An increasing number of businesses are promoting themselves through
Google Street View, allowing potential customers to virtually look
around inside their shops. Getting the 360-degree photos of that
business can be a tricky and complex process, however. That's why NCTech
is launching the iris360 Immersive Reality Imaging System, which is
designed to let novices get their own photos and upload them to Google
If a parking space is tight, it's helpful to have a friend guide you in from the sidewalk. To demonstrate the parking sensor technology of the Fiat 500, marketing agency Leo Burnett designed a video billboard that acts as that helpful friend. Sensors are used to gauge a car's location in relation to parked vehicles and Human Parking Aid onscreen helpers show how much room for maneuver the driver has.
An interactive façade is to be wrapped around the south-east corner of a building at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD) in Toronto. Its design is based on mapping data from the local area. Passers-by will be able to read information embedded in the façade by photographing it.
If robots are ever going to interact with us on a daily basis, then it's important that they know what sort of emotions we're expressing. While some already use computer vision systems
to do so, Korean scientists have developed what they say is a simpler and more precise technology – users just have to be willing to stick something on their face.
NASA has released a browser-based application that allows citizen scientists to explore the surface of the asteroid Vesta. The 3D model was created from data harvested by the agency's Dawn spacecraft over the course of its year-long stay in orbit around the asteroid between July 2011 and September 2012. The application allows users a rare opportunity to make detailed observations of one of the lesser-known bodies in our solar system in an engaging, easy-to-use format.
We've already seen interactive technologies that create smells
or tactile sensations
on command. Now, however, British scientists have developed a system that they claim can be used to make users experience specific emotions
– and it does so without even touching the person.
Riding a stationary bicycle trainer can be boring, which is why Zwift
were created. Both systems feature first-person videos of computer-animated cycling routes, that the user interacts with as they're cycling on the accompanying trainer. Now, Spain's Bkool has entered the picture. It's much like the other systems, although along with offering thousands of pre-made videos of real-world roads, it's also able to render them from scratch as the cyclist is riding.
If you've visited a trade show or children's museum lately, chances are you've seen an interactive, motion-sensitive exhibit projected onto a wall or floor. Lumo is the at-home version of this technology, developed by technologists Meghan Athavale and Curtis Wachs who began creating interactive environments for commercial settings. Seeing a demand for a cheaper and more user-friendly version of their product for interactive gaming at home, they're launching an Indiegogo campaign to fund the continued development of Lumo.
Robots and other mechanical beings are cropping up in the most unexpected places. Case in point: Pay a visit to the Institute for Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and you'll find yourself greeted in the lobby by a human mechanical surrogate
. Operated by a human in a remote location, the surrogate is not intended to put Walmart greeters out of a job, but is part of a program by the Office of naval research (ONR) to create robots, avatars, and animatronic surrogates for military training.
Google may be dominant in the battle of the search engines, but its ever-evolving page rank algorithm and straightforward list of results don't always get you the information you want – especially when you're not sure precisely what keywords to use. Now researchers at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) have developed a new alternative called SciNet that uses information visualization to help you dig through related terms in narrowing down a search. Its creators claim that it outperforms conventional search user interfaces in finding information in an academic database.