screw the iphone, I want one of these.

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joyride
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screw the iphone, I want one of these.

Post by joyride »

If you guys havent heard of TED, you should check it out. They have some really good talks on there (also see Juan Enriquez talk, really interesting).

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/481

(It apparently wont allow me to embed this talk, so you have to deal with clicking the link)
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

Being a technophile, that is dope. A bit awkward in it development stages, but still dope as hell.

What I'm concerned about though is where all the information this thing is displaying is actually coming from? Who determines which of the toilet papers is the most ecologically friendly? Some sources are obvious, such as the flight information and the book information. When you whip out your phone at the store and use google, you KNOW where the information is coming from and can decide for yourself if it is reliable. Is that the case with this device?

We're told not to trust wikipedia without verifying the provided sources and finding other verifiable sources. This takes the wikipedia phenomenon to the next level. What happens when companies start paying for the right to have their products magically appear at the top of the list for any specified criteria even though they may not actually conform to the specifications you're looking for? What happens when the data sources are poisoned? Are we then suddenly left unable to make a choice on our own and sheepishly buy the products the device tells us to, even against our own better judgement?

This device seems to take the research one would normally put into decision making and make it available on-demand, which is definitely cool. Impressive to say the least, worrying in other ways. Would widespread use of this device help us make better decisions or would it simply decide for us? The back end data source here is everything. Where is the information coming from and why should I trust it?

</rant>

On the tech side of things, I'd be interested to see how well the current projector technology works in super bright daylight. I'm sure project tech is only getting better, I know there are already pretty tiny commercially available ones with semi-decent lumen ratings.
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joyride
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Post by joyride »

All very good points. As far as the information sources, Who knows. I think with food it could work, as all the ingredients and nutrition facts have to be available and accurate. It would be so much easier to shop (I have to scan everything I buy for dairy due to the girlfriend) if the scan would tell me yes or no. You could set it for the fat content or other nutritional values. if something like this were mandated for products, it could easily be done.

I really doubt the technology is good enough now for this to function, but the whole idea and the fact that were are getting there is exciting to me. I couldnt tell you how many times I could have used the name thing (toward the end) at the bar. im terrible with womens names when Im drunk, and usually get called out on it.
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Post by fuzzysnuggleduck »

The point about nutritional information is well taken. If the source is know and trusted, it's no different than looking that information up using any other device, in a more conventional fashion (computer, smartphone, etc.)

The names/face recognition stuff must work by taking a photo and associating a name, if it's slick enough it could easily be done on the fly as you meet people. The connection to the blog cloud would be somewhat specific (you'd have a have a blog and it be entered or found on a specific site).

Edit: I like a lot of TED talks, but some are just academic masturbation. This one actually had something real, physical and pretty cool to show off unlike some where it's just a prof presenting their subjective research. I like the science-y talks (like this one) better than the others.
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