This product is a better user experience than reading a physical book. But it’s also a prime example of identifying a neat technology, and then finding a reason to use it in school, which is ass backwards.

Educators need to figure out what they want students to learn, and then find a technology that helps them learn it. Students could play forever with this book, but all they would learn is Al Gore’s view of how we solve our environmental problems. They would not learn contrary views, and they would not be taught to think critically about whose views they accept.

The successors to textbooks surely will be digital, but they won’t be a textbook at all.

They won’t be created by an education company that bends to politically driven agendas, a phenomenon that has been around long before last year’s Texas controversy;

“chapters” won’t reflect the perspective of just a few writers and editors, but rather the voices of thousands of scholars and educators;

in subjective areas, they won’t require students to memorize particular “facts” and viewpoints, but rather will encourage them to think for themselves, and form their own perspectives; and

they won’t impose a “one size fits all” approach to learning on a diverse group of students, with different interests, abilities and needs.

The successor to textbooks will be created by a group of passionate educators who collectively decide that no one should have “ownership” over what is taught in schools. It will leverage a curated collection of the best free content online, supplemented by some traditional textbook content in the sciences and math.

I was just thinking that there are already names for this sort of thing. We call them applications, interactive multimedia presentations, even websites. If someone put that in front of me and asked, “Do you know what this is?” I would confidently have several names for it, and book wouldn’t make the list. And I’m a huge fan of ebooks, I have two Kindles, so I don’t think it’s just that I’m biased towards bound material.

I’d really like to see some reading comprehension statistics on things like this versus more linear presentations of information too. I’m not just being critical, I’m genuinely curious about whether being able to interactively explore presented information leads to better, worse or the same retention as reading through it in the more traditional linear, guided way.

When conventionally studied, we would never expect electronic games as a form of art. Yet upon further inspection, we cannot deny that modern electronic games contain many elements of what we would traditionally consider an art form. In fact, today’s top rated video games incorporates traditional forms of art, such as music, literary plots, and graphical art.

Video games are becoming so much more than what they were, and better than what other forms of contemporary entertainment has to offer. Where else can you interact with and change the plot of an epic story? Human imagination cannot be expressed more beautifully in the designs of modern games, like Flower, Fallout, and Peter Molyneux’s own Fable franchise (just to name a few good games that alliterate).

One of the largest drawbacks to computers is their ability to interact with us is limited to monitor, projectors, keyboard, mice, etc. all of which are fairly limited in use. Computers themselves know little about us and our actions. Games and experiments like this provide an opportunity for us to learn to create computer systems that CAN interact with us through voice and body language. There is also rudimentary efforts here to allow the system to learn/grow through interaction with us.

In the long run this could be revolutionary in how we interact with computers, having them be able to “talk” to us and understand our movements and actions. Think of the “aware” computers in star trek that you can just talk to and discuss problems with…

In order to reach some of those more difficult goals, steps like this need to be made. It has promise, and may lead to some surprising business applications.

I see a chance for programmers. Instead of programming all variables and conditionals, you could take your car on a trip and learn it to react in a proper way. Best driver in the country programmed into your board computer. Best teachers in the classes, better than any of us and much cheaper. All community of virtual personalities to help our disabilities. Developing this technology for games is only one step in many others to follow. It may begin as a game but I am convinced it does not end there.

The system is a full EEG, and also monitors emotional state and facial expressions. There are already a several users working on lucid dreaming – using the EPOC to pick up the dream state and then pushing stimuli (sounds and flashing lights) to the user so they know they are in the dream state and can take control.

What you describe as a statistical database of ‘pull’ brainwaves in the world is exactly what Walter Benjamin sought to achieve with his ideas on translation. He had a metaphysical concept of words (signifiers) and objects/notions (the signified). It’s been quite a while since I thought about that – I’m glad for the opportunity to ponder potential future manifestations of his vision.

The idea of using pre-defined brainwave patterns (brain) for tasks is much like assigning mouse-gestures (hand) or voice-commands (voice). It wouldn’t matter if a user mapped “monkey doing the salsa” thoughwave to “pull”. Even if the user visualized a monkey doing the salsa, the cube would pull.

This differs from the technologies where, when you think of ‘pull’, the ‘content’ of the brainwave is interpreted, as opposed to the pattern. Is that possible? Given all the languages & interpretations of ‘pull’, can that even be done? Maybe, with a statistical database of ‘pull’ brainwaves in the world! But still, that would be like a voice-recog. software listening to ‘what’ you are saying as opposed to ‘how’ you are saying something.

And the colors thing, did the headset ’see’ what color the user is thinking of? Or are colors mapped to wave patterns too? Means I still can’t show the world my concept-art?!

The program is designed to provide a much more natural way for humans to digest large palettes of information without losing their way — an idea that anyone who has analyzed giant spreadsheets may welcome. And while it has something in common with spreadsheets and many other technologies, Flake says Pivot is so new and different that it’s difficult to even picture what it does without seeing it in action.

Also, I think you walk a fine line around equating emergence with intelligence. I haven’t made that equation. What I have said, and what you might have misinterpreted, is: As far as we know, “intelligence” is an emergent quality and emergence appears on all levels of existence that we can perceive.Perhaps you mistakenly extended the subset to being the full set. That I haven’t said or implied. After all, how can two humans have a discussion about something that is defined as being beyond their comprehension, and thus beyond their conversational ability. It’s called thinking in the abstract which is not beyond human comprehension or conversational ability but we’re the model for intelligence (at least until we find something else that’s smart) and so to qualify as “intelligent” it will necessarily exhibit some of the signs that we do.

This is… amazing, just… wow! I am attending RPI this fall as a freshmen, and i plan on going into mechanical engineering and design. As soon as i saw this video i was literally agape and on the edge of my seat! I gave the link to all the other people going to RPI next year including Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and other Mech. Eng.
I have a Nintendo Wii, and an extra controller, so you can count on me bringing this set up to my Dorm room next year. With the interactive 2-point white-board alone i can think of either great fun or great ways to improve on how I do my work. Can this be set up to a CAD software or similar software for 3-D design?

Honestly Mr. Lee, I have so much respect for you right now. First for realizing this could be done, second for developing the software to make it happen, and last but far from least, for making the information widely distributed, the software free to everyone, and as you said, opening the field of research to such a broad range of people. You certainly deserve that standing ovation. Bravo!!!

The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a new technology from Google that automatically translates Java into JavaScript, making Ajax applications easier to code and deploy.

As you might have guessed, it emphasizes end-user experience, GWT usability features, and several of the big improvements made in GWT 1.4 RC.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMsL9fN-rXk

Usability = Great Application + Happy Users

The Web is experiencing a new growth with an emphasis on rich, web-based applications. These applications can be difficult to build because they rely on JavaScript, which lacks the sophisticated object-oriented structures and static typing of Java, they are tricky to debug, and they require you to manage numerous browser inconsistencies.

In May of 2006 Google released the Google Web Toolkit. GWT enables developers to create Ajax applications in Java. With GWT, you can build your applications using a real object-oriented language and take advantage of Java tools like Eclipse that are already available. Instead of trying to bring tool support to Ajax, Google brought Ajax to a place where the tools already existed.

I believe this could be a very sophisticated framework to build next generation learning content. At present we are mostly waiting for head-mount display technology to mature. When we have a full color sunlight-readable overlay display with an apparent resolution of about 90dpi at 2feet (say, 180 arc-seconds) this will really take off.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9KPJlA5yds

The car is just an example but think how far the e-learning industry can go with this technology. There are already some prototypes with children book and story telling out there in the market. I think we need companies to invest in custom content development projects in this platform. I believe this will change the way we perceive online learning.

Anand Agarawala presents BumpTop, a user interface that takes the usual desktop metaphor to a glorious, 3-D extreme, transforming file navigation into a freewheeling playground of crumpled documents and clipping-covered “walls.”

Although visually stimulating and striking, this is an example of a metaphor taken to the extreme at its own peril. I do feel it is moving in the right direction, but there is not enough substance to sustain a user for an extended period of time.

Interesting idea. It could certainly be implemented as an application for the Mac (particularly with Leopard), and I presume Windows. Does it really get us anywhere. I have maybe 20,000 files on my hard drive, not counting the OS stuff.
A multi-touch aproach with more real 3D effects sems to me to be a lot better.

Even better, let’s get speech recognition to really work.

Interface designer, software developer, inventor, and nerdcore hip-hopper Anand Agarawala brings a welcome sense of expressiveness to the dusty desktop interface. His BumpTop software applies a 3D metaphor and rough-and-tumble interactivity that delights anyone who sees it in action.

In addition to its raw play-with-me fun , BumpTop is also an inspiring example of unconventional thinking. The BumpTop world is a physical space, where traditional point-and-click movement is replaced with a more literal “push and pull” approach, and the icons each possess a weight that reflects their relative importance. Meanwhile, commands are executed via a novel set of pen/stylus shortcuts that go well beyond the limited click-and-drag way of doing things.

Even if you’re not quite ready to trade your olde tyme desktop for the BumpTop experience, the interface’s unexpected approach to problem-solving is sure to bump-start your thinking in new and unusual directions.

Vilayanur Ramachandran tells us what brain damage can reveal about the connection between celebral tissue and the mind, using three startling delusions as examples.

Mr. Ramachandan did an extraordinary presentation where he was able to use simple explanations – supported with examples – of how the human brain works. What really got my attention was the fact that boys are sexually attracted to their own mothers. I never thought on something like this. Even though, I believe there is no such thing as a sexual attraction to my own mother, it is intrusting to hear Mr. Ramachandan`s opinion about this. Also, I learned in this presentation that people that lost parts of their body can still feel pain for something that actually is not there anymore. I never though someone could feel their arm after having it amputated. Moreover he explains another aspect of our brains that I found fascinating; the fact that we are able to “trick“ our own brain. I never though in the idea of being able of doing experiments, like the mirror box, to alleviate the pain caused by patient`s phantom arm. This presentation clarified that everything that happens in our lives must pass through our brains, no matter what. In conclusion the presentation done by Mr. Ramachandan really made me revise my beliefs regarding the human brain. It is always good to have different perspectives of a subject considered unknown.