YouTube Video of  Marc Whitten, VP Xbox LIVE

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SmartGlass -- from Microsoft -- June 4, 2012

 

Microsoft Unveils ‘SmartGlass’ to Connect Xbox and Windows — from the Wall Street Journal

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Xbox Marc Whitten, corporate vice president of Xbox LIVE, announces
Xbox SmartGlass onstage at the Xbox 360 E3 media briefing Monday.

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Also see:

Addendum 6/6/12:

Spatially-aware devices — by Ishac Bertran

Also see:

Leap Motion founder on why 3D input will dominate the future– from betakit.com by Darrell Etherington

 

 

leap-motion

 

 

Excerpt:

Leap Motion is a 3D controller that made its public debut this week, after two years of work on the device, during which time founders Michael Buckwald and David Holz raised $14.55 million in funding. The Leap Motion is a motion control interface designed for use with existing computers,and in demo videos the device calls to mind natural, sci-fi interfaces like the one found in the Tom Cruise blockbuster Minority Report. It’s motion control that doesn’t look gimmicky or full of compromises, and CEO and founder Buckwald told BetaKit in an interview that in terms of underlying technology, Leap is heads and tails above most of what’s out there.

“Our technology is the only one focused on bringing motion control to the desktop, rather than trying to take what’s been built for TV (large gesture sensing) and making it work for computers,” he said. “We incorporate natural motions in closer range (three cubic feet from the device), in far greater detail and sensitivity, than any product on the market, and we’re the only solution that tracks all 10 fingers individually in 3D space, making Leap about 200 times as accurate as other motion-control technologies.”

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From DSC:
I saw this yesterday, but I also wanted to thank Mr. Cal Keen who also brought it to my attention again today;  thanks Cal for reminding me I needed to post this! Cal mentioned it isn’t due out until Dec 2012 or Jan 2013.

 

We need a “Fab Lab for Education” — from innosightinstitute.org by Alex Hernandez

Excerpt:

In my dreams, [insert city] would open a Fab Lab for Education.

The Fab Lab for Education is a place where educators with big ideas can prototype new approaches to education and operate them for six weeks at a time with real kids. In other sectors, fab labs are mini-workshops where inventors can make “almost anything” without re-tooling an entire factory. Educators should have a place to try amazing, new ideas without “re-tooling” a whole school.

For educators, getting selected to prototype their big idea is a huge honor and people travel across the country to see their work. By the way, they don’t have to quit their jobs to do this and everyone knows that not all the programs will succeed.

The Fab Lab for Education is a highly flexible and customizable space, kind of like the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Philanthropists stock the lab with all the things needed to test out new ideas: 3-D printers, legos, amazing books, art supplies, post-it notes…  basically whatever the educators need.

The Fab Lab for Education team has five jobs…

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Additional reflection from DSC:
Great, innovative thinking Alex on this posting. Speaking of such dreams, it’s my dream to have such a place here on campus where folks could “kick the tires” on various technologies — where educators, faculty members, etc. could collaboratively work with each other and with educational technologists.  Before a “standard” gets put into place (i.e. such as an implementation of an interactive whiteboard), such a facility could help people test out a variety of potential pathways.  Ideas emerge and they morph into something else. Innovation could occur. Emerging technologies could be identified and tested out.

Other thoughts:

  • This would be a great place for our future educators/student teachers to have access to as well
  • Ideas/innovations arising from some of these facilities might be eligible for patents and additional income streams to keep such facilities open/sustainable
  • Successful approaches could be shared with other school districts, colleges, universities
  • Human Computer Interaction (HCI)-related work could be a piece of this vision — esp. in regards to developing the next gen Smart Classroom and learning spaces

 


 

What is AirServer? — my thanks to Mr. Johnny Ansari at Calvin College for this resource

Overview
AirServer is a powerful Mac/PC application that enables you to stream or mirror your iOS device, such as your iPhone 4S, to your Mac/PC. If your computer is connected to a secondary or alternative display, such as an HDTV or projector, your iOS device can use that display. If your iOS device allows Mirroring then anything you see on that device can be displayed on the big screen.

AirServer is the most advanced AirPlay/AirTunes receiver app on the market. Mirroring has been fully supported since version 4.0 of AirServer. No other app will let you seamlessly stream audio, videos, photos, and photo slideshows to your Mac or iOS device. AirServer gives you more features for less money, and it keeps getting better. Android fans rejoice: we now support AirPlay streaming to Mac from Android devices running doubleTwist+AirTwist.


AirServer makes history — 1 May, 2012

We’re so hyped about our latest breakthrough with AirServer that we couldn’t hold back any longer. This is something no other app has done. This is history in the making.

AirPlay Mirroring for PC is here!
That’s right. AirServer is the first and only software that can Mirror your iPhone/iPad to your Windows PC. This is a pre-release version and doesn’t yet have sound or some of the eye candy features of full blown AirServer. But it does have Mirroring. And Mirroring will enable you to take your iPhone 4S and display the screen pixel perfect on your PC. Over the coming weeks we’ll be adding free updates to the PC version to bring it up to speed with the Mac version. Exciting times ahead.

Automated grading software in development to score essays as accurately as humans — from singularityhub.com by David J. Hill

See the iphone – Diorama piece at mike-ko.com

Beam me up Scotty: Life-size hologram-like telepods revolutionize videoconferencing — from the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University

Disney Research invents amazing new touch sensing tech — from DVICE.com

A smart city

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When we think of computer networks, we think of routers and servers and fiber optic cables and laptops and smartphones — we think of the internet. In actuality, though, the visible internet is just the tip of the iceberg. There are secret military networks, and ad hoc wireless networks, and utility companies have sprawling, cellular networks the track

 

30 specialist (and super smart) search engines — from thenextweb.com by Adam Vincenzini

The home 3-D printer is more real than ever–and costs as much as an iPad — from fastcompany.com by Kit Eaton

A ride on MIT Media Lab’s digital bandwagon — from CNET.com by Martin LaMonica
Digital technologies are reaching deeper into the physical world, opening up new ways for people to interact with their surroundings, say researchers at MIT’s Media Lab.

 

 

From DSC:
Here are some items related to what I call “Learning from the Living Room” — a trend that continues to develop that involves:

  • Using high-end, personalized, multimedia-based, interactive, team-created content — packed with new reporting tools for better diagnostics/learning analytics — available via a cloud-based “education store”/marketplace/exchange
  • Web-accessible content that’s available 24x7x365
  • The power of social networks/learning
  • Riding the wave of the massive convergence of the computer, the telephone, and the television.

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Smarter TV: Living room as digital hub from Samsung and Microsoft to Apple and Google — from wired.com by Tim Carmody
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
  • In the future, the living room will replace the home office as most households’ home for the stationary personal computer. Instead of printers and mice and other corded accessories, networked appliances and post-PC machines share data with one another and with the cloud. Play and productivity both become decentered; gaming and entertainment might be on a tablet or a television, with recipes at the refrigerator, a shopping list for the smartphone, and an instructional video on the television set. All of these experiences will be coherent, continuous and contextual. And like the personal computer at the height of Pax Wintel, the living room will be a platform characterized by triumphant pluralism.“The thing about the living room is that it’s universal; everyone in the household uses it,” Samsung VP Eric Anderson told me at today’s event. “We know that we’re not going to capture every single member of the household. In my family, my wife and my daughter are Apple, me and my sons are Android,” he noted, pointing out that the majority of devices introduced today can interact with either mobile platform.

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The modern mechanics of app stores: today, tomorrow and connected TV — from guardian.co.uk by Dean Johnson

Excerpt:

What’s next for app stores?
It’s time for each platform to up its game – smart TVs are coming. The small and medium screen experience will shortly be translated to the bigger screen as connectivity and discoverability takes on even greater importance.

Google and Apple will further interweave themselves into our daily lives as iOS and Android seamlessly combine our smartphones and tablets with our new smartTVs. Electronic Program Guides (EPGs) and the programmes themselves will suggest related content, from apps to music to film to books. This must all be presented in an approachable, then browsable manner to encourage additional discovery.

The quest for the perfect meta-data will become increasingly important and voice commands will need to deliver the best search results with the minimum of fuss. This time next year, the battle of the app stores will be fought on the move, on the desktop and on the living room wall.

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Samsung Launches Smart TVs With Gestures, Voice Control — from by Douglas Perry

Excerpt:

A Kinect-like feature is made possible via camera and microphone integration that comes standard with the LED ES7500, LED ES8000 and Plasma E8000 models. According to Samsung, consumers can launch apps such as Facebook or YouTube, or search the web via voice commands. Waving the hand will move the cursor and select links. The TVs integrate a Samsung dual-core processor as well as a new Webkit-based web browser to improve overall performance. The high-end 7500 and 8000 TVs ship with a remote with an integrated touchscreen. A wireless keyboard that is compatible with Samsung’s TVs as well as the Galaxy Tab tablet is sold as an option.

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New TV experiences through companion apps — from moxie pulse

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Microsoft Kinect in education

“Capturing students’ interest and making concepts come alive is an educator’s greatest challenge. Engagement is the key to unlocking the magic that lies within each student. With Kinect™ for Xbox 360® from Microsoft, educators are enhancing traditional lesson plans, physical education, school communications and after-school programs with extraordinary immersive, body-moving experiences that help students get engaged and stay on task.”

Microsoft Kinect in education

See also:

Apple, Microsoft, and the 3-D desktop of your dreams — from fastcompany.com by Kit Eaton

Microsoft’s Craig Mundie on the future of computing — from blogs.technet.com by Steve Clayton

Smart homes: Are we there yet? — from home-designing.com — also see openarch.cc

This is "the first home designed from scratch to incorporate a digital layer connecting the house and its elements to the Internet," says Openarch. "Its inhabitants lead a new digital and connected life. It is flexible and thanks to its ability to transform, it can adapt to any condition that the user requires."

 

A look into the not so distant future with OS X iOS — from applenapps.com
Excerpt:

Apple’s release of the Mountain Lion developer preview combined with the momentum of iOS indicates one clear path for Apple’s OS future. The path is combining the two for one consistent OS across all of Apple products. It’s unclear how long it will take for the merger to happen, but it definitely is coming down the line. OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion continues the Lion update path with many features from iOS moving over to the Mac. The iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch continue to be Apple’s top selling devices, and all of them are running iOS.

Apple’s iCloud is no Dropbox killer (it’s much more) — from TechCrunch.com by Sarah Perez
Excerpt:

Apple is more deeply integrating its iCloud service into the operating system itself. No longer will storing your documents in the cloud feel like an extra, value-added feature – it will feel like part of the OS itself. The cloud is just another drive, Apple seems to say, and saving to the cloud should look and feel no different than saving to your Documents folder or your Desktop.

Apple OS X Mountain Lion: Top 15 New Features — from Mashable.com by Peter Pachal

Apple bringing Macs to the living room with AirPlay for Mountain Lion — from AppleInsider.com by Neil Hughes
Excerpt:

Apple plans to break down the barriers between the Mac and HDTVs with its forthcoming OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion operating system update, which will bring the AirPlay Mirroring feature currently found on iOS to the Mac.

OS X Messages: This is the future of IM — from Gizmodo.com

With Mountain Lion, OS X prowls closer to iOS — from techcrunch.com by Erick Schonfeld
Excerpt:

A number of the new features in OS X come directly from iOS. These include deeper iCloud integration, Messages, Reminders, Notes, a Notification Center, a Game Center, AirPlay, and built-in sharing to Twitter, email, and more.

Transcript: Apple CEO Tim Cook at Goldman Sachs — from CNNMoney.com

Apple’s Tim Cook Details New Mac OS Features — from Wall Street Journal by Jessica Vascellaro

 

 

Get ready for a world of connected devices – from readwriteweb.com by Richard MacManus

Excerpt:

The next big thing in computing isn’t a new model smartphone or laptop. It’s the Internet empowering everything else around us. Our cars, TVs and many other devices. Which means we all need to think about engaging digital Internet experiences for the car, TV and every device imaginable – because that’s where audiences are heading.

From DSC:
What opportunities — and threats — might be present in this trend as they relate to:

  • Learning and education?
  • Learning spaces and smart classrooms?
  • Attention spans and engagement?
  • Memory?
  • Other?

MIT uses XBox Kinect to create Minority Report interface — from singularityhub.com by Aaron Saenz

 

 

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