Kindlelab Project: Opensource & 3D Immersive Educational Tools

For more information and links about KindleLab, see the "KindleLab Project" post on the TechPsych blog.

Off topic: Interesting motivational video clip: "If you never failed, you never lived". (Do you know who is sitting in your classrom?)

Good motivational video clip: "If you never failed, you never lived" (Do you know who is sitting in your classroom?)





(cross-posted on the TechPsych blog)

The Future of Interactive Technology: Links to VentureBeat's series of articles

Put your finger on it: The future of interactive technology
Matt Marshall, 8/12/09

"Touch" technology for desktop computing finally taking off
Al Monro (CEO, NextWindow) 8/28/09



Speech, touchscreen--been there, done that. What's the user interface of tomorrow?
9/2/09 Mary Czerwinski (Microsoft)

How phones emerged as main computing devices, and why user interface will improve
Andrew Hsu (Synaptics) 8/24/09

SOMEWHAT RELATED

Playing Tetris could be good for your brain, study says




Mind Research Network
BRAIN IMAGING SHOWS PLAYING TETRIS LEADS TO BOTH BRAIN EFFICIENCY AND THICKER CORTEX

"Over a three-month period, adolescent girls practiced Tetris, a computer game requiring a combination of cognitive skills. The girls who practiced showed greater brain efficiency, consistent with earlier studies. Compared to controls, the girls that practiced also had a thicker cortex, but not in the same brain areas where efficiency occurred."

"We showed that practice on a challenging visuospatial task has an impact on the structure of the cortex, which is in keeping with a growing body of scientific evidence showing that the brain can change with stimulation and is in striking contrast with the pervasive and only-recently outmoded belief that our brain’s structure is fixed,” said Dr. Sherif Karama, a co-investigator at the Montreal Neurological Institute. This study, published in the open-access journal BMC Research Notes, is one of the first to investigate the effects of practice in the brain using two imaging techniques. The girls completed both structural and functional MRI scans before and after the three-month practice period, as did girls in the control group who did not play Tetris. A structural MRI was used to assess cortical thickness, and a functional MRI was used to assess efficient activity."

The World is My Web Browser: Interactive Technology in Public Spaces

Off-the desktop Interactive technologies are spreading quickly, across many platforms.   It seems that within the next 3-5 years we will be able to have instant access to a social and dynamic web, with information and entertainment at our fingertips, anywhere we go. 


The "world-as-web-browser" concept is one I've touched upon in the past.  I'd like to focus on this topic in future posts.

I came across some of the information in this post on the Future of Media Blog,maintained by the folks at the Interpublic Emerging Media Lab, based in California. This blog is a must-read!


The Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency in the UK created interactive games that provide people waiting in bus shelters the opportunity to pass the time by bashing digital falling eggs.


A more utilitarian approach to interactive touch screens is the EyeStop bus stop, a concept created by researchers MIT's SENSEable City Lab, along with the city of Florence and the city's transit service:


MIT



MIT researchers unveil the EyeStop: "Bus stop of the future" can sense its surroundings (pdf)



SOMEWHAT RELATED

IPG Future of Media Blog

VideoJet: Touch PDC Multimedia Mobile Games for Children; Video Jet KIU, a French "Wii"

I came across this portable touch-screen multimedia device today on the web, and had difficulty finding more information about it. It is from Videojet, a company that provides mobile games and devices for children, as well as game consoles for use in the home.





PDC Touch Multimedia

The devices is PDC Touch Multimedia, a handheld multi-purpose touch-screen/video camera, camera/ game console, M-3 player that has 16 GB of on-board memory, offers 105 games and application. 40 titles provide tactile and sensory feedback. This device also provides a mini SD card reader and video outputs.

This device looks like it has assistive technology potential.




When I visited the website, I came across KIU, Videojet's version of the "Wii":

Videojet kiu (PUB)
Uploaded by prodet. - Watch game reviews, trailers, and walkthrough videos.

I don't know much about this company, and I have never played any of their games. I'd like to know if this company has any educational titles!

Yelp has an Augmented Reality iPhone App for the iPhone 3Gs, "The Monocle"!

(Cross posted from tshwi)

Thanks to Dan Saffer for the link from the Read Write Web!

Here is my partial "reblog":

"Social review service Yelp has snuck the first Augmented Reality (AR) iPhone app specifically for the US into the iTunes App Store. The undisclosed new feature allows iPhone 3Gs owners to shake their phones three times to turn on a view called "the Monocle." This view uses the phone's GPS and compass to display markers for restaurants, bars and other nearby businesses on top of the camera's view...Blogger Robert Scoble discovered the hidden feature and posted about it on FriendFeed today. "

Video (in French, but easy to understand by the demonstration)


"Both GPS and a compass are used to determine location and direction being pointed at."

Screen Shots:




I want an iPhone. Verizon, can you hear me now?!