For those who are creating and need images, video, or sound to use in their projects - Royalty Free media from NASA 

www.7daysindubai.com/Tech-savvy-UAE-based-teen-trio-develop-app/story-18108658-detail/story.html

Kinect changes lives

http://www.openni.org/articles/changing-lives-with-openni-applications/

Another great TED talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/wayne_mcgregor_a_choreographer_s_creative_process_in_real_time.html

The interaction with space provides some interesting concepts for interfacing with computers.

Kinect Physics Tutorial with Open NI

Courtesy of a good friend, Boyd, I found this tutorial on connecting Kinect with Processing. I am no Processing expert, but I hope to become proficient eventually. Not to mention this tutorial will help with  the struggle I've been facing with Simple OpenNI. Enjoy!

Check out this TED Talk by Neil Harbisson: Imposed synesthesia with a color camera and frequency generator enhances this color blind man's sense of vision beyond normal human color spectrum. This an example of how technology imposed on the body, essentially turning us into cyborgs, can change and arguably improve our given senses.

A pill that tells your doctor when you take it

This post is a little off-topic from my normal posts, but it's so impressive I had to document it.

http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/medical-sensor-you-swallow-gains-fda-approval-918566

Summary:
A tiny sensor would be embedded into every pill you swallow.
Each sensor has the capability of tracking
1.  The time it is ingested
2. Heart rate
3. Sleeping patterns

... which are all transmitted to a mobile application on your phone, and your doctor's (with permission). Forgetful/lazy patients are now accountable to take their meds accurately and on time. I'm sure this technology will grow and become even more useful, hopefully with the ability to track other bodily functions that would help catch diseases prematurely. Perhaps ingesting a sensor for a month will be the new preventative care process - no doctor's visit or needle pokes necessary.

For official announcement, see: http://proteusdigitalhealth.com/proteus-digital-health-announces-fda-clearance-of-ingestible-sensor/

Dorkbot San Francisco

Headed out to a cool event last night called Dorkbot. The room was filled with intelligent, creative, individual thinkers. The first speaker illuminated us with details on a clock currently being built to last (and function correctly) for 10,000 years. For some perspective, the last ice age ended approximately 10,000 years ago (ok, technically we are still in an ice age, but lets go with the incorrect vernacular here). The Long Now Foundation hosts this project an others in an effort to preserve history and foster long-term responsibility.

I went to see the Outerbody Experience Lab. It did not disappoint. In this installation, the subject wears goggles that allow him to see himself only through the view of a camera in the room. The idea came from the question of how the sense of sight influences sense of self - the results are remarkable, actually, but need further analysis. The installation now travels to galleries, shows, and parties to bring the experience to the people and further research. We hope to go in the next few weeks to experience it for ourselves.

Google's Interactive Spaces API

Google announces new API called Interactive Spaces that allows programmers to connect "producers" (cameras/sensors) and "consumers" (floor, people, pets etc.) to allow for design of complex interaction within the space. Limitless possibilities with creative minds...

get it here
http://code.google.com/p/interactive-spaces/

LEAP Motion

Super excited about LEAP Motion, a San Francisco based company building some of the most sophisticated and sensitive motion capture hardware and software. I predict this and other technology like it will revolutionize limitless arenas of work and play. I sent in my application for an SDK, but the demand for kits was much higher than LEAP expected, and will be reviewing applications for what will likely be quite a while.

Not a bad thing that I'm soon going to call the SF area home, too...

Thesis = passed!

See the final product at:
misttechnology.blogspot.com

MIST Freesound.org attribution

Freesound.org is a fantastic web community where you can easily find creative common licensed sounds. Many of the sounds from the MIST project came from freesound. This is a complete listing of the sounds used in that project. Links to follow soon!

Scuba_tanks_Breathing_dive.WAV by ben_jamin0

01659 underwater sinking.wav by Robinhood76

01650 underwater bubbles.wav by Robinhood76

Scuba 1.mp3 by digifishmusic

seagulls.WAV by inchadney

KD-rideb.wav by atomwrath

Samba Percussion Pack by plotzki

S: X Tamp 2BAR E.aiff by plotzki

Conga Loop 1 by sandyrb

Loop1bar01 by kwazi

Running_water_bubbles_02 by kijjaz

Shipsbell by acclivity

Whale_sex.wav by ScottMan

shaker-woda-conga-bongo-templeblock.wav by kwazi

200703101950pacificchorusfrogs1.wav by daveincama

morning-in-the-forest-2007-04-15.wav by reinsamba

MaxMSP Tutorial

Interested in learning about the program MaxMSP or learning about the structure behind how all my projects work? Check out the tutorial lecture I did on MaxMSP!

Kinect sensor for the blind

Watch the video below to see how two graduate students from Germany use the Kinect to help the blind. Slightly bulky, but so cool in action. What a great example of technology, ingenuity, genuine hearts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6QY-eb6NoQ&

Kinect Fun Labs Launched!

Microsoft announced this week the opening of Kinect Fun Labs, an online hub where you can check out all of the newest innovations with Kinect Technology. Download and play any of a collection of mini games that let you visualize music, create your own bobble head, or make any real object virtual. Can't decide? Just download them all, because the best part is: it's all completely FREE.

I can't wait to sign into Xbox live and get started making my own bobblehea... err, doing research on kinect technology for my thesis. Yeah. That's what I meant.

(Even if you don't own a Kinect or even know what one is, be sure and check out the promo video done by none other than Back To The Future's own Christopher Lloyd).

Wireless Hub, Wiimote-like, Pressure-Sensitive... Watch?

Watch of the Future

This watch is a motion sensor and connects wirelessly directly to a PC. It's possibilities are nearly endless as there are tools available to integrate specifically with it, including a pulse monitor, pedometer.

As a MIDI Controller

Adaptive Use Musical Instruments

Pauline Oliveros, composer and performer and founder/executive director of the Deep Listening Institute, teamed up with music therapists and music technologists to create software to help the extremely disabled. Adaptive Use Musical Instruments, as it's called, is software written in Max/MSP that allows even persons with extremely limited mobility to create music expressively. Using only the camera embedded on the laptop and no extra hardware, the software turns motion captured to with a laptop into music.

NIME 2010

A link to our paper from NIME 2010, "Sonic Virtual Reality Game: How does your body sound?"

http://www.mendeley.com/research/sonic-virtual-reality-game-body-sound/

That's an official publication!

And as a side note, a mocha from the street cafes of Sydney would be divine right now.

MyStory Published at ASU

Some very kind people at Entrepreneurship and Innovation at ASU published an article about my research interest in music therapy technologies. Check it out here!

http://entrepreneurship.asu.edu/2011/05/17/mystory-grad-student-turns-power-of-music-into-therapy

Funky Forest by Theo Watson

Going through kinect hacks on Sumer Day 1, and I found this creative project that sets up a motion activated environment where children create trees with their bodies and keep them watered by diverting water from a nearby waterfall. This mediated environment sets up interactions that are inherently motivating for children - a great way to frame a project's engaging component.