December 29, 2005
Mikey Sklar gets Implanted
Reader, Jonny Goldstein writes:
Here's a video I did of Mikey describing the how, what, and why of his RFID implant adventure.
I was a bit puzzled after writing about him yesterday. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of RFID. I keep joking with my girlfriend that I want to get cyborganic tentacles though. "Why are you squirming? I thought you loved tentacle porn!".
I guess RFID tags are a cheap way to get a fairly unique body modification. If we can only get more kids into this trend, and maybe it will hit the 11:00 news. Maybe with a bit of media manipulation, the 11:00 news will get all the kids into the act.
[ Link via Jonny Goldstein. Thanks Jonny! ]
Tagged: RFID Implant Forum
In the vein of RFID implants, here's a link to an RFID Implant forum. Common, all the cool kids are doing it!
December 28, 2005
Another RFID Implant
The big difference with this new guy? He didn't do it for automation purposes. He just wanted to learn about RFID, and it only cost him $105 to do so.
He's demonstrating this human hackery at the next New York Dorkbot meeting next Wednesday, January 4th at Location One gallery in SoHo at 7pm.
Oh yeah, and here's a video of him implanting himself. Ewww... DIY cyberpunkery.
[ Link via boingboing ]
December 25, 2005
Merry Xmas
Happy Holidays everyone. I'm running a fever and pretty sick, so I probably won't be blogging much in the next couple of days.
It looks like I'll be doing more interviews in the next year. Cheers everyone.
December 22, 2005
Alert! You're going to die!
Damn those artists. Someone built this device that basically is designed to tell you when you're expected to die. I bet this would make a great christmas present.
finality (endlichkeit) shows the 'remaining' heart beat pulses of the wearer on a 16-sign LCD display, by comparing the actual age of the wearer with the average amount of heart beats of a 75 year person (which with 60 beats per minute totals to about 2.365.200.000 beats in a person's life)
Bah humbug. I'll take a regular heartbeat monitor over that any day.
[ Link via Davy Kreiger ]
December 21, 2005
Scottland Ban on Baseball Hats and Hoodies
Shops in Paisley, Scottland are now banning people wearing hoodies or baseball hats. Why? Because people who hide their faces are aparently deviants, and if you're trying to avoid surveillance, you're probably a criminal.
[Stelios Haji-Ioannou] has put a similar ban in place in his cafes in Glasgow and Edinburgh, claiming the headgear is linked with "deviant" behaviour.Paisley Town Centre Management Group has backed the ban as a means of tackling shoplifting, which is viewed as a major problem in the town.
Aparently there are also bans in internet cafes, schools, and malls. This is a really creepy trend, especially with facial recognition adoption growing with surveillance.
[ Link via we-make-money-not-art ]
Army's Cooling Vests
The Army has developed some cooling vests to deal with a side effect of adding armor to their Humvee's. Sounds a bit like this other thing we blogged about here on igargoyle, but a little less portable, and less marshmello like.
The vests are worn under body armor and a hose from each vest is plugged into the Humvee’s on-board air-conditioning system. Liquid from the vehicle’s AC system circulates through the vest, cooling its wearer.Some of the same engineers had designed the add-on armor kits for the M-998 and M-1025 Humvees in theater. But with the extra armor and doors closed, temperatures inside the vehicles could reportedly reach more than 130 degrees.
“It’s like putting somebody in a toaster oven on low heat,” said Charlie Bussee, an engineer at TARDEC.
Coccolo's $250 Head Mounted Display
Wow, while this probably won't impress the ladies, this $250 head mounted display from Coccolo sure is priced right.
Japanese startup Coccolo is going to sell a monocular HMD (head mounted display) for 29,800 yen (~$250) in Japan this December.
December 19, 2005
Kenpo iPod Jacket
Recently I received a Kenpo iPod Jacket to try out for igargoyle. It's a slick jacket that uses fabric sensors from elektex in the left hand sleeve to control an iPod. The wiring for the controllers is the fabric, which is really cool and is also totally washable. The jacket is very comfortable and works really well, and it's great to finally own a bit of wearable technology.
When I got the jacket, I went down to the Apple store with my girlfriend to try it out with one of their iPods. I talked to the Apple guys and gals, and they were pretty impressed with the jacket. The controls are almost completely hidden, so I had to point it out to them. They had heard of the Burton jacket, but not the Kenpo, but were pretty impressed by the fact that the controls on the sleeve didn't feel any different from the rest of the jacket. I ended up buying an iPod at the urging of my girlfriend, and took it home to try out.
Connecting the iPod is easy, and fits nicely in the front left of the jacket.
Once I had my iPod set up, I hooked it up to the jacket, which was pretty straight forward. The iPod went in a pocket inside of the jacket, and connected to a small device to assist the controller. The controls themselves allow you to raise or lower the volume, go forward or backward with the tracks, and pause the device. My first thought was that this was a neat idea, but wouldn't work well because there wasn't a hold button, but apparently the jacket locks after seven seconds of inactivity, and you can unlock it by holding the track forward button for three seconds.
The controls are almost impossible to see, but they're there. I'd prefer that they'd be more visible using glow in the dark paint for the night time.
At first the controls didn't work well for me, so I emailed Kenpo, and they sent me a new jacket, which worked really well. You don't have to press on the buttons too hard, and it's really great being able to mess with the iPod without pulling it out of the jacket.
I really like wearing the jacket, and will be a bit disappointed when it starts getting warmer, because this thing doesn't have any ventilation. I imagine it would be best for people in New York or San Francisco, as it keeps you pretty toasty.
This jacket, and others like it, are clearly paving the way for wearable computing, and defining new trends in fashion. It also has the potential to be an interface for other devices with a bit of soldering, as there's no reason why the play button couldn't be reused to take a picture, or to act as a simple way to control a video iPod using a head mounted device.
I basically recommend getting this if you have an iPod, and like the style. It's going for $275 USD, and can be purchased at some Macy's, Dillard's, and Comp-USA stores, or by visiting their online store. Everyone I've shown it to has been impressed, and with new flexible displays hitting the market, I don't think it will be long unitl there's a jacket that has both controls and tells you what track or playlist you're on.
[ Link via Keith / m80im ]
December 18, 2005
iPod VR Mashup
Someone built an iPod VR display. Okay mayby "built" is a bit strong, all he did was connect it to the video iPod's AV cables and took a bunch of pictures of himself.
I've wondering if small portable video devices will eventually spark the VR / LCD goggles you always see in the future sci-fi movies.
Well, I support that. I do think the iPod is one of the most influential wearable computers at the moment. Plus he also wants to build a VR glove controller for his video iPod.
[ Link off the MAKE blog ]
December 17, 2005
Roomba Hacking Specs Released
iRobot promised earlier this year that they were going to release the Roomba Serial Control Interface specification. After a few months, nothing showed up and we all forgot about it. They were good to their word though. Sometime in the last few weeks the SCI specifications document (PDF format) appeared on their site along with a webpage that explains how to determine if your Roomba has the serial interface. Older Roombas can be upgraded by buying a Roomba Osmo Hacker kit that will be available in January. We'll be expecting to hear about some really cool Roomba hacks soon.
I've aleady heard of people mounting a robotic monkey head on top of the Roomba, but like when Google Maps released their API, I think the flood gates are really going to open up now. Good job iRobot!
[ Link via Robots.net ]
December 16, 2005
Vierck's Law
In regard to Vierck's Law, John Stemstin writes:
I've heard some software theory about the longevity and usefulness of software. According to most modern theorists, 50% of production software has the longevity of about 18 months after deployment according to a fairly well known theory- Vierck's Law. Have you heard of this?
No, but my fellow geowanker, Tzara has.
tzara's law: a corollary to vierck's law.half of my beer will be gone in 5 minutes.
Actually I've debugged production code over five years old, and I'm pretty certain that my latest code will be in production at least three years from now, even if it's updated to some degree. Today was one of the most rewarding presentations that I've done in my years of software development.
[ Link ]
Intimate Wear
This intimate wear is a shirt that is designed to register intimate words whispered into the wearer's ear.
An Intimate Memory shirt with a very sensitive microphone in the collar and a series of light points in a flower pattern incorporated into the front of the shirt. When a friend or partner whispers something into your ear, the microphone will record this event and the lights will light up, showing that an intimate event has occurred. The number of lights indicates the intensity of the intimacy event. Over time, the lights turn off, one by one, to show how long it has been since the intimate event took place.
They also have a skirt that registers touch. Now there's a good way to encourage people to feel you up.
Hoodlum Reactive LED Hoodie
The future of fashion is definately in wearable technology, both for personal use, and to have clothes that react to the enviornment, which this hoodie aims to do. It's LED studded hood can pulse to music, which is the kind of thing that will the wearer that extra attention. After all, who doesn't like blinkies, especially if they're blinking in beat.
The Hoodlüm "pulses" light in tune with the music that the wearer is listening to, be it the slow beats of a sonata or the sharp staccato of techno-jungle. Alternatively, the wearer can change modes to enable the Hoodlüm to pulse in response to the sounds around him, whether in a dance club or a subway. Finally, the Hoodlüm can be switched off and look and function exactly like a "normal" garment. The result is increased control over the relationship between the wearer of the Hoodlum and the fellow participants of his urban context.
December 15, 2005
Robot Samurai
The robot, named Kiyomori after a 12th century general, is the latest humanoid creation from TMSUK.
I wonder what the code of the samurai looks like in C++.
[ Link via Davy Kreiger saying "What did I tell you about these Nipponese, and their robots??". Thanks David! ]
Bionic Arm
This bionic arm can do things like picking up fragile items such as a glass, just by the wearer just thinking about it. The arm is connected directly to the wearer, Jesse Sullivan's brain, so he's able to use it like any other appendage. The device weighs 12 pounds, and at this rate, I don't think it will be long to see a 'million dollar man' make headlines.
Electrodes intercept the limb's residual nerve firings and feed them to a computer embedded in the forearm, which then commands six motors to move the device's shoulder, elbow and hand in unison. Thanks to hand sensors, the wearer can even gauge pressure and fine-tune his grip.
[ Link via Davy Kreiger. Thanks David! ]
December 14, 2005
Heartbeat Sports Bra
Numetrex has released a great device for female runners, a sports bra that monitors your heartbeat. The fabric is made by Textronics, and is similar to Lycra. With the transmitter and watch, it retails for $115, and can be bought off their website.
Another similar company, Eleksen, is producing fabric that can transmit electricity without wires. I'm going to be reviewing an iPod jacket from them next week here on igargoyle.
Memory Glasses
Memory Glasses, and augmented memory is one reason I love the idea of wearable computing. My memory is horrible, and when it comes to meeting many people, sometimes I just can't remember a person's name. MIT has been working on their augmented memory project, Memory Glasses. They're like a PDA, except proactive in the sense that they try to pick out things they recognize, and give a cue of metadata about the person or thing. One of my old friends used to improve his social network by writing down every one's names and a sentence about them in an excel spreadsheet, so he would have something to say immediately when they called. This project is like that, but on steroids.
Memory Glasses function like a personal digital assistant; plus, they factor in the user's location at all times. The specs create a profile of the wearer and drop situation-appropriate hints when needed, such as what to pick up at the grocery store or someone's name upon a second meeting.Instead of whispering hints in the wearer's ear, the glasses run software that flashes subliminal hints on a small screen within the lenses. After entering background information into the glasses' mini-computer, wearers often won't even be aware of the glasses jogging their memories.
MIT even is working on doing subliminal cues, so that the messages "fall below the threshold of conscious perception", which aparently is good for recalling that information later without a cue ("an improvment of about 1.5 compared to the uncued control").
Update:
Edward Keyes reports that this project has been dorment for the past year or two (see comments). I'd heard about this project before, but I saw it on usatoday and wanted to say something about it. Does anyone know of anyone else doing research in aumented memory?
December 13, 2005
Nano Armor
According to IsraCast, an Israeli company has created materials made of inorganic fullerene-like nanostructures (IFs) which have amazing shock absorbing properties. During preliminary tests, these materials, which are five times stronger than steel, have successfully resisted to steel projectiles generating pressures as high as 250 tons per square centimeter. These materials could be incorporated in "nanoarmors" able to protect soldiers or police forces within three years.
[ Link via zdnet/ Roland Piquepaille ]
December 12, 2005
Roomba Covers?
Some misguided individuals cute kids are making coverings for Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners so they look more like animals than floor dwelling robots.
Shortly after creating animal costumes for their two Roombas at home, the founders of myRoomBud™, Tyler, Niles, Isabelle, and Griffin Smith began selling their Roomba costumes to friends and family. The costumes have taken off and are now the talk various Roomba newsgroups. Sold on eBay, the new RoomBud Roomba costumes are a cute and unique gift for anyone who owns a Roomba. "People love their Roombas and treat them as one of the family. Our RoomBud costumes really turn the Roomba into a household pet," said co-founder Niles Smith. Tyler added, "And like we say, 'If you don't dress up your Roomba, it's just a naked vacuum.'"
Personally I'd prefer something a bit more threatening, but I guess that's just my taste. If you want to stun your family members with a bit of silly swag, you can buy the Moomba the cow for thirty bucks or ROOR the TIGER for twenty five dollars.
[ Link via robots.net ]
Chibi-Robo for GameCube
Take control of the Chibi Robo, a pint-sized machine designed specifically to take care of a family's house. The robot needs to keep the house "happy," according to Nintendo. To do that, Chibi must walk around the home and clean it up, interact with other machines and people, and even -- according to the storyline - stop a group of bumbling thieves from making off with precious valuables. An electricity counter located in the bottom-right corner of the screen constantly counts down. When Chibi is getting low, players will want to recharge.
[ Link via boingboing ]
December 09, 2005
Adapting Cyborg Knee
This prothestic knee uses sensors to adapt to the wearer's walking pattern, to help emulate how a real leg would operate. Very cool medical tech.
The "Rheo Knee," [has] built-in sensors that can measure how far the knee is bent, as well as the amount of force the user applies to it while walking – a computer chip then analyses user's walk and continually adapts the movement and resistance of the knee accordingly."The Rheo knee has an adaptiveness that's both immediate and very rapid, and also an adaptiveness that's more longer term," Herr explains. "The knee has the ability to adapt step to step, from minute to minute, from hour to hour."
December 08, 2005
Flexible Battery from NEC
More good news for wearables. NEC has announced today a flexible battery that is designed for epaper, but could just as easily be embeded into textiles.
NEC announced an exciting foray into the world of bendy things today, with the revelation of their development of a 0.3mm thick flexible battery technology, that can also (allegedly) recharge in about 30 seconds.
AwareCuffs - Wearable WiFi Sensing
AwareCuffs are a geek invention that has a serious amount of style behind it. The cuffs give feedback to the wearer regarding WiFi signals in the vicinity.
AwareCuffs inform the wearer about wireless hotspots in the near sourrounding. If a person wants to check if wireless LAN is available, she usually has to boot a laptop or use a Wifi-finder, which in some situations is not appropriate. Instead the wearer of AwareCuffs simply glances on the cuffs. Small light patterns that appear on the cloth indicate if wireless LAN is available and the quality of service.
Fashion that reacts to one's suroundings, be it based on movement, location, noise, or other signals, seem to be an ever growing trend, especially as SIGGRAPH's CyberFashion Show gains influence and wearable computing becomes more commonplace.
Fire Fighting with the I-Garment
This suit based wearable computer called the i-garment, is designed to assist fire fighters in the Portuguese Civil Protection. It's similar to the military suit we mentioned before here on igargoyle, except that it's aimed at detecting vital signs like heartbeat and temperature, and goes one step further by monitoring the location of the wearer. I'm curious exactly how the positioning works, since GPS technology is usually fuzzy to about fifteen feet.
[ Link via we-make-money-not-art ]
December 07, 2005
Robosapian V2 Videos
Ooh, robosapian v2 commercials. Unfortunately they didn't add my feature request for a flamethower, but now at least you can use your robosapian to hit on women.
[ Link to videos via StreetTech ]
Nuvo Toy Robot
This robot is called the Nuvo, and while it looks interesting, and aparently is good at seducing women, unfortunately it goes for 7,000USD.
[ Link ]
December 06, 2005
International Robot Exposition
"The International Robot Exposition was a four day industry gathering which ended yesterday. [Here are some] photos I took of some of the more photogenic robots at the exposition." [boingboing]
[ Link via boingboing ]
Spyeye Disposable Security Camera
The Spyeye is a portable and disposable security camera designed for military operations. It can be mounted on a variety of surfaces to quickly to keep an eye out.
Once the Spyeye has been attached, the universal joint design enables the user to aim the camera at the area to be monitored.Police or special forces entering a hostile area may deploy Spyeyes in key locations to monitor enemy activity. Spyeyes are small (slightly bigger than a ping-pong ball) and light weight (less than 50 grams) which make them easy to transport.
The Spyeye is battery operated and uses wireless communication to transmit images to a receiving monitor. Spyeyes are inexpensive so they can be treated as disposable units and can be deployed in a wide range of circumstances without the user having to be concerned about retrieving the units after use.
Project Paradise: Cyborganic Experimentation
The installation consists of two aluminum isolation booths and a cylindrical chamber connected by video and telephone cabling. Each isolation booth contains the interface to "paradise": a television and a telephone.Telephone button presses allow users to "be Adam or Eve in paradise." This "Paradise" can only be experienced through telepresence via the robotically augented human actors (cyborgs). Through these Cyborg Surrogate Selves, participants can touch the grass, the flowers, and the flesh.
The cylindrical aluminum chamber located elsewhere in the installation contains a lush, plant-filled "paradise" and two robotically-augmented but otherwise nude people: the Cyborg Adam and Eve.
The group behind this, The Centre for Metahuman Exploration, is definately pretty interesting. I look forward to hearing more from this tech art group.
December 05, 2005
Stelarc Third Ear
All of Selarc's performances revolve around the "the notion of the prosthetic", and Stelarc's Third Ear is no exception.
The EXTRA EAR is a soft prosthesis, constructed not out of hard materials and technologies, but out of soft tissue and flexible cartilage. This would not be simply a wearable prosthesis, but one constructed on the body using its skin and cartilage as a permanent addition. The surgical techniques for ear reconstruction have been developed, so this is a plausible project. The difficulty is finding the appropriate medical assistance to realise it. Since 1997, there were several instances where doctors initially expressed interest in assisting, but then changed their minds. The problem is that it goes beyond mere Cosmetic Surgery. It is not simply about the modifying or the adjusting of existing anatomical features (now sanctioned in our society), but rather what’s perceived as the more monstrous pursuit of constructing an additional feature that conjures up either some congenital defect, an extreme body modification or even perhaps a radical genetic intervention.
This is really interesting, even though he hasn't acomplished it yet for the simple fact that he can't acomplish it yet. The idea of this is so far from society's norms that doctors won't assist him for the fear of being labled a deviant or "playing god", as so many like to say.
If you are a doctor, and have the know how to perform such a procedure, contact Stelarc at mailto:stelarc@va.com.au.
Steve Mann with Eyetap Photo
Steve Mann, cyborg activist and University of Toronto professor, with his eyetap device.
Photo by Declan McCullagh.
[ Link ]
Heating Fabric?
I found this reference to clothes that with electricity, can become warm using nanoparticles. I'm curious what this is, and who's making it. I couldn't find anything with a google search on the company "Warm-X".
A garment from Warm-X contains silver nanoparticles that, with the switch of the battery, warm the body.
[ Link (boston abc news article about teh amazing future!!!) ]
December 04, 2005
Comments Back!
For all of you who may have tried to comment in the past and found out you weren't able to, now you can again. We're trying to figure out a good way to keep the spam off the site and get back to an umoderated system.
US Army Embraces Snow Crash Mind Control
The human body, much like a computer, contains myriad data processors. They include, but are not limited to, the chemical-electrical activity of the brain, heart, and peripheral nervous system, the signals sent from the cortex region of the brain to other parts of our body, the tiny hair cells in the inner ear that process auditory signals, and the light-sensitive retina and cornea of the eye that process visual activity. We are on the threshold of an era in which these data processors of the human body may be manipulated or debilitated.An entirely new arsenal of weapons, based on devices designed to introduce subliminal messages or to alter the body's psychological and data-processing capabilities, might be used to incapacitate individuals. These weapons aim to control or alter the psyche, or to attack the various sensory and data-processing systems of the human organism. In both cases, the goal is to confuse or destroy the signals that normally keep the body in equilibrium.
[ Link via the cyberpunk tribe ]
Chainsaw Bot
This Chainsaw Robot is called Furninja, and while it looks like it's teathered, it aparently is fairly good at cutting up funiture.
[ Link via we-make-money-not-art ]
December 02, 2005
HAL-5: Exoskeletons Evolved
This badass exoskeleton is called the HAL-5, or the Hypbrid Assistive Limb. Of course it's aimed at the medical field, but somehow I think this kind of technology is really going to be pushed by the US military more so that soldiers can carry larger loads, specifically bigger guns.
To see how far this suit has come, check out engadget's post about the original HAL.
Snowboarder Glove iPod Controller
This is a sweet looking iPod controller that is embedded in snowboarder gloves and works like a joystick. Looks like the company that partnered with O'Neil to make the wearable controller, fibretronic, is also offering their joystick knob for other products.
Dubbed the 'Fat Controller' by O'Neill, the joystick has been designed by Fibretronic to wirelessly operate an iPod player by connecting to an RF transmitter located in the cuff of the glove. The joystick is sewn into the glove on the back of the hand and the five functions (play, rewind, fast forward, volume up, volume down) can be toggled by moving the soft rubber stick. The signals from the joystick are then sent wirelessly from the transmitter in the glove to a receiver unit that plugs into the iPod player.The joystick is suitable for incorporation into a broad range of textile or soft products and it will be seen in other ground-breaking garments and accessories next year. It offers a compact solution for controlling any type of electronic device compared to the more conventional flat style keypad systems. The joystick control system can be supplied in both 'wired' and wireless formats.
The glove will be on sale for this christmas.