ARTs, IDEAs, ENGINEERing, NETWORKing

Guter Beitrag von Univ.-Prof. Hubert Lengauer (Vizerektor der Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt):

(aus advantage)

(from The New York Times, 11. August, 2008)

I found this in a german movie magazin that I always loved reading, back in Austria:

Translation of paragraph in red letters: “Sometimes you meet people on the set that you get quite close to - then you pack your things and maybe you never see each other again, sometimes without saying a last Goodbye.”

(see SKIP, DAS KINOMAGAZIN)

beautiful! I have presented Johnny Lee’s magic before on my CINEATRIX project blog!:

http://blog.redwired.org/CINEATRIX/Tikatok—Buecher-von-Kindern-Wii-Projekt-Microsoft-Surface

and I keep being amazed! As soon, as I have time, I would love to explore this, as well! Greetings,
Daniel

0. In my last blog I interviewed David Merrill (PhD Candidate at the MIT MEDIA LAB), who is the creator of SIFTABLES.

Having been in the i-team, finding a way for Siftables to enter the Market, I keep a close look for the NEW in this area and what I consider worth sharing at the moment are

1. The HP TouchSmart

2. Or the upcoming! XO-2

For products like the latter, I thought Apple would be first, but lately I find that Apple really waits until a product has proven ground and THEN develops a “new” shiny version. So, we will have to wait a bit longer, until Apple makes something like the XO-2, although, they surely have a whole lot of the necessary patents to do anything they want!

3. And here is the Napkin PC, something I already showed to the i-team during our first meeting this spring. It is just a Design, BUT Siftables - you better hurry up! ;_)

The Napkin PC ended up winning the Microsoft NextGen PC Design Competition (2007-2008)!

Entrants in next year’s competition will gain even more recognition when it is folded into Microsoft’s Imagine Cup!:

Finally, I found the time to type up my 2nd INvenTERVIEW, where I interview great friends and people, who I have met on my path at MIT and my carreer. I try to show a more personal and different point of view than usually shown in the media.

Many more shall follow! Enjoy.

INvenTERVIEW – David Merrill

(Date: May, 2008)

David Merrill is a PhD candidate at the MIT Media Lab who I collaborated with in this year’s i-teams class at MIT. His technology that needed a clear path to the market is called Siftables:

I asked David to start telling his story from his childhood and how he might have gotten into things like Siftables and such!

“As a kid I always building with building blocks (he was especially referring to Lincoln Logs, something to get for your child maybe in the near future, besides LEGO and all that or maybe some Siftables…)!”

“I liked building!”,

That he really did, in High School (1992-1996) he got into programming, at least as far as the computers would allow him to go, at this time. First, he was programming on his school Texas Instruments calculator (TI)! On the calculator he made simple math programs to help his classmates, and even built a simple driving game with multiple levels. He started making a more sophisticated battleship game, which was "quite a large piece of software for a calculator!", but he got too busy with college applications to release it.

In calculus class he built a program for his TI, where adding up squares underneath a curve computed an approximation of the integral of the curve. Showing an early interest in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Merrill was eager to find out how his fellow students would use his creations. The way to distribute programs at the time was through a cable to the other students’ calculators, an early peer-to-peer file sharing technique for mobile devices!

He was off to Stanford, and created his first website in his spare time at his job at the campus library.

“At that time, the question was: What are you supposed to have on your website? …Nobody knew what should have been there! Pictures of my friends, a bulletin board type system, Messages, which everyone could see, we used it to keep in touch.” – very much like today, I thought.

I asked David how Stanford supported his WWW education and he told that even back then they would have seminars in the dorm where the resident computer person would help you make a website.

“I thought I was going to study physics, but I ended up studying cognitive science, because it was more interdisciplinary.”

At this time David got really interested in computer science!, “I realized with a computer I could build even better greater things than with a calculator.” Still, the most exciting part for David was when other people would use his programs and benefit from his work. Now he had a word for this interest, however: computer-human interaction became his focus!

In undergraduate computer science he asked himself the question: How can the computer better represent information to us, and how can we interact with it in the most natural manner? As time went on, the question shifted to become: How does our body interact with a computer? And how can this interaction be improved? “What interfaces could I build if my toolset included the physical world, rather than just code?” At this point David’s focus moved from code to the additional use of embedded processors and sensors.

He pursued this interest from 2001 to 2002 at CCRMA, Stanford’s computer music center, in a class about physical music controllers. In the context of making new instruments, he learned by doing how to use basic electronics and sensors.

He was building physical objects that had computational behavior…objects that allowed a person to trigger and shape digital sounds. To put it in a nutshell he was designing systems that enabled a person to control sonic outputs through different physical inputs, and that is where he met his most difficult challenge and question:

“What is most intuitive? Now that we can connect any input gesture to any sound output, what should this mapping be?” He considered acoustic instruments and how they have become mature over hundreds of years, and wondered if a good instrument takes a long time to develop.

At this point in time, another event shaped David’s life dramatically :

“I wanted to pursue a Ph.D., but it was already November (Fall 2001) of the year that I was graduating. About half of the programs had deadlines in December and January, and I was not going to have enough time to make the December deadlines. I didn’t want to apply to only half of the interesting schools because of this deadline crunch, so, I said to myself: Why don’t I apply ONLY to my #1 choice (which at the time had a January deadline). And if I get in, I’ll go. Otherwise, I will just wait a year and apply everywhere else.”

But he got in, and by in, I mean, into the MIT Media Lab, to study physically embodied interactive systems. He worked with Ted Selker, Joe Paradiso, and Pattie Maes over his six years at the lab, and produced an impressive collection of new user interface devices, interactive installations and publications.

And it was the project Siftables that would become the focus of his Ph.D.: “Ever since my time at Stanford’s computer center, I have been a bit input device geek! I probably have 25 different game pads and joysticks that I have bought from eBay over the years…..!”

He was intrigued by how devices could be made for our hands: “Hands are most creative part of our body!”

Today we still interact with graphical content using a mouse and a keyboard. David thinks differently about how we might interact with digital content: “Today, my computer has 101 buttons and allows me one fingertip to touch the digital space. Imagine yourself sitting in front of a big pile of blocks and someone tells you that you can only use one fingertip to build structures with them… How can you do anything useful/creative?”

“We should be able to reach out with our hands, to grasp and move digital content around!”

Siftables can do just that. Having collaborated with David, I believe in it myself, but he needs move quickly, because Microsoft and Apple are trying to own this market!

But David is a multi-talented inventor and is already looking beyond Siftables, thinking about nano-bots in our body, as described by Ray Kurzweil, a well-known futurist and inventor. He is interested in neural implants and Kurzweil’s idea that we might be able to live forever, as described in a recent Wired magazine article. David knows that in the future he will be engineering solutions to such "what if we could do X…" questions, “My work is very applied”.

He has enjoyed recent press and feedback about his Sound of Touch project and other art installations, as well as blogosphere and news articles about Siftables.

Besides all of his technology work, Merrill has travelled the world: Ireland, England, France, Germany, Morocco, Canada, Peru, Hawaii, Spain, Portugal, and Iceland to date. All of this time abroad probably has something to do with the fact that his girlfriend is a “voracious traveler”!

Being originally from California, he enjoys the West coast very much. His friend Ben Olding, a statistics Ph.D. at Harvard who is also from California, articulates the appeal of the place in a way that resonates with David: California is full of dreamers. Everyone has a scheme about what they are going to do next, some high-tech, some not. Their plan might be the next social web service, or it might be mail-order homeopathic medicine. Whatever it is, they are open to new out-there possibilities and trying to make them happen.

"There is something fresh and naïve and wonderful about California, and although I love MIT and the Boston area I am looking forward to my future out West” says David Merill, PhD Candidate at the MIT Media Lab.

Daniel Pressl’s INvenTERVIEW Question List:

1.  Complete the sentence: “I am…

excited to give people amazing new ways to interact with the digital world.

I am optimistic, a roll up the sleeves- and make things happen- kind of guy, who enjoys motivating people around me.”

2.  Complete the sentence: “I like…

languages and understanding or decoding other cultures and places and processes. I like language barriers because they are challenging.”

3.  Complete the sentence: “My heart was beating the last time,…

when I rode my bike to MIT. I need more exercise.”

4.  Complete the sentence: “Once, I would like to drink coffee with…

Mohammed Yunis, who started the Grameen Bank.”

5.  Complete the sentence: “Things that are never missing in my fridge are…

Yogurt and soy milk.”

6.  Complete the sentence: “My favorite book is…

The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker.”

7.  Complete the sentence: “The credo/moto of my life is…

We can built a solution to that.”

8.  Complete the sentence: “My last words should be…

that was great, I did everything I wanted to do.”

Thank you, David!

Previous INvenTERVIEWS:

Stephen Steiner, MIT

Unterkaerntner Nachrichten Artikel:

Die Maturanten der HTL Wolfsberg, Bernhard Heine und Markus Dohr, haben sich in ihrer Diplomarbeit mit dem Thema Stroboskop-Phänomene auseinandergesetzt und ein Lichtblitzgerät gebaut, mit dem man Tropfen „einfrieren“ kann. Dieser so genannte „Piddler“ ist seit einiger Zeit in North Carolina (USA) im Hickory Museum oft Art zu bestaunen.

Bernhard Heine und Markus Dohr haben es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, einen so genannten „Piddler“ zu bauen, wobei der eine den elektrotechnischen Teil übernahm und der andere für die Software verantwortlich war.

Die Diplomarbeit der beiden begleiteten die HTL-Professoren DI Dr. Helmut Hebenstreit und Dipl.-Päd. Ing. Harald Weilguni. Heine und Dohr erhielten aber auch Unterstützung aus Übersee: DI Daniel Pressl war mit den beiden Maturanten ständig in E-Mail-Kontakt und gab ihnen wertvolle Tipps, die zum Gelingen des Projektes beitrugen.

Noch bevor die in Englisch verfasste Diplomarbeit von Bernhard Heine und Markus Dohr fertiggeschrieben war, hatte ihre Maturaarbeit bereits einen interessanten Verwendungszweck: Daniel Pressl machte es nämlich möglich, dass die HTL-Schüler den von ihnen entwickelten „Piddler“ im Hickory Museum of Art ausstellen dürfen. Mit ihrem Stroboskop (Lichtblitzgerät) und den anderen Hard- und Softwareteilen im Gepäck flogen die beiden im heurigen Frühjahr über Einladung von DI Pressl nach Boston, wo sie am MIT-Campus ihren „Piddler“ zusammenbauten. Diesen brachten sie anschließend in einer zwölfstündigen Jeep-Fahrt ins Hickory Museum of Art (North Carolina).

Die Wolfsberger HTL-Schüler waren dort bei der offiziellen Eröffnung der Hochgeschwindigkeitsfotografie-Ausstellung anwesend und stellten gemeinsam mit DI Pressl ihr Stroboskop-Objekt vor, mit dem ein Wasserstrahl durch Lichtblitze optisch in Tropfen zerlegt werden kann. Der „Piddler“ ist im Hickory-Museum ebenso ein vielbeachtetes Ausstellungsstück, wie Hochgeschwindigkeitsfotos, die DI Daniel Pressl zur Verfügung gestellt hat. Zehn Tage lang waren Bernhard Heine und Markus Dohr in den USA, ehe sie wieder in ihre Heimat zurückkehrten und fleißig für die Matura lernten, die sie mittlerweile erfolgreich hinter sich gebracht haben.

Unterkaerntner Nachrichten

Jetzt ist der Artikel erschienen:

Am 3. Juli wurde im KUSS Wolfsberg ein weiterer Meilenstein im Zukunftsprozess „Quo vadis Lavanttal?“ erreicht. Mit der Veranstaltung „Jugend schafft Zukunft“ beschäftigte sich der Verein Lavanttaler Wirtschaft (VLW) intensiv mit der Jugend des Tales. Ziel des Workshop-Nachmittags war es, innovative Ideen von der Jugend für einen attraktiven Wirtschafts- und Lebensraum Lavanttal zu sammeln sowie Schule und Wirtschaft zusammen zu bringen.

Mehr als 60 Schüler aus HAK, HTL, HLW, BORG und Stiftsgymnasium St. Paul arbeiteten in mehreren Workshopgruppen mit den Unternehmern aus dem VLW an wichtigen Themen für das Lavanttal. Diskutiert wurde über bisherige Erfahrungen der Schüler, etwa im Rahmen von Ferialjobs, über die Arbeits- und Lebensqualität im Lavanttal und über die Sichtweisen der Jugendlichen über ihre berufliche Zukunft im Tal.

„Die Attraktivität eines Wirtschaftsstandortes hängt nicht nur von den vorhandenen Unternehmen allein, sondern sehr stark von seiner Attraktivität als Lebensraum für die Arbeitnehmer ab. Die Jugendlichen sind unsere zukünftigen Arbeitnehmer und wir müssen ihnen daher unser Gehör schenken“, meint der VLW-Vorsitzende Dipl.-HTL-Ing. Horst Jöbstl, der sich auch bei allen Direktoren und Professoren der Schulen bedankt, die das Vorhaben des VLW tatkräftig unterstützen. Die Unternehmer und VLW-Vorstandsmitglieder Hans Zarfl und Edwin Storfer arbeiteten gemeinsam mit einer Gruppe und sind einer Meinung: „Mit dieser Jugend schaffen wir die Zukunft und wir von der Wirtschaft werden unser bestes geben, um dabei mitzuhelfen. Solche Veranstaltungen müssen regelmäßig durchgeführt werden, damit das gegenseitige Verständnis gefördert werden kann“, so die beiden Unternehmer weiter.

Der Workshop-Nachmittag brachte jedenfalls viele interessante Beschreibungen, Visionen und Bilder der Region Lavanttal 2020 aus Sicht der Schüler sowie einen Ideenpool für die Umsetzung dieser Visionen. Über die positiven Rückmeldungen der Schüler und ihr Engagement freut sich auch der VLW-Geschäftsführer Dr. Wolfgang Sattler: „Alle haben mir versichert, auch in Zukunft mitarbeiten zu wollen. Ich bin sicher, dass dieser Workshop-Nachmittag der Start für einen dauernden Austausch zwischen Jugend und Wirtschaft war. Die Ideen aus ‚Jugend schafft Zukunft 2008‘ geben uns wichtige Aufschlüsse für die Positionierung des Lavanttales als Wirtschafts- und Lebensraum“.

Weiter geht’s im August – dann werden die „großen Söhne und Töchter des Lavanttales“ um Rat gefragt. Im Rahmen einer Veranstaltung sollen Auslands-Lavanttaler mit besonderem Karriereweg Empfehlungen für die Positionierung des Lavanttales abgeben. Der Zukunftsprozess „Quo vadis Lavanttal?“ wird unterstützt vom VLW-Kooperationspartner Entwicklungsagentur Kärnten und vom Kärntner Wirtschaftsförderungsfonds.

(siehe auch: Unterkaerntner Nachrichten)

That was great!

ParkAssist enables automatic parking, using front and rear ultrasonic sensors to detect available parking space and a control unit to calculate the ideal manoeuvring path. Acoustic and visual displays guide the driver to the correct parking start position, then once reverse gear is selected the car parks itself in under 15 seconds. All the driver has to do in this time is accelerate and brake – the Touran does all the steering. The system has been available since June 2007.

The Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL)

Having been invited by Burkhard Hunke, Director of the ERL at the MIT European Career Fair (Rueckblick von Brainpower-Austria), I arrived in Palo Alto on Tuesday, in the early afternoon.

Besides driving the Touran I got to see the entire laboratory and pretty much met the entire team of the ERL. It was a great time! On Wednesday night, before driving to the airport, we went to an amazing steak restaurant on the 50th-something floor of a skyscraper with a view of the entire San Fransisco Bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge - amazing! I didnt know that the bridge got its name in 1848 during the time of the big gold fever. At this time thousands of gold diggers came on their ships through the waters to the harbor of San Francisco. The gold fever brought much wealth and the name for the bridge was settled.

The ERL supports all brands within the Volkswagen Group. This includes Volkswagen, Skoda, Bentley, and Bugatti as well as Audi, Seat, and Lamborghini. In addition to working with research and development teams in Germany, the ERL also supports the development of U.S.-specific features at the Volkswagen of America headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

A great project coming from Stanford University and the ERL is the autonomous vehicle VW Touareg, called Stanley, which won the DARPA Grand Challenge and $2 million. Now it sparks inquiries from entrepreneurs and defense contractors. “Herbie, meet Stanley.”

Mikro-Credits

Two days ago I visited the talk by Damian von Stauffenberg from MicroRate on "Kapitalmarkt und Mikrofinanz-Sektor - Trends, Chancen und Perspektiven fuer Kommerzbanken". I believe, I was the only one who did not represent a large bank or was a VC or owner of an enormous company, sitting among the listeners.
The talk and the following article from Die Presse all speak about Microfinancing Institutions (MFIs) for 3rd World countries. I believe that there is also a big opportunity for MFIs for 1st World countries through Redwired Ideas!

Die Presse article over Mikro-Kredite:

Muhammad Yunus (Winner of the Nobel Peace Price):

Redwired Ideas - Brainstorming and Creativity

Saving the Spark (from A List Apart by Mark Boulton)

What can Creativity do?

All of us are creative and have ideas and everyone needs ideas!

Redwired - Ideas: A new forum in Redwired, where users can post any ideas they have and create discussion and brainstorming circles around these ideas to make them happen!
The most talked about and best rated Ideas will then transform into Redwired - Projects and these projects will be financially supported through a micro-financing model!

Redwired Ideas will try to harness the power of crowds ("Crowdsourcing") and through the creativity and talent that is among all of us will seek to find ideas that can change the world of everyone of us.

We are currently in touch with the HTL Wolfsberg, the Lavanttal Haus - Entwicklungagentur Kaernten, a financial organization in Carinthia, as well as Iqbal Quadir from the Legatum Center for Development & Enterpreneurship, who has led similiar initiatives (Power to the People, Microloans,…) and has given the motivation for this new project and shown interest to help.