Techno Babble

The High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) is a barcode system developed by Microsoft Research.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/hccb/

It’s not a brand new technology though, having been under development for some time – you can read a news item about the technology (dated 19 April 2007) on the BBC website at

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6570871.stm

It has become more prominent, however, following the recent release of Microsofts second application for the iPhone – Microsoft Tag.

This application is available for a range of mobile phones including the iPhone and allows a user to take a snapshot of the barcode (tag) with the camera. The tag is then decoded to produce a unique ID which is sent to Microsoft servers and  interpreted to provide an action assocated with the tag such as opening your phone’s web-browser at a specific web address. 

The process is intended to provide users with the ability to easily connect to information related with the placement of the barcode. For example on product literature,

Microsoft Vista Packaging + Tag

Another example would be enabling a  user to automatically upload contact details to their phone by simply taking a snapshot of the tag placed on a business card.

From the publishers point of view, Microsoft provides analytics that show which tags are being read and  when and where they’re being read.

Find out all the details, and try it for yourself at 

http://www.microsoft.com/tag/

or use the following Microsoft Tag … 

http://www.microsoft.com/tag

Other Related Technology

DataGlyphs from Parc Research

http://www.parc.com/research/projects/dataglyphs/

QR code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_Code

http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/index-e.html

SHOW WX is the codename for a full colour laser based pico projector from Microvision, which is likely to be launched under another brand name. WX stands for Wide Experience which refers to the wide image format, wide colour range and wide, always-in-focus operation.

A pre-production model was shown at the recent Macworld Conference and Expo 2009 and CES 2009.

SHOW WX Pico Projector

All specifications are “targets” and subject to change in the final production version, the resolution is aimed to be 848 x 480.

“SHOW WX is a major milestone on the transition path to product launch of our first PicoP enabled consumer product later in 2009,” said Alexander Tokman, President and CEO of Microvision.

http://www.microvision.com/showwx

Have you ever dreamed of moving an object with the power of your mind ?

Mindflex, one of the products shown on their booth at CES 2009, claims to make that dream a reality.

Mindflex

A lightweight headset containing sensors for the forehead and earlobes measures your brainwave activity. When you focus your concentration, a small foam ball will rise on a gentle stream of air. Relax your thoughts and the ball will descend. By using a combination of physical and mental coordination, you must then guide the ball through a customizable obstacle course – the various obstacles can be repositioned into many different configurations. Mindflex^TM combines advanced technology with the power of thought to create an interactive experience unlike any other – a game where players compete in the ultimate mental marathon! 

I wonder if it comes with an application developers kit?

In another report they announced a transformation of their online strategy to create the Mattel Digital Network, a portal providing access to their powerhouse brands and a central point of access.

Phase one for the Mattel Digital Network will:

• Discern the age of a child and provide a different experience depending on gender, interests, and level of active participation.
• Be a kid-safe environment with content that is screened, approved and appropriate for children at each age.
• Provide tools to harness the creativity of brand fans to make it not just a place to consume content, but also to provide content.
• Deliver on being a site “for the kid in all of us” – from ensuring our channels will support the personality of each to providing a shopping solution for gift givers.

WowWee is showing  a number of different Pico projector models at this years CES 2009.

The models on display include the Cinemin Swivel – offering 3 hours of battery life and a resolution of 480 x 360 and can be bent in the middle to provide ceiling projection.

WowWee Cinemin

The Cinemin Stick incorporates an SD card slot and provides a resolution of 800×480 as does the Cinemin Station which incorporates an iPod Docking Station.

More pictures of these devices can be seen on Engadget at

http://www.engadget.com/photos/wowwee-cinemin-swivel-stick-and-station-pico-pjs-hands-on/1262278/

Other manufacturers devices in this category include: the BUG Labs BUGprojector DLP Projector and the Optoma Pico DLP Projector.

One problem with touch interfaces is the way that a users fingers hide (or occlude) the target point at the critical moment just before touching the screen. Also, the touch area of the finger is  much larger than a pixel on the display.

Lucid Touch is a project from Microsoft Research which tries to eliminate occlusion problems by placing a multi-touch panel at the rear of a mobile device. I wrote about this last year

http://www.kf12.com/blogs/techno/2008/01/lucid-touch/

and the original details are available at Microsoft Research

http://research.microsoft.com/users/baudisch/projects/lucidtouch/index.html

In addition, Apple filed a patent application (Jan 2007) for a handheld device (or iPod) that displays its output on a small front-side display screen but receives input through a larger touch- and force-sensitive interface on the rear of the device. Read more details at Apple Insider.

The Grippity Keyboard is a concept for a handheld wireless device, featuring a full qwerty keyboard where you type using keys on the rear of the device. It also incorporates an orientation sensor that is used to effectively double the number of available entry keys.

Grippity Keyboard

First up, what about the Scanning Digiframe from the Skyla  division of Lite-On.

Yet another digital photo frame you say, but this one will also scan existing printed photographs using its built-in scanner and display them on the screen

Skyla Memoir Digital Photo Frame

The LiteOn Skyla Memoir digital frame provides 1Gb of memory and a resolution of 800×600. The scanner portion provides a resolution up to 600dpi.

To scan your photographs,  push a button on the side of the frame and feed the photo into the frame. A few seconds later, the scanned image will appear on the screen.