In an age when “friend” is a verb, many of us have hundreds of social-network friends. But Oxford Anthropologist Robin Dunbar’s research suggests that we’re wired to max out our meaningful relationships at about 150. This NPR story has details. Can technology help us break Dunbar’s limit, and is that a worthwhile goal?
Categories
-Multimedia 15.0 Alan Turing, Military Intelligence, and Intelligent Machines 15.1 Thinking About Thinking Machines 15.2 Natural-Language Communication 15.5 Question-Answering Machines 15.6 The Robot Revolution 4.4 The User Interface: The Human-Machine Connection 4.7 Inventing the Future: Tomorrow's User Interfaces I 5.4 Beyond the Printed Page 8.5 Interpersonal Computing: From Communication to Communities 9.3 Internet Issues: Ethical and Political Dilemmas
Conversations with Robots
Be careful–you may be falling in love with a software robot. This episode of Radiolab—NPR’s clever and entertaining broadcast/podcast—explores many ways people talk to machines, including those alluring bots that populate online dating sites. Eliza, Furbie, Clever Bot, Bina—they’re all talking to us, and we’re listening. Radiolab puts it all in perspective in this fascinating program.
This summer some consumers will be able to pay for some of their purchases by waving their phones instead of swiping their cards. Google Wallet is an Android App that uses near-field communication technology to send transaction information from phone to merchant terminal. This kind of technology could eventually change the way we do most of our face-to-face shopping.
This New York Times article includes a demo video.
Many of the greatest works of art are inaccessible to most of the world’s population. In this short TED talk, Google’s Amid Sood demonstrates Art Project, a multimedia web gateway to many of world’s foremost art museums and the treasures they hold.
[ted id=1144]
The microprocessors that power today’s computers are running out of space. For decades engineers have found ways to shrink the circuitry that’s etched onto each chip’s surface, but that trend will soon collide with hard laws of physics. Intel engineers may have found a way to continue the relentless march toward ever-faster computers: 3D circuitry containing tiny fins of silicon that rise above the chip’s surface. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/science/05chip.html
Most of the e-books published so far have been on-screen versions of paper books. In this short TED presentation, Mike Matas gives us a peek at the possibilities when digital books combine state-of-the-art interactive multimedia with compelling text.
[ted id=1134]
The computer industry is trying to green up its act by creating more energy-efficient products. But according to David Moschella in his Computerworld column, computer manufacturers need to take a hard look at what happens to our tech tools and toys when we discard them and move on to newer devices.
The_Green_IT_movement_has_lost_the_plot
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Who owns your data? If somebody else collects information about you, should you have the legal right to see and use that information? New York Times Columnist Richard Thaler argues that consumers and businesses alike would benefit from laws ensuring that you have access to your information.
Read on New York Times site
In June, 2011, Acer and Samsung will release Web-only laptop computers with interfaces based on Google’s Chrome browser. Unlike other laptops, these inexpensive machines are designed to work only as Web-access devices.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/google-debuts-chromebook-the-web-only-laptop
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/google-debuts-chromebook-the-web-only-laptop
This groundbreaking music “video” by Chris Milk combines music, art, and interactive Web technology to create a deeply personal experience. You may need to switch Web browsers to make the experimental HTML 5 technology work, but it’s worth the effort.