Internet of Things  

In his latest Shot of Awe, Jason Silva looks at the Internet of Things, and why it is such an important development.

In his new book, Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things, David Rose of MIT's Media Lab says we are now standing at the precipice of the next transformative technological development: the Internet of Things (IoT).

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IoT is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure.

Soon, connected technology will be embedded in hundreds of everyday objects we already use: our cars, wallets, watches, umbrellas, even our trash cans. These objects will respond to our needs, come to know us, and learn to think on our behalf.

The Ambient Umbrella is a concept example of IoT technology.

"When those tools and aids start dovetailing back — when our technologies actively, automatically, and continually tailor themselves to us, just as we do to them — then the line between tool and user becomes flimsy indeed." - Andy Clark

As techno-philosopher Jason Silva describes in the video above, Internet of Things technology will be woven into the background of our environment, enhancing human relationships and channeling desires for omniscience, long life, and creative expression. The enchanted objects of fairy tales and science fiction will enter real life.

"When everything becomes linked with everything else, matter becomes mind," according to Eric Davis.

Picking up on the more philosophical or design sense of the IoT, Silva and Rose (who is also featured in the video below), show that the future of the Internet is going to be less about dealing with black boxes with pixels like smartphones and laptops, and more about every object we deal with.

Importantly, Rose points out that the Internet of Things will also be about increasing and aiding social interaction, not like Google Glass and other wearables.



SOURCE  Shots of Awe

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 Networks  

Modern stock market trading networks and systems have become so fast that the speed of light is now their key limiting factor. Alex Wissner-Gross has determined how high frequency trading may best overcome this hurdle.

The performance of a wide variety of globally-distributed online activities is increasingly limited by the finite speed of light. Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross recently introduced technology for partially mitigating the impact of this limitation on the coordination of geographically distributed activities, such as virtual worlds, currency exchanges, telepresence, and remote surgery.

His solution involves positioning computer servers in optimal intermediate locations such as oceans and other network-sparse regions, opening the possibility of geographic remoteness becoming a new form of natural resource for developing countries in the next decade.

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According to Wissner-Gross, networks can use intermediate level networks, just as the body uses reflex arcs.  Such is the case when your hand touches a hot surface; the neural signals do not travel all the way to the brain and back to tell you to lift your arm, the nerves process and act to some degree on their own.

In particular, Wissner-Gross applied this problem to high frequency securities trading. Below is his map outlining where optimal trading node locations should be placed (in blue) to conduct trades at the various global exchanges (in red). He calls these nodes, "global reflex arcs."

Previously discussing this research, Wissner-Gross commented, “I see this work as one possible justification for making the entire surface of the planet more computationally capable… and in effect, making the whole planet smarter.”

Image Source - Wissner-Gross

Wissner-Gross is an award-winning scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He serves as an Institute Fellow at the Harvard University Institute for Applied Computational Science and as a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Laboratory.

SOURCE  TEDx Talks

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 Gadgets  

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab and the Max Planck Institutes have created a foldable, cuttable multi-touch sensor that works even when you cut it, allowing multi-touch input in a wide variety of configurations.

Conventional electronic components and devices cannot be cut to customize their size and shape in an ad-hoc manner. Rigid substrates are hard to cut, components are too expensive to be discarded and cutting irreversibly damages the electronic circuits.

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In contrast, people have always cut traditional materials like fabric wood and leather to tailor them to their specific needs. At home, people wrap packages with material, which is cut to shape; they cut protective films to cover books and devices of various sizes; and they create artistic shapes in paper crafts.

Now, a team of researchers has developed printed electronic components and devices can easily be tailored to a custom shape and size by cutting. This is possible because substrates are very thin and flexible, and printouts are cheap.

So far other printed devices have adopted mainly the circuit designs from conventional electronics.  The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and the MIT Media Lab have created new patterns for the printed circuits that allow the electronics to work even after they are cut.

The team of Simon Olberding, Nan-Wei Gong, John Tiab, Joseph A. Paradiso and Jürgen Steimle write in their paper:

Our vision is that printed sensors will be so inexpensive that multi-touch sensing capability will become an inherent part of the material. For instance, manufacturers of protective foils will offer a product line that features multi-touch sensing. Paper manufacturers will offer paper, cardboard or adhesive labels, which have the printed multi-touch sensor embedded. Manufacturers of wooden boards will offer boards that feature the sensor. The user buys the material in one of several standard sizes and then cuts it to the desired size and shape, using tools such as scissors, razors, saws, or laser cutters. This very direct physical manipulation seamlessly integrates with existing practices for customization, prototyping and crafting.

They made their proof-of-concept prototypes with conductive inkjet printing. In contrast to larger-scale roll-toroll processing, this allowed the researchers to easily experiment with different designs without a complex setup. They used silver ink to print conductive traces and electrodes on photo paper using an off-the-shelf inkjet printer.

The circuit layouts used in the printed sheets were inspired by topology and coding theory. To test their concepts, the researchers created multi-touch sensing devices with their methods.  Makers are sure to adopt this new method before it hits the mainstream.

Future work will address other printed components and devices, including active ones, and show how these can be made robust for desired shape adaptations and against undesired damages.

SOURCE  Embodied Interaction

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 Artificial Intelligence  

In 2010, Sam Spaulding appeared on the popular game show Jeopardy! four times and won 2nd place in the Jeopardy! College Championship. This experience allowed him to reflect on how, three months later, IBM's Watson dominated the game and announced to the world that artificial intelligence is dramatically changing our world.

Sam Spaulding recently finished hi final year of undergraduate study at Yale University, where he received a B.S. in Computer Science with distinction. His coursework mainly focused on A.I., Robotics, Machine Learning, and Cognitive Science.

At Yale, he worked with Professor Brian Scassellati in the Yale Social Robotics Lab. and spent summers working at Amazon.com and at Disney Research with Senior Research Scientist Jonathan Yedidia.

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In 2010, he appeared on the popular game show Jeopardy! four times and won 2nd place in the Jeopardy! College Championship.

This experience allowed him to reflect on how, three months later, IBM's Watson dominated the game and announced to the world that artificial intelligence is dramatically changing our world.

In the Fall, Spaulding will be starting graduate school with the Personal Robots group at the MIT Media Lab.


SOURCE  TEDx Talks

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