Central and South Asia

EU Puts Hurt on Intel, Persian Bloggers on Saberi’s Release, Google Oceans Goes Deep, and SixthSense at MIT

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Technology Podcast 243

OK, so MIT’s Pranav Mistry doesn’t exactly inspire the same kind of fear that Arnie’s Terminator (or, for that matter, actor Christian Bale on the set of the new Terminator movie) does. Then again, Mistry’s not trying to. Mistry works in something called the Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Lab. The group as a whole is working on a set of amazing projects that are trying to bridge the current gaps that they feel exist between the real and virtual worlds. Now, if you’re one of those people who has watched one too many Terminator films and doesn’t want to see the real and virtual worlds melded any further, then by all means do not go the Fluid Interfaces Group website. If, however, you like the idea of a wearable interface system that allows you to check your email against an airport wall, then Pranav and crew have just the thing. It’s called SixthSense, an “always-on” wearable interface that is designed to determine who and what you’re interacting with, and then proactively go out, scour the web, and find relevant information for you. That information…wait for it…is then displayed on any nearby surface via a tiny projector worn around the neck. I recently had the good fortune to sit down with Pranav and Pattie Maes, head of the Fluid Interfaces Group, and talk about SixthSense. The result was a BBC Online feature article. But, as always, there’s lots of good tape (digital files really…) left over, and that’s the highlight of Technology Podcast 243.

A few more points of interest: first, the hardware used for the current SixthSense prototype is all off-the-shelf stuff. Cost? About $350. Of course, all the hard work goes into creating the applications for it. The software has to figure out who or what you’re looking at, how you’re interacting with that who or what, and then find what it thinks will be truly useful and relevant information on-line. Ah, and about being “online.” The SixthSense software runs a smartphone you carry in your pocket. That smartphone also provides the Internet connection, either via 3G or wi-fi.

Over time, the SixthSense creators hope that there can be something like an Apple iPhone “app” store, that their device will be a platform upon which others can build useful applications. That might be a few years away, but Pranav Mistry does think there are some immediate uses for SixthSense. He told me that the device might, for example, be able to translate the gestures of sign language, and “speak it” so that people who can and can’t sign might communicate.

And this will not come a shock: Mistry also sees potential gaming applications…kind of like a Wii on steroids, I reckon. While you chew on all that, check out the video demo:

Also in this week’s ‘cast, we talk EU and Intel, and hear about how Persian bloggers view the release of Roxana Saberi.

Oh, and Google Oceans. Cool…