Thursday, July 24, 2003

Physical and Virtual Stick with me on this one- It was funny, just the other day I was thinking of an idea I had a number of years ago (like 25) about a computer that would watch you manipulate items on a table, then change your surroundings, say play music, turn up the heat, etc... Then on Slashdot they mentioned the Audiopad out of MIT. It tracks postions of elements on a table, as well as projecting graphical information onto the same table. The elements are used to manipulate a music application. (That's way-simplyfing it.) Now we take a look at the kind of work Tim Kindberg's is doing on linking physical entities with virtual services. It is pretty cool, but I don't like the idea of an extra bar code scanner or the expense of a wireless solution. However, tons of folks have cameras on their computer, and perhaps something like XVision2 software that allows computers to track elements in a video feed, could identify changes in a table, desk, or room... So how about the day when you place your favorite mug on a table, and your computer screen pops up with your calander and your morning news? It knows you are the one who usually uses this mug and it knows the time. The pieces for this are coming together. This is much closer to a seamlessconvergence that I am exploring. It is just a bit expensive and complex at this point. Note: Here we have the mug and its position being machine accessible and bound to information stored in a computer. The psychic meaning of the mug and position can now be understood in the physical 1's and 0's of the computer, and acted upon by machines. Note psychic Vs physical 11:10:44 PM