A few weeks back, I wrote an article about Amazing Human-Computer Interfaces, which included a plethora of videos showing off some of these cool technologies.

Today, I ran across a guy (Randy Jones) who did a DIY version of a multi-touch interface.  He uses it to play music, and shows off how it works in the below video.  It's got a much higher sample rate than most, and is pretty impressive as it identifies where your fingers are located...as WELL as how hard they're being pressed!

Check out this cool video below...

More information about this prototype can be found here.

This is one of those videos that compares how things used to be, how they are now, and where they're going...

This is one of those videos that staggers the mind with sheer numbers... 

This is one of those videos that can make you feel a little old... (but it's great to know we're living through such an accelerated time)

This video has a slight bent on technology, and I think you should watch it!

...is a big fat Laser TV.  Is that too much to ask?

First a little info about LaserTV...  The light source is, you guessed it, lasers.  What benefit does this provide us?

• Twice the color (TWICE).
• 135W power consumption.  1/3rd the power consumption of LCD, 1/4th of Plasma.
• Less than 12" deep (for a rear-projection...amazing).
• Laser light source expected to exceed the life of the TV itself.
• 160 degree viewing angle, similar to LCD and Plasma.
• 57.7 x 12.5 x 39.8 inches ; 136.4 pounds (lighter than LCD and Plasma).
• 65" screen size, 73" to be released soon.

Mitsubishi released their first product a few months back, and it's got some pretty raving reviews.  Picture quality is the bottom line, and it's apparently blowing away LCD and Plasma.  At the moment, they've got a corner on the market...and it shows.  The price?  $6,999.  Yep.  Not cheap...yet...but I'm hopeful...!

Some links for you regarding the TV:

• LaserVue (Mitsubishi) website.
• Product Page for the 65" LaserVue TV.
• Buy (me) the L65-A90 at Amazon.
• Google Search on LaserTV!  There's a wealth of information out there.

If you're well off enough to purchase one, see if you can't squeeze in another for me!  <grin>

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year...Cheers!

So I had a pretty good weekend, and figured I'd share...

Got to hang with my dog, friends, family, more friends, Goddaughter, dog, saw a great sunset, and was allowed the hysterical opportunity to see my Goddaughter laugh for the first time (first time for me, that is...fourth time for her).  There are few laughs more contagious than that of a child who's just learned how to!

I did wait for what looked like the sky getting ready to explode on Saturday, but it never did...surprisingly.  Apparently it waited until today, Monday, with...you know...traffic, to unload itself on far too many drivers who have far too little idea of how to drive in it.  <chuckle> 

All in all, a great w'end!  Now I get to dust off some of my coding skills from a few years back at work...  Should be fun!

Here's a few (crappy cell phone) photos for your viewing pleasure...

The Dog, a Tree, a TV, not my house.
 

A nice sunset in Cardiff

The Goddaughter, taking a breather after a gigglefest.

The "impending storm of doom" lurking outside my office window today has postponed my hike with the dog.  So, I decided to hibernate for a bit and do another quick list of interesting links...

1. This is slightly older news (story broke a month or so ago) but I found it timely, as I've been semi-in-the-market for a new TV.  3 Flat-Screen Makers Plead Guilty to Trying to Keep Prices High.  LG, Sharp, and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (who?) pleaded guilty to charges of price fixing and will pay $585 Million in penalties.  Tell ya one thing, when I buy...it won't be from these guys.  Can't wait for the price drop!
2. DNA Strands Become Fibre Optic Cables.  In an amazing technology breakthrough, scientists have been able to pass light through DNA strands.  The technological ramifications of something like this are astounding.  When they figure it all out (likely many years from now), it will dramatically reduce the size of computing systems while increasing speeds. 
3. Forget having to learn to use your ESP powers to read another person's mind, Japanese researchers may be doing it with technology!  Yet another amazing breakthrough...these guys supposedly had users focus on block letters in the form of the word "N E U R O N" and were able to extract and decipher that using sensors and computing power.  From what I understand, this focused mostly what was being presented through the visual cortex (not memory, technically) but it's a pretty amazing first start.
4. I got a new Lenovo T400 laptop for work this week, to replace the HP with more hardware issues than I can count.  At first glance, it seems like a nice system.  Not flashy in any way, but the insides are what really matters.  I'm most interested to see if I can really pull 9 hours of battery life as advertised...  I'll likely do a review of some kind once I've had a little time with it.
5. Finally, this is some cool technology (that can be used today).  For the woodworker in you, save your fingers!  The SawStop, an amazing piece of technology that will literally stop a table saw blade in it's tracks before it takes your finger off.  Check out this video below (taken from a pretty cool show called TimeWarp).  Awesome stuff.

Image Courtesy: SouthPark

Another installment of some cool links and do-dads I've gathered over the past few weeks.

• Gary Vaynerchuck and Maynard James Keenan.  Know either of those names?  I'm impressed if you know one...if you know both, you're a rock star.  Gary is the Director of Operations for WineLibrary and energetically hosts a great video podcast WineLibrary.TV.  Maynard, on the other hand, is the lead singer for Tool.  What in the world do these two have in common?  Wine.  Believe it.  Check out the latest video podcast here.  
  
  
• Amazon iPhone Application - Really, I'm not thoroughly impressed with the interface.  Mainly because I can't just *browse*.  I have to search for specific items.  Pretty boring way to shop...considering the categories and many other things I *could* be using.  You do get to browse by category, but only after you search for a product.  Nice, but...really?  However...!  There is one fun part to this...and it's call the "Remembers".  Take a photo of something...a game, a toy, a book, anything.  The application will send it to Amazon and a human will actually find it for you.  I took a photo of a video game box I had laying around, and I was given a link (within the application and via email) to the product within 2 minutes.  Pretty cool way to shop.  I'd probably rate this a 3 out of 5 stars...once they get some better navigation in place, it'd be a higher rank.  For free, it's pretty cool though.  Here's a link to the Amazon app.  Photos below... 
  
   
  

• FailBlog on your iPhone.  If you haven't checked out FailBlog, you need to spend a few minutes there.  If you're into it, you'll realize a few hours have gone by and your face hurts.  If you're not into it, you might want to have your funny bone checked.  Regardless, a new iPhone application called "I can has cheezburger" (if you don't know...look it up) has been released.  There are a bunch of websites available to peruse, but FailBlog is really the only one I give a look regularly.  Here's the link to the FailBlog app.  Need a sample?  Here's a photo...
  
  
  

• Finally, I leave you with one of the strangest advertisements I've seen in a while.  (Eda)mommy-mommy-mommy!  If someone is getting rich off this, I'm in the wrong business.
  
  

Images Courtesy: SouthPark, FailBlog, my iPhone