The video call at a distance is just awkward. I suppose in certain situations even that can be valuable, but as an everyday thing I don't see it happening.
I agree, wiigloves would be the way to go. The way that they show the video analysis is similar to what artificial intelligence geeks have been trying for years at to give robots sight - with little success. It's not what the sign looks like that's important, it's the motion, so video capture is totally unnecessary. Besides, motion capture data is far smaller than video data - they probably wouldn't have any problem at all if they just stuck to motion capture and displayed it on a little monkey animation on the recipient's cell (deaf-to-deaf).
For deaf-to-speech, the call could be routed through a 3rd party server to translate the motion to any language-allowing the call to be sent to any regular phone.
What percentage of population is on-call? It can't be very much. So if you rule out those people, you are still left with a huge chunk of the population that could use mass transit, or bicycle, or walk.
It's really the structure of cities and urban areas that's the problem. Everything is adapted for the car. Cities that grew up before the advent of the car have the best public transportation systems (in North America and Europe anyway). If we continue adapting for the car, it will only get worse.
I am very well gonna get judgemental, though not so much about the people stuck with cars as with cities that don't make public transportation a priority. Or, cities that don't provide enough affordable housing so you don't have to commute your life away.
If you have an emergency, call an ambulance.
If you want to go on vacation, rent a car.
In the US we suffer from caritis. It's so much more comfortable to have your own personal bubble to shield you from the outside universe. Yes, driving is fun! But we have to take responsibility for our actions.
I recently moved to a city (Honolulu) that has decent public transit, and gave my old car to a charity. I also work at home, so I really don't have to travel a lot. If I want groceries, I walk to the store to get them. I don't find that not having a car is an inconvenience - in fact, not having to pay for car insurance, gas, or maintenance is quite a financial relief. This is a choice that I made because I wasn't comfortable with my environmental impact - and it is a choice that everyone should at least consider - and their aren't that many excuses. At the very least, no one in a city should own an SUV.
As for your comment about cars not polluting because they are just sitting around - it still took a lot of resources to make that car. Smelting the steal, refining oil to make the plastic parts, the transportation costs of the workers, the cost of transporting the vehicle to market, and on and on. And what happens to the car when it finally goes to the dump? Sure, some the parts will be salvaged for scrap, but it will still have a long slow death as it decomposes over millenia, leaching all sorts of bad chemicals into the environment.
I don't think that Walmart has a chance - Netflix and Blockbuster have the long tail. If WalMart is banking on only the 'major studios' they're missing the point - selection, selection, selection.
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The video call at a distance is just awkward. I suppose in certain situations even that can be valuable, but as an everyday thing I don't see it happening.
I agree, wiigloves would be the way to go. The way that they show the video analysis is similar to what artificial intelligence geeks have been trying for years at to give robots sight - with little success. It's not what the sign looks like that's important, it's the motion, so video capture is totally unnecessary. Besides, motion capture data is far smaller than video data - they probably wouldn't have any problem at all if they just stuck to motion capture and displayed it on a little monkey animation on the recipient's cell (deaf-to-deaf).
For deaf-to-speech, the call could be routed through a 3rd party server to translate the motion to any language-allowing the call to be sent to any regular phone.
What percentage of population is on-call? It can't be very much. So if you rule out those people, you are still left with a huge chunk of the population that could use mass transit, or bicycle, or walk. It's really the structure of cities and urban areas that's the problem. Everything is adapted for the car. Cities that grew up before the advent of the car have the best public transportation systems (in North America and Europe anyway). If we continue adapting for the car, it will only get worse.
I am very well gonna get judgemental, though not so much about the people stuck with cars as with cities that don't make public transportation a priority. Or, cities that don't provide enough affordable housing so you don't have to commute your life away. If you have an emergency, call an ambulance. If you want to go on vacation, rent a car. In the US we suffer from caritis. It's so much more comfortable to have your own personal bubble to shield you from the outside universe. Yes, driving is fun! But we have to take responsibility for our actions. I recently moved to a city (Honolulu) that has decent public transit, and gave my old car to a charity. I also work at home, so I really don't have to travel a lot. If I want groceries, I walk to the store to get them. I don't find that not having a car is an inconvenience - in fact, not having to pay for car insurance, gas, or maintenance is quite a financial relief. This is a choice that I made because I wasn't comfortable with my environmental impact - and it is a choice that everyone should at least consider - and their aren't that many excuses. At the very least, no one in a city should own an SUV. As for your comment about cars not polluting because they are just sitting around - it still took a lot of resources to make that car. Smelting the steal, refining oil to make the plastic parts, the transportation costs of the workers, the cost of transporting the vehicle to market, and on and on. And what happens to the car when it finally goes to the dump? Sure, some the parts will be salvaged for scrap, but it will still have a long slow death as it decomposes over millenia, leaching all sorts of bad chemicals into the environment.
Exactly, they offer nothing worth taking. For such a successful company, they are amazingly clueless.
I don't think that Walmart has a chance - Netflix and Blockbuster have the long tail. If WalMart is banking on only the 'major studios' they're missing the point - selection, selection, selection.
Why is anyone still driving their own cars in a cramped city? We should be building better mass transit systems.