The Sixth Sense Technology

1. The Sixth Sense Technology Amanda Shoults and Niki Huffman

2. What is it?! The Sixth Sense technology is a “wearable gestural interface that augments the physical world around us with digital information and lets us use natural hand gestures to interact with that information.”

3. What does that mean? • This means that we are making more and more progress to blur the lines between reality and technology. The Sixth Sense technology is a wearable headset that allows us to have greater access to a huge amount of technology. This is all, quite literally, at our fingertips.

4. How does it work? We access this technology through colored pads that are placed around the fingertips. Each color corresponds to a different function that the pads do. A neckpiece, shown, is worn around the neck that has a camera and a projector to project images virtually everywhere.

5. How can it be used? • The Sixth Sense is not merely for business use. Everyday citizens can use the technology for virtually anything. The technology means to replace cell phones by allowing us to place calls, draw pictures, check the weather, take pictures of real life, watch videos, shop for the best deal, read book reviews while reading the book, and many other uses.

6. What does this mean for the future?! • This technology was introduced in 2009. We have made great leaps in technology since then. While the technology might seem too bulky to wear today, it merely shows that we have the capability to interact with the virtual world for real life tasks.

7. Social, ethical and global issues • -Social Issues include how this new technology might affect people. While not an “issue”, it could definitely change how people interact with each other. It could make things much easier but also more different. If we are so plugged in around cell phones, this new technology might make us even more plugged in to our technology. • -Ethical Issues include privacy. While the projector might be obvious around someone’s neck, with our new technology it will be a much smaller device. If the camera is small enough, this would allow people to even take pictures without someone being aware of it. • -Global Issues include the Global Divide and Equality of Access. Many people will not be able to afford this new technology and will therefore not be allowed to purchase it.

8. Video! • While watching this video, please think and write about the following: • This video was made in 2009. How has technology changed and how could we use this technology to change the future? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrtANPtnhyg

9. bibliography • Boyd, Clark. "SixthSense Blurs Digital and the Real." BBC News. BBC, 14 Apr. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7997961.stm>. • "SixthSense - a Wearable Gestural Interface (MIT Media Lab)." SixthSense - a Interfwearable Gestural Ace (MIT Media Lab). N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/>. • Zetter, Kim. "TED: MIT Students Turn Internet Into a Sixth Human Sense — Video." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 05 Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.wired.com/business/2009/02/ted-digital-six/>. • Daniel, Diann. "MIT Wearable Gadget Gives You Sixth Sense." PCWorld. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.pcworld.com/article/163072/wearable_gadget.html>. • Pogue, David. "At TED, Virtual Worlds Collide With Reality." Pogue's Posts Blog. N.p., 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/at-ted-virtual-worlds-collide-with-reality/>. • "MIT Team Shows ;Sixth Sense; Wearable Computer | Fox News." Fox News. FOX News Network, 09 Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,489444,00.html>.