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Displays

Submission + - Visualizing data inside the 30-ft Allosphere (ted.com)

TEDChris writes: "The Allosphere, being created at USC Santa Barbara, is the most ambitious attempt yet at creating powerful 3d visualizations of raw scientific data, such as the structure of a crystal, or how quantum effects take place. Researchers watch from a bridge inside the 30 ft sphere, looking at data projected 360-degrees around them and listening to 3D sound. The first major public demo of the facility has just been posted at TED.com. Optimists wd argue that many of the greatest scientific breakthroughs happened through a new visual way of imagining data. Penicillin and relativity come to mind. So this is either a killer new research vehicle, an incredible toy, or just an insanely expensive art project."
Biotech

Submission + - Cracking the code of bacterial communication (ted.com)

TEDChris writes: "It's not often you get leading-edge science shared in such a dynamic way. Microbiologist Bonnie Bassler here explains her discovery of "quorum sensing" — the amazing ability of bacteria to communicate with each other and coordinate attack strategies. By cracking the communication code, she has opened up potential for a new class of drugs tackling microbial diseases. The talk got a massive standing ovation at this year's TED and has just been posted. To quote one commenter: "This is by far the most inspiring, amazing, and far-reaching talk I've seen in a very long time. " Wd love Slashdot community's insight into implications of this work."
Input Devices

Submission + - Demo of a new "sixth sense" technology out (ted.com)

TEDChris writes: "Here's an intriguing attempt at a versatile new tech device... By combining a computerized personal projector with a camera and linking both to the web, a host of surprising new applications becomes possible. This 8-minute demo created a lot of buzz at TED last month and was posted online today. Would love to know what the slashdot community makes of it."
Toys

Demo of Spatially Aware Blocks 109

Chris Anderson writes "This 5-min demo just posted from last week's TED — got a big crowd reaction. It's a new technology coming out of MIT, about to be commercialized. Siftables have been seen before, but not like this. They're toy blocks/tiles that are spatially aware and interact with each other in very cool ways. Initial use may be as toys, but there's big potential for new paradigm of spatially-aware physical mini computers."
Toys

Submission + - Cool toy demo you guys should be aware of (tinyurl.com)

Chris Anderson writes: "This 5-min demo just posted from last week's TED — got a big crowd reaction. It's a new technology coming out of MIT... about to be commercialized. Siftables have been seen before, but not like this. They're toy blocks/tiles that are spatially aware and interact with each other in v cool ways. Initial use may be as toys, but there's big potential for new paradigm of spatially-aware physical mini computers. Check out, for example, the music demo at the end. Here's the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_smart_blocks.html"

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