Personally, I’m a big fan of eneloop batteries. I believe the batteries Apple uses in their wireless mouse and keyboard are re-branded eneloops.

I've been thinking about the future and what it might bring. In my last post I talked about a 1988 school project that accurately predicted the dawn of the tablet age. Well, here are three emerging technologies that are quite simply gob smacking. You have to see these videos to believe.

Quantum Levitation

You know that magnetic forces repel and attract, but did you know these laws can be bended so an object stays fixed in empty space? Check this out:

Holographic Interface:

You know the holodeck on Star Trek? Maybe it isn't so far-fetched after all. Using the Microsoft Kinect, these guys have created a holographic interface where you can interact with holographic objects as if they were real:

Dream Recorder:

Researchers have used Youtube as a massive database to analyze imagery and hooked it up to a brain scanner to correlate brain patterns. This data was then used to literally display the thoughts of the subject as they dreamt. What the hell? Minority Report anyone?

Our machine will have the same dimensions as a standard notebook. It will look like an 8″x11″ monolith from the movie 2001, and be reminiscent of the Dynabook. This rectangular slab will weigh but a few pounds, and have no buttons or knobs to play with. The front surface will be a touch-sensitive display screen and will blink to life upon touching two corners.

You can read the full report here.

This report is yet more proof that great ideas do not spontaneously strike like lightening. Rather, a “revolutionary” product is the culmination of decades of research, the overcoming of technological hurdles, and the courage to strike out from the pack. In this case, the tablet PC is a manifestation of a cultural perception of what such a device would look like. It is the moment when the fantastical becomes real. For example, the Star Trek communicator influencing the design of the flip-phone. Oh wait – flip phones are so 20th century.

Source: Paleofuture blog – an awesome blog for viewing the future that never was.

Steve Jobs passed away yesterday. What is there to say about a visionary who changed the way we interact with our computers, communicate, listen to music, or even appreciate the beauty of typeface. There is so much to say that has been said more eloquently by others. I am greatly saddened, as are so many others, by the loss of such a powerhouse in the tech world.

Yet, although he has left us with many cool toys like iMacs, iPhones, and iPads, it is his inspiration which is a far greater legacy. Steve was uncompromising, sometimes to a fault, in living each day to the fullest. He followed his heart, his passion, his gut. He was crazy enough to believe he could change the world, and so he did. The way he owned the public stage with such exuberance and enthusiasm for his creations was infectious. He was, unapologetically and wholeheartedly, doing what he loved to do.

Goodbye Steve, and thank you. Thanks for showing us that following your dreams is more important than all the money or fame or gadgets in the world.

LOL! Come on people.

But one revolution that no-one seems to care about is the Siri voice assistant. The functional AI and incredible voice recognition technology that will open up a whole new world for the visually impaired. Bigger screens and thinner profiles are for kids who want a new toy so that it looks like their new phone is better than last year’s model. But this bleeding-edge technology heralds a new age of AI assistance and usability for the disabled. Why aren’t more people making a big deal about this?

Here’s a mock-up of where I think this technology could go in the very-near future:

Now this doesn’t seem so far-fetched, does it? After all, they’ve been doing it on Star Trek for over 20 years now.

There were many naysayers when this “magical device” first came out. It’s nothing but a glorified iPod Touch they cried. No front-facing camera. No multitasking (until the Fall that is, when iPhone OS 4 comes out). No USB ports, and so on.

Well I’m not one of those nitpicking technocrats. I think that the iPad is like a shiny piece of the future, straight out of Star Trek. It’s amazing. But here’s the thing: I don’t even own a laptop. Never have. I own a Desktop computer – gasp – built piece by piece from scratch in the dirty streets of the Yongsan electronics market in Seoul, South Korea. That was six years ago. I’m not exactly an early adopter.

These days, however, I’ve been thinking of switching to a laptop. Sadly I won’t be able to build it myself. But at least I’ll catch up to the crowd. Maybe ten years from now, iPads will be as ubiquitous as laptops are today. If so, I may think about picking one up for myself.

Yes, it’s the phone system I’ve been writing those 400-page Internal Product Specifications for. Synapse is basically a VoIP-based telephony network that integrates into an existing LAN network. What this means is that you don’t have to buy fifty phone lines because it runs over the internet. I won’t bore you with the details, so why don’t you take a look at a promo video cooked up by the AT&T marketing guys (Quicktime). BTW, I also worked on the text in the User Interface (the display) and I can honestly say that this is the most user-friendly business phone you’ll ever use.

Well, I’d like to wrap up 2008 on a personal note and let you know what’s been going on in my life – besides from recently getting engaged, which I’m really excited about.

On the work side of things, I recently extended my contract at Vtech by another 6 months. I asked for more money, which they were happy to give me. It’s been a great experience no matter what happens. I’ve been working primarily on a business phone system, but have also helped out with the Internal Product Specification (IPS) for an internet radio, which I quite enjoyed. This product recently made its debut at CES and was reviewed on Engadget. It’s nice to be able to finally talk about this stuff! I have one at my desk and really enjoy it – I can totally recommend this nifty little device. The guys put a lot of love into this one.

1. It’s a store stupid
2. The library manager is prehistoric
3. No web browser/Wikipedia/anything
4. No plug-in architecture
5. Massive memory footprint
6. No support for other music formats Ogg/FLAC/etc.
7. Drag and drop sucks
8. Bloatware downloads
9. Can’t use iPod as a music transport with iTunes
10. iTunes is slow

I can’t stand iTunes. Every time I open it (which, admittedly isn’t very often), it wants to upgrade and install all sorts of  memory and bandwidth leeches. The only feature I like is the party shuffle. But I don’t have many parties.