Category Archives: Memetics

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Building in the platform of innovation …
With the recent growth in wireless devices, and the decreasing cost and size of GPS solutions, there are whole new markets emerging that will capitalize on this new information platform. A mobile computer or PDA, combined with a GPS, allows for a wide range of applications to be installed and utilized. The big shift comes, however, when this platform is now combined with wireless data communications.

Wireless communications means that a mobile device can now report locations information, and query for location information, on an ongoing basis. This means that a mobile user can now begin to share their location with friends and family, maybe to arrange an impromtu meeting. In addition, a mobile user can have an agent running on their mobile computer that will continuously query various “location servers” for places (and/or people) that would be of interest.

This is a huge area that we are exploring at my company, and I am convinced that Steve is heading in the right direction with his new venture!

Steve Wozniak Unveils Wireless Device Firm. With $6 million in seed money in hand, the Apple co-founder unveils wOz, a new consumer-oriented device venture. [Product News]

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Old article with some good points …
This is actually a reference to an older iBM publication (November 1999), however it does contain some good points. There are two areas that I would argue.

First is the issue of special purpose computers for these types of applications. I would argue that this is a “scarcity” conversation, and suggests that general purpose computers and CPUs will not become just as small, lightweight, and powerful as other types of systems. I believe that general purpose computing platforms will continue to decrease in size and power requirements so that they will become the platform of choice for wearable computers.

The second area that I would debate is not that of the content of the applications described, but the platform that they will run on. In the examples given – paramedic and firefighter applications – I can see these as applications running on a general purpose computing platform, and general purpose OS.

With the increasing power of these platforms, and the general applicability of their software, there will be little reason to “minimize” the capabilities of the wearable computer.

Analyzing Application Requirements In Wearable Computer Interfaces [Nooface: In Search of the Post-PC Interface]

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The future of urban art … a very cool new version …
This is one of the coolest ideas that I have seen in art and the urban landscape. Using the office lights in a tall building at night to create a giant animated canvas. People are then able to download an application to create the animations and contribute them to the groups running the project.

I’m almost interested in finding a company here in Salt Lake City that would be interested in doing the same thing!

A German Computer Club’s Eight Story Hack. I originally found this site from a story posted on ABC News. To celebrate their 20th anniversary, the German Chaos Computer Club has turned the top eight stories, eighteen windows per floor, of an East Berlin building into a giant display. The project, called Blinkenlights has downloadable software called Blinkenpaint that allows anyone to create a simple movie that can be played on the giant display. View some of the contributed movies here. My favorites include das Monster and this Internet pop culture retread. If you want to direct dial a German phone number you can even play Pong. See a current web cam image here. [kuro5hin.org]

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Peer to peer and community proxies will wipe this out …
If you read this article, you might get the idea that people can track down your geographic location accurately when you are cruising the web. Although this is true for now, it is becoming easier to “mask” your location with simple peer to peer or community proxies.

A proxy is a machine that someone places on the internet which allows you to “relay” your web requests through. Any web site that you then visit will see the requests coming from the proxy, rather than your computer! In the example in the article, if you were to locate a proxy in the UK, you would be able to visit the UK gambling sites since they would see the traffic coming from a UK computer … not yours in the US.

This entire situation gets more and more complex as more people allow for the sharing of computing resources on their laptops and home computers. As the desire for more privacy increases … at least among groups of computer users … I believe that people will begin to install proxies to share for a variety of purposes …

Geolocation will not have a chance against these types of proxies and relays …

Geolocation Enables Internet Borders [Slashdot]

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Distributed memory spaces for distributed applications …
One of the key requirements for an effective distributed application is a distributed memory space … something discussed by David Gelernter in Mirror Worlds.

This particular implementation has some interesting twists … an XML version tuplespace, implemented as a SOAP service. A very cool idea!

Rogue Wave release XML tuple space implementation. Ruple
is a technology that allows disparate applications to collaborate,
and is an implementation of Linda tuple spaces. [xmlhack]

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Web Services and Information availability …
I really liked reading about this project since it truly shows the level of information that can be obtained via the web. This raw information, and making raw information available, is what will allow wide ranges of web services to be made available … and whole new generations of distributed applications to be created.

Imagine the web service that uses this weather data to automatically suggest outdoor (or indoor) activities in a city based on the temperature and weather. Or even forecasting the likelyhood of star gazing that evening, and suggesting what to wear.

Web services are going to be massively distributed applications which build on the raw data, and eventually provide a user interface – through a browser or other visual/audible notifications. In between these two ends will be more services built on top of other services and raw data … massive networks of objects communicating with each other using standardized protocols.

So this is a cool raw data source … 😉

GoWeather 2001.10.24. Graphically displays current conditions and 5-day forecast for a location. [freshmeat.net]

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And so Gattica begins …
For anyone who has not seen the movie Gattica, I can only suggest they they rent it and watch. It includes a wide range of very interesting perspectives on the implications of our advances in understanding genetics, and some of the social and community issues that will develop. One of the core conflicts is that of unstoppable genetic discrimination …

We are on the verge of having some of the technology to create many of the scenarios that are shown in Gattica … at one point in the movie they even show a “corner store” that provides instant genetic analysis. Although this seems sophisticated and a ways off, the ability of a corporation to do this type of analysis – even if it takes days – is just around the corner. The article below shows that this is something coming quickly … and Gattica explains why these types of laws are going to be difficult to enforce. Go rent the movie …

Insurers barred from using genetic tests. The Times Oct 23 2001 6:32PM ET [Genetics news]

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New form factors of the personal computer …
For years we have witnessed the slow evolution (or fast evolution?) of the personal computer. We started with the first IBM PC that was a large box with full-height 5.25″ floppy disks. That machine has not evolved into a variety of desktop and tower designs, and of course we now have laptops and notebooks of all shapes and sizes.

We are about to watch as people become aware of new form factors that computers are taking … and Microsoft is again going to lead this revolution. This article outlines what Microsoft is creating for the future … and what they are guiding other companies to develop. I believe that we are going to see more and more “Human Integrated” computing in the near future … and it will surprise a lot of people …

InfoWorld: Microsoft’s Tablet PC a year away. Microsoft’s super thin portable computer, called the Tablet PC, will be available in the second half of 2002, Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said Tuesday, and the company has begun giving developers the software they need to build applications for the device. [Tomalak’s Realm]

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Indoor Location Systems are coming … via 802.11b?
I am truly impressed with this project out of UCLA. It is addressing a very powerful area of “Indoor Location Services” … allowing a user to locate themselves within a building similar to how GPS can tell you your location outdoors.

Ok … so the technology and techniques are quite different, but the capability of locating yourself within a building – accurately – is now becoming a reality. And how are they doing it? With Orinoco 802.11b access points and cards!

This project is using the statistics available from a Orinoco 802.11b wireless card to create a “map” of locations and the associated access point signals detected at those locations. As a user roams around they can create a “fingerprint” of the signals detected at that location. Later, as they roam around the building, the application can tell where they are by the map that they created.

This is very impressive for a number of reasons, and gets me interested in downloading and running this. I’m downloading it now …

The UCLA Nibble Project