Sixth Sense by Pranav Mistry & Pattie Maes
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. Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.
What fascinated me most wasn't the technology itself but the possibilities it opens up. Imagine walking into a bookstore, picking up a book and instantly seeing "If you like this, then check out these..." projected on its cover. Or pointing at a newspaper article and watching a related video spring to life. Even something as simple as dialing a number on your palm instead of fishing for a mobile phone seems straight out of science fiction.
Of course, like any new technology, there are practical questions. How compact can the hardware become? Will people really be comfortable wearing projectors and cameras all day? And perhaps the biggest question of all, will technology become more invisible instead of demanding more of our attention?
Whether Sixth Sense reaches our homes in its current form or not, one thing is certain. It offers a fascinating glimpse into a future where computers no longer sit on our desks but quietly become a part of our surroundings.