Tech Post #3 – Interactive Devices
I remember the days when words were typed and navigation of the web was done by a point and click. Computers could not be used without a keyboard or a mouse; it was like that for a good 30 years. Now anything that needs a device to help interact with another device is considered primitive. Any computer that cannot recognize a person’s face, voice, and hand gestures is old. It all started in 2012 when another Albert Einstein (Elliott Ro) came up with the ultimate solution to alternative energy; cheap, compact, and green. Because of this new energy source, technology advancements sky-rocketed, space hotels became closer to reality, and of course, wireless had a whole new meaning. After the discovery of new energy, power plugs were no longer needed, for everything could be charged in the sunlight.
2015
In the year 2002, a movie called Minority Report (Spielberg, 2002) came out. In the movie, actor Tom Cruise interacts with a computer using only hand gestures. A group called g-speak worked vigorously to make this type of interaction, or “the spatial operating environment” as the g-speak called it (Evens, C. 2008), possible. By the late double 0s g-speak announced that the technology was almost ready to go, however the cost would be substantial, therefore would not be replacing keyboards or mice anytime soon. Only a year later, the same technology was built as a project by 2 MIT engineers, using less than $100. Unfortunately, the Glove Mouse (2010) was nowhere close to what g-speak could do. It was not until after 2012, after the new energy source that g-speak’s interactive device become personalized and mass produced. This new device – Glove – first came out in 2014, claiming that it would replace the normal mouse, but it was not very popular.
2025
In 2014, the creation of Glove, led to the rapid development of voice reconnection; and finally in 2017, every computer sold had voice reconnection integrated. By 2020, Glove Mouse and voice reconnection were the only ways to interact with the computer. As time progressed, the keyboard and mouse became obsolete. Games were adjusted, programs were remade, and publishing books became a past time, available to everyone. Eventually, the Glove Mouse was replaced with a hand gesture reconnection system. The hand gesture reconnection system and the voice reconnection system was combined and implemented anywhere and everywhere possible. By the year 2025, the interaction with any device was no longer one way. When you walked into a room with a television, the television recognized your face, and played advertisements according to your likes. Buying bus tickets was a matter of saying a greeting to the on board computer and the fee would then be billed to your house.
References
Evens, C. (2008). Spatial computing, sci-fi style. In Universe. Retrieved from http://www.lib.sfu.ca/sites/default/files/10096/citations_apa_final.htm
Glove Mouse (March 30, 2010). Retrieved April 3, 2010 form http://web.mit.edu/kimt/www/6.111/final/index.html
Hsu, J. (2010). Video: MIT students’ DIY “minority report” glove mouse. In Technology. Retrieved from http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-03/video-mits-minority-report-glove-mouse-goes-wireless
Spielberg, S. (Director) (2002) Minority Report [Motion picture]. Canada: National Film Board.
Studio Lab #4
Albert Einstein was born on 14 March 1879, in Germany. Known for the many contributions made in physics, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics. In 1894, his father’s company, who supported direct current, lost the War of Currents to alternating current.
In his high school year, Einstein applied to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. However, because he did not have a Matura certificate, he took an entrance examination. Although Einstein did exceptionally well in mathematics and physics, Einstein failed the exam.
In January 1904, Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić, became husband and wife.
Albert Einstein passed away on 18 April 1955. His body was cremated and scattered around the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
During the autopsy, pathologist, Thomas Stoltz Harvey, removed Einstein’s brain, without the permission of his family. Harvey’s intention was to find out what made Einstein, so intelligent.
References:
Albert Einstein. (2010). Retrieved 2010 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/albert_einstein.
Albert Einstein – Biography. (1967). Retrieved 2010 from Nobelprize.org: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1921/ einstein-bio.html.
Studio Lab #1
Members: Mary Chau, Merry Chen,Kevin Lau, Kevin Hetmanski, Elliott Ro, Kevin Chua
Studio Lab #1
Who would have thought that sending messages online or through devices would have been so difficult after all? Communicating through the use of technology has been engrained into our generation, but we are often unaware of the limitations of these technology and the problems they create. During our in-class activity, we were to transfer a message using Twitter. Our objective was to deliver it through our entire team of six, going in a particular order from the first person to the last person and back to the first within a limited amount of time. However, after we started, we came across many obstacles and problems that slowed us down. Eventually, we were not able to accomplish our goal of getting the message to everyone.
One of the main constrains we noticed was that in all the technologies we use, we are required to first have a means to contact of one another before we can use technology to communicate. This was evident when our TA made sure all of us had contact information of our group members. This is further exemplified on Twitter; before we can utilize Twitter, we needed to use another medium to send the URL of the messenger’s username for us to access it.
With only one specific technology allowed to pass on the message, it was not as easy as we initially thought. Although twitter provided a means to transfer the message without having the message distorted when compared to spoken language, we struggled to exchange messages because the frequent interruption due the lost of connection. Our communications were also severely hampered because most of the method of communications required the internet, including Facebook and MSN. When one or a few of us lost connection, the team was crippled until the team member could either fix the problem or find an alternative way of communicating. When FaceBook, Twitter, and MSN became inaccessible, it delayed the whole activity and made the team end up with below average results.
To help remedy our situation, we relied on cell phones as our other methods of technologies in order to communicate. Five of our group members had access to a cell phone in our team; it meant instant connectivity to one another. However, we were constrained to two-way communication, thereby forcing us transfer information amongst one another like we would passing a baton. Even with its limitations, we found it was a useful and reliable tool during the activity. It was used numerous times when the internet had problems allowing us to stay in contact rather than sitting and waiting for the connection to reconnect.
Another hindrance we encountered was the need to have an account to utilize websites like Twitter, Facebook or MSN. Those without an account needed to create one, this in turn meant they were unfamiliar with the communication tool and required time to learn.
The imposed restrictions of technology that we were allowed to use made us realize that, without access to all our familiar tools of communication, our ability to communicate was compromised. We were shown how dependant we are socially on our preferred use of technology.
Introduction
Hello World!
My name is Elliott and I am a student at Simon Fraser University located in Vancouver, BC Canada
Pretty sad introduction but.. you know I don’t want to give out too much information; with identity theft and other things going on I would rather not ^_^
Elliott's Blog 