Here we have a conceptual version of Ford’s second generation Sync system, to debut next week at the Detroit auto show.
Beyond the flawless voice recognition capaciy, there are two striking things about this video.
First, the natural language the model uses to control the SYNC system. The ability to use voice commands without necessarily utilizing specific code words is a vast leap forward that really can move this technology from the hyper-focused capacity it now occupies, to a vast frontier of mobile applications. Delivery drivers and iPhone tools are two that pop to mind.
Second, the example shown in this video exemplifies how new cars are transforming from transportation tools to a pseudo-office, with all the comforts, tools, and connectivity we once associated with a luxurious office space. It seems that in this new age driving is, uhh, taking a back seat.
Mozilla labs blows minds with this mold-breaking, innovative, and nearly genius addition to the browser kingdom: Ubiquity. As they describe it,
Enable on-demand, user-generated mashups with existing open Web APIs. (In other words, allowing everyone (not just Web developers) to remix the Web so it fits their needs, no matter what page they are on, or what they are doing.)
This is an alpha 0.1 release, so I am sure we can expect a few bugs, and sure the interface is less than perfect, but the ability to simply and intuitively do things like: add a map to email; map a selection of housing listings from craigslist; or insert selected items into an email, is so powerful and so useful, that Ubiquity is already, even in this 0.1 alpha stage, remarkable.
The concept video below, from Adaptive Path, illustrates a vision of browsing in the future. This case study of a user interacting with the Aurora browser is of the highest caliber, and delivers a terrific sense of what it would be like the use such a powerful tool.
Some of the features shown, such as browser-integrated text/IM capability, shared desktop functions, and the nifty wheel menu, seem like they could be added to a standard browser in the near term.
Other features, like the chart-remixing, and history clouds with smart grouping, probably would require some signifigant planning for a common coding framework, plus massive processor power. But they are far from science fiction.
Overall, a ton of great ideas brought to bear in this video. Major kudos to Adaptive Path for their work on Aurora. Wow, wouldn’t it be fun to work on wild conceptual projects like this? A man can dream….