Busy

Did you know that Kats and beavers have a great deal in common? Lately they do, anyway. They're both very busy dealing with the rushing waters of life, and sometimes they end up having to watch prime dam-building sticks float on downstream, because they just can't manage to grab a hold of 'em. That's me and the blog right now. I just don't have time to tell you about Talking Paper, and Mind-Controlled Computers (although both are awfully cool.) This is strictly a "letting you know I'm really busy" post. I'm not neglecting the Meow by choice--you all know I'd rather be blogging than doing most other things, usually--but there's a fair bit on my plate right now. I know that flaky is only good in pastry, so I'm cleaning my plate as fast as I can, and hope to be back with you soon. Meanwhile, feel free to alert me in the comments to anything cool and interesting that I'm missing, and I'll have a ready made reading list for when my schedule lightens up. Later, y'all.

Tech Fun

Maybe someday the Smart People will stop coming up with tech toys that call out to me with the lure of the Sirens to Odysseus' crew, but this is not that day. Glenn Derene, at Popular Mechanics, has a look at a revolutionary new computing platform, and it's absolutely amazing. Would you believe it's a coffee table? Well it is--a coffee table like nothing you've ever seen, except in sci fi movies like The Island and Minority Report. I just can't not want one. I can't. It's not possible. Go watch the video, and I dare you to try and not want one too. Read the article. If you're a geek at all, this thing has to at least make you want to play with it, if not start saving money immediately, forgetting your children's education and that long-awaited second honeymoon, for the day when this high-tech jewel will finally be your own. Just remember not to buy it till the technological law of gravity kicks in and the price comes down. Try to have that much self control--although, I admit, it's going to be hard with this one. I'm already contemplating which organ to sell.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Scanning

A friend and reader, knowing my fondness for that special place where science and science fiction cross paths, sent me the link to this article in the Telegraph (a UK publication), titled, "'Star Trek' scanner may end need for biopsies." Oooh, ya got me already. Star Trek and real life medical gadgets? How fun!! Let's read on, shall we?

Scientists have moved closer to developing a Star Trek-type scanner that can identify the molecular indications of cancer and other diseases without surgery.

X-ray images contain patterns that can help doctors translate the genetic "language" of tumours, researchers have found.

The discovery, which has been compared to finding the "Rosetta Stone" that enabled archaeologists to read hieroglyphics, could bring the science fiction of Star Trek to life.

Dr Howard Chang, from the University of Stanford in California, a joint leader of the research, said: "In almost every episode of Star Trek there is a device called a tricorder, which they used non-invasively to scan living or non-living matter to determine its molecular makeup. Something like that would be very, very useful."

I think Dr. Chang wins the understatement award for the day. A device which could non-invasively scan any and all matter and determine its molecular makeup would be something on the order of revolutionary. Of course, doctors would love to be able to just point a machine at someone and instantly be able to tell if they have cancer, intestinal parasites, space cooties from the planet Mongo, or other various and sundry ailments, but the applications for devices like the ones in Star Trek becoming a reality would extend way beyond the realm of the medical. Need a rare metal that's crucial to your pursuit of a homemade anti-gravity device? Wouldn't it be great to have a gadget that could tell you right where the stuff was hiding? Of course it would. Need to know if there's anything living in that cave, before you go spelunking? Our handy dandy little gizmo could probably help keep you safe from cave critters--or at least aware of their existence. Oh, and it can analyze any rocks you find while you're crawling around in the dark, too, so just in case you find one of those rare loose diamonds lying around on the cave floor, you won't pass it by thinking that it's only broken glass. Not a bad little tool to have with you in the dark, eh? But wait; there's more. If you think that's useful, boy howdy could the folks at Homeland Security use a government-issue, super-sleuth version, too, for keeping us all safe from bad guys. Want to make sure there are no dirty bombs on board that freight liner that just pulled into harbor? Well, let's just offload everything right on past that Jumbo Tricorder and have ourselves a little molecular peak, shall we? No nuclear stowaways gettin' through here, sir! So, don't you worry your pretty little head.

Now, you know that here at the Meow we like to take little flights of fancy, and that what the Telegraph is reporting doesn't even come close to the kind of tricorder technology that would enable the Star Trek version of reality. (It is fun to play with the idea, though, isn't it?) What's really been happening is that scientists have discovered that x-rays contain more information than doctors have known about previously, and some of those scientists are learning how to read that information. Dr. Chang and his colleagues worked with human liver cancer samples, and found 28 image features, not previously recognized, which show up on scans, that correlate to specific molecular gene activity, related to the cancer. In fact, "More than 5,000 genes have altered levels of activity in cancerous tissue," and "...the researchers were able to reconstruct 80 per cent of gene expression in the livers simply by looking at standard CT scans." Dr. Chang and his associates are learning to recognize how what they see in the images from medical scans relates to the molecular activity in the tissue. They hope that in time medical tricorder-like technology could develop from what they are piecing together, and that doctors won't have to cut someone open to give them a cancer diagnosis.

What they've got so far might not be the amazing and magical medical know-it-all gadgetry that Bones and Dr. Crusher use to rid the universe of the ravages of disease, but it's one step closer to the day when cancer diagnosis will be done with a scan and not a scalpel (and hopefully progress will continue apace on a cure, too.) Who knows where it will lead? Once they start understanding all the things these images show them, how, long will it be before they can program a computer to understand them too? From there it could be only a hop, skip and a jump to the tricorders of our dreams, even the ones that protect us from terrorists and find us caches of diamonds just for crawling around in the dark. Why not? We might as well dream big.

Hat tip: Danny

The Technological Law Of Gravity

Here's an example (in Gizmag) of why you should never succumb to the lure of technology before a little of the "new" has rubbed off the price-tag. Remember how the first VCRs cost more than your first car (that Datsun B210 with the dent in the right rear bumper), and cell phones had a price that matched their general enormity, only gracing the cars of the select few? Years ago, many people were faced with the choice between having a child or having a computer, because they couldn't afford both, and even the humble DVD player was at one time beyond the grasp of the average wage earner. How things have changed. Now they can't give VCRs away. Tiny cell phones have left the realm of the privileged few and have entered ubiquity--they do give them away, as long as you'll sign up for phone service for a year. Bill Gates' vision of a computer in every home has pretty much come to pass, and DVD players are the technological equivalent of Cracker Jack prizes. You can pick one up at Costco for $69.99, unless you want the portable laptop variety, which will still set you back at least a hundred bucks.

I use these examples because they are all things that are worth having, now that the price has come down to the point where people on a budget can realistically afford them. All except the VCR, of course. Who needs one of those stone age contraptions now that the DVD recorder is within the grasp of many a meager pocketbook? However, in its day, it was a central feature to modern home entertainment, so we should not disparage its place in history. Let us give it the respect it is due, before we toss it into the trash with the rest of yesterday's garbage. It is the fate of all things technological (and newly released DVDs, come to think of it) to go through a brief period of price ridiculousity before the eager beavers who just have to have a 25" flat screen computer monitor NOW pay off the R&D, and bring the price down for the rest of us. I am grateful for the eager beavers. They make life more affordable for the rest of us, and, in time, if we are patient, bring us all the same lovely gadgets they themselves enjoy--just a few months or years later, at a small fraction of the cost.

The latest gadget-du-jour that I predict will follow the usual and predictable path into the home of the common man is a nifty new keyboard (the brainchild of Russian designer Artemy Lebedev) that wealthy eager beavers the world over have been chomping at the bit to acquire for some years, while legal and production delays put off the great and wonderful day. That day has now been firmly established, and November 31, 2007 will be the glorious morning that brings the first 200 Optimus keyboards into the hands of the excited, toothy, flat-tailed technophiles who are willing to plunk down $1564 (American) to be the first to get their hands on this new computer accessory. They'll dribble off the production line for a few months during the massively over-priced introduction period, and then they will start appearing in more significant numbers. You and I will probably be able to find them at Best Buy soon enough, and those of us without deep pockets, who would nonetheless find the keyboard useful, might actually be able to afford one in a couple of years.

So, what's so special about the Optimus keyboard? Well, each individual key is a "stand-alone display" that changes with different settings. You can use the same keyboard for typing English, or Russian, or Greek, for example, and the keys will show the characters for the language chosen. Now, many of us here in the States are not bilingual, but lots of people in the rest of the world are. Their own language may be Korean, but the international business language is definitely English. A multi-purpose keyboard could be quite a boon. Wouldn't immigrants find this a useful little tool, too, an easy way to write that letter back to Grandma in the old country on the same keyboard that the kids write their term papers for junior English class. Even those of us who don't have use for another language in daily life might still find the added functionality a plus. I studied French for a number of years, and there are certain words that we throw into English vocabulary that bug me to write without the accents, but not enough to go to the trouble of fussing around to find out how to make the accents available to my keyboard on those rare occasions when I use them. However, if the cost of this new keyboard comes down enough so that the difference between it and a standard one is negligible (as it eventually must if it becomes popular enough), this new keyboard may itself become the standard. In a few years this keyboard could be universal, so that my laziness will no longer hinder my ability to add the accents to such words as facade. Doesn't that just look wrong?

This is my prediction: Like Jack and Jill, the price for this new gadget will tumble. Someday all computers will come with an Optimus keyboard, or one of the many inevitable knock-offs, and even those of us who have little use for it will have it nonetheless. (Kind of like the eighth teaspoon measure on a set of measuring spoons--who ever uses that?) Eventually we'll find new ways to need it, even if only for video games, and wonder how we ever got along without it--until some new technology comes along to make it passe (doesn't that need an accent?), like computers with voice recognition software that makes keyboards obsolete altogether. However this plays out, I have a request to make of you. If you are one of those people who could really use this technology, just don't buy it (or the voice recognition software for that matter) before the price dips. (I would like to think of Meow readers as being smarter than the eager beavers who bring the price down for the rest of us.) No signing up on the pre-order list. No standing in line at Circuit City just to over-pay for the privilege of being the first to own it. The rest of us will have it soon enough. Patience. The law of gravity is especially applicable to the price of technology.

First Aid First

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were suddenly required to remember the CPR you learned in high school health class? What if the guy in the cubicle next to you suddenly collapsed from a heart attack? After you yell to someone to call 911, would you know how to be his "artificial heart" until the paramedics arrive? I have some vague recollection, and could probably get my hands in the right position, but would be pretty shaky on the details, like how hard to push down, and how often. Now, I could tell you the numbers right now, because I just read an article on the subject at Gizmag (100 beats per minute, and about four to five centimeters of compression), but that article also stated that most people don't retain the correct information for long after they have learned it. Gizmag says, "Only 6 months after learning life-saving CPR techniques, around 60 percent of first aiders - including doctors and nurses - forget how to do it correctly." Only six months. Wow. That makes the chances that I remember the details from sophomore health back in '79 accurately pretty darn remote.

Now, I probably ought to go take a CPR refresher course, but considering that the info might only last another six months before finding the sieve holes in my brain, it would be awfully nice if there were another option--something that might make all the potential heart attack victims in my vicinity a little safer. In fact, wouldn't it be great if people all over the globe (not just near me), in houses, stores, airplanes, office cubicles, and every other place we humans tend to inhabit, could be made just a little safer from what the World Health Organization says is the number one killer of both men and women around the world? I have a friend who recently survived a heart "episode" and it's made me much more aware of how important it is that people know what to do, and that I really don't. I'm sure most of us are getting more aware as we age that we don't have the answers for every emergency, while at the same time we are getting ever more likely to experience them. Some folks in Canada, though, have moved beyond awareness and onto solutions. They've come up with a gadget to add to the standard first aid kit that could save a lot of lives. It's not a magic pill, or portable defibrillator, but a glove:

The Canadian CPR Glove acts as a quick on-the-job refresher course, making sure the first aider administers the correct frequency and depth of chest compression. It's a simple and cheap device that has real potential to save lives if included in a first aid kit.

The black, one-size-fits-all CPR Glove features a series of sensors and chips that measure the frequency and depth of compressions being administered during CPR and outputs the data to a digital display.

How's that for an elegant solution to the memory problem? It's a small item, that's easy to store with the other aid supplies, yet it could make such a difference if it's ever needed. Gizmag says that in a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fifty-nine percent of the time people didn't do enough compressions per minute to help the patient, and that nearly forty percent of the time the compressions weren't deep enough. Put the CPR Glove on the hand that's pushing on the victim's chest, however, and the glove itself will tell you if you're doing it right. Pretty slick, don't you think?

So who were the Smart People who came up with this life-saving notion? Students:

"We were brainstorming about what we could create for our final-year design project that would provide a real contribution," said inventor Corey Centen, a fourth-year student in electrical and biomedical engineering at McMaster. "We came across this study and recognized the importance of finding a solution."

Centen and classmate Nilesh Patel started working on the concept in September 2006 and developed a number of prototypes, bringing the size of components down each time. They wrote the programs and hand-fabricated the button-size computer chips that operate the glove. They even designed the pattern for the glove but turned to a professional seamstress to recommend fabric and stitch the glove together.

"We see the glove being available as part of any standard first-aid package," explains Patel, also a fourth-year electrical and biomedical engineering student at McMaster. "It is also ideal for CPR training and refresher courses. It would be easy to afford since the components are readily available and relatively inexpensive."

Cool, huh? I want one.

Victory Through Superior Firepower

The darkness of the mission demanded thermal imaging to acquire the target. In the total blackness of the confined spaces and hidden enclaves the enemy favored, no human eye or video camera could detect the signs of life that would indicate the invaders had established a nest for their destructive operations. Only the heat signatures of the swarming, but insidious, foe could reveal their whereabouts, and only by exposing them completely could there be any hope of defeating them. Leaving even a few would enable them to multiply in the darkness and rise again, like bugs, mindlessly bent on destruction, consumption, and their own procreation. The new technology was a Godsend, able to sniff out enemies by the very heat and moisture of their bodies. It went alone into the darkness, and when it found the signs it sought, it's computer mind felt no mercy as the enemy was exposed and demolished, writhing in the death throes of chemical destruction.

Sounds brutal, eh? Good. I say every one of them should die, and no one should shed the tiniest tear or feel the least remorse, just as if they were bugs. Why? Because they are bugs--termites to be exact--and the technology that seeks their heat signatures is the latest in exterminator gear, designed to slip down those narrow passages and hidden ducts that protect the enemy from the human messengers of death pitted in combat against those creatures whose whole existence focuses on eating us out of house and home. As the Termite Wars rage on, and the enemy continues to find ways to elude our extermination warriors, technology steps in to give the homeowner one more weapon in the fight to protect their homes from destruction, while avoiding some of the collateral damage to walls and floors, previously destroyed in the quest to access the invading menace. This remote-controlled weapon is called a Termibot, and for that reason alone, I had to tell you about it. How could I not share the existence of something called a Termibot? Gizmag revealed it to me, and now I reveal it to you. I hope you never need the services of an extermination warrior, but if you do, for your sake and that of your home, I hope the Termibot is on the front lines, in the ducts and trenches of Battlefield Home. "Never give up. Never surrender." Victory!!

Weird Science

Here's a bit of fluff to start your week. Justin Mullins, at NewScientist.com, says that Phillips (you know, the TV manufacturer) is developing "Furry TV." Haven't you always longed for a pettable television? No? I can't say I have either. In fact, such a thing would never have entered my head, but apparently the folks at Phillips have actually been working on how to make it happen, and believe it should be possible to make a TV screen out of fabric, with hair-like strands acting as pixels. Ultimately this could lead to wearable television screens, and Mullins explains, "The company hopes to build furry displays into outfits." How weird is that?

I can "picture" it now--your favorite sweatshirt won't be the one that commemorates your trip to the Super Bowl, but the one that let's you watch the Superbowl. Of course, if you're watching television on your own shirt, instead of someone else's, the image better be upside down, and set somewhere down around your belly button, if you want to see and understand any of the action (which could give new meaning to the term "contemplating your navel.") Speaking of new meanings, this weird science could lead to a whole new set of vocabulary oddities. For example would a sweatshirt TV fitted out for the hearing impaired have "clothesed captioning?" Would a baby bib TV come equipped with a "video feed?" Would "volume control" suddenly have a double meaning--not only referring to turning down the sound, but maybe alluding to somebody's need to trim a few pounds so that they can fit into their wearable television?

I'm left wondering why Phillips wants to spend time and money developing this technology? I get the concept of developing flexible, portable TV screens; there are lots of practical applications, but what real purpose would clothing that can double as an idiot box serve? I wrote last week about how scientists are developing "electronic clothing for emergency personnel that can have updatable messages written across them in glowing letters." That I get, but furry fabric televisions sewn into clothing? That's too weird for even my extra-weird imagination to see the point. Anybody else have any "this is a great idea because..." solutions for me?

An X Prize For Fuel Economy

Y'all remember the X Prize, right? $10 million went to the team that built the first private spaceship to make it to space. The contest prompted big advances in the baby private-space-flight industry, and continued X Prize-type challenges keep spurring the new industry forward. Now there are not only private companies contracting with NASA to take payloads into space, but there are many companies working on various commercial space projects, from space hotels to space elevators. This financial incentive thing gets people involved--and gets results. $10 million can certainly give little guys with big ideas some incentive.

So, what about applying that principle for more Earthly goals? Nick Bunkley, at The New York Times is reporting that the X Prize Foundation is set to offer even more than $10 million to whoever can develop the first "commercially viable car that can travel 100 miles on a gallon of gasoline." They're not looking for pie-in-the-sky here. They want to prompt the development of vehicles that would work and be affordable in the real world.

...the organizers want to ensure that vehicles entered in the contest, which will compete in races in 2009 to determine the winner, are commercially viable. Entries must be production-ready, unlike many of the fantastical concept cars that are presented at auto shows. Each team must prepare a business plan for building at least 10,000 of the vehicles at a cost comparable to that of cars available now.

100 miles to the gallon of gas, and an affordable car to boot? That would make it possible for folks here in Portland to drive all the way to Disneyland (a very important destination) without stopping to fuel up. Wow. Sounds almost too good to be true, and if it weren't for the competition and financial incentive, I doubt this would go very far. Bunkley explains that the problem isn't making a car that can get 100 mpg, but in making that car at a price people can actually afford to pay. The industry is not currently geared for the rapid changes and big risks necessary to shift from the 20 mpg the average car gets today to the 100 mph that they're aiming to achieve with the impetus of the competition. That $10 million shot in the arm, though, could make all the difference. The X Prize approach has really produced results in reaching for the stars. It'll be exciting to see where this new prize can drive the automobile industry.

Hat tip: Instapundit

Electric Sunglasses

How do people survive without sunglasses? When I watch movies and documentaries I'm always amazed to see people running around all naked-eyed, for the camera I assume, in terribly bright conditions, doing things like hiking across glaciers, or wind-sailing through sand dunes at high noon. They don't even look like they're squinting. How do they do that? Why don't these people go blind from the glare, or at least wind up with a massive migraine? I don't know, maybe they do end up in pain, but consider it worth it to forward their on-camera careers, or maybe the brilliant conditions simply don't bother them. It could be they like having the world so brightly lit and sunglasses would only hinder their view. Crazy if you ask me, but then I am extremely light sensitive. When I step out my door in the four reliable months of sunshine a year we get here in beautiful green Western Oregon, my sunglasses are my best friend. I head out, they pop on. Fact of life.

Popping on a pair of sunglasses isn't so straightforward for some people, though. Some, like my husband, are already wearing glasses--the kind that help him focus--and he can't just slip any old pair of UV protectant shades over his regular eye-wear. He's got to have over-the-glasses glasses. This used to mean wearing what we always called "old man glasses." They were the only option for a long time, these huge, ugly eyesores that made it look like he had just come from the eye doctor and was still recovering from the drops that make your pupils dilate. He always hated wearing those, but since he can't wear contacts he didn't have much choice in the eye-wear department. There were also a few of the clip-on variety, but they never fit his glasses very well, and still looked pretty awful. It's only been in the last decade or so that he's gotten some better options. The companies that make the frames started putting out glasses that come with their own clip-on, or magnetic, perfectly sized-to-fit sunglasses that actually look good. This has been a vast improvement. They not only look "normal," but they don't fall off because they are too big for his glasses, or the hooks are in the wrong places. The only trick with them is keeping track of them, and remembering to bring them, but that's something we all have to do, so no sympathy points for that.

His latest option in eye protection, however, actually takes the remembering out of the equation too. He recently got Transitions lenses for the first time, and he loves them. Now there are no sunglasses to fiddle with at all. His regular glasses simply darken when he heads outside and they become his sunglasses. There's some sort of chemical reaction that takes place, and voila, instant shades. There are a couple drawbacks still; they don't change when he's in the car, because the UV protection in the windshield keeps the glasses from doing their chemical magic, and sometimes they take quite a while to lighten up again when he comes back in. All in all, though, this is the best he's had it in the eye protection department in his whole life. It actually makes me a little jealous. My sunglasses don't lighten and darken to adjust to variations in the light level. For me it's either on or off, no fancy chemical wizardry to enhance my viewing pleasure. I suppose I could buy some Transitions lenses with no vision correction to them, but it would be a ridiculous amount of money to spend, and as soon as I had spent it that would be the pair I would lose. No, the rest of us don't have the "magic option" in our sunglasses.

That is all about to change, though. Science Daily has a report about innovations coming out of the University of Washington that are not only going to make it possible for the rest of us to affordably adjust the light levels in our sunglasses, but, in a nod to the fashion conscious, the color as well. Chunye Xu is a research assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, and she said that despite their advances, new glasses being designed at UW will not be very differently priced than current options. These new glasses, though, will certainly work on different principles. How many sunglasses do you own that run on a watch battery? These do, using an electric current, triggered by a small dial on the glasses' frame:

Researchers made the glasses using electrochromic materials that change transparency depending on the electric current. Many groups, including the UW, are developing such materials for so-called "smart windows" that could soon be used in energy-efficient homes and offices. Most smart windows use liquid-crystal technology or inorganic oxides. Those materials are expensive to produce and require a constant or frequent injection of power to hold their tint. The UW glasses are based on a new type of smart window using organic, rather than inorganic, oxides. These are cheaper to manufacture and require less power.

The prototype glasses are powered by a watch battery that attaches to the glasses frame, and the wearer spins a tiny dial on the arm of the glasses to change color or shade. The lenses were created by sandwiching a gel between two layers of electrochromic material. Applying a small voltage moves charged particles from one layer to another, and changes the transparency. Once the glasses are a certain tint they will stay that way without power for about 30 days. A single watch battery is able to power thousands of transitions, Xu said.

Interesting that the organic component is what makes the new adaptable lenses more affordable, eh? It's the organic molecules that also allow the glasses to change color. As the technology is perfected, more layers will be added to expand the color options available in a single pair of glasses. The pair constructed by the UW team adjusts through a range of blues, but the plan is to broaden the spectrum to include more of the rainbow. It's not just about fashion, either. The Science Daily article says that yellow lenses, "enhance contrasts and improve depth perception," and those rose-colored lenses, often considered the eye-glasses of choice for the naive and optimistic, "brighten low-light scenes." (How appropriate. I consider this proof that those cheerful people "wearing rose-colored glasses" actually see better than their gloomier counterparts, which is happy confirmation of my general world view.) Eventually we'll be able to pick up an affordable pair of completely adjustable outdoor eye-wear. The new lenses will adjust quickly, too. While my husband's lenses still take a little while to make the switch back to indoor conditions, the new battery-powered variety will make the switch in a second or two. Electric sunglasses--Cool, huh?

I want a pair!! I'd say I want two pair, but what would be the point? One pair would cover every possible light condition and color option, so once you settle on a frame that suits your face, what's more to need? (unless you are one of those people who have a hundred pair of shoes in your closet--I assume you will want at least a dozen different frame options as well.) The only disappointing thing about the new glasses is that they're not ready for prime-time yet. Science Daily says it'll be a few years before the glasses make it to market. Wah! I want an Umpa Lumpa now, Daddy!! Oh well. It's still cool, lenses that change color and darken on command. Hey, won't it be fun if they make "lenses" like that for the windows of your house? You could have "mood windows." If they could figure out a way to toss in some nanoparticle solar collectors, too, so that the windows (or the sunglasses for that matter) powered themselves, we would be heading into perfection territory. Oh, wait a minute--perfection territory will be when they make it possible to apply this imaginary nanotechnology to your eyes themselves, so you don't need sunglasses at all, but can change the light input and color of your eyes at will!! Of course, that will require a mental interface. None of us want a little dial on the side of our heads, now do we?

Hat tip: Futurismic

An Ounce Of Pretension...

Put this one in the "more money than sense" file. Would you pay a cool million for a laptop? How about if it had a rare diamond for a power button? What if you got to wear that power button around your neck? From Gizmag:

UK-based bespoke luxury goods creator Luvaglio has created the first million dollar laptop. That’s what the first of their luxury laptops will sell for. Full details of the laptop have not been released at this point, but it is known that it incorporates a 17" widescreen LED lit screen with a specially designed anti-reflective glare coating for clear and brighter image, 128GB of Solid State Disk space and a slot loading Blue-Ray drive. There is an integrated screen cleaning device and a very rare coloured diamond piece of jewellery that doubles up as the power button when placed into the laptop and also acts as security identification.

What do you think now? Does the integrated screen cleaning device give it more bang for the buck? Does the Blue Ray drive make it worth the extra $997, 801? What if you find out that you get to personalize your purchase, choosing your favorite color and everything? Are you dying to buy your own personal million dollar laptop now? Me neither. You know what they say--an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure.

Haptics--Coming To A Cellphone Near You

Pretty soon we're not going to be able to trust any of our own senses. We are rapidly approaching the day when the line between illusion and reality won't be easily determined by casual examination. Science fiction is creeping further and further into the real world, and some of the time we don't even notice it. The phrase, "I'll believe it when I see it." has lost a good deal of it's meaning in recent decades. We see perfectly believable things all the time which are nothing but computer generated graphics, or clever use of Photoshop. We hear things all the time which are studio fabrications--like the beautiful diva's aria from the movie The Fifth Element. We taste and smell things, probably daily, that are chemical facsimiles of nature's offerings, and never give it a second thought. The only relatively trustworthy sense left in our arsenal is that of touch, and if the truth be told, that one's going on the reliability chopping-block too.

If you've read the Meow for any length of time, more specifically since last August, then you've probably seen my posts about haptics. In the first, I spent a little time discussing what the science of haptics is, and in the second, I shared some links sent to me by Dr. Gabriel Robles-De-La-Torre, founder of the International Society for Haptics, and a prominent researcher in the field. For those of you who don't have the background, I'll describe haptics the same way I did before:

Haptics uses computer technology to make you feel things that aren't really there, or feel things differently than they actually are. It's a virtual reality type of fooling the senses, but haptics involves the sense of touch.

It's not really an adequate definition, but it gets you started on the idea, and you can follow the links if you want to know more. There are explanations for how force can imply shape, and there are graphic demonstrations to help those of us who aren't neuroscientists and computer engineers like Dr. Robles-De-La-Torre. It's interesting stuff, and the Meow will still be here when you get back, so go have a look... Go on... Shoo!

Back now? Okay, then let's move on. The thing which got me "hooked on haptics" is reading the explanations of how Dr. R's work can be applied in the real world. I find it absolutely fascinating that your body could touch something, and feel something else. The good doctor has developed mechanisms where a person running their finger over something smooth will feel something sharp, or pointy, which is impressive enough in itself, but what is even more amazing is the growing list of ways the science can be applied to things which you and I use, and will probably grow to take for granted. I wrote before that there are hopes that haptics will advance to the point where surgeons could practice operations using a haptic interface, perfecting their technique before ever touching a real live patient, but feeling everything they would if a living breathing bleeding person lay on the table before them. Space technicians, too, might be able to get the "feel" of dangerous maneuvers, like docking a spaceship to an orbiting station, aiding the chances that when they perform the real thing in space, they won't damage either people or expensive space toys. There are versions of these technologies in use today, although there's a long way to go. More and more advanced forms of haptics technology could be saving lives in the very near future.

These applications are wonderful, of course, even noble, but you might be thinking, "Okay, but that stuff is all pretty distant from me. Although I might have surgery one day, I'm not going to be performing one any time soon, and space shuttle docking is even further out of my reach, so there's not much chance I'm going to even experience haptic technology, let alone take it for granted." Clearly, I have something further to offer for your haptics edification, or I wouldn't bother writing this post, so read on.

I got an email yesterday from our friend Dr. Robles-De-La-Torre, and he sent me to an article from The Economist (via TCMnet) that just came out this month, about some more applications of the kind of work that he's doing. The Economist explains how the science is moving beyond using only force to fool you into believing you're touching something you're not (as amazing as that is), and adding a new dimension--skin stretch:

Most of today's haptic devices rely on motors that either prod or vibrate the skin, but a new technology is emerging that is an even more flexible and effective means of stimulating the sense of touch: skin stretch. By laterally stretching the surface of the skin (without pushing or poking into it) it is possible to mimic the feeling of complex shapes and sensations. This is because the sense of touch seems to depend far more on the way in which the skin is deformed and stretched than it does on the degree of pressure applied. So it should be possible to recreate sensations purely by stretching skin, says Vincent Hayward, a researcher who first developed such a device at the Centre for Intelligent Machines at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

"It's analogous to watching a TV screen," he says. The human eye can be tricked into seeing a range of colours on a video display, even though it really only consists of tiny red, green and blue dots. In much the same way the sense of touch can be fooled into feeling shapes and textures that are not there, says Dr Hayward.

Okay, cool. Skin stretch is another tool in the haptic bag of tricks, and the body gets fooled like it does with television, but this still doesn't answer how any of this becomes something you and I are likely to encounter. How does the science of haptics affect me!! (It is all about me, you know--or you, as the case may be.) Patience. The Economist points out some of the ways the rest of us may be experiencing haptics--it also includes a much better definition than mine of exactly what haptics is:

Haptics is the science of simulating pressure, texture, vibration and other sensations related to touch. The term is derived from a Greek word meaning "able to lay hold of". Devices that exploit haptics have been around for decades: many modern aeroplanes, for example, have haptic control columns that shake or vibrate to warn the pilot of an approaching stall. The technology has also found its way into video-game consoles, where it adds an extra layer of realism. Players can feel when they are veering off course in a driving game, or when they have been hit in a shooting game. Force-feedback technology, another offshoot of haptics, is used in robotic telesurgery and in surgical simulators to enable surgeons to feel resistance as they move their surgical instruments around, just as they would in conventional surgery. Even the "vibrate" mode on a mobile phone, which discreetly alerts the user to an incoming call or text message, is an example of haptics.

Okay, this is getting a little more down-to-Earth. We've all played video games, and used a cellphone, right? This haptics thing might apply to us after all! It might even be worth reading the rest of this post to see what's around the corner.

It's the cellphone that is taking haptics to a new level, in terms of real-world application. Some of the new mobile phones are coming sans keyboard, with nothing but a touchscreen interface, but one phone in particular, from Samsung, is taking it a step further, and adding a new haptic twist:

The SCH-W559 handset, which is so far available only in China, fools the user's sense of touch and mimics the feeling of pressing a mechanical button, even though the surface is actually completely flat. It is the latest example of a new breed of "haptic" technologies that do for the sense of touch what lifelike colour displays and hi-fi sound do for eyes and ears.

Wow. They're making you feel like you've pressed a button--that satisfying little click you feel--when all you've done is touch a screen. Unbelievable, huh? That whole skin stretch thing must be making its mark. I get why you would want the feel of real buttons, even if it's only a screen you're touching. You'd have to pay much closer visual attention if you couldn't tell by feel when a button had indeed been pushed. I'm mentally working on what the advantage is to a simulated button over a mechanical one, and the best I'm coming up with so far is that if you spill something it can't seep between the buttons and gum up the works. Dust would have a hard time finding its way into tech devices that are dust-sensitive, too, if the surface of the keyboard was actually a solid screen. Maybe mechanical buttons would wear out more quickly than simulated ones. I'm sure there are many other advantages, and Smart People somewhere have thought of most of them. They will become clearer to the rest of us as the technology gets more mature. What I suspect is part of the motivator now, though, for playing with haptics is that they can. It's just plain cool and fun to be able to do this stuff, whatever it's ultimate uses.

Of course, this whole world of haptics technology is one of those things that one day we'll all take for granted, and future generations might even understand. In a few years our kids will probably be able to build their own haptics interfaces for school projects, and it will have worked its way into children's toys as well as the grownups' gadgets. Mattel will sell some version or other of Barbie's Haptic Dream House , where you can pet little haptic Barbie pets with Barbie's hand, and feel it with yours, or feel the new Barbie Dream Carpet through Haptic Barbie's feet. Wouldn't that blur the line between reality and illusion--if you could feel what Barbie "feels"? Hey, you're scoffing now, but can you imagine what it would be like to go to sleep a hundred years ago and wake up today? Microwaves and cellphones alone would send you loopy. Haptic Barbie is not that much of a stretch. I wonder if her cellphone will come complete with haptic buttons?

A Solution Looking For A Problem

Here's a "what's the point?" moment, brought to you by the good folks at Gizmag, your one-stop online magazine for all things gadget and tech. Picture this: You load your family into the car, drive to a remote location, open the roof, swivel your seats around to face the back of the vehicle, and watch a video on the flipped-up moonroof-turned-40-inch-movie-screen. This is actually possible, and at least one of these cars already exists. What we're talking about here is a Suzuki concept car, designed to give you the ultimate in mobile viewing entertainment:

January 19, 2007 One of the concept vehicles at NAIAS which somehow seemed to slip below the radar was the silver-screen-inspired XL7 Flix concept. The Flix concept offers film enthusiasts the ultimate mobile movie experience, being outfitted with an in-vehicle movie system. After parking at the optimal film-viewing destination, Flix’s clamshell roof can be opened, revealing a maximum-size moonroof that serves as a 40-inch movie screen. Additionally, the XL7 concept’s front roof panel vents, giving way to a high-density digital projection system to display a family’s movie of choice. For those who prefer the traditional drive-in movie experience, Flix’s projection system can be positioned to display movies nearly anywhere – the side of a building, a billboard or almost any wall.

The interior look of the Flix resembles a contemporary private screening room, dressed in plush materials to evoke elegance and sophistication. The XL7 concept features four individual bucket seats that pivot 180 degrees to view the elevated giant screen. The Flix also is equipped with a next-generation, high-definition DVD player with integrated hard drive for maximum AV storage, a professional THX/SDS-theater quality sound system, pivoting quarter window speakers and red door/floor strip lighting to further enhance the in-vehicle movie experience.

That's the bulk of the article, although, if you want to see pictures, head on over to the Gizmag site for the visual confirmation. It'll make a whole lot more sense what they mean by "a clamshell roof," and the layout really is worth a gander.

What the article doesn't say, and I think is extremely relevant, is how much this little theater-on-wheels is "projected" to cost. One can only assume "a heck of a lot," and that begs the question, "Why on Earth would anybody do that?!!" For what the extras on that car are bound to cost, wouldn't it make more sense just to buy a fancy theater system for your home, complete with a high-def big-screen, surround sound, comfy chairs and a refrigerator nearby? This also has the added advantage of ample size--the average living room will hold more than four people. I understand that people have to have transportation, and people like movies, but I don't really get the concept of loading all that gear into an SUV, just so you can drive someplace else to watch a movie. Not that watching a movie out in some country field might not have a bit of a novelty kick, but after the "new gadget smell" wears off, does the cost-to-benefit ratio really work out in favor of the 40-inch-screen-in-the-car concept? The article says this concept car "slipped below the radar." I wonder if that's because most people took a look and thought, "Huh. Maybe I just ought to buy a nicer TV."

Gadget History

Here's something for you if you find the history of gadgets remotely interesting. Ralph Kinney Bennett, at TCS Daily, has a history of the remote control. Some of us are actually old enough to remember the early days of remote control wizardry. I'm not of an age to recall the very first versions of the device that most of us couldn't live without any more, but I do remember the first TV we got when I was growing up that had the incredible power to change the channel from across the room, and the all-important "mute" capacity. Those were heady days.

I also remember the VCR my friend's parents bought, back when it cost a thousand dollars for the new technology (and a thousand bucks was a truckload of cash), and my folks would no more have dreamed of spending that kind of money on something to play movies on your TV, when there were at least six perfectly good channels available--in color--for free, than take a hammer to the new Ford station wagon. That VCR was the much boasted evidence of my girlfriend's household superiority, and I was appropriately humbled in its presence. The one bright element, the thing which kept my chin just a little higher than it might otherwise have fallen, was that the remote for that monument to victory in the War of the Joneses had to be connected to the VCR via a twenty foot wire.

Our TV remote was wireless. We never tripped over the cord, thank you very much. It also made a very satisfying "khunk" sound as the dial on the television manually turned in response to the distant impulse from the wonderful little magic box that sat on the table next to my father's special chair. I remember sometimes, when no one else was around, pushing the buttons, just to make the dial turn, and hear that particular sound. I didn't even want to watch anything; I simply wanted to make the dial move by magic. Now, of course, it would drive me nuts if I had to push a button over and over to get the TV to go past all the shows I didn't want to watch and onto the channel I did, but at the time it was just so darn cool that we didn't have to get up and walk across the room--and the best part of all--we didn't have to listen to the commercials.

It turns out, we have the founder of Zenith to thank for the remote control. His reason for the development of our favorite gadget? He hated commercials as much as the rest of us do. What he really wanted out of the deal, for all of us, was the mute button. Have a look at Bennett's article if this sort of history sparks your interest. I found in entertaining--and there are no commercials.

Off We Drive, Into The Wild Blue Yonder

Are you ready to fly the family car, just like the Jetsons? I remember reading about a new flying car that was in the design stage a year or so ago, the brainchild of some MIT students with a vision. At the time, from what I recall, it was a school project, but the grand thinkers involved thought that their baby could actually fly one day, literally. Well, now their idea's taking off it seems, and the result is a start-up company called Terrafugia, which is now taking orders for PAVs (personal air vehicles), to be delivered some time in 2009. The new vehicle is called the Transition, named for the fact it can change from a street-legal car to a two-seater airplane:

... the Transition drives like a car on public roads and can transition into an aircraft at the nearest airport by lowering its 27-foot wings and taking off. As an aircraft it has a top speed of 130mph, a range of 500 miles and can carry a payload of 430 pounds. One stop gives you over a thousand miles of range inside eight hours. Then you land and fold up the wings and you’re back on the road.

It'll cost you about $150k to purchase this new toy, with a 5% down-payment now for the privilege of landing on the waiting list. You'll get a vehicle that gets about 30 mpg by land or air, that can carry two people and their luggage. Follow this link to Gizmag to see what all that dough'll buy you, and be sure to enlarge the pictures. The fold-up wings are pretty interesting, although, judging from the drawings, they're going to cause one heck of a blind spot when the vehicle's in car mode. I wonder if they can make those out of transparent aluminum to enhance the field of vision?

Hat tip: Futurismic