[Tech] The future of human-computer interaction

Inspired by an article I read today on Big Think I took a good hard look at the way that I want humans to interact with machines in the future. And then I forgot most of that and decided to write about it anyway.

If you're anything like me then you're desperately awaiting the day that computers are embedded in our eyeballs and microchip processors enhance our brain function. Or maybe you're just waiting for the day that you can close your eyes and be playing an online video game with the information beaming into your brain through those same microchips. I'm probably waiting for that one too.

Things like the iPad and iPhone and the touch media craze that have come with them are a good sign that these kinds of technologies are on the way which is the good news. the bad news is that optically embedded computers are probably a ways off.

We might not quite be at level of Minority Report. But we're getting there.

Things like an internet connected camera implanted into your skull though, yeah that's real. This story might be a few months old, but it's still relevant to this conversation. Basically some guy decided it would be really artsy to put a camera in the back of his skull and have it take pictures 24/7. Now, personally I really don't see the art behind this, and it really just looks like some sort of popularity/publicity stunt.

 However it is interesting to look at this guy's attempts at art/being popular in terms of human-computer relationships. Who knows, maybe this guy will set the precedent and we'll all be wearing cameras in our foreheads in the future. Which might be lame actually.

[Gaming] Is the Kiip model the future of gaming? Or just a advertising gimmick?

One of the hot topics in the mobile gaming circuit right now is a new startup company called Kiip ("K-ee-p") that is offering real life rewards for players who earn achievements in the games they're already playing.

So far the company has only made contracts with a few companies (Sephora, Carl's Jr. and 1-800 Flowers are among them) but it would only make sense that they have plans to expand these contracts. Still though, how cool would it be to get a free Easter basket from 1-800Flowers for clearing the final level on Angry Birds?

It's interesting to think that this is the direction that advertising might be headed, especially considering that in the gaming market PC games, probably the best and most reliable target for companies like Kiip, are among the most popular.

 Imagine this scenario: you're playing Fallout 3 on your PC and you gain an achievement or complete a hard mission, you're notified of an offer that you can redeem when you're done playing by a small popup on the HUD, afterwards the popup goes away (possibly being saved on a list with an expiration date/time) and that's that, you continue to play the game like normal, later redeeming your coupon for a free Soda at Carl's Jr.

The incentive for the companies participating is that every time a player earns an achievement with a reward attached to it they are essentially being advertised to, and this is what has got gamers fired up on comment boards all across the internet. Even though the advertisement will only come once the player has earned the achievement, gamers simply do not want to see advertisements anywhere near their beloved games, PC or otherwise. Even the most casual of gamers can't abide by intrusive ads that infringe upon their enjoyable game time.

There are those, however, that see little problem with this form of advertisement, myself included. Would anybody REALLY be opposed to getting a free soda for doing the things they were already doing in the game for fun (and no real reward otherwise)? It's doubtful.

Is this the future of gaming and advertising? Certainly Kiip has come up with a novel idea, and who knows, maybe they'll be the industry leaders in the immensely popular world of in-game advertising in the future. One thing is for certain though, the way that they implement their features and the reaction by the gaming community will determine whether or not this turns out to be just a novel idea, or the next big thing in gaming and advertising.

It's Elementary my Dear WATSON.

WATSON, A question answering program/machine developed by IBM, is now the new Jeopardy champion.

Last week WATSON went up against Jeopardy's two well known champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, who hold the records for longest consecutive winning streak and highest earning respectively. 

Not surprisingly considering that it's a machine, WATSON kicked both of the champions' butts in the competition, winning itself the $1 Million prize. 

More importantly, however, WATSON has shown us that the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development is rapidly expanding, we're making great leaps and bounds towards a machine that we could potentially, have a conversation with in very natural language. Gone would be the days of typing things into Google to find an answer to, lets say, a computer problem. 

The IBM website for WATSON has a ton of interesting 2-minute videos about the various applications of WATSON and how it came to be developed, it's all very interesting. 

Particularly interesting would be this technology's use in the medical field, doctors would be able to use WATSON (Or some variation thereof) to assist them in diagnosing a patient, and the results would be able to be highly personalized, as you'd be able to enter all the parameters surrounding the patient's condition, hight, weight, age, medical history, etc. 

Not just plain medicine either, biomedical research, business, sociology, anthropology, customer service, and everyday things like fixing a computer problem or a car problem could be significantly aided with this technology. It sounds optimistic but there's really no end to the industries that would be drastically altered (probably for the better) by this technology. WATSON is a huge leap in the field of AI, and it's only going to keep getting better. The future is upon us.

If you'd like to learn more about WATSON check out their website, there's tons of information there about it, and make sure you watch Jeopardy every single day. Because it's the best show ever. (In my opinion).

(By the way, Sherlock Holmes never actually says "Elementary my dear Watson" in any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, just a fun fact.)