CNN's Holographic Technology: Wolf Blitzer and Jessica Yellin, Anderson Cooper and Will.I.Am, and the music video.

CNN is doing a good job of exposing the masses to emerging technology!

Here is a video clip of CNN's holographic technology used to transmit a 3-D video image of Jessica Yellin, speaking with Wolf Blitzer on Election Day, November 2008. A partial transcript is included below. Before you get too excited about this technology, know that the correspondents see the image on a plasma TV, not in "real" 3-D, according to Gizmodo.



Jessica Yellin:
"There are 35 high-definition cameras ringing me, in a ring around me, I'm in the center, and they shoot my body at different angles, and I'm told that transmits what looks like an entire body image back there to New York. These cameras, I'm told, talk to the cameras in New York. So they move, and they know when to move when the cameras in New York move, and it looks a little different from a real person there, but it is pretty remarkable."

Wolf Blitzer:
"It's still Jessica Yellin, and you look just like Jessica Yellin, and we know you are Jessica Yellin....You're a terrific hologram, thanks very much Jessica Yellin is in Chicago, she's not here in New York with us... but you know what, it looks like she was right here with us, it is pretty amazing technology."


Here is the clip of Anderson Cooper interviewing Will.I.Am's hologram, beamed in from from Grand Park in Chicago.



Anderson Cooper:
"Let's see if we can beam him in now. There we go. Will, thanks very much for being
with us. How is this night for you?"

Will.I.Am:
"Ah, this is great. We're at an eve of a brand new day in America, and it feels great being here in Chicago. All this technology, I'm being beamed to you, like in Star Wars and stuff..."

Anderson Cooper:
"Yeah, it looks like, especially like, exactly like in Star Trek, when they'd beam people down, that's what it looks like here....We are doing this interview with you this way because it is a lot quieter than having you in the crowd, its very hard to hear in this crowd, and we appreciate you being with you..."

Will.I.Am goes on to discuss the song he created from an inspirational speech by Obama.

Related
How the CNN Holographic Interview System Works
-Gizmodo

Election Night TV: Networks Aim to Dazzle With Gagetry
-Edward C. Baid and Jon Swartz, TechNewsworld

Behind the hologram:
Vizrt
"Vizrt creates leading-edge content production tools for the digital media industry - From award-winning 3D graphics & maps to integrated video workflow solutions."
SportVU


FYI: Here is the video of the song, We Can Change- (My first view of this video was today, after the election.)





picture via engadget

Searching for Multi-Touch Info? Drivers for Windows 7 Available from NextWindow & HP TouchSmart...More about N-Trig..Multi-Touch Resources

Multi-Touch News and Links

Next Window Releases Touch Screen Drivers for Microsoft Windows 7

"The technology to build multi-touch applications for next year's operating system is available today."

Pleasanton, CA (PRWEB) November 4, 2008 --

"NextWindow, the leader in optical touch technology, released a touch screen driver for Windows 7 developers this week. The introduction of multi-touch gestures to this operating system will generate applications giving users more flexibility when engaging with content."

"NextWindow introduced this technology at Microsoft's Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) in October and will be presenting it at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) November 4 - 6, 2008. At this event, NextWindow will be showcasing their latest in optical touch solutions including the integrated touch display found on the HP TouchSmart All-in-One computer."

"Providing a touch screen solution for Windows 7 will give end-users an intuitive method to interact with their computers," said Anthony Uhrick, VP of Sales, NextWindow. "We've created a driver that enables developers to take full advantage of multi-touch functionality."

Software developers interested in touch solutions for Windows 7 are invited to contact NextWindow or download the driver directly from http://www.nextwindow.com/windriver. " More information about NextWindow is available at nextwindow.com."

Contact:
David Villarina, NextWindow
dvillarina @ nextwindow.com

N-trig Delivers Innovative Hands-On™ Computing to PC Industry

"Multi-Touch and Pen Technology to Humanize the Computer Interface and Create New Markets"

KFAR SABA, Israel & AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--"N-trig, providers of DuoSense^TMTM evolution. With the industry’s only combined pen and multi-touch capabilities, N-trig is transforming the way people interact with computers. technology, combining pen and capacitive touch in a single device, brings the power of technology and the human touch together to begin a new era in interface technologies and lead the Hands-on computing evolution. With the industry’s only combined pen and multi-touch capabilities, N-trig is transforming the way people interact with computers"
"...Realizing the power of the human interface, N-trig’s DuoSense digitizers are designed to integrate easily, support any type of screen, keep devices slim, light and bright, and can support numerous applications from small notebooks to large LCDs. Combined, pen and touch enables users to open files, manipulate pictures and browse the desktop as they would the files on their desk...Currently available on the Dell Latitude XT and additional OEM designs planned to come to market in early 2009, N-trig is opening a window onto a world where multi-touch is the accepted standard for computer interfaces."
Related

N-trig

Microsoft WinHEC 2008 Conference

NextWindow's Optical Touch Screen Technology

N-trig's Capacitive Touch Technology

All you ever wanted to know about Multi-Touch:
Bill Buxton's Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved

All you ever wanted to know about interactive tables that support collaboration:
Pasta & Vinegar's List of Interactive Tables
(From 2005, but has been updated.)

All you ever wanted to know about tangible user interfaces:
5 Lessons About Tangible Interfaces (pdf) - Nicolas Nova

All you ever wanted to know about interactive gestures:
Interactive Gestures (wiki)

All you ever wanted to know about open-source multi-touch & related technology:
NUI Group (Natural User Interface)

Resources and Links about Touch Screens, Tables, and Multi-touch

Note: I highlight news, thoughts, and reflections about interactive multimedia, multi-touch, and related emergent technologies on this blog.

If you don't see what you are looking for on this post, feel free to do a search on this blog, or my other blog, Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction.

For Multi-Touch Interaction Humor:
Multi-touch Parody of CNN's Magic Map Wall: Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update MegaPixel Giant Touch Map

Microsoft Surface Parody

Emerging Technologies: SHiFT 08 Conference - Sensor Networks and Data for the Open Internet of Things

This is a cross post from the Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction blog:

I first learned about the "Internet of Things" nearly two years ago when I was taking a Ubicomp class. Since that time, things have sped quickly along in the research arena, but I don't think most folks are aware of how this technological transformation will impact our daily lives.

The videoclip below is from David Orban's presentation at SHiFT 08, "Why We Need to Listen to our Things":



Orban discusses how we currently spend much of our time taking care of our mobile devices, but as the magnitude of devices increasing, it is difficult to manage things as we have in the past. There is just too much data...There is a need for obtaining information from sensor networks. "We must derive deep knowledge of the environment from these sensors." In the video clip, Orban goes on to discuss the various challenges in this field:

• Signal to Noise problem.
• Signal to Signal problem.
• Management of the sheer volume of data that is generated, or will be generated - how data is filtered and analysed.
• Dependability - managing spime systems and sensor networks of tens of billions of elements.
• Aggregation of data to derive second order knowledge.
• New phenomena will surprise us in the future, we will learn more about our environment, and listen to our planet more clearly.

Video by Wide Tag Inc.
October 2008



Related:

SHifT 08 was held in Lisbon, Portugal on October 15-17. The focus of this year's conference was Transient Technologies, "in the sense that technology is breaking up with it's digital boundaries and it's becoming a vital part of a lot of the things we do and interact with in our daily lives."

The themes of SHiFT 08 included user experience, mobile computing, sustainability, the social web, web design, open technologies, digital media, artificial intelligence, spimes, and knowledge & innovation.

Emerging Interactive Technologies: SecondLight from Microsoft, at PDC2008

Picture from PCMAG.Com
The videoclip below is a demonstration of the prototype of SecondLight, a Surface-like application developed by a team of researchers at Microsoft Research UK. If you place a tracing-paper like object on the surface, secondary information regarding the content on the surface can be revealed. The system relies on a projector system and a special liquid crystal on the display.



-via Thoughtware.TV

Here is another video from Slashgear that describes SecondLight. According to the video, SecondLight is a multi-point display, displaying images on a surface, and images through a surface. The system has two hi-res cameras, two projectors with optical shutters, infrared illumination, and an electrically switchable diffuser.

SecondLight can track images from a distance, track IR reflective objects, and also track IR emissive objects with mobile, multi-point touch detection.

Steven Sinofsky Discusses Multi-touch and the HP TouchSmart, Windows 7, and more at PDC2008

Steven Sinofsky at the PDC2008 Open Space


In this video, Steven discusses Windows 7 and confirms that Windows 7 works with the HP TouchSmart: "The hardware is multitouch." Sinofsky also discusses how there might be a need for multi-touch drivers for the HP TouchSmart.

Take the 25 minutes or so to watch the video. It is worth it, even the more technical aspects, including how events will be managed to minimize boot time.

Dude!
Sinofsky says you gotta say "dude!". Watch the video to get it!

IDC 2009: The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children

If you are interested in children, technology, and new methods of interaction design, take a look at the web site for IDC 2009: The 8th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children. It will be held in Como, Italy Jun 3-5, 2009.

"For young people today, technology is pervasive in many aspects of life. From childhood onwards, they learn and play using computers and other technological devices; as they grow, they build and maintain friendships using computers and mobile phones; they interact with one another virtually; and even find critical interpersonal support and therapy using computers, the web, and other technology-enhanced artifacts. The IDC 2009 conference will continue IDC's tradition of better understanding children’s and youngsters’ needs in relationship to technology, exploring how to create interactive products for and with them, and investigating how technology-mediated experiences affect their life. IDC 2009 will present and discuss the most innovative contributions to research, development, and practice in these areas, gathering the leading minds in the field."


The deadline for the call for workshop proposals is January 12, 2009, full papers, January 19, 2009, and short-papers & demos, March 6, 2009.