New Florence. New Renaissance.

The Kindle Paperwhite

Amazon says the touch display on this fifth generation Kindle boasts 62% more pixels (212 pixels per-inch resolution) and 25% increased contrast than earlier versions, with whiter whites and blacker blacks. All this sounds good, well, on paper, but in fact it's all borne out when you examine the screen and see just how crisp the fonts look.

Another major selling point is the built-in "front-lit" display that lets you read on the beach or in a dark bedroom without disturbing your spouse. Through its patented technology, Amazon distributes light evenly underneath an anti-glare layer and down toward the display, away from the reader's eyes. To my eyes, the light did indeed seem evenly distributed across the screen, much more so than on the rival Nook with Glow Light that Barnes & Noble began selling earlier in the year. I liked the Barnes & Noble device a fair bit, but with Paperwhite Amazon leaps pasts its rival.

USA Today

Photo Credit

Audi’s Digital Showroom

This showroom near Piccadilly Circus in London uses sensors, surface computing, screens to allow prospects to customize their own cars, and then walk out with their options saved on an USB drive – or hopefully with the paperwork for a new order.

 

Not your grandma’s television

Electronic House on how the humble TV will evolve even more rapidly with 9 technologies:

• Apps
• Camera
• Self-Calibration
• 4K (pixels)
• OLEDs
• Dual Core Processing
• Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)
• Gesture Control
• Cloud content

Finger scanning replaces school roll call

“Roll call is a thing of the past in Washington County Schools.  Students now check in with finger scanning devices.

The systems have been up and running for two months inside the schools, but since the majority of students ride the bus every day, district officials decided to move the devices there. “

WJHG.com

The iPhone Siri personal assistant

“Holding down the "home" button on the new iPhone 4S, available in the U.S. starting on October 14, summons a "personal assistant" known as Siri that can understand commands given in English, French, or German. It responds in a conversational style in both text and synthesized speech.”

“Winarsky says Siri's speech-based interface is not its most impressive feature. "Recognizing speech has become a commodity. It is finding the intent in what you said and matching that with the Web services available that cost hundreds of millions in research." Winarsky and colleagues at SRI made their technology capable of handling ambiguity and variability in statements, enabling Siri to deal with casual commands so that users don't have to use carefully scripted phrasing, he says.”

MIT Technology Review

Photo Credit

Healthcare: Back to the Future

I spent some time at the McKesson booth at HiMSS this week.

Mike Myers, SVP told me about the excitement in the industry about DNA markers and how they could revolutionize early detection of disease and also help customize solutions to each patient. Since the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, there has been growing progress towards predictive medicine. Mckesson has teamed with Proventys which "translates predictive data from traditional and emerging diagnostic tests, including genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, into clinical decision support solutions."

Then I walked over to see their "1080p, diagnostic image quality" front end to their Horizon Medical Imaging products. The touch-screen technology allows physicians to highlight and enhance images for viewing. Physicians have always loved to look at images this way and that. I know John Madden gets credit for popularizing the telestrator but you should see what physicians do to mark up images on the touch-screen.

Then, with a neat application of unified communications, with a sweep of the hand, they can send an image to a colleague’s iPhone. And using a bluetooth headset, also discuss it. There are plans to also integrate with billing and other applications.

Old genes - and old practices. Brand new technology.

"Surface Computing"

I bitched recently about MS's lack of innovation for the corporate customer...and so along comes its launch of Microsoft Surface. Three corporate customers - Harrah's, Starwood Hotels, T-Mobile - are early adopters all for high traffic location applications.

When I saw pictures this afternoon I had sense of deja vu. About a year ago I was discussing  interactive chess sets at a kid's tournament and how such a surface  device could automate notation of their moves and how it could be used to pipe the game  to a hotel room so parents could watch in the comfort of their rooms their kids play.  That had introduced me to Mitsubishi's DiamondTouch.  But they have only sold 100 tables in 6 years. I expect Microsoft will do a bit better.

Apple's iPhone will soon bring a fluid UI to the small screen. Are the days of the keyboard and the mouse finally numbered? Not surprisingly Gates and Jobs are in the midst of the action again.

I bitched recently about MS's lack of innovation for the corporate customer...and so along comes its launch of Microsoft Surface. Three corporate customers - Harrah's, Starwood Hotels, T-Mobile - are early adopters all for high traffic location applications.

When I saw pictures this afternoon I had sense of deja vu. About a year ago I was discussing  interactive chess sets at a kid's tournament and how such a surface  device could automate notation of their moves and how it could be used to pipe the game  to a hotel room so parents could watch in the comfort of their rooms their kids play.  That had introduced me to Mitsubishi's DiamondTouch.  But they have only sold 100 tables in 6 years. I expect Microsoft will do a bit better.

Apple's iPhone will soon bring a fluid UI to the small screen. Are the days of the keyboard and the mouse finally numbered? Not surprisingly Gates and Jobs are in the midst of the action again.