Thursday, March 03. 2011
Via Pruned
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by Alexander Trevi
(Original photo by Bjarne Winkler. Source.)
According to SciDev.Net, “swarming micro air vehicles” might soon be deployed over disaster areas to set up emergency wireless networks. Developed by scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, these flying robots will be “emitting a wireless signal” to establish “temporary radio or mobile communication networks to coordinate the search for survivors.”
“To distribute the vehicles effectively above a designated zone,” the article goes on, the research team “took inspiration from the way ants leave chemical trails to guide colonies to sources of food. Some of the vehicles hover in small circles linked to the location of rescuers and the other vehicles navigate around these markers.”
Elsewhere and earlier, we learned from Wired that, should dictators cut off their country from the internet, there are ways to restore connectivity to the populace. The U.S. military, for instance, has the Commando Solo, a cargo plane converted into an “airborne broadcasting center” that “hypothetically” can boost Wi-Fi bars in bandwidth-denied areas to full strength. Any of the military's aircrafts can be converted into “cell towers in the sky” by attaching cellular pods to their wings or bellies.
To this arsenal, one can supposedly add the above flying robots. When the switch is turned off, they'll be released from their roost to swarm over revolutionary spaces to churn up an electromagnetic storm of Facebook schedules, retweets and Anderson Cooper's adoring visage.
(Original photo by Bjarne Winkler. Source.)
But instead of hovering over disaster and conflict areas, how about urban and rural dead spaces or in even more remote locales? And instead of drones and toy airplanes, you conscript pigeons, starlings and other flying weeds into a wi-fi network of cyborg fauna?
This network needn't be online all the time. The birds, after all, need some rest. So you simply let them loose, say, during rush hour to temporarily augment the network.
One imagines urban homesteaders converting a water tank into an aviary for their robo-starlings, next to their urban apiaries, urban chicken coops and urban farming tool shed. When they need to communicate with other urban homesteaders, either nearby or in another Detroit-like ruin pornscape, they only need to open the hatch. It's an artisanal wi-fi for networked off-grid living.
In order to lessen e-waste, each starling is equipped with a homing beacon, which will signal home should the animal die in flight. The homesteader simply has to trace the electronic beeps to collect the carcass and its outfittings. In the meantime, the beacon will be powered by the decaying organic matter.
(Also in the archives: Augmented Ethology.)
Tuesday, March 01. 2011
Via dpr-barcelona
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“Observing the radiowave behaviour becomes a means to understand the present and anticipating the future of urban environments. In my observation the dimension unit for public space is not meter, kilometer or decibel anymore, it’s milliwatt, hertz and gigabyte.” This is Peter Jellitsch statement on his project Electronic Topographies.
This statement inevitably makes us go back in time to 1971 and think on Ugo La Pietra‘s project Sistema disequilibrante: Casa Telematica [The Domicile Cell: A Microstructure: within the Information and Communications Systems], where he aimed to create a living environment which postulates the development of information and communications systems with respect to their technical, mechanical and electronic characteristics; using them in a way that will overcome the “barrier” that they create between us and reality. Felicity Scott pointed on her article for Grey Room Architecture or Techno-Utopia:
La Pietra’s “Domicile Cell”, for instance, operated precisely through situating itself within this system. As La Pietra [optimistically] explained the strategic intimacy of his domicile unit, “it becomes a center for gathering, processing and communicating information; a microstructure that can intervene in the information system by enlarging and multiplying exchanges among people, with everyone participating in the dynamics of communication.”
The “unbalancing systems” proposed by La Pietra were based on a serie of physical and mediatic interventions within the urban landscape. In that sense, we can consider his project as a predecessor of the Electronic Topographies.
Casa Telematica by Ugo La Pietra. Pic by dpr-barcelona
After this look into the past, we can clearly talk about the interest of architects in new communication technologies and what now is called the Sentient City. Jellitsch points that cities are slightly transforming due to several phenomenas. Radio wave and the resulting ubiquitous communication possibilities is one of the very contemporary factors with which a city has to deal with. Since the beginning of the 90s a high effort was taken on the distribution of mobile communication aerials. His research is based in Austria, and he points that now, 20 years later, Austria is one of the densest covered regions in the world with 20% more mobile phone subscribers than inhabitants. Jellitsch argues that the city center of Vienna was used as testing laboratory wich stands exemplarily for the extremly dense Austrian network coverage.
The electronic topographie drawing series is trying to simulate the actual situation on electromagnetic cones which are coating the physical space. Focusing on transmitter heads for mobile communication, the drawing series allows to have a alternate view on public areas which are now qualified through it’s connecting possibilities. And he adds:
In June 1881 the commercial ministry of the K&K monarchy gave the Viennese private telegraph society a concession for the cablephone arrangement in a radius of 7,5km around the “Stephansturm”. Literally said, the communication spreading in austria has started in a small area around the Stephansdom nearly 130 years ago. Since 1993 the 1st viennese district has a 100% mobile network coverage that startet with basic technologies like GSM, followed by UMTS and now has 100% connection in 3G technologie. Due to several reasons, the inner city of Vienna has the highest connecting qualities compared to the other districts, as well as the densest transmitter pattern.
The current sentient city is subdivided, carved, segregated and coated by electromagnetic oscillation.
Complete map of Vienna’s communication network
Based on the previous data, Jellitsch worked on a “rastogram“, which basically describes how we inhabit and coexists with urban spaces where our body gets coated from electronic waves.
We can also mention here Fabien Girardin‘s research for his PhD thesis on human interactions with ubiquitous geographic information. Girardin focus his research on the increasing use of mobile devices, wireless infrastructures, and the Internet that, according to him, is changing our daily lives, not only in the way we communicate with each other or share information but also how we relate to the environment. And he adds:
Through our interactions with these technologies we access and generate an informational membrane, hovering over the spaces we live in and visit. However, this information layer only imperfectly models the reality due to coarse digitization and technological limitations, challenging the human interaction. On the other hand, the presence of this user-generated ubiquitous geographic information opens novel perspectives in understanding human activities over space and time.
The common link between Girardin and Jellitsch projects are the aspects of human interactions with ubiquitous geographic information.
Measuring connections. Peter Jellitsch
Connectivity Figure. Peter Jellitsch
The operator topographies drawn by Jellitsch shows the valency of public areas related to the amount of mobile communication users. The mobile operator firms have to install the right amount of transmitter heads, to ensure a maximum of quality. Through reading, drawing, simulating and translating the construction plans, one is able to reflect the quality of transmitter heads back to intensive public areas.
The electronic topographies’ drawing series is trying to simulate the actual situation on electromagnetic cones which are coating the physical space. Focusing on transmitter heads for mobile communication, the drawing series allows to have a alternate view on public areas which are now qualified through it’s connecting possibilities, that are reflected on the complete set of the Electronic Topographie maps.
Electronic Topographie map. Peter Jellitsch
Electronic Topographie map. Detail. Peter Jellitsch
As a final point of his research, Peter Jellitsch worked on two specific issues of the project:
[1] The roentgenograms. These are two models made with acetate sheet, plexiglas, lightconstruction, aluminium sticks and a tripod. Roentgenograms shows an alternative top-view on two public spaces in the 1st Viennese district. Cutted through an invisible electromagnetic cone, the viewer is looking through a 54m thick electronic data-cloud that is coating the city of Vienna.
Roentgenogram. Model 1. Peter Jellitsch
[2] Coated Environment [animation, 1:20min]. The general technical progress has led to an estrangement and perceptual change of a person in the relation to his/her environment. The coated environment animation could be seen as recording and notional grading of our surrounding through crossing hidden audiovisual signals. The intent of the animation is the concentrated and conscious perception of an existing physical realm, and attempts to extend the pure seeing into an alternate cognition.
Coated Environment. Filmstill 02. Peter Jellitsch
The “hybridization” of space is only an expression of wider radical changes between analytical systems [order and spacing] to synthetic [complexity, connectivity, permeability] ones. In a system characterized by its high capacity for communication, if space becomes a mix between reality and virtual presence, the separation between private and public space becomes obsolete. According to this theory of urban permeability, the concept of “filter” is important as a new indispensable device. Filter as a mean of connection with the capacity of handling private/public, real/virtual, inside a system where the channels are not separated anymore. Now these channels are communicating -APERTURE-.
From the paper Aperture, Urban Hybridization
Now we’re facing a renewal of the urban experience. With the growing complexity of cities and the fragmentation of urban space, the experience of the city ceases to be static-reflected by city maps and grows as dynamic flows. And the importance of the Electronic Topographies project lies in the way it shows how public spaces become the sum of the built environment and our virtual interactions.
Are we already leaving inside Ugo La Pietra’s “Domicile Cell”?
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Thanks to Peter Jellitsch for sharing his project with us!
Recommended readings:
- The video Coated Environment by Peter Jellitsch can be visited at vimeo
- Fabian Girardin PhD Thesis Aspects of implicit and explicit human interactions with ubiquitous geographic information
- El espacio público como catalizador de colectividades locales by Domenico di Siena [SPANISH]
- To this date, Ecosistema Urbano is working on Smart Streets: a research proposing “a public space equivalent to the innovative self-organizing and exchange processes occurring on the web”
Personal comment:
To my knowledge, Dunne & Raby are among the first who brought (back --as communication was a quite proheminent theme in the architecture of the late 60ies and early 70ies--) this theme of electromagnetism into design and architecture during the late 90ies and early 00oes and study the effect of these invisible landscapes. A lot of work has been done since around this theme then.
More recently, the research of Timo Arnall about elastic space can be mentioned (he just recently published this video about wifi territories, that has been rebloged a lot since).
Thursday, February 24. 2011
Via The Mobile City
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by Martijn de Waal
Last week the Dutch Mediafund and the Design department of the Sandberg Academy organized the conference Wireless Stories: new media in public space. The Mobile City was invited to provide the opening keynote (by Michiel de Lange) as well as a closing statement (yours truly), so here are my observations of the day:
What struck me most after a day’s worth of presentations of new media interventions – varying from a moodwall to complex multinlineair location based storytelling projects - was that the talks articulated both a sense of optimism as well as a sense of doubt.
There was a lot of optimism that new media would make urban public spaces more interesting, layering them with depth, connecting people, spark democratic debates, turn them into playgrounds and empower citizens.
Yet at the same time there were some doubts. Although the opportunities are there, many of the speakers were still not sure how exactly they are to be effectuated. How do we indeed engage people in public spaces with the help of these new technologies?
Optimism: enhancing public space with locative and wireless media
Let’s start with the optimist visions. During the day several visions of what public space is, which functions it fulfills, and what is problematic about it were addressed.
1. Public Space as a place for deliberate democracy
This is of course a vision that builds upon theories by the likes of Hannah Arendt and Jurgen Habermas, who have theorized public space as a meeting ground for citizens where they come together to discuss their common future.
At the conference Tobias Ebsen presented Climate on the Wall, an interactive mediafacade by the Digital Urban Living Lab (we have written about this project before) at Aarhus University. Climate on the Wall is based on the concept of ‘magnetic poetry’: text balloons with words are projected on a facade, and passers-by can drag the words in any order, forming poetic sentences, political statements or just nonsense.
The hope expressed in the project was that people would use the installation to make statements about the environment. However, that didnot always happen. People just started playing with it, or even using the installation in a subversive way. What the creators didnot forsee though is that debate did take place: not on the wall itself, but rather amongst the bystanders/ audience. The playful and sometimes subversive uses had turned their installation into a conversation piece.
2. Public Space as a theatre, as a stage for the representation of cultural identities and political movements
Various speakers at the conference alluded to the current events in Tunesia and Egypt, reflecting on the role of public space as a place for the representation of political movements. These physical and bodily mass events are now partially coordinated by the use of digital media in the form of social networks ans sms messages. Although in my opinion claims of a ‘Twitter revolution’, where the technology causes the revolts should be distrusted, there is no doubt an interesting dynamic going on between these media and the way collective political imaginations are shaped as well as the (organization of) physical movements through which these imaginations are articulated.
On a different but somewhat comparable plane, public space can also be understood as a site for cultural representation, where (sub)cultures proudly display themselves, (temporarily) claim a part of public space to assert their right to exist, or just to make it their own. At the conference the dance film Diamond Dancers bu Quirine Racke and Helena Muskens made me think of this particular approach of public space. The film is a flash mob performance of provincial line dancers who travel to amsterdam to stage a surprise performance on one of the main public squares.
3 Public space as a site for cultural experiences and exchanges
A number of speakers approached public space as a stage for cultural experiences. In these examples, wireless media are to enhance the experience of a particular place, for instance by showing historic layers, or connect places to personal stories, to make people aware of alternative points of view or just to tell an exciting story or engage people in a game.
Dick van Dijk of Waag Society showed their 7scenes platform – a tool for the annotation of maps and the authoring of location based stories and games. They are using this tool to develop an app for the Amsterdam museum – as part of an international trend sometimes called ‘museums without walls’. Earlier they also authored other locative experiences. For instance Madretsma.net is a route through Amsterdam commemorating the slavery trade. Here, the interface was much more low tech: at particular points in the city users could call a phone number and listen to a particular story connected to that place.
Michael Epstein of Untravel Media also showed a number of what he had called ‘terratives’ – narrative that are told on location. (see an earlier Mobile City report for a more in depth analysis of the genre). For instance, in Boston they created a project named Walking Cinema: Murder on Beacon Hill. This project took the form of a walk along a number of locations in Boston, where scenes (movie clips) from a 19th century murder mystery were played out on a smart phone.
These are not just geo-annotated movie clips. To draw the user in, some dramaturgic elements were added. First there was a narrator, that invited participants to follow in her footsteps, also turning the player into a character. Second, actual physical props played an important role and third, players / viewers also had to interact with real people in the actual surroundings. For instance one of the scenes took place in the lobby of a luxurious hotel and some employees there were involved in the story.
Martin Rieser showed The third woman a project that was even more complex in its story telling. Where Walking Cinema was a more or less lineair narrative that played out on location, the Third Woman added interactive elements, where participants could influence the mood of particular filmclips they were shown.
4 Feeling at home in Public Space
A fourth approach of wireless media I encountered was not so much connected to a particular understanding of public space, but rather trying to deal with one of its inherent problems. If public space is a place where we encounter strangers, who might also be different from ourselves, than for many this can also lead to a somewhat uncanny feeling. Especially at certain locations that are not lively public spaces but somewhat neglected passage ways, people can easily feel unsafe.
Can designers intervene with digital or wireless media to make citizens feel more at home in public space? For instance by using visualizations of harvested mobile phone or social network data that show collective rhythms of citizens?
In this category, Matthijs ten Berge showed his Moodwall – a beautiful light installation in a dark tunnel in de Bijlmer area of Amsterdam. Its interactive light patterns are to make passers-by feel more at home in these surroundings.
The doubts
I was (although not necessarily unpleasantly) surprised by all these optimist visions , since often in the general debate about the affordances of digital media in relation to public space dystopian scenario’s are evoked. Digital and locative media are after all not only media of connection, providing added layers of experience. They also have the affordance to turn the city into a panopticon and allow their users to retract in their safe, personal communication bubbles – turning public spaces into private experiences. These more critical points of view were sometimes mentioned, but not really addressed during the conference.
That is not to say that there were no doubts expressed. On the contrary, although speakers were overall enthusiastic about the opportunities of digital media, they also found that the actual implementation, scalability and engagement of users is hard to accomplish.
The technology is here: we can now tweet, geotag, program urban screens or use the private screens of the mobile phone. Yet the question remains: how to actually engineer an interesting experience, how to seduce people to actually interact with the content? This question is all the more relevant, since one of the characteristics of wireless media is that they often are invisible. So it is not only a matter of engaging people but also make them aware of the added layers etc. All of the projects shown at the conference had somehow struggled with these issues, and it is fair to say that this will also remain one of the most important questions in wireless storytelling in the near future.
Lessons Learned
With regard to the design of locative experiences, I took two important lessons from these examples. The first is – as Michael Epstein put it strikingly – ‘Matter is a test for our curiosity’, meaning that material artefacts in real space can draw people into the story. The tension in locative storytelling projects comes from actually drawing in objects, locations and people, making it tactical and physical. Especially the use of people can really make the experience much more appealing. Although this is also very hard to arrange, but it is worth to try to draw in local shopkeepers, hotel lobby attendants or others into the scenario. In effect, as a narrative discipline locative storytelling is probably closest to theatre – you need a strong dramaturgy, script, actors and perhaps a gameplay. This also can make it hard to scale locative productions or reenact them at other locations. (see our earlier article Some notes on the design of pervasive games for more thoughts about this)
A second lesson, with regard to locative projects that try to engage people into discussions or exchange is to not overdetermine the design. Make it a playful design to draw people in, but also leave some room for people to appropriate it, to play with the rules of the game. Sometimes its more useful to design a conversation piece than wanting to direct the conversation itself.
Tuesday, February 22. 2011
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Alan Gibney was over at Arup a couple of weeks ago testing a Wireless Sensor Network design tool in number 8 Fitzroy Street that he developed during his PhD on a tool for wifi access point positioning.
Using a 3D info of the building the tool allows us to figure out the best location for network gateways based on the required location of sensing nodes and the material characteristics of the building. This particular installation was of interest since the majority of the office is open plan which means that the “stuff” that interferes with wireless signals is much more dynamic and difficult to model than say a concrete wall or a glass partition which is traditionally quite stationary and has modelable properties.
Data Capture Process
The process shown in the sketch above involved 1] identifying sensor locations on the fourth floor of number 8 Fitzroy, 2] walking around the floor plate taking measurements of signal strength for each node in different areas, 3] mapping the signal strength, 4] generating a heatmap of gateway options, 5] running agent based optimisation algos to select optimal gateway positions.
Signal strength of node in different locations of office
The signal strengths were then loaded into the design tool to verify that the actual were similar enough to those predicted in the model. With a mean error of 1.41 the model seemed pretty robust.
The design tool then allows a variety of gateway / sensor nodes positions to be tested and compared for different types of optimisation (battery life, signal robustness, minimising nodes required etc.)
Topology of possible WSN
A ray launching method is used to propogate the signal strength from a node to a gateway with the journey being recalculated using a motif model that describes the radion propogation model of a material. The image below shows the heat map generated for a gateway positioned in the open plan area of the office.
Candidate gateway locations
Measurement vs Prediction
Heat map based on signal strength from gateway
Next steps are to use the design tool to model the whole building in preparation to roll out a 200+ node WSN in the building. The aim of the installation will be to monitor light (lux) levels in the office alongside occupancy to analyse and optimise both light comfort levels and energy efficiency.
More detail on the WSN design tool is available at:
Motif Model
Propagation Model
Optimisation Algorithms
All images on Flickr
Wednesday, February 10. 2010
If you're at CES and just can't stand wires, be sure to drop by the Haier booth where the company is showing off its completely wireless HDTV. Employing both Wireless Electricity technology developed at MIT, as well as Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) this tube can supposedly stream video over 100 feet, but there's no telling if that WiTricity signal will be as far reaching. All this technology does add a good bit of heft to the panel's profile, so even though you might be avoiding that mess of tangled cables, don't think you're getting off that easy. Video of the wire-free panel is after the break.
Via endgadget
Friday, December 04. 2009
The opportunity to jab yourself in the eye with a tiny computer display is one step closer, thanks to the ongoing work with opto-electronic contact lenses taking place at the University of Washington in Seattle. The lab there has been showing off the latest prototype, the handiwork of Dr. Babak Parviz: a semi-transparent array – including an LED – embedded into a lens that receives 330 microwatts of power wirelessly from a nearby RF transmitter. Parviz has been using the prototypes to display biosensor feedback about the wearer’s vital signs, but they’ll eventually serve as a heads-up display for displaying other data.
The wireless power is picked up by a loop antenna built into the lens, and future iterations of the hardware are expected to integrate the transmitter into a cellphone. There’ll also be far many more LEDs involved, so that the resolution is high enough to be useful.
“Conventional contact lenses are polymers formed in specific shapes to correct faulty vision. To turn such a lens into a functional system, we integrate control circuits, communication circuits, and miniature antennas into the lens using custom-built optoelectronic components. Those components will eventually include hundreds of LEDs, which will form images in front of the eye, such as words, charts, and photographs. Much of the hardware is semitransparent so that wearers can navigate their surroundings without crashing into them or becoming disoriented” Dr Parviz, University of Washington in Seattle
Future plans see the opto-electronic lenses being used for more than just displaying data; they’ll also be able to monitor the eye’s surface chemistry, which would allow wearable computers to keep track on blood sugar levels in diabetics and other information. Parviz’s eventual goal is the contact lens becoming a platform “like the iPhone is today”, with developers creating custom apps. However it seems that’s a reasonably long way off into the distance.
Via Slashdot
Friday, January 30. 2009
The insect's flight path can be wirelessly controlled via a neural implant.
By Emily Singer
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Cyborg beetle: Shown here is a giant flower beetle carrying a microprocessor, radio receiver, and microbattery and implanted with several electrodes. To control the insect’s flight, scientists wirelessly deliver signals to the payload, which sends electrical signals through the electrode to the brain and flight muscles.
Credit: Michel Maharbiz |
Multimedia
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A giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back can be wirelessly controlled, according to research presented this week. Scientists at the University of California developed a tiny rig that receives control signals from a nearby computer. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes command the insect to take off, turn left or right, or hover in midflight. The research, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), could one day be used for surveillance purposes or for search-and-rescue missions.
Beetles and other flying insects are masters of flight control, integrating sensory feedback from the visual system and other senses to navigate and maintain stable flight, all the while using little energy. Rather than trying to re-create these systems from scratch, Michel Maharbiz and his colleagues aim to take advantage of the beetle's natural abilities by melding insect and machine. His group has previously created cyborg beetles, including ones that have been implanted with electronic components as pupae. But the current research, presented at the IEEE MEMS in Italy, is the first demonstration of a wireless beetle system.
The beetle's payload consists of an off-the-shelf microprocessor, a radio receiver, and a battery attached to a custom-printed circuit board, along with six electrodes implanted into the animals' optic lobes and flight muscles. Flight commands are wirelessly sent to the beetle via a radio-frequency transmitter that's controlled by a nearby laptop. Oscillating electrical pulses delivered to the beetle's optic lobes trigger takeoff, while a single short pulse ceases flight. Signals sent to the left or right basilar flight muscles make the animal turn right or left, respectively.
Most previous research in controlling insect flight has focused on moths. But beetles have certain advantages. The giant flower beetle's size--it ranges in weight from four to ten grams and is four to eight centimeters long--means that it can carry relatively heavy payloads. To be used for search-and-rescue missions, for example, the insect would need to carry a small camera and heat sensor.
In addition, the beetle's flight can be controlled relatively simply. A single signal sent to the wing muscles triggers the action, and the beetle takes care of the rest. "That allows the normal function to control the flapping of the wings," says Jay Keasling, who was not involved in the beetle research but who collaborates with Maharbiz. Minimal signaling conserves the battery, extending the life of the implant. Moths, on the other hand, require a stream of electrical signals in order to keep flying.
The research has been driven in large part by advances in the microelectronics industry, with miniaturization of microprocessors and batteries.
Copyright Technology Review 2009.
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Via MIT Technology Review
Personal comment:
Quelque part entre la robotique, les biotech et l'IT: un hybride matérialisant une forme de contrôle pour le moins inquiétante. Même si l'image reste fascinante (et repoussante à la fois --the uncanny valley effect?--), cela demeure étonnant qu'une telle recherche soit présentée à plat, sans même la moindre considération éthique ou questionnement ...
Hallucinant de vide.
Mais faut-il vraiment s'en étonner lorsqu'il s'agit de recherche militaire? On rappelera toutefois que les laboratoires du DARPA nous ont amené Internet (avec ARPANET comme ancêtre --discuté par certains, seul le TCP/IP ayant été mis au point dans les laboratoires du DARPA--) et le GPS.
Thursday, January 22. 2009
Taking a page from Nintendo's Wii gaming console, Lenovo on Monday announced an all-in-one PC with a remote control that doubles as a motion-based gaming controller.
Like the iMac, the all-in-one IdeaCentre A600 combines a monitor and CPU in a thin system. It will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show from January 8 to 11 in Las Vegas.
Its wireless remote control is similar to Nintendo Wii's Wii Remote, which allows users to interact with a video game by waving or pointing the game controller. Using motion-sensing technology, the Wii Remote becomes a racket when swinging during a tennis game, or a weapon when playing a fighting game.
Lenovo's gadget mimics the Wii's approach.
"We have an example of a bowling game [where] you can wave the remote and that actually controls your game," said Ninis Samuel, director of marketing strategy and programs.
The company is bundling some motion-based games with the PC to use with the remote-based gaming controller. Titles of the games weren't immediately available.
Lenovo is trying to capitalize on the trend of entertainment options merging into the PC. Few are able to play motion-based games, which could make this motion-based game controller a pioneer.
In addition to controlling TV functions and video recordings on the PC, the remote control can also be used as an air mouse that moves the mouse pointer when waved. It has some advantages over a conventional mouse -- it can function without being on a surface and be used at a distance -- when sitting on a couch, for example.
If the air mouse wasn't enough, the remote also works as a VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) handset. "If you have telephony software on your PC like Windows Live or Skype, you can use your remote to make those phone calls because it essentially can act as a phone," Samuel said.
The IdeaCentre A600 starts at a price of US$999. The desktop has a 21.5-inch screen that supports 1920 by 1280-pixel resolution for high-definition video playback. It runs on Intel Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo mobile processors, supports up to 4GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. It includes Wi-Fi wireless networking and runs on the Windows Vista OS.
Options include the remote control, Blu-ray DVD player, a TV tuner and a Advanced Micro Devices' ATI graphics card. The desktop will be available worldwide by the beginning of March.
The desktop is part of a new portfolio of entertainment PCs that Lenovo plans to show at CES. The company is also rolling out a new laptop line, the IdeaPad Lenovo Y650 Y series, which is targeted at mainstream users looking to create and view multimedia content. Lenovo has added features that can make watching movies an easier and enjoyable experience.
For example, the laptops have the "OneKey" feature, in which pressing one button "optimizes" the experience of watching movies by enhancing the sound and visuals, according to the company.
Another feature includes ambient light sensors that adjusts screen brightness based on the user's surroundings. "[It] uses a sensor on the actual lid of the laptop that senses whether or not you are in a darker or lighter room. Then it adjusts the brightness and the graphics to your environment," Samuel said. The feature is available only in the IdeaPad Y650 laptop, which has a 16-inch screen.
The IdeaPad Y series laptops come with screens ranging from 14 to 16 inches, run on Intel Core 2 Duo processors and include Windows Vista. The weight of the laptops ranges from 4.6 pounds (2.09 kilograms) to 6 pounds. The laptops will become available worldwide by the beginning of March, Lenovo said. Pricing was not immediately available.
Friday, November 28. 2008
According to ICT Results in ‘The Network of Everything,’ wireless experts estimate that our personal networks will include about a thousand devices in 2017, including dozens of sensors checking our health and our home. This is why European researchers have launched in 2006 a networking project called ‘MAGNET Beyond.’ The name is an acronym for ‘My personal adaptive Global NET and beyond.’ The article suggests that the researchers have in fact built the Smart Personal Network, which integrates the concepts of Personal Networks (PNs) and Personal Area Networks (PANs). Read more to discover the results already achieved…
Links: ZDNet, Primidi
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Via Smart Mobs
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