Blinking
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Panasonic AI senses drowsy drivers and cranks up the AC
Until self-driving cars get a lot better, the only AI controlling them will be us. Since we're imperfect, sleepy beings, however, Panasonic is using artificial intelligence in a different way: To detect when we're drowsy and pull us back from dreamland. There's a surprising amount of tech to that, including an infrared sensor, environment sensor, facial capture camera and "thermal sensation" system that activates the car's AC or alarms if all else fails.
The Blaze Blink Now saves you from Computer Vision Syndrome, is always watching
Big Brother is watching you, and you'd better remember. Forget for just a moment and you could find yourself committing thoughtcrime doupleplusquick. Enter the £49.99 ($78) Blink Now. It's ostensibly a device designed to save you from Computer Vision Syndrome, a modern affliction that causes headaches and blurry vision among those who spend a little too much time basking in the glow of a CRT or LCD. But, we're thinking its purposes are rather more nefarious. It's basically just a little LCD that you hang in your monitor and connect via USB. It presents an eye, always looking at you, lazily and nonchalantly blinking. In theory, if you see an eye blinking you'll blink more often yourself and cut down on eye strain. In reality, the thinkpol is always watching and this is just another reminder.
Nanocrystal breakthrough promises more versatile lasers, world peace
For the longest while, scientists have been flummoxed by the incessant coruscating emitted by individual molecules; no matter their methods, they could never quite seem to overcome a troubling optical quirk known sensibly as "blinking." Thanks to a brilliant crew at the University of Rochester, however, we now understand the basic physics behind the phenomenon, and together with a team from Eastman Kodak, a nanocrystal has been created that can constantly emit light. In theory, the discovery could lead to "dramatically less expensive and more versatile lasers, brighter LED lighting, and biological markers that track how a drug interacts with a cell at a level never before possible." Indeed, one could envision that future displays could be crafted by painting a grid of differently sized nanocrystals onto a flat surface, making even OLED TVs look chubby in comparison. Now, if only we had a good feeling that such a device was destined for a CES in our lifetime...
Get blinky with the Signal Cellphone Adviser
The Signal Cellphone Adviser adds a splash of polite ring notification to your desktop by way of a radio wave-detecting cup. Turn your ringer off (not a must, but it sort of defeats the purpose otherwise), drop your handset in the small opaque-sided cup, and whenever a call comes in, LED blinking action! We've seen similar devices before, but they were typically hanging on key fobs which are usually in your pocket, making them kinda useless. If this device had a charger built in -- which from all signs it doesn't -- we would seriously have considered giving it a spot of honor on the desk. Still, not a half bad gift for $21.[Via Core77]
Eye opening research into eye closing
Fabian's M.A. thesis is a bit hard to read if you take his advice: close your eyes. But despite that little problem, he seems to have come up with some clever applications for eye closing in a computing environment, specifically "How closing the eyes enriches visual media." You just have to peep the video showreel to see what he's getting at, but the basic gist of it involves using winks, squints and blinks to operate related computing tasks, such as closing your eyes to activate text-to-speech, or closing one eye to activate a sniper scope. Other applications get a little bit higher minded, such as using your imagination to improve video content, or merely blinking to shut off the screen and rest you eyes. If you want spy the rest of Fabian's research, you'll have to prop open your own peepers to get a view -- we're taking a nap.
