I see this gadget from MIT today.

Will be this the future of photgraphy and the end of cameras as we know it ?

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Systems change but the art stays the same :)

Doesnt matter what the camera is, the photographer begins with the vision..camera is just a tool to create the vision. Lots of different tools do different things. Like a mallet differs from a hammer.

This device is great!!!!

Robert

Yes Robert. But i think i prefer the smell of developer, stop bath and fixer by the morning :))))

I'm not buying one until it can make every decision in my life for me.....

Oh yeah! And wipe my bum too ;^)

Now that's progress.

B

Perfect for street photography. You would definitely go unnoticed.

Rui, not so sure photography shall be the main use of this device, but in terms of portability and bringing the cyberworld closer to the real one, it's a major achievement. Due to the mentioned price, it is likely to be soon found on the markets worldwide.

Somehow I feel this is just the beginning in an ampler man/vitual reality interaction.

The guys at MIT are astonishing!
Thanks for sharing!

Looks really interesting. Love TED!

Call me oldfashioned, I do live in fear of such a future.
Already today we use cameras, our ancestors would have called night-vision-device.
The growing virtuality has many advantages, is not stopable anyway and of course, techniques give us fun. But there is a kind of isolation in the fact, that everything we or our descendants will do is filtered by a layer of technique

an interesting gadget...

Photography aside...this is quite amazing. Thanks for sharing the clip.

I just saw this and thought how wonderful it would be to access story information as we approach the shoot. I'm sure the camera part will improve but as we all know big brother will use it for themselves.

I like the different color nails. But I fear the final one will be a 3d holograph to inter act with a walking talking avatar that comes complete with touch, smell and react to our silly humor. Hmmm, sounds like a blow up doll to be mass produced in Vegas and other places. Why not wiggle your fingers than pull the string and hear Who's your photographer. Just think one sentence that goes both ways.

Out side of that, what if it shorts out in the weather, or as they mass produce you get a glitch. How about a power failure. An act of god sends a lightening bolt right down to your hard ware. You best be grounded. How about collateral damage from physically knocking it around. The little bit of shock could cross wires. Then touch means go and push means no. That kind of mix up can get you shot behind cross signals or worse incorrect identity information could be dangerous, or falsely created by someone that dislike you and wants to hurt you.

What about upgrade , bigger faster which not only out races the human mind but for once just standing their we are on the super motorcycle ripping down the freeway at such a speed everything going forward looks like it is going backwards. How about health issues? What is the simulated virtual reality becomes so real one could get a heart attack.

I fear that this will only be great for handy caps. Why go to the store when you can let your fingers do it all for you.

No my friends this technology is good for handicaps and scientists or for office work of all kinds.

You see it can't set a light or select the best settings. You still need to do that. So what's bad about this device. Lots. You once again can dawn an alter ego, a super human digital character that shields you even further away from reality until you yourself or the people you might meet someday will not be able to compete . The soul will have a super soul which begins like now 8 bits to the byte.

The only way to stay true as human beings is to meet face to face, drink beer, tell jokes and go shooting as friends together from time to time. Instead of virtual fingering around to down load social meeting habits.

The darkroom will never be replaced when it comes to seeing an image that first appears in the dark from developer, and passed to the stop bath and on to the fix.

Just like a digital image which we now down load , change values to see a visual change on our monitor, then add layers , work with highlights and shadow detail and save it with a name and give it a name. Have we forgotten that film emulsion is 3d, and the information from all sides gives us tone, texture, and light contrast to create the image. The digital world can't do that.. You only get digital sheen, anything else is noise which comes in three channels. , blue,green, and red.

Only a child-like junkie would race through life thinking more is better when it's faster and instantaneous. So if the digital camera created the term chimpping. What wold something like this create?

A child telling a 20 year old something to retie because he's too slow and that he no longer has to read the manual because he can just finger around and figure it out faster. So as we enter the world of getting finger compilation fucked by technology, I leave you with what-if the dam thing doesn't turn off at the Urinal or during a tampon change in the restroom. I say for the sake of privacy we must walk a path unconnected to technology which robs us of our privacy.
I know, too much information, but that's my point. Information with no soul and definitely not connected to what you see in real time that apart of a voice, an action , a thought that maybe produced by that individual we are in front of to share their ideas to a few that care on some level, All that we capture comes from one's human emotion which comes from our organic soul.

Can there be too much technology?

my D80 already pissed me off with his technology...:) can you imagine this thing in my hand?

the new iphone/ipad/ipod will probably be able to do all of this. so what? i wish my blackberry had a better camera.

i email, video conference and use various other software for analytics at work. Still, what would set my work apart from others depends on the real relationships and connections that i've made face to face. one lunch has more impact then 20 video conference calls. More importantly, when i want to enjoy myself, i chill with my friends (preferably outdoors) or share a nice meal (slow food).

i think its important not to forget that we can use tools to make us more productive and give us more time, or we can become slaves to them and the compulsive behaviours that they allow people to develop.

...who knows.



...probably not but again, who knows, Rui.

Mighty cool device nonetheless. That's what futurist visionaries do, they project what current trends could be.