Interactive Multimedia Technology: technology

Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts

Apr 19, 2011

Mathematica 8: Resources, free online seminars, plus TED-talk video: "Teaching kids real math with computers"

I admit it. Once in a while, I wake up after having a dream with a re-occurring theme of algorithms, technology, and programming. It happened again this morning, inspiring me to take a look at the Wolfram Mathematica website.

Here are a few on-line seminars I might take a look at soon:

Seminar: What's New in Mathematica 8?

"To give a broad overview of the major new features in Mathematica 8, including free-form linguistic input and Wolfram|Alpha integration, probability and statistics, finance, control systems, graphs and networks, improved image processing, wavelet analysis, C code generation, and more, using example-driven material."

Statistics and Data Analysis with Mathematica 8
Image Processing with Mathematica (Seminar description and registration)

Look at what I found while exploring the Wolfram suite of websites!

TEDGlobal 2010:
Conrad Wolfram: Teaching kids real math with computers

RELATED
Mathematica 8 Seminar Calendar
Image Processing and Analysis (Info)
Interface development with Mathematica (I haven't tried this out.)
Here are a few links about the arts and math, from the Wolfram site:
Mathematica and High Fashion
Art Inspires a Lesson in Calculus
Computer Science PRofessor Sculpts Award-Winning Art with Mathematica
Wolfram Tones: An experiment in a new kind of music
Mathematica Music Demonstrations
Computerbasedmath.org
Conrad Wolfram
Stephen Wolfram

FYI: For those of you who are curious to know more about my technology dreams, I plan to devote a few posts about them in the future. Here's a link to a post I wrote after waking up from a dream about haptic interfaces:

Last night I dreamt about haptic touch-screen overlays...

Apr 14, 2011

Interactive Display with 4,500 Streaming Videos, Powered by a NAND flashcard by Fusion-io

The video wall below streams 4,500 videos through Fusion-io's NAND flash card. It can take care of 1 million transactions per second, the equivalent of 6 gigabytes of throughput per second, according to a recent Computerworld post by Lucas Mearian.

Wow.

FYI: Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, serves as Fusion-io's chief scientist.
RELATED
What a wall of 4,500 video streams looks like
Lucas Mearian, Computerworld 4/12/11
Fusion-IO Jobs (Colorado)
SIGGRAPH 2009 Version of Fusion-io's Streaming Video Wall:

SOMEWHAT RELATED
Driving Data Warehousing with ioMemory
Fusion-io Whitepaper 1/11/11
Transcription: Fusion-io CEO David Flynn on Enabling a New Class of Cloud Computing Apps
Bert Latamore, Wikibon, 4/8/11
"We're talking about a fundamental new building-block. So it impacts and will impact everything in the entire data center. In the database world it typically means that a database server can do about 10X the throughput, for the same server. And those queries are answered 30%-40% faster. So it means faster page loads, more throughput per server. So Answers.com retrofitted their MySQL scale-out database tier and saw 9X the throughput per server. What they chose to do was to shrink the database farm four-to-one. So they got a 75% consolidation, and with that remaining one-out-of-four servers they were still getting more than twice the throughput they had before." - David Flynn

Mar 29, 2011

SIFTEO, the next-gen Siftables! (Tangible User Interfaces for All)

Despite my enthusiasm for TUI's , I somehow missed the news about the transformation of Siftables to a commercial version, Sifteo:

Sifteo Inc. Debuts Sifteo™ Cubes - A New Way To Play (PDF)

"Sifteo cubes are 1.5 inch computers with full-color displays that sense their motion, sense each other, and wirelessly connect to your computer. You, your friends, and your family can play an ever-growing array of interactive games that get your brain and body engaged.

Sifteo’s initial collection of titles includes challenging games for adults, fun learning puzzles for kids, and games people can play together." -Sifteo website

For more information, see the Sifteo website, blog, and YouTube channel. If you can't wait to get your own set, take a look at Josh Blake's Sifteo Cube Unboxing Video!

RELATED

About two years ago, I was interviewed about my thoughts about the interactive, hands-on, programmable cubes, then called Siftables, for an article published in IEEE's Computing Now magazine: Siftables Offer New Interaction Mode (James Figeuroa, Computing Now, 3/2009).

For those of you who'd like more information about tangible user interfaces (TUIs) and the development of Siftables, I've copied my 2009 post, Tangible User Interfaces, Part I: Siftables, below:

TANGIBLE USER INTERFACES, PART I: SIFTABLES (2009)

In 1997, the vision of tangible user interfaces, also known as TUI's, was outlined by Hiroshi Ishii and Brygg Ullmer of the Tangible Media Group at MIT, in their paper, "Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits, and Atoms" (pdf). According to this vision, "the goal of Tangible Bits is to bridge the gaps between both cyberspace and the physical environment, as well as the foreground and background of human activities." This article is is a must-read for anyone interested in "new" interactive technologies.

The pictures in the article of the metaDesk, transBoard, activeLENS, and ambientRoom, along with the references, are worth a look, for those interested in this seminal work.

Another must-read is Hiroshi Ishii's 2008 article, Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels (pdf). In this article, Ishii provides a good overview of TUI concepts as well as the contributions of his lab to the field since the first paper was written.

Related to Tangible User Interface research is the work of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT. The Fluid Interfaces Group was formerly known as the Ambient Intelligence Group, and many of the group's projects incorporate concepts related to TUI and ambient intelligence.

According to the Fluid Interfaces website, the goal of this research group is to "radically rethink the human-machine interactive experience. By designing interfaces that are more immersive, more intelligent, and more interactive we are changing the human-machine relationship and creating systems that are more responsive to people's needs and actions, and that become true "accessories" for expanding our minds."

The Siftables project is an example of how TUI and fluid interface (FI) interaction can be combined. Siftables is the work of David Merrill and Pattie Maes, in collaboration with Jeevan Kalanithi, and was brought to popular attention through David Merrill's recent TED talk:

David Merrill's TED Talk: Siftables - Making the digital physical -Grasp Information Physically

"Siftables aims to enable people to interact with information and media in physical, natural ways that approach interactions with physical objects in our everyday lives. As an interaction platform, Siftables applies technology and methodology from wireless sensor networks to tangible user interfaces. Siftables are independent, compact devices with sensing, graphical display, and wireless communication capabilities. They can be physically manipulated as a group to interact with digital information and media. Siftables can be used to implement any number of gestural interaction languages and HCI applications....Siftables can sense their neighbors, allowing applications to utilize topological arrangement..No special sensing surface or cameras are needed."

Siftables Music Sequencer from Jeevan Kalanithi on Vimeo.

http://web.media.mit.edu/~dmerrill/images/music-against-wood-320x213.jpg

More about Siftables:
Rethinking display technology (Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, 7/27/08)
TED: Siftable Computing Makes Data Physical
Siftables: Toward Sensor Network User Interfaces (pdf)

It seems that people really like the Siftable concept, or they don't see the point. I found the following humerous critique of Siftables on YouTube:

"Imagine if all the little programs you had on your iphone were little separate chicklets in your pocket.
You'd lose em.
Your cat would eat em.
You'd vacuum them up.
They'd fall down in the sofa.
They'd be all over the car floor.
You'd throw them away by mistake..."

In my opinion, it is exciting to learn that perhaps some of this technology has the potential of becoming main-stream.

Mar 28, 2011

The New Media Consortium Needs Examples of K-12 Tech. Innovations for the 2011 NMC Horizon Report

The following information was taken from the New Media Consortium website. The deadline is April 1st - sorry for the late notice - it came across my path just today:

"We are pleased to announce that the Advisory Board for the 2010 NMC Horizon Report: K12 Edition has selected the six topics for this year's report:

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less * Cloud Computing * Mobiles

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years * Game-Based Learning * Open Content

Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years * Learning Analytics * Personal Learning Environments

Call for Examples
We are interested in learning about any kind of research, pilot programs, innovative projects, or faculty work happening at your school in any of the six areas listed above. (See the attached 2011 NMC Horizon Report: K12 Edition Preview of the topics for more details.) Our goal is to help readers understand the potential impact of these technologies and their applications on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry.

How to Participate
If you know of examples we could include, please use the brief web form at go.nmc.org/horizon-example-project to tell us about them. We ask for a title, a URL, and a one- or two-sentence description; you also will need to select which of the six topics your example falls under. The process takes about two minutes. We hope to have your examples by Friday, April 1, but no matter what, we'd love to hear about what you are doing. The url above is always open to pointers to great projects."

For more information:
2011 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition - Preview of Topics (pdf)

Thanks to Liz Dorland for the link!

A few links to start the week: AR for libraries, Accessible Musical Slideshows (Spectronics), Health Care Design, Big Data (GigaOM)

AR FOR THE LIBRARY (Supports productivity for librarians)
The article below discusses an Android-based app developed by Miami Unversity's Augmented Reality Research Group:
Awesome Augmented Reality App Could Save Librarians Hours Audrey Watters, ReadWriteWeb, 3/27/11
In the related video, Dr. Bo Brinkman (Miami University-Ohio) demonstrates the prototype AR app using a Samsung Galaxy Tab:

Although there are probably more creative ways to use AR in libraries, this application is a start!

INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION APP
Make musical slideshows in minutes - switch accessible too! Barbara Landsberb, Spectronics Blog, 12/17/10
An image of the Slideshow Maker

Slideshow Maker was designed to work on a range of displays, including touch screens. It it easy to use.
Slideshow Maker Manual This is an external link

(1.8 MB) Note: SlideshowMaker was not yet available in the US at the time of the above post. If I find a video about Slideshow Maker, I will post it here.

HEALTH CARE
The article below is a must-read for anyone thinking about developing applications for health care professionals, clinics, hospitals, patients, etc. In my opinion, it is very important to look at the "Big Picture", especially for techies who are responsible for information architecture in this field.
For the Future of Health Care Design, Look Beyond the Hospital Fast Company Design, 3/25/11 "Here, Jean Mah and Robin Guenther, two health-care design experts at architecture firm Perkins + Will, look at what the future holds for our health care systems." -Ed. (Fast Company)

BIG DATA
In the article below, the topic of "Big Data" is addressed. Low power computing solutions are needed in order to handle the number-crunching and information visualization tasks necessary for humans to understand and effectively make use of "Big Data".

The World of Big Data Needs Low Power Computing

Katie Fehrenbacher, GigaOM, 3/24/11

gigaombigdata on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Blog posts from the GigaOM Structure Big Data Conference

Mar 25, 2011

iPad: A couple of good articles about the enchanting tablet, via WIRED

I thought I'd share links to two articles about the iPad, a tablet that is enchanting millions around the globe:

Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
Brian X. Chen, WIRED Gadget Lab, 3/24/11

"Indeed, it turns out that a tablet needn’t do everything that a more powerful PC can, according to multiple research studies on iPad usage. Rather, the tablet’s main appeal lies in the approachable touchscreen interface that just about anybody at any age can pick up and figure out...That’s the genius of the blank slate — with nearly 400,000 apps that allow the iPad to become a toy, a TV, a medical tool for doctors, a notetaker for students and more, it caters to an extremely broad audience." -Brian X. Chen

iPads Are Not A Miracle for Children With Autism
Daniel Donahoo, WIRED GeekDad, 3/22/11

" ...the potential of the iPad is not achieved by the iPad alone, nor by simply placing it in the hands of a child with autism. The potential of the device is realized by the way professionals like speech pathologists, educators, occupational therapists and early childhood development professionals apply their skills and knowledge to use the iPad to effectively support the development of children. The potential is realized by engaged parents working with those professionals to explore how the device best meets the individual needs of their child." -Daniel Donahoo

(I have a few thoughts about the iPad of my own that I'll share in a future post.)

Mar 16, 2011

Cute TV Commercial! Intel Gesture Recognition Technology

This was the first television commercial I saw on TV this morning. I had to stop my morning routine to watch it : )

RELATED
From ChannelIntel: Interview of Francis MacDougall, CTO of GestureTek

Mar 8, 2011

Designing For Children: Good article by Catalina Naranjo-Bock, UX Matters

Here is the link - it is the first installment of Catalina Naranjo-Bock's column for UX Matters:

Approaches to User Research When Designing For Children
Catalina Naranjo-Bock, UXMatters 3/7/11

When I get a bit more time, I'll follow with my comments related to Catalina's column-- I'm a school psychologist and HCI techie, so this one of my interests!

Feb 22, 2011

How Social Can News Get? SoCon11 Presentation by Lee Rainie, Pew Internet Project

If you'd like to learn more about social media, take a look at the following presentation from the recent SoCon11 conference, "How social can news get?", by Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet Project:

"Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Internet Project, discusses the Project’s latest findings at the SoCon11 conference. He goes through trends in social media use in the last five years of the Project’s data. He explores how the turn to pervasive, participatory, personal, and portable news changes the way news consumers and producers behave and think about the role of news in their lives." - Pew Internet and American Life Project

Quite a few topics were covered at the conference, which can be found on the SoCon11 Agenda site.

2011 2.5.11 - kennesaw -- social news

View more presentations from Lee Rainie.

RELATED

SoCon11 Attendees
SoCon11 Speakers

Feb 21, 2011

Transit: Digital Video Dance Storytelling on Large Displays at the LAX Airport, by Scott Snibbe and Francesca Penzani

Scott Sona Snibbe, an interactive artist, created a large-scale video installation on twenty-nine connected HD displays that curved around at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at the LAX airport in 2010. The video tells a story of groups of people traveling through an airport who eventually begin dancing in interesting ways.

Francesca Penzani was the choreographer for this project. Noah Cunningham was responsible for the cinematography, editing, and post-production.

RELATED
SNIBBE INTERACTIVE
The Snibbe Interactive website has lots of great photos and videos of the company's work.

Thanks to Daniel Chen for sharing this video!

Feb 11, 2011

Talk to Me: An exhibition on the communication between people and objects, Museum of Modern Art, July 24- Nov. 7, 2011 - Great website!

The Museum of Modern Art, located in New York City, is preparing for the "Talk to Me" exhibit, which will run from July 24 through November 7, 2011. The Talk to Me website is an online journal that chronicles the exhibition's team's process of organizing the exhibition, allowing feedback from readers along the way. The Talk to Me website includes lots of interesting links, including readings. The blogroll on the site is worth looking at, too. I've included on near the end of this post. (The Interactive Multimedia Technology blog was included in the list!)

To get a good understanding of the concepts behind the Talk to Me exhibit, take the time to explore the website. It is full of treasures!

Below is a brief description, quoted from the site:

"Talk to Me is an exhibition on the communication between people and objects, and how designers write the initial script that enables the two parties to communicate effectively and elegantly."

"The exhibition hinges on an important development in the culture of design (and in culture at large), a shift from the centrality of function to that of meaning. From this perspective, all objects contain information that goes well beyond their immediate use or appearance. In some cases, objects exist to provide us with access to complex systems and networks, behaving as gateways and interpreters. Whether openly and actively, or in subtle, subliminal ways, things talk to us, and designers help us develop and improvise the dialogue."

"Talk to Me will focus on objects that involve a direct interaction, such as interfaces, information systems, visualization design, communication devices, and projects that establish an emotional, sensual, or intellectual connection with their users, ranging from the early 1980s (few iconic examples) all the way to projects in current development (the bulk of the show). It will feature a diverse array of examples, from computer and machine interfaces, to websites, videogames, devices and tools, furniture and other objects, all the way to installations and whole environments."

RELATED
MOMA's Talk to Me Readings - each link below leads to a page of related links:
interfacesliminal spacescritical thinkingsocial interfacestech updatesvisualization design bibliography

Talk to Me Blogroll