Positive Technology Journal

Via Repubblica

Canadian design student Geof Ramsay has invented a MP3 player for unborn babies - the "BLABY". By wearing the device, pregnant mothers will be able to play their favourite music to their children. The player consists of a contoured belt that wraps around a mother's waist with three inbuilt vibration speakers playing music into the womb. Its inbuilt speakers transmit the vibrations of music and voice through to the baby in a safe manner, and the mother wearing it can also benefit from three tiny massage mechanisms.

The company Violet (best known for the Nabaztag) has invented the "Violet Mirror", a RFID chip reader that can be connected to the PC. The RFID can be attached to any object and scripted to trigger applications and multimedia content automatically or communicate over the Internet.

This is a usage scenario described in the product's website:

"8:40 am – you’re getting ready to leave home. On your desk, next to your computer, a halo of light is quietly pulsating. You swiftly flash your car keys at this mysterious device. A voice speaks out: "today, rain 14°C". The voice continues: "you will get there in 15 minutes". Your computer screen displays an image from the webcam located along the route you’re planning to travel, while the voice reads out your horoscope for the day. At the same moment, your friends can see your social network profile update to "It’s 8:40, I’m leaving the house". At the office, your favourite colleague receives an email to say that you won’t be long. And finally, just as you walk through the door, your computer locks.

You personally "scripted" this morning’s scenario: you decided to give your car keys all these powers, because the time you pick them up signals the fact you’re soon going to leave the house.

What if you could obtain information, access services, communicate with the world, play or have fun just by showing things to a mirror, a Mir:ror which, as if by magic, could make all your everyday objects come alive, and connect them to the Internet’s endless wealth of possibilities?

Mir:ror is as simple to use as looking in the mirror - it gives access to information or triggers actions with disarming ease: simply place an object near to its surface. Mir:ror is a power conferred upon each of us to easily program the most ordinary of objects. The revolution of the Internet of Things suddenly becomes a simple, obvious, daily reality that’s within anyone’s reach."

Watch the video

Stanford’s students have developed a number of interesting applications for the iPhone. Most of them are now available here

My favourite application is "Stress Bust", created by Greg Wientjes, a relaxing tool which provides a video of soothing ocean waves. A guiding voice assists the user in relaxing through a progressive muscle squeezing up through the body.

The complete list of iPhone apps is below (credits: TechCrunch).

Qingwen - Karan Misra

Qingwen is an extremely focused and streamlined Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionary designed with the Chinese reader in mind. Lookup is meant to be fast and easy. There is just one search field which accepts anything you throw at it- Chinese characters, Pinyin, and English - and figures out the most relevant results. Since Qingwen is meant for students of Chinese, you can also easily add words to word lists for future reference and discover relationship between characters by seeing which other words they occur in and which other characters have similar sounds.

Qingwen uses a modified version of CC-CEDICT as its dictionary. Free.

Air Guitar - James Anthony and Edward Marks

Air Guitar provides all the fun of rocking out with none of the talent or commitment required to play a real instrument. Unlike other guitar apps, Air Guitar uses the built-in accelerometer to let you really rock: with your iPhone or iPod touch in hand, just start strumming away at your imaginary axe. $1.99

HaveASec - Nafis Jamal and Andrew He

Do you HaveASec? If so, this is the perfect application for you. You can quickly create a short survey or poll to send out to your friends. You can also ask a public poll to see what our users think. Friends don’t have an iPhone? No problem! We have a fully functional web interface for all mobile phones and computers. Free

iDiscover - Paul Wilson and Nafis Jamal

Do you have a second? Want to read an article of interest to you but don’t have the time to find it? How about a new video to kill some time on the train? Or, what about checking out a new application that isn’t on the Top 25 list? iDiscover lets you easily discover new articles, videos, and applications customized to your interests. You and your friends can also easily share these articles, videos, and applications that you enjoy with each other. Free.

Site Saver - Vikram Oberoi

Site Saver allows you to save websites locally on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Save online references to train schedules, recipes, or product reviews to your device for quick access on the go, or keep your daily fix of online articles just a tap away! $2.99, pending App Store approval.

Abodi - Keyan Salari

Abodi allows you to search listings on Craigslist and save your favorite results for viewing access on the go. You can call or email the ad poster, map out the locations of rental/sale properties and even take notes and photos of the properties you visit. Abodi knows where you are located using the iPhone’s GPS technology, so you can find or rank listings by their distance to your current location or other points of interest! Free, to be submitted by 01/26/09

Heydar - Mark Kieling, Shahryar Khan, Matthew Pease, and Matthew Lawyer

Heydar is a fun new way to meet people. Get started by taking your own headshot. Then view headshots of nearby Heydar users. Tap “Hey” if you find someone attractive. Don’t worry… they will only find out you tapped them if they also tap you. What you decide to do next is up to you… Free, pending App Store approval.

One of the thing I hate most about living in a big city is the noise from road traffic. The most disturbing types of noise for me are (in order of irritation):

1) motorbike noise

2) emergency noise

3) noise from construction/demolition activites

In addition of being very unpleasant and harmful for our hearing system, noise can have negative impact on general health. For example, Swedish researchers have found that the exposure to even relatively low levels of noise may increase increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and high blood pressure.

Even though we are accustomed to this background noise, we should at least be aware of how dangerous it is. Guys at WideTag have developed an iPhone/iPod touch application - WideNoise - that allows to monitor the noise level in the space surrounding the user. The noise data are collected and displayed on an online map. I think that this application could be also used by employers to monitor workplace noise.

Good job guys!

Via Textually.org

NeuroSky Inc, a venture company based in San Jose, Calif, prototyped a system that reads brain waves with a sensor and uses them for mobile phone applications.

Software algorithms try to deduce from your brainwaves what you are thinking and pass on the appropriate commands to the cell phone.

'Fusion Man', aka Yves Rossy, flies with a jet-powered single wing over the Alps in Bex, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 14, 2008.

An ancient dream comes true...

(AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

http://wtop.com/?nid=218&sid=634384&pid=0

Via Sentient Developments

EE Times Europe (01/03/2008 8:30 AM EST)

LONDON — Sales of portable navigation devices are set to increase ten-fold over the next eight years, with the huge take-up coming from the the GPS functionality being embedded into mobile phones, according to Telematics Research Group (TRG).
While Garmin and TomTom are predicted to remain global market leaders for portable navigation devices, mobile phone makers such as Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to show the way in the near future, the Minneapolis based market research group suggests in a report on the sector.
TRG sees the worldwide portable navigation market growing from 50 million units in 2007 to more than 500 million units in 2015.
It suggests the change in market leadership is partly due to wireless connectivity opening up new applications and services by bringing together accurate location-based data with advanced POI data including pricing, inventory and user-generated content such as ratings of local businesses.
TRG estimates 30 million dedicated Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) were sold last year and about 20 million navigation-enabled mobile phones. It estimates that navigation-enabled mobile phones will start outselling dedicated PNDs next year, with the combined segments reaching annual sales of more than 220 million by the end of 2012.
The market researchers suggest that by 2015, Nokia could be selling 180 million devices with GPS capability, followed by Samsung and Motorola (both 70 million), LG (60 million), and TomTom and Garmin both 25 million.
Corresponding figures for last year are said to be 9 million units sold by TomTom, 8 million by Garmin, 7 million by Mitac, 5 million by Nokia and 4 million by Mio/Navman.
"In the years to come navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services," says Egil Juliussen, principal analyst for TRG. "This opens up a new world of services and capabilities".
Recent acquisitions by TomTom and Nokia point the way toward the coming battle for the GPS consumer, according to Juliussen.
"Required for success in the GPS market of the future will be connectivity, inexpensive maps and rich point-of-interest content addresses alone will not be enough", he adds.
Garmin and TomTom are adding connectivity to their devices, he notes, and mobile phone makers are adding maps. "A large volume market for inexpensive, dedicated navigation devices will live on past 2008," Juliussen says, but survival for TomTom and Garmin may mean finding a way to compete for smartphone users.

Via Medgadget

Via Engadget

Vodafone InsideOut service allows interaction between characters in the vast virtual world Second Life and real, actual phones (you know, like in the real world) operated by Voda. Both voice calls and text messages can be ferried in and out of the game, with SMSes running a cool L$300 (which we think is somewhere around $1) and voice calls running L$300 per minute. Calls and messages placed to Second Life, though, are billed at the same rate as they would be to a traditional German phone (it seems Voda’s pool of InsideOut numbers are based in of Deutschland at the moment). Through the end of November, InsideOut’s still operating in a beta mode so it’s all free to try out, but keep in mind that Voda’s customer support won’t be able to bail you out — cue Matrix reference — if you’re having trouble getting to a hardline.

Via Textually.org

Vodafone offers a new service called "InsideOut" that allows interaction between characters in Second Life and real phones.

"Both voice calls and text messages can be ferried in and out of the game, with SMSes running a cool L$300 (around $1) and voice calls running L$300 per minute.

Calls and messages placed to Second Life, though, are billed at the same rate as they would be to a traditional German phone."

researchers at Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) have developed a mobile application, called Magitti, that uses a combination of cues - including the time of day, a person's location, her past behaviors, and even her text messages - to infer her interests. It then shows a helpful list of suggestions, including concerts, movies, bookstores, and restaurants

http://www.news.com/2300-1039_3-6210534-1.html

TIME magazine has named the iPhone "Invention of the Year."

Via Pink Tentacle

The Teleglass T4-N wearable monitor weighs 30 grams and features titanium frames by eyeglass designer Kazuo Kawasaki. The device supports any NTSC-capable video player (including iPods) and delivers images directly to the eye via a pair of tiny monitors tucked away behind the lenses. The 640 x 480 screen resolution at close proximity simulates the effect of watching a 45-inch screen from 2 meters (6 feet) away.

500 sets are available through the Scalar website, where they sell for 134,400 yen ($1,150) each.

Via Textually.org

a Bang & Olufsen's music phone, called Serenata.

"The phone can store up to 1,000 MP3 tracks in its 4GB, plus 25MB of memory, and can handle AAC and WMA audio tracks too. The phone's high resolution also enables it to display album artwork, B&O says."

As with any Bang & Olufsen product, style is the watchword here. Inhouse designer David Lewis said his inspiration came from the smooth pebbles he used to see on seaside walks as a child. The result is a smooth, horseshoe-shaped phone with a clickwheel at the top. This is paired with a 'sensi-touch' 2.4-inch colour screen below."

Link 

Via Mobile Technology 

The Quebec-based company Myca has launched a new website that allows users with camera-equipped mobile phones to snap pictures of their meals, send directly to the nutritionist, and get instant feedback. The cost of the service is $10 per month. 

Via Textually.org

Trusted Reviews reveals some new details about the PlayStation branded Sony Ericsson mobile phone

   

 

MORANGE is a mobile application software that works on J2ME MIDP2.0 phones. It provides a number of features, including push email, mobile social network, remote desktop access, push RSS, instant messaging, and even remote camera access from mobile - users can instantly view IP/WIFI cameras or Webcams, directly from their mobile device

It supports any Internet protocol (IP)-based wireless data networks, such as GPRS, CDMA, 3G and WIFI (802.11) and the upcoming WiMAX.

check it out

Via Textually.org (Gizmodo)

"a cellphone concept design by Peter Lau enables blind users to easily dial numbers and make calls. It doesn't rely on Braille, but instead has differently angled keys that users can learn to recognize".

Microvision announced that they have signed an agreement with Motorola to put their PicoP projector into future Motorola products. The PicoP is an ultra-miniature laser based display that enables a "big screen" viewing experience from mobile devices.

By projecting content displayed on the device screen onto a wall, object or even a curved surface, mobile users could easily share Websites or multimedia applications such as movies, personal videos, mobile TV, photographs and presentations with friends or business colleagues.

Press Release [Microvision]