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TWITTER: NOW FOR CATS
ITEM: Sony Computer Science Laboratories demonstrates a lifelogging device for cats that basically allows them to post updates on Twitter.
It also comes with a cat facial-recognition feature.
For those of you asking, “Why?”, think of it in the larger context of lifelogging, the object of which is to use computer technology to record most of yr life. The concept has been around since the 1980s, but in the last couple of years we’ve seen both the gadgets to enable it and the rise of microblogging/social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to give you somewhere to store it in a readable and searchable format.
For those of you now asking, “Yeah but WHY?”, the answer depends. Obviously not everyone wants to document their entire life – and some argue it’s a really bad idea, especially if the Pentagon is for it – but the popularity of Twitter and FB indicates that some people do. It’s not just about tweeting yr grocery lists, either – there are some potential benefits to lifelogging. Some lifelogging technology was initially developed with Alzheimer’s patients in mind, for example.
There’s also an anthropology/sociology angle at work here. As Charles Stross pointed out three years ago, we’re already generating massive amounts of data about ourselves, and storage technology is getting larger and cheaper to the point where we'll really be able to log our entire lives from birth to death and store all the data from the entire 21st Century on a 100-kg carbon nanoscale diamond.
Which means our descendents (or whoever finds our remains) 400 years in the future will get a far more complete and accurate record of who we were than we’ve ever had about our own anscestors.
So, you know, why not include pets?
Wonderful things we can do with technology these days. Next thing you know, we’ll be teaching dolphins how to use iPads.
Oh.
My so-called lifelog,
This is dF
The lifelogging device, which was prototyped in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, is equipped with a camera, an acceleration sensor, a GPS, etc to record the activities of a cat.
Using the data collected by the acceleration sensor, etc, the device deduces the activities of a cat such as walking, sleeping and eating.
The device can be used with the Twitter service and automatically posts comments in accordance with the activities. The lifelog data is first transmitted to a PC via Bluetooth, and, then, comments are posted on Twitter. For example, it is possible to automatically post a comment like "This tastes good" when a cat is eating something.
Using the data collected by the acceleration sensor, etc, the device deduces the activities of a cat such as walking, sleeping and eating.
The device can be used with the Twitter service and automatically posts comments in accordance with the activities. The lifelog data is first transmitted to a PC via Bluetooth, and, then, comments are posted on Twitter. For example, it is possible to automatically post a comment like "This tastes good" when a cat is eating something.
It also comes with a cat facial-recognition feature.
For those of you asking, “Why?”, think of it in the larger context of lifelogging, the object of which is to use computer technology to record most of yr life. The concept has been around since the 1980s, but in the last couple of years we’ve seen both the gadgets to enable it and the rise of microblogging/social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to give you somewhere to store it in a readable and searchable format.
For those of you now asking, “Yeah but WHY?”, the answer depends. Obviously not everyone wants to document their entire life – and some argue it’s a really bad idea, especially if the Pentagon is for it – but the popularity of Twitter and FB indicates that some people do. It’s not just about tweeting yr grocery lists, either – there are some potential benefits to lifelogging. Some lifelogging technology was initially developed with Alzheimer’s patients in mind, for example.
There’s also an anthropology/sociology angle at work here. As Charles Stross pointed out three years ago, we’re already generating massive amounts of data about ourselves, and storage technology is getting larger and cheaper to the point where we'll really be able to log our entire lives from birth to death and store all the data from the entire 21st Century on a 100-kg carbon nanoscale diamond.
Which means our descendents (or whoever finds our remains) 400 years in the future will get a far more complete and accurate record of who we were than we’ve ever had about our own anscestors.
So, you know, why not include pets?
Wonderful things we can do with technology these days. Next thing you know, we’ll be teaching dolphins how to use iPads.
Oh.
My so-called lifelog,
This is dF