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Microsoft Research Showcase Explored
prostoalex writes "Every year Microsoft Research scientists show their achievements and developments at Redmond campus. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports from Techfest, a number of other news resources and blogs are covering it. Read about network-enabled bear that allows parents to communicate with the kids, a mobile phone applications that not only checks, but predicts traffic conditions, and surface computing for digital homes." From the article: "The project isn't fully developed, but the ultimate vision is to have the stuffed animal interact with a child, doing such things as playing games and reading stories. Because the bear is on a network, a parent could also use it to interact with a child remotely -- communicating or even taking snapshots through an embedded camera."
You mean like Slashdot?
Zonk, do you even read Slashdot? Or just when you cash the paycheck?
Years ago there was a component of a popular entertainment show in the UK called "My Little Friend" (I think), basically the producers would set up a soft toy (eg, teddy bear) with a speaker and place haiiden cameras in the room, then leave a child alone with the toy to draw a picture or something...when the adult was out of the way, the shows producers would sit behind the scenes and talk through the bear to the child...the children would often totally accept that the toy could speak without shock or anything, as if it were totally normal...the child would then be encouraged to have humourous conversations with the bear....hilarity ensued.
I never really liked the segment, I often wondered if the child would be damaged by this...enough people in the world already believe in rubbish like psychics, spirits, acupuncture, homeopathy and so on, is this just going to make the situation worse? letting kids use their imaginations is one thing, helping blur the line between imagination and reality is just going to make more gullible victims for people like Sylvia Browne and her friends.
Because the bear is on a network, a parent could also use it to interact with a child remotely -- communicating or even taking snapshots through an embedded camera.
Great, allow parents to get even more detached from their kids. Instead of playing with their kids now a parent can sit at their computer while looking at internet porn and paying their taxes and watching their kid through the creepy bear.
We need products that are going to allow for a more personal connection then we are doing now, not a more remote one. Vidoe conferencing and all that is great but what kids need is real connection, they need to see and play with their parents, not the bear with a camera and potentially a detached voice in it.
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
Do we even want a device that can take a picture of children from remote? First, shoudn't we trust our kids enough to leave them in a private situation, when they think they are? Trust is basic in inter-human relationships.
And then you can think what would happend if someone discovered a security hole in this. If it is accessible remotely, anyone could take that pic, without anyone knowing possibly. Think about kiddie porn. Would you like your kids to carry a network-enable camera all day? No? Thought so!
Assembling etherkillers for fun an profit
That all sounds great... To your average slashdotter who spends almost all waking hours in front of the computer.... But what about the normal people who know there is life beyond the computer? Isn't it easier for them to check things manually?
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
Because the bear is on a network, a parent could also use it to interact with a child remotely -- communicating or even taking snapshots through an embedded camera.
Here's an idea: interact with your child in person. It works better.
I am so tired of crap like this being developed which will have absolutely no good impact on anyone. Don't you think a child can tell the difference between a stupid bear toy and his/her parents? Who is it that comes up with this crap?
This post has been filtered for sanity.
When will parents stop relegating their childrens' upbringing to toys (including TV) and start giving the children what is rightfully theirs: a human touch? If you can't be bothered to play a central role in your child's life, then don't have a child!
Anyone who thinks that a stuffed animal is a good substitute for the presence of a parent is bonkers. Imagine this scenario. The father is too obsessed with working at his startup company, so he buys one of these stuffed animals, say, a bear with network-control capability. He puts the bear in the kid's room and heads off to work. At the office, he activates his Web browser and remotely controls the bear with a Web form. Now, imagine the father acting in this way for a year.
Do you think that such behavior is good parenting? Such parenting is probably the first step to child abuse.
Perhaps, I am the oddball in this forum. I think that technology should facilitate the human experience instead of replacing it.
So if you had a load of laundry going you could see how much longer it had till it was completed. Or you could set the intensity of your toaster, etc.
Isn't it easier just to walk up to the washer and look at the time left? Or adjust your old fashioned toaster by twisting the little nob? What's the point of placing these guys on a network?
How much extra will this network-ability cost you?
Can you imagine the nightmare of configuring these devices to work with your computer? MS and the vendors will claim that the configuration will be simple, but it will always be more complicated then they claim. For mp3 players and digital cameras, notice how stupid the upload/download GUIs are, when I should just be able to drag & drop the files to and from the device?
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
Why the fuck reproduce?
That was the creepiest slashdot summary of all time. As usual I have no plans of reading TFA
I wonder if this 'MICROSOFT IS INNOVATIVE' story is time to conincide with the patent vote in Europe tomorrow.
..predicts upcoming traffic conditions..n ces/trb/00326. pdf
Lets see MSN Desktop search....
http://desktop.google.com/
Teddy bear running windows...
http://www.aibo-europe.com/
Navigating photo libraries....
http://www.flickr.com/ ?
TouchLight,
http://www.minorityreport.com/
http://www.its.berkeley.edu/confere
This is research ???? This has got to be the saddest example of research I've ever seen discussed on /. I understand Microsoft has a very talented group of scientists in their research department ...surely this is not their work! This sounds more like the results of collaboration among a bunch of marketing people and engineers.
Solution looking for a problem. Microsoft is having problems selling Windows Media Center, Portable Media Center and Smartphone. And as unimpressive as they are, they are still about 1000 times more useful than anything mentioned here.