Posts

Hard hard user interfaces.

Started as someone doing ActionScript in Macromedia Flash I got into Human-Computer-Interaction after watching Jeff's Hann's multi-touch work. That's the power of a really cool demo that inspired the birth of NUIGroup community which spawned 1000s of makers all around the world making their own projector camera multitouch systems. All of it became mainstream once Apple released the iPhone to the world, and also gave birth to my interest in human-centered engineering. I spent some 10 years after that playing with sensors, haptics, and gestural interfaces through multiple input modalities but nothing stuck as much as multi-touch did. Thanks to Apple's execution. Everyone's phone/tablet interaction is default multitouch. (unless you have a visual impairment). Primsense evolved into Kinect, then came Wiimote, Leap but nothing stuck.  for speech, it was Amazon's Alexa. Latest news , that its going to lose Amazon 10B.  Like I am writing this post through my keyboard a...

dead or alive? dead after all

the missing airplane shows that whatever futuristic things we might develop, its important to be in the present(+3 seconds to avoid maybe a dangerous cat to attack you). we propose technologies that 'would touch lives' 50 years ahead, and forget to live in/for the present. either we're too much altruistic or just too busy the rat race of inventing a future that we don't know what will be good for. after all these inventions and industries, has world become a happier place? Not sure. Yes, we definitely have gotten many superhuman powers now, but the fact everyone has those powers keeps us pushing for inventing even more. --- pause--- for a moment, lets be in the moment, and thank nature at times for it has conspired till this very moment-that we are. I can't even begin to count the number of sensors/technologies, that plane had one in all, so many lives, so many stories. All have become one with the nature now. In split second. At times have you wondered, ...

Bumblebee

According to the accredited mechanical flying rules the bumble-bee can't fly, because of its shape and its weight compared with its wing surface. But the bumble-bee doesn't know about that and does fly nonetheless. [Rolf Schneider] 

Magic

Magic is inspiring. For it can light up the eyes of the sad, make the logical person believe in things he wouldn't otherwise. Any piece of art, music, work that inspires others to me seems like magic. For its so simple yet none of us could make it, other than the creator. Like Naqvi

Ink harvester progress 1

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That's the version 0.1 of the ink-harvester box design. I ended up designing my own enclosure, instead of using Altoids box, though they're the same size. -The suction exhaust pulls the air containing soot particles from the surroundings. -A syringe with 1 way valve is being used as the pump which will push the ink into the cartridge. Next phase, - Design the carbon separator using capacitive plates. The air comes in with a lot of dust most of which dust and other particles. The powdery black soot separated from rest is what we're interested in. This principle is used in Chimneys to reduce the carbon particles injected into the atmosphere. - Interfacing a small sachet that mixes Isopropyl Alcohol and Gum arabic to the powder. I am going to use this DIY pump design for the constant flow of powder to the system Harvester setup in a box with syringe pump DIY Pump Design Links:  http://aonomus.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/diy-syringe-pump-version-3...

About smudges, ink, Altoids box and love.

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This is not an attempt to win over the pollution. Just a minor itch that led me to build something cool from observations arising from Nostalgia of the days back in India :) Nostalgia 0 - Just after you're born. ( Suggested by Kunal) If you're born in India chances are that your grandma will take some steps to protect you from wicked spirits by smudging kajal onto your eyes. The technique to make kajal is old. Its carbon deposited from burning a low fidelity oil.(mustard etc.) Nostalgia 1- Getting around I was once day dreaming about the awesome days we spent back in Bikaner, a small city in the west of Rajasthan. It reminded me of the heat, travelling in sweat inducing autorickshaws while we used to do our experiments with building our Multi-touch table with low tech techniques(ref. Rahul, Sudhanshu and Vivek). The month of June there was full of sweat, with unburnt smoke rising from unending tur-tur-ing of autorickshaws blackening our skin. Kote gate Nostalg...

Augmented Reality. Really?

       'Our goal here is to complement rather than replace.' Recently I came across an article on augmented reality. The term these days is used like a fad. Like in 1970s cell-phone was the hot term, those what it represents today is more than just a cellular phone, its a hell lot of technology in packed in a soapbar. 20 years from now, there would be no difference in real and virtual. We could live what we hallucinate today.  Those who fantasize climbing Himalayas, or walking through streets of Varanasi would just be able to 'buy' the experience, and feel it on their cornea embedded Augmented Reality/AR system. So the meaning of hallucination will evolve as well, which I think I can't imagine right now (book 'hallucinations of the next decade'?). I was thinking how these terms affect our thinking process. As the term says, why do you want to augment the reality? The reality itself is so complete, beautiful and strong, that i...

Ideas

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Multiple ideas I was thinking about that could be used to improve people's lives- make new experiences happen, and tap into the unknown -- Sound Glasses. The user wears the glass and looks at a painting. A large painting. And the system gives audio feedback on the parts highlighted based on an audio command 'Tell me more'. Technology: Pre-calibrated system. Easy Or multiple paintings and it starts speaking about what you're looking at. Audio annotations. Leave specific audio snippets at places. ' User looks at certain objects 'drops' audio snippets' Later. Someone else could visit and listen to them. e.g. 'please clean this wall' 'this is Fluid interfaces demo area, find a student to help you out' 'This is where Media Lab started its first group' Audio post-its Inkharvester- presented as a hack(goes to indie inventors)- discussed with Harshit. http://penn.m...