Microsoft Research Community

December 2008 - Technology Trends

  • Mapping the internet backbone

    2009 Global Internet Map“TeleGeography’s new Global Internet Map draws upon their annual Global Internet Geography research to provide a unique view of the world’s Internet backbone architecture. The map’s global projection traces...
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  • Split screen

    One screen, two images“Remember lenticular printing, where two different images were printed on a single piece of striated plastic? You could tilt the plastic to one side for a sort of ghetto animation effect. [...] Mercedes Benz will be incorporating...
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  • Proximity sensitivity

    “Walking City” kinetic dresses“This dress by Ying Gao reacts to it’s environment by integrating proximity sensors. I would love to see this type of clothing being worn on the streets of NYC.” MAKE Read More...
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  • Car biometrics

    Prototype Scanner Gives Middle Finger To Drunk Driving“The device combines an identification security system with fingerprint testing. A driver places his middle finger inside a scanning box which analyzes the grooves of the fingerprint, as well...
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  • Self tracking

    Quantifying myself“As[...] I track myself - 40 things about my body, mind, and activity - every day. The fact that I do this tracking seems to interest people. [...] I found two interesting trends or patterns in my data, one of which surprised me...
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  • Designing soft toys

    Plushie: An interactive design system for plush toys - stuff animals“We use a sketching interface for 3D modeling and also provide various editing operations tailored for plush toy design. Internally, the system constructs a 2D cloth pattern in...
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  • Rotate to scroll

    Wireless Orbita Mouse Scrolls onto the Scene“The biggest claim to fame for the mouse is its scroll capability where you actually rotate the mouse rather than a wheel. By turning the mouse clockwise you can scroll down a page at whatever speed you...
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  • Wide-angled cameras

    Scallop Imaging wide-angle security cams look to the sea for inspiration“Boston’s own Scallop Imaging, a Tenebraex subsidiary that has developed a “low-cost” security camera that sees 180 degrees of view without fisheye distortion...
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  • Kid’s internet

    KidZui is a Kid Friendly Web Interface“KidZui is a child-safe internet front end that calls upon an enormous whitelist of websites, pictures, videos, and games that have all been reviewed by a group of volunteers composed of parents and educators...
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  • Concepts of ownership

    Do you own your stuff? “A group of car dealers in Oregon apparently attached GPS devices to cars sold to customers with poor credit so as to be able to track them down more easily in the event of repossession. …this practice also relates to an emerging...
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  • Book tracking

    BookCrossing Tracks Your Books In The Wild“After signing up for an account you can begin tagging your books and releasing them. Give them to friends, leave them on airplanes or coffee shop tables, anything to put them out where they can be found...
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  • Running data

    Marathon to SMS Those Too Lazy to Run In It“This Sunday, the Dallas White Rock Marathon will implement a pretty cool feature for participants and their friends/families. While most modern marathons track runners with (RFID?) chips attached to their...
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  • Twitter events

    Kickbee : Twitter from the womb“The Kickbee is a wearable device made of a stretchable band and embedded electronics and sensors. Piezo sensors are attached directly to the band, and transmit small but detectable voltages when triggered by movement...
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  • Object history

    Track&Trace: A New Backstory Tool“Visit the MADE-BY site and enter a code printed on the garment’s label to pull up a history of the product that describes the places it’s been and the people who played a role in its creation. [...
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  • Dream viewer

    New Technology Could Display Your Dreams on Screen“In a nutshell, the device converts electrical signals sent to the visual cortex into images that can be viewed on a computer screen. In their experiment, they showed test subjects the six letters...
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