In this video, Pattie Maes demonstrates new hardware that allows people to interact in a seamless way with the world.  Ever since people began using PDAs and cell phones, there has been a struggle to use them to interact with the world.  Remember some PDAs had infrared capabilities allowing you to beam business cards?  That somehow fell by the wayside, but it was a good thought and especially convenient at a tradeshow.

Now imagine that you could walk into a booth, point at an object, look it up on the internet or instantly share an image with colleagues?  Or imagine that you could walk to a wall and beam a demonstration for a customer or prospect.  Yes, technically this is all possible right now, but Pattie Maes demonstration show how it could been done without a lot of cumbersome hardware.  And her prototype cost around $300 — which bodes well for this sort of thing going commercial soon.

From TED.com:

This demo — from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry — was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some.

About Pattie Maes
At the MIT Media Lab’s new Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes researches the tools we use to work with information and connect with one another.