Sunday, October 31, 2010

4 Glimpses Into Today's Technology

RadioHead?

Why not reduce those mobile phone base stations that blot up our landscape and give everybody a wearable sensor that could make people base stations?

The research programme by engineers at Queen’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology on developing body-centric communications is based on small sensors being integrated into items such as smartphones. These sensors could communicate with each other to create human to human networks and interact to transmit information and mobile network connectivity.

Source http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article857174.ece

Our Good friend, author and futurist Ray Hammond shared with us some more interesting developments this month.

Video Your Life



We have all seen the rise of the Bluetooth enabled mobile with people seemingly talking to themselves whilst a blue light flashes in their ear. We lso remember well how this potentially harmless development was taking a sinister step forward in the recent Dr Who TV series but now we have a Bluetooth-enabled camcorder that is attached to the earpiece to give always available Video on the go.

The Looxcie camcorder features dual processor technology that allows simultaneous or independent video and talk modes and its 4GB of storage can hold over five hours of MP4 HVGA resolution at 15 frames per second through an f2.8 lens.

Users simply have to switch the unit on to start to document their lives and upload the images to social networking video sites and comes with software to help optimize power use, automatically correct for light and colour, and format video for mobile devices. The Looxcie claims a wireless range of some10 meters and is compatible with most Android 2.0 smartphones. It also has a micro-USB for direct upload of clips to a computer and an auto share mode where live video feeds can automatically be sent to pre-configured friends and family.

It seriously could provide not only novelty and fun but could be used to document incidents, concerts, talks and provide yet another headache for those wishing to fight bootleggers.

Looxcie is available now for a suggested retail price of US$199.



Divabot The Answer to the X Factor

A new humanoid, singing robot, the HRP-4, has been unveiled in Japan.



The robot, nicknamed 'diva-bot', has learned to sing by mimicking a human singer, enabling 'her' to sound natural and to sing with more expression than any previous robot.

A research team from the media interaction group at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) in Tokyo used a new technology called VocalListener to observe a real singer in action and synthesize the appropriate notes of the song with the help of Yamaha’s existing voice synthesizing software, Vocaloid

The video shows just how far robotics have come and how close they are to mimicking everything human.

Nano Gyroscopes For All

Researchers at Tel Aviv University's School of Physical Engineering have developed nano-sized optical gyroscopes that can fit on the head of a pin without compromising the device's sensitivity. These gyroscopes will have the ability to pick up smaller rotation rates and deliver higher accuracy. Nano-gyroscopes when integrated into common mobiles could provide much improved tracking function over existing GPS systems and enable you to track your exact position even without the GPS signal. In medicine they could be used inside camera capsule to improve the doctors ability to control and move it precise locations within the body.

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