The idea of a portable, impressively useful touchscreen interface has very quickly gone from the world of science fiction to depictions of dubious accuracy on mainstream shows like NCIS or CSI. The consumer, alas, has had to make due with smaller touchscreen interfaces on our phones and tablets and giant, spy-catching rigs aren’t coming to us anytime soon, but if scientists at the Carnegie Mellon Human Computer Interaction Institute have anything to say about it, we might soon get the next best thing. In a joint project with Microsoft, they’ve created a unique technology that allows a functional multi-touch screen to be displayed on almost any surface, including the body. Read more By Ross A. Lincoln for Tom’s Guide, 18 Oct 2011.
Tag Archives: New Technology
Chrome extension enables remote computer control
Months of work on “chromoting” have reached fruition with Google’s release on Friday of a new Chrome extension to let a person on one computer remotely control another across the network. The Chrome Remote Desktop beta version, which arrived Friday, is a browser-based equivalent of remote desktop software for conventional operating systems. Such software is handy for IT administrators managing employees’ machines, people taking care of their relatives’ computers, or individuals getting access to their own machines from afar. “Chrome Remote Desktop BETA is the first installment on a capability allowing users to remotely access another computer through the Chrome browser or a Chromebook,” the release notes said. “Chrome Remote Desktop BETA is fully cross-platform, so you can connect any two computers that have a Chrome browser, including Windows, … Continue reading
Smart cities get their own operating system
Cities could soon be looking after their citizens all by themselves thanks to an operating system designed for the metropolis. The Urban OS works just like a PC operating system but keeps buildings, traffic and services running smoothly. The software takes in data from sensors dotted around the city to keep an eye on what is happening. In the event of a fire the Urban OS might manage traffic lights so fire engines can reach the blaze swiftly. Read more By Katia Moskvitch for BBC News, 30 Sept 2011.
Why mobile sites are important
Google is announcing today that websites that are optimized for mobile will now factor into ad quality. The company says that last year it began to limit ad serving on smartphone devices if they pointed to landing pages with Flash-heavy content, in order to improve the experience for users. Now the search giant will be considering the mobile optimization of a website as a new factor of mobile ads quality for all AdWords campaigns that are driving mobile traffic. As a result of this change, ads that have mobile optimized landing pages will perform better in AdWords and drive more traffic. The core guidelines for landing page quality apply across devices (on desktop and on mobile) but this consideration will only affect AdWords on mobile devices. For background, … Continue reading
Build your own gadget with microsoft's lego for adults
Microsoft has released a new rapid prototyping toolkit that promises to let electronic enthusiasts put together small gadgets in a matter of hours. Devices built with the kit, dubbed.NET Gadgeteer, include an MP3 player, digital camera, and a mini arcade cabinet. At the heart of the kit is a main circuit board with an embedded processor and a variety of sockets that can be linked with other .NET Gadgeteer modules. These include a touchscreen, a camera, LEDs, buttons, and USB and SD card interfaces, all of which can be slotted together like electronic Lego without the need for soldering. On the software side, Microsoft has set up a website to share the open-source code that controls the various .NET Gadgeteer modules. Users can also write their own software in C#, a … Continue reading
iPhone slr mount
This is crazy! and yes, it´s really real. The iPhone SLR Mount allows you to turn your iPhone 4 into a DSLR using real SLR lenses. A few apps have been around to help your phone camera get a better zoom, but this will set your photos apart in an unprecedented way. The adaptor works with Canon EOS or Nikon SLR lenses. Read more By Bless This Stuff.
Telex to help defeat web censors
Data smuggling software could help citizens in countries operating strict net filters visit any site they want. Developed by US computer scientists the software, called Telex, hides data from banned websites inside traffic from sites deemed safe. The software draws on well-known encryption techniques to conceal data making it hard to decipher. So far, Telex is only a prototype but in tests it has been able to defeat Chinese web filters. Read more By BBC News: Technology, 19 July 2011.
Mozilla designed a system that makes passwords obsolete
In between updating Firefox every few weeks, the Mozilla team managed to find time to put together BrowserID, a system that might make passwords a thing of the past. It’s a straightforward premise — log in to the BrowserID service, and you’re automatically granted access to all your password-protected websites. We think this could be big, especially with a major player like Mozilla behind it. The only roadblock is adoption — how long until Netflix, Amazon, and others adopt the protocol? Read more By Dylan Love for Business Insider, 19 July 2011.
JQuery does boombox
HTML5 introduces the <audio> element which offers a way to play audio natively in the browser. However the native controls are a little lacking in style. Thankfully HTML5 also brings a full api to interact with which allows us to skin an Audio object however we want. Find out more By Carlos Cardona for Boombox for Chrome.
Kinect graffiti
Kinect Graffiti™ is a digital graffiti tool using “Microsoft Kinect” camera. The idea behind this project is to use the kinect to track the motion behind graffiti. Visualizing the body and drawing trough different angles in realtime, Understanding surrounding space, pausing the time, etc… Watch the video By Jean-Christophe Naour for Kinect Graffiti™ on Vimeo.