Techno Babble

A new device developed by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology uses lasers to project “real” 3D images into the ether. A special projector can cast three-dimensional shapes of white light between 2 and 3-meters into the air.

Three dimensional images in the Air is a collaborative research project between the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Keio University in collaboration with Burton Inc.(Japan)

Key points:
We have used laser produced plasma technology to make a flashpoint in the air.

We have greatly improved the brightness, contrast, and production distance of the plasma by optimizing the laser beams.

Using a laser plasma, we have been the first to succeed in displaying “real 3D images” in a space where there is nothing but air.

http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/…/20060210.html

In Wildfire 3.0 separate threads load the facetted graphics and the feature and constraint data for each part in the assembly allowing computers with dual-core processors to load assemblies in half the time of Wildfire 2.0 …

Jeff Han is a consultant in the Department of Computer Science at NYU.

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~jhan/

Worth a look at his home page to see some interesting projects including demo movies.

Of particular interest in the Multi-Touch Interaction Research project.

Will multi-touch interfaces become the new UI of the future ?

Here’s one article on the subject
http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1152&Itemid=44

or how about Interactive Touchable Fabric click here

and what is this I hear about Apple’s Touchscreen Patent click here

…Well hardly a patent on Touchscreen, this one seems to refer to a patented method for synchronising data between a client and server.

Method and apparatus for updating and synchronizing information between a client and server

Abstract
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for integrating applets running on a client with the application logic for applications running on a server. The mechanism of the present invention provides two significant advantages over the prior art: the synchronization of state, and the recognition of user actions in the browser including the invocation of the appropriate application logic in the server. Instead of using the FORM element available in HTML, individual active applets are available and may be created that obtain user input (e.g. a checkbox, textbox, button, etc.). A hidden applet called the Applet Group Controller is created which handles communication between the applets on the browser and the application logic on the server. The Applet Group Controller maintains an association with each applet that maintains the keys and values of any parameters and variables for the applet. In a preferred embodiment, upon the invocation of an event, the association instructs an Action Coordinator to invoke an action. The Action Coordinator obtains and transmits a list of all of the keys and their values to the server. The server invokes the appropriate application logic and transmits the keys and their values (as updated during the execution of the application logic) back to the Action Coordinator. The Action Coordinator then pushes the updated values out to the applets (through their Associations) at which time the browser’s display is updated with the new values.

click here for all the detail

Among other announcements by IBM today I noticed the following:

A nine-core IBM Cell blade — the first Cell-based product from IBM. Designed for businesses that need the breakthrough capabilities of the IBM Cell BE processor to tackle tasks involving compute-intensive workloads and broadband media applications, the Cell blade is the first multi-core blade computer.

Read the full press release at

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/19198.wss

Analysis and consulting firm Cyon Research released results last week from its recent study of business markets for engineering software, based on the theories of Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen.

“The Innovator’s Dilemma”, in the context of CAx and PLM vendors – The case for an engineering software components market – is a freely available White Paper from Cyon Research.

Here’s a copy

http://www.kf12.com/blogs/uploads/cyonwp060116.pdf