This is purely a concept but I love it. The projectors will kill the battery life but I could live with that assuming it has wireless charging. Just the concept of getting rid of a laptop/tablet so my only mobile device is my mobile is enough for me. I would be happy to tap on my leg as an pseudo keyboard. I’m a drummer, I do it anyway.
Wikileaks stuff
I think the general consensus among normal folk like myself is that those in power are mostly out of touch Eaton type boys with a good heart but out of touch with “Joe public”. The wikileaks reports simply highlights some of the decisions these power wielding employees of states were maybe taken after 1 or 2 too many espressos.
I’m not saying we don’t need diplomats or people with specific responsibilities, far from it. I just think the leaks highlight that so much power given to a few in an internet connected society is actually counter productive. 20 years ago this wouldn’t of been the case — Diplomacy needs to evolve.
As for our monarchy making stupid comments. Monarchy = Individuals with too much power. I don’t take our monarchy seriously so please any foreign readers do the same. The monarchy doesn’t affect my daily life in anyway, shape or form and that is how I like it 🙂
I consider myself a global citizen before any other type of citizenship — Problem solved.
I have an opinion to share..
We had substandard equipment and a lack of support going into Afghanistan yet the American commanders were surprised when we gave a 1/2 arsed effort. Ask any normal American citizen if they feel this was a surprise and I can guarantee their answer will be no.
Our military isn’t the pride of our nation, we are grateful for all they have done and continue to do but I do not believe we are a global military force nor do I want my country to be.
Will these leaks prompt governments to be more open by default or more secure?
The natural reaction by those in power is to try to be more secure. I hope this isn’t the case. I am a global citizen, I don’t want more rules/laws/policies/restrictions on how I live my life.
The governments have a perfect opportunity now to come out and be more open with sensitive information, we can take it, we live in an information age.. The clue is in the name!
I support wikileaks and all the founding orgs and Julian in publishing the papers. I think they are needed to take our society from a draconian information age into a truly fair society. After all that is what we taught at school. Wikileaks just makes it a reality, unfortunately the reality has a few short term painful implications.
So that’s my thoughts, nothing controversial. Nothing work related but hopefully if someone in the pub blurts “Wikileaks just want world war” or “Omzg America will get nuked by XXX” remind them this goes on every day behind closed doors and in theory it should lead to a more open, fairer future.
Post at Guardian – How the hell are Guardian so awesome?
Using Kinect to teach control?
Let’s face it, the “forward 3,left,forward 2” type of programming is dead.
How about Kinect watches you do something then programs a robot to do it by copying your movements?
The same logic applies, you are dictating how an electronic device interacts with a physical space but in a much more natural (human gestures) way.
Watch the video to get a better idea of what I’m trying to explain.
Oh and at the risk of supporting Microsoft (2 posts in a week, I know it’s crazy.) here is a reminder that Microsoft still suck really bad from time to time (although they are getting better imho).
New promethean board
What we now think we know about this board:
Multi touch
Gesture recognition
Short throw projector (obviously)
No pen required (yay)
You can multiplayer.. Â Player 1 would use pen. Â Player 2 would use finger(touch), obviously no gesture recognition with the pen. Â Player 3 stays at home.
Possible uses for multiplayer other than Powerpoint?  Not many yet.  All On-line services only support one controller as far as I am aware.  Scholastic has something out though which is for multiple controllers, this might work?
Microsoft Kinect shows potential – Your classroom next?
Unless you have been living in a dark shell for the last 6 months you will know about Microsoft kinect. In my opinion the advertising for kinect doesn’t show the actual potential of the kinect technology. I think the most promising aspect of Kinect is the Speech recognition and it looks like Microsoft may of actually got this right..
Each bing = good.
So it appears to work, and if we can just say, y’know. Collect 3 stars there is no need for incidents like this:
This video shows the potential of using Kinect’s depth perception to control a user interface with multitouch.
Finally, The facial recognition is supposed to really good. Sounds like the Kinect hardware is going to be a winner. I don’t know what % of users will end up owning a 360 so my recommendation to you is to treat the Kinect as a separate platform.
If you are a developer I would consider focusing on preparing your offline and online material for “Kinect aware” devices. If Kinect aware adobe flash content begins popping up it could create a whole new market place and genre of game.
This video shows how the Kinect can replace a conventional smart board:
This video shows it’s potential use to control puppets!! Awesome!
Here is a video that demonstrates how game creators are compensating poor control quality by adding auto steering to make the gaming experience feel less detached..
This is nice, it shows using multiple Kinects to map a physical space to a 3d model.
Remind anyone of the Eyes to the front proposal I did?
Kinect gesture recognition controlling web browser(chrome)
Some guy in Essex has written a driver for controlling Windows 7 (sort of like a touch screen)
If MS release face detection as part of an API then a simple facial detection system for class registration.
Kinect could also be used as a tool for assigning IWB control to pupils.
I think we should look past the obvious of just UI control in a touchscreen format, we must remember the potential for depth.
Here we can see a kinect being used to pass control from one user to another..