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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."
A friend of mine who works on the redmond campus we telling me about one of the neatest things that they were showing off which seemed to get less attention from the media and others then the rest of the products. These were more pure concept items, things that were not really going to be marketed any time soon but wanted to show off where microsoft was heading. These were networked enabled appliances. While other companies have showed these off before this was the most comphrensive I had heard of.
Among the products included a microwave, fridge, coffee maker, toaster, dishwater and washer drier. These all tied into a control panel which could be accessed from a household computer which showed the status of each item. 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. The neatest was the implimentation of RFID with the fridge. Using RFID tags which they believe will be on all products in the next 5 - 10 years you can look up exactly what products are left and get a full inventory. You can also set up triggers which will text your phone, send you an email, or something of that nature which will tell when something is empty or near empty.
It appears that Redmond is looking at taking over not just your computer some day but your life as well.
Be better in bed. Wikiafterdark!
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!
that the original version of the beloved teddy bear was, in fact, a small wooden horse. Details at 10.
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
Until you go into your toddlers room late one night and find the MS teddy bear repeating submliminal messages while they sleep:
"Don't steal software"
"Only communists use open source"
"Support software patents"
My rights don't need management.
Creepy Ruxpin.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
One of the most scary sci-fi short stories I remember reading is about a dystopian society where children are given talking teddy bears at a young age to indoctrinate them. As a result of this conditioning, the populace doesn't act against the dictatorship. A rebellion attempt is made over the course of 20 years by a group who manages to delete some of the "never kill, even in self-defence" moral messages the teddy spouts for one young boy. But the coup fails because the young boy still believes all the rest of the crap, and kills the group instead.
This isn't a new concept by any means. Back in the summer of 2001 I had an internship with Whirlpool working on their wired home project. We had a table PC with a web based interface that would allow us to remotely control the fridge, washer/dryer, oven, microwave, etc. It had a "cool" factor to it, but I don't think it ever made it out of R&D just because it wasn't practical at the time.
The best implication I saw was being able to use it in conjunction with an oven that could refrigerate as well as cook, that way you could put whatever in it before you left for work, and then start it remotely from work so it'd be ready when you arrived home.
ce n'est pas un Sig.
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!
That's the worst part of it: if I discovered that the parents I was supposed to trust were spying what I was doing, I would either have freaked out and turned into some kind of "doing nothing all day long" autist or I would have escaped from my home... What the fuck is this world I'm living in? (and don't tell me that you don't have time to raise your kids ;)
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.
No, you should probably go for the Fridgefox instead! No more spyfood and annoying pop-up vegetables.
Evolution is just a scientific theory. Creationism is not.
"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."
June 18, 2007
Threat Advisory from McAfee AVERT
Virus/Worm Identifier: W32/Bear.A
Threat Level: Critical
Threat Pathology
After being infected, MS-Snoogums(TM) performs one of the following four tasks, chosen apparently at random.
1) MS-Snoogums will attempt to strangle the nearest child.
2) MS-Snoogums will begin swearing and berating any child in the room.
3) If the child is identifiably female (using simple pattern-matching algorithms against three jpegs embedded in the code), MS-Snoogums will make choose lewd comments from a catalog of 47 built into its codebase.
4) MS-Snoogums will attempt to persuade the child to transport him to the nearest Wells Fargo branch. If successful, MS-Snoogums will use built-in IrDA port to hack Diebold Windows XP Embedded cash machines. Records are altered to show withdrawal from account of one "I. P. Nightly".
System Protection and Cure
McAfee AVERT is currently tracking the vendor response. Vendor recommends all children be provided with MS-My-First-Shotgun immediately as a protective measure.
#DeleteChrome