Indian Geek Develops 'Sixth Sense' Device

Techtree News Staff, Mar 25, 2009 1606 hrs IST

Use hand gestures to click pictures or send mails

28-year-old Pranav Mistry, a MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) based researcher hailing from Gujarat has created a digital prototype of a "sixth sense" device that is being currently evaluated by corporations including Google, Microsoft, HP and Samsung.

To briefly describe what this sixth sense is all about, we need to understand how the current dissemination of information from current electronic devices takes place. Most of the information from computers, mobile phones and other devices are confined to screen or paper - if we decide to take a print. However, the sixth sense, according to Mistry, bridges this gap "bringing intangible digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures". The concept falls under "wearable computing" -- the same category under which the ubiquitous mobile phone falls as well.

The equipment list for the sixth sense might seem a tad crude, but it does its job quite well. It comprises a pocket projector; mirror and web camera bundled in a wearable pendant-like mobile. With the help of the projector, you can turn any material surface into a touchscreen. The camera is used to "see" the hand gestures. The user will however need to wear color-coded gloves on the index finger and the thumb so that the hand movements can be recorded and decrypted.

Some of the interesting hand gestures include drawing a square frame which will trigger a command to take a picture, drawing the @ sign will let the user access his email. You can even write e-mails with the help of the projector, which projects an image of a virtual keyboard so that you can type. All this costs around $350 (Rs. 17,000) to build - which is not a bad for something as futuristic as this!

Mistry has been approached by a couple of Indian companies who seem to be interested in his project. However, he wants the technology to be a little cheaper before it comes to India

Source : http://www.techtree.com/

World's richest not so rich, Gates regains top spot

Highest growth this year

Highest growth this year

Today's is Gaura Purnima

Today is Gaura Purnima, the most auspicious appearance day of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself appearing in the form of His own devotee to freely bestow without any conditions what no other incarnation has ever freely bestowed before, pure devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When Krishna was present on this planet 5,000 He made a condition for those who wanted to get His mercy. He required that one first of all had to surrender to Him. But Lord Caitanya made not such condition. He simply bestowed the mercy of pure devotional service upon those who came into contact with him. That same mercy of Lord Caitanya is now available to everyone throughout the entire world in the form of ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. By associating with and serving this sublime movement one is causelessly blessed with the unlimited mercy of pure devotional service.

Observe Gaura Purnima by fasting all day until moonrise, at which time an opulent vegetarian feast composed of fruits, vegetable, dairy products, and grains (no onions and garlic please) should be offered to Lord Caitanya. Hold kirtan, offer arati, and beautifully decorate the later with fresh fragrant flowers. Then the prasadam should be honored with great devotion by all the assembled devotees. If possible, attend this function at your local Hare Krishna temple or gathering. If this is not possible, you should celebrate it at home. Observing Gaura Purnima with great devotion will immediately attract the powerful blessings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and fill your heart with the transcendental bliss of love of Godhead.



Sankarshan Das Adhikari

All inquiries are welcome. Feel free to call or email.
Contact Information:
phone: 1-512-835-2121
Email: questions@backtohome.com

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: Who Made Sin?

When every thing is made by God, and God only governs our every action and thought, and we are here to pay for our sins and good things that we have done in our previous births, then at the very beginning He made us do sins, and wrong things, and then He made this process of hell and heaven. If He wanted He could have made every thing good in this world with no hate revenge lust etc. It was He who created pain.

Vishal

Answer: We Did.

You are foolishly thinking that God has created our painful situation in this material existence. This is a completely wrong understanding. I am again and again seeing how many people are trying to blame God for their suffering condition in this material existence. Instead of owning up to the responsibility for having made the wrong choice, they try to blame God for their predicament. This is not the way to become free from the sufferings of material existence. Such an attitude of blaming God simply prolongs one's suffering situation in this material world.

Everything is made by God. That's fact. But He is not a despotic dictator. He is our loving father. He is not orchestrating the thoughts and actions of His beloved children. Rather He gives them the free will to engage their thoughts and actions in His service or to rebel against Him and engage their thoughts and actions independently for a life of sense gratification.

Those who choose to lovingly offer their thoughts and actions completely in the Lord's service experience an eternity full of love, knowledge, and bliss. And those who choose to rebel against the Lord suffer an eternity of hate, ignorance, and misery. The good news is that there is no such thing as being eternally damned. All those who rebelled have the free choice to be reinstated in their original position full of bliss, knowledge, and love in the unlimitedly sweet spiritual world. All they have to do is agree to surrender themselves fully unto Lord Sri Krishna.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Western world is finding the wisdom behind our ancient practice

If you remember the morning prayers of Lord Ganesha, Our ancestors called it 'thoppukaranam' (in tamil) holding ear-lobes to bend down 10-times . When you go to the temple, you will find many (particularly those from Tamil Nadu, India) doing this thoppukaranam in front of Lord Ganesha.

Now the western world calls this 'super-brain yoga' - and that it super charges the brain.

Here is an example of "Brain Yoga" becoming popular in west, we used to do it over milliniums for making pranams to Lord Ganesha (Pillayar in Tamil) or punishing our young kids to do :-) - this is cause and effect!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwhpF9iJSs

No iPhones, iPods at Bill Gates's house

Bill Gates's sprawling Washington state compound is, as you might expect, packed to the gills with bleeding-edge gear, from the heated floors and 20-seat home theater to the X-ray machine (for screening the mail, of course) and miles of fiber-optic cabling. But here's what you definitely won't find at chez Gates: an iPhone. In the latest issue of Vogue, Bill's wife, Melinda Gates, reveals that among the "very few things" on "the banned list in our household" are—you guessed it—iPods and iPhones.

Brutal, yes—especially for Bill and Melinda's three kids (two daughters and a son, aged 12, six, and nine, respectively), who'll just have to grin and bear it as their little pals make merry with the latest and greatest iPod.

And even Melinda herself admits to an occasional pang of Apple envy: "Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'" (Ouch!)

Then again, what else did we expect from Microsoft founder Bill Gates? The man has his pride, not to mention scores of Windows Mobile and Zune team members who'd probably feel a tad bit hurt if Bill Jr. was running around with an iPhone.

So, which phones and MP3 players are on the Gates's "good-to-go" list? Well, there's always the Zune for music and video—not the sexiest MP3 player out there, mind you, but at least it's got Wi-Fi and a snazzy interface.

And of course, there are plenty of Windows Mobile handsets to choose from; personally, I'd go for the Palm Treo Pro (if I had to get a Windows Mobile phone, that is), although it's not exactly a barrel of fun for the teens. Or how about the HTC Touch Pro? That's a pretty cool phone … I guess (as I pat the iPhone 3G in my jeans pocket).

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/40926

Related:
Gates of Heaven [Vogue]

Future depends on your decision today

1. Anything in life is 98% why and 2% how.
Take a time to think about it and you will understand how true this statement is.

2. Where you are today is because of your decision(s) in the past, similarly where you would be in future depends on your decision today. Make your decisions wisely.

3. Having a dream is as essential as knowing your destination at the start of journey.
You decide where you wanna end up.

4. A dream which is not worth fighting for, is just the fantasy.
Your dream should be the burning desire that motivates you.

5. After deciding your dream, very very important to decide what are the activites that you need to postpone/change in your day to day life. Avoid diversions and be aligned to the success path.

6. Everything you do today outside of your primary occupation/studies is totally optional, and so is the success.

7. Good habits are exactly like bad ones, hard to get rid of. They just require bit more of effort to catch on.

8. Do you think you are a leader? Then you should know this.
Leaders are the one to pay the price but then again they are the ppl to make more money.

9. If you do not have the plan to pay for success, you are automatically planning to pay for the failure.

10. It is very simple, either you make money or you make excuses. Esp coz of the fact that we have huge amount of money flowing in, make sure you cash onto it. Someone gonna take that money, if not you, somebody else.

See this presentation.....worth it.