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[tomemrich]

“As our land disappears, we have no choice but to become the world’s first digital nation,” Tuvalu Foreign Minister Simon Kofe told the COP27 climate summit.

Tuvalu will become the first nation to replicate itself in the virtual reality world known as the metaverse.

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"Meta’s Notorious B.I.G. VR Concert to Feature ‘Hyperrealistic’ Avatar of Late Rapper."


I've spoke in the past on how AR/VR will change our relationship with death. This is an example of how this new immersive technology can help us form new memories with someone who has passed.

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Neuroturntable demands your attention otherwise "No Music for You"

Products that use bio-inputs seem to be popping up more and more as wearable device technology advances and is becoming more of a reality.

I recently covered one such device from my time at Expand this past weekend. Muse, a headband which will be available for the general pubic later this year, uses brainwaves to analyze your state and also to control apps. 

Today I stumbled upon Neurowear - a project team based in Tokyo focused on creating "communication for the near future". They design prototypes of products that use biological signals like brainwaves and heartbeats as input controls. 

Neurowear has tons of products on their site which use bio-inputs to make things happen. Some of the latest projects involve bunny ears and tails (perhaps not the most useful but extremely fun) but a music-based project  Neuroturntable, caught my eye.

The Neuroturntable is a revolutionary concept which reads brainwaves to play music based on the level of concentration of the user.

Here is how it works:

Step 1: Put your favorite record on the turntable.

Step 2: Put on a brainwave headset

Step 3: Concentrate on the music

The music keeps playing while you concentrate. Once you are distracted, the music slows down and automatically stops. The video shows the user getting a call while listening and when he takes it the turntable stops playing.

Talk about really hitting home the fact that we CAN'T truly multi-task.

I could definitely see applications in the educational sector for this type of technology. What better way to get your kid to focus on something then to have it disappear or stop if they aren't really thinking about it.

I would guess that starting and stopping based on concentration is only the start of what this technology could do. Soon we will be turning on, changing the channel and doing other tasks without gesture, touch or voice.

I can't wait.  

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iPad Controlled Lego Robot Band Makes Music

The use of Arduino and Raspberry Pi has equipped anyone with the ability to create a real-life working robot. This is no exception for Joseph Acito, sound designer and producer with over 20 years in the music industry

Joseph Acito introduces this video on his blog:

"Toa Mata Band is a band of small robots Series LEGO Bionicle playing mini electronic instruments. Everything is controlled by a MIDI sequencer for the iPad, the app Clavia NordBeat whose notes are converted into electrical impulses by an Arduino Uno."

The use of Arduino to make anyone a robot genius was one of the key messages from a talk Chris Anderson, former Editor-in-Chief turned robot thought leader, focused on at Expand this weekend. Anderson's new venture 3D Robotics and DIY Drone use Arduino to create aerial drones fully equipped with cameras. We covered a demo of one of his robots here. 

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“Fifty percent of respondents said they watch programming on their TVs in the living room, while 40 percent use their smartphones or tablets instead”

From a recent study done by Motorola Mobility.

http://m.cnet.com/news/mobile-devices-overtake-tvs-in-the-bedroom/57575190

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Personal Robot is taught to satisfy one of the most critical requests from the modern day man = "grab me a beer"

Willow Garage was one of the companies featured at Engadget Expand this past weekend. Willow Garage develops hardware and open source software for robots (the open source part is key here).

Their vision is "We see personal robots as the next paradigm-shifting personal productivity tool.  By investing in open source and open platform adoption models, we aim to lay the groundwork for the use of personal robotics applications in everyday life."

This video shows the Personal Robot 2 (PR2) fetching and delivering a beer. It uses its cameras to detect the fridge then opens the fridge. It also scans the fridge to make sure it selects the one that you requested. The same camera is used to scan for faces and once it recognizes your face it will let go of the beer and give it to you. 

From my time at Expand my eyes were opened to a whole new world of technological advancements particular to robots. I will definitely be keeping my eye on this sector as I suspect that we will start to see the resurgence of robots in our conversations around medicine, military and home use in the very near future. 

BTW - fun fact: The CEO of Willow Garage, Steve Cousins, explained that the reason why they made robots with small heads is to make them less intimidating to humans (e.g. size of head = size of brain)

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The Institute of Advertising Practitioners (IPA) out of the UK summarized the 4 big themes they saw at SXSW this year.

They are:

Connected Devices

Big Data

Robots

Need for Marketers to Understand New Technology

Great read from Toby Gunton, WCBS

[tomemrich]

Missed out on the fun at the future tech event this weekend in San Francisco. I've got session by session recaps via the tag #expandsf here on Screen Geek.

Or if you want to re-live the experience, you can talk a run through the live blog history to follow along with how things all played out.

Sessions included:

3D Printing

Robotics & Bionic Limbs

Future of Gaming with Ouya

Kickstarter History and Future

Robots & Drones

Apple Rumours

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EXCLUSIVE iWATCH FIRST LOOK

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Just kidding. Happy Monday Screen Geeks!

via si7: Korg Watch | Synthesizer Database, Sequencer & Drummachines, News & Forum Community

[tomemrich]

Apple was the topic of conversation as Victor Agreda from TUAW, Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray and MG Siegler from TechCrunch talked about the state and future of all things Apple as the last panel at Engadget Expand.

Some of the key predictions from the panel:

Apple is not failing - that is a media story

Apple’s long product cycles do create more room for rumours

Apple’s move into emerging markets will be huge

Canabolization will be a critical issue for Tim Cook if a cheap iPhone comes out

The Apple ecosystem is coveted by most Tech Companies to be able to create themselves

Apple is working on a TV but it is less priority than a wearable device

The iWatch will come and it will be big

The iWatch will be tethered and act as a second screen to the iPhone

Watch will not be independent until Siri and battery issues are solved

Bigger iPhone screen could be possible but only if it doesn’t disrupt the ease to develop apps

iOS7 will bring changes but not large sweeping changes

Photo Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

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Bionic limbs and Robotic arms were the focus of the Better Living panel which just wrapped up at Engadget Expand.

Catherine Mohr from Intuitive Surgical and Russ Angold from Esko Bionics explained how their products augment human capabilities to improve performance and enable people to do something they wouldn't be able to do without technological assistance.

Both Esko and Intuitive begun creating product for military purposes which opened the door to move into assisting individuals from a medical perspective.

The Esko Bionic Skeleton enables people who can't walk to be able to walk, but can also augment the ability to carry heavier loads and walk for longer periods of time.

Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci allows for minimally invasive surgery otherwise not possible with human only procedures. It also can allow for off site surgical procedures which was the primary use case when it was built for the military.

Photo Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

[tomemrich]

Chris Anderson of 3D Robotics and Former Editor-in-Chief at Wired demos his aerial drone at Engadget Expand. 

Robotics was the focus of a panel at Expand which featured CEO from Willow Garage maker of the PR2 and Marc Ralbert from Boston Dynamics.

Robots that fetched beer, didi push-ups, walked up hills in the snow and other video demos were shown during this panel.

Willow Garage and 3D Robotics are both focused on getting robots into our every day lives - Chris more focused on the film and agriculture sector while Steve's robots are expected to have more human assistance focus taking queue from his video demo of the PR2 helping a paralyzed man open drawers, shave and scratch an itch.

The panel agreed that open source software is key to progress in this sector and that innovation from other industries will also help propel robots faster into our homes - advancements in 3D printers and power sources for example.

Follow along Day 2 at Engadget Expand on my live blog: http://www.screengeekblog.com/engadget-expand-live-blog-coverage

Video Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

Photo Credit: Willow Garage and Boston Dynamics

[tomemrich]

ANNOUNCEMENT: Lenovo announces their new ThinkPad T4 31S with new design focused on the keyboard and trackpad as well as a sleeker overall feel for the well respected notebook. 

The photo above shows the classic ThinkPad to the new version which will be available in April for $949. 

When asked what the future holds for ThinkPad - Corinna Proctor, Senior Research Manager says that they will always stay true to their heritage especially from a durability and reliability perspective. But Jason Parrish, Director of Strategy Planning added that touch capabilities are inevitable for the ThinkPad franchise as its a growing consumer demand in the marketplace.

Personally the session was pretty jarring to sit through after hearing about space tourism from thought leaders in the space program. The fact that the session was mainly focused on "innovation" of keyboards and trackpads is truly ironic in the face of gesture and mind-control options highlighted in Day 1 at this event. 

Follow along Day 2 at Engadget Expand on my live blog here: http://www.screengeekblog.com/engadget-expand-live-blog-coverage

Photo Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

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Its coming .....

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The Space Exploration panel, one of the most anticipated sessions at Engadget Expand, just wrapped up but my mind still hasn't come back down to Earth!

Alex Hall from the Google Lunar X project, Michael Laine of LiftPort and Tom Rivellini from NASA talked extensively about how privatization and capitalism are key drivers of progress in the space industry today, filling the gap of cold wars which were the catalyst of the past.

Tom (responsible for the Mars Rover for landing - pretty crazy cool) stressed that a mix of rigour from agencies like NASA and the fast-pace risk tolerant 3rd party companies is best for the sector. 

Michael, whose company is creating a space elevator, said that space tourism is coming soon but that a space station is critical for humans to really evolve space exploration and visits to the planets.

All agreed that transportation to a planet is easier than inhabiting it and that use of robots to gather data to help us get there are key to the success of human existence outside of Earth.

Follow my live blog on Engadget Expand here: http://www.screengeekblog.com/engadget-expand-live-blog-coverage

Photo Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

[tomemrich]

Toyota's Sheldon Brown sits down with Editor-in-Chief of Engadget, Tim Stevens, to talk about the new RAV4 EV - the fully electric SUV. Sheldon talks about their partnership with TESLA to make this happen and how a fully EV car comes with new challenges and issues such as how to cool the battery and how to heat up the cab. 

Sheldon says that the future of electric vehicles depends on the robustness of the technology but says that for urban centre dwellers this future is a reality now.

Follow along my live blog for Day 2 of the Engadget Expand event here: http://www.screengeekblog.com/engadget-expand-live-blog-coverage

Photo Credit: Sean Mayers - Screen Geek

[tomemrich]

Tell me the truth Screen Geeks....is this you? Hope your Sunday is going fan-tastic!