The one foot of snow in London is not conducive to holding or attending events and that's a fact. Another fact is that I eventually gave up trying to get anywhere in London and decided that I'd attend TED virtually by following #TED and checking in with those I knew attending instead - by far the best choice.
The aim of the TED conference is to bring world thought leaders together to share their latest ideas, get people to see the world in a different way and inspire them to think differently for the future. There were various highlights, but for the readers of this blog there was one presentation that struck me as particularly interesting:
Augmented Intelligence – Wearable Multimedia
The work of the MIT Media Lab, these devices combine web cam, mobile phone and projector devices. The system can read data and project it. The wearer can summon virtual gadgets and Internet data at will - Pattie Maes of the lab's Fluid Interfaces research group says that it is aimed at "creating a new digital 'sixth sense' for humans". The Fluid Interfaces research group aims to 'change the human-machine relationship'.
The system is eloquently described in this Wired article:
"The prototype was built from an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered 3M projector, with an attached mirror -- all connected to an internet-enabled mobile phone. The setup, which costs less than $350, allows the user to project information from the phone onto any surface -- walls, the body of another person or even your hand."
You can read more about this here.
TED will be releasing more videos for those of us who weren't eligible to go. But then again, we didn't have to pay the $6,000 entrance fee either...
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