associated application!


Thank to its user-friendly visual administration interface, the So touch presentation software is easy to use and will bring to life your presentations on a day to day basis!"


For more information, get in touch at contact [at] so-touch [dot] com or visit http://www.so-touch.com


Music by http://www.myspace.com/wouhouh





FOR THE TECH-CURIOUS
"So touch Presentation for Windows 7 is developed using Adobe AIR and our unique AS3 framework for Adobe AIR and Windows 7 that is also available on our website! It is the first professional and transparent solution to develop Windows 7 compatible Adobe AIR applications. We are proud to be the first to announce it! There is some open source existing solutions but they don't offer the transparency and efficiency of SoBridge, the TUIO to Windows 7 C# bridge, included with So touch Framework."


Contact Person: Julien Lescure
Company Name: So touch
Telephone Number: +44 20 3239 3912
Email Address: contact[at]so-touch[dot]com
Web site address: http://www.so-touch.com

Gigantic Social Interactive Direction Sign in London: Nokia's promotion of the free Ovi Maps application.

I meant to post this a while ago and forgot about it. A huge digital arrow sign was installed over London to promote Nokia's free Ovi map navigation system. It was up and active for two weeks. People could interact with the sign by sending it a message from their phones. See the videos below for more details!

-My Nokia Blog


The World's Biggest Signpost from adghost on Vimeo.

Notice how the people who see the signpost use their mobile phones to take pictures and share with their friends.

I found a similar video on the Infosthetics blog:


"This gigantic, interactive signpost sponsored by Nokia Ovi Maps in the form of a dynamically rotating electronic LED screen allows passers-by to send in their favorite location and coordinates via text or email. The giant pointer, hung on a 60 ton construction on height of 50m, then automatically rotates to the given direction and displays the submitted description to the world."

Touchco, Ken Perlin & Ilya Rosenburg's Multitouch Company, Bought By Amazon

Here is the scoop:
Amazon buys touchscreen startup Touchco, merging with Kindle division
Ross Miller, Engadget, 2/3/2010

Amazon Said to Buy Touch Start-Up
Nick Bilton and Brad Stone, New York Times, 2/3/2010


Is Amazon Building a SuperKindle?
Nick Bilton, NYT, 2/3/2010
"Unlike traditional capacitive sensors, our patent-pending system can detect any object — not just a finger — and can determine how much pressure is being applied to every point on a sensor simultaneously. IFSR sensors are natively multitouch, use less power than capacitive sensors, and are much less expensive to produce, making them a highly disruptive technology with widespread market applications."

RELATED
Here is my Aug. 29 post:
Natural User Interface Surfaces:  TouchCo - IFSR Technology company, founded by NYU Media Research Lab's Ken Perlin and Ilya Rosenburg


TOUCHCO GUI:

Touchco GUI example from Nick Bilton on Vimeo.

A Touch of Ingenuity:  Inexpensive pressure-sensitive pad could make surfaces smarter
Kate Green, MIT Technology Review, Sept-Oct


Multitouch Screens Could Enliven New Devices
Nick Bilton, NYT, 12/20/09


TouchCo was an outgrowth of the UnMousePad research at NYU.


Photo from the UnMousePad website:



Photo from NYT:

Photo from NYT:

Photo from NYT:



Ken Perlin

Temple Grandin - A gifted visual thinker, who also has autism, featured in HBO movie starring Claire Danes. UPDATE: Video of Claire Danes' acceptance of a Golden Globe for her performance!

UPDATE:
Claire Danes won a Golden Globe award for her performance as Temple Grandin in the HBO movie. Here is the video from HuLu of her acceptance speech. Temple Grandin was in the audience.



Original Post

I've worked with young people with autism spectrum disorders for many years as a school psychologist, and the knowledge and experience that Temple has shared through her writings and presentations has enlightened me a great deal.


On February 6th (2010), HBO will present a movie featuring Claire Danes as Temple Grandin, a gifted visual thinker who also has autism. Here is the trailer:

Trailer

SYNOPSIS from the HBO Movies website:
"Starring Claire Danes, Julia Ormond, Catherine O'Hara and David Strathairn. Temple Grandin paints a picture of a young woman's perseverance and determination while struggling with the isolating challenges of autism at a time when it was still quite unknown. The film chronicles Temple's early diagnosis; her turbulent growth and development during her school years; the enduring support she received from her mother (Ormond), aunt (O'Hara) and her science teacher (Strathairn); and her emergence as a woman with an innate sensitivity and understanding of animal behavior."


"Undaunted by education, social and professional roadblocks, Grandin turned her unique talent into a behavioral tool taht revolutionized the cattle industry and laid the groundwork for her successful career as an author, lecturer and pioneering advocate for autism and autism spectrum disorder education."


"This visually inventive film offers insights into Grandin's world, taking the audience inside her mind with a series of snapshot image that trace her self-perceptions and journey from childhood through young adulthood to the beginning of her career, and beyond."


"Directed by Mick Jackson, with a screenplay by Christopher Monder and William Merritt Johnson, Temple Grandin is based on the books "Emergence" by Temble Grandin and Margaret Scariano and "Thinking in Pictures", by Temple Grandin. The HBO Films presentation is executive produced by Emily Gerson Sains, Gil Bellows, Anthony Edwards and Dante Di Loreto, Paul Lister, Alison Owen; Scott Ferguson produces."


Clare Danes (l); Temple Grandin (r)

Books
2010 Edition of Thinking in Pictures - My Life with Autism (Temple Grandin)
Emergence: Labeled Autistic (Temple Grandin, Margaret M. Scariano)
Download:
My Life in Pictures: A coloring book for children about autism


My Temple Grandin Story:
I met Temple Grandin once. She was a speaker at a conference about Autism Spectrum Disorders that was held in Charlotte, N.C.  There was a mix-up, and her transportation to the airport did not arrive. I was standing nearby and offered to drive her to the airport.  What an amazing woman!


During the drive to the airport, Temple noticed that I was wearing a lanyard with my flash drive attached.  She commented that what I had on my flash drive must have been very dear to my heart.  It was almost as if she could read my mind.


She was right.  On that flash drive was a paper I was writing entitled,"Thinking, Learning, and Communicating with Multimedia: Views from a School Psychologist" for a conference I presented that year (2004).    In my paper, I discussed the importance of visual thinking and referenced Temple Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures. 


Note:  Original cross-posted on the Tech Psych blog.