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Virtual reality

A quote from the 90's: "By the turn of the millenium, a technology known as Virtual Reality will be in widespread use. It will allow you to enter computer generated artificial worlds as unlimited as the imagination itself. Its creators foresee millions of positive uses, while others fear it as a new form of mind control."

Smith's Law
Alvy Ray Smith, Microsoft graphics guru and co-founder of Pixar has said, "Reality begins at 80 million polygons per second." Joi Ito notes Toy Story had 5-6 million polygons per frame. Toy Story 2 had twice that. Our best digital faces today have 100 motion control points. The actual Reality Transition may be 800 million polygons/frame and thousands of control points. We are rapidly approaching this threshold. What then?
Moore's Law
In 1964, Gordon Moore of Intel noted that CMOS transistor density doubles reliably every 18-24 months. In 1999, Ray Kurzweil noted this doubling trend has held for at least 110 years. What new products and services will this enable in 2015? 2025?
Dickerson's Law
In 1977, Richard Dickerson, a professor of chemistry at Caltech, noted that solved protein crystal structures had risen from one in 1961 to 23. He published a simple exponential formula which predicted that by March 2001 scientists would have solved 3-D structures for more than 12000 proteins. He was only 57 short of the actual number. How many physical processes are so computation-dependent?
Bodypad
Bodypad proposes physical interactions with video games

UbiComp

Opposite of Virtual Reality – not reality built into computers but computers built into reality (many computers serve each person)

Dotcom

The dotcom boom didn't fail.
It transformed our society from analog to digital, all in less than ten years.

The Era of Sentient Things

"We're rapidly approaching a world where the most important devices in our lives are ones we don't even realize exist," says forecaster and strategist Paul Saffo, a director of the Institute for the Future, in Palo Alto, CA. Just as cheap microprocessors spawned the PC revolution of the 1980s and inexpensive lasers enabled the telecommunications and Internet revolution of the 1990s, Saffo argues that cheap sensors are ushering in a revolution in intelligent, interconnected devices, many of which will operate quietly in the background, without drawing any attention to themselves.

Information in places: media linked to location
Smart rooms: sensing and responsive
Sentient objects: adding information/communication to everyday objects
Tangible bits: manipulating virtual world through physical interactions

Expressive Surfaces

Electronic signs will be a "killer application," according to a white paper released in July by Apogee Partners in Toronto. The research firm says electronic sign networks are poised to follow word processing, bar codes and e-mail as a technology that finds its place "quickly and broadly because of its enabling value and moneymaking potential." In addition to advertising, electronic signs can be used to improve public safety, "emerging as the next generation of broadcasting, narrowcasting and stand-alone signage."

"I hate printers, they turn digital things into analog" Jian Wang at Microsoft Research Asia in Beijing, China.

E-Ink
E Ink > The primary advantage of electronic ink is its visual appeal, as sharp and bright as ink on a printed page. Second, electronic ink is a power miser. Only a miniscule amount of energy is needed to update information displayed, and images stay put without requiring any additional power. Third, electronic ink is lightweight, thin and can be applied to just about anything. In fact, electronic ink can be printed directly onto curved or irregular surfaces from teacups to skyscrapers. Fourth, the ink is flexible enough that a sheet of plastic coated with electronic ink can actually be rolled around a pencil. These factors mean that electronic ink will lead to a new generation of "expressive surfaces" -intelligent displays that are built right into everyday products. In the future, clothing, buildings, household objects and information appliances all will have the ability to communicate.
RadioPaper > The culminating dream of E Ink is to combine these attributes to create RadioPaper(TM), a display with the readability of ink on paper but with the added benefit of digital technology to download newspaper headlines or a best-selling novel at the user's command - providing information to anyone, anywhere.
Neoluxiim, Ink in Motion
Ink-In-Motion is a dynamic new electronic display medium for retail Point-of-Purchase advertising. In a recent study by the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute (POPAI) on motion in POP, store managers put 88 percent of motion displays into high traffic areas compared to 47 percent of non-motion displays. POPAI found that motion displays averaged twice the sales gain of static displays (83 percent vs. 39 percent).
Gyricon, LLC
Gyricon, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox that commercializes SmartPaper technology. Gyricon creates SmartPaper-enabled devices, which combine the functionality of a LCD screen with the thinness and flexibility of regular paper.
Sony's new e-Book reader, LIBRIé
March 2004: The world's first, usable, readable, long lasting and good looking consumer application of an electronic paper display. LIBRIé allows users to download published content from the Internet, read more than 10,000 pages before replacing the batteries, and stores up to 500 downloaded books. LIBRIé, is scheduled to go on sale in Japan in late April.
USPO 6,192,890 Levy, et al
802.15 WPAN

Sensing/Interacting Techniques

Multi-Touch: Bi-manual, Multi-point, Multi-user interaction.
Multi-touch sensing enables a user to interact with a system with more than one finger at a time, as in chording and bi-manual operations. Such sensing devices are inherently also able to accommodate multiple users simultaneously, which is especially useful for larger interaction scenarios such as interactive walls and tabletops.
NeuroSonics
Brainwave/computer Interfaces: the BGM (Brain Generated Music), a brain wave biofeedback system capable of evoking the "Relaxation Response," a desirable state of deep relaxation and the MCC (Motionless Communications Controller) technology which enables a person to communicate with a computer by simply gazing at selected flashing patterns on the screen.

Haptic Devices - MultiModal Interaction

Immersion Corporation
Immersion: haptic interface products and tactile feedback technology featuring the virtual glove, intravenous catheterization and force feedback technologies
SensAble Technologies
Sense of touch in a true 3D workspace
Interaction-Ivrea
A switch as soft as a ball of gel
Menschlichen Computern
Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Pervasive Computing Research

Robots for the home or the battlefield

iRobot Corporation
iRobot Corporation, maker of Roomba, the robotic vacuum cleaner, PackBot for use in disposing improvised explosive devices and Fido for bomb-sniffing.

Data Sonification

iSIC: Information Music
A data sonification (representation of data through sound) application that uses musical rules as a way to convey important time-varying information. iSIC (short for information music) is a monitoring system, sort of a baby sitter for big complex systems. Sounds are expressed as a musical paradigm.
Alarm signals
The first applications of acoustic signals in man computer interfaces have been alarm signals. The signal reaches the user even if (s)he is occupied with other things.
Audification
This method translates the data itself to amplitude values of the waveform. It is applicable if the data itself is a time series, e.g. data from a dynamic system like neural networks or seismic data. This sonification and related forms are quite useful to monitor large data sets in strongly compressed time. Tools to scale the pitch or strech the time scale without affecting the pitch (a kind of acoustic microscope) are useful tools to enhance this form of sonification.
Earcons
Earcons are simple tonal combinations or arbitrary acoustic patterns whose meaning must be learned by the user, and which can be combined to build non-verbal messages of a higher complexity.
Auditory Icons
This sonification uses sounds that are used in a metaphorical sense, so that the effort to learn the display is decreased. E.g. filling a bottle with water produces a commonly known sound evolution, which might be applied to a 'state of download - meter' sonification.
Parameter Mapping
This sonification is a kind of sonic scatter plot. For each data record an acoustic event is generated, whose properties are driven by the data values (which are mapped to the sound attributes). So the columns of a data set may be mapped to the pitch, the duration, volume, the onset of the tone, vibrato strength, vibrato speed, brightness, spectral evolution of the sound, roughness, the envelope of the sound, etc. The high number of different attributes allow to design a high dimensional acoustic display.

High Dynamic Range Display

BrightSide Technologies
BrightSide Technologies HDR monitor, which has a simultaneous contrast ratio of around 200,000:1 for a brightness of 3000 cd.m-2, measured on a checkerboard image. In fact this higher contrast is equivalent to a ANSI9 contrast of 60,000:1, or about 60 times higher that the one of a TFT screen (about 1000:1). The brightness is 10 times higher that the one of the most CRT or TFT.

On average, most computer monitors have a specified contrast ratio between 500:1 and 1000:1, sometimes 1500:1.

Current plasma displays are specified at a 10,000:1 contrast ratio (most are 50% lower). However, the contrast of commercial displays is measured as the ratio of a full white screen to a full black screen in a completely dark room. The simultaneous contrast of real content under normal viewing conditions is significantly lower.

3D Television
Dynamic Digital Depth

ddd
DDD's range of TriDef 3D Television solutions comprise state of the art 3D display screens with PC or DVD playback. Ranging from 15" LCD screens to giant 50" plasma screens, the TriDef 3D Television packages deliver high impact visual presentations that are ideally suited to trade shows, promotional events, retail advertising and location based entertainment.

3D Screen

Sharp 3D Technology
In simple terms, the light from the LCD is divided so that each of a viewer's eyes sees a different pattern or image. When the user is centered in front of the display, the patterns align so the brain can process them correctly and create a 3-D image without the use of goggles.
When using the notebook, you can easily switch between 3-D and 2-D modes by pressing a button, and opening certain applications will trigger 3-D mode automatically.
Alioscopy 3D display
Alioscopy videos mix 8 points of view of a scene. These videos would appear fuzzy on a standard TV but they produce a genuine and staggering impression of depth on an Alioscopy display, hovering content out of the screen.
ViZoo
Create perfect illusions with ViZoo products:
> Free Format: a free-floating hologram which looks absolutely true to life.
> Video Logo: attract attention while you tell your product or brand story - right inside your own logo!

3D Scanner

Structured light is the projection of a light pattern (plane, grid, or more complex shape) at a known angle onto an object. This technique can be very useful for imaging and acquiring dimensional information. The most often used light pattern is generated by fanning out a light beam into a sheet-of-light. When a sheet-of-light intersects with an object, a bright line of light can be seen on the surface of the object. By viewing this line of light from an angle, the observed distortions in the line can be translated into height variations.

NextEngine
Desktop 3D Scanner: 3D input at your fingertips.
ThingLab | Video
ThingLab presents a new breakthrough scanning product.

Life-Like Movements Inside Cyberspace

Virtusphere
Locomotion Technology for Immersing in Virtual Reality.

Hemispheric Projection Systems

Elumenati
The Inflatable OpenDome, an immersive digital environment in 10 minutes (10 minute inflation time for a 10 meter dome).

SED Display

April 2004: Toshiba is developing surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) panels with Canon Inc in a bid to grab a chunk of the rapidly growing flat-panel TV market, currently dominated by liquid crystal display and plasma display panels. SED panels are thinner than existing flat panels, consume less energy and -- unlike liquid crystal display panels -- do not require backlighting because they produce their own light.

Digital Video Display for Walls

SmartSlab
SmartSlab is the world's toughest digital video display for walls, floors, billborads and buildings.
ad notam
Mirror Image.

Heliodisplays, Fogscreens

IO2 Technology
The IO2 interactive heliodisplay, generates non-physical mid-air video allowing people or objects to move through the image. The image furthermore can be seen from all sides. This allows people to view information and their surroundings simultaneously creating an efficient, colloborative working environment not possible until now.
FogScreen
The key features are that the screen is flat and thin, enabling high-quality projections, and walk-thru is possible. The FogScreen feels like nothing and does not make things wet. It creates a magical effect as if the images are floating in thin air.

3D Printers

Three-dimensional printers are already valuable tools for making prototypes of newly designed products. They deposit layers made from droplets of smart polymers, which gradually build up into 3D shapes. Such printing techniques have become so sophisticated it is now possible to print working prototypes with mechanical parts that move as they would in the final product.
Z Corporation
Fast, full-color models
NewScientist.com Article on Gadget Printers
...printing a light bulb...

3D XML

Dassault Systems
3D technology as a new universal language with applications in every walk of life

Electrowetting: Video on e-paper

Scientists at Philips Research in Eindhoven have found a way to display high-definition moving pictures on e-paper. Using a process called electrowetting, Philips scientists claim to be able to manipulate colored oils in the pixels on the page with such speed and accuracy as to be able to generate clear and accurate video displays. Not only does e-paper work on very low voltages, but its light weight and great flexibility give it a multitude of potential applications from computer screens to wearable cinematic suits. With an e-paper screen sewn into a jacket, wearers could read e-mail or even watch the news on their sleeves.
Liquid Bandage

Foldable Screens for E-Newspapers

Jan 26, 2004: Philips Electronics said on Monday it was preparing to mass-produce a slim, book-sized display panel onto which consumers could download newspapers and magazines, then roll up and put away. Philips said it had created the displays using electronics circuits made of plastics, which power a monochrome display created with technology from E Ink.

OLED: Organic Light

OLEDs are easier to produce than LEDs, more energy-efficient and can be laid down in thin films atop a variety of inexpensive substrates - including flexible plastic or metal foil. The technology is on the market in some digital cameras (Kodak/Sanyo), cellular phones (Pioneer, RiTdisplay), car audio components (Pioneer, TDK) and electrical razors (Philips). But the future holds applications that include large TVs and computer monitors that could be rolled up like projections screens, portable battlefield displays for real-time updates, and plastic laminates that could replace lighting fixtures.

15.5-inch OLED > Samsung SDI
17-inch OLED > Toshiba
20-inch OLED > ChiMei|IBM
24-inch multipanel screen > Sony
Universal Display q
Flexible Video Screen prototype from Universal Display Corporation gives new meaning to the words "motion picture." Wearable Electronics could be fashioned with flexible OLED displays > Rollable Display.
Kodak q
The first active-matrix OLED display on the market provides a 2.2-inch screen for the Kodak EasyShare LS633 digital camera.
CHI MEI Optoelectronics q
Pioneer
FILM-TYPE OEL DOT-MATRIX DISPLAY. This new type of OEL display employs a plastic bendable thin-film substrate that can wrap around contours and be used in ways that rigid displays cannot match.
"Wallpaper" for walls or ceilings; safety lights for vehicles or clothing. Five to 10 years from market.
Sony CSL Gummi

Face Recognition

Cognitec Systems
Cognitec Systems develops and markets the well-established and world-leading FaceVACS face recognition software.

Biometrics

Siemens Biometrics
Bioscrypt q
ISL Biometrics
October 2003, "What will make biometrics practical is the price of the chip," said Derek McDermott, managing director of UK-based ISL Biometrics. He said chip unit costs in the past year have fallen from 40 pounds ($66.79) to four pounds.
Identix
Identix - Biometric Technology for Facial Recognition and Fingerprint Identification.
Precise Biometrics
Biometric Systems Laboratory

Bionic

A manufactured device or engineered tissue that substitutes for, or augments, the function of a natural limb, organ or other portion of a biological body.

Singapore, July 1st 2005: Technological advances will one day allow computers to be implanted in the human body -- and could help the blind see and the deaf hear -- Bill Gates said Friday. But the Microsoft chairman says he's not ready to be hardwired.

Bionic
Bionic Technology Classification System
Optobionics
Artificial Vision: Artificial Retina
Cyberkinetics
Neural Electrodes and Direct Brain-Computer Interfaces (BrainGate)
The Utah Arm 2
Bionic Arm
Bionic Man Resources
BLEEX, Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton
UC Berkeley Human Engineering Laboratory
Cochlear-implant
Cochlear implants, which employ digital pulses that the brain interprets as sound, can help profoundly people with severe hearing loss to recognize some sounds, especially speech sounds, and that consists chiefly of a microphone and receiver, a processor that converts speech into electronic signals, and an array of electrodes that transmit the signals to the auditory nerve in the inner ear.

SenseCam

SenseCam is a badge-sized wearable camera that captures up to 2000 VGA images per day into 128Mbyte FLASH memory. In addition, sensor data such as movement, light level and temperature is recorded every second. This is similar to an aircraft Black Box accident recorder but miniaturised for the human body.

SenseCam
MyLifeBits Viewer

Androids: Humanoid Robots

WAKO, Japan, Dec. 15 - The Honda Motor Corporation introduced a new version of its humanoid robot that can jog, find its way around obstacles and respond to human touch. Developers of the robot, named Asimo, say the new model is a significant advance over earlier versions and brings them closer to a bipedal machine that can move on its own through homes and offices and interact naturally with humans.

ASIMO
December 2004: Honda Worldwide | HDTV | ASIMO (Research Model) - Running at 3km/h. Asimo has also grown during its development; gaining 10 cm in height and now weighing in at 54 kg. The added hardware along with a new posture control system allows Asimo to jog.

Downloadable Odors

April 2005: P&G recently sold its 1 millionth scent player, introduced in August and available for around $24.99 in many grocery chains. Sales of special disks, to be inserted into the device and containing five fragrances each, have already surpassed 4 million units. Did you ever think about the possibility of having Clothes and jewelry with switchable scents? Today, Trisenx technology is being used on a just-released CD by artist Zinny J Zan. When a certain music video from the CD is viewed on a computer equipped with the Scent Dome, listeners can not only watch Zan walk through a flowers-filled meadow but also smell lavender and potpourri.

TriSenx
The Scent Dome

Quantum Cryptography

MagiQ Technologies
MagiQ Technologies, is the first company to offer a working quantum cryptography solution.
ID Quantique
Quantum Key Distribution

Space Elevators

How Space Elevators Will Work
Nanotechnology would enable the cable to basically construct itself one molecule at a time.

Real-Time Data Streams

Real-time Data Streams
Cogent Real-Time Systems
Sharing Real-time Data Streams

The DNA Hand

March 2004: Researchers from Ludwig Maximilians University in Germany have built a simple molecular machine from DNA that can bind to and release single molecules of a specific type of protein. The DNA hand can be made to select any of many types of proteins, and could eventually be used to construct materials or machines molecule-by-molecule.

Nanotechnology

The technology enabled by the unique characteristics of nanomaterials. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or roughly 75,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

NanoelectronicsPlanet
The center for nanoelectronics business
microchips
MicroCHIPS, Inc. is pioneering the next generation of chemical & drug delivery devices, using silicon microchips to accurately dispense medicine to the body or to deliver chemicals for use in diagnostics and biosensor applications.
nanosys
company focused on the development of nanotechnology-enabled systems
National Nanotechnology Initiative

Nomadic Media

ARCHOS: Think Smaller!
Stay entertained and stay connected. Founded in 1988, ARCHOS designs and manufactures the industry's most unique line of miniature peripherals for people on the go.
PIXMAN
PIXMAN is a unique wearable mobile digital medium that can dynamically reach your customers and audience wherever they may be. By using costumed characters ergonomically equipped with video screens or small, ultra-light digital projectors, PIXMAN entertains and informs the passersby in public places.

Holophony

Holophonic
The instant reading, of the power spectra of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal reveals the correct activation of cerebral frequencies linked to the emotional states that are intended to be voluntarily induced in a person listening to holophonic music. The holophonic system allows real-life listening that results in a more effective transfer of the emotional information intended to be induced.

Direct, linear analysis of DNA

U.S. Genomics
By reproducing nature's method of DNA reading, the highest readout speeds are possible. A human cell can replicate and read its DNA in less than thirty minutes.

Internet access technologies

Access Systems
integrated, next-generation data platforms and Internet access technologies for the mobile communications market

Disposable imaging capsules

Given Imaging q

Weareable

Intelligent methodologies

Antoptima

Distributed computing

Electronic workforce

SearchSpace

IM: Instant Messaging

The U.S. Patent Office has granted AOL Time Warner a broad patent on its IM technology. While AOL Instant Messenger is the most popular instant-messaging application, offerings from Yahoo! and Microsoft compete closely. The patent, number 6,449,344, gives AOL's ICQ instant-messaging division far-reaching rights to any chat application used across a network, including provisions for collecting royalties from competitors. It focuses on specific features, such as user availability detection and buddy lists.

PLC :: Power Line Communication

Ideas Worth Spreading

TED
DEMO
The launchpad for tomorrow's innovations. The premier event that reveals the products and services poised to have the greatest impact on the technology landscape in the years to come.

Asian Idustry Publications

Nikkei Electronics Asia
Up-to-date information on technology and trends
J@pan Inc magazine
Innovative businesses, people, and technologies in Japan
IGI Group
The Information Gatekeepers group

Technology & Gadgets

July 2006: In the US women accounted for 46 percent of consumer electronic sales - a whopping $49 billion - in 2005, up 18 percent on the previous year. Not only that, but sales surged by 9 percent in the run up to Mother's day - versus a 3 percent rise in the run up to Father's day.

Engadget
AkibaLive
Tech & gadget news from Akihabara
TechBuddha
An enlightened view of technology in Asia
AlwaysOn
The Insiders Network
Gizmodo
The Gadgets Weblog
10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change the World
by Technology Review a MIT enterprise
Technologies for designing our future
Vnunet.com
Analyst Views
Views of Top IT Analysts Firms

Ambient Intelligence

Ambient Intelligence
Philips Research Projects
Smart connections illustrates some of the latest work that Philips Design has carried out to develop the 'cultural' aspect of Ambient Intelligence solutions.

Augmented Reality

Living Room
focuses on the borderline between real and virtual worlds
Mixed Reality Lab Singapore
Mixed Reality Lab is a research centre in National University of Singapore led by Professor Adrian David Cheok. The centre works on research covering mixed reality, human-computer interaction, wearable computers and smart spaces, fuzzy systems, embedded systems, human power electronics, and multi-modal recognition. Human Pacman is an entertainment system that is built upon the concepts of ubiquitous computing, tangible human-computer interaction, and wide-area entertainment networks. Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.
HYBRID MC
HYBRID MC offers a full range of products and services for mixing real and virtual images
Total Immersion
Total immersion uses Uracode to realize tools that offer real time fusion of video and synthesis images with a moving camera
Uratek
The software component for artificial vision
ActiCM : ActirisMotion
A motion capture solution interfaced with Virtools
REALVIZ MatchMover Pro 3
Create a coherent 3D space for all your real and virtual data.

Interactive Immersive Experiences

Natural Interaction | Alessandro Valli
Natural Interaction creates custom experiences based on natural interfaces, using state of the art computer vision, unobtrusive sensing, RFID technology, 2D graphics, prerendered and real-time 3D, video projections and multi-point sound.
Klaus Obermaier
Disorienting and Extraordinary >> Vivisector >> D.A.V.E.
Stelarc
human-machine interfaces
The Wild Devine Project
Creators of a biofeedback game named The Journey to Wild Divine
Studio Azzurro
Interactive Video Installations
Reactrix
Interactive Visual Display Systems
Bodypad
Bodypad proposes physical interactions with video games.
Jason Salavon
Working around art, information technology, and daily life.
Virtango
Body Centric Interactive Systems
YDREAMS > YLABS
Installations for virtual decoration
Ariel Almos
Interactive Media Artist
Miltos Manetas
Jestertek
Jestertek GroundFX
Immersion Studios
Triad

Firewire Cameras | Video Mixing

Point Grey Research
Point Grey Research (PGR) is a worldwide leader in the development of advanced digital camera technology products.
Digital Air
Imaging technologies for use in visual effects production.
Doremi
The V1 Server.
CSEM
Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology.
Solid-State Time-of-Flight Range Camera.

No Pain Dentistry

February 2005: Water laser drills have been on the dental market for the past several years, but only now is the FDA considering an application to allow the device to do even more things. Unlike a conventional drill, Waterlas never touches a tooth. Instead the tool shoots out a laser beam, combined with water, to quickly ream out a cavity. Only a handful of dentists have bought the water laser drills, mainly because of cost. Conventional drills run about $900 to $1,000, while the laser tool costs $50,000 to $60,000.

Waterlase Dentistry
Waterlas YSGG technology uses a patented and unique combination of laser energy and water to gently and precisely remove dental decay with no shot, no drill, and no pain in most cases.
Biolase
BIOLASE Technology develops and markets advanced medical and dental laser products.

Human-Implantable Microchip

Verichip
VeriChip Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital, provides leading-edge security solutions for people, their assets, and their environments. From the world's first and only FDA-cleared, human-implantable microchip to the only active RFID tag with patented skin-sensing capabilities, VeriChip leads the way in next-generation RFID technologies.

Movement Tracking Systems

Comtech MTS
Secure, real-time tracking and messaging in support of logistics commands around the globe.

Cool

Philips KEY019 Key Ring Camcorder
A Miniature Marvel: 128MB built-in memory, 2-megapixel camera (no zoom), JPG image support, MP3 and MPEG4 support, USB 2.0
Audi-Oh
Audi-Oh captures sound and turns it into stimulating vibrations. A revolution in personal stimulation devices.
Ibiz
Virtual Laser Keyboard
Swann PenCam
The PenCam cleverly conceals a quality colour video camera and microphone inside a working pen. With up to 100m transmission range and minimal illumination.
Ambient Orb
An ambient device is a simple wireless object that unobtrusively presents information. They can be wearable like a watch, carry-able like a pen, or installed like a lamp. They communicate via subtle changes in color, angle, size, motion, sound, and maybe even smell.
Sensatex
Smart Textiles
Segway
Human transporter
Speechview
Allowing deaf and hard of hearing mobile users total freedom to communicate through mobile phones
Handy Truster
Portable Lie Detector
Wherify Wireless Inc.
GPS Personal Locator for Children.
The locator can be programmed to call a 911 emergency number automatically if it's tampered with or if a child activates the feature by pressing two buttons on the device.
Wherify's product costs about $400, with follow-up monthly service charges ranging from $24.95 to $34.95.
Ceiva
CEIVA Digital Photo Receiver looks, feels and acts like a traditional wood picture frame but it receives pictures directly from the Internet.
Neoware :: Quote
Thin client computing appliances
Uni Linz Research Projects :: WebWall SMS service
Ultrapersonal Computing
3D retailtainment by 3Dmsi
A fuel cell in your phone
Comprehensive article by David Voss published by Technology Review in November 2001
Self powered electronics
Solar batteries for your mobile
Freecharge
Remotelounge
Webpoint-kiosk

DVD Standard Battle

One side of the divide is a standard called Blu-ray backed by consumer electronics heavyweights like Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE), Philips Electronics (PHG.AS) and Thomson (TMS.PA) and movie studios Fox and Disney. Blu-ray offers storage up to 50 gigabytes, enough for nine hours of high-definition content.
On the other side of the fight is HD-DVD, which has much the same structure as current DVDs and, backers say, is cheaper and easier to manufacture as a result. Supporters of the disc format and its 30 gigabyte capacity include companies like NEC (6701.T), Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) and Warner Home Video.

Voice

Nuance
The new Voice of Business

VoIP | Fax over IP

March 2, 2004: Majority of Consumers Believe VoIP's Impact Will be Similar To Digital Music, Flat Screen TVs and Computer Games. Approximately 2 of 3 Believe VoIP Will Forever Change How We Communicate; Nearly 1 of 2 Believes Phone Services will Move to the Internet in Next 2 Years. Full Article

Vonage is the highest-profile of a number of companies looking to make a business of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, services. Such companies generally offer subscribers a low monthly fee for nationwide calls and discount rates for international connections. In August 2004 Vonage had about 240,000 lines in service and was adding about 1,000 users a day. Internet phone service Vonage on Aug 24 it has struck a deal with Cisco Systems Inc. to sell Vonage-ready equipment at hundreds of retail stores. Vonage also said it was working with Netgear Inc. (Nasdaq:NTGR) to develop a line of Internet phone equipment, including a device that combines its phone service with wireless networking.

Major traditional carriers like Verizon Communications (VZ) and AT&T Corp. (T) have launched their own voice-over-Internet offerings and market research firm Gartner Inc. has forecast that, by 2008, about 17 percent of North American phone lines will be replaced with VoIP lines. AT&T Corp said it would sell its CallVantage Internet phone service in Best Buy stores.

Networking giant Cisco Systems dominates the market, with more than 3 million VoIP phones sold worldwide. Other vendors, such as Avaya (nyse: AV) and Nortel Networks, are also seeing brisk sales.

Skype.com
The whole world can talk for free
VoipBuster.com
Free phone calls all around the world
ATT VoIP
VOIP "may be the killer app that broadband is looking for," David Dorman AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive, March 2004
Vonage
Vonage provides inexpensive phone service as an add-on for customers with high-speed Internet lines. In January 2005, Vonage has partnered with UTStarcom, a diversified maker of telecommunications equipment based in Alameda, California, to introduce a portable Wi-Fi handset in the spring or summer of 2005. The new Wi-Fi handset, to be known as the F-1000, would be designed to work with local radio airwaves on the most mainstream of Wi-Fi standards, 802.11b. Vonage has also agreed to a partnership with phone maker VTech, to create a cordless phone system that runs on Vonage's broadband service.
e-fon
Swiss company offering VoIP and wlan telephony
pulver.com
"VoIP is the most disruptive technology since the Internet" Jeff Pulver, CEO, pulver.com
Quicknet
OpenH323

Intelligent IP phones

The IP (Internet Protocol) telephony market is projected to skyrocket from $480 million in 1999 to $19 billion by 2004 according to International Data Corp. (IDC) projections.

VoIP is about optimising communication and business processes.
Pingtel
Mitel
Snomag
Udcsystems
Adtech (smartcard :: voip)
Pingtone Communications
Step 9
Net2phone
Cirpack
Tellme

Voice and Video :: V²oIP

Radvision

Hi-MD Walkman

Tokyo, Jan 2004: Sony introduced a revamped Walkman with 1 gigabyte miniature discs. When connected to the PC, Hi-MD recorders act as an external drive. About 60 percent of all MiniDisc recorders and players are sold in Japan. Europeans buy 24 percent and North Americans 10 percent.

Smartcards

Satellite industry

Biofeedback and Diagnostic Systems

Time Machine

CRONOVISORE
Yahoo links on this topic

GPS, Geospatioal Solutions

Applanix
The company's Position and Orientation Systems (POS) are used worldwide for a variety of applications such as, aerial survey and mapping, remote sensing, road profiling, GIS data acquisition, and hydrographic surveying.

Laser Sensing or Lidar

Robot Navigation and Sensing
The fixed-position sensors survey a 180 degree field of view, have a forty meter range and scan seventy-five lines per second. Two shoulder-mounted sensors return terrain elevation data. Two central bumper-mounted scanners detect obstacles in the path of the vehicle and are particularly useful for detecting narrow objects such as poles. The left and right bumper-mounted sensors scan vertically to detect road edges.

Agent Oriented Software

Agent Oriented Software Group
JACK, provides the tools required to develop autonomous software systems that are both goal-directed and reactive. Commercially deployed worldwide, JACK-based systems are built from distributed reasoning entities that cooperate to achieve their goals.