Human computer interfaces are all about “bandwidth”, ie. the rate at which users can communicate with their computers and the richness of the information that they can convey.

The keyboard was a hugely important innovation because it upped the speed at which people could interact and convey thoughts and intentions. The mouse was also an incredibly big gain in UI bandwidth allowing manipulation of shapes within a 2D surface. Touch interfaces were too although somewhat less than the mouse. On our phones we now have sensors for sound input, vision input, position, orientation and movement and these have also upped the UI bandwidth considerably.

But we always need more, much more. The thing that will make new media such as VR work in a productive way will be to model the user’s body accurately and to recognize its movements and therefore the user’s intentions. Super-fine grained modelling of hands and gestures is a big one and potentially a huge gain in UI bandwidth.

Via Emlyn O’Regan​​​​​

Originally shared by Kevin Kelly

Extremely fine gesture control via micro radar chipa. This is input device after keyboards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QNiZfSsPc0

Resharing along with John Poteet’s comment about this on his post:

There’s a huge, global, need for low energy cast stone that can replace portland cement concretes. Right now our concrete production relies upon baking limestone in kilns using massive amounts of fossil fuels. 

If this proves out we could have a new way of building that requires much less energy to produce.

Originally shared by LiveScience

Have you ever wondered?

Looking back, this moment in mammalian development was remarkably short. In the fossil record, it’s represented by a blip of weird sediments, followed by nothing.

Originally shared by Emlyn O’Regan

Originally shared by Chris Robato