Gizmos: The Future at Port 80: Charthouse

Things that think. Information appliances. Computers embedded in our lives, even our collars. Here's a feature article from New Media magazine and a quick explanation from Microsoft:

Watch carefully: Now you see them; now you don’t. If some of the nation’s leading computer scientists are correct, personal computers are about to become invisible. No, they’re not actually going away -- quite the contrary -- but computers will become less obtrusive as they become simpler and more natural to use. In many cases, computers literally will become invisible, being hidden within pens, shoes, wallets, refrigerators and other common objects, where they’ll operate on our behalf, often without any conscious intervention on our part.

A computer-in-a-pen might send copies of your handwritten notes or letters to your desktop PC without you having to synch-up the two devices.

A computer-in-a-shoe might track your aerobic activity or emotional state based on your speed, gait, body temperature and galvanic skin response.

And future computer displays might be printed as a part of the wallpaper covering the walls in your home or office, activated by a minor electrical charge so that the displays are visible only when needed, disappearing when not in use.

Does that sound scary? Or does it sound inviting? Visit the research sites listed below and read about your future. Read between the lines, too. For example, a GPS or global positioning system is great when you're lost on Monday morning. It can be a nuisance when you don't want to be found on Saturday night. Remember also that the first automobiles didn't look or behave much like today's high-performance monsters.

Feeling a little warm? No worries, your air control center will automatically adjust to your personal temperature. Your salsa jars will sing, in their native tongue, of course. And the Internet, as we know it, will be long, long gone.

definitions

Any device that can essentially fit into a jacket pocket or the palm of your hand. The list of uses and actual devices are endless.

Cell Phone
PDA (Personal Data Systems)
Digital Cameras
Global Positioning Units
Medical Devices (prescription "pads")
Digital Microscopes

Smart toys: Toys that use technology to enhance play by interacting with the child either through (1) initiation of "open-ended" play suggestions, or (2) responding to the child’s actions in a way that sparks the child's creativity. ...

Those toys that simply display computer-powered “bells and whistles” (i.e., special effects) but do not offer open-ended interactivity or responses that spark creativity we consider to be “techno” toys. An example would be a robotic dog that walks and barks-but not in response to anything the child does.

history

When calculators started, everyone thought the hand held device was the greatest invention since (hmmm you fill in the blank). Here is what the hand held device used to look like.

In the late 60's, such "hand held" devices sold in the range of $300-$500 dollars (business style calculators averaging a cost of $1000).

Nokia's Pictoral history of development -- A brief history of how the cell phone emerged at Nokia. From rubber boots to tires to phones.

Parents once controlled the toy-buying decisions, selecting their own childhood favorites or toys that expressed their own values. Today, toys are marketed directly to children, and parents find themselves paying for massive number of toys they barely understand.

future

current

The DashPC™ Vehicle Infotainment Unit, and the DashPC™ software were not designed to distract drivers. In fact, these products were designed to supplement the Driver's on-road capabilities (intelligent camera technology and emergency vehicle notification, for example) and provide more enjoyment to all travelers. In addition, the system offers a new world of enjoyment for passengers and brings the power of vehicle telematics and computing to people with any automobile.

Your daughter's first smile. Your son's joy the first time he catches a ball. The wink your favorite uncle always gave you, but that he'd never do on camera.

Spontaneous, unguarded, fleeting -- they're often the moments in our lives we most want to photograph. But these moments are also those we frequently miss -- gone before we could reach for a camera.

But what if we could easily capture such priceless moments? What wouldn't most of us give to have picture albums full of them?

That's the thought driving a research project called Casual Photography, now running at HP Labs Bristol, UK, where researchers are exploring what it would take to truly never miss a moment we'd like recorded for posterity.

Their answer -- an experimental wearable camera that records everything we see -- has led them to devise some neat gadgets and software solutions. And it's had them pondering such fundamental questions as what makes a moment priceless and what role cameras should play in our lives in the future.

A story about a Mesa AZ restaurant using a wireless hand-held device that lets servers beam the order from a guest's table straight to the kitchen. Great technology for tomorrow. This chinese restaurant tracks everything from how much money the restaurants make on each meal to how many egg rolls they should prepare for lunch.

Medical intervention will change over time. As technology becomes more readily available, less invasive treatment will be needed to test for illness.

PocketScript is unique, because the user can select voice recognition, screen touch, or the keyboard to quickly compose and send prescriptions. Patients’ records may be added or edited from the hand-held PC or the physician’s server. Hand-held to server communication is fast enough to provide high-speed Internet connectivity from the examination room, which is useful for patient care, business, and personal uses. Drug-drug interactions are checked automatically when choosing a drug and before sending the prescription. Patient allergy and diagnosis fields are promised for future releases.

Today, handheld devices such as Palms are making technology accessible, affordable, and fun for teachers and students alike. Highly Interactive Computing in Education at the University of Michigan) have developed a collection of Palm applications for the classroom.

This handheld USB microscope that works on Windows and Mac and will go anywhere your laptop goes while imaging evidence in real time on the desktop. Images can be captured as still, video or time-lapse and easily emailed or saved for later analysis or proof in court.

products and services

smart toys

"Thinking" Toys

Toys that know you: here is an idea neither ahead of its time nor ten years too late, but which is right now perfectly, brilliantly ripe. Technologically, computers are just becoming small enough, powerful enough, and -- with the recent popularization of wireless infrared links -- communicative enough to fit anywhere and to record or transmit virtually anything. Economically, here are two separate industries, toys and computers, with impressive sales figures and large pools of creative talent, but also with flagging growth. Merge the two and suddenly you have a new market with a constantly replenishing source of fresh consumers and a pace of change speedy enough to attain that sublime condition of planned obsolescence. Venture capitalists spend their vacation days on the beaches of Cozumel fantasizing about synergies like this. Attaching microchips to squishy stuff is likely to make a lot of people very, very rich.

dedicated to combining cutting edge cognitive research with state-of-the-art technology to create inspiring and interactive learning tools for children's developing minds.

A reputed quality house with over three decades of experience and dedication to making family entertainment products, Playmates Interactive Entertainment Ltd. thrives on a renewed commitment to enhancing home leisure activities with innovative ideas, by blending cutting edge technologies with inspirational, fun-filled play value. From its offices and facilities in North America and Asia, Playmates distributes its extensive brands of feature dolls, action figures and interactive electronic toys throughout the world.

The group’s fundamental business strategy is to keep pace with time, technology and trend in delivering products and services that evolve and change with market expectations as to quality and value.

Programmable Bricks
by M. Resnick, F. Martin, R. Sargent, and B. Silverman
IBM Systems Journal, 1996

Instead of controlling and manipulating worlds in the computer, what if children could control and manipulate computers in the world? That is, what if children could spread computation throughout their own personal worlds? For example, a child might attach a tiny computer to a door, then program the computer to make lights turn on automatically whenever anyone enters the room. Or the child might program the computer to greet people as they enter the room--or to sound an alarm if anyone enters the room at night.

In this paper, we describe a new technology, called the Programmable Brick (Figure 1), that makes such activities possible, and we explore how this new technology might open new learning opportunities for children. The Programmable Brick is a tiny, portable computer embedded inside a pocket-sized LEGO** brick. The brick is capable of interacting with the physical world in a large variety of ways (including sensors and infrared communication). The Programmable Brick makes possible a wide range of new design activities for children, encouraging children to see themselves as designers and inventors. At the same time, we believe that these activities could fundamentally change how children think about (and relate to) computers and computational ideas.

VTech Kids - the Electronic Learning Products division of one of the world's leading companies.

VTech is one of the world's leading consumer-focused technology companies which designs, manufactures and markets telecommunication and electronic learning toys. With its excellence in technology manufacturing, the group also engages in Contract Manufacturing Services. The VTech brand has become a global brand and the group has the rights to use the AT&T brand on wired telephone products.

Alan Kay's eToys - "We make, not just to have, but to know." Download the viewer and do all three parts: Etoys and Sim Stories in Squeak, the Make your own Car tutorial, and Make your own eToy.

a programmable modeling environment for exploring the workings of decentralized systems -- systems that are organized without an organizer, coordinated without a coordinator. With StarLogo, you can model (and gain insights into) many real-life phenomena, such as bird flocks, traffic jams, ant colonies, and market economies.

gizmo-makers

Do these companies seem to be in the business of making this gizmo or in the business of making whatever gizmo is next?

Walking into the annual Consumer Electronics Show last week was like entering an electronics superstore, only a hundred times bigger, louder and more crowded.

The air inside the vast Las Vegas Convention Center smelled like hot electricity and the walls seemed to shimmer from the flashing lights and pulsing noise of thousands of loudspeakers, video displays and microphone-toting hawkers calling passers-by to see their gizmos and gadgets.

Cruising the floor were more than 100,000 people, most of them on the lookout for cool new stuff.

Amid the din were products that could define the future of consumer electronics, and some that were simply nifty. Here's a sampling.

School science projects used to be so simple: maybe a plaster-of-Paris volcano or a potato hooked up to a 9-volt battery.

But for their final projects, the grad students in computer science at USC built sophisticated sensory computing systems that can monitor a baby's breathing, control home appliances over the Internet, or tell you when parking spaces become free.

The prospect of the remote control home moves closer.

Douglas Alexander, E-Commerce Minister, today announced participants in a #40 million research initiative into new technologies, which will pioneer devices such as remote home security services, intelligent fridges, and digital shopping assistants.

The vIRC (virtual Interdisciplinary Research Centre) is a coalition of cutting-edge companies, high-tech businesses and innovative universities, which will bring organisations together to conduct and share research.

Projects will examine how the very latest in innovation and technology can benefit consumers and test the mass-market appeal of new products. The virtual research centre will also examine security and privacy issues of such revolutionary technologies.

check this out!

Once you're connected to the Evernet, it may not matter so much where you live physically.

What about a ship that holds 100,000 people -- permanent residents, not tourists -- large enough for small planes to land and take off? It will slowly circle the globe every three years.

reading

trade-press articles

Each tiny chip, or 'tag,' will store a small amount of data and will contain a minuscule antenna that lets the chip communicate with a network.

In Singapore, cars "talk" to the streets they drive on. In Tulsa, retailers test a system that lets products inform the store when they're bought. In home kitchens later this decade, frozen dinners might automatically give cooking instructions to microwaves.

The Internet revolution was about people connecting with people. The next revolution will be about things connecting with things.

A group of PC industry veterans today formally took the wraps off Motion Computing Inc., a company created to make computers more natural to use and to provide ultimate mobility for full- function computing.

the complete source of news and information about handhelds, smart phones, set-top boxes and other devices that connect to the Internet

The company's electronic-ink displays -- with a paper-and-ink look -- could help bring easily changeable messages to far-flung stores, homes, and offices ...

It looks like an invention that could revolutionize the publishing industry: a versatile display technology that can be produced on thin sheets of plastic and can flash text messages almost anywhere -- bringing information out from behind computer screens and into the physical world.

Researchers at International Business Machines said Thursday they had created a thin, flexible kind of transistor that could one day be used to make, for instance, a computer screen that could be rolled up.

WebTechniques' March 1999 issue on Web-Enabled Devices, especially Susan Shepard's The Embedded Browser Revolution. Where has progress been made? Where is it still to be made?

trade-press sites

They say the newest widgets will work the first time, excite your senses, and make life dreamy. Yeah, you bet. Wired News dissects the latest MP3, wireless, and Net wonders.

In the future, your doorknobs will know who you are, your toilet will know what you ate, and your kids will look like something out of Blade Runner. Maybe. Take a look at these tools of tomorrow and judge for yourself.

Cutting-edge products, cutting-edge technologies, cutting-edge companies... this is the stuff columnist Sean Carton highlights in his weekly series. The series looks at the newest and coolest. But we aren't talking hip for hip's sake. We're talking products and services that you need to know about to help you work smarter online.

News and features for developers and vendors of Net devices, content and applications.

From e-cash to quantum computing, from Bluetooth to smart cards, Test Center Future Watch takes a critical look at 15 cutting-edge technologies [see timeline] that could radically change the way you do business.

speech recognition - quantum computing - natural language processing - content retrieval - text mining - pattern recognition - Bluetooth - Webtops - digital certificates - biometrics - smart cards - e-cash - ubiquitous computing - synthetic characters

The premiere mail order and internet store for cutting-edge gifts, gadgets and products for personal safety and better living. What sets us apart is our aggressive pursuit of the newest and best the world has to offer.

a consumer-oriented site covering the emerging "digital household infrastructure," with information on smart homes, home networks, smart toys and pet tech.

issues/questions

Referring to Evans and Wurster's Blown to Bits, what does a gizmo or gadget enable in terms of the richness/reach trade-off that gets blown to bits? Will this product put some folks out of work? Will it create jobs?


trends and currents for exploring webs


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modified: April 29, 2001 by Douglas Anderson http://RicciStreet.net/port80/charthouse/future/gizmos.htm

Gizmos and Gadgets

When the computers disappear