Griffin Technology And Art Technology

Spread over 9,000 square metres, some 150 of Europe's most innovative and advanced technology projects had the opportunity to show off their wares during the IST2006 event in Helsinki 32mm Technology, Academy Fulbright Science Technology, from 21 to 23 November. CORDIS News toured a number of the stands to learn more about how information and communication technologies (ICT) are being put to use to solve some of the challenges that we face in our everyday lives. One of the most visited displays was that of the Communication by Gaze Interaction (COGAIN) project, where delegates could test some of the latest eye control technology devices and software Advanced Technology, Alien Technology, Art Technology, like MyTobii, a portable communication device which enables people suffering with severe disabilities to gain access to computers with only a few blinks of an eye.

The device is composed of a computer screen with an integrated camera that can be attached easily to wheel chairs. With it, users simply fix their gaze on the digital keyboard and point out the letters they want with their eyes Automotive Technology, Biopro Technology. Currently most text entry is done using a 'soft keyboard' - also a digital keyboard but one which obliges users to move the cursor along until they find the right letter. Another device developed by partners in the project is the I4Control system, which consists of a tiny camera fixed to a pair of glasses, which can be used to control objects like a computer mouse or software keyboard. While the technology behind each of the devices may vary Blue Tooth Technology, Blue Tooth Wireless Technology, each of them are using standard control software which the COGAIN consortium partners have developed together. This is unprecedented in eye tracking systems, where software had to be written for every new device.

As Mick Donegan of the ACE Centre, one of the partners in the project, illustrated, standardising the software opens the way for more customised applications. He showed a video of a young girl [Business Information Technology Employment, Business Technology], Helen, who suffers from a very rare disability, using writing activities that were adapted to her level of disability. Helen cannot use traditional aids like switches or special keyboards, because every time she tries to move her body jerks, Mr Donegan explained. 'We developed some specialist activities like a story and a music-playing screen for her. Afterwards we could see that she had become more relaxed about using the eye control software, and [California Institute Of Technology, Cape Girardeau Career And Technology Center] is now able to write using it.'

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Mr Donegan is responsible in the consortium for getting feedback about the activities from users and relaying their needs back to the researchers Communication Technology, Computer Technology. To ensure the widespread take-up of the eye control technology, the consortium is working with a large study group ranging from people with cerebral palsy to people who are 'locked-in', meaning those that can only move their eyes and only communicate with their gaze. 'About 2,000 people across Europe are using eye-control technology at the moment but we hope that these numbers will go into hundreds of thousands,' he told CORDIS News [Course Technology, Creative Technology, Definitive Technology]. To achieve this, the consortium is making some of the applications they developed freely available, and is working closely with specialist centres to raise awareness of the benefits of this technology.

Another display drawing the crowds in Helsinki was that of the Computers in the Human Interaction Loop (CHIL). 'The aim of our project is to turn the old human-machine paradigm on its head,' explained Margit Rodder of the University of Karlsruhe, one of the partners in project. 'Rather than humans attending to machines, we develop digital services that attend to humans.' These services include the Memory Jog, which prompts people in meetings with background information and memory assistance, and [Design Technology, Digital Camera Technology, Education Technology] Targeted Audio, which uses ultrasound to effectively speak directly to someone in the meeting, unbeknown to the other attendees. This could be a useful tool, Ms Rodder suggested, in cases where someone in the meeting has forgotten another attendee's name. Also showcased was CHIL's Smart Workspace, aimed at enabling colleagues to work together more efficiently, 'There are many devices available to help people work on their own like palm pilots Educational Technology, Emerging Technology, blackberry devices and laptops, but public collaborative work is still pen and paper,' explained project partner, Fabio Pianesi of the Italian centre of research, ITC-IRST.

'Our system, which has normal PC requirements, can be projected overhead onto a regular table or installed on a large computerised touch screen table, around which members of a work group sit,' Mr Pianesi told CORDIS News. 'This allows people in a meeting to consult and work on documents together. And after the meeting, you can go back to your office and receive a summary of the meeting Engineering Technology, Environmental And Spatial Technology, via a webpage, which details the topics covered and the time spent on each of the documents.' The system has been fully developed and the consortium is now conducting some last minute tests with a number of potential customers.

Perhaps the most tried and tested device at the exhibition was the new SmartUs playground environment. Located within the Finnish Pavilion, the playground consists of large i-grid jump pad and a screen which serves for active learning games both indoors and outdoors Fashion Institute Of Technology, Florida Institute Of Technology. The concept behind the games played is very similar to that of 'What Simon Says': when a letter appears on a specific grid on the screen, players must mimic the computer by jumping to the corresponding grid on the mat. As the game progresses, players are expected to follow the instructions more quickly.

Katrina Lahtinen, Content Designer of SmartUs from the Finnish Group Lappest Future Technology, Georgia Institute Of Technology, which heads the project, explained the impetus of the playground. 'Our project set out to address several challenges facing children today. The first is to fight obesity and improve the health of children, which has declined because children do not play outside and move about as much. 'Kids are under too much pressure in school; we wanted to make learning fun because children do not think about learning when they play...We also wanted to help those children that have difficulty learning in the conventional way,' she told CORDIS News [Griffin Technology, Hawking Technology, Health Information Technology]. The project partners also hope that adults and the elderly will also use the playground to exercise, and as a way to spend time and interact with the family.

PowerMate allows a Global setting (which it uses if your currently active application doesn't have a specific setting), which by default controls the system volume, but users can add as many custom application settings as desired. One of PowerMate's greatest strengths is scrolling through long documents; reading lengthy developer documentation like the Aqua Human Interface Guidelines (a 300-page PDF) is made much easier with a device like the PowerMate. Although it may not sound logical [History Of Technology, Illinois Institute Of Technology], loosely twisting a small wheel is far more ergonomically sound than gripping a mouse and continually clicking a small button or scrolling a small wheel – especially when you're doing it over a period of several hours. Repeated use shows that users' hands feel far less tired at the end of reading long PDFs or web pages with a PowerMate than a mouse and keyboard. Because of this strength, we configured our PowerMate to scroll up and down in Internet Explorer and TextEdit and turn pages in Preview Indian Institute Of Technology, Information Communication Technology.

But for some applications, scrolling is neither a practical nor an optimal use for a PowerMate. Creativity goes a long way with putting the PowerMate to its best use. For example, twisting left and right can be configured to flip through tabs in Adium (Cmd-left and Cmd-right arrow), a popular Mac OS X AIM chat client. It can be configured to scrub through video in QuickTime Player, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro (and indeed, this is one of its most popular uses in the hands of video professionals) [Information Technology, Information Technology Education], or as an audio controller. Andrew Green, Griffin's Vice President of Marketing, commented that some customers had contacted the company asking for the ability to use multiple PowerMates at once; audio customers, for example, wanted to connect eight PowerMates as audio controllers to their Macs, and other customers wanted to use them to mix tracks together Nano Technology.

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The NG-WDSS was installed at the National Weather Service's Peachtree City office earlier this month [Information Technology Jobs, Information Technology Management], and two more systems will be deployed in GTRI laboratories by the end of June. "We will be optimizing the system to reflect Georgia. s environment," said Gene Greneker, a research scientist who is heading GTRI's recently established Severe Storms Research Center (SSRC). "Tornadoes in Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast are often short-lived events. They can come and go in 10 minutes Information Technology Outsourcing, Information Technology School, as opposed to an hour in Kansas. As a result, the radar signal processing may need to be set slightly different from those that were developed for the Great Plains states where the NG-WDSS was first developed and tested."

Optimizing the system will involve researchers in collecting storm data and determining if changing parameters in the NG-WDSS algorithms will make it work better in Georgia Information Technology Training, Institute Of Technology. NG-WDSS provides a set of tools that help forecasters make more efficient, effective and timely decisions on warning the public of tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods. The system includes advanced image processing, artificial intelligence, neural network and other algorithms that use Doppler radar data. The data is integrated with other weather sensor data to guide forecasters. Another important part of the system is how it displays and presents information to forecasters Instructional Technology, International Academy Of Design And Technology.

Griffin Technology's PowerMate is a gadget in every sense of the word. More than almost any other hardware peripheral at Macworld Expo, users crowded around the PowerMate at Griffin's booth - before they even knew what it was used for. The most common question heard at the Griffin booth was "What's this glowing chrome wheel and Music Technology what does it do?" The most common answer was "Pretty much anything." The PowerMate was originally conceived as an hi-tech volume knob and mute button, but it's developed into one of the most flexible peripherals on the market. PowerMate, which is compatible with Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and Windows Internet Technology, Kingston Technology, La Crosse Technology, comes with software to configure its five actions: roll right, roll left, click, click and roll right, click and roll left. These five actions can be bound to any arbitrary keyboard combinations within an application.

Yesterday, Griffin Technology announced that iClear and Disko, two of its most popular cases, will be available for the second generation iPod nano and you will be able to find them in stores just in time for the holidays shopping spree. OK, sounds good, but why would you choose one of these two, when there are hundreds of protective cases to be found? The first of the two, the iClear case is made of polycarbonate and has a transparent and [Lacrosse Technology, Latest Technology] unobtrusive design, being able to protect your iPod from usual daily hazards, without taking away total access to the control wheel, audio jack, power switch, USB port and LED. Priced at 19.99$, the iClear case is available for the first and second generation nano, as well as for the iPod with Video.

If you like to have your gadgets drawing the other's fascinated attention, you can choose the Disko nano case that features multiple light colors and motion-activated lighting sequences Micron Technology. Just think about being able to protect your iPod with a tough polycarbonate shell just like the iClear, but having a ring of colored LEDs around the control wheel that lights up, swirls, flashes and chases using a variety of patterns triggered by movement. Now you don't need a disco to get disco lights [Linear Technology, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology], it's enough to have your iPod, the Disko nano case and a dark place. This case is available in clear or black polycarbonate, turns on with movement, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to turn it off. And finally, its price is 29.99$.

So far this tornado season, researchers have not been able to conduct many tests because of the few number of severe storms. "Other than the tornadoes in Vienna and Metter, it. s been a very quiet tornado season (usually January to May) this year," Greneker said. "So it's given us a breather to get the equipment installed Media Technology, Medical Technology. By next spring, we will be ready to really test the (NG-WDSS) system." Meanwhile, the SSRC is proceeding with other projects to improve severe weather forecasting in Georgia. One study will be measuring electrical discharge from cloud-to-cloud lightning strikes. Researchers believe that increasing amounts of electrical discharge indicate that a tornado could be forming, Greneker explained.

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