Chris Hocking
Get involved and share your knowlege. You know more than me and i know more than you. Lets know the same!
Tuesday 13 May 2008, 3:29 PM
ThinSight from Microsoft
Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to Microsoft’s Innovation day at their offices in London Victoria. I was there to back up their claim that they are being initiative in Education, which I must admit with practical skills they are.
I managed to sample some of the excellent research work that is being done at the Cambridge Research facility.
However there was one display that caught my eye more than any other. That Display was ThinSight. On the surface it appeared to be well just like Surface but it doesn’t work the same way, which I feel will ultimately give ThinSight more progression opportunities.
I got talking to Shahram Izadi who is working on the project and I was impressed with how truly passionate he was about using technology on the Desktop to enhance the Users experience. He explained that how ThinSight works fundamentally is different. Instead of being purely touch based ThinSight uses the reflection of light to detect where an object is. It uses Circuit boards like the one below to detect when light is reflected back.
By using this method the object could be weightless as long as it reflects the light back which is a potential Issue with Surface. Also it can be used on normal screens as Alex Butler from Microsoft explained he had somewhat voided the warranty of the screen on display by taking it apart and placing the circuit board inside.
It has similar applications to Surface but one thing that was cool is that as it detects infrared you can shoot an infrared gun at the screen which would be good for gamers, As well as being able to use the infrared for communication. This project looks really exciting credit should go to all the people working on it, hopefully they are able to take it to new levels.
Here are some more Pictures I took whilst I was there I hope you think they are interesting. Also see this link http://www.billbuxton.com/thinsight1.pdf
Bluetooth Picture of me
Paint Brushes
Water riples
Wednesday 7 May 2008, 9:36 AM
Microsoft Innovation Day 2008
Yesterday I went to Microsoft Innovation day. There were some excellent key note speakers on how the UK can be and needs to be more initiative.
But the best thing about the day was what was on show from the Microsoft’s Cambridge labs. There were new email clients, image editing and a show of where other scientific disciplines’ such as Medicine are meeting technology.
There was however one that caught my eye which is similar to surface but possibly has more potential with the technology being used behind the screen may have more to offer. I have some more information on this and will share it with you when I have the chance to write it up so keep watching.
Friday 4 April 2008, 11:00 AM
Calculator Looking Number Generator from the Bank
Yesterday I arrived home to find I had a package from the Bank. I opened it up and inside I found a funny looking calculator.
Now the instructions say that every time you want to pay money from your account in to some one else’s or set up direct debits etc I need to use this device. It doesn’t communicate with the PC in anyway it just generates a number you need to give to the bank when you make certain transactions.
Maybe I’m wrong but I assume it takes your card details runs some kind of algorithm and generates a number every time. And maybe I’m wrong about this but I assume my bank hasn’t produced a different device, running a different algorithm for every customer!
So surely if I was a fraudster, and I have your Details I just need to know the algorithm on these devices and it makes the whole idea of the device pretty pointless. People who steal from Bank accounts do it for a living and this is in my view a very little hurdle for them to jump.
My opinion is that the Banks have decided to distribute these almost in a way that resembles ignorant Propaganda saying this will solve threats to your account merely for them to look good. They know Joe public will say:
“Isn’t it good, my bank sent me a little calculator thing and now my account is safe (yeah right), my bank are so thoughtful they must really be looking out for their customers”.
Surely the money for devising this scheme could have been better spent on being more proactive when it comes to threats to their customers rather than releasing a Gimmick.
Friday 28 March 2008, 5:18 PM
Mac Book Air: Our Honeymoon is over
I’m currently sitting in the office; I have two Mac laptops in view (company property). The first, a normal Mac Book and the second a new Mac Book Air.
I find myself thinking why! Why would I buy a Mac Book Air?
Now bear with me here you Mac worshipers!!
Looking inside the design is great and it looks really cool hardware wise, but it’s the same length and width from a birds eye view. So my point is this why pay all that extra Money for something that isn’t really giving me anything meaningful. Don’t get me wrong I love it but I wouldn’t buy it. If the overall size was smaller in every aspect I would understand and I’d be buying one this weekend.
Thursday 27 December 2007, 5:33 PM
Problem with governments IT future
There are many reasons why government organizations IT standards are poor. I however don’t see how they intend to resolve these issues.
One way in which they could do this is to have a government academy where they would take the best performers in colleges such as mine and fund them to use them for the future.
Take myself for example I work full time and go to university to further my career in IT. I pay £3000 a year plus the cost of living. Yet with current education the government will happily pay for an idiot to do a course they are going to fail or never take anything onboard from, rendering said person un employable. But they are happy to do this and then pay them benefits for the rest of their adult life. Someone like me who has the ability is trodden on. If there were such an academy where you received accommodation and learning and then had to work for the government for say six years they would have a chance in the long term.
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