use your mobile phone as a 3D mouse..

A few years ago an Economist article covered how the mobile phone was going to bridge the digital divide... improving access to the web and improving literacy everywhere, including third world countries. But now we're seeing it become the one-stop interface between you and the outside world.

You can already connect to cameras and motion sensors watching over your house via your mobile (ok so you pay a subscription for the web space you'd use).

Slashdot folks pointed to a New Scientist article detailing how York University researchers have developed an application that, using the camera on your phone, allows you to control your pooter simply by waving your mobile around. The app allows your phone to connect to your pooter via bluetooth to do what it needs to do. It's only a matter of time before they port the voice recognition suite onto your phone too which could bring the pocket-sized universal translater one step closer to reality.

Now all mobile phones need to do is sort out their platform issues. If you thought the desktop browsers had compatibility issues, multiply that by the number of different phones out there, each with their own browser, as everyone falls over themselves to capture the market. The iPhone has upped the game a wee bit, but it's only the beginning...

first open source speech recognition suite released

As the title suggests, simon is out there now for people to play with and use.
The thing about these sorts of developments is that they really need time if you're going to play with them properly. I thought I'd blog it because you never know when we might have a use for it!

Knowle West Media Centre has an open house night

If you've got nowhere to go on Valentine's night, you should think about going to the Knowle West Media Centre's open house event, showing off their amazing new eco-friendly building.

Details below:

WMC: 14 February: you'll love it

How would you like to be among the first to get a tour of the exciting
new green powerhouse for creative thinking and working that's opening
in BS4 this Spring?

Knowle West Media Centre is so sure that the Bristol's creative
industry folks will fall in love with its new home that it is laying
on an exclusive show-and-tell tour on St Valentine's Day - Thursday 14
February (6pm start).

The tour will be a unique chance to check out the high-spec spaces and kit that will be available to hire or to rent from April 2008 and get a builder's eye view of the many clever ways being used to ensure that Bristol's first-ever purpose-built media hub will also be one of the climate friendliest work places for miles around.

For extra interest, the KWMC team will be showcasing their recent and
upcoming projects and outlining the programme of visiting events and
exhibitions that's about to begin. To add to the buzz, there'll be
free booze and nibbles - all on a Valentine's Day theme (natch!). And
– romantics, please note - the event will wind down around 8pm,
leaving plenty of time for lovey-dovey canoodlings later, if you're so
inclined!

To book a place (and make sure we get the hard hat/ catering orders
right), please alert Katie@kwmc.org.uk by Wednesday 6 February.
She'll be happy to supply a location map and carbon-friendly travel advice.

If you're not free on the 14th, but would like to arrange a separate
tour or to know more about workspace/desk rental, or kit/facilities
hire, Katie will be glad to help with that, too.

google files patent on recognising text in images

As the title suggests, last June Google filed a patent relating to recognising text within images. This is pretty significant in terms of predicting how websites of the future may perform if they are image-heavy.

charging your mobile with your body heat...

Yep - the folks at Berkeley seem to think that they're onto a way of using silicon nanowire-based converters to use body heat to charge mobile devices. So far this sort of thing has been too inefficient to be considered, but now that researchers have found a way to improve the efficiency by a factor of 100, things are looking up. Projecting into the future, I can see our electricity bills dropping considerably just by making everyone wear silicon nanowire-based converter jumpers, socks, hats, legwarmers... it just adds a whole new dimension to your thermals :-).

I have to apologise - exciting advances in materials bring out the geek in me...

moving towards a DRM-free zone

I caught this on Wired just now about Sony BMG moving to DRM-free downloads... it's worth showing some support to companies like RCRD LBL who are breaking old business models and pushing ones that consumers can actually support... free (ad-supported) DRM-free downloads.

We'll see where this leads... but the old adage of "use it or lose it" is very appropriate here. If this is a model that we as consumers would prefer to see succeed then we need to be voting with our.. umm... bandwidth?!