Being all eyes ...

We knew already that cameras are getting smaller and smaller and cheaper and cheaper. It was, therefore, somewhat expected that eventually cameras would play a significant role in our culture. That there would be a time, where we could record everything that was going on around us - possibly skipping our mind in an instance - in order to play it back in the evening; for ourselves or others. Now, researchers at MIT went even further: A camera-like fabric, which would allow for surround-image capturing through your clothes: MIT develops camera-like fabric | Underexposed - CNET News. Combine this with recent developments in flexible display clothing (http://www.gizmag.com/go/3043/) and what do you get? ..... Cloaking! If the display on your back shows what the camera on your front sees, you become see-through. Can't wait. I was always a great proponent of transparency ...

Robot with a tender touch

So far, most robot applications insisted to be 'hands-off' due to the overarching concern of people getting hurt from a robots clumsiness and rigidness. However, there are many applications - from hospital patient management to elderly care, where some hand-on robot-human interaction will be required. Here now one first attempt to tame the beast. We'll probably have to wait a long time before that makes it through FDA approval, though ...

Guide robot steers with a tender touch - tech - 12 January 2009 - New Scientist

AI-based virtual agent for call centers lowers costs, improves caller experience

It seems as if the work that DFKI in Germany with their Persona work almost 20 years ago and others (like Patti Maes) working on Autonomous Intelligent Software Bots finally made it into the mainstream. And it's a killer application! Call centers are at the forefront of any consumer experience with a service-oriented large business. And we probably have all our stories to share of waiting for hours on the line to talk to a human being in order just to get very uniformed and generalized answers. Here now might be solution to the problem. With these autonomous AI bots, theoretically no wait is necessary anymore and - due to the bots ability to instantly access, correlate and process much large amounts of personal and other information, it might actually be able to give better, more personalized and context-relevant advice.
So - if suddenly you you have a drastically improved consumer experience with a call center - there might be a bot talking to you ....

http://www.kurzweilai.net/news/frame.html?main=news_single.html?id%3D9980

She-3PO: Canadian Inventor builds 'perfect woman' robot

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2023392.ece

I guess the motivation is questionable. However, it shows that robotic companions are not so far out in the future. And the more human those robotic companions can behave and communicate, the more intuitive the human-robot interaction will be, thus eliminating the need for extensive training or manual reading and giving a broader public access to such anthropomorphic computing interfaces.

Clothing with a brain: 'Smart fabrics' that monitor health

Miguel Encarnacao wants to recommend to you:

Clothing with a brain: 'Smart fabrics' that monitor health
http://www.physorg.com/news147928092.html

Location-based sensors (GPS and alike) and sensors to measure daily activity (such as from Nike) were a good first step to capture one's just-in-time context. But with those 'Smart Fabrics' we will finally be able to know what people really need in every situation, rather than having to infer it from a few data points and other contextual information. WIll be huge in the prevention of catastrophic medical events (such as stroke or heart attacks) but even more in giving just-in-time personalized advice on how to optimize ones wellness. Can't wait to get into those clothes ...

The Dynamics of Viral Information Dissemination in Social Networks

Researchers from Carnegie Mellen, U. Michigan and HP Labs have done some interesting research on how purchasing behavior spreads by means of recommendations through online retail social networks such as Amazon and came up with some very interesting and partly counter-intuitive outcomes. An insightful read for people interested in using online social network dynamics to influence people's real world behavior.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~jure/pubs/viral-ec06.pdf

Mapping your life's information

Mapping your life's information in a way that is meaningful to you is an important aspect of making it actionable. Then it becomes a tool for communication, analysis and reflection rather than an enchilada of data.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16108-invention-personal-life-mapper.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news