‘SixthSense’ is a wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.
What if you could really have a sixth sense? What if you could be at the store or the mall and while meeting someone new, you could see right on them, like a projector on a screen, all about them? You would have a more instant idea of whether or not this person is someone who has similar interests. What if going grocery shopping or looking at a book in the bookstore you could have at your fingertips instantly more information, reviews, etc about a particular product? You could even take pictures and when you get back you could use that same projector on a wall, table or any surface for that matter, to sort those pictures and file them away.
Patti Maes, MIT Media Lab Group & TED speaker, is working on a boundary-breaking initiative. Her newly founded Fluid Interfaces Group, aims to rethink the ways in which humans and computers interact, partially by redefining both human and computer. In Maes’ world (and really, in all of ours), the computer is no longer a distinct object, but a source of intelligence that’s embedded in our environment. By outfitting ourselves with digital accessories, we can continually learn from (and teach) our surroundings. The uses of this tech — from health-care to home furnishings, warfare to supermarkets — are powerful and increasingly real.
Watch the video here, it really is amazing!
What does this mean to all of us? It means many things, but the potential for good and usefulness is amazing! Think of how different your blogging could or would be by simply having the ability to do more with one simple device. I like the analogy of the newspaper becoming more relevant. If we as entrepreneurs will think ahead instead of jumping on the bandwagon, we too can be innovative.
What do we all have in common? We all want more information, whether we want to know more about how our toaster works, the difference between one brand of toilet paper versus another (price or eco friendliness), or whatever it is that we are wanting to know more about. Bringing the digital word and the physical world together. If you want to see more about how the digital gap is being lessened, see more about the inventor of the Sixth Sense technology here on TED.
These two videos brought many ideas to mind for me, and how interesting blogging will be in the future as well as how every day interactions and general life will be enhanced because of this technology. I see local blogging being greatly advanced with this type of technology!
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