Memoto Is a Life-Logging Camera That Snaps a Five-Megapixel Picture Every 30 Seconds | MIT Technology Review

A startup believes people will want a photographic record of their lives, taken at 30-second intervals.

Why It Matters

People remember only a fraction of the things they see and experience.

Part of our Business Report:

Big Data Gets Personal

Data science and personal information are converging to shape the Internet’s most powerful and surprising consumer products.

Memoto lapel camera

Remember that?: Memoto’s clip-on camera has 8 GB of memory.

“We want to provide people with a perfect photographic memory,” says Martin Källström, CEO of Memoto. His startup is creating a tiny clip-on camera that takes a picture every 30 seconds, capturing whatever you are looking at, and then applies algorithms to the resulting mountain of images to find the most interesting ones.

Just 36 by 36 by 9 millimeters, the inconspicuous plastic camera has a lot crammed inside. The most important component is a five-megapixel image sensor originally designed for mobile phones. An ARM 9 processor running Linux powers a program that wakes the device twice a minute; takes a picture and a reading from the GPS sensor, accelerometer, and magnetometer; and promptly puts the device back to sleep.

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Samsung and the University of Texas conspire for thought controlled tablets - SlashGear Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves. Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves.

Samsung and the University of Texas conspire for thought controlled tablets - SlashGear

Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves.


Electronics giant Samsung is working with researchers at the University of Texas on a project that has to do with providing control of a tablet using brain waves.

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The real breakthrough of Google Glass: controlling the internet of things — GigaOM Many of the first apps for Google Glass will be about consuming and sharing content on the go. But what if Google Glass could unlock control over the world of the Internet of Things both inside and outside the home?

The real breakthrough of Google Glass: controlling the internet of things — GigaOM

Many of the first apps for Google Glass will be about consuming and sharing content on the go. But what if Google Glass could unlock control over the world of the Internet of Things both inside and outside the home?

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Top 5 Augmented Reality Apps For Android : The Droid Guy

Ingress

ingress

Ingress is a game developed by Niantic Labs is probably the best AR game available right now. The game allows you to choose between two sides, Enlightened or Resistance. The gameplay will then depend on the choice you make. Your surroundings become the game environment where you will need to collect objects, tap sources of energy or capture enemy territory. The game is currently in closed beta but will soon be made available to the public.

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 Microchip Markets RFID Technology that Transmits via the Human Body - RFID Journal Several companies are currently beta-testing a radio frequency identification system from Microchip Technology that uses the human body as a conduit for transmissions between an interrogator and a tag. Microchip’s platform, known as BodyCom, can be utilized to control access to a building, or to control the usage of a device, such as a computer or a weapon. The companies, located in various parts of the world, are testing ways in which to integrate the technology into their own solutions, such as keyless vehicle-entry systems. While traditional RFID systems transmit data through the air, simply requiring a tag or a receiving unit to come within transmission range of an interrogator, the BodyCom solution requires that both tag and interrogator be within close proximity to a person’s body. By leveraging the body to transmit a signal, BodyCom does not need as much power, nor does it require a conventional RFID reader antenna, according to Edward Dias, the embedded-security business-development manager of Microchip’s MCU8 (8-bit microcontroller) division. This would mean the battery life of a device such as a remote control or an ID tag would be longer, he explains, and that the transmission itself would be more secure, since there would be no over-the-air RF signals that could be intercepted.

 Microchip Markets RFID Technology that Transmits via the Human Body - RFID Journal

Several companies are currently beta-testing a radio frequency identification system from Microchip Technology that uses the human body as a conduit for transmissions between an interrogator and a tag. Microchip’s platform, known as BodyCom, can be utilized to control access to a building, or to control the usage of a device, such as a computer or a weapon. The companies, located in various parts of the world, are testing ways in which to integrate the technology into their own solutions, such as keyless vehicle-entry systems.

While traditional RFID systems transmit data through the air, simply requiring a tag or a receiving unit to come within transmission range of an interrogator, the BodyCom solution requires that both tag and interrogator be within close proximity to a person’s body. By leveraging the body to transmit a signal, BodyCom does not need as much power, nor does it require a conventional RFID reader antenna, according to Edward Dias, the embedded-security business-development manager of Microchip’s MCU8 (8-bit microcontroller) division. This would mean the battery life of a device such as a remote control or an ID tag would be longer, he explains, and that the transmission itself would be more secure, since there would be no over-the-air RF signals that could be intercepted.

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Video: Next-gen Kinect sensor.

The sensor inside Kinect was created by PrimeSense, who demonstrate the next generation model called Capri in this video.

Capri is 1/10 the size of previous models, and the company says “we have been able to improve on all aspects of the system” in the device, which can be integrated into tablets and smartphones.

Microsoft is actually only one customer using the system, and does not licence it exclusively. Other companies also using the technology include iRobot, Matterport, and Asus. 

(via 8bitfuture)

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Innovega to demonstrate contact lens display today at CES. I covered the Innovega contact lens here after they revealed details of the product at CES last year. Now the company has announced that a working version of the HUD contact lens will be shown at CES from today. From January 8th to 11th, Innovega will demonstrate eyewear that offers a clear and simultaneous view of a wearer’s rich media and of their immediate surroundings”. The Innovega iOptik™ video eyewear is transparent and its ‘virtual canvas’ on which digital content is placed, is the largest anticipated in the industry. Compared to a conventional 42 inch flat-panel television that consumers buy for their living rooms, Innovega’s mobile eyewear accessory will deliver the equivalent of a 240 inch, HD, 3D experience.

Innovega to demonstrate contact lens display today at CES.

I covered the Innovega contact lens here after they revealed details of the product at CES last year. Now the company has announced that a working version of the HUD contact lens will be shown at CES from today.

From January 8th to 11th, Innovega will demonstrate eyewear that offers a clear and simultaneous view of a wearer’s rich media and of their immediate surroundings”.

The Innovega iOptik™ video eyewear is transparent and its ‘virtual canvas’ on which digital content is placed, is the largest anticipated in the industry. Compared to a conventional 42 inch flat-panel television that consumers buy for their living rooms, Innovega’s mobile eyewear accessory will deliver the equivalent of a 240 inch, HD, 3D experience.

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Muse: Changing The Way The World Thinks

Muse, InteraXon’s new brainwave-sensing headband, allows you to do more with your mind then ever thought possible. Visit our IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign page for more details at indiegogo.com/interaxonmuse

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The Past, Present and Future of Bionic Eyes Next-generation bionic eyes are practically here today. Imagine a blind person’s real-world conundrum trying to shop for one — they could schedule surgery for Nano Retina’s implant today and see their daughter’s wedding in 576-pixel clarity, but it would cost them their life’s savings. The Nano Retina 5000-pixel device could be ready tomorrow, or in another six months… and would be much more affordable. When the procedure involves assimilation of an electrode pincushion into the ganglionic tentacles of your retina, hardware upgrades are not as simple as popping in more RAM. What kind of decision matrix could be offered under such critical circumstances? (via The past, present, and future of bionic eyes | ExtremeTech)

The Past, Present and Future of Bionic Eyes

Next-generation bionic eyes are practically here today. Imagine a blind person’s real-world conundrum trying to shop for one — they could schedule surgery for Nano Retina’s implant today and see their daughter’s wedding in 576-pixel clarity, but it would cost them their life’s savings. The Nano Retina 5000-pixel device could be ready tomorrow, or in another six months… and would be much more affordable. When the procedure involves assimilation of an electrode pincushion into the ganglionic tentacles of your retina, hardware upgrades are not as simple as popping in more RAM. What kind of decision matrix could be offered under such critical circumstances?

(via The past, present, and future of bionic eyes | ExtremeTech)

(via joshbyard)

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How Augmented Reality Will Change The Way We Live

The potential for AR to impact all elements of our lives is massive: from education to gaming to manufacturing, the world seems poised on the brink of substantial AR adoption – with all associated benefits. Indeed, a recent study by Semico Research predicted that by the end of 2016, revenue produced by the AR Industry will total more than $600 billion. This study also determined that in 2014, approximately 864 million mobile phones will be AR-ready, and in excess of 100 million vehicles will come equipped with AR tech.

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 ‘Smart fingertips’ could allow for virtual surgery | KurzweilAI Semiconductor devices capable of responding with high precision to touch and finger movement are a step towards creating surgical gloves for use in medical procedures such as local ablations and ultrasound scans. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and Dalian University of Technology used ultrathin, stretchable, silicon-based electronics and soft sensors mounted onto an artificial “skin” and fitted to fingertips. The team hopes to incorporate the devices into a smart glove with the flexibility of skin that creates virtual sensations of everything from texture to temperature. “Imagine the ability to sense the electrical properties of tissue, and then remove that tissue, precisely by local ablation, all via the fingertips using smart surgical gloves,” said co-author of the study Professor John Rogers.

 ‘Smart fingertips’ could allow for virtual surgery | KurzweilAI

Semiconductor devices capable of responding with high precision to touch and finger movement are a step towards creating surgical gloves for use in medical procedures such as local ablations and ultrasound scans.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and Dalian University of Technology used ultrathin, stretchable, silicon-based electronics and soft sensors mounted onto an artificial “skin” and fitted to fingertips.

The team hopes to incorporate the devices into a smart glove with the flexibility of skin that creates virtual sensations of everything from texture to temperature.

“Imagine the ability to sense the electrical properties of tissue, and then remove that tissue, precisely by local ablation, all via the fingertips using smart surgical gloves,” said co-author of the study Professor John Rogers.

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