Ratchet Up

Mapping The World In Real Time

That's the idea driving researchers at Microsoft's SenseWeb project. The idea is that you'll be able to call up an online mapping application which is updating key elements of information in real time. The data will come from sensors, video cameras and similar sources in the environment.

“Researchers at Microsoft are working on technology that they hope will someday enable people to browse online maps for up-to-the-minute information about local gas prices, traffic flows, restaurant wait times, and more. Eventually, says Suman Nath, a Microsoft researcher who works on the project, which is called SenseWeb, they would like to incorporate the technology into Windows Live Local (formerly Microsoft Virtual Earth), the company's online mapping platform.

By tracking real-life conditions, which are supplied directly by people or automated sensor equipment, and correlating that data with a searchable map, people could have a better idea of the activities going on in their local areas, says Nath, and make more informed decisions about, for instance, what driving route to take.”

Imagine looking for a parking space aided by your teenager at her Treo scouring the area via videocam images in real time.

[Via Technology Review]

Sign Of The Times: iPod Lip Gloss

Back from Europe, And Thinking Video Glasses

I'm back from a trip to NYC, London, Amsterdam and London to set up things for my fall ten-week Off-Campus Studies trip to explore new media in those great digital cities. We're going to have some great experiences, from a mapping project in Amsterdam to projecting digital graffiti on remnants of the Berlin Wall.

After hearing from several people that Europe was brimming with wireless, I was surprised to discover that they don't seem to be much further along than we are. Sure, you can use wireless at Starbucks Charbucks [which is everywhere, and a trustworthy place to buy over-roasted coffee beans], but you have to pay a steep daily or monthly charge. Wireless is in most upscale hotels, but upscale and students are two words rarely found in the same sentence, and, of course, you have to pay. “Internet Cafes” can be found in most cities, but you're offered a crappy PC that's ten years old, and they never have wireless, since they want you to pay for their stinkola computer experience. Never once [apart from Charbucks] did I see a cafe with five or more people working at their laptops. Sure, lots of homes have broadband connections, but the wireless thing isn't much further along than it is here. Or at least that's the view from someone tromping the streets ten hours a day.

Met up with old student friend Mike Waggoner. He has recently resettled in Berlin. Like many artists, he's attracted to Euro energy, and particularly to the fact that among western European countries apartment rental rates in Berlin are about a half of anywhere else. If you're single and willing to take a room with someone else, you can live in Berlin for next to nothing. Plus, you can ride the city on your bike. What could be better?

I'm liking the personal video glasses in this post from Roland Piquepaille. “Within the NanoPrism diffractive planar optics device, light emerging from the microdisplay source is collected by a lens and coupled into a thin transparent substrate via a nanoscale diffraction grating. The trapped light propagates within the substrate by internal reflection toward the viewer's eyes, producing a perfectly aligned image.” Source