Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen a couple of prototypes that enable or at least emulate touch-sensitivity on everyday objects. But as wearable technology continues to flourish, we’re going to need a simple and portable solution. Augmented reality company Metaio thinks they may have an answer with Thermal Touch, a technology that emulates touch-sensitivity using “the heat signature left by a person’s finger when touching a surface.”

Right now the hardware needed to pull off the feat is quite bulky. In the demo video below, Metaio used a tablet, a standard camera and a rather large infrared camera. The company hopes that in the future, all of the necessary hardware can be included in a wearable device similar to Google Glass, like so:

Here’s the demo video:

Sorry zombies, I guess you’ll be stuck with voice commands. Good luck with that.

[Metaio via TechCrunch]

I’ve been driving around a Super Motard motorcycle for the last six months, and let me tell you, it’s extremely loud, so loud that my neighbors have asked me to start it outside the courtyard where it’s usually parked. One friend said that it sounded like my bike had eaten another one for breakfast. While all this racket is a fun part of having a motorcycle, you can imagine how this would be problematic for military motorcycles.

Note: Bike Shown Here is an Earlier Design by ZERO Motorcycles

With that in mind, DARPA has commissioned the development of a stealth motorcycle, which would allow soldiers to ride for long periods of time without emitting much noise. The bike, would use an extended-range hybrid-electric engine, and will be built by BRD and Logos Technologies. In addition to its stealthy operating capabilities, the bike will have all-wheel drive to help tackle difficult terrain.

Electric and hybrid bikes also make sense for commuters, especially in city traffic. Switching over to electric drive would mean no shifting and reduced noise, and of course lower fuel costs. Also, I’d probably not get any complaints from neighbors either.

[DefenseTech via The Verge]

Just because virtual reality displays let us interact with 3D interfaces doesn’t mean there isn’t room for the ol’ two-dimensional view inside of them. Oliver Kreylos, a developer who’s been working with 3D software for nearly 30 years, recently demonstrated a Virtual Network Computing (VNC) client that sends a 2D feed of a desktop computer to a 3D virtual reality environment.

Oliver’s VNC client allows him to open and interact with any number of 2D desktops on a virtual reality environment. Why would you want to do this? Well for one, you can reverse telecommute: imagine working in an island paradise environment while you’re actually in the office. Because you can (theoretically) open multiple desktops at once, the setup also supercharges multitasking and group meetings. You can watch a video walkthrough while playing a 3D game, look at a hundred fullscreen documents at once, have multiple large video chat screens like they do in science fiction flicks and more.

As you’ll see in Oliver’s demo video, developers can also make 2D applications that interact with the 3D environment. In his demo he measured a table that was in his virtual space and then used a Razer Hydra to send those measurements to Microsoft Excel on his 2D desktop.

We really don’t know how far the rabbit hole goes with this one. Note that the video below may cause dizziness because of the constant change in perspective. It almost made me throw up to be honest. I’m ill-equipped for the future.

Head to Oliver’s blog for more on his custom program. I wonder if you can emulate this feature on the same computer that’s running the VR environment. That would be more useful, although it would probably take a beefy computer to pull it off. Also, watching Oliver’s demo, I can almost – almost! – visualize a four-dimensional space, where you can fit infinite 3D environments. Now I’m really dizzy.

[via Fast Co. Design]

Wearable technology is just about to take off, but we can already take a peek at what’s coming after smartwatches and the like. A team of engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have made health monitors in the form of stick-on electronic patches.

The development of the patch was led by professors John A. Rogers and Yonggang Huang. Prof. Rogers was already working on electronics that can be applied directly onto human skin like a temporary tattoo, i.e. no patch base needed. But he went ahead with the patch platform because it allows for the use of commercially available – and therefore cheap and abundant – components, as opposed to the tattoo-like electronics that needed custom capacitors, batteries and other parts.

One of the crucial aspect of the engineers’ patch is the origami-like arrangement of the wires connecting the components, which allows for the patch to be bent without damaging the chips.

The engineers believe that stick-on electronics will make it easier to gather patient data. They also think it will lead to more accurate fitness trackers, and even health monitoring devices that can detect clues about the wearer’s condition even before he or she feels sick. Stick a browser to your face and head to the University of Illinois’ News page for more on this amazing invention.

[via Fast Co. Design]

Facebook is sitting on boatloads of money and the company isn’t afraid to use some of that cash to buy up companies that have interesting tech. Such is the case with a new purchase that sees Facebook buying up Oculus VR, the company behind the slick Oculus Rift VR headset. The purchase reportedly cost Facebook $2 billion (USD).

Many people think the buyout is a bad thing because Facebook is Facebook, and also because selling off the company goes against the independent spirit of the company’s initial funding via Kickstarter. I think the buyout could be a good thing. Facebook certainly has the capital to help Oculus develop low cost VR headsets and other gear, and the reach to bring them to market. Perhaps the purchase will mean that a production rollout will come faster.

Facebook is also a place that many people go to play casual games, and harass others with invites to play games. I could see Facebook working with developers to get casual games on the social network using the Oculus VR device.

[via Washington Post]