Tagged: Technology

Revolutionizing Renewable Energy and Fashion

I went to the Earth Awards last week, and got to see some innovative ‘green’ solutions.. And, got to blog about it at the paper..

David Wendell wants to revolutionize renewable energy by taking a page out of nature’s book, and improving it. His new technology captures carbon and transforms it into sugar — something that plants do naturally — more efficiently using artificial photosynthetic foam. The foam developed by Mr. Wendell and his colleague Carlo Montemagno, both professors at the University of Cincinnati, was one of six finalists at the Earth Awards 2010 held yesterday in London, eventually winning the $50,000 prize.

Read the full post here

It’s like Reality, only better!

Have you ever walked along a busy street in a new town wondering which restaurant/bar/club to step into? Have you pulled out your phone and googled up a few place names, read a few reviews before making up your mind? While exploring a new city recently armed with a very heavy guidebook (All of continental USA in one weighty tome), and a TomTom that wouldn’t take any inputs unless the car came to a complete stop (Why can’t the passenger play search for gas stations while the driver drives?), I found myself wishing things in real life could be tagged – just like they can online. With Augmented Reality (AR) technology, they can be!

One of the big fears that people had with the popularity of the internet was that human beings would retreat into increasingly virtual worlds, living, marrying (and divorcing) online. Most of the successful new applications and services on the internet today however, are geared towards better integration of our ‘real lives’ with the virtual a la Facebook / Twitter / Google Maps / Qype etc.

The virtual world has now spun off into two tracks, with technology advances aiming at augmenting virtuality or augmenting reality. Augmenting virtuality refers to improving the virtual experience and making it as close to reality as possible – everything from making video game characters look more life-like, to SecondLife etc. What I find infinitely more interesting is AR tech, brought alive by apps on iPhones/Androids etc.

Imagine walking into a tennis game, and the players statistics pop up at the corner of your phone. Or in a new city, walk along a busy road, and you can see Yelp reviews for various cafes and bars.. or even what people are Tweeting around you (slightly creepy, but useful for small businesses that Tweet). All you need is a phone with GPS, a relatively accurate digital compass, a camera and an internet connection.

IBM rolled out a widget for Android phones at Wimbledon this year – check it out in action here. You can also look for houses for rent or sale in the Netherlands, look for the names and heights of mountains you’re looking at on your travels, look for the nearest tube in London or even, with the easter egg in the new Yelp App, look for bars and restaurants around you.

Drool. As much as I love my full QWERTY keyboard, I want an iPhone. Now!

And if this professor has his way, you may not even need a phone. You could just put on a pair of lenses, and have information transmitted directly to your eye.

To read more, check out the Economist briefing on AR tech and Mashable’s list of top 6 AR Apps.

Here and Now..

How many windows do you have open right now, as you’re reading this? Are you also glancing at your messenger, is your phone nearby in case someone messages or calls you, is your email open – checking the server every 32 seconds for any new messages? We fill each day with much more than we ever could before. Technology allows us to be always connected, available, active. Always on. And this technology fights for space in your mind. Consistently and Constantly.

Every minute of the day, we straddle different worlds simultaneously. We could be at a play one evening, yet we are also simultaneously a phone call away from work. We’re out for dinner with a group of friends, but only an sms away from another friend who’s halfway around the world. Each evening we spend equal time with everyone who’s online on Gtalk or MSN in equally meaningless conversations. You ask a girlfriend how her life is, and before you hear her answer (or see it) you’re responding to a classmate’s query on tomorrow’s coursework.

I was out for coffee with a friend a few days ago. While I was talking rather animatedly about something, he was drawn away by a phone call from his friend. I was left mid-sentence with my hands waving in the air. Rather than wait while he finished his conversation, I picked up my phone and continued an sms conversation I’d been having with a girlfriend, who was still at work.

So this is where we are. An interconnected web of people who are each in multiple places at once through the miracle of technology. Everywhere but Here and Now. Because to be both here and now and available 100% would amount to being a total loser! In this day and age, how could you not have something better to do all the time?

This, then, is what we yearn for – something better. Which is why our phones are turned on and set to vibrate in our shirt pockets, so that we can be reachable 24/7 just in case Something happens. We leave our blackberries on in the theatre, our messengers on from the minute we step inside the house, and compulsively check our email ever so often.

The inherent message is, whatever I’m doing right now is too far beneath me for me to devote myself to it one hundred percent. I am merely here for the lack of anything better to do.

After all, we’d never want to spend time with anyone who’d want to spend time with us.

Technology helps us in this. It allows us to go to several places all at once and what’s more, get there very very fast.

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