Another talk from TED, this time from one of the science advisors of the movie Minority Report. He showcases a real world implementation of the hand gesture interface that was made famous in the movie.
LuminAR – Robotic lighting
An interesting take on the future of digital information devices – the LuminAR lamp is a combination smart data projector combined with a robotic arm. Looks like we are a step closer to a Tony Stark home environment!
World Builder
This short film is a nice imagination of the how mental trauma may one day be treated.
The film was produced by Bruce Branit who took one day to shoot the footage, and two years in post production. Given how much time some people spend playing games like World of Warcraft with their extensive landscapes, the building blocks for something like this are already here.
Dial
The trend in concept phones these days is turning retro, which is why we have the “Dial” reminisce the era of the round-dials on phones … A projected light beam in the inner circle impersonates the rotary dial, but to dial a number you need to simply touch it.
Projected keypads/keyboards are nothing new – in fact, you can already purchase virtual keyboards that are nothing more than projected light on a surface already (and from the reviews seem to work quite well). So this conceptual design of a phone is more than plausible … the only question I have, how good is it surfing the Net from that bracelet …. [from Yanko Design]
Mag+
One of the traps of predicting the future is taking our current method of interacting with the world and then simply wrapping in a shinier package. However, the truly ‘game changing’ technology often only comes about when someone redesigns our interaction from scratch – again, often without the unconscious boundaries that current technology impose and that we impose on our own thinking.
This conceptual video is Bonnier R&D’s take on the future experience of digital magazines.
The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories … It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.
Obscura Digital – Visualisers Extraordinaire
Watch any movie set in the future and you will know that fancy interactive user interfaces and colourful data visualisations are almost the definition of ‘the future’. If this is the case, then San Francisco based Obscura Digital is well placed to usher in the future.
The company’s engineers have devised software programs that seamlessly combine images from multiple hi-def projectors, making mathematical corrections to account for irregular screening surfaces (a complex image given a fish-eye tweak, for instance, will look appropriately flat when projected onto a curved wall). The proprietary algorithms that drive these programs allow the team to display virtually any image on any surface — a brick building, a jumbo jet, or the hood and windshield of a new Saturn hybrid — with no distortion. “We’re into the immersive experience. It’s a holodeck kind of thing,” Connolly says, referring to the computer-simulated architecture first imagined in Star Trek.
A particular favourite of mine is the use of projected images to make a car become ‘transparent’ so that we can see the working engine inside. Obscura Digital High Def Projections (Fast Company)
Additional Info
Obscura Digital demo reel
New York iGoogle launch and Obscura Digital projector setup (Youtube)
Mint Plaza building projection (Youtube)
CH2 – Australian 6-Green Star rated building
Built in 2007, CH2 was the first 6-Green Star (world leader) rated building for eco-friendliness. Located in the Melbourne CBD (Australia), it consumes 15% of the electricity and 30% of the water of a conventional office building. It achieves this through numerous features such as recycled wooded louvres that automatically open at night, utilising the thermal mass of the building, 13m ‘shower towers’ to cool the air, maximising natural light and sewerage mining and water harvesting.
CH2 – Main information page
Guided video tour of CH2 (Youtube)
Microsoft Future Vision
This beautifully produced six minute video ties together many of the current ‘future’ topics into one continuous gadget filled vision of the future. The video concepts were created by Microsoft and the actual video was produced by Oh, Hello.