Ned Notes


Ideas in Motion - Interface Inputs

updated posting on

Call me slow, but I just found out about ScanR.com. The software from this great little company allows you to take pictures of any documents (receipts, business cards, print docs on the fly), and converts them easily into PDFs. The service even e-mails them to you, so if you're on your mobile device, bang, flash, mail -- there you are.

Documents in the palm of your hand -- literally. Finding ScanR was prompted by a discussion with my new creative director at Kiha -- we were kicking around the fact that phones on most mobile devices don't serve much of a real enterprise (or business) need in any way. And the phone on the iPhone is still useless for macro or close up shots of crucial documentation (see my recent picture of an article on WhitePages.com for a recent example of the fuzziness you typically get.

But now, the camera in your phone can also be turned into a productivity tool. As the Times technology section and the Wall Street Journal recommend: "Consider signing up for an account at scanR (www.scanr.com) to make use of your Java-based, S60, Palm OS or BlackBerry handset. You simply use your phone and scanR’s application to take a picture of any document, whiteboard, business card or other legible text. The photo is sent from your phone to the scanR service where it is turned into a readable Adobe PDF document and sent to you through an e-mail message. The basic service is free, but only if you limit yourself to five uploads a month (and you will have a scanR logo on your documents). Unlimited uploads and no logo cost $3 a month or $30 a year."

While scanR might appeal more to businesspeople, it can be quite handy to capture written directions, shopping lists or any other textual information.

Brain interface glasses! I have to admit this has been my ultimate dream, for a long time. In fact, I even wrote a chapter in my technology book about "invisible" or nearly invisible interfaces as the wave of the future.

In February 2008, there's finally a high-fidelity brain to computer interface -- they even have an acronym (BCI)! As the article on GizMag points out, we may think we've come a long way, but the keyboard and mouse remain the predominant way we interface with computers. We’ve had the unfulfilled promise of handwriting and voice recognition and hope that something better will come along sooner or later. Perhaps this is it - brain computer interface technology pioneer Emotiv Systems will have its EPOC neuroheadset to market before Christmas 2008. The lightweight US$300 EPOC is, worn on the head but does not restrict movement in any way as it is wireless. The set detects conscious thoughts, expressions and non-conscious emotions based on electrical signals around the brain. It opens up a plethora of new applications which can be controlled with our thoughts, expressions and emotions.

The Emotiv EPOC will be the first high-fidelity brain computer interface (BCI) device for the video gaming market when it becomes available to consumers via Emotiv’s Web site and through selected retailers in late 2008 for a recommended retail price of $299.

The company is also opening its Application Programming Interface (API) and providing a range of development tools to enable developers to integrate neurotechnology into their applications. The initiative will spur the adoption of brain computer interface technology in video gaming and other industries, enabling consumers to experience an entirely new form of human-machine interaction.

The Emotiv EPOC detects and processes human conscious thoughts and expressions and non-conscious emotions. By integrating the Emotiv EPOC into their games or other applications, developers can dramatically enhance interactivity, gameplay and player enjoyment by, for example, enabling characters to respond to a player’s smile, laugh or frown; by adjusting the game dynamically in response to player emotions such as frustration or excitement; and enabling players to manipulate objects in a game or even make them disappear using the power of their thoughts.

updated posting on Monday, March 3, 2008

I was interested to see this article on Microsoft Research gesture inputs

YouTube video with gesture and control inputs on a surface....


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Reaching Me: Ned Hayes · Seattle WA · 206.321.7981 · ned AT nednotes.com