This is the future that Google and a growing group of investors see as the potential next generation of computing. A contextual, post-desktop world where human-computer interaction and access to information is thoroughly integrated into everyday objects and activities. This is a future where you are the center of a ubiquitous computing experience. No longer is a device merely a smart object in your pocket. Instead it’s a cognitive prosthesis, an extension to you, enabling a computing environment where each experience is uniquely tailored to your preferences, habits and personality. Does this sound like science fiction? It may not be thanks to Google’s new wearable computer called “Google Glass.”
The idea of a wearable Heads-Up Display that enables an augmented reality is not a new one. But recently, a few factors have converged to make this type of device much more feasible for the broader consumer market. First, and possibly most importantly, are the economies of scale brought about by the rise of smart phones. The massive volume of smart phones being manufactured and shipped have lowered the costs and size associated with the components needed for the wholesale manufacture of these devices. Combined with the acceptance of a mobile and always-connected world, wearable computing has reached a point where it may no longer be viewed as a strange and futuristic concept.
Along with the rise of various web-connected devices, we have become accustomed to augmenting our reality with various forms of real-time information. Today, most people carry a mobile device with them at all times. The next generation of wearable devices is looking to take our computing experience to the next level. These devices are less about being a smart accessory and more about the collection and display of contextual information. Where the location and specifics of a users ever-changing environment directly effects how we experience the world around us. This new generation of wearable devices, like Google Glass, may help to redefine the rules and inter-relationships between ‘The Network of Things’ by combining with the local processing of information with the instant use of a global cloud of computing resources readily available to instantly make sense out of it all.
Taking the concept a step further, with technology from companies like Toronto based InteraXon, your translated brainwaves may soon be the only thing required to control anything electric. The company’s Muse headset measures your brainwaves in real-time, sending those brainwaves to your smart phone or tablet showing you how well your brain is performing. The technology translates your brainwaves into instructions to interact with content on your iOS or Android device. InteraXon says its technology makes the experience so seamless that it seems like an extension of your own body. Now imagine for a moment, Google Glass combined with this type of mind control technology? You think, how many nails in that fence? You instantly know, 1200. How many rooms in that hotel? 322. When’s the next train? In 5 minutes.
For some, the idea of our cybernetic future where technology is directly integrated into our very being is too much to consider. But, let’s consider for a moment that human integrated technology of various types is already common. From heart pacemakers to insulin pumps, contact lenses, hearing aids, and intraocular lenses, humans are already being fitted with technology to enhance their biological capabilities and have been for a while. But for the most part, these modifications are as cybernetic as using a pen or having a wooden leg and, further, they are generally not connected to anything beyond our bodies. Adding network connectivity into the mix greatly increases the potential of the technology and could form the basis of a new level human / computer interaction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment