Droste 2.0

I just experimented a bit with Qik. Qik is a mobile video streaming service. Very nice and simple app.

So what is I did:

I started to videostream to my Qik profile. At the same time I watched this live videostream on my N810 and filmed it with my N95..

Here is the result.. Which is called a Droste effect

The Future of Mobile Technology at Davos

Wow… what a line-up at WEF in Davos:

• Google CEO Eric Schmidt (Ads and shortform video on Mobile will be BIG);
• FCC chairman Kevin Martin(Mr. 700 Mhz auction);
• Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer (“Show me the money”, he is hilarious!);
• NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker (Mobile not important NOW but… they will offer 2200 hours LIVE mobile coverage from Olympics);
• SK Telecom (owns all media in Korea) CEO Kim Shin-Bae and
• China Mobile (500million customers, 5 billion(!!) SMS during NewYears Day) CEO Wang Jianzhou

Many “open doors” (a dutch expression), but interesting anyhow to watch the big boys talk mobile..

More interesting stuff here..

Now 15% discount on N810!!!

Nokia (represented by ” The Candyman” as Adam calls him) and Adam Curry joined forces to get everyone on a internet tablet. Finally also in the Netherlands we can profit from this deal.

Check out the offer..

http://www.podshowoffers.com/nokia-n810-coupon-code-internet-tablet.php

Here is the link to the dutch shop. Use the promocode”podshow”:

http://direct.nokia.com/CountryHandler.ASPX?model=n810&add=true&Country=NL

It truely is a great device..

Enjoy!!!

Official YouTube Mobile beta app.!!

Wow.. Just played with the new beta application from YouTube. It is a java app*!! Which is I can tell you a big challenge when your product is video. The app. has an build in flash player (I assume) and does not use the native player in the phone(for N95 it is the Real Player). It is very complete application which looks amazing in landscape mode on the N95. Now they just need to launch a simple uploader and they created a complete new mobile layer on their video distributionservice. Interesting to see that more and more parties are switching to apps as the primary way to offer mobile services. 2008 the year of mobile apps?? 😉

See screenshots below. You can find the beta app here.

*Available for Nokia’s N73, N95, E65, 6110, 6120 and SonyEricsson k800 and w880.

NiiMe: N95 as a Wii controller

Check out the NiiMe project Turn your N95 into a wireless mouse/wheel.

Thanks to Darla Mack

3 clips on Virtuality

Beyond Multi-Touch: Touchless Device Controls

To go beyond touch and create touchless 3D device control interface, Nokia decided to use Ultrasonic Transducers (USTs), arrayed around the perimeter of the display.

Ultrasonic transducers emit ultrasonic sound waves that propagate through air. When finger gets into the path of these waves, the signal is reflected back and detected by the transducer.

Three or more transducers (14 A-B-C in picture above) arrayed around a perimeter of the mobile device create a 10-20 cm working volume of space above the display, where user finger ( 20A and B) locations and their movements in real time can be detected using triangulation techniques. These movements can then be interpreted as various three dimensional gestures.

To ease the operation of the device, visual finger pointers (12A, B) are displayed on the screen of mobile device.

3D gestures are translated into various object oriented, or gesture/browsing oriented commands. The patent application gives several examples.

Object oriented commands:

• Select: – Picking up gesture – Finger 1 at a display corner or some reserved area, Finger 2 moves slowly under a displayed object to be selected
• Copy: – when selected, click by single finger on the object
• Paste: – fast double click by a single finger
• Move: – move slowly two fingers located on moving objects
• Delete: – double (fast) click by two fingers on previously selected object
• Switch: – switching (on/off) is based on change in directions of fingers movement or, alternatively, on a change in finger acceleration

Gesture/browsing oriented commands:

• Select object attributed to the pointer position: Open/closed hand
• Forward/Backward Browsing: anticlockwise/clockwise cyclic rotation by a single finger
• Zoom in/Out: expand/close two fingers
• Run/Execute pre-selected icon/command: make a circle with your thumb and pointing finger (an OK sign)

In addition to operation of the device, 3D tracking can be used for text entry. In this case virtual keyboard is presented on the screen of the device, with visual and audio effects providing the necessary feedback to the user, e.g. symbols change color when a finger moves above them, become bigger and a click sound is heard when a key pressed and accepted.

Different finger combinations can be used also as a shortcuts to various applications. Make a letter C with you fingers and your calendar application launches, use a “V” sign to launch an address book. And if the operation of the device grinds to a halt and starts to really piss you off, just give him a “finger” and it resets to start anew

Via Unwired View

Social Hibernation

The last month(s) of the year always effect me tremendously. They slow me down. Make me less creative, less communicative and bring me in a kind of mood that I am awaiting something. Some big BANG that never happens..

But always in January, on the other side of the line, the motor starts running again. Creative juices bubble, Inspiritaion in everything and the will to DO..

Thank god for January!

P.S. Normally your body weight reduces during hibernation… shoot!

My First Augmented Reality experience

Augmented Reality(AR) is the act of enriching our physical reality with digital information. Most probably this will be in a total immersive way. The possibilities of this technology are endless. I am sure that AR or Mixed Reality is the way how we will navigate through life in the near future.

To get a feeling of what AR is I tried to create such an immersive experience. See the recipe below:

Ingredients:

Buy a N95:

Buy a AV920 from Vuzix:

Get connected:

Get your TV-out cable and connect it to the N95 and to theAV920.

Turn on your N95

Turn on your aV920

Switch on the camera of the N95. Tata… You now see a digital reality on a virtual 62 inch screen. 😉

Ok. Next step is to augment this reality:

I used a project called Invisibles. It is a project of Bruno Vianna. Bruno wrote an application that overlaps reality with pictures supported with videotracking algorhithms. Originally this application is written to be used in a parc in Brasil. See the clip below..

The beauty is that Buno shares this app and source code with the world. Too install this app on the N95 you just need to install Mobile Python and follow the instructions on Bruno’s site.

Succeeded?

Here was my result. A floating man at my kitchen table.

Only way to get a screenhot was to show the open apps.. ;-(

New Pet? Robotex! ;-)

Thanks to Linknotes