Sociable Interfaces Evolve for Personal Devices

Sociable Interfaces Evolve for Personal Devices: "Personal device user interfaces will evolve significantly through 2015. Firstly, new sensors and data analysis algorithms will differentiate products and address the needs of new form factors. Secondly, social, psychological and usability factors will become a major battleground as sociable device behavior becomes a competitive differentiator. Thirdly, in the long term, devices will integrate information from many sources to deliver an integrated and sociable user experience."

Steve's Commentary
Let me know if you need access to the full report.

yet2.com - TechPak for Caterpillar Knowledge Network

yet2.com - TechPak: "The Caterpillar Knowledge Network is a web-delivered software system that provides on-line collaboration and access to expertise through �communities of practice��groups of people associated by common interests that cross business unit, geographic, and even corporate boundaries. Users ask and answer questions, share information, research specs, and otherwise organize, preserve, and leverage an organization�s collective expertise. People outside the organization can also participate under the control of the Caterpillar Knowledge Network�s security levels. ROI studies have shown a 200%�700% return."

Steve's Commentary
I thought I blogged this before, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, this looks like an interesting blend of Social Networking and Wiki-like software.

New Scientist Technology - Camera phone helps label snaps

New Scientist Technology - Camera phone helps label snaps: "KNOWING where you are, what time it is and who you are with is obviously a huge help when it comes to filing a photograph in your collection. It also happens to be information that can now be compiled by any Bluetooth-enabled camera cellphone.
The phone will allow the growing number of camera phone users to organise their digital photo albums by automatically identifying and labelling the people and places within each snap, as they are taken."

Steve's Commentary
This looks like a powerful feature that shouldn't be limited to camera phones. It would be great if every digital camera could do this.

Amazon.com: The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology: Books

Amazon.com: The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology: Books: "Starred Review. Renowned inventor Kurzweil (The Age of Spiritual Machines) may be technology's most credibly hyperbolic optimist. Elsewhere he has argued that eliminating fat intake can prevent cancer; here, his quarry is the future of consciousness and intelligence. Humankind, it runs, is at the threshold of an epoch ('the singularity,' a reference to the theoretical limitlessness of exponential expansion) that will see the merging of our biology with the staggering achievements of 'GNR' (genetics, nanotechnology and robotics) to create a species of unrecognizably high intelligence, durability, comprehension, memory and so on. The word 'unrecognizable' is not chosen lightly: wherever this is heading, it won't look like us. Kurzweil's argument is necessarily twofold: it's not enough to argue that there are virtually no constraints on our capacity; he must also convince readers that such developments are desirable. In essence, he conflates the wholesale transformation of the species with 'immortality,' for which read a repeal of human limit. In less capable hands, this phantasmagoria of speculative extrapolation, which incorporates a bewildering variety of charts, quotations, playful Socratic dialogues and sidebars, would be easier to dismiss. But Kurzweil is a true scientist�a large-minded one at that�and gives due space both to 'the panoply of existential risks' as he sees them and the many presumed lines of attack others might bring to bear. What's arresting isn't the degree to which Kurzweil's heady and bracing vision fails to convince�given the scope of his projections, that's inevitable�but the degree to which it seems downright plausible. (Sept.) "

yaledailynews.com - Jet lag? Try shining light behind a knee, study says

yaledailynews.com - Jet lag? Try shining light behind a knee, study says: "But scientists have recently developed a way to reset the biological clocks of travelers such as Lee -- not with a pill or a patch, but with the light emitted from four halogen lamps.

The new innovation got its start when Yale psychiatry professor Dan Oren '79 MED '83 set out a seemingly radical hypothesis -- that human blood acts as a carrier of the light signal that resets the human biological clock. "

New Scientist Premium- Energy diary helps correct bad habits - Technology

New Scientist Premium- Energy diary helps correct bad habits - Technology: "BY OFFERING consumers instant feedback on the amount of energy they are using, a system trialled in Japan is helping people cut their fuel bills and carbon emissions.
The Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Tokyo set up monitors in 10 houses in Kyoto and Osaka to gauge electric power use and check on room temperature every 30 minutes. Residents were able to monitor their overall consumption of electricity, gas and in some cases kerosene for heaters, via a linked PC. The computer also displayed the power consumption of individual appliances.
'We wanted to see if the installation of such a system would have an influence on the energy saving awareness of the householders,' says Ueno Tsuyoshi, who led the project. And as they had hoped, residents quickly became accustomed to checking on their consumption and regulating their energy use accordingly.
'Total power consumption decreased about 18 per ..."

Steve's Commentary
I've been wanting to have instant feedback on power for a long time. Every power outlet could have a cheap LCD display that shows the power draw. If you could watch your kilowatt hours adding up, I bet you'd turn a few things off.