ITnightly

Pulsing Braille

Darryll Fawkes — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:02:14 +0000

Researchers from Tampere, Finland, are evaluating a way to output Braille on mobile devices like internet tablets or iPhones. The idea is to use a vibrating touchscreen where short, intense impulses stand for raised Braille and longer, weaker impulses for lowered braille. Volunteers were able to read a single character in little more than a second.

The Finnish team will now focus on presenting whole words and sentences.

Opera laughs in your face

Darryll Fawkes — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:06:07 +0000

Opera today announced their latest feature, Face Gestures. Although it’s meant to be an April Fool’s joke (don’t miss the video), it’s not that far from what could be. Heise online, a renowned German news site, reports on secret services utilizing reserved bits in the Internet Protocol (IP) to mark conversations that have been tapped.

On another note, it has been acknowledged for a long time that geo coordinates can be used as a side channel. At least the CIA is known to transmit secret messages by letting their agents deliberately drive a predefined route in selected vehicles.

What pictures may have in store for you

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:11:14 +0000

Pixazza recently announced a new technology e-sellers can utilize to provide information on and direct links to products in pictures. For example, selling the coat Angelina Jolie is wearing in a photo would be something not so far away. The company uses crowdsourcing, i.e. a network of human ‘experts’, to tag visual content and ‘hopes to do for images what Google’s Adsense did for web pages’.

Several high-profile investors have joined aboard, including Google and Facebook CFO Gideon Yu. Pixazza is currently trying to expand their network, interested publishers may apply at pixazza.com.

From Pixazza’s offer, it’s not a long way to product links in movies or elsewhere. “Hey, go back one scene, where she was wearing that daring fur hat. I’d love to get that one!” doesn’t seem impossible anymore. Just imagine watching Desperate Housewives…

Macworld Expo turns back to January

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:37:47 +0000

IDG World Expo announced today that Macworld Expo 2010 will take place in February, that is from February 9 - 13, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

This is a first that may benefit not only exhibitors, but also attendees, as lodging prices will probably be lower and final preparations for the show may be postponed after New Year’s holidays.