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Cookie-sized computers

siftables.com

41 pointsedgefield11 comments

I personally went nuts when I saw this on the front page. For a very specific reason. About a year ago I purchased a sweatshirt made by a cool little fashion company called Distilled. It had a really neat design on it that was reminiscent of electrical circuits. It also came with a little booklet explaining the origin of the design. The booklet revealed it was created not by a distilled designer but a collaborator ("partner in crime" as they called him) by the name of Jeevan Kalanithi and the design was derived from his "connectibles" project. Pretty cool check it out: http://web.media.mit.edu/~jeevan/pages/distilled.html

These would be amazing if they shipped with a WREL (Wireless Resonant Energy Link) device to charge them, however I believe a simple multi-mini-usb 2.0 dock would suffice, however wouldn't be as useful.

I believe this would be the key problem with this technology for classrooms and such. Small children aren't going to remember to plug these back in, and I'm unsure if teenagers would even remember to plug these back in, so I would love to see a wireless charger for these. I mean even if it's simply one of the touch-charging pads and not the longer distance WREL.

Also things like battery life would be nice to know. I mean do these things last as long as an iPod's play time, or do they last like 15 minutes?

One thing I'd love for these is if they were capable of parallel processing. It appears they just pass information off to each other, and then the one device does its own task. I'd like it if you could stick 3 together and run a program that 1 alone can't. I mean with WREL power these could compete with PCs, with the right software, because the more power you need you simply stick more blocks together.

I mean you want portability, then stick a couple together and you've got a PDA. Need a bigger display, well stick another four together or have an external display you can click multiple siftables into to get a full screen. Need more power? Stick an extra row under the four and still use the existing screen. Going on a road trip with some friends, but still need a laptop? Well if everyone has a couple of siftables each, then stick 16/32 together with an external display and boot up ubuntu or XP! I hope the technology goes this way, but I have my doubts.

Edit: The laptop example would be perfect, each persons siftable carries their own data. Yet when you click a bunch together you can all carry different accounts on a laptop and do your own thing, and when you're done you take your siftables back with your modified data.

The first thing that struck me about this video was how awesome this technology is. The second thing that struck me was how most of the presentation fell flat.

The technology is totally amazing and it's going to change the way we live and learn (this isn't a prediction about Siftables specifically, but this type of technology in general). Even still, it's possible to give a presentation about it that doesn't blow people away. It's a good reminder to not let a modest reception affect how you feel about your own work.

This is cool, but should there really be patents filed for this? Seems a pretty obvious setup.

"Cube World" http://www.firebox.com/product/1201/Cube-World is a pretty similar, if more primitive version.

how is this more intuitive than text printed on a screen? computers are a natural evolution of the book format of presenting information. I doubt you can get better until you get direct interfaces.

I honestly can't see a way to think about computers as a natural evolution of the book format of presenting information. They use text that's true but that's pretty much where the comparison halts. Computers are capable of taking in substantially more information then they put out, with books all you can do is turn the pages and start or stop reading. Seems really different to me. Do you disagree?

I agree. The evolution of X into computer seems so 70. (it's like a book, a library but digital !). computer games is like an evolution of interactive theatre. computer search is like an evolution of a really boring besserwisser ( aka messerschmitt).

I think Alan Key somewhere talks about the chord keyboard. I could be all wrong but what stuck in my head was that machine and man both evolute together thus providing with new and better ways to interact.

Obviously, these are not aimed for optimized display of large bodies of text. Along the same reasoning, the book/monitor format is not optimized for non-literate applications.

The demos are quite interesting. It's as if Wii controllers have become self-aware. Obviously, potential is lost when opting for physical items as opposed to holograms, but until simulating weight and feel is viable, these miniature devices do have a place in a myriad of activities.

Tools like this aren't a stopgap. They're real, they create new possibilities, and they're our future.

Nice!

Pure gold. Possibilities are endless.

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