Researchers are developing technology that can adjust an image on a display so you can see it clearly without corrective lenses. READ: Display Technology Makes Reading Glasses Unnecessary | MIT Technology Review.
Tag Archives: technology
A Dead-Simple Tool That Lets Anyone Create Interactive Maps | WIRED
Data surrounds us. It’s everywhere, in the most micro sense small gadgets that track calories we’ve burned, or how much water our plants need to the most macro analytics companies that can monitor, for instance, the health of entire populations. But there are precious few companies actively working on helping us make sense of all that data. One of them is Tableau, a software company that turns heaps of data into visualizations for the common man: teachers, doctors, journalists, you name it. To make those tools clearer and cleaner, they recently partnered with Stamen Design, to release three new map templates, which anyone can play around with by downloading Tableau’s free software.
READ MORE A Dead-Simple Tool That Lets Anyone Create Interactive Maps | Design | WIRED.
Bee-Inspired Bots Skitter and Swarm at NYCs Museum of Mathematics | Gizmodo
Dr. James McLurkin has a swarm of robots. Individually, theyre not that smart, but a crateful of them behaves in some very complex ways, like the bees that inspired them. Gizmodo got to see the wee machines in action, and while theyre adorable, they represent some serious future bot capabilities.
Dr. McLurkin, a professor of computer science, runs the Multi-Robot Systems Lab at Rice University. He and his team research distributed algorithms for multi-robot systems. In other words, using the combined abilities of several rather simple robots to perform complex tasks. Dr. McLurkin has spent the past three years developing Robot Swarm, an exhibit of his hive-mind bots set to debut at Manhattans Museum of Mathematics in early 2015. This week, Dr. McLurkin gave a sneak preview of the exhibit, and Gizmodo was there.
READ MORE Bee-Inspired Bots Skitter and Swarm at NYCs Museum of Mathematics | Gizmodo
Japan’s New Robot Museum Guides Are All Too Human | Mashable
If you’re searching for the uncanny valley, look no further than the work of Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro. He has been creating humanoid robots for years, and his latest incarnation — which is so realistic its scary — will act as robot guides at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Japan Miraikan.
The museum will welcome three robots, introduced in Japan on Tuesday. There’s the youthful-looking Kodomoroid, the adult female Ontonaroid and the baby-like Telenoid. With the exception of Telenoid, these robots look remarkably lifelike, have eerily expressive faces and are designed, in a limited sense, to move and communicate like real people.
Tools to Help Block Out Online Distractions | Gizmodo
The problem with the web is there’s just so much of it; an endless tide of funny videos, pop quizzes, and social alerts ready to distract you from other, more urgent tasks at hand. We wouldn’t say there’s anything inherently wrong with killing time online, but if you really need to buckle down on an important job then these tools should help.
Overviews of:
- KeepMeOut
- StayFocusd
- LeechBlock
- Cold Turkey
- SelfControl
- TomatoTimer
- Freedom
READ MORE: Tools to Help Block Out Online Distractions | Gizmodo
This Waterproof Kindle Paperwhite Is Humanity’s Greatest Achievement | TechCrunch
Sometimes a device comes so close to being perfect that you’d be forgiven for not realizing that with just a single tweak, it can become, in actual fact, perfect. The Kindle Paperwhite is such a device, as an e-reader that Amazon has crafted so well that you pretty much never need look beyond for anything better. But while a regular book ends up with wrinkly pages after being caught in a surprise downpour on the beach, the Paperwhite fizzles – unless you get the Waterfi-treated Kindle Paperwhite.
The Waterfi version is shipped in the original Kindle packaging without any outward appearance of having been modified. It looks and feels like a Kindle, albeit a slightly heavier version, and interacting with its touchscreen is the same as you’d find with an unmodified version. But because of Waterfi’s special treatment process, its Kindle Paperwhite is completely waterproof – submersible to above 200 feet in either fresh or salt water, for any length of time.
READ MORE: This Waterproof Kindle Paperwhite Is Humanity’s Greatest Achievement | TechCrunch
New Article: “Supporting the Next-Generation ILS: The Changing Roles of Systems Librarians” | LJ INFOdocket
First Paragraph of Abstract:
This paper compares current responsibilities of systems librarians supporting the traditional ILS with anticipated responsibilities associated with supporting the next- generation ILS.
Read more and access a direct link to the journal article: New Article: “Supporting the Next-Generation ILS: The Changing Roles of Systems Librarians” | LJ INFOdocket.
The Largest Makerspace On The Planet Opens In Columbus, Ohio | TechCrunch
Announced as far back as January, the efforts of founder Alex Bandar, COO Casey McCarty and Shop/Production Manger Matt Hatcher have finally come to fruition; the Columbus Idea Foundry — a 65,000 square ft. “makerspace” in the heart of Columbus, Ohio — is open in its brand new location.
READ MORE: The Largest Makerspace On The Planet Opens In Columbus, Ohio | TechCrunch
The Most Important Insights From Mary Meeker’s 2014 Internet Trends Report | TechCrunch
A must-read that’s chock full of critical knowledge. Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker’s data dumps have become a highly anticipated event in the tech industry, as her research helps everyone else level up.
The only problem is that the 2014 Internet Trends report is 164 slides of dense data, so we’ve broken it down into a digestible summary of the most important facts, including a look at whether we’re in a bubble.
READ: The Most Important Insights From Mary Meeker’s 2014 Internet Trends Report | TechCrunch.
Link to the PDF of the presentation.
Glasses-free 3-D projector | MIT News Office
Over the past three years, researchers in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab have steadily refined a design for a glasses-free, multiperspective, 3-D video screen, which they hope could provide a cheaper, more practical alternative to holographic video in the short term.
Read More: Glasses-free 3-D projector | MIT News Office.
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