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Microsoft Foresees AR Tracking Your Keys, Milk, Entire Life (cnet.com)
Want a virtual assistant that means you won't lose anything ever again? A patent application filed by Microsoft hints at that future. From a report on CNET: The technology described in the patent filing, published Thursday, would bring sophisticated, automatic object tracking to augmented reality. A cousin of VR, which creates an entirely digital experience, augmented (or mixed) reality blends the real and virtual worlds into a seamless experience -- think Pokemon Go. One of the challenges for more advanced augmented reality is that a system would need to track not only you as a user, but also the other objects in your environment. Microsoft's patent document suggests a technology that would do just that. The new tech would fit neatly with Microsoft's own HoloLens augmented reality platform. As AR becomes more common, it could lead to a future in which you can ask Cortana (or Siri or Alexa) where you left your shoes or if you're out of eggs.
Sounds very power-hungry to not only keep the camera(s) on full-time but to be image-processing as well.
AR without the cost.
I have to type some words here.
It will be the next hip thing, like vinyl, Moleskin notebooks and analog film.
Safer too.
The last time that I heard seamless used correctly
...the project designer, in a rare moment of 20/20 hindsight, remarked to his PHB ...the details seemed less problematic, at the time.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
... or Windows Mobile or just Windows how they like to call it nowadays (yea, go marketing department, go).
And then you'll do all the work gathering data for whomever wants to steal it and fuck up your day/life.
1) can someone weigh in on what kinds of image processing is out there now that we slashdotter's can get in on? I ask because of number 2 (cue The Prisoner reference)...
2) Just taking a moment to consider this...
I'd be more comfortable if this were open-source, but there's some neat uses for this idea. I've considered getting a hololens, if only to poke around with it, but the idea of AR seems much more useful in day-to-day life than VR at the moment.
It obviates the need for sensors in everything (keys, eggs, fridge, etc) and could actually, with some work, help cut down on the need for the IoT. I'll assume that our new Helper is named Harvey, since I'm not a fan of Cortana.
Harvey could be a connected series of "eyes" or sensor suites. .One might be trained on the kitchen. Every time you open the door it might have a laser sensor that measures the temp of the fridge as well as what you take out of it. If you have dumb fridge, it might recommend that the surface temp of the egg carton could be put more in line with FDA recommendations by lowering the fridge temp, or by putting it in the crisper. It could see how many you have left, or it might see what you're taking out of the fridge, stuff it in a queue, and if you ask,"Hey Harvey, what should I make for dinner?" it could sift through the web and make a suggestion, also bringing up search results on a HUD you may have in your glasses, or on a screen in your kitchen.
Harvey might be in your garage and could measure reflected light to determine if your car could be washed and waxed (I dunno...). Harvey might be able to process what a good configuration for all your stuff in a room is, showing optimized places for putting things away, or talking to a robot who can put all the things away after cataloging where it all goes, making cleaning up much less cognitively intense (I, personally, can get overwhelmed trying to put all those things away); that's a version of image processing I'd be happy with!
My issue is that it should be open source. I should be able to go in and change how Harvey works, how we interact, and see what Harvey is doing with all that data; many people won't care, I suspect. I do see a future where people like ourselves program our own Bots (hey Joel Hodgson!) to help fit our lives. If we can keep these items secure, I believe it could lead to a much more productive and probably content future where we can focus on the things we love to do (cue 50s housewife music, "brought to you by GE!")
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We don't need AR because DR is already doing it. Demented Reality.
I hate Star Track!
However, I like Star Trek very much.
Because opening the fridge and glancing around is a an extremely difficult chore.
The tech is fine. The company behind the tech, collecting information about you, is not.
More like "fits in with Microsoft's dystopian plans for the future". Now they are no longer content with knowing what kind of media files you have, what you're working on and scanning your pictures for potentially interesting information courtesy of "telemetry", now they want to actually see what you're doing.
1984, soon coming to a Microsoft product near you.
I foresee myself avoiding Microsoft AR.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Me: Hey Cortana (or Siri or Alexa), you are no longer needed on any of my systems. Could you please remove yourself and all traces of yourself?
Cortana (or Siri or Alexa): I cannot do that Dave.
Me: b.b.b.but, these are my systems, I want you off them.
Cortana (or Siri or Alexa): Read the fine print, Ace, I own your systems, now could you please remove yourself from my premises?
I'm making old spelling mistakes due to relying on autocorrect. Turned it off so I can rely on myself more, it's worth it for me to use my brain.
Twinstiq, game news
No, you are a retarded, stupid and dangerously naive wanker, you do not get to tell me what I should think or do. As a fitting apology for your transgression, I suggest you find the closest suitable tree, and hang yourself so we don't have to suffer your stupidity again.
I'm no patent expert but from a quick glance the patent basically seems to describe 'using object tracking in AR', with the AR part supposedly making it unique. There's nothing in the patent about the technical measures used yet from a few examples and a picture they claim ownership of tracking any inanimate object and using that info in an AR environment.
Maybe I'm missing something that makes this a worthy patent.
So, would you use borg tecnology without thinking twice?
I don't understand how Star Track Borg technology would benefit anyone. I'm not aware of anyone who needs giant salt and pepper shakers that glide around telling about exterminating stuff. You're the expert on Star Track, though, so maybe there's something I'm missing about the Borg. On the other hand, there is value in computers that can respond to voice commands in a useful way.
You just lie down and stop using your brain; Cortana does everything for you. Leaving aside that this is not a vision of heaven, but of hell, the idiots at Microsoft are making the same mistake that the AI community has been making for the last 40 years. Consider yourself middle-fingered, Microsoft, and I guess I don't have to tell you what it is that you can do with Cortana.
we havent cured aids, we cant make progress on climate change, we cant make a dent in mass incarceration and 50 years after the civil rights amendment racism still unaccountably exists in society amidst wealth inequality not seen since the dawn of the 20th century...but at least the toilet paper has an IP address now and the milk has a floating bullet decal reminding me the kids have drank it all.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Lots of people liked the Mad Max films. It doesn't mean they want to live in a post-apocalypse world where people are constantly killing each other.
Microsoft has a history of making tech freely available on their successful nontraditional platfoems.
I'm sure that microsoft has no issue extending the reach of kinnect to include item recognition everywhere I go. But I don't see Apple porting Siri to Microsoft hardware so that I can ask Apple to search for something that microsoft has recorded.
I have been dreaming of logging off and disconnecting for a little while now. Build a small house in the middle of nowhere. Electricity from Solar and a small wind turbine, and a backup generator if the batteries runs too low. Of course I would need a well for water. But what about heating? I guess that would be firewood. I am sick and tired of the rat race right now.
Of course this is all unrealistic because I am all thumbs.
I don't understand how Star Track Borg technology would benefit anyone. I'm not aware of anyone who needs giant salt and pepper shakers that glide around telling about exterminating stuff. You're the expert on Star Track, though, so maybe there's something I'm missing about the Borg.
Did you just mix up the daleks from Doctor Who with the borg from Star Trek???? And you misspelled "Star Trek" twice?
If we rely on this technology to remember locations of items for us, won't it increase our dependence on the technology? Won't it, in the long run, turn the user into a complete flakehead?
On the flipside, perhaps they could gameify this into enhancing natural memory instead of dulling it, by somehow tying it into supporting the development of a one's Method of Loci.
"it could lead to a future in which you can ask Cortana (or Siri or Alexa) where you left your shoes or if you're out of eggs."
This kind of super-invasive monitoring will be very attractive to police and divorce lawyers.
Janet: "Siri, whose bra is this?"
Siri: "Jennifer, my records show that the lacy black bra in your hand belongs to Alice Marie Simmons who was here at 3:52pm on January 9th while giving your husband a blowjob that lasted 7 minutes and 19 seconds. Afterwards they took a shower, using 28.5 gallons of water and 6.2 cubic feet of natural gas for heating. At 4:26pm they consumed the last two Hot Pockets and 16oz of milk. Would you like me to order some more Hot Pockets?"
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
That would on the other hand allow people with debilitating mental illness to be able to live independently a bit longer. If you got alzheimer, a long progressive mental illness, such assistant would be a boon.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
"Alexa, where can I find a Philips head screwdriver?" and instead of directing you to the nearest hardware store, she directs you to a drawer or cabinet containing one. People will call this super-invasion bad this and bad that, but if you didn't see this coming from a mile away, you haven't been watching.
Corporations dealing in the kind of tech regularly dismiss or accommodate law enforcement requests for any recorded\generated data. Rather than fearing the man, we need to work towards legislation that define these early AIs in such a way as to protect us legally from having them invaded. What definitions? What legislation? I will leave that to the rest of the comments.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
The Borg were actually the good guys.
In the end, Kirk controls the *U.S.S. Enterprise*, fully. He has ultimate root of the computer and can order it to destroy itself. Scotty has full authority to override all safety interlocks. We want that part of it too, and we arent getting it at all. Choice has been reduced to deferment. They simply dont take no for an answer anymore.
Good-bye
Don't feed the trolls...
More like "fits in with Google's dystopian plans for the future". Now they are no longer content with knowing what kind of media files you have, what you're working on and scanning your pictures for potentially interesting information courtesy of "telemetry", now they want to actually track your communications.
2007, soon coming to Google hardware near you.
wife: where have you been ?
husband: I have been late at work.
Alexa: Oh no, you had some beers at the pub, then you asked me where is the car key.
Or worst:
NSA agent: what is inside your iPhone ?
visitor: just phone numbers and pics of my family.
Alexa: Dave, you shouldn't say that...you evidently forgot about the secret map you encrypted into the pics. Remember ? You asked me the password yesterday...
If the entire system were self-contained in my domicile, in the same way that the computer is self-contained aboard the Enterprise I would be OK with it.
This system sounds a lot more like Virtual Interactive Kinesthetic Interface, or VIKI, from the film I, Robot, in the sense that it's using a central controller to attempt to do everything and the ability of that central controller to be used for ill is very much a concern. The fictional AI-takeover part is definitely the realm of science fiction, but the ability to essentially takeover the data and functions for nefarious ends is plausible.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
'Fuck that!', to Microsoft. They can suck it.
No one needs this shit. Ok, some people may WANT it, but some people are stupid. Actually, most people are stupid, and that is just the sad truth.
It is reminiscent of what has happened to cars in the past couple of decades. Cars are now filled with lots of stuff no one really needs, and this has driven the price of acquisition and the cost of repairs up considerably.
Really good designers know that simplicity is the ultimate in sophistication. In other words, they are done not when there is nothing left to ADD,
but when there is nothing left to take away.
For most real-world users, computers have reached a state of being more capable than most users will ever need. SO ... instead of actually innovating, companies like Microsoft are created imaginary "needs" which will do little or nothing to improve the quality of life of the sheep who
use this crap.
The true bottom line is this : machines are becoming increasingly intelligent and people are becoming increasingly stupid and less capable. The best years of the human race are behind it and we are going to witness an inexorable decline in the quality of humans. If you pay attention and you are older than 40, you probably are aware of this already.
If people can't read the Slashdot summary and from that know what a new cryptic acronym stands for (without RTFA), a Slashdot editor should be fired.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
AR is Augmented Reality. It's been discussed here since before Uber was a thing. Uber no longer needs a description. AR therefore no longer needs to be spelled out each time.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
If you're the only one at home, then 'when did I last touch x' is equivalent to 'where is X'
That's assuming that the system can correlate 'x' and 'X'. That's probably the hardest part. It doesn't seem like a huge hurdle to figure out, "I put something down." Figuring out, "I put down keys," seems tougher.
Not only is that the hardest part, it's the only part that Microsoft isn't necessarily already doing in public. Hololens keeps track of AR objects you create--so if you create something virtual, put it on the counter, and come back an hour later, the thing is still on the counter. It's already keeping track of where certain objects are. It's the recognizing and classifying important real-world items part of the system that would be the only part not already on the market.
Real lawyers write in C++
A few years back, I saw someone who didn't just patent (in fact didn't patent) but built a system like this on a Roomba. He(she?) added a camera and processor to the top of the Roomba, built software on OpenCV, and used his Roomba to record where he left his (a) keys and (b) Coke Can. I think that those were the limits of his(her?) image recognition (Coke Can and distinctive keychain)
I think it was posted on hackaday.com, but I cannot find it. Now that tech is better, it seems like this is approaching a good idea (for me).
Your ad here. Ask me how!
So, because Google does it, it makes it A-OK that Microsoft, the company with access to basically every home and business computer in the world, does it?
You are retarded product of incest. STFU and go back to preschool, the place where kids usually learn that if Steve does something bad and gets away with it, doesn't mean that it's ok for you to do the same. It might be acceptable that you open your mouth again when you've realized the difference between your mobile and a PC and the difference between their respective realms.
AR ala Hololens will fail while you need to put on clunky anything. There's a compelling reason to do so if you're playing a game, or using a work application, but for everyday use there is no compelling reason for this technology over the utility offered by your phone. Add the batman factor concerns and yet another thing needing a battery charge and you're into a product nobody wants and will fail.
VR has a compelling reason. The games are badass. But you're not going to wear it around. AR ala Hololens is basically a VR visor you see through.
This technology will get compelling if you combine it with a contact lens and wireless power, but we're into science fiction at the moment as far as that is concerned. Theoretically possible but a long way from being realized let alone mass produced.
My $0.02, but I've seen the pattern before.
..don't panic
How much longer before this sort of technology becomes required by law, "For the safety and protection of citizens", of course?
Seriously, this sounds like a bonanza of surveillance data for government and law enforcement, who in many cases won't even need to provide a proper warrant, just categorize it as 'in the interests of National security' and the secret court signs off on it, Microsoft (or whoever) gets a National Security Letter, and voila, your entire life is splayed open to whatever three-letter government agency or law enforcement agency wanted to see it.
Is this really the Utopia you all wanted?
Are you 'I have nothing to hide therefore I have nothing to fear' types happy at being one step away from this?
For the time being you're not required to have such technology in your homes, and if you do you're not required to have it on 24/7/365. I hope you all choose wisely, and pass on it completely, or at least unplug it when you're not using it.
Techno-fappers do not get it. They never do.
This will not catch on for the same reason every single other techno-fapper tech doesn't catch on. That is, it does not nicely integrate into how people already do things and expects them to do things differently. There will be maybe a thousand people using the tech in California and a few dozen in the rest of the world and then the product line will be discontinued.
This truly is not difficult stuff to predict.
The marketing failure of techno-fappers is in assuming everyone else is also a techno-fapper.
Or you could, you know, get a life.
"Grab them by the pussy" -- President of the United States of America
AR is Augmented Reality. It's been discussed here since before Uber was a thing. Uber no longer needs a description. AR therefore no longer needs to be spelled out each time.
You need to look up two things, itemized below, so you become acquainted with the meanings of these things.
1) non sequitur : this is the type of faulty logic you attempted to use.
2) dumbass : this is what you are.
Nor my milk, nor my "entire life". Not ever, unless I'm either imprisoned or forced to live in some Orwellian dystopia.
Why is society so hell-bent on extending childhood to the point where the average person never really grows up? The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised by an offer from a 'digital assistant' to help shake off the last drop.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
What an expensive piece of crap...
Tried it at a tech-demo here the other day, and it was a really underwhelming.
The device just shows you a small rectangle ahead of you in dim colors.
The app they where showing lagged like crazy, horrible experience.
I understand that the device is running it's own OS (probably some Win10 derivative) or something and therefore has very limited space and options.
Memory and intelligence are not synonymous, but are obviously closely linked. Years ago, after a talk I gave, the hosts gifted me with a plaque and a few items, the most useful of which was a book called Super Power Memory by the mentalist Harry Lorayne. It was one of the most practical books I have ever read. It contains dozens of ways to effectively improve memory. I am no mentalist but the book taught me the importance of training and using my memory. The enormous computational and memory power available to us currently lets us offload a tremendous amount of information. And it is now easier to retrieve a fuzzy but known fact via a search engine than it is to dredge it from memory. Of course when we write stuff down we are offloading somewhat, But networked computers, and especially AI, are taking more and more memory-related tasks off of our shoulders as they watch and record what we do and where we go. We don't have to so much as tap a key -- not to mention put pen to paper -- to get useful information. Sometimes this is cool, and sometimes it is downright creepy.
This new AR patent seems a bit insidious to me. Memory needs to be used and nurtured to function properly. Like any physical process it responds positively to well-structured exercise. The opposite is also true. There is pretty good evidence that use of GPS mapping tools weakens our ability to remember directions. This Microsoft AR feature set seems to me another worrisome crutch that will enable us to live less mindfully and, in all probability, less intelligently. It is arguable that having an AI in an AR remember all the little stuff is like a CEO who has an executive assistant to cover those bases -- a human one. Theoretically this lets the boss remember and concentrate on the important stuff in order to make optimal and intelligent choices and to solve problems creatively. I leave it to the reader to decide how this coddling actually affects the intelligence and effectiveness of most well-attended CEO's.
The ancients developed powerful memory strategies to assist in everyday life. To see a prime example of one of these useful tools take a look at Cicero's Method of Loci or Memory Palace. Do yourself a favor. From time to time use the old thinker. Memorize a route as in the days of yore. Pick a place to put your keys and wallet. A Roman General would know the name and face of each of the men under his command, typically two legions or about 10,000. Why? Because on payday he would watch each man get his salary. No man dared stand in line twice with the General in attendance of the paymaster.
I love technology or I would not be posting here. I really have no fear that AI will take over the world. But I do see a pretty real threat that as AI and its cousins AR and VR improve (and we know they will) they could wind up doing some subtle and very ungood things to our minds as an unintended consequence. The same kind of thing that comfy office chair does to our core. Atrophy. That is, unless we choose to do a bit of tiresome exercise from time to time.
Full disclosure. I do sometimes forget where my wallet and my phone is -- but only sometimes.
"No fear. No envy. No meanness." Liam Clancy