Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

I've been playing with a shiny new HTC Magic, the upcoming G-2 Android phone in the guise of a Google ION developer device, and as part of my explorations I've been looking for interesting applications in the Android Market. That's where I found one of the nicest pieces of mobile software I've seen - Google Sky Map.

It's not surprising that Google has done such a good job with this software, after all, Android is their phone platform, and they should now it (and the reference hardware inside out). The folk in Mountain View also have a huge database of data they can take advantage of - in the shape of Google Earth and all its varied information layers.

So what is Google Sky Map?

It's pretty much what it says on the tin - a piece of software that shows you the sky above you, just like one of those star wheels that give you an idea of the swirl of constellations as they rotate around the night and the seasons. Where it differs from most computer based star maps is that it's live. It's an annotated window into the heavens, using the device's built-in GPS, compass, and G-sensor. The combination of the three lets the software know where the phone is, and where it is pointing - and at what angle. It then calculates the current view, and displays it. Google is augmenting reality, making it part of its world of search.



On a deeper level it's actually a specialised version of what marypcb calls a "What's-That", a device that when pointed at something, well, just does that. It annotates the world with an overlay of information to give us the information we want and need. Phones don't have the power needed to deliver that level of image recognition, but they do know where you are. Constrain the problem to maps of the heavens, and you've got a winner on your hands.

The sky at night can be confusing - with light pollution and high cloud making identification hard. Just being able to point a phone in the right direction to get the names of the objects you can see is an excellent solution to the problem. After all, it's the most personal of devices and one that's going to be with us when we most need it.

Then there's Wikitude, which is a step even further in the direction of the What's-That, using the device camera and the device sensors to overlay points of interest from geo-coded data in Wikipedia and Qype on the phone screen.



Here it is, letting me know what's in the world outside my hotel room. We used it today to identify mountains as we drove up the Cascades.There's still not enough data in the world of public geo-coded information - but what there is is enough to make you want more.

You know, I really like living in the future.

In a talk here at FiRe, Bruce Sterling put on a futurist hat and drew out four plausible tomorrows, what he described as "Four possible worlds over the next ten years".

The outlook isn't good - at best we get a crisis, at worst, well, it's calamity.

The first world, a low technology crisis, Bruce described as closest to our world today, calling it a "petrocracy" It's a world where Katrina-scale disasters are regular, and fear causes a retreat into extreme conservatism. It's a world of despair, but it's also a very plausible slightly exaggerated version of the world we're living in.

The second was the most optimistic, a high technology crisis. Calling it the "dot green boom", Bruce outlined a world where a change of priorities builds a the basis of a green gold rush. Driven by cultural changes, its a world where terms like "green glamour" and "eco-sexy" fill the fashion pages.

Neither are particularly bad, and the world muddles through. Calamity changes everything - and it's the most likely basis of the future.

A low technology calamity is a failed globe, where financial collapse lets in two or three of the four horseman of the apocalypse. This is a step back to a dark age where billions die in pogroms, the poor killing the poor.

Bruce's new book takes place in the fourth world, a high technology calamity. It's a world where technologies like ubiquitous computing have been used to keep the wolf from the door. It may be hell out there, but you've got an iron man power suit. The world is grim, and everyone is just hanging on, living with the memories of the dead in a disaster thriller.

I'd like to read the book, but I don't want to live there...

A while back I came to the conclusion we were living in a John Brunner future.

But now it's sliding into a Philip K. Dick future, too. According to an article in the Times, UK police forces are setting up a pre-crime department...

Criminal profilers are drawing up a list of the 100 most dangerous murderers and rapists of the future even before they commit such crimes, The Times has learnt.

The highly controversial database will be used by police and other agencies to target suspects before they can carry out a serious offence. Pilot projects to identify the highest-risk future offenders have been operating in five London boroughs for the past two months.
[...]
Experts from the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide Prevention Unit are creating psychological profiles of likely offenders to predict patterns of criminal behaviour. Statements from former partners, information from mental health workers and details of past complaints are being combined to identify the men considered most likely to commit serious violent crimes.
[...]
Ms Richards said that once an individual had been identified, police would decide whether to make moves towards an arrest, or to alert the relevant social services who could steer those targeted into “management programmes.”

The big question is: How accurate are these models? I'm sure the intentions are good (but then, we all know what paves the roads to Hell), but the risks of ruining innocent people's lives are just too great.

"If it saves just one child" is a delightful sentiment, but how many families will be blighted by an incorrect profile?

A Philip K. Dick future, without the drug cushion...
[Link via wendyg]

This is the Orion we should have had. A spaceliner, taking us to that wheel in space Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell imagined.


From this page

Of course, there's always the first Orion. It nearly made it.


From this page

Instead, we're going back to Apollo with this one.



You know, I really miss those futures we were promised...

Well, the Origami Project teaser site that I mentioned the other day seems to have quite a lot of people all over the blogosphere wondering just what Microsoft's Origami might be. And it looks like my guess is wrong...

The folk at blink.nu tracked down a brand strategy firm called Digital Kitchen, who have a concept video for Microsoft Origami on their Work site (all Flash - so click Enter, then Work, then Brandtheatre, and finally Microsoft Origami to see the video), which shows a device larger than a PDA, and smaller than a tablet PC, with fast wireless connectivity (WiFi and 3G) and handwriting recognition, plus the return of Smart Display.

marypcb instantly recognised it. She was at last year's WinHEC, where Bill Gate's demoed a concept model of a device with all those capabilities called Haiku. It was only a mockup, with a print out for a screen. At Fall IDF, we saw Intel demo a new form factor that would use low power Pentium and Xscale chips, calling it the Handtop. It looks like we're about to see these two ideas come together. I wouldn't expect to see shipping hardware much before the end of the year, though...

I suspect we may see hardware at Spring IDF in a week or so.

Another bit of the spring 2000 .NET concept videos finally coming to life?

What with Yahoo!'s current acquisition spree, buying Flickr and del.icio.us, and now that they're working with Six Apart to provide a business blogging service, what are the odds that they buy Six Apart (and thus LJ) sometime in 2006?

Their VC's are going to want to cash out soon. It's been, what, 2 years since they put their money in. And Six Apart are, like Yahoo!, a Bay Area company.

Baseless speculation, of course, but I don't think I'd want to risk any money betting against it.