What is Artificial Intelligence?

Probably one of the most sought after and most anticipated to improve tremendously in the future would be the search engines.

Google, Yahoo and Bing are yet the top 3 search engines in terms of the number of users and speed of data today. But these two criteria and others, will no longer be the main basis for any of these 3 search engines to win the battle.

In 2035, according to News of the Future, your search engines will be like a friend or your university librarian whom you can ask online or talk via phone anytime. Whatever questions you have in mind, you can talk it out with TalkTalk.

TalkTalk is the future of search engines. With artificial intelligence, search engines will turn into a talking machine!

TalkTalk is actually in the works today. Although 2035 is far from our time now, TalkTalk is already getting massive reactions from people who are quite curious and even doubtful if it will really happen in the future.

We don't know, Google might be the first to launch such a technology in less time than predicted.

Click here to read more about TalkTalk, Future of Search Engines

There about 40 to 45 million blind people in the world, than the available affordable blind devices in the market today.

Each of these devices have both advantages and disadvantages, but each aim to help the blind avoid obstacles.

The latest is the new optical radar system, developed by two engineering students of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. As part of their curriculum, these students have created an inventive optical radar system that aids the blind move around obstacles.

This optical radar system uses a computer (as the brain), two video cameras and a laser light source to alert the blind of obstacles with signals which can be heard audibly.

The device perceives obstacles, including those above the head, by scanning the extent of its surroundings, taken from two diverse angles which is like how the human eye works.

This project was exhibited together with the other 90 student projects of BGU students in their Annual Conference of Projects in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Click here to read more about Optical Radar System, New Device for the Blind

Who would not like a treat? Something free that's worth a thousand bucks when actually sold. Yes, and it's Microsoft Robotics giving away its RDS software to anyone... no restrictions... for FREE!

What's an RDS by the way? It's Microsoft Robotics platform for developing your own robot using its Robotics Developer Studio (RDS). The new R3 version is a Windows®-based platform for academic, enthusiasts, and industrial developers to effortlessly produce robotics applications over a huge range of hardware available. All previous versions though have been integrated into this new version, RDS 2008 R3.

Why has Microsoft done such a good act? It is actually part of Microsoft's new philosophies, that by providing such tools for free would help to ignite a reform in consumer robotics, and start a new era in robotics technology.

The New RDS R3 is a set of development tools containing a visual programming interface and a 3D simulator which, when synchronized to work together with lots of tutorials on the side, will make one to start creating his first robot as easily as possible.

Microsoft RDS includes a programming model that makes it quick to create asynchronous, state-driven applications. Microsoft RDS provides a standard, conventional programming framework that can be applied to support a huge range of robots, enabling code and skill transfer.

You can download Microsoft R3 2008 here.

Click here to read more about Microsoft Robotics, New Microsoft RDS 2008 R3.

TA2 is a telepresence project that uses ambient intelligence to bring families closer together

An EU-funded project, TA2 is a collaboration of researchers from several European countries aiming to create the interactive communication media that will bring together families wherever they are at any given time.

TA2, short for "together anywhere, together anytime" is an ambitious tele-presence project that integrates sophisticated video and audio communications systems with digital media, interactive devices and ambient intelligence.

In Berlin, in IFA, known as the largest consumer electronics fair in the world, TA2 was exhibited and demonstrated with two rooms, two TV sets and two tables or boards with integrated touch screens on which demonstrators could play games.

During the actual demonstration, many spectators were particularly interested and amazed at the demonstrators playing a board game together as if they were all in the same room.

According to Nikolaus Färber, head researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Germany. "People have become isolated by technology." That's why they created a technology that will bring every member of the family whenever they want to anywhere.

Click here to read more about TA2, Ambient Technology

This pair of pants detects movement and let a computer know your every move.

With the huge leaps of advancement our technology has taken, many gadgets have emerged. But our clothing doesn’t want to get left behind. Maybe it is still early for Web-enabled clothes, but we can expect to see everything from our shirt to our underwear networked in the not too distant future.

An example of this kind of clothing is the one the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg has developed. It is a pair of pants "that detect movement and let a computer know your every move." These smart pants work via a loom that helps sew the wires and fabric together. Sensors embedded in the fabric measure the speed, rotation and flexibility of the pants with every movement. Wireless signals are sent from the pants to a computer to display the activity.