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"Skinput" -- Your Body Is the Interface

Mar 052010

“Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon’s Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year’s SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JWO3sJUIK2A/Skinput-Turns-Your-Body-Into-Your-IO

Compare the extraordinary electric body installations of Italian artist Sonia Cillari, who proves that you don’t have to move to perform.

Power suit envisioned

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Feb 172010

“Computer as furoshiki, here we come”–Bruce Sterling

BERKELEY — In research that gives literal meaning to the term “power suit,” University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.

These nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches and twists.

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/computer-as-furoshiki-here-we-come/

Power suit envisioned

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Feb 172010

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“Computer as furoshiki, here we come”–Bruce Sterling

BERKELEY — In research that gives literal meaning to the term “power suit,” University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.

These nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches and twists.

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/computer-as-furoshiki-here-we-come/

Which will kill you first--your car, phone, or chair?

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Feb 112010

The debate over cell phone radiation and cancer is still raging, thanks to a report that one in four of studies paid for by the phone industry showed harmful effects, while three in four of independently funded studies showed bioeffects. This review isn’t proof of the influence of mobile phones on cancer, but it does make a pretty scary case for the influence of economics on science.

Geeks may protest that the energy of phone photons is too low to fold proteins in carcinogenic ways, but meanwhile many of them (er, us) are exposing ourselves to much greater hazards through technologies we take for granted.

Say It Ain't Sore! Tips for Preventing RSI

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Jan 262010

Too bad they didn’t mention the best solution of all, which is switching to the Dvorak keyboard.

From Wired:

Make fun of computer geeks all you want, but there is one constant threat to our health and safety that we all face daily. That would be RSI, or repetitive strain injury. It’s also known as cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) or occupational overuse syndrome.

Actually, RSI can encompass any number of specific injuries resulting from performing the same task for extended periods of time, like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

The best way to cure it is to stop working. But you can prevent RSI with a few common-sense tips.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

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Jan 222010

I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:

Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

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Jan 222010

I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:

Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

News 1 Response »

Jan 222010

Bookmark this category

I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:

Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.

http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/ (via Vanessa Vobis)

"Microbes That Keep Us Healthy Starting To Die Off"

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Dec 272009

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/w6XHfCE-6l0/Microbes-That-Keep-Us-Healthy-Starting-To-Die-Off

Scientific American: “The human body has some 10 trillion human cells—but 10 times that number of microbial cells. So what happens when such an important part of our bodies goes missing? With rapid changes in sanitation, medicine and lifestyle in the past century, some of these indigenous species are facing decline, displacement and possibly even extinction. In many of the world’s larger ecosystems, scientists can predict what might happen when one of the central species is lost, but in the human microbial environment—which is still largely uncharacterized—most of these rapid changes are not yet understood.

"A dirty child is a healthy child"

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Nov 272009

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Here’s more fuel to vaccine skeptics who claim that bugs introduced intravenously don’t engage the immune system in the deeper way of bugs introduced via the skin.

The Slashdot comments touch on another revelation of recent research: that autoimmune disorders such as Lupus tend to appear in societies that have artificially blocked their citizens’ natural exposure to germs.

From Slashdot:

Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child’s skin too clean impaired the skin’s ability to heal itself. From the article: “‘These germs are actually good for us,’ said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are ‘good bacteria’ when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation.”

Data under your skin: LED tattoos and silk electrodes

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Nov 272009

Video artist Gary Hill once responded to the question of how his work should be displayed when CRTs became obsolete with the suggestion that his video should be projected on his viewers’ bodies from inside their skin.

When Hill was participating in the TechArcheology workshops a decade ago, this suggestion sounded flippant (and was perhaps meant to be). But now mainstream science has caught up with this nutty vision, and it looks like the porn industry won’t be far behind.

So what happens when your LED tattoo goes obsolete? Microsoft customers had better be diligent about downloading the latest “patches,” or they’ll end up sporting the Blue Skin of Death.

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"Skinput" -- Your Body Is the Interface

Power suit envisioned

Power suit envisioned

Which will kill you first--your car, phone, or chair?

Say It Ain't Sore! Tips for Preventing RSI

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

Slow Death by Rubber Duck

"Microbes That Keep Us Healthy Starting To Die Off"

"A dirty child is a healthy child"

Data under your skin: LED tattoos and silk electrodes

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