The 'Exoglove' and Virtual Reality

When we think about the senses we use to interact with and perceive a virtual world (such as a movie or a video game), we generally only consider the ability to see and hear as our ways of interacting with that world. However, one Chinese robotics start-up is trying to add a third sense to virtual interactions: touch. The start-up, named Dexta Robotics and based in Shenzhen, China, has developed and demonstrated a so-called "exo-glove" that provides force feedback to the wearer.

The glove, dubbed Dexmo, is designed to motion capture palm movements and lets you feel objects in a virtual environment. It accomplishes this through force feedback, meaning when your fingertips collide with something virtually, the device will prevent your fingers from moving any further, as if you had just touched a solid object.

When thinking about the applications for this technology, the first logical jump is to gaming, as it would give players a more interactive experience. With the advent of the Oculus Rift system (set to release commercially in 2015) developed by Oculus VR, Virtual Reality or VR technology in gaming has become increasingly in vogue. The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display that visually immerses the user into the virtual world.

The Oculus Rift debuted as a prototype in 2012 and raised $2.4 million in crowd-funded money, displaying the public interest in VR technology. Investors are also interested in the tech as the Oculus VR company was acquired by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in March of 2014 for $2 billion.

As you can see, the popularity of virtual reality gaming would make touch feedback a valuable technology. However, this technology has applications outside of just gaming.

On the Dexta Robotics' Kickstarter page, they detail other uses for the product. One such use is interacting with or controlling robots. You would be able to control a robotic hand or arm and have a better sense of presence when working in difficult environments. Having this ability with robots could be useful in a manufacturing setting or perhaps for use in defusing bombs!

Another ability of the Dexmo is the ability to interact with and control RC devices.  Dexmo has 11 channels of analog output so it could be used to control smart household devices like lighting or TV. It can interact with computer programs as well and could be used for music production or making digital art. One very practical potential use demonstrated by the creators is the ability to translate sign language.

As you can see, virtual reality and more specifically the ability to touch in virtual reality, has numerous practical applications. As VR technology becomes more popular, I am sure research and development in the area will continue to grow and create uses for the technology that we may not have even though of yet!

Logging off...

Matt

Images taken from Google Images.

Smart Lock

Throughout the past decade we humans have been able to upgrade a lot of existing technology to do better and more efficient things. A classic example of this is the telephone, going from only having phones in the home to everyone having a mobile phone in their pocket. It seems that there will always be something to upgrade, a company known as August demonstrates this with their unique smart lock that is easy to install and use.

The August smart lock replaces a customer’s interior deadbolt hardware and runs on two double A batteries. After the customer downloads the August app onto their phone they can unlock the door with their smart phone! The App works with a users contact list and the user is able to send out keys to friends, family, and anyone else they desire to have access and then they can unlock the door. Users also have the option to give access to the lock for a certain time frame for example a day or a week.

Since the lock only requires the replacement of the interior side of the deadbolt, the key on the exterior side of the door will still work just fine, in case the locks batteries get low. The lock connects to a users phone via Bluetooth instead of the internet which means there is low risk involved with unwanted guest acquiring access to the lock. August also has a couple features in beta known as Auto-Unlock and EverLock. Auto-Unlock will be able to know when a customers phone is near and will automatically unlock the door without the customer having to reach for their phone. The other feature EverLock will work similarly to Auto-Unlock, the smart lock will lock itself after a customer has left, again without the customer having to use their phone.

One of the main advantages that the August smart lock has over it’s competitors is the easy installation. Other smart locks on the market right now require the customer to drill a bigger hole into the door so that the lock will fit. This means that if a customer were to ever move the original deadbolt would not fit back into the bigger hole made for the smart lock. This essentially comes down to the customer having to leave the lock at the old house and losing the investment. With the August lock as mentioned early the customer only needs to replace the interior hardware. This means that if a customer moves they can easily put the original deadbolt hardware back and take their August smart lock with them to their new home.

The August smart lock is a cool upgrade to the deadbolts that we all grew up with and is a perfect example that there is always a way to improve or do something different.

Logging Off,

Ben

Sources

http://august.com/

Siri vs Cortana vs Google Now

Siri was the first voice activated “personal assistant” that came with the iPhone 4s and blew the other smart phones out of the water.  Over the years the voice recognition systems have become a necessity on all smartphones.  But does Siri still dominate the voice recognition field like it used to? 
            Cortana is Window’s new personal assistant that provides major competition on Apple’s Siri.  Cortana’s voice is based off of the Halo character which can be a huge perk to some who adore the game.  Another big competitor for Siri is Google’s voice recognition engine called Google Now.  Google Now is available through the Google App in the Apple App store and can be installed on many devices.  Whereas Cortana is only available on Window’s phone’s with the 8.1 software update.

What stands out for Cortana is her ability to set reminders for you.  Another perk is that she can set nicknames for your inner circle so instead of asking your voice recognition system to text someone by their full name, you can just say “text dad”.  Cortana also offers Quiet hours for when you don’t want anyone disturbing you.

Google main advantage is its ability to gather information.  Google Now can define words and objects, is aware of your bookings, provides flight data, and will give you an overlook of how your favorite sports team is doing. It'll also tell you about important landmarks if asked, break down food data like calories, carbs, and salts, and recite the cast of your favorite movie or TV show and its theme song.   According to phonearena.com “To be fair, Siri and Cortana won't disappoint you if asked the same, it's just that they don't do as great a job in our opinion, as, in comparison, their answers are usually less extensive and will often have you read the information for yourself (especially Cortana), as if you're performing a normal search.” ("Google Now vs Siri vs Cortana: Showdown)

Though Google Now may excel in obtaining data from searches, Cortana excels tremendously in one area, and that’s having a soul and being fun.  Cortana will sing for you, tell you jokes, and even chit chat.  Siri will also learn to better pronounce your name, and is aware of your birthday.  Google Now has more of a nonsense give me the facts type of attitude.

Overall, it depends on what you want in a voice recognition engine.  If you really want a phone with a personality that you can interact with then phone’s that provide Siri or Cortana should be your choice.  If you’re main focus is in the way that your phone obtains data then Google Now would be preferred.

            Personally, I have a Window’s phone and have been loving Cortana.  Having her set reminders has helped a lot for my daily scheduling and her quiet hours are very helpful to avoid distractions.  I have introduced Cortana to peers with iPhones and no one hasn’t been impressed with what these new voice recognition systems can do.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to interact much with Google Now.  So when looking for a new phone consider the voice recognition system that comes with it to see if it accommodates your lifestyle.

Signing out,

Sydney

“Google Now vs Siri vs. Cortana: Showdown” Phone Arena N.p., n.d Web 14 Oct 2014

The JPMorgan Chase Hack and Why Companies Need to Rethink Their IT Security Strategy

As we have all heard by now, JPMorgan Chase Bank has fallen victim to the largest cyber-intrusion of a US corporation to date, affecting more than 83 million customers.  In the attack, which was discovered in late July, hackers were able to gain access to customers names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.  While the hackers allegedly did not make off with any passwords, account numbers, or other sensitive personal data, the fact hackers were able to compromise the security of a massive financial institution like JPMorgan is frightening and shows that modern businesses are completely under-prepared and ill-equipped to handle a determined and coordinated attack.

With the recent rash of high-profile corporate hacks over the past year, corporate cyber-security is going to (or should be) be one of the major focus points for companies moving forward.  Businesses will have to find ways of keeping customers sensitive information safe or risk losing customers for fear of having their information stolen.  As it stands now, companies cannot just throw money at IT for solely preventative measures such as virus protection and firewalls and expect to be protected. While a firewall might stop a virus, it cannot do much to prevent these engineered, targeted attacks.  It is time for businesses to begin thinking about cyber-security in some more effective ways.

Monitoring and response are two related areas of security that companies should put more focus on over solely preventative measures.  There need to be effective methods of monitoring systems for unusual behavior and then have planned actions if something is found to be amiss or a breach has been found.  Too many times companies take far too long to detect a breach in their security and do not have a planned response to quickly eliminate the threat.  Target, Home Depot, and JPMorgan all took weeks to recognize and eliminate data breaches in their systems which indicates other companies affected would likely not have the detection and response infrastructure in place. 

Companies will also need to be proactive with their security by finding and fix weaknesses before they can be exploited.  Being proactive and actively searching for ways to exploit your own system is one of the best things a company can do in order to minimize risk of a security breach.  Home Depot found this out the hard way as they had been warned months before of the potential of being hacked and they did nothing to strengthen their security and eliminate vulnerabilities and thus lost 56 million customer credit card numbers.

One preventative measure that companies should implement is to teach their employees about social engineering and how to stop it.  Social engineering involves someone using human interaction to manipulate and deceive in order to break through security.  Many security breaches are only made possible through the use of social engineering which enable hackers access to vulnerable parts of the system (either physically or by employee over-sharing).  Employee awareness of social engineering tactics, distinct company policies describing what information can be shared both internally and externally, as well as physical security measures would go a long way in minimizing the risk posed by these threats.  

As our lives and business continue to shift more towards completely digital, companies will need to invest more resources into digital security as well as being smarter and more proactive in stopping security breaches. 

Logging off...

Matt

Sources:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/how-mid-to-large-companies-can-optimize-security-budgets/

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-18/home-depot-hacked-wide-open