I recently wrote a post about location based services and how they hold the potential to change the way we work, live and play. A long time friend of mine, Rich Lefebvre, who is a MIT graduate sent me a link to a presentation by Pattie Maes and Pranav Mistry from the new Fluid Interfaces Group at the MIT Media Labs. Their concept, which they are calling “Sixth Sense” holds the potential to take us even closer to the John Anderton’s world in the movie Minority Report. While the technology is in prototype stage and is still a little “clunky”, we need only to think back a mere 20 years or so to the world of personal video recorders that weighed well over 10 pounds and required that you hold them on your shoulder – usually resulting in a sore shoulder and stiff neck. Compare that to the “near disposable” technology of today – the Pure Digital Technologies (now part of Cisco) Flip Video. Sixty minutes of high quality video in a 3.3 or 5.2 ounce package that fits in the palm of your hand. Built-in software that lets you create, upload and share your video experiences by simply plugging it into the USB port on your computer. Not too bad for less than $250 (remember when camcorders cost $1,500 to $2,000…?)
So before you say, “yeah, that MIT stuff looks interesting, but it’s years away”, well maybe it is a few years out, but it’s probably closer than you think!
