Needles in the Cosmic Haystack: Reflections on Dr. Jill Tarter's Lecture on Cosmic Boundaries

On Monday, April 29, 2013, Dr. Jill Tarter, from the SETI Institute, provided an insightful overview of "specific searches for technological civilizations that might occupy one or more of the recently discovered exoplanets in our galactic neighborhood." Tarter is credited as Carl Sagan’s inspiration for the novel and subsequent film Contact. Read more here.

Event producers noted, "The Center for SETI Research collects an outstanding 3 petabytes of raw data from the Allen Telescope Array each day and sifts through the 9-dimensional 'Cosmic Haystack' to find some 'needle' of a signal. For the last 35 years, Dr. Tarter and the SETI Institute have been using telescopes to systematically search for evidence of other technological civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy." SETI engages in an archeology of the future. SETI drives the search for intelligent life; this is the noble work of astrobiologists. 

No mean undertaking. 

A recent major breakthrough is the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) built from scratch for SETI radio astronomy. On the ATA, SETI reports:

"The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is a "Large Number of Small Dishes" (LNSD) array designed to be highly effective for “commensal” (simultaneous) surveys of conventional radio astronomy projects and SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) observations at centimeter wavelengths."

"The idea for the ATA emerged in a series of workshops convened by the SETI Institute in 1997 to define the path for future development of technology and search strategies for SETI. The advance of computer and communications technology made it clear that LNSD arrays were more efficient and less expensive than traditional large antennas. The final report of the workshop, “SETI 2020,” recommended the construction of the One Hectare Telescope. (1HT) (A hectare is an area equivalent to a square 100 meters on a side.)The SETI Institute sought private funds for the 1HT and in 2001 Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) agreed to fund the technology development and first phase of construction (42 antennas). In October 2007 the array began commissioning tests and initial observations.The array is now being used for radio astronomy observations of our galaxy and other galaxies, gamma ray bursts and transient radio sources, and SETI."

There are a number of current challenges with collecting and interpreting "big space data," technical challenges to technolgical progress, and challenges in communicating the SETI mission with larger audiences. This talk was particularly timely given the current state of space-exploration and given the recent discovery of a new planetary system.

Humans have been on a journey to explore the meaning of life and the nature of life since the beginning of human experience. Enter astronomy. Are we a lonely planet floating through the multiverse alone? Unlikely. 

In some ways, we are in the boondocks of the Milky Way. 400 billion stars in the grand spiral galaxies, which is 1 of 100 billion galaxies. We have only charted 4% of the mass density of the universe: the rest: dark matter/energy. The unknown. So...there is some work to do yet. 

"We are on a fragile island of life in a universe full of possibilities."

artist rendition: Kepler Spacecraft

Critical Question: Where is the second planet or solar system that is full of life? Until 1995, we didn't know about the existence of planets orbiting other stars - exoplanets. Enter NASA's Kepler spacecraft that searches 100 square degrees, 1-400th of the total sky. The spacecraft uses a 93 mega-pixel camera to stare at 150,000 stars selected by Kepler scientists. 

"Kepler is part of NASA's Discovery Program of relatively low-cost, focused primary science missions. The telescope's construction and initial operation were managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with Ball Aerospace responsible for developing the Kepler flight system. The Ames Research Center is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations since December 2009, and science data analysis. The initial planned lifetime was 3.5 years, but in 2012 this was extended to 2016, partly due to difficulties in processing and analyzing the huge volume of data collected by the spacecraft." (Wiki, 2013)

Kepler by the Numbers

• 122 exoplanets confirmed
• 2740 candidate exoplanets
• 58 in HZ (183-303k) - the temp on the these planets might have liquid water.

We are close to finding Earth 2.0., and we might find this planet in a habitable zone that orbits as star similar to the sun.

"Smaller planets are more easily found around smaller stars." 

Signal Detection Critical Questions

• How long do these technologies last? 
• How do they activate and turn-off?
• Are we close enough in time-space to find these signals?

The search for intelligent life began in earnest in the 1950s with radio signals and the re- purposing of satellite dishes used in WWII for interstellar signal searching. Fast-forward to today, can we find life that uses technology to modify its environments, and can we find those life-markers using our technology? Today, SETI uses frequency compression, signals so narrow that only technology can create or recognize such signals. The thought is to detect technologies emanating from a planet analogous to Earth. The problem is that those signals come from a long way away and long time away. As Tarter phrased it, "Here is the tyranny of light speed." 

We are in our technological infancy. Young technology in an old universe. We need to find long-lived technology. If we find said technology, it might mean we ourselves could also create long-standing technologies. Tarter argued that technology will have to live for 100,000 years for us to currently detect intelligent signals. A short period of time in cosmic speak, many times many ages in human time.

SETI is looking for two kinds of deliberate signals:

1. Things that look almost "natural"

• One such example would be a pulsar. There are a number of pulsar surveys of the sky. There could be a signal of life. 

2. Engineered - purposeful signals not created in nature as we know it

• single frequency on dial 
• single nanosecond in time

Finding a needle (signal) in the cosmic haystack involves a 9-dimensional-space to search. 
3 - space

1 - time
2 - polarizations
1 - frequency
1 - modulation scheme
1 - sensitivity
--
9 dimensions

The exponential growth of technology is now allowing astrobiologist to meet the demands of these dimensions. New tech includes sky surveys using OSETI (commensal on bigger glass).One exciting area of growth is the mixing of SETI technology with machine learning to teach machines to better recognize signals. Smarter machines will mean greater likelihood to locate intelligent signals.

What does the future-now hold? One example is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that will search for bio-signatures and the byproducts of biotechnology. NASA reports:

Webb diagram

"The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope. The project is working to a 2018 launch date. Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. Webb's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. Webb will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and asunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto a rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once Webb is in outer space. Webb will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth."

Tarter challenged the audience to seek out anomalies in the data. We can take this advice and enact it across disciplines. Seek out the unknown, the margins, the outliers, the data outside the mean to help better understand our research, business questions, and new technologies. 

The critical point here is that all humans belong to one tribe - earthlings - this is the larger frame that SETI asks us to consider. SETI research might help to bridge our sociocultural differences, and provide an opportunity, through global scientific practice, to meet the challenges that we face as humans. SETI is good practice for global cooperation. These are problems that don't recognize (but are influenced by) national borders: global warming, water access, food shortages, and technological growth. Transnational cooperation is the call from SETI. Heed it.

Interested in learning more? Me too. Check out SETI@home. Why not use your home computer in the search for life? Pitch in.

This event was sponsored by PayPal's TechXploration Meet-Up in partnership with the SETI Institute. Find more about this growing meet-up here.

ATA  - Jill Tarter



(Video source: SETI Institute)

Kepler Mission: Past, Present, and Future - Bill Borucki (SETI Talks)

(Video source: SETI Institute)

Image source: By SESI-BOINC (SETI OFFICAL SITE) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Image source: By Jcolbyk at en.wikipedia [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons

Image source: By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Image source: Tropenmuseum of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Image source: By NASA (http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/newsletter5.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Walking Energy: Pavegen, Energy Tiles, & Eco-Tech

Finding ways to turn everyday activities into efficient renewable energy collectors is an important pursuit and necessary to help power our ravenous energy needs. We need to seek out hidden power sources and turn those sources into renewable energy.

One such example can be seen in Pavegen Systems Ltd., 

a company that makes flexible energy

tiles, made from recycled truck tires with  marine grade stainless steel, that collect kinetic energy and convert it to electricity for storage and use. The waterproof tiles can be retrofitted to existing structures and are designed to withstand various weather conditions. The tiles generate up to 8 watts with each step, enough electricity to keep an LED-powered street lamp lit for 30 seconds. Granted not enough to power your Nexus, but implement this idea on large scales, and we have a handy low-cost, eco-friendly renewable energy solution. We will need many times many solutions. Consider the average human takes 150-200 million steps in a lifetime, why waste that kinetic energy?

Pavegen reports that, "The energy harvested by the Pavegen tile can immediately power off-grid applications such as pedestrian lighting, way-finding solutions and advertising signage or be stored in an on-board battery in the unit. For increased engagement with pedestrians we can also integrate a central lamp which uses only 5% of the renewable electricity output to illuminate."

The technology made its debut in TED 2012, was showcased in the London 2012 Olympics,

and has appeared in the Paris and Boston Marathons. In Paris, tiles covered 25 meters (82 feet) of the 42.2-kilometer course around a portion of Champs Elysees. Pavegen ran an unsuccessful bid on Kickstarter that ended in January 2013, where if funded, one US school and one UK school would have received a fully funded four-tile permanent Pavegen installation in a hallway with interactive renewable energy displays to show students the energy they were creating. Cool idea. Teach students about STEM and renewable energy while showing them the direct impact, bad pun withstanding, of their eco-footprints. 

This is still a great idea, especially in public schools that are increasing feeling the tight grip of austerity and fiscal uncertainty. There are numerous public spaces where we could be drawing and storing energy from regular foot-traffic; energy that could be used to power those same public spaces. This tech is in the early stages and it is likely that future iterations will collect more energy with lower production and installation costs.

Here are a few suggestions of where we can effectively use this type of technology:

• On treadmills (with modification)
• Schools entrances and floors
• Museums entrances and floors
• Busy public park paths 
• Subway stairs and platforms
• Running tracks
• Nascar tracks
• Heavy foot traffic on staircases inside and outside buildings
• Sports facilities and fields
• Active dance floors  
• Heavy traffic bicycle lanes
• Large outdoor concert and festival areas
• On playgrounds
• University paths and walkways

Keep Walking Project 

(Video Source: Keep Walking Project)

Reuters on the Road: Pavegen Pioneers Footfall Power

(Video Source: Reuters)

Pavegen TED

(Video Source: Ted Talent Search)

(Image sources: Pavegen Kickstarter.)

Data Stream: Time-Travelling Particles & Gene Patents

The fun part of transhumanism and future-based techno-thinking is that there are no end to possible scenarios - granted some more plausible than others. Explorations of what might seem fantastical future scenarios provides spaces to question our preconceived notions and tautological frameworks. Here are some ideas to add your data streams.

Is Traveling Back in Time Impossible? Experts Say Maybe Not, by Dick Pelletier

Is time travel possible? This is the central question in Pelletier's article on ieet.org. He theorizes about the hypothetical Higgs singlet, a particle that hypothetically might be able to leave three-dimensional space and enter into a hidden dimension that allows the particle to transit back and forth through time space. He explores some of the classic ethical dilemmas and paradoxes inherent in time travel, while suggesting some possible future applications in regards to life extension.

"We would send information-seeking nanobots back in time with instructions to scan the brains of lost loved ones moments before they died; then bring that copy to our time and transfer it into a healthy body. Our loved one's original body would still die, but their conscious self would gain a second chance at life."

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether or not Genes can be Patented, by Peter Murray

This is an important case (think precedents), the results of which will impact social policy, industry, the course of human life, and disease prevention/treatment. The decisions in this case (and similar cases that are sure to follow) might transform modern bio-tech medicine particularly in the the growing fields of nano-bio-technologies and gene therapies. There are some serious questions here about power, access, opportunity, and justice. Who should decide on this central question? The plutocrats? The legal elite? Politicians? Citizens? Industry lobbyists? Religious leaders? Few are even equipped to understand the science much less the scientific, ethical, and moral implications, nor forecast how this will drive the course of research over the next 50 years. This is sticky territory, and we should all be concerned and focused. Let's hear from the bioethicists. 

"Central to the discussions, which began April 15, are patents held by Myriad Genetics. The Utah-based biotechnology company discovered two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, that, when mutated are associated with higher risk for breast and ovarian cancer. After isolating the genes, Myriad patented them. As patents take 20 years to expire, the company has the sole rights to use the genes in breast cancer research, diagnosis and treatment."

"A group of scientists and doctors are are now suing Myriad, arguing that the patents are invalid, that they hinder the ability to conduct research and treat patients. For their part, Myriad makes the case that, without the ability to patent the genes, incentives to study the genes and invest the enormous amounts of capital to develop breast cancer tests and treatment would be gone. Researchers say gene patents halt progress, Myriad says they’re vital to it."

One can't but think of the polio vaccine and virologist badass Jonas Salk. "When he was asked in a televised interview who owned the patent to the vaccine, Salk replied: "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?" What if the polio vaccine had been created in today's economic climate of profiteering and self-interest? There is tension in big science between research and development, access, ROI, power, and monetary gain. Big legal questions like these will become ever more present and pressing. Can a corporation patent fundamental (naturally occurring) genes, not to be confused with patents on recombinant genes? Should we deem certain techno-life sustaining elements outside the realm of corporate profit? Who decides what those fundamental elements of life are in the first place? The ACLU is at the heart of the push-back. Read ACLU position statements here. 

Can You Patent Human Genes? ACLU Says No ( 7:13 mins.)

(Video source: Bloomberg Law)

National Geographic Time Travel documentary (45 mins.)



(Video source: CubedMagazine)

Image: Grondilu at English Wikipedia [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Image: By Kublbeckj (Table in Word) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

Arduino Music Mayhem

Arduino + music = awesome. 

As a musician (amateur) and someone who loves DIY technology (amateur), the marriage between Arduino and musical instruments is an exiting area to explore. Arduino microcontrollers can be interfaced with all manner of digital and traditional musical instruments, which can be linked to MIDI sequencers such as Clavia Nordbeat or digital sound studios such as Garage Band. 

Here are a few examples culled from the YouTube soup.

Toa Mata Band Episode1

(Video Source: Opificio Sonico)

Airmonica 

Tutorial here.



(Video Source: FlashUlar)

LED Arduino Music Visualizer

Code here. 

(Video Source: markneub)

Email Guitar

Tutorial here.



(Video Source: David Neevel)

Maker Community: SJ Tech Shop & TinyDuinos

I am struck by the awesome diversity that exists in Maker communities in terms of people, disciplines, projects, purposes, and goals. This was further confirmed with a visit to San Jose TechShop's Arduino Show & Tell this past Sunday evening (April 21, 2013). SJ Tech Shop is a cool space with a growing community of builders, hackers, and makers creating various projects for personal and business applications...or mayhem. In the 21st century, no matter one’s profession, it is important to know basic coding and basic tech-builder techniques. I'm starting with  Python progamming language and experimentation with Arduino. 

What is Arduino?

“Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.” 

“Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can communicate with software running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).” (Arduino, 2013).

The basic package I am using to experiment with Arduino includes the Sparkfun Inventor’s Kit for Arduino with Retail Case, the Arduino Cookbook, and the Arduino 1.0.4 software package. The eventual goal is to build a DIY robotic head made of cannibalized Lego Erector and Mindstrorm parts, mounted with various sensors that trigger audio/visual responses using Raspberry Pi et al., with the robot head linked to a laptop interface connected to the internet. I am starting by getting a single LED to light up. You could say it is early days yet.

Here are two cool examples of projects being developed that were on show at the TechShop.

Replica of London Tower Bridge with LEDs
This is a miniature version of London Tower Bridge mounted with RGB light sensors hooked into an Arduino circuit board. This idea will be expanded to include motion/proximity sensors linked with RGB color sensors; colors will change depending on the proximity of the viewer.

TinyDuinos 
These gents (led by Michael Gregg) build mini-Arduino boards smaller than a quarter that include microcontroller, reset button, and a shield amongst many other parts (list price $21). Other parts on show were $2 mini-shields and a variety of mini-sensors in the $40-50 range. These cool TinyDuinos will be on offer at Maker Faire. With technology hardware increasingly becoming smaller and more streamline, it is safe to forecast that mini-Arduino parts will be in large demand in the near future as the Maker industry space matures. More info soon. 

LadyAda offers excellent Arduino tutorials here. A round-up of solid Engadget articles on Arduino spaces is here. While you are at it, check out MakeZine’s Arduino blog here.

Introduction to Arduino



(Video Source: Makezine)

Everything You Need to Know About Arduino



(Video Source: The Ben Heck Show)

Image Sources:
By DustyDingo (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

SOCCKET: Play Soccer, Harvest Energy, Save the World

What if you could take an everyday activity that the whole world engages in and turn that activity into a personal energy harvester? Enter SOCCKET. A simple low-tech-high-tech solution to fill a small part of our growing global energy appetites...and in a super fun way. Nothing wrong with engaging in environmental conservation through sport, play, and physical activity. The uses for families living in poverty in developing nations are evident.  

Coach said I was the best player on the other team
because I kept passing them the ball.

Core77 reported, "The SOCCKET is a durable, energy-harnessing soccer ball. Using Uncharted Play's patent pending technology, the pendulum-like mechanism inside the SOCCKET captures the kinetic energy generated during normal play, and stores it in the ball for later use as an off-grid power source. Just 30 minutes of play can power a simple LED lamp for 3 hours."

SOCCKET completed a successful round on Kickstarter (met funding goal on March 28, 2013), and is in production now. The mass-produced version of the ball is the brainchild of Uncharted Play, Inc., a social enterprise, founded by two of the original inventors, Harvard students Jessica O. Matthews and Julia C. Silverman. The company is in the process of developing a line of sport-related items that collect energy including footballs, jump ropes, and skateboards.

BusinessWeek reported that "thirty minutes on the field captures enough energy to power a small light for three hours and may help people in developing nations replace kerosene, a leading cause of respiratory illness and fires."

This idea can be applied to numerous sport and play related items/activities. And that is super cool democratech in action. Low-cost simple solutions to global energy problems where individuals can personally contribute to conservation and energy management...while scoring goals...I am in. 

It would be swell to see this company partnered with One Laptop Per Child. Provide each child with a computer and a soccer ball: develop the mind and the body in true kinesiological fashion. The Greeks called it arete, reaching one's highest potential. These groups could partner with the growing Sport for Peace movement and make some inroads to improving life outcomes for children in developing world nations, especially in post-war regions.

An interesting article on sports and environmental conservation can be found at The Sport Journal.



(Video Source: soccket)



(Video Source: CNN)

(Video Source: TedTalks)



(Video source: vatoalondra)

Image: Repost from Core77. 

Augmented Reality and 100 Scenarios & Uses for Google Glasses

Google Glasses and other augmented reality (AR) visual technologies have generated substantial recent interest on the web. Proponents claim AR glasses are breakthrough technologies that exemplify the further integration of the organic, mechanic, and digital. Some of the main themes of critique have focused around privacy, design, issues of power, and questions of purpose. Click here for a breakdown of the “what and how” on Google Glasses. Project Glass collects here. I am bypassing the social-public-private-show-reveal-access debate to focus on tangible/realistic uses/applications of Google Glasses and like-AR technologies in the near-future.

After a brief introduction, I present 100 possible scenarios and uses for Google Glasses and AR technologies. Yes, 100.

What is Augmented Reality?

“Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is modified (possibly even diminished rather than augmented) by a computer. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. By contrast, virtual reality replaces the real world with a simulated one. Augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally manipulable. Artificial information about the environment and its objects can be overlaid on the real world.” (Wiki, 2013).

Augmented reality can be achieved visually through head-mounts, eyeglasses (Google Glasses and similar ilk), contact lenses, virtual retinal displays, EyeTap, robotic eye implants, and more.

Google Glass

“Google Glass is a wearable computer with a head-mounted display (HMD) that is being developed by Google in the Project Glass research and development project, with the mission of producing a mass-market ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format,[5] that can interact with the Internet via natural language voice commands. While the frames do not currently have lenses fitted to them, Google is partnered with sunglass retailers Warby Parker, and may also open retail stores to allow customers to try on the device.The Explorer Edition cannot be used by people who wear prescription glasses, but Google has confirmed that Glass will eventually work with frames and lenses that match the wearer's prescription; the glasses will be modular and therefore possibly attachable to normal prescription glasses.” 

Google Glass Explorer Edition is shipping nowish to a select-few developers for the now famous $1,500 price tag. Major market influencers are invested in the development of consumer-based AR. VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, & Byers have teamed up with Google Ventures to form the Glass Collective that will fund the development of apps for this new genus of tech devices. Google Glass is for-real technology, and while only early days, future iterations will push the boundaries of AR technology with simultaneous drops in price tag for consumers.

The market will soon flood with more versions of AR glasses from straight-up DIY to competitive industry-strength models. GlassUP is one of these upstart competitors. Reporting for Slash Gear, Chris Davies notes:

"Be seeing you."

“GlassUp’s patented system uses a micro-projector fixed on the inside of the glasses arm. That focuses a yellow monochromatic image on the inner surface of the right lens, at 320 x 240 resolution. Not enough to replace your phone or tablet for multimedia duties, true, but certainly sufficient for text updates and basic graphics. Like Glass, there are a fair few sensors and controls integrated into the arm of the glasses: GlassUp has a touch-surface which recognizes tap and double-tap, long-press, and swipe, in addition to a power/control button. There’s also an accelerometer, digital compass, ambient light sensor, and altimeter.”

Eventually there will be numerous different sizes and shapes of AR glasses. There will be social glasses, the ones you wear in the world at-large (streamlined, built for social, with a focus on design and style), and professional glasses, the ones purposed exclusively toward work-related tasks that will be more technical than the social plug-and-play glasses versions.

100 Possible Uses and Scenarios for Google Glasses.

1. Presenters and lecturers will wear AR glasses to call-up information and prompts about presentations; voice call-up of information wireless streaming from laptop to projector; audience information and environment data streams

2. Public art exhibitions 
a. Integrate AR glasses technologies into art, allowing viewers to interact with real-world art in digital spaces; one part of the art is the actual piece in the physical world, the other part of the viewing experience is digital overlays that augment the art piece. 

b. As light changes, public art interacts differently with AR glasses: size, shape, overlays, & colors .

c. Allow AR glass wearers to digitally augment real world art pieces through voice command design tools (e.g. open shading tool, shade left quadrant), save image, and upload to net; the actual art piece is just the starting point.

3. Conservationists and naturalist use AR glasses to record field work, instant upload data to web servers that interact with other eco-conservation data to develop a global environmental updating digital eco-system map on the net.

4. Video Gaming
a. Enhanced information for players
b. Vocal commands that integrate into game play
c. Visual syncing with player POV in real life and player POV in gameplay
d. TeamVizSpeak through AR glasses
e. Pull-up additional maps, inventories, and in-game information through audio/visual command
f. 3D game-playing with AR as extension of graphics

5. Sports
a. Viewers will use AR glasses to sync to player AR glasses so the viewer can experience the game through the player’s vision (think about this one for a bit)
b. Coaches will use AR glass programs to teach perfect techniques and decision making; integrate this with virtual reality gaming, virtual gloves and shoes, and body suits
c. Players will wear AR glasses for enhanced performance (yes, get over it, nothing about modern sport is “natural,” and has not been for a long time)
d. Referees will wear AR glasses for enhanced call-decisions and multiple visual intake (is this the future of the offside call in soccer? A ref will be able to record the scene; instant playback from multiple angles; computer interface determines if off-side.
e. AR glasses that connect with physiological sensors collecting and analyzing biofeedback data such as VO2max, heart-rate, blood pressure, and lactose build-up.
f. Star players will wear AR to devastating effect; will leagues adopt a max one-player with AR glasses rule?; only one player can wear AR…make it count.
g. X-Sports POV videos: skateboarding, snowboarding, skydiving, motorcross, and mountain biking
h. AR imbeds under the skin of MMA fighters, wrestlers, martial artists, and boxers (likely use of AR contact lenses or bionic eyes for this group)
i. Extreme rock climbers will use AR glasses to chart best routes and gather environmental information

6. Democratech film-making: mini-POV films uploaded to YouTube, mini-slice-of-life filmmaking, cinéma vérité gone digital

7. Advertisements that are made specifically for visual recognition by AR glasses; interactive 3D ads

8. Interactive magazines, books, and music files; visual scan of object pulls up additional information, embedded AR only content

9. Mounted mini-glasses on dogs in dog parks

10. Life-loggers record their entire lives in real-time, instant upload to personal data servers

11. Use to track animal movement in nature

12. How about AR glasses under water integrated into scuba gear! The hell does that look like? It looks like awesome.

13. AR glasses used by aid workers to document atrocities

14. Glasses will be used by professional athletes during the games. Digital media producers will cue to “player vision cams” that will show, in POV, a player running back a kick-off, driving the lane in basketball, or checking some poor unfortunate rookie against the boards in hockey.

15. There is going to be a lot of porno made with these things people. Record and upload the moment of climax to social media channel of your choice in real time. 33 people like this. Some bro posts, “Nice.”

16. Rock climbing videos to show how ridiculously difficult rock climbing can be.

17. Videos demonstrating cooking techniques

18. Used by astronauts for doing science stuff

19. Police and military will wear these as a standard operating practice.

20. Activists will use them to document social injustices and neglected neighborhoods

21. Artists wear glasses while painting or sculpting to demonstrate techniques and creative processes

22. Mechanics wear industry specific AR glasses that scan the engine components and help diagnose problems.

23. Surgeons wear glasses as teaching tools while engaging in surgery.

24. Amateur nature recording

25. Messenger bikers use AR with vocal interfaces to talk while riding, plot travel routes, or chart crazy drivers

26. Used on job sites to send visual information about building projects to central servers for review by managers.

27. Used for safety on dangerous jobs: cell phone tower building and repair comes to mind.

28. Used by scientists at CERN to visually communicate across the wide spaces that it encompasses.

29. Pilots will wear them for additional flight data, plane instrument functioning, and environmental data streams

30. Glass technology integrated into regular prescription and non-prescription glasses

31. Use of AR glasses for enhanced book reading: pop-ups that give more information about the book, vocal commands that pull up web pages on the materials…you could create a fully immersive reader experience, pop-up images done by artists that illustrate parts of the book

32. Use of AR glasses for film viewing
a. 3D films with Google glasses take on new meaning and impact
b. Pop-ups with additional film info during viewing
c. Interactive viewership
d. Record viewer video reviews that can loaded to YouTube
e. Many pirated movies loaded as bit-torrents

33. Global music and art festivals
a. AR glasses wearers visual streamed on giant visual boards in open spaces
b. Concert-goers can dance in POV with other AR glasses wears around the globe projected on huge screens
c. Bands wear AR glasses with images streaming to giants screens
d. AR glasses users log into network; view the show from artists POV

34. Recording class lectures (with professor permission and class sign-off!?)

35. Power, gas, and electric workers wear glasses for safety and visual information flow to main control rooms

36. Orchestra conductors wear devices to enhance orchestration; provide audience POV view from orchestra pits

37. Actors and actresses in plays on stage wear glasses for line reading and visual information flow to audiences

38. Musicians will wear AR devices to view additional notations, audience information, access digital musical instruments via vocal commands

39. One-Person Band: Wearing AR devices, one could connect all manner of digital video and recording devices, link that with crazy Arduino-enhanced traditional instruments and various mixer technologies and you can create some seriously crazy music.

40. Use of AR devices to enhance sight for the legally blind or sight challenged.

41. Use of AR to help hearing challenged people by providing text information updates of environmental sounds

42. Use of AR to help physically challenged people navigate physical spaces via sensors

43. Easy voice-to-call interaction while on the go

44. Easy voice-to-text interaction while on the go

45. Use of tablet to boost processing power of AR glasses

46. Use of AR glasses for GPS enhanced direction finding

47. Use of AR glasses for those with physiological disabilities - send voice commands to robot-helper bots

48. Social apps that allow various AR users to upload and share visual data on the go; links to tablet for more functionalities

49. Use of AR devices and motion capture in film-making and green-screen production work

50. AR glasses that link to robot armies – one solider commands a legion of robots in theaters of war by voice commands

51. Human construction managers use AR glasses to direct robot workers on job sites

52. AR glasses overlay digital information to hikers about the natural environment they are walking in; enhanced hiking for the 21st century; Is that poison oak or ivy? Visual image query the web.

53. Clubs/bars that are AR glasses only; Clubs/bars that allow no AR visual devices

54. Public spaces where AR glass use is banned (although future iterations will be so light and streamline, it might be impossible to tell if someone is wearing these devices; will there be body scans that detect digital signature emissions coming from patrons, bouncers tell you to check your glasses at the coat check.

55. Geologists use AR glasses for enhanced viewing of natural elements, visual data collection, audio/visual field notes development

56. Future glasses will have pop-out circuitry; switch tech bits into new frames

57. Future glasses will have mod add-ons that can be purchased online to integrate more sensors and functionality

58. Development of Glass-specific software packages purposed for specific tasks in the workplace

59. First responder EMTs will wear AR glasses to scan bodies for wounds/trauma and make visually-enhanced diagnosis that will be wirelessly sent to doctors and assistants in ER rooms; call-up information on best practices when dealing with exceptional cases.

60. AR glasses will sync-up with all media devices: phone, laptop, and tablets, cloud based data storage and upload/download

61. Live syncing with other AR glass users; exchange vision with each other (think about this one for a while)

62. Vision-depth augmentation and vision-clarity augmentation (super human sight)

63. Heat sensors, x-ray vision sensors, motion sensors, depth sensors, and materials sensors

64. Visual QR and NFC scanning

65. Maps, GPS, and directions visual/audio interfaces

66. Public AR role-playing games where players use real world spaces for POV gaming experiences.

67. Stacking multiple images from linked-up AR glasses: like “Inception” viewing

68. AR glasses for playing pool to calculate perfect angles and velocities; the hustler in the 21st century

69. AR glasses while playing cards to calculate odds and for card counting; Vegas will not like this. Take the gun, leave the cannoli.

70. AR glasses that read human-movement linked to lie detection software and emotion recognition software

71. For bomb diffusion; upload live videos to teams of experts to help diffuse bombs in war theaters

72. Use AR glasses for mine detection and removal post-war

73. Lawyers will wear AR glasses to enhance court activities, read jury responses and mannerisms, read judge responses and mannerisms, call-up notes during oration

74. For use in home repair: house blueprints, pipe scanning, stud finders, etc.

75. Self-Health (the quantified self movement should be all over these devices)
a. Scan surfaces for germs and viruses
b. Scan personal body for exterior maladies
c. Scan body for potential malignant moles
d. Scan body for skin rashes
e. Scan airborne pathogens
f. Scan body, upload images to primary care physician

76. Will be used by all manner of security personal: TSA, bank guards, bouncers, & body guards

77. Dentists will use AR glasses during procedures

78. Museums tours will include AR glasses that give advanced audio/visual information and interaction with exhibits

79. In-store shopping will include AR glasses that allow users to try on outfits in different colors, types, and sizes

80. Will be used in Glass Dating services allowing users more direct connection and interactions

81. For use in driving to provide up-to-date traffic information and road risks (this might get sketchy)

82. Face recognition software (people are uncomfortable with this advent)

83. Recognizing friends in crowds via clothes recognition software

84. Calendar updates, meetings, reminders, alerts…many of the basic things that are now provided through mobile phones or tablets

85. Hands-free video

86. DIY techno-graffiti, wearers will download special codes to view secret messages written in graffiti

87. Underground groups will use AR glasses for clandestine contact and identification

88. Scavenger hunts will get a face-lift; using AR glasses to collect visual images instead of actual objects for collection

89. All manner of instructions on anything…query the web…project tutorials

90. Practice martial arts through the eyes of a master using AR glasses

91. Link glasses to satellite cameras in the sky; look through the satellite lenses to see space from a POV perspective while on Earth

92. Personal athletic trainers and fitness experts will wear AR glasses to help develop clients’ form and techniques

93. Theme park operators will sell AR glass rentals to customers for advanced park-goer experiences

94. Used by reporters in the field for visual documentation, create news reports, and publish on the move

95. Enhanced amateur night sky viewing and astronomy

96. Used by farmers to gather enhanced information about crops

97. Used by gardeners to gather enhanced information about flora and fauna.

98. Used by traders on stock or commodities exchanges for real-time information, vocal stock calls, direct interaction with managers

99. Reverse camera functions to enable meetings on the go

100. Sleep maintenance and bio-physiological augmentation

Moving picture boxes with information about Google Glasses

Verge Review: "I Used Google Glasses"



(Video source: The Verge.)

Google Glasses: One Day



(Video source: Google)

Tim Jordan  - Building New Experiences with Glass - SXSW 2013



(Video source: lifechannable)

Google I/O 2012  - Google Glasses Demonstration

(Video Source: Google Developers)

Sergey Brin - Google Glasses - TED Talks



(Video Source: Tedleaks)

Image Source: By Antonio Zugaldia (http://www.flickr.com/photos/azugaldia/7457645618) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Image Source: By EN:Glogger [GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons