During my research of technology and its future I came across this video and thought I'd share:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html
At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data -- including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper "laptop." In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he'll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Back to the Daily Grind...
School started back up on Thursday, we got briefed on our new workshop:"The Home Beyond the Boundaries" and we met the big players in the company that we're working with. I think this one is gonna be slightly tougher than workshop 1 because it has to do with technology in the home. I had no idea there was soo much cool technology out there! We're working with a company named BTicino http://www.bticino.com/ They're main focus is in home/hotel/office/etc. automation so things like controlling all the lights by a remote (or on an iPhone), accessing controls of your house remotely from the internet (like being able to turn the lights and radio on and off to simulate like someone is home even when you are away), also tracking how much energy your house/office/hotel/etc. is using (in collaboration with programs like googlepowermeter: http://www.google.org/powermeter/.
Our project manager, Avril, is from a company Design for All, which is a company that works with making everything usable for everyone! It's actually pretty cool, they technically deal with "disabled" people ie: people in wheel chairs, pregnant women, the elderly etc. but she doesn't want us to think about people with disabilites, instead we have to think of all the possible users as a whole and the space has to be usable for all of them:http://www.designforalleurope.org/
Avril is really laissez-faire and basically told us that we can do whatever we want. The general brief is "how can we us BTicino technolgy in an innovative way to better the experience of the "home"". We can create a product, service, or even a business model within this category. My group and I are meeting to discuss possible ideas and we have to come up with something by Wednesday.
Our project manager, Avril, is from a company Design for All, which is a company that works with making everything usable for everyone! It's actually pretty cool, they technically deal with "disabled" people ie: people in wheel chairs, pregnant women, the elderly etc. but she doesn't want us to think about people with disabilites, instead we have to think of all the possible users as a whole and the space has to be usable for all of them:http://www.designforalleurope.org/
Avril is really laissez-faire and basically told us that we can do whatever we want. The general brief is "how can we us BTicino technolgy in an innovative way to better the experience of the "home"". We can create a product, service, or even a business model within this category. My group and I are meeting to discuss possible ideas and we have to come up with something by Wednesday.
Dear Juliet...a Trip to Verona
Before school started back up I had a chance to visit the lovely city of Verona, which is about 2 hours out of Milano by train. There are 2 main attractions in the city of Verona:
1. It hold the oldest Roman ruins outside of Rome (more specifically a huge Roman Arena)
2. It is where Shakespere’s Romeo and Juliet is set (which is based on a TRUE STORY!)
We visited the Roman arena first and it was pretty amazing and gave a great view of the city. There were even “Roman” soldiers to take pictures with outside.
Since I’ve never been to Rome it was really cool to stand in a stadium that had been standing for over 2000 years! 
During Christmas there is also a HUGE nativity star that arches from the top of the arena to the ground below. We came the day before epiphany do there was lots of hustle and bustle around the star to get ready for the celebration.
Then it was off to see Juliet’s home…I’m not sure if I’m the only one but I had no idea that Romeo and Juliet was based on a true story! Believe me, Verona totally capitalizes on this, which unfortunately take s a lot of the romance and intrigue out of it. Although it was interesting to stand on the balcony where Romeo’s famous speech occurred…
Legend has it that if you write Juliet a letter and stick it on the wall that she will answer it. Of course I wrote a little note to her, I’ll keep you updated on whether I hear anything back ;-)
1. It hold the oldest Roman ruins outside of Rome (more specifically a huge Roman Arena)
2. It is where Shakespere’s Romeo and Juliet is set (which is based on a TRUE STORY!)
We visited the Roman arena first and it was pretty amazing and gave a great view of the city. There were even “Roman” soldiers to take pictures with outside.
Since I’ve never been to Rome it was really cool to stand in a stadium that had been standing for over 2000 years! 
During Christmas there is also a HUGE nativity star that arches from the top of the arena to the ground below. We came the day before epiphany do there was lots of hustle and bustle around the star to get ready for the celebration.
Then it was off to see Juliet’s home…I’m not sure if I’m the only one but I had no idea that Romeo and Juliet was based on a true story! Believe me, Verona totally capitalizes on this, which unfortunately take s a lot of the romance and intrigue out of it. Although it was interesting to stand on the balcony where Romeo’s famous speech occurred…
Legend has it that if you write Juliet a letter and stick it on the wall that she will answer it. Of course I wrote a little note to her, I’ll keep you updated on whether I hear anything back ;-)
New Years Eve
After debating Barcelona, Lund, Helsinki, and Milan for my new years celebration abroad I decided to keep it local and spend time with the Americans in Milan.
Let me start this story off by saying Milan is NOT the place you want to spend New Years Eve. Everything is close and most people leave town to celebrate in other places...
But at the time I didn’t know this and I was determined to make this a memorable New Years Eve. We planned to go to a party on Corso Sempione, an avenue known for its lounge bars but when we arrived around at 11:15 (fashionably late of course) and the place was empty!
We had 45 minutes to find a decent place for the countdown or the 6 of us would be celebrating on the deserted, freezing streets of Milan. We raced to Porta Ticenese, a street that is usually covered with a young crowd of bar goers, and arrived at Trattoria Toscana with 5 minutes to spare. So the actual countdown, went well I even snagged a pair of novelty sunglasses with huge disco balls on them. 2010 seemed to start out fantastic!
Unfortunately the end of the night took a turn for the worst when my purse was stolen. I spent 30 min on the phone trying to cancel all of my cards and then realizing that losing my credit cards were the least of my worries. My apartment keys, cell phone and id were all in my purse as well. After a few tears of frustration I realized that there was nothing else that I could do and fell asleep at my friends place…
In Italy EVERYTHING is closed on New Year’s Day so all I could do is curse fate and hang out in my pj’s…
Finally I was able to check the lost and found and low and behold it was all there, except the money! I learned 2 very important lessons:
1: NEVER carry a strapless bag/ invest in a satchel
2: Most Italian thieves are only interested in cash, which I have to say is much better than Identity Theft
So all in all, like most new years, it wasn’t the greatest but it could’ve been a whole lot worse…
Let me start this story off by saying Milan is NOT the place you want to spend New Years Eve. Everything is close and most people leave town to celebrate in other places...
But at the time I didn’t know this and I was determined to make this a memorable New Years Eve. We planned to go to a party on Corso Sempione, an avenue known for its lounge bars but when we arrived around at 11:15 (fashionably late of course) and the place was empty!
We had 45 minutes to find a decent place for the countdown or the 6 of us would be celebrating on the deserted, freezing streets of Milan. We raced to Porta Ticenese, a street that is usually covered with a young crowd of bar goers, and arrived at Trattoria Toscana with 5 minutes to spare. So the actual countdown, went well I even snagged a pair of novelty sunglasses with huge disco balls on them. 2010 seemed to start out fantastic!
Unfortunately the end of the night took a turn for the worst when my purse was stolen. I spent 30 min on the phone trying to cancel all of my cards and then realizing that losing my credit cards were the least of my worries. My apartment keys, cell phone and id were all in my purse as well. After a few tears of frustration I realized that there was nothing else that I could do and fell asleep at my friends place…
In Italy EVERYTHING is closed on New Year’s Day so all I could do is curse fate and hang out in my pj’s…
Finally I was able to check the lost and found and low and behold it was all there, except the money! I learned 2 very important lessons:
1: NEVER carry a strapless bag/ invest in a satchel
2: Most Italian thieves are only interested in cash, which I have to say is much better than Identity Theft
So all in all, like most new years, it wasn’t the greatest but it could’ve been a whole lot worse…
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