Smart watch +PC :wrist PC

So we have all seen or at least hard abut the smart watches from Apple, samsung or Motorola, which have the usual features of a smartphone and can receive phone calls or other notifications, etc. . Although, this is the first time that a computer + wristwatch concept has been tested. The device can be basically worn like a wristwatch but the device can be connected to the net anytime anywhere. The wrist PC is supposed to have a 3.5 inch touch screen in addition to having a key pad on the sides on the wrist band. The device also comes with a wireless earpiece which can be used for making calls, watching videos or playing games. This device is still at least four years away from being rolled out as its still in the development phase.

 

wrist PC wrist PC wrist PC wrist PC + accessories wrist PC

Vehicle to vehicle communication

Car accidents caused over 30,000 deaths in the US in 2013  and the problem with that fact is that this number is not decreasing. Automobiles are quick to install new safety features like airbags or collision warning alerts but this does not help the fact that the accident can still take place if the driver is under the influence of an intoxicant or in a similar situation. If only there was a way that the car could be self aware, for example picture your self walking on 5th avenue in New York City  or around time square, there are a massive number of people in that area which includes – tourists, people who live there, working professionals but whilst walking on the sidewalk humans dont keep bumping into each other even if it is a crowded street. The way we evade people coming our way is completely instinctive and we do not even have to think about whilst we are walking around people who are coming directly at us. This is because we have self awareness , the vehicle to vehicle technology that several companies are working on is something similar. Its designed to allow automobiles to talk to each other and communicate with each other in car to car network . Hence your car will know through this network, the speed of the cars around you, if the break has been pressed or not  and even the position of the steering. Henceforth taking road safety to a completely new level, if this is actually implemented, I cannot even imagine of how  dramatic the decline in car accidents will be. GM plans to introduce its car with this technology in 2017.

 

car to car network car to car car to car etwork

Seer – Caputer : Augmented Reality Helmet

When the Iron man came out in 2008, it created a lot of buzz regarding the HUD of Tony Stark’s Iron man suit, It has massive field of view, its clear and is insanely cool. After Looking for anything even remotely similar to that, I was surprised to find something that is not just similar but quite literally exactly like HUD of the Iron man Suit. This device being the Seer Caputer, It claims to be the world largest 100 degree field of view Augmented reality Helmet. When a person is wearing the helmet, because of the large field of view, the person cannot see the edge of the screen, this effect is by design as it makes the augmented reality effect even more authentic. Another very innovative feature built into the device is that the makers of the device have made it possible for the user to be able to control the headset by moving his or her jaw ( jaw control). This essentially meaning that as the user  flips through the screen in a smartphone using his/her finger the same can be done in this helmet by using your jaw. While the, augmented reality device is an extremely exciting product for gamers as this can be connected via bluetooth or wifi to gaming consoles, this also serves as an incredible opportunity to people belonging to professions like Architecture or to the medical field as this device can have incredible applications  for educational purposes.

 

Caputer AR -Seer Caputer AR -Seer Caputer AR -Seer: Field of View Caputer AR -Seer Caputer AR -Seer

Paris terror Attacks – Similarities with the Mumbai terror attacks

Recently on the 13th of November , terrorists who were affiliates of the Islamic state or ISIS , Killed over a 120 innocent people in paris at different locations. The Most striking part about the terror attack was that terrorist attacked several locations simultaneously in a coordinated fashion indicating that this attack was long planned. What was more striking was that not long ago in the November of 2008, In the financial capital of India – Mumbai , 10 terrorists also unleashed a wave coordinated terror attacks on the most symbolic locations of the city such as the Taj palace hotel,  Oberoi Trident Hotel, CST terminal, the Leopold cafe and some other locations as well. These locations were known to be  tourist hotspots, frequented by western tourists or being crowded areas to maximise casualties. the most striking part is the similarities between the two attacks and how terrorists used off the shelf communication devices to plan and execute these acts of terror, all whilst evading the eyes of the intelligence agencies tasked with preventing such attacks. In Mumbai terrorists used google earth and google maps to plan their points of attacks and the hotel website which gave them a virtual tour of the hotel. Whereas, reports are emerging that the terrorists used Playstation 4 networks to communicate and plot the terror attacks in paris, the playstation 4 networks are notoriously hard to monitor and crack and intelligence and security agencies have not been paying too much attention to them as to things like facebook or whatsapp or other forms of communication vis smartphones. Whilst there are several similarities in both the attacks , the similarities that I have mentioned are specifically related to what we study in class and we did discuss the mumbai attacks and how technology is agnostic and can be used for both good or evil. Another special similarity between these two attacks was that terrorists in both instances had decided to attack multiple locations simultaneously in order to spread the security forces  as opposed to allowing them to converge on one location.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34829690

Link to a bbc article commenting about the similarities

 

Paris Mumbai Mumbai - Taj Hotel siege

Seeing the light – assisted vision smart glasses

We have talked a lot in this class on ways in which people who are visually impaired can be provided with devices that may help their lives in a certain way. One such product that could radically change the way blind live their lives is the assisted vision smart glasses. Dr.  Stephen Hicks from the university of oxford has been working on a new type of smart glasses which specifically focus on enhancing vision, since the vast majority of people who are blind still have some remaining sight (its limited but still existent) these smart glasses can be tuned to make the most of it. They are constructed using transparent OLED displays, a gyroscope a compass, a GPS unit and a headphone. The data which enters the device can be used in several different ways,  for example – in this device the brightness is used to show the depth of the image in front. The cameras on the device can also be programmed to recognise minute details such as the number on an approaching bus or to read a sign. The GPS module can be used to give directions and the gyroscope helps the glasses to calculate changes in perspective as the wearer moves around. The information can also be spoken out to the user through the built in earpiece. The researchers are still working on reducing the size of the glasses.If we look at certain other devices mentioned in the blog before such as the buzz clip, we can see a trend of such  devices flooding the market in the near future which may indeed be an extremely bright one for the blind.

What the wearer sees assisted vision smart glasses assisted vision smart glasses

The Smartnotebook – Rocketbook

There are many items on the markets such as tablets, kindles and other such devices which offer users a new way to write and save things for later viewing. But there is a very specific reason that these products despite having in practical terms the same capabilities as a traditional pen and paper have not become as popular as expected and have not completely replaced the pen and paper. The reason being that people enjoy writing with pen and paper, the feeling of the friction of the paper when moving the tip of the pen on the paper is something which is completely absent when writing with a stylus on a tablet. This is where the ‘ Rocketbook’ Comes into play. The rocketbook allows  the users to write on a seemingly normal looking notebook with a special pen, when the user has written a significant number of pages, the user through his smartphone can use a special rocketbook  app, to capture the images of what he has written. The reason this is different than just snapping photographs of notes is because users use a special app puts pictures in the format of a notebook, the app is programmed to save the pictures in a cloud. The most notable feature of the entire product is that the rocketbook can be re used over and over again. Once the users has saved their files in the cloud drive, the notebook can be used as many times as desired. The user can erase all the text in the notebook by putting it in the microwave for 30 seconds as the ink from the special pen provided with the rocketbook is designed to disappear when heated, hence the user can use the rocketbook as many times as they would like.
Rocketbook Rocketbook to drive The rocketbook

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rocketbook-wave-cloud-ready-microwavable-notebook#/

Makerarm :3D print, laser, carve, plot, assemble

In the class and even on some of the blogs we have discussed 3D printing at length. the device I want to talk about is called makerarm, The problem with 3D printers is exactly that, they just 3D print which is incredibly useful, but the problem is that sometimes user need a whole lot of tools to complete their product, they may need to sometimes carve, cut , and then assemble the final product. All of these activities needing different tools, makerarm solves this problem. What separates and distinguishes makerarm from ordinary 3d printers is simply the number of different things it can do. Makerarm works with interchangeable heads so it can be literally used for countless applications,
First it is not confined to a box as many types of 3 D printers are it can print with both resin and filament.Maker Arm can carve and perform Light Duty milling on a variety of surfaces like plastic, wood and even soft metals. Maker arm is also equipped with a 500mW laser which etches or engraves on surfaces like plastic, wood, leather cardboard and many more. It can assemble things, pick them up and place them wherever desired as it can equipped with vacuum pump coupled suction cups, electromagnetic heads or grippers to carry out pick and lace operations. Its assemble function can also be used to place and fasten screws or to carry out gluing. The device can even be used on PCB (printed circuit boards) for PCB milling, drilling and solder paste dispensing.

Makerarm Makerarm Comparison Comparison 3 DPrinted objects by makerarmhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1849283018/makerarm-the-first-robotic-arm-that-makes-anything

 

 

Buzzclips for the Blind

We have discussed several solutions in the class on how to improve the lives for the blind, I came across this really amazing product ‘Buzzclip’ thats still in the productisation phase but is amazingly useful and based on  a pretty simple concept. Now the conventional solutions for the blind include things lie walking with a trained dog , but that still dose not solve the problem regarding head level objects. For example a person who is blind and is being  guided by their service dog whilst walking in a park may collide into a tree branch sticking out of a tree, I am sure their  are similar situations in which people without sight may experience difficulty or may get hurt even whilst using the cane or a service dog. This is the exact problem that the buzzclip solves, it is a portable device which can clipped to the shirt the person is wearing and when the person may be about to accidentally walk into something like a tree branch the device will vibrate and alert the person  regarding the object in front of them. The device can be charged via a USB port and can last up to 10 hours on a single charge, and a person can wear upto several buzz clips, for example if a person wants to avoid colliding with another person on their side on a crowded street. All the person would need to do is attach the buzzclip to the sleeve of the shirt their wearing .http://www.imerciv.com/how-it-works.phpBuzzclip Buzzclip

Smart Workspaces

Whilst reading on emerging technologies , I discovered ‘Smart workspaces’ to be an extremely interesting topic. The change it would have could be transformational. Smart workspaces enable embedded programability to the physical work environment that surrounds employees such as meeting rooms, cubicles or in building work spaces. The idea behind smart workspaces is that  the user is physically and virtually together.
Basically this would mean all the objects in the workplace like the whiteboard, large digital displays, workstations, mobile devices, wearable devices participating in work activities . The connection between all these devices can be discussed in the context of internet of things(IOT) which contextually facilitates peoples interactions.

references

Click to access smart_workspaces_for_crisis_management.pdf

http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/smart_connected_communities/smart_connected_personalized_spaces.html