Wayne MacPhail

Next-gen augmented reality will target human sensorium

rabble staff — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:50:28 +0000

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

When most of us think of augmented reality, thanks to Google, we think of dorky glasses with an ugly camera mounted on the frame. But what about the other senses? What if all of them were augmented and all those augmentations worked in concert?

That broader view of AR might be closer to what tech companies will be unveiling in the next couple of years. Humans take in enormous amounts of sensory input every second. We make judgements about threats, reactions, choices and pleasures from subtle and dramatic changes in the patina of inputs we're swaddled in.

Some decisions are made on minuscule cues -- a wink, a flicker at the periphery of vision, a rough burr on a flat surface, a chirp.

When most of us think of augmented reality, thanks to Google, we think of dorky glasses. But what about the other senses? What if they were augmented and all those augmentations worked in concert?

The social media fight against Trump is a modern battle of the presses

rabble staff — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 14:46:01 +0000

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

At first glance there would seem to be little that would connect Donald Trump with Martin Luther, but stick with me here.

In 1517 Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation with his 95 Theses. This document railed against Papal indulgences, which the faithful could buy as a sort of "Get Out of Jail Free" card for sin.

The later Reformation also held that Christian scripture is the only source of the rules for worship. There was no need for priests to get in the way. This, of course, went over in Rome like a fart in a spacesuit.

The most powerful battalions battling against Trump's frightening presidency -- fuelled by the hard work of the press -- are fighting it out on social media.

Lies, truth and alternative facts: Trump's bad weekend

rabble staff — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 16:19:11 +0000

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." --Samuel Adams, revolutionary (1722-1803)

"We shall overcomb" -- Women's March protest sign this past weekend

It is remarkable to me that in less than three days as President of the United States Donald Trump has managed to so exuberantly, beautifully and effortlessly alienate the press, bring a million or more women to the streets, leave himself and his closest aides open to exquisite satire and scare the shit out of sane people everywhere.

Over the course of one weekend the press has realized the game has changed, social media killed it with savage, pointed satire and fact-checking of Trump's press secretary shredded his credibility.

The robots are coming... for our jobs

rabble staff — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 14:23:14 +0000

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

I think a lot of us, when we muse about artificial intelligence, fret that machines will become sentient and self-reliant. When we think about robots, we worry that, like Transformers, they will be hulking, dangerous machines or, like in Westworld, androids who can crush our windpipes.

When we think about robots, we worry that, like Transformers, they will be hulking, dangerous machines. But what if they are more subtle? What if they just steal our jobs?

AirPods are not just earphones -- they're a metaphor of the future

rabble staff — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 18:52:27 +0000

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Just before Christmas I got a pair of Apple AirPods. They're white, completely wireless earphones. AirPods are almost identical to Apple's wired earphones except that in lieu of thin cables, small white cylinders extend from the AirPods themselves. When you wear them it looks like you laughed and the milk came out your ears.

A few of my friends don't get it. "They're just dorky wireless earphones," they say.

And, they're wrong -- not because they don't look dorky, I'll give them that. They're simply incorrect because they're using the wrong frame for the things that now extend like candy cigarettes below my earlobes.

If all you do is consider AirPods earphones, you limit your ability to think expansively about what they could be, and what they presage.

The year in technology: Change is good-ish

rabble staff — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 14:04:51 +0000

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

This past year in technology has been as busy as Donald Trump's Twitter feed. It feels like everything shifted on us: news, ports, emojis, bots, virtual reality and mainstream media.

Let's start there.

A lot shifted in 2016 -- our perception of who we are, what we share, how smart we want our devices to be, and what truth and news really are. It was a little like waking up in a Black Mirror episode.

rabble's 2016 gift guide for the nerds on your list

rabble staff — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 14:09:24 +0000

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Once again it's time to buy gifts for the gadget nerd on your list. And, once again I'm here to offer sage advice to prevent you from getting him or her the totally, completely wrong thing.

As I mentioned last year, picking a gift for a nerd without guidance is about as safe as juggling flaming chainsaws drunk.

Dongle deluge

This year, computer, tablet and smartphone ports have gotten more confusing. Does your lovable nerd have a phone with a headphone jack or just a Lightning port? Does her laptop have USB-3 or USB C ports? Does that same laptop have HDMI, mini displayport or Thunderbolt output to a TV or monitor? Choose wisely.

Once again it's time to buy gifts for the gadget nerd in your life. Whether it's dongles, headphones or micro controllers, Wayne MacPhail delivers sage advice this holiday season.

Fake news is foolish but the consequences are real

rabble staff — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 14:13:04 +0000

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

This week a photo of a racist letter made the rounds on social media.

It read:

"Dear Terrorist-Bitch,

We are writing to you as the newly organized Neighborhood Town Watch. We understand that you currently wear a scarf on your head and we would like to put you on notice that this will no longer be tolerated in our neighborhood.

Now that America is great again, we would like to offer you two opportunities to avoid any consequences on your poor previous decisions. First, you can take your radical attire of and live like all Americans. Or, your second option, you can go back to the God Forsaken land you came from.

America is Great Again,

Neighborhood Town Watch"

When people of any political stripe let dogma defeat data and outrage quell common sense, there are consequences.

read more

Tortoise meets hare in new product releases from Microsoft and Apple

rabble staff — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 13:10:52 +0000

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Last week both Microsoft and Apple released new input devices: a puck and a bar.

One day before Apple's Macbook event, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Surface Studio. It sports an industrial design that would fit right into a Black Mirror episode. It's basically a huge touch screen that can cantilever down to a shallow angle. It then becomes a bright, interactive table.

Last week both Microsoft and Apple released new input devices: a puck and a bar. We'll see if the tortoise beats the hare or the puck trumps the bar in the years ahead.

Safeguarding our digital security with cardboard doors and paper locks

rabble staff — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 13:43:28 +0000

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Imagine the houses in your hometown all have cardboard doors, or leave their doors wide open. Now imagine inside all those houses there are safes, jewellery cases, storage lockers and desk drawers all protected by locks made of paper. As you would expect, all of those houses and lockers and drawers would be easy pickings for professional burglars or even for unskilled thieves looking for something to pawn.

Now, imagine instead of stealing anything, the home invaders hid tiny devices inside all those poorly locked containers. Let's suppose those devices could make phone calls whenever and to wherever the invaders chose. Maybe the gizmos lay hidden in all those storage lockers and desk drawers, in all those homes, for years -- undetected and benign.

In a rush to create smart homes and make our devices talk to each other, we have allowed a threat into our houses through our cardboard doors and paper locks.

Technology and the knowledge of dissatisfaction

rabble staff — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 13:47:13 +0000

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Sometimes it feels like our technical knowledge has smeared us, like a palette knife, across an unfortunate expanse of time.

When broadcast radio first arrived in people's homes in the early 1920s, astonished listeners, we are told, exclaimed: "Well what do you think of that, Martha! It's just like the orchestra is right here in the parlour!" Or, words to that effect.

Sometimes it feels like our technical knowledge has smeared us, like a palette knife, across an unfortunate expanse of time.

Imagination takes flight in the worlds of Birdly and Topobox

rabble staff — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 12:53:36 +0000

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Last week I attended the annual Association of Science and Technology Centers conference. One of my favourite parts of the conference is the exhibit hall. That's where vendors and science centres from all over the world present devices, services and travelling exhibits they hope will entice attendees.

This year, two products really stuck out for me. One was a virtual reality (VR) experience, the other augmented the real world.

At the Association of Science and Technology Centers conference, two products stuck out. One created virtual reality, the other augmented reality. Both were imagination prosthetics for adults.

In praise of stickers and emojis

rabble staff — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 18:12:39 +0000

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Last week Apple introduced stickers and automatic emoji to its popular iMessage chat app.

Neither are new to chat platforms. But the move will introduce a large swath of smartphone users to a world where pictures are worth, if not a thousand words, at least a few of them when screen real estate and time are of the essence.

Stickers, if you are unaware, are relatively large cartoonish images which can be inserted into conversations in lieu of, or along with, words.

The ideograms of Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian texts all demonstrate how powerful a picture-based language can be. Maybe all we've really done with emojis is come full circle.

Apple, the iPhone and the case of the missing headphone jack

rabble staff — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 17:49:34 +0000

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

To say that there has been a great hue and cry about Apple removing the headphone jack from its newest iPhones would be like saying k.d. lang can carry a tune.

The gnashing of teeth could be heard across Twitter, Facebook and reddit. The general consensus seems to be that Apple was arrogant, stupid, elitist and greedy to get rid of a port that has been a staple in audio equipment for a century.

In the headphone jack's stead, for those who don't know, Apple has opted for going wireless or, in a pinch, using the Lightning port has been employed mostly for charging iDevices.

Was Apple's decision to remove the headphone jack arrogant, elitist and greedy? Maybe. Is it the first time it has done something like this? Definitely not.

Steampunk celebrates the beauty and promise of early technology

rabble staff — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 12:31:34 +0000

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Imagine a world in which the Hindenburg Zeppelin had not become an inferno on landing. A world in which the transistor had never been invented. Where the airplanes that grew out of the First and Second World Wars had never been developed. A world where the steampower, clockwork and the fanciful electrical energy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the wilder inventions of Nikola Tesla were the primary power sources for airships, automatons, clanking vehicles and brass prosthetics and crackpot inventions.

The alternative world of steampunk is a world frozen in a parallel Victorian era of remarkable, imagined technology. The steampunk attitude towards its technology sheds light on present-day thinking.