Have Your Family Gather 'Round the Virtual Table

Ridgelift writes "A new device is helping families and loved ones feel connected even when they're far apart. Part of the Media Lab's Habitat project, a pair of 'cyber-tables' are equipped with radio tag readers, projectors and computers running on Linux and Macintosh operating systems. 'Habitat's designers say the system can give people a sense of what their loved ones are up to and perhaps even how they are feeling'."

Comments

Woo, RFID tags

[iridiumz0r]

I sure hope they don't put one of these things in my girlfriend.. I'd hate to have to explain to my grandparents at the next family meeting...

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[satanami69]

I sure hope they don't put one of these things in my girlfriend

Why, cause she'd pop?

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[twoslice]

I sure hope they don't put one of these things in my girlfriend.

I hate to break the news to you dude - but vinyl blow-up girlfriends always had RFID tags installed by stores to prevent shoplifting geeks who were too embarrased to buy one....

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[iridiumz0r]

Damn, even the inflatable sheep?

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[Anonymous Coward]

Latex realdolls don't pop so my ricepicker girlfriend will love me long time.

Nobody desperate enough to make sweet love to a lifeless doll wastes their money on the old type inflatable dolls that everybody loves to poke fun at.

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF. do they make real men like this?

Re:Woo, RFID tags

[Anonymous Coward]

$7000 for a male doll? i could buy 8237277476319 dildos for that much!

Privacy?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is touted as a family enabler, but I suspect it will turn into a procavy reducing device much like baby monitors, stop light cameras, or Microsoft Windows Media Player.

"Media Player", ha! More like "Media Deleter and Computer Crasher", am i rite?

joek joek

[Anonymous Coward]

hands off the table, kid!

i'm in australia dad, HAHA.

Why?

[henrygb]

It all seems a little complex. Why not broadband video over IP (with on/off switches at both ends)?

Re:Why?

[Ridgelift]

It all seems a little complex. Why not broadband video over IP (with on/off switches at both ends)?

The idea is you use it one a regular basis without really thinking of it. It's like coming home and seeing someone elses shoes thrown across the kitchen, which tells you "hey, my brother's home. Why'd he throw his shoes like that? Maybe he's upset about something".

Eating, reading, having a set of keys sit on a table when you're supposed to be at work. We recognise all these non-verbal queues without really thinking about them. Most technologies like telephones, email and video require a deliberate attempt to connect. Technologies like this one help you "feel" the other person's presence and activities.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

"It all seems a little complex. Why not broadband video over IP (with on/off switches at both ends)?"

It will be compromised. And then the trolls will be able to broadcast live-action goatse to everyone.

Re:Why?

[hurtstotouchfire]

I think this thing is not only ridiculously cool, but very artistic. I read too much sci-fi, especially Gibson, so I'm all about having ridiculously complicated technology all around me that is all very subtle in the actual affect it has on my life.

It's like the little computer-companion in Mona Lisa Overdrive, or the amplified sensory perception chips from Neuromancer.

I'd love to be soaked in so much tech that communication by technological means becomes second nature, or to have my brain jacked to the net (c'mon I know you all get off on that idea) like in Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and have all my perceptions of people be that much more textured.

I think this thing is ridiculously exciting and I want one now.

Granted it would take some effort to not perform the obvious lewd possibilities afforded by a flat surface transmitting the images set on it.

Re:Why?

[Avihson]

You need to visit the real world a bit more, and spend less time online.

Have you ever experienced the solitude of camping in the great forests alone? Have you ever spent more than 8 hours free from civilization's grasp?

Your brain jacked into the net? With the current state of the net, you would spend all of your time ignoring Spam, blocking script kiddies "hacks" and modding down jerks from Slashdot trolling the FP, Yoda and goatse.cx posts. When will your overloaded braincells have time to experience Gibson's fantasies? How would you guard your innermost dreams from the omnipresent government and NGO watchdogs?

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick to my simulated first person virtual world called "real life."

Simstim can never replace reality, I can hike a glacier in Alaska, sleep on a beach in Belize, shop the East gate Market in Seoul, or just drive in the first-snow traffic jam anywhere in North America, and I know that the experiences are unique to me.

Nothing can simulate the random chaos of nature, since everything is but a creation of nature.

Re:Why?

[Saeger]

So, because you're a pessimistic, paranoid, isolationist, luddite, so should everyone be? Only you know the Right Way?

Humankinds appetite for communication and connectedness will continue to grow, and despite my "Brain-2-Network" interface, I'll still be able to stop and smell the flowers.

Simstim can never replace reality

Never say never, or did you mean to say "I hope it's never possible, because it conflicts with my current belief systems"?

--

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

The mere presence of the on/off switch would imply having a set time to "Lets sit down and focus/communicate" which would be the opposite of the feeling of connected-ness that the system would bring. THe researchers are two steps ahead of you. Hats off to Patel and co. for nailing it, from somebody who's been there, done that (the cell phone experience).

Re:Why?

[Mr. Slippery]

So, because you're a pessimistic, paranoid, isolationist, luddite, so should everyone be?

So, suggesting that real life is more interesting than simulations is pessimistic, paranoid, isolationist, and luddite? Sounds paranoid to me. And you don't want to go out into the world to experience it, but rather stay at home jacked in? Definitely isolationist.

Humankinds appetite for communication and connectedness will continue to grow

Yes, becauce current technological and socieconomic trends are taking away opportunites for communication and connectedness. Spend two hours each way communting to work, nine hours in a cube, get home too exhausted for any interaction more demanding than swallowing your ration of anitdepressants and passive TV watching...and wonder why you have this itching unfulfilled desire for that "ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night". And the commericals dangle shiny techno-toys in front of you, and you think "ah! that must be what's missing from my life."

Never say never

Of course one can say never. "The halting problem will never be solved." Likewise, "Simulated reality can never match the real thing - because the best computer is the Universe."

Re:Why?

[hurtstotouchfire]

Note to slash readers: Mod this down, it's completely immature. I'm letting him bait me.

Yes, I have camped alone in the forest. I lived in the Santa Cruz mountains for 10 years.

The whole point of having one's brain jacked into the net is that it's a fantasy. It's an ideal that gives us something to stretch for. It gives us access to human contact when it would otherwise be impossible. Like in the tables article, where you're connected, however abstractly, to someone living far away.

Granted, all the problems you bring up are worthy of attention, but the whole point is that they're the problems of today, and having my brain jacked in won't be happening any bloody time soon. It's a dream and it's a scifi dream at that. The whole point of scifi is taking the state of things today and projecting it out into the future, but in that we assume that all the problems of today will have evolved as well.

No kidding simstim could never replace reality. But how much time does anyone really spend in reality these days? It looks like you spend as much time or more than I do on slash (it's a low blow I know, but I'm trying to make a point here) and this is not reality. This is a form of technology that allows people to discuss reality or rather other things that have grown out of reality.

Gets a little complicated doesn't it? My point is that when we define 'reality' as only those things that sprouted directly from nature or that involve genuine human contact. Personally, if there's going to be more and more technology, I want it to be like this. I want it more personal, and I want it a little artistic, that's not too much to ask, right? And it's not completely irrational. Every experience you have is unique to you.

As for simulating randomness, there's always Stephen Wolfram's cellular autonomations.

Objects get larger over time !

[IamGarageGuy 2]

Gee what could i put on the table and leave it there for a long time.

So, in other words the traditional holiday fights

[RLiegh]

could become flame-wars instead. I KNEW that all that time I wasted on usenet and irc would eventually pay off!

Similar to Neil Gaiman's Sandman series...

[PseudoThink]

This reminds me of how each of the Endless kept real-time representations of their siblings in their domains. For example, Destiny's statues, or Dream's stained glass windows, each depicting the seven Endless in their current emotional/physical states. Not a bad idea...

Another option: call every morning at 6am

[SnappingTurtle]

Worked for my mom... for a few days. Then suddenly I started attending, um, study hall every morning at that time.

Negative Cash Flow Problem

[Jediman1138]

wee bit pricy, methinks

why did this win top prize for an EE student?

[1iar_parad0x]

While the media lab (at MIT, yeah I know it's at UCL but loosely related to MIT) does some of the most interesting CS/EE research, it also seems to engage in some of the dumbest.

Re:why did this win top prize for an EE student?

[Mr. Slippery]

does some of the most interesting CS/EE research, it also seems to engage in some of the dumbest.

To attempt to be brilliant, you've got to dare to be stupid. (At least, that's the excuse I always use. :-) )

Is there a joke here?

[Saeger]

Conversely, the longer objects remain on the sending table, the larger the images on the receiving table grow.

Hmm. Nope. Can't think of anything funny.

--

Re:Is there a joke here?

[Anonymous Coward]

Put a dildo on the table!!! HAHAHAHA! HOHOHOHO!!! too funnah for timmah!!

re. remote intimacy

[Carl_LaFong]

Researchers [at MIT Media Lab Europe] have developed a way to help people who are far away from their loved ones feel a little closer

Hmm, gives a whole new meaning to the Media Lab's "Put That There."

goatse? think of the children...

[frostbane]

I'd rather not have someone projecting goatse or whatever they please on my coffee table...

Who needs this when we have Big Mouth Billy Bass?

[Anonymous Coward]

I see a bunch of Big Mouth Billy Basses gathered round the table, showing who's available and who's not. Dress them up like Fish Heads by Barnes and Barnes, and that's what I'd call a family gathering!

Who funds this research?

[HangingChad]

Because I have an idea for an virtual crapper that will cause log grahics to appear in the receive toilet. When I have to stop and think what message I'm sending tossing my keys on the table, that's where I draw the virtual line. If you want to see how someone far away is doing, here's a suggestion: Road trip!

Re:Who funds this research?

[Ridgelift]

When I have to stop and think what message I'm sending tossing my keys on the table, that's where I draw the virtual line.

95% of all communication is non-verbal. Technologies like these are an attempt to come up with ways to communicate non-verbal communication. Of course nothing beats visiting in person, but perhaps the technologies that follow these ones will help people who are in isolation cope better, such as Antarctic stations or perhaps deep space exploration.

for crying out loud

[Geno Z Heinlein]

A new device is helping families and loved ones feel connected even when they're far apart.

• If a VT-50 was good enough for me and good enough for my father, then it's good enough for you!
• My relatives live 10 timezones away and now my circadian rhythm is all messed up!
• Dammit, the whole point of technology is to avoid human contact! Especially with my biologicals!!!

(I was going to make a Surak joke, but flashed on Johnny Carson trying to tell jokes about Lincoln.)

Another use...

[Blair16]

This could bring phone sex to a _whole_ new level.
Might stop the girlfriend from pretending anyways.

Big potential for the future

[ajensen]

As a soon-to-be graduate student, I am faced with an inevitable move to somewhere far away from my family. One of the things that I worry about most is my family's dependence on computers: my dad utilizes several machines with varying platforms in order to make his business run; the rest of my family members use computers extensively to communicate with the rest of our family and keep up on the news.

When I move away, they will be losing their support staff. I'm definitely a geek and will be the first to admit that it's fun maintaining all these computers... but at the same time, someone needs to be here to keep things running. Thankfully, many of our machines run Linux or FreeBSD and will be easy to maintain remotely. The Windows machines, on the other hand, could be a problem.

All that aside, though, I'm glad to see that someone is developing a technology that allows people to feel connected in a more intimate sense than just throwing e-mail bits back and forth. Maybe by the time I've moved to my next school, I will be able to use a technology like this to keep the computers running and avoid homesickness.

Who knows, I guess it could become my research topic...

--a

Re:Big potential for the future

[iggymanz]

Windows remote admin - VNC, baby

Re:Big potential for the future

[ajensen]

Oh, you bet -- I love VNC. The thing I worry about is that one of the Windows boxes might die to the point that it loses network connectivity. Maybe I should invest in Ghost or a similar program and develop a nice image. ;-)

--a

Re:Big potential for the future

[bojan]

you're supposed to teach people how to fish, not continually fish for them.

Re:Big potential for the future

[ajensen]

Agreed. But when these people have no interest in how the computer works and therefore no way to learn how to fix them, that presents a problem. I'm not talking about simple things like changing a background or backing up e-mail -- they can do that. I'm talking about hardware failures and problems that require a Windows (or other software) to be reinstalled or otherwise fixed. They can take it to my current place of employment to be fixed, but that gets quite expensive.

--a

LAME

[BagOBones]

The implementation of this idea just looks lame.. The output from the system looks like something out of an old move about the future where when you watch it now you laugh.

Now if it created a hologram on the display end it might be usefull and cool.

Genius!

[iamdrscience]

Virtual Round Table + Billy the singing Big Mouth Bass video conferencing = Family fun and memories you can cherish for years to come!

compare to plane tickets

[diamond0]

Seems like a plane ticket would be cheaper, given the number of times certain relatives would be willing to use this thing

I know what my Mom would say...

[MyNameIsFred]

How long are you going to leave that coffee cup on the table? Don't you ever wash your dishes.

Re:I know what my Mom would say...

[BollocksToThis]

How long are you going to leave that coffee cup on the table? Don't you ever wash your dishes.

But of course she'd put a question mark on the end, because otherwise that's really shocking Mom advice.

Missing the best use...

[MWoody]

Remote tabletop RPG'ing! Yay!

(yes, I know the table described in the article wouldn't quite work for this. But that's THEIR design flaw, not mine...)

Image differencing and extraction

[G4from128k]

A better solution might be to use a high-res digital camera that takes snapshots of the actual kitchen table, extracts changes in the scene, and transmits that.

This would be superior to the RFID appoach because it allows the inclusion of ordinary and arbitrary objects. If you receive a greeting card from a loved-one, you place it on the table to show that you appreciated it. In contrast, the RFID approach requires someone to both tag any new object and create a simulacra of it for display on the other end. Rather than people creating a symbolic language from the default icons in the system (e.g., the default coffee cup, cigarette pack, etc.), the high-res image fragments could include very personal items such as the actual greeting card, a favorite coffee cup, or a meaningful momento.

Image differencing and extraction would reduce the bandwidth requirements to below that required for videoconferencing. Even if a high-res (5 megapixel) imager is used, the image extraction algorithms would work to only transmit image fragments of objects that changed but stayed in place for some time. Thus, it might transmit a single snapshot of your bowl of cereal in the morning, but not any images from when you quickly opened and closed the kitchen cabinets.

and in this day and age, this is amazin how?

[superfast-scooter]

not to mention pretty lame in the implementation.

it doesnt even show the "state" of the tagged object - the ciggie pack is closed while the projection just shows a generic pack of ciggies. jeez!!

i can add a picture of a nescafe bottle to the icons on msn and ... ok, well its not a table, so what!

looks like an engineering interns final year project, only made known cos its 'meeedia labs'. tsk tsk!

Thanks again Rob

[Burt Malda]

Dinner was great yesterday. Your mom and I appreciated everything, but we're still puzzled over your serving tacos instead of turkey. Oh well. See you at Christmas. Love, Dad + Mom

Re:Thanks again Rob

[Anonymous Coward]

mmmmm. nothing like some cheek taco for T-day!!!

that rob, what a nice boy.

Aha

[mcc]

So THAT'S how the clock in the Weasley family's house worked.

Always wondered about that.

Celebrity Tables for Virtual Stalkers?

[bacon-kidney-pie]

Can I subscribe to my favourite celebrity table? It would take all the hard work out of stalking. Oooh Britteny likes cocoa pops sprinkled with amphetamines. I knew she would.

Asimov

[rixstep]

Next thing you know, we'll be living in Isaac Asimov's The Naked Sun. Actually, we're almost there today.

Goatse

[Luigi30]

"Conversely, the longer objects remain on the sending table, the larger the images on the receiving table grow." Hmm...

Computer: You have a video from... your husband... please press recieve.
You: Okay.
Man on other end: HAHAHAHAHA!
You: Wait... is that a... OH MY GOD IT'S EVEN BIGGER THAN NORMAL! AAAAHH!!!!!

Did anyone else...

[MindNumbingOblivion]

...think of Bistromathics? No? Just me then...

Why not something simpler?

[Anonymous Coward]

Like this

I can think of some

[Prof. Pi]

Mostly having to do with all the spam I get
promising I can "add 3 inches."

cigarettes == death wish

[Grizzlysmit]

The sight of a pack of cigarettes, however, could mean the same person is feeling stressed out and might appreciate a phone call from a friend.

No, a pack of cigarettes, means they hate themselves so much, that they not only want to kill themselves, but they want to insure their deaths are as long, drawn out and painful as possible. :-D

no research needed

[penguin7of9]

Just install a copy of VNC and/or x0rfbserver on their desktop. You can connect to their machines and help them out while you are on the phone. You can also go web browsing together, etc.

(Be sure to use security correctly: definitely set a password. You can also use stunnel or ssh tunneling for additional security.)

mind-reading berries

[bobalu]

Reminds me of the Gilligan's Island episode where they find berries that let you read each other's mind. The Professor says "Gee, I thought that would make people get along better." BZZZZZZT

fun for the whole family!

[ShadowRage]

and the FBI!