Nov 18 2009: OCR and text-to-speech... of course... why didn't I think of it :P.
Well... it *should* be achievable, but OCR software isn't that sophisticated yet. It makes a lot of mistakes even on plain book scans. Imagine making it even more complex by having the exact book dimensions and light conditions varying... nah... blind people are going to have to stick to braille books and screen readers for quite a few years to come, and I mean "a few years" plus the few years it will take this device to reach the mass user.
Nov 18 2009: People with disabilities in general is one thing, and I can imagine deaf people having subtitles in front of them, generated from speech-to-text and face recognition, but... how would THAT device alone help blind people or other kind of visually impared people? Such people (unless also deaf) can hear with or without that device, and with or without it, they can't see the stuff from the projector.
Nov 18 2009: Either give a link to this page, or download the MP4 from the download link, and use some kind of a convertor (Google applications that do that).
BTW, as far as I know, WPF is not a video format, but a framework (Windows Presentation Framework to be exact) for building applications. Do you mean WMV (Windows Media Video)?
Nov 18 2009: I don't know about you, but I'd feel really odd with a brain interface. A lot of people today (partly including myself) have damaged attention spans, and therefore, if we have a device that depends on our concentration, we're likely to misuse it without intending to.
It's easy to make a false/unwilling thought. Making a false/unwilling hand gesture is far less likely.
Sep 19 2009: Funny you should mention the Cyrillic symbol "B". In latin, the same symbol represents the "bee" sound, whereas in Cyrillic, the same symbol represents the sound denoted by the Latin "V". The "bee" sound in Cyrillic on the other hand is represented by a "cut out Latin B" (%u0411).
I can see "V" being a sharp sound and shape (as in Latin), and I can see "%u0411" as being a soft sound and shape (as in Cyrillic), but why then does a shape like B have this dual nature of being both a sharp and soft sound, depending on the alphabet (and - I'd guess - inherently the culture)?
I guess it's because the sound "bee" is neither too soft or too hard to firmly qualify on one end or the other. Any thoughts?
Aug 26 2009: WOW! I really hope we see products with this into the market soon.
But I wonder... what happens if we have two WiTricity servers (transmitters or whatever) next to each other, both being on? Will one break (or shake...) the other?
Suppose that those two servers are far enough from one another as to not affect each other, but have a certain "common ground". They get turned on at different times, so their frequences don't exactly match. In their "common ground", we place a WiTricity client (receiver or whatever). Will the client be powered by both or none? Will it explode or something?
I mean, this demo obviously shows that the technology works on a one-to-one(-or-two) scale, but I'm worried about when it becomes (too?) popular, and we have many-to-many connections, in order to cover our whole homes.
Aug 16 2009: I think one of the reasons (perhaps the main reasons) the semantic web hasn't caught on just yet, and why it won't catch on just yet is of "onus" and "privacy" issues, not a lack of technology.
Who has the onus of storing my data? Who has the onus of making sure the data is always available? Who has the onus of interpreting mine and other data? Who has the onus of filtering out the useless and/or malicious parts of data?
The web today is NOT a single machine, even though it could be perceived as such from each one end. It's a lot of computers that are connected to one another by other computers. The reason "it" hasn't stopped is because never have "all" machines stopped. However, "a" machine, and even "bunch" of machines have stopped, and they regularly stop. Your ISP's "gateway" machie can stop, Google's GMail server can stop, your home computer can (and does) regularly stop.
Making it truly one big machine would only mean that we'll lose the redunancy the web has given us.
Aug 14 2009: How exactly is this "inexpensive, after-market data tag" going to be affixed, while remaining still?
Also, what about different plug standards? Europe has a standard different than in the US, both in the plug itself (assuming that what you showed is the US standard), and in the voltage. Would this technology be adjustable to those different standards? Would it have the same effect with different voltages?
This is a very interesting kind of device, and one which is REALLY needed where I live (Bulgaria). And here, the reason for most electical faults and fires is actually elecrical surges - i.e. overvoltage (or something like that... I'm not familiar with the term) of the electricity served by the energy provider. Does this power plug also have protection against that (I'd assume no, since AFAIK, this is not common in the US)? If it doesn't, having a protection against everything would become really expensive and physically unfeasable - a power surge plug smart plug the device.
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A reply on Talk: Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology
Well... it *should* be achievable, but OCR software isn't that sophisticated yet. It makes a lot of mistakes even on plain book scans. Imagine making it even more complex by having the exact book dimensions and light conditions varying... nah... blind people are going to have to stick to braille books and screen readers for quite a few years to come, and I mean "a few years" plus the few years it will take this device to reach the mass user.
A reply on Talk: Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology
A reply on Talk: Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology
BTW, as far as I know, WPF is not a video format, but a framework (Windows Presentation Framework to be exact) for building applications. Do you mean WMV (Windows Media Video)?
A reply on Talk: Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology
It's easy to make a false/unwilling thought. Making a false/unwilling hand gesture is far less likely.
A reply on Talk: VS Ramachandran on your mind
I can see "V" being a sharp sound and shape (as in Latin), and I can see "%u0411" as being a soft sound and shape (as in Cyrillic), but why then does a shape like B have this dual nature of being both a sharp and soft sound, depending on the alphabet (and - I'd guess - inherently the culture)?
I guess it's because the sound "bee" is neither too soft or too hard to firmly qualify on one end or the other. Any thoughts?
A comment on Talk: Eric Giler demos wireless electricity
But I wonder... what happens if we have two WiTricity servers (transmitters or whatever) next to each other, both being on? Will one break (or shake...) the other?
Suppose that those two servers are far enough from one another as to not affect each other, but have a certain "common ground". They get turned on at different times, so their frequences don't exactly match. In their "common ground", we place a WiTricity client (receiver or whatever). Will the client be powered by both or none? Will it explode or something?
I mean, this demo obviously shows that the technology works on a one-to-one(-or-two) scale, but I'm worried about when it becomes (too?) popular, and we have many-to-many connections, in order to cover our whole homes.
A comment on Talk: Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web
Who has the onus of storing my data? Who has the onus of making sure the data is always available? Who has the onus of interpreting mine and other data? Who has the onus of filtering out the useless and/or malicious parts of data?
The web today is NOT a single machine, even though it could be perceived as such from each one end. It's a lot of computers that are connected to one another by other computers. The reason "it" hasn't stopped is because never have "all" machines stopped. However, "a" machine, and even "bunch" of machines have stopped, and they regularly stop. Your ISP's "gateway" machie can stop, Google's GMail server can stop, your home computer can (and does) regularly stop.
Making it truly one big machine would only mean that we'll lose the redunancy the web has given us.
A reply on Talk: John La Grou plugs smart power outlets
Also, what about different plug standards? Europe has a standard different than in the US, both in the plug itself (assuming that what you showed is the US standard), and in the voltage. Would this technology be adjustable to those different standards? Would it have the same effect with different voltages?
This is a very interesting kind of device, and one which is REALLY needed where I live (Bulgaria). And here, the reason for most electical faults and fires is actually elecrical surges - i.e. overvoltage (or something like that... I'm not familiar with the term) of the electricity served by the energy provider. Does this power plug also have protection against that (I'd assume no, since AFAIK, this is not common in the US)? If it doesn't, having a protection against everything would become really expensive and physically unfeasable - a power surge plug smart plug the device.