I learned that Twitter was hacked, just after I blogged about privacy & security & emerging technologies..

After reading a few things about emerging technologies and concerns about privacy and security, I posted the following to my Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction blog.

Pervasive Computing, DOOH, Intelligent Buildings, Programmable Nano Sensors, Privacy & Security & Ethics.. hmmm

Right after that, I learned that Twitter was hacked. Here is the TechCrunch article:

In Our Inbox: Hundreds Of Confidential Twitter Documents

"Here’s a dilemma: The guy (”Hacker Croll”) who claims to have accessed hundreds of confidential corporate and personal documents of Twitter and Twitter employees, is releasing those documents publicly and sent them to us earlier today. The zip file contained 310 documents, ranging from executive meeting notes, partner agreements and financial projections to the meal preferences, calendars and phone logs of various Twitter employee".

I think issues related to privacy, security, ethics, and emerging/social technologies need to be discussed more extensively among academicians, industry leaders, students, and the general public. We don't know what we don't know.

Mobile Gesture Design at Nokia: Gesture Interaction Around the World

From the Nokia Conversations YouTube Channel:


The video explains it all.

(Fritz Desir, thanks for the link!)

Multi-touch Virtual Poker?!

Andrew Milner, of Perth, Australia, recently developed the Hold'Em 1000 Virtual Poker Table. The system provide video streaming of all players, and tracks every player action. Take a look at the video:


I don't play poker, so I don't really know if it would be more exciting to play the virtual version of the game. I don't have the $20,000.00 on hand to find out, but I am sure that this table would be well-received at high-end club that serves the rich, trendy, and famous.

For more information, visit videopokertable.net.

RELATED

Touchscreen Virtual Poker Table is a Tech Royal Flush
Nick Broughall, Gizmodo, 7/10/09

"Wake Up Your Feelings" ad campaign for the HP TouchSmart PC: Harnessing interactive digital story-telling.

I am not sure if this is an ad campaign for the HP TouchSmart PC, or just a pitch that was entered into the New York Festivals competition. It won a Silver and a Bronze.

This is the scoop from XM Asia Pacific (RGM Connect) about the campaign:

"Our clients came to us for a campaign to launch the HP TouchSmart Desktop PC, the first-ever touch-screen computer for the home that is sleek and stylish as it is powerful. Targeting style-conscious young aults who are fully immersed in the digital lifestyle, we created an emotional pull that focused on the product’s core USP (i.e. the touch-screen) by spinning the big idea/line/message “Wake Up Your Feelings” into a fun and interactive story in which our feelings (in the form of cute personalisable characters) had fallen into slumber as a result of neglect due to our busy lifestyles – and only through the power of touch could we wake them up again to get our feelings back. The result was a wonderful world of whimsical animation that was magical to behold and brought the campaign messaging to life."

Since I'm a school psychologist in my "day" job, I appreciate interactive applications that help people understand and communicate feelings. It would be nice if this concept could be transformed for use in school counseling and social skills/coping skills intervention groups!

You can access the video from the Motion Graphics website, or click on the picture below to link to the video and additional information. The concept is great, and the video is worth watching.

Mun Hoe Tung was responsible for the animation and art direction of the campaign.

Screenshots:



Just think of how fun it would be to manipulate the items on the screen!

Ben 10 Alien Force Game Creator from Cartoon Network: Social Game Creation Online for Kids!

I meant to post something about Cartoon Networks on-line Ben 10 Alien Force Game Creator. For many children, it is the middle of summer, and on rainy days, wouldn't it be fun to create a game? To create a game, a sign-up is required, but the application is free.

Here is a screenshot of the on-line Game Creator tutorial:


There is an easy-to-understand "help" section that accompanies Game Creator.

RELATED

Cartoon Network Asia, HP Team for Toon Creator Awards
“HP’s collaboration with Cartoon Network on the Toon Creator Awards is a joint effort to leverage each other’s strengths—HP’s leadership in personal computing and Cartoon Network’s expertise with kids’ entertainment,” commented Ajay Mohan, the VP of marketing for the Personal Systems Group at Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific. “We aim to enhance the experience for young kids and their families by inspiring creativity, promoting self-expression and evoking imagination through technology in a fun and exciting way.” (WorldScreen.com, 7/2/09, Kristin Brzoznoski)

Link:
Cartoon Network - Measure your animation skills against other animators


I played some of the on-line games on the Cartoon Network website, and the first thing I thought was that the games should be optimized for touch-screen interaction. If Hewlett-Packard has partnered with the Cartoon Network, perhaps they might facilitate this process sometime in the future.

NUI-Group Members: What are they doing now?

Multitouch Media Application Pro v3.0 from Falcon4ever on Vimeo.

MMA Pro is a multitouch photo and video organizer build in Adobe AIR (Flex3) and has new features such as Google Maps, support for uploading pictures on the fly using blue-tooth. For more information, visit Laurence Muller's website, Multigesture.Net. There you can download the application. Make sure you read the install instructions that are included in the readme.text, and also make sure that you have the latest Adobe AIR 1.5.x. Laurence also recommends installing BlueSoleil to handing the pairing of devices and file transfers. (If you've never programmed for Bluetooth, take his advice!)

Laurence Muller (M.Sc.) is a Scientific Programmer at the University of Amsterdam who develops scientific software for multi-touch devices. He is a member of the NUI-Group.

The following video highlights some of the applications from the University of Amsterdam from about a year ago:

Multitouch Applications from Falcon4ever on Vimeo.

Feel free to leave a comment and a link or two if you are a NUI-Group member and like to share your recent projects!

Where are they now? Revisiting Interactive User Interface Projects

I've been blogging about interactive multimedia and interesting human-computer interfaces/ interaction for a while. I thought I'd revisit some of the projects and prototypes that interested me and find out what happened to all of those visionary graduate students after they earned their degrees. (Feel free to leave a comment and a link if you have any information to update about yourself or someone you know.)

This will be a topic I'll touch on from time-to-time, and since I've covered so many projects, it might take quite a while!

In the meantime, I've posted a video of the TANGerINE Inspirational Cube, a mixed reality interactive multimedia project between the University of Florence, University of Bologna, along with the contributions of other researchers. The video was produced in 2007, I think.


Here is a 2008 picture of some of the people who continued to work with the TANGerINE project at CHI 2008:

Here is the video of "TANGerINE Cities: Collaborative Tangible Sonorization" from Nicola Torpei's Vimeo page:

TANGerINE cities - collaborative tangible sonorization from Nicola Torpei on Vimeo.

And here is a link to a Flickr slideshow from TANGerINE Cities at the Frontiers of Interaction 09 conference, held recently in Rome, Italy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicolatorpei/sets/72157619553939994/show/ Below is a video of the conference highlights, set to spaghetti western music:


Somewhat Related:
Note: Stephano Baraldi, one of Nicola Torpei's colleagues who worked on the TANGerINE project, worked for a while at a company called Natural Interaction, now part of iO. To read more about iO, take a look at Alessandro Valli's whitepaper, "Natural Interaction, iO"(pdf). Stephano Baraldi's prototype of the Sensitive Table is mentioned in this paper.

iO's Interactive Climbing Wall


(If you just happen to be interested in spaghetti western music, you can listen to it at Last FM: http://www.last.fm/tag/spaghetti+western Ennio Morricone is one of the top artists of this genre.)

Update on Interactive Mobile Phones: Sony Ericsson's Android Rachael; HTC Hero

Both Sony Ericsson and HTC have built upon Google's Android build to create new "user experiences" for mobile phones.



Sony Ericsson Rachael UI Video:


Related:
"Sony Ericsson "Rachael" Android XPERIA handset unveiled?"
(Paul Miller, engadget, 7/4/09)
Sony Ericsson's Android Rachael UI Makes Me Want to Ditch My iPhone
(Jesus Diaz, Gizmodo, 7/8/09)


"Make it Mine, Stay Close, Discover the Unexpected!" Personalization with HTC Hero Touch-enabled Smart Phone"



HTC recently launched the HTC Hero. I haven't had a chance to touch one, but it looks interesting enough to make a trip to my local mobile phone service provider and see how it works.

"HTC Hero launch event video featuring HTC Sense™ - an intuitive, seamless experience built upon three fundamental principles - make it mine, stay close, and discover the unexpected." -HTC

The two video clips below explain the rationale behind the HTC Hero and why the company thinks it is an important innovation:

PART I



PART II


A few quotes from the video:

"It begins with listening and observing people as they use their phone..."

"...there has been a fundamental shift in people's phone expectations..."

"People want to stay close with the important people in their lives, and have online information...Voice is key, but no longer enough...The SmartPhone is the New Phone, people no longer expect their Internet to be at their desks anymore. They expect it everywhere they are. The Internet is becoming the fundamental of the mobile phone. Access to web browsing, streaming media, and connected applications has taken off, and this is where Smartphone really excels. People really appreciate the experience..."

HTC Hero UI Video


Related:
HTC Debuts Hero, With Fresh Face for Android
(John Herman, Gizmodo, 6/24/09)
Google Android Info
"Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications that run on Android-powered devices."

Cross-posted on the Technology Supported Human-World Interaction blog.

Haptics and Interactive Simulations

Following a link from Jonathan P San Diego, of London, I learned about Haptist, a user community for haptics researchers. The first thing I came across was "Simodont".

What is Simodont?

"Simodont is a high quality, high fidelity simulator allowing future dentists to be train in operative dental procedures in a realistic dedicated virtual environment while receiving haptic, visual, and audio sensory information".



"The haptics is based on the patented Moog admittance control paradigm. The use of a force sensor in the drill hand piece allows realistic rendering of drill and contact forces."

pdf brochure Simodont

pdf info about admittance control and impedance control

Food for thought:
Jonathan posted this quote of Marvin Minsky on his website:

"It often does more harm than good to force definitions on things we don't understand. Besides, only in logic and mathematics do definitions ever capture concepts perfectly. The things we deal with in practical life are usually too complicated to be represented by neat, compact expressions. Especially when it comes to understanding minds, we still know so little that we can't be sure our ideas about psychology are even aimed in the right directions. In any case, one must not mistake defining things for knowing what they are."

-- Marvin Minsky --
from The Society of Mind, 1985

Keeping up with technology: Journal for Computing Teachers latest articles.

The Journal for Computing Teachers (JTC) is an online publication of the Special Interest Group for Computing Teachers, which is part of the International Society for Technology in Education. Although most of the articles focus on K-12 education, I think they would be helpful to community college and university instructors as well, particularly those who might be graduate students charged with teaching introductory computing classes for the first time.

For your convenience, I've posted the links to the most recent JTC articles in PDF format below:

JTC Spring 2009

Peer Reviewed

Factors Influencing Technology Integration in the Classroom
Lynette Molstad Gorder, Dakota State University

Declining participation in computing education: An Australia Perspective on the “Gender and IT” Problem
Julianne Lynch, Deakin University

Designing a Computer-supported Project-based Learning Environment for High School Students: A Case Study
Quek Choon Lang, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technologies University

Trends, Tribes and Territories in Computer Science Education Research
Justus Randolph, Walden University
George Julnes, University of Baltimore
Erkki Sutinen, University of Joensuu

The Connection of Digital Media with Curricular Goals - Innovative Use of Digital Media Portfolios and Cultural Content in Standards-based German Project
Peter Schultz, Kennesaw State University

The Current State of Computer Science in U.S. High Schools: A Report from Two National Surveys
Judith Gal-Ezer, The Open University of Israel
Chris Stephenson, Computer Science Teachers Association

An Empirical Investigation of Visual Computer Programming Language Effects on HBCU Students’ Problem-Solving Capabilities
Mike Unuakhalu, Kentucky State University

From the Field (editor reviewed)

Analysis Techniques for an Online Class
Erlan Burk, Park University

Women and Computing
Barbara Ericson, Georgia Institute of Technology

Knowing the Flow: How Flowcharting Can Help Visualize Software Application Development
Joe Frantiska, Fitchburg State College

To End Reading Failure in America’s Schools
Bob Lemire, Lexia Learning Systems, Inc.

Picture This: Students find their Voice through Digital Storytelling
Lauren Cummins, Youngstown State University
Regina Rees, Youngstown State University
Kelly Bancroft, Youngstown State University

Announcements

Information Age Education Newsletter

Publish Post

Dave Moursund

JCT Editorial Review Board

Lonely Planet Travel App by Amnesia-Razorfish for the Surface

I came across this video on the Microsoft Surface blog about a demo created for Lonely Planet by Amnesia-Razorfish, from REMIX 2009 Australia this past June:


Lonely Planet proof-of-concept at REMIX Australia 2009

Following a link from the Surface blog, I found yet another video:



Design in the Round. Creating Compelling User Experiences for Surface

The video provides an overview of the history of human computer interaction and look towards the future of NUI (natural user interface). The Surface is viewed as only as a step towards NUI, which follows a person as they go about the day, interacting with technology via a variety of devices and settings.

"Designing for multi-touch, gesture-based and tangible experience like Microsoft Surface presents a new set of challenges. How do you design for a user interface that doesn't have a top? How to allow for multiple simultaneous users without them getting in each other's way?..."

Haptic Tactile Feedback for the iPhone? MacRumors says, "YES!"

According to a recent MacRumors.com article written by Arnold Kim, Apple's future versions of the iPhone may offer haptic tactile feedback:

"Multi-touch display screen with localized tactile feedback"

"Apple proposes including a grid of piezoelectronic actuators that can be activated on command. By fluctuating the frequency of these actuators, the user will "feel" different surfaces as their finger moves across it. As an example, a display could include a virtual click wheel which vibrates at a different frequency as the center. Users could easily sense the difference and use the click wheel without having to look at it."

Arnold links to another patent application that will enable use fingerprint signatures to control and interact with a device. Apple will have all devices cornered, from what I can tell...

According to the description, "The present invention can be employed in any electronic device or system that permit user control, including any portable, mobile, hand-held, or miniature consumer electronic device. Illustrative electronic devices or systems can include, but are not limited to, music players, video players, still image players, game players, other media players, music recorders, video recorders, cameras, other media recorders, radios, medical equipment, calculators, cellular phones, other wireless communication devices, personal digital assistances, programmable remote controls, pagers, laptop computers, printers, computer mice, other computer accessories, cars or portions thereof, or any combination thereof. Miniature electronic devices may have a form factor that is smaller than that of hand-held devices. Illustrative miniature electronic devices can include, but are not limited to, watches, rings, necklaces, belts, accessories for belts, headsets, accessories for shoes, virtual reality devices, other wearable electronics, accessories for sporting equipment, accessories for fitness equipment, key chains, or combinations thereof."

There is a provision for multi-user interaction:

"Furthermore, while the processes described above illustratively register, detect, and respond to the fingerprints of one user per device, a device of the present invention can be configured to register, detect, and respond to the fingerprints of multiple users."

Arnold links to a third patent application:

Touch Screen RFID Tag Reader

Comment:
The US Patent Office & Trademark Patent Application Full Text and Image Database is a great place to explore if you have lots of time on your hands!

(Cross-posted on the Technology-Supported Human-World Interaction blog).

TEI '10: Fourth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

I am really excited about TEI '10, which will be held in Cambridge, MA on January 25-27, 2010. If you are not familiar with tangible and embedded computing/interaction/interfaces, it is worth taking some time exploring this field.

Hiroshi Ishii, of the MIT Media Lab, is one of the TEI '10 conference chairs, and is known as the father of tangible computing. His scholarly publications have influenced the direction of human-computer interaction research, and as a consequence, the direction of emerging technologies.

Two of Ishii's articles, in my opinion, are "must-reads":

Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits, and Atoms pdf (CHI 1997)

Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels pdf (TEI 2008)

Additional Information:
"TEI, the conference on tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction, is about HCI, design, interactive art, user experience, tools and technologies, with a strong focus on how computing can bridge atoms and bits into cohesive interactive systems."

You can follow TEI '10 on Twitter.

Here is more from the TEI '10 website:

About TEI

"TEI'10 is the fourth international conference dedicated to presenting the latest results in tangible, embedded, and embodied interaction."

"The work presented at TEI addresses HCI issues, design, interactive art, user experience, tools and technologies, with a strong focus on how computing can finally bridge atoms and bits into cohesive interactive systems. The intimate size of this single-track conference provides a unique forum for exchanging ideas and presenting innovative work through talks, interactive exhibits, demos, hands-on studios, posters, art installations and performances"

Digital Photography - off topic

This picture was taken in the mountains of Norway, not too far from Flam and the nearby fjords with my digital camera. Peaceful.

I've been observing people of all ages using technology durng my trip, within the context of wayfinding, communication, usability, and user experience, and I'll be posting more when I return.

Human Media Lab's Organic User Interfaces and Interactive Sphere

The following video is of an interactive sphere prototype created by Josh Marble and John Bolton (members of NUI Group), from Human Media Lab at Queens University in Canada:

"DYI Multi-Touch Spherical Display"


I shared some information about the Human Media Lab's emerging technology in a previous post,
My Summer Emerging Technology "Wish to Play" List. Here is some more information about the lab:

"The Human Media Lab is Canada's premier media laboratory. Its mandate is to develop disruptive technologies and new ways of working with computers that are viable 10 to 20 years from now. We are currently working on the design of Organic User Interfaces (Oui!), an exciting new paradigm that allows computers to have any shape or form."

I would love to visit this lab. Perhaps they are working on flexible haptic interfaces, or other stuff of dreams.

(I'm on a cruise ship with limited Internet access, so I'll post more when I have the opportunity!)

NECC 2009 Conference June 28-July 1st: Technology in Education

If you are interested in virtual worlds, serious games, interactive multimedia technology, and emerging technologies in education, the 2009 NECC conference is the place to be!

NECC 2009 Conference Website

ISTE Website

Live Streaming from the NECC conference

CITEd (Center for Implementing Technology in Education) will be at NECC at the end of this month, where CITEd staffers will be keeping in touch via Twitter and Facebook.

The following information about virtual worlds and learning is from CITEd-e-News:

"Follow CITEd as we attend NECC 2009, the largest educational computing conference of the year. If you're attending this year, check out the agenda to see where we'll be; if you can't make it, we'll be Twittering the conference at TechnologyinEd. New to Twitter? Check out The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter or Twitter in Plain English. "

Source: NMC Second Life Flicker Photostream

Virtual Worlds for Teaching and Learning

Virtual worlds, particularly Second Life and Teen Second Life, are a hot topic in education as schools and universities around the world begin to make use of virtual learning environments. With a wide variety of educational projects, Second Life is home to virtual conferences, professional development workshops, "field trips" to exotic locales, in-world classrooms and collaborative learning activities. In this issue of eNews, we take a look at some of the ways educators are using Second Life to enhance learning and teaching. Learn more at www.cited.org.

	Avatars Teach Teens about Self-Image Read about how one health teacher used avatars (alter egos) in Second Life to teach students about body image issues, media representations of beauty, and self-image.
	ICT for the Non-Specialist - Virtual Worlds If you've ever wondered about using virtual worlds with your students, but don't know where to start, check out this short video highlighting several schools as they explore using Second Life in their teaching.
	Teen Second Life Guide for Schools Suffern Middle School in Suffern, NY has maintained a virtual presence in Teen Second Life since 2006, with a focus on standards-based curriculum. Based on their experiences, teachers have created an in-depth guide for moving your school or classroom into the virtual world.
	Global Kids Second Life Project Thinking about using virtual worlds in your school? Global Kids has used Second Life to work with urban youth since 2006 and offers free sample curriculum materials and professional development opportunities. Be sure to visit the blog written by teens in the project!

---

Whatever your technology need, CITEd's web site offers unbiased, reliable and timely resources and information for implementing technology in the classroom, school, and district. Want to know more? Visit our home page!

www.CITEd.org

(I'm on a cruise vacation, otherwise I'd be at NECC!)

A visit to Trinity College: The Elektra Project and 80Days Games for Learning

Today I visited Trinity College in Dublin and had an opportunity to discuss some educational gaming with Dr. Owen Conlan. Dr. Conlan has been involved in some interesting projects which I'll discuss further in an update of this post.

For now, you can visit the following links. The Elecktra project was recently completed, and 80Days is a newer project. Both projects were collaborative efforts between several universities.

ELEKTRA: "Enhanced Learning Experience and Knowledge TRAnsfer"

80Days Project Overview (pdf)

80Days Goes Public:

"80Days International Open Workshop on Intelligent Personalization and Adaptation in Digital Educational Games is organized by the 80Days Project (www.eightydays.eu), a cutting-edge research initiative of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7). The project’s goal is to explore new frontiers in DEGs by combining effective learning with fun and pleasure. Core objectives of the project are intelligent mechanisms for non-invasive knowledge assessment and the establishment of a higher-level adaptation framework that merges educational adaptation and interactive storytelling. '

My Summer Emerging Technology "Wish to Play" List!

Yes, it is summer, and I need new sunglasses. But not the usual kind.

I just had to post this picture from the Optical Vision Site. Too bad "iShades" are just in the prototype level of development.



There are other fashionable options:



Maybe this prototype would look better:

Photo from the Wired Gadget Lab

Or perhaps this pair?

Human Media Lab at Queen's University

I guess the glasses will help me interact with the next in emerging technology: the organic user interface!

Twp guys and their flexible "gummi".

And here is the next-gen version of Readius, a flexible pocket e-book from Polymer Vision. (I posted a video clip of the earlier version of "Readius" on YouTube two years ago.)













(Photo from Engaget: "Polymer Vision has Readius ready to go, needs case to get it out of the door".)

You can learn more about organic and flexible user interfaces from a video on the Daily Planet Discovery Channel. Organic user interfaces allows computers to take any shape or form. The concept reminds me of the flexible haptic interfaces I've dreamt about.

So what what else is emerging?

Here are a couple of pictures of a Google Earth browser on a spherical screen:



And here is a smaller, collapsible multi-touch sphere from Moxia:









More to come!