Friday, January 29. 2010
Emotiv Epoq brain-control headset gets reviewed: frustrating
Emotiv’s brain-reading Epoq gaming headset has been floating around for a while now, but it’s only recently that customers finally received their orders. One such early adopter is Rick Dakan over at Joystiq, who slapped down $299 for an Epoq of his own. Unfortunately, while the theory may be great, the implementation is sadly lacking. From the start, the Epoq is difficult to wear, with sixteen individual head-pads that each need to be separately moistened and slotted into place. Unfortunately Rick found that then trying to don the headset generally popped a few of those pads off; you also have to factor in the removal process, retrieving each pad and carefully stowing it in its box. Once you’re actually wearing the Epoq, it doesn’t get much better. Learning how to use it is frustrating, given there’s no indication of what you’re actually doing wrong when it fails to work (or, conversely, what exactly you did right when it responds), and even the three basic games – including Emotipong, shown below – were difficult to control. You can map the commands from Emotiv’s software to general keyboard and mouse shortcuts, but if you can’t even master the up/down movement of Pong then more advanced system navigation seems unduly ambitious. The conclusion? ”Seldom has the early adopter tax (one I’ve paid often) felt more onerous” says Rick.
New Rubber Film Could Harvest Energy from Breathing, Walking to Power Gadgets
Photo via Science Daily, Credit: Frank Wojciechowski Princeton University engineers have come up with a rubber film that harvests kinetic energy. But it's not just another piezoelectric film. The team has been able to combine silicone and naonoribbons of lead zirconate titanate (PZT). PZT is the most efficient of kinetic-energy harvesting materials, converting as much as 80% of mechanical energy into electrical energy. By being the first team to successfully embed it into silicone, the Princeton engineers have opened up a whole slew of possibilities ...Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Via TreeHuggeer
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World Social Forum - Day 4: "We've Reached the Age of Limits"
by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 01.28.10
Photos: Stephen Messenger
After several days of meetings outlining the various threats posed by the current geopolitical and economic status quo, day four of the World Social Forum was largely dedicated to discussing the necessary solutions. Capitalism and the consumer culture it promotes were again the targets of criticism--and reiterated to be at the center of the looming crises of the 21st century. Climate change, growing disparities between rich and poor, and a laundry-list of social injustices were said to all be 'symptoms' of an unsustainable economic model which needs to be addressed to effect any real change--and a need for radical change in human behavior.
Current Trends Show Limits
In a meeting this morning to address the challenges of a "Sustainable Era," political economist Dowbor Ladislaus discussed the future projected by current trends in resource consumptions. One of his major concerns was with skyrocketing birthrates, articulating a need for population control to quell increasingly unsustainable cultural preferences. "Everyone wants to consume more meat, which means more methane and heat. We have to rethink it," he said.
Meanwhile, various speakers met to discuss how a new approach to governance could help ease the trends outlined by Ladislaus, with a new economic model based on sustainability. Getting more people involved and concerned for the environment is the key to moving towards a "post-capitalist horizon," said Portuguese sociologist Boaventura de Souza.
Every challenge to the current political hegemony will depend on a broad consensus. It is necessary to focus on democracy; A more advanced democracy, participatory democracy, a democracy Community.
Boaventura de Souza addresses an audience at the Forum.
Amit Sengupta of India's People's Health Movement took the urgency of creating more involvement a step further:
It is not enough to defeat capitalism and build a new hegemony. We must also protect humanity from extinction. Perhaps the human species can not survive capitalism. If we want to save the world, people who form the vast majority of the world, should be emancipated and allowed to achieve their minimum aspirations.
Governments Need to Change
Later on in the afternoon, former Brazilian Environmental Minister and current Senator Marina Silva continued the themes of reforming the way humanity is governed when she spoke before an audience of roughly 500 in Porto Alegre.
The current model of civilization is in crisis. We can no longer patch it. The economic model also shows the phenomenon of exhaustion. And the environmental crisis is exemplified by the current climate change.
Silva was accompanied by Oded Grajew, who founded the first
Former Brazilian Environmental Minister, Marina Silva.
Quality of Life Could Be Sustainable
According to Silva, the vast majority of people in the world are not interested in the economic prosperity that drives the wealthy few, but are rather seeking a sustainable quality of life. Sadly though, she said, that minority is capable of reaping cultural and environmental devastation in its pursuit.
She referenced the impact of past imperialism--noting that there were 5 million natives in Brazil in 1500, but five centuries later, there are only 700 thousand.
We must change the policy, change the planet and always with an ethical commitment, forging an alliance between the generations. Everything we do now will surely pass on to future generations. We reached the age of limits. We must begin the march towards transformation.
Check out coverage of Day 5 at the World Social Forum tomorrow.
More on the World Social Forum 2010
World Social Forum - Day 1: "Another World is Possible"
World Social Forum - Day 2: "Rich Nations, Clean Your Mess!"
World Social Forum - Day 3: "Earth Can't Sustain Capitalism"
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Via TreeHugger
iGlasses Coming?
In a week when we are all learning to say iPad, we might also start practicing 'iGlasses'. Apple's got patents on augmented reality goggles:
- Apple See-Through Augmented Reality HMD Glasses
The January issue of Mac Life sports a fauxtograph of possible Apple augmented reality HMD glasses. It’s hard to know how much of this article is based on concept, but Apple working on an AR HMD would be a huge jumpstart to the nascent technology.
In mid-April of 2008, Apple published a patent for a “Head Mounted Display System.” The patent shows screens and fiber optics and vision imaging controls. Would the display use pico projection or utilize OLED displays? Pico displays could be used right now, but OLEDs might be a year out.
Would Apple make HMD goggle for augmented reality? Looking back at this 2006 interview on MacSimumNews, we can see that Steve Jobs was already considering it. Given that he also denies Apple is looking at a HMD practically guarantees they have something in the works.
Jobs: Yes, you want a nice big screen so that you can see lots of music and you can pick out what you want, versus a tiny little screen. But then again, you want the screen to be small so that you can put it in your pocket. Actually, discovering and buying music on a computer and downloading it to the iPod—in our opinion, that’s one of the geniuses of the iPod. So you can look at changing that—and maybe that will happen over time—but I think the experience you’ll get on a device optimized for putting in your pocket is going to be far less satisfactory than on a personal computer. You may still want to do that [on a small screen] occasionally, but I don’t think it’s ever going to mean that you can not have some other device that is your primary device for buying and cataloguing music.
Swisher: What would solve that? Can it be solved?
Jobs: Rollable screens, goggles you can put on; I don’t know. It’s not on the horizon.
Goggles you can put on, indeed.
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Via /Message
Personal comment:
Il faut battre le fer pendant qu'il est chaud... Pour contribuer à lancer la prochaine rumeur Apple...
Wednesday, January 27. 2010
Les vertus nouvelles de la circulation circulaire de l'information
Les temps changent. Et la notion de « circulation circulaire de l’information », qui était vicieuse dans le discours du sociologue
Cette idée d’inversion de la valeur attachée à cette notion n’est pas de moi. Je l’ai lue quelque part, mais je ne souviens pas où. Je la fais donc circuler sans référence à la source, ce qui rompt un peu, précisément, le flux de circulation circulaire. A me lire ici, on pourrait croire que j’en suis la source, alors que je ne suis qu’un « circulateur » [1]… 
[2]
Mais j’ai un autre bon exemple sous la main. Suivez, pas à pas, le processus de circulation circulaire :
- un billet de Mathieu, relevant une perle dans le rapport Gaymard sur le livre ;
- cité par Nicolas Vanbremeersch, sur Meilcour ;
- lequel est cité par narvic, ici-même ;
- lequel est cité par Hubert Guillaud, sur La Feuille.
Dans cette chaîne, chacun de ceux qui citent renvoie vers tous ceux qui ont cité précédemment. Et le tout suscite, à chaque citation, une « grappe » de commentaires « sur place » de la part du lectorat particulier de chacun des « citateurs ».
Chacun des « citateurs » commente l’information initiale et la « reformate » à destination de son propre lectorat, permettant ainsi d’en accroître la diffusion. Le processus se propage « en grappe » lui-aussi, chaque point de citation étant potentiellement le noeud d’une nouvelle propagation. Le message initial se métamorphose durant le processus (avec probablement des pertes et des gains d’informations au passage : des simplifications ou des enrichissements), mais c’est - en définitive - la diffusion globale du message initial qui est accrue par ce processus « en avalanche »…
Il y a là de quoi réfléchir. C’est vraiment, à mon avis, un nouveau mode de circulation de l’information qui s’illustre ici : une circulation de noeud en noeud, au sein d’un réseau « en grappes ».
Ce modèle n’a que peu de chose à voir avec celui de la circulation de l’information dans les réseaux « traditionnels » des médias (presse écrite, radio, télévision), comme je le suggérais récemment (cette question fait partie de « mon programme de travail sur ce blog »).
Une idée de là où je veux en venir, dans cet article de Alexandre Steyer [3] et Jean-Benoît Zimmermann [4] : Influence sociale et diffusion de l’information (15 pages, en .pdf). Résumé :
La notion de diffusion, quel que soit son objet, est centrale pour tout système ou construction sociale, car elle se trouve à la base de la mise en cohérence des comportements des individus ou de leurs représentations, donc de la coordination de leurs actions. L’idée, à l’origine de la notion de diffusion, est que les interactions entre individus sont le moteur principal de l’évolution de leurs comportements, croyances ou représentations. Notre démarche dans cet article est celle des réseaux d’influence sociale, dans lesquels l’agent est situé dans une structure de nature résiliaire où la progression de l’influence est contingente d’effets de cumul. Après avoir exposé les principes d’un modèle de diffusion en réseau, fondé sur une dynamique de cheminement de l’influence sociale, nous étudions la manière dont cette influence se propage sous la forme d’« avalanches », donnant par là une importance fondamentale à la structure du réseau. Nous analysons comment le bruit, généré par ces avalanches constitue une signature de la structure sociale et peut en retour contribuer, par effet d’apprentissage, à modifier cette structure et donc la dynamique [de] diffusion. Nous expliquons alors pourquoi émergent des courbes de diffusion « critiques » singulières, en loi de puissance, au lieu de la forme exponentielle des courbes de diffusion traditionnelles.
Quand la blogosphère joue à plein de cette « circulation circulaire » de blog en blog, qui permet la formation d’effets de diffusion « en avalanche », les médias en ligne, dans leur logique de sites « portails de l’information », de « sites de destination », ne sont pas en mesure de le faire. Ils ne sont plus qu’un maillon dans une chaîne, et c’est la chaîne - non plus le média - qui assure la diffusion en ligne. Les journalistes n’ont pas encore pris conscience de cette nouveauté et ne s’y sont pas encore réellement adaptés : s’ils veulent jouer un rôle dans la diffusion de l’information, c’est dans la dimension sociale d’internet que ça se joue, c’est à dire hors de leur site et après la mise en ligne. C’est ce qui me pousse à penser que l’avenir du journalisme en ligne est dans l’immersion dans les réseaux sociaux du net, ce qui est une autre aspect de la question déjà posée précédemment : Les sites d’info doivent-ils migrer sur Facebook et dans les blogs ?
On va en reparler sur ce blog… 
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Via Novövision
Personal comment:
Un commentaire très à propos par rapport à la nature même de ce blog de "veille" (celui de fabric | ch). J'aime assez l'idée et l'image d'"avalanche informationnelle", qui serait donc constituée par la masse des "reblogs" et autres "reposts" ou citations.
Merci à Nicolas Besson pour le lien.
fabric | rblg
This blog is the survey website of fabric | ch - studio for architecture, interaction and research.
We curate and reblog articles, researches, writings, exhibitions and projects that we notice and find interesting during our everyday practice and readings.
Most articles concern the intertwined fields of architecture, territory, art, interaction design, thinking and science. From time to time, we also publish documentation about our own work and research, immersed among these related resources and inspirations.
This website is used by fabric | ch as archive, references and resources. It is shared with all those interested in the same topics as we are, in the hope that they will also find valuable references and content in it.
