Columbia University suggests augmented reality can help users find and begin a maintenance task in almost half the usual time. Faster Maintenance with Augmented Reality |
Augmented reality helps Marine mechanics carry out repair work. |
In the not-too-distant future, it might be possible to slip on a pair of augmented-reality (AR) goggles instead of fumbling with a manual while trying to repair a car engine. Instructions overlaid on the real world would show how to complete a task by identifying, for example, exactly where the ignition coil was, and how to wire it up correctly. |
A user wears a head-worn display, and the AR system provides assistance by showing 3-D arrows that point to a relevant component, text instructions, floating labels and warnings, and animated, 3-D models of the appropriate tools. An Android-powered G1 smartphone attached to the mechanic’s wrist provides touchscreen controls for cueing up the next sequence of instructions. Read more at www.technologyreview.com |
New Wi-Fi lets gadgets talk directly
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| Starting in mid-2010, new versions of gadgets like cameras, mobile phones and computers will be able to talk to each other using Wi-Fi without needing to connect to a wireless network first.
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The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group, said Wednesday it is nearly finished putting together a Wi-Fi Direct specification, a set of technical “rules” that guide consumer electronics companies that plan to add the new capability. |
In creating the specification, the Alliance is moving into the territory of Bluetooth, a competing wireless technology that already handles direct gadget-to-gadget connections. Bluetooth uses less power but has much shorter range and a lower transfer speed. |
What I take from this article, is that new standards for copper cabling will allow faster speeds, but existing cabling may need to be upgraded, taking up more room, and incurring extra cost - - at what point should we invest in fibre to the desktop? | I intentionally wrote, in a short paragraph in SIP Means Change, of shortening the cable drops. I wrote this as a means to broach another difficult subject, and it wasn’t to mislead anyone, as one reader suggested. I think cable length does make a difference, and I’ll tell you why.
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| The new cabling standards Category 6 and 6A make me ask, “what are you guys trying to ‘pull’?” Whatever the cause and effect of network delay/latency, the fact remains that it can be reduced. Long cable drops just don’t make for better networks. Read more at www.nojitter.com |
An article describing the innovative ways that Apple has implemented new technology in the iPhone. Screen dimming, the tilt feature, shake and more |
While not every feature on the iPhone is unique, the way Apple has implemented some of those features is. And the iPhone serves as the base for tens of thousands of third-party applications, many of which make use of its built-in features in innovative ways. |
Although Apple wouldn’t comment on this story, preferring not to divulge too much about how the ‘magic’ works, we’ve dug around and compiled information from various sources.
To take a closer look at how some of the technology inside the iPhone works, read on. Read more at www.computerworld.com |
If the iPod has such an extraordinary effect, should we consider them weapons? How the iPod became a tool of war |
Motivational music has been used by the military for centuries, but in modern wars, soldiers are bringing their own playlists |
What’s interesting about the work is not so much which bands soldiers are drawn to, but the extraordinary terms they use to describe the power the music has over them. Some talk about tracks turning them into monsters, making them inhuman so they can do inhuman acts. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk |
Consumer technology is now so capable, that it offers benefits to scientific researchers. Researchers Using Parallel Processing Computing Could Save Thousands By Using An Xbox |
| A new study by a University of Warwick researcher has demonstrated that researchers trying to model a range of processes could use the power and capabilities of a particular XBox chip as a much cheaper alternative to other forms of parallel processing hardware. |
Scarle said: “This is a highly effective way of carrying out high end parallel computing on “domestic” hardware for cardiac simulations. Although major reworking of any previous code framework is required, the Xbox 360 is a very easy platform to develop for and this cost can easily be outweighed by the benefits in gained computational power and speed, as well as the relative ease of visualization of the system.” Read more at www.sciencedaily.com |
What else could be tracked with tags like this? Seattle Goes Scientific With Trash Tracking Technology |
We’ve all witnessed free-flying trash on city streets or wondered what happens to our trash once it leaves our garbage bins. Now citizens in Seattle won’t have to ponder. The city, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) SENSEable City Lab, is on a quest to assess the city’s waste removal system by affixing electronic tags to 3,000 items to see where they end up. |
| The electronic tags utilize cell phone technology, which will allow MIT researchers to conduct real-time tracking of articles, like boxes, Styrofoam, bottles and metal scrap. Read more at www.govtech.com |
Good summary of what augmented reality might be like. Augmented reality: Even better than the real thing?
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| Imagine if everything you pointed your phone at - from people to pets, shops to mountains - had its own ‘bubble’ of information. It sounds like science fiction, but augmented reality is already here.Read more at www.nzherald.co.nz |
Researchers Develop Portable Imaging System to Aid Emergency Response |
| GTRI researchers created the Mini ModPOD — a.k.a. the Miniature Modular Photographic Observation Device — a portable, high-resolution imaging system that can be attached to a helicopter to create a detailed view of a disaster area. |
| the Mini ModPOD consists of an off-the-shelf digital camera, a GPS system and a circuit board that uploads mission parameters. |
| The researchers also met with representatives from Georgia Power, a utility service that provides electricity to 155 Georgia counties. Price said Georgia Power was interested in using the technology to identify faults in its power lines. When a power line goes down now, crews have to search for the problem either on foot or by truck. “The beauty of the system is each digital photo that you get has an associated latitude and longitude with it — so if you found the fault, it would immediately tell you the latitude and longitude,”Read more at www.emergencymgmt.com |
What are the possibilities for an open source digital camera? How an open source camera will change photography |
Professor Marc Levoy plans to release a complete implementation for the camera in a year, a platform on which apps can be built. |
Already he has created software for the camera that does things no commercial camera can do, like extend its “dynamic range” so all distances are optimally lit, and enhance the resolution of videos with still images. Read more at blogs.zdnet.com |
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Faster Maintenance with Augmented Reality
