Living my dreams » Technology

A virtual haircut

Pascal Kuyten — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:37:09 +0000

While Avatar blew many minds with the capabilities of 3D video, I would like to share another outlook, realistic 3D audio.

“The ‘Virtual Barber’ (aka ‘Virtual Barbershop’, ‘Virtual Haircut’) is a binaural recording of someone getting a haircut. It starts off with you sitting in the chair then you hear the virtual barber coming in the door. The virtual barber then proceeds to give you a virtual haircut. You can actually hear him breathing down your neck. This recording is very realistic and immersive, a must hear.” [virtualbarber.org]

Step 1. Plug in an headset.

Step 2. Download this MP3.

Step 3. Close your eyes and enjoy!

In particular I could almost feel the razor moving up and down my neck.

Back to Tokyo!

Pascal Kuyten — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:53:44 +0000

Last week I received a call from the Embassy of Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science & Technology has granted my admission to the Monbukagakusho scholarship.

From October 2010 I will be studying Creative Informatics at the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo.

“The department aims to educate leading researchers and engineers with high creativity for realizing new information technologies and systems based on novel ideas. To perform this mission effectively, the main base of the department is located in Akihabara, a new metropolitan IT R&D area in central Tokyo.” [IST]

Akihabara is The gadget area of Tokyo, where the first six month I will focus on the Japanese language, followed by a two year master degree programme.

Needless to say I cannot wait to get back to Tokyo!

[Picture by Sander Bockting]

SixthSense

Pascal Kuyten — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:35:09 +0000

Augmented reality is slowly getting available to the public, Pranav Mistry shows a different approach decreasing the gap between the digital and real-life world and allowing a more natural interaction. I am very much impressed by his ideas and looking forward to the release of the code sources.

At TEDIndia, Pranav Mistry demos several tools that help the physical world interact with the world of data — including a deep look at his SixthSense device and a new, paradigm-shifting paper “laptop.” In an onstage Q&A, Mistry says he’ll open-source the software behind SixthSense, to open its possibilities to all. Ted.Com

One Very Slick Desktop Multi-Touch Concept

Pascal Kuyten — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:22:33 +0000

“It brings up some key issues surrounding the future of touch input from both a hardware and software perspective. 10/GUI’s solution is to create a multi-touch pad that lays on your desk in the area that a keyboard or mouse would. You then use this pad to interact with the monitor in front of you, just as you would with the more traditional methods of input.” Tech Crunch

BSc thesis

Pascal Kuyten — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:41:15 +0000

Rewrite Rules supporting Conditional Statements for Automatic Parallelization.

Abstract

Hurlin recently proposed a technique for automatic parallelization based on separation logic. This paper proposes an enhancement of the mechanism for situations where conditional statements are used in specifications of programs. With the proposed changes, specifications containing conditional statements are supported and programs can be automatically parallelized. Two approaches are identified and a preferable one is suggested. The proposed extension is illustrated by an exemplifying program and has been implemented.

Will be presented at The 11th Twente Student Conference on IT, to be held June 29, 2009

Solar transit of Atlantis and the Hubble space telescope

Pascal Kuyten — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:29:44 +0000

In my childhood during summertime I was tracking sunspots in the backyard of my dad. In that time I used a rather small telescope, protecting my eyes with darkened negatives, sketching the movement of the spots in a notebook.

Thierry Legault managed to bring back these memories by shooting these incredible pictures of the Atlantis on a repair mission of the Hubble telescope.

Free Microsoft Certification

Pascal Kuyten — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:15:18 +0000

I have been waiting for this for years: Free Microsoft Certificates for students.

Check it out on DreamSpark.

Claim your free Microsoft Technical Specialist exam voucher code and get certified before June 30, 2009!

My new phone!

Pascal Kuyten — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:46:54 +0000

It was about time to upgrade my old phone to a next gen: Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1.

I love the combination of the bright screen, QWERTY keyboard and classy design. Downside is storage size of just 500MB. So I ordered a 16GB Micro SDHC (SanDisk)

For internet I will have to wait another two weeks to have my new Vodafone plan activated.

A future vision

Pascal Kuyten — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:26:04 +0000

Envision how emerging technologies, evolving trends, and global change might come together to improve our lives at work and home across multiple real life scenarios. by Office Labs

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Read the full article.