Virtual Reality

When I think of virtual reality, I picture the future. Virtual reality was a big craze in the 90's but I have not heard much of it in the past decade. I always thought by 2010 virtual reality would be mainstream. Since this is not the case, I decided to do so some research as to what virtual reality is up to.

Virtual reality (VR) is a computer-simulated environment in which a user can interact with. When many people think of VR they think of the Head Mounted Displays (HMD) and Data Suits. These are the two most popular ways to interact with VR. In recent development, the graphic displays in HMDs are reaching a point of near visual realism and audio will reach a point of three dimensional sound. This will add the sound channels above and below a user. Also, there have been many attempts to simulate smell. Many researchers have worked hard to try and create a way to simulate the sense of smell. They have found that it is a very realistic possibility but it will be very costly in research and development to create each odor. In Japan, there is a company called NTT Communications, they have finished testing an Internet-connected odor-delivery system to be used by retailers and restaurants to attract customers.

What about the sense of taste? There has actually been research to simulate the sense of taste. In order for this to occur, the brain has to be completely manipulated. Sony is the first company to take this research a step further. In 2005, Sony received a patent for the idea of the non-invasive beaming of different frequencies and patterns of ultrasonic waves directly into the brain to recreate all five senses. Soon the movie, The Matrix, will not be as sci-fi as we all thought.

5th blog

A few weeks ago in class we had talked about interaction. Within that there are three types; 1)human - computer 2)computer - computer 3)human - human. The one that is most interesting to me is human - computer, for many reasons. I found a really cool website that is for a college you can attend for a major of human-computer information. For my second bachelors degree I might take a route like this. http://www.hcii.cmu.edu/

The human-computer interaction is the study of interaction between people, or users, and the computer. It's often referred to as the intersection of computer science or behavioral sciences. The location of the interaction between the user and the computer takes place at the interface, which is both software and hardware. Software shows up on the monitor from your input using the hardware. The hardware is the peripherals such as the keyboard or the mouse.

The most important thing you can get from human-computer interaction is making a user satisfied to the max. Attention to human-computer interaction is important, because poorly designed human-computer interfaces can lead to many unexpected problems. An example would be something else we covered briefly in class; the Three Mile Island accident.

Interaction

As long as the computer and internet been made there have been human and computer interaction. Human-computer interaction also known as HCI study the interaction people have with technology which open a lot of fields to work under. Such fields as computer science, behavioral science, and design are many fields that people work in most of the times. Interaction people have with computer are everywhere whether you work in the power plant or paying a cashier for items there is constant interaction we have with computers. As we head further into the technology era there will only be more and more interaction between human and computer.

Now we as people are funding and focusing more on the interaction with humans and computers esspecially the SIGCHI. The Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction or (SIGCHI)is focus to find professionals, academics, and students who are interested in human-computer interaction. This group pride itself to finding new members they offer awards and are international showing anybody can participate in their activity. This is not the only group doing this, but it is a well known with having meeting every month. They also travel so that all people in the group or is aspired to be in the group can come and learn about what SIGCHI stand for.

Everytime you get on the computer whether you are typing or moving your mouse know that you are having an interaction with computers. Plus know with these interaction you can do one of hundreds of job they offer. You can be a graphic designer making video games or movie scenes its really your choice it will not really change the interaction you have with computers.From the SIGCHI to the within your household in todays life we cannot go without having any kind of computer interaction. This makes me start to wonder and worry about if the internet falls how will we react?

link to (SIGCHI0): http://www.sigchi.org/

Interaction

A few weeks ago in class we were talking about interaction and why it is used in business. we found out that it is important in the business worls because it helps us better understand the business as a whole. There are three kinds of interactions, we have computer-computer, human-human, and human-computer. Out of the three kinds of interaction we discussed, human-computer is my favorite and the most ineresting.

There is so much we can do with this type of interaction. Many of us use facebook, twitter, and other social networking sites everyday. If we really want to get technical, all we do is sit around and pass messages to one another through a computer. It's kind of lazy, but to us, it is entertaining- or at least it makes the time go by. Older adults will say we are wasting our time but I don't see how.

By sitting down at a computer, we can do our homework, chat with our friends, check emails, pay bills and even do some online shopping. All of this will take no less than 2-3 hours depending on what we have to do. On the other hand, if we weren't using the computer and we had to do every last one of the previously listed activities, it will take us alot longer because we have to get our cars and drive all over the place.

Human computer interaction is getting more and more advanced as the years go by. I hope I'm around long enough to see my kids have college courses in a room filled with nothing but chairs, tables, and one large computer. Sorry professors, this may mean a cutback in your profession.

Human Computer Interaction and the Future

Is technology becoming integrated with us so much that it will eventually cause major issues in how we live everyday life? For instance, take a look at this cartoon below:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/hzd106/blogs/logme/2008/09/01/Pics/hci.JPG

This cartoon may seem funny, but is this really what life is coming to? Computers and humans are becoming closer to each other as the relationship between users and computers become stronger. The goal of Human Computer Interaction is to improve this interaction by making computers more usable and receptive to the user's needs. Just think about what we have seen in the past twenty years. Computers needed a mouse, a keyboard, speakers, etc. Now, everything is combined into one. We are starting to see the popularity of touch screens in the cell phone market, and pretty soon computers are all going to be touch screens as well so that we can interact with them more easily. But how far will this go? As we witnessed in class on Tuesday (March 9th), there is technology out there that relies on motion rather than touching a screen. We have already seen this with the Nintendo Wii (although this requires use of a controller). But Project Natal for Xbox is taking motion sensing for video games to another level without the use of controllers. Here is a video of what that might be like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U

So what does this mean for our personal computers, and how is this going to effect the future of technology? Remember, the goal is to make the interaction between humans and computers easier, so will we soon live in a world that will require nothing more than motion sensing and tracking devices? We saw a video in class of a person that looked like he was shop-lifting, but actually, everything was paid for automatically when he walked out the door. This is going to make everything easier, and a world like this would be amazing to live in. However, what is going to happen if the technology fails, if systems crash, or if we lose power? Is a technologically based world going to come to a standstill every time this happens?

www.deepamehta.de/docs/hci.html

As you can see in the picture above, there are a lot of components that make up the Human Computer Interaction to make our lives easier. As we develop a deeper understanding in each of these areas, technology is only going to get stronger and become more integrated with each area. Just think about technology and how it relates to one area, such as engineering. How might technology improve everyday life in this area? How about linguistics? Will technology allow us to communicate with people who speak other languages across the world quickly and efficiently? We have already seen what technology is doing in areas such as neuroscience and artificial intelligence, as well as plans for future technology in these areas (during class discussions and videos). Imagine what our world will be like once all of these areas are improved and enhanced through advances in technology.