Scientists are developing a new skin. No ordinary, human flesh, but electronic skin with many more functionalities. Presented in a recent research, the e-skin provides the wearer with new possibilities for interaction by using magnetic fields. For example, when a magnetic field sensor is placed in the hand, the position of that hand with respect to the field can be tracked down. This information may be especially valuable for VR.
The relationship between humans and smart wearable devices has had its ups and downs. Although it is going in the right direction, it has not become a stable one quite yet. This could be partially due to the social awkwardness of wearing this type of technology in everyday situations. What’s more, users have already noticed some of its major drawbacks, such as typing messages on the tiny screen of a smartwatch.
Ever wanted to have a chat with a plant? If so, make sure to visit the botanical gardens of The Netherlands. Exploring methods to better connect people to the natural world, Waag Society, in collaboration with the Dutch Botanical Gardens Association, have developed an app that allows visitors to talk with plants.
Voter fraud is a major worry for any democracy, but for the federal election held in the Belgian city of Schaerbeek in 2003 an unlikely culprit was implicated: the sun. After 14 years from that vote, the academic Bhurat Bhuva presented this bizarre conclusion at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Happy World WiFi Day! Today, there are still 4 billion people around the world with no Internet access, that’s why this global initiative sets out to bridge the digital divide by urging the industry’s biggest names to connect the unconnected. In searching for connectivity, NNN developed the WiFi Angels app, a smartphone application to experience electromagnetic radiations by turning the WiFi networks around you into a choir of singing angels. Download it for free on your Android smartphone. Next time when you search for WiFi, just follow the angels.
Did you ever think about how bacteria life could look like? Thanks to modern technologies, we are now able to research bacteria social behavior, which seems quite familiar. Scientists found out that bacteria use a universal language that helps to invite foreign workers to help build complex multicultural cities in order to inhabit the planet together.
How would life be if our surroundings would react to our emotions? Researchers at CSAIL (MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intellegence Laboratory) have developed the EQ-Radio: a tool to read people emotions from a distance.
Today we have powers that we could not even imagine few years ago. We can communicate with people on the other side of the world, we have access to a huge amount of information in seconds, we can visit places without moving. Until now these powers have always depended on the support of tech devices, but with the Neural Lace this could soon change.
In the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Princess Leia appeared to Luke Skywalker as a hologram. Nearly forty years after, that fantasy is here. The Microsoft HoloLens is a holographic computer that enables users to interact with high-definition holograms through augmented reality. Unveiled in 2015, the headset is now available to the (rich) masses, at a price of $3.000.
Witchcraft is definitely not the first thing we think of when we have a problem with modern technology. Silicon Valley companies though don’t seem to think this way. They recently employed a Wiccan witch to help them deal with hackers, computer viruses and demonic possessions.
