February 12, 2016
Oculus Rift Has My Attention
Zuckerberg's Facebook announced the purchase of Oculus virtual reality (VR) in March 2014.
I can't think of another piece of consumer technology that I want to try out more than this.
Initially for immersive 3-D experiences in all sorts of entertainment, including gaming, movies, television, and more.
But soon to follow are use cases for virtual meetings, classrooms, doctor's appointments, and anything requiring our interaction and communication.
Hush-hush is the more intimate use for things like virtual sex.
Also, there are opportunities for augmented reality where physical reality is supplemented with computer sensory input making your real-experience that much richer and informed.
With the Oculus Rift, I imagine myself immersed on a safari in Africa, flying into the reaches of space, relaxing at the most beautiful beaches, praying at the Western Wall, fighting my way through first person shooter and action adventures, and reliving biblical and other major historical events.
I don't see VR for myself as an escape from reality, so much as being able to experience many more of life's realities and possibilities out there.
My only fear is that as VR gets better and better, it becomes easier and easier to fall away from our challenges in the real world, and just live inside a mask with a controlled environment where our virtual choices and experiences seem all too convenient and real. ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Weston High School Library)
August 30, 2015
King Kong Puzzle
It's a 3-D puzzle of the Empire State Building and at the top, King Kong holding onto the antenna!
Looks like a few pieces fell out of the building about 3/4 of the way up.
Or is that where ISIS terrorists blow their next hole in our skyscrapers again (G-d Forbid).
With our retrenchment from the front lines all over the world--with the exception of some targeted drone strikes (actually very well done)--we are again at risk of letting the terrorists get the upper hand.
We need strength and resolve--not lifting of sanctions, closing of Guantanamo, and withdrawal from the fight.
Take them down, before they come to our shores--this is a fight that is multigenerational and there is no retreat from the top of the world when fighting for freedom and human rights. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
King Kong Puzzle
July 30, 2015
Hey, Lady On The Shirt
It's has an image of a lady standing out front with what looks like a volcano in the background.
The volcano is shooting up its hothead steam, and looks like it's blowing the cloud on the left sideways, off-kilter.
What's nice about the lady on the shirt is that it's not just drawn on, but has materials sewn in to make it 3-D.
The black and pink fabric for the dress, the green and red beads for the shirt, the pink and silver over the black patches for the sunglasses, and the yellow for the hat.
Also, like the way she's standing all confident wth her hands on her hips and her elbows out--like "Hey, that volcano is nothing (compared to me)!"
The shirt is so simple, yet very smart.
That's the way most things should be. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Hey, Lady On The Shirt
July 3, 2013
Magic Computer Displays
This is some awesome technology from Tactus Technology.
It is called a dynamic tactile touchscreen.
Here's how it works:
When you want to type with a tablet or other touchscreen display, not only do you see a QWERTY keyboard, but also the buttons actually rise out of of the flatscreen display--for a tactile typing experience.
Using microfluidics, the fluids in the screen actually change shape--and form buttons.
When your done typing, the keyboard buttons melt away back down into the screen.
It all happens in a split second and has negligible impact on power consumption (i.e. less than 1%).
This type of tactile experience with computer displays can be used for tablets, smartphones, gaming devices, and I would imagine even SCADA devices (e.g. for turning a dial, pulling a level, etc. all virtually on a monitor).
Goodbye physical controls and hello magic touchscreen--presto chango. ;-)
Magic Computer Displays
February 5, 2013
From Holocaust To Holograms
My father told me last week how my mom had awoken in the middle of night full of fearful, vivid memories of the Holocaust.
In particular, she remembers when she was just a six year-old little girl, walking down the street in Germany, and suddenly the Nazi S.S. came up behind them and dragged her father off to the concentration camp, Buchenwald--leaving her alone, afraid, and crying on the street. And so started their personal tale of oppression, survival, and escape.
Unfortunately, with an aging generation of Holocaust survivors--soon there won't be anyone to tell the stories of persecution and genocide for others to learn from.
In light of this, as you can imagine, I was very pleased to see the University of Southern California (USC) Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) and the USC Shoah Foundation collaborating on a project called "New Dimensions In Testimony" to use technology to maintain the enduring lessons of the Holocaust into the future.
The project involves developing holograms of Holocaust survivors giving testimony about what happened to them and their families during this awful period of discrimination, oppression, torture, and mass murder.
ICT is using a technology called Light Stage that uses multiple high-fidelity cameras and lighting from more than 150 directions to capture 3-D holograms.
There are some interesting videos about Light Stage (which has been used for many familiar movies from Superman to Spiderman, Avatar, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) at their Stage 5 and Stage 6 facilities.
To make the holograms into a full exhibit, the survivors are interviewed and their testimony is combined with natural language processing, so people can come and learn in a conversational manner with the Holocaust survivor holograms.
Mashable reports that these holograms may be used at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. where visitors will talk "face-to-face" with the survivors about their personal experiences--and we will be fortunate to hear it directly from them. ;-)
(Photo from USC ICT New Dimensions In Technology)
From Holocaust To Holograms
May 26, 2012
Hey, Gesture Like This!
This new gesture-recognition technology from Leap Motion is amazing.
"For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimension with your natural hand and finger movements."
The closest yet to get us to the vision in the movie, Minority Report.
"Leap is more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard, and more sensitive than a touchscreen."
Scroll, pinpoint, pan, play, shoot, design, compose, fly--just about everything you do onscreen, but more in sync with how we generally interact with our environment and each other.
I like when the guy in the video reaches forward and the hands on the screen reach right back at him!
I'd be interested to see how this can be used to replace a keyboard for typing or will it be augmented by a really good voice recognition and natural language processing capability--then we would have an integration of the verbal and non-verbal communications cues.
In the future, add in the ability to read our facial expressions like from a robot and then we may have some real interaction going on mentally and perhaps dare I say it, even emotionally.
According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek (24 May 2012), the Leap is just the size of a "cigarette lighter that contains three tiny cameras inside" and costs just $70--"about half the price of a Kinect."
The Leap is so sophisticated that it can "track all 10 of a user's fingers and detect movements of less than one-hundredth of a millimeter."
At their site, I see you can even preorder these now for estimated shipping at the end of the year.
I think I'll put this on my holiday gift list. ;-)
Hey, Gesture Like This!
October 21, 2011
Display It Everywhere
Display It Everywhere
September 17, 2011
Fitting Every Consumer A VIP
Fitting Every Consumer A VIP
April 17, 2011
Holograms - Projecting Soon
Holograms - Projecting Soon
February 21, 2011
Glass, More Than Just Window Dressing
- Photovoltaic
- LCD Television
- Architectural
- Surface
- Appliance Veneer
- Handheld
- Automotive
- Large-Format
- All Weather
- Wall Format
- Work Surface
- Electronics Ready
- Large Panel
- Flexible
- 3-D TV
- Portable
Glass, More Than Just Window Dressing
January 29, 2011
The iWatch Does It All
The iWatch Does It All
February 27, 2009
Lessons from Space for CIOs
There are no CIOs in space. At least not yet. Someday, as we colonize space, there will be. And information technology will be more important then ever as communications, information sharing, collaboration, and new ways of doing things enable people to live and work in distances that are now just the realm of science fiction.
As I read about space tourism in MIT Technology Review, January/February 2009, I realized there are already lessons for CIOs from space travel even in its nascent stages.
- Modernize, as needed—as technologists, some erroneously think that everything has to be swapped out and modernized every few years (for example, many organizations are on na 3 year refresh cycle—whether they need it or not!), but the Russian space program teaches us differently. They modernize, not on a fixed time, but rather as needed. They work by the principle “if it’s not broken don’t fix it.” Here’s an excerpt: “You can look at the original Soyuz, and the same physical design—same molds, even—appear to have been used throughout its history…But anything that has ever gone wrong or failed, they fix. Or if there is some new technology that comes along that would be of significant benefit, they change it also. Isn’t this a novel principle that we can adapt for sound IT investment management?
- Functional minimalism--for many organizations and individuals, there is a great desire to have the latest and greatest technology gadgets and tools. Some call these folks technology enthusiasts or cutting-edge. And while, IT is incredibly exciting and some missions really need to be cutting-edge to safeguard lives for example. Many others don’t need to have a closet with one of every software package, hardware gadget, or new tool out there. I’ve seen mid-size organizations that literally have thousands of software products—almost as many as people in the entire company! However, on the Russian Soyuz space vehicle, we see a different way. One space tourist noted: “It’s sort of a functional minimalism.” You don’t need tons of gadgets, just what is operationally necessary. CIO’s, as IT strategists and gatekeepers for sound IT investing, should keep this principle in mind and spend corporate investment dollars wisely, strategically, and with careful selection criteria. We don’t need one of everything, especially when half of the investments are sitting in a closet somewhere collecting organizational dust!
- Technology is 3-D—Our IT environment is still mostly stuck in a two-dimensional paradigm. Our user-interfaces, controls, and displays are still primarily flat. Of course, many have conceived of IT in a more real three-dimensional portrayal for example using 3-D graphics, modeling and simulation, holograms, virtual controls, and even virtual world’s in gaming and online. As CIO’s, we need to encourage the IT industry to continue rapid transformation from a 2-D to 3-D technology paradigm. As a corollary, in space where there is little to no gravity such as on the International Space Station, “It is cluttered, but then after a while you realize, well that’s true if you’re thinking in 2-D, but once your brain shift to 3-D, you realize that it isn’t.”
- Think strategic and global—The CIO and his/her staff gets lot of calls everyday based on operational issues. From simple password resets to the dreaded “the network is down.” When firefighting, it is easy to fall into a purely operational way of thinking. How am I going to get this or that user back up. But getting all consumed by operational issues is counterproductive to long-term planning, strategy, and monumental shifts and leaps in technology and productivity. One space tourist looking out the window in space summed it up nicely for CIOs (and others) to get perspective: “You’re out there in space looking back at Earth, and in a way, you’re also looking back at your life, yourself, your accomplishments. Thinking about everything you own, love, or care for, and everything else that happens in the world. Thinking bigger picture. Thinking in a more global fashion.” Maybe every CIO need a picture window view from the Internation Space Station to keep perspective?
Lessons from Space for CIOs
October 7, 2008
Holographic TV and Enterprise Architecture
CNN reported on 6 October 2008 that “Holographic television to become reality.”
Of course, the TV piece of it is only the tip of the iceberg, because 3-D holographic technology can be used in our organizations for all sort of presentations (forget about simple PowerPoint slideshows anymore), video-teleconferencing (think CISCO Telepresence on steroids), desktop computer applications (think Office and Internet applications that take place literally on your desk rather than on a flat screen). Also, holographic technology will be able to be applied to specialized areas such as tele-medicine (for example, battlefield surgery), more realistic professional training (all kinds), and enhanced command and control functions (such as common and user-defined operational picture for defense, law enforcement, and Intel), and much more.
Why is all this now seen as possible?
Recently, researchers at the University of Arizona had a major “breakthrough in rewritable and erasable holographic systems.” This is “prerequisite for any type of moving holographic technology,” like a television where “images would need to be changing multiple times each second,” says Dr Nasser Peyghambarian.
Dr.T ung H. Jeong, a retired physics professor at Lake Forest College outside Chicago, says that “We are moving toward the possibility of holographic TV…It has now been shown that physically , it’s possible.”
Peyghambarian believes that this “technology could reach the market within five to ten years.”
The challenge will be to produce it cheap enough to make it viable for the mass market.
As with most technologies that reach a basic level of maturity and profitability, competitors will rush in, drive down costs and commoditize the product.
We can look forward to this tremendous evolution in the way we watch and interact with information, applications, entertainment, training, and social media.
Users will have a richer and fuller experience by virtue of using this technology. It is the job of the enterprise architect to identify new technologies like this for our organizations and to plan the way ahead for their alignment with the business, adoption and use.
Holographic technology will change the way we conduct our operations in business, government, and our personal lives.
Holographic TV and Enterprise Architecture