ISPR Presence News

Monthly Archives: December 2010

Call: First IEEE Workshop on Design, Modeling and Evaluation of Cyber Physical Systems (CyPhy’11)

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 31, 2010

First IEEE Workshop on Design, Modeling and Evaluation of Cyber Physical Systems (CyPhy’11)

http://www.cyphy.org/p/organization.html

Held in conjunction with The Seventh International Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Conference

5-8 July 2011, Istanbul, Turkey.

Call for Papers

Cyber physical systems combine computing and networking power with physical components. As a result, they enable innovation in a wide range of domains, including robotics; smart homes, vehicles, and buildings; medical implants; and future-generation sensor networks.

CyPhy aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working in the areas of modeling, simulation, and evaluation of cyber-physical systems. In 2011, CyPhy will take a broad interpretation of these areas. The priority for this first instance of this workshop is to bring together expertise from as diverse set of disciplines as possible. Read more on Call: First IEEE Workshop on Design, Modeling and Evaluation of Cyber Physical Systems (CyPhy’11)…

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Virtual holiday dinner: Celebrate together when you’re worlds apart

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 31, 2010

[From Singularity Hub]

[Image: Ah, the holidays...when good people all over the world log on to Skype and share a virtual meal in Amsterdam.]

Celebrate Together When You’re Worlds Apart: Virtual Holiday Dinner

December 30th, 2010 by Aaron Saenz

This holiday season 156 people living on six different continents got to eat dinner with their closest friends and loved ones even though they were thousands of miles apart. Was it Christmas magic, a Hanukkah miracle, or a Kwanza surprise? Nope, just another example of modern technology. Using five robotic telepresence ‘dolls’, Skype, and one oversized table, Dutch advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam brought friends together for Virtual Holiday Dinner 2010. Along with mics and speakers, each tele-robot doll had a video monitor to display a user’s face, and a webcam to record the other robots around the table. Head tracking software let one glance around the table by turning one’s gaze. In fifteen-minute blocks, guests were able to log in to one of the dolls via Skype and interact with others doing the same, along with some people who attended locally. The result was a fun chance to catch up with distant loved ones and tip a glass together in the spirit of the season. Read more on Virtual holiday dinner: Celebrate together when you’re worlds apart…

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Call: Special issue of Interacting with Computers on Inclusive Design in the Context of Social Media and Emerging Technologies

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 30, 2010

Call for Papers for Special Issue of Interacting with Computers on
“Inclusive Design in the Context of Social Media and Emerging Technologies”

Guest Editors:
Jim Ang and Ania Bobrowicz, School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent
Panayotis Zaphiris, Department of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology
Ben Schneiderman, Human Computer Interaction Laboratory, University of Maryland

Call Description:

Recently we have witnessed an increasing proliferation of new digital technologies such as online social networking sites, micro-blogging and virtual worlds which has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other. Studies are being conducted in order to investigate these interesting socio-technological phenomena.

To date, little research has been published on inclusive design in the context of social networking and emerging technologies. These technologies have the potential to impact positively on the lives of a wide range of people including older people, disabled people, and people from different social and cultural backgrounds. For example, it is claimed that the fastest growing demographic of the social networking sites is women over 55 years old (Facebook Global Monitor, 2009).

With this special issue, we aim to analyse existing and novel ways in which these audiences use social networks and emerging technologies. We ask questions such as: How can these technologies be designed to be more inclusive? What motivates people to engage with these new technologies? What are the effects on people’s behaviour, attitudes and social interactions? What methods can be used to analyse these interactions?

This special issue of Interacting with Computers invites contributions from the academic community, industry and design practitioners. We welcome research papers that trigger discussions based on investigations, case studies and overviews in this area. Read more on Call: Special issue of Interacting with Computers on Inclusive Design in the Context of Social Media and Emerging Technologies…

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Masks so realistic they’re arresting the wrong guy

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 30, 2010

[From The Los Angeles Times]

[Image: An SPFXMasks employee, left, sprays a layer of paint on a mask called "The Player." That model was used by a white man, right, in a string of robberies in Ohio. An innocent black man was held until the culprit was turned in. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times; Gary Landers / Associated Press)]

Masks so realistic they’re arresting the wrong guy

A white man who robbed Ohio banks looked so convincing in a black-male disguise that an innocent man was held. That’s not exactly how SPFXMasks of Van Nuys had intended its masks to be used.

By Sharon Bernstein, Los Angeles Times
December 8, 2010, 6:21 p.m.

They’re not just for Halloween anymore.

Expensive, realistic masks — the kind that are the hit of the costume party — are increasingly being used out of season, and not always for laughs.

A white bank robber in Ohio recently used a “hyper-realistic” mask manufactured by a small Van Nuys company to disguise himself as a black man, prompting police there to mistakenly arrest an African American man for the crimes.

In October, a 20-year-old Chinese man who wanted asylum in Canada used one of the same company’s masks to transform himself into an elderly white man and slip past airport security in Hong Kong.

Authorities are even starting to think that the so-called Geezer Bandit, a Southern California bank robber believed for months to be an old man, might actually be a younger guy wearing one of the disguises made by SPFXMasks.

News coverage of the incidents has pumped up demand for the masks, which run from $600 to $1,200, according to company owner Rusty Slusser. But he says he’s not happy about it.

“We’re proud of the fact that our masks look real, but I’m not proud of the way they were used,” said Slusser, a 39-year-old former makeup artist. Read more on Masks so realistic they’re arresting the wrong guy…

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Job: Tenure-track professor in Media Arts at DePaul University

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 29, 2010

Assistant/Associate Professor in Media Arts at DePaul University (Tenure-track)

The College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) at DePaul University is seeking applicants for a full-time tenure-track position for its cutting edge and fast-growing programs in cinema and interactive media. The ideal candidate should demonstrate innovative research in the learning sciences and/or social computing through the use of emerging interactive technologies. Possible areas of expertise include but are not limited to: game studies, computer supported collaborative learning, information design, interactive/experience design, cinematic arts, social media and related fields. Read more on Job: Tenure-track professor in Media Arts at DePaul University…

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Apple patent reveals plans for no-glasses holographic display

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 29, 2010

[From The Telegraph]

Apple patent reveals plans for holographic display

Television and cinema screens that produce holographic images without the need for special glasses are being developed by computer giant Apple.

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
26 Dec 2010

A recently granted patent reveals that Apple, the company behind the iPod and iPhone, has been working on a new type of display screen that produces three dimensional and even holographic images without the need for glasses.

The technology could be used to produce a new generation of televisions, computer monitors and cinema screens that would provide viewers with a more realistic experience. Read more on Apple patent reveals plans for no-glasses holographic display…

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Call: International Conference on Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality (CGVR’11)

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 28, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS
and
Call For Workshop/Session Proposals

CGVR’11
The 2011 International Conference on Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality

Date and Location: July 18-21, 2011, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/worldcomp11/ws
http://www.world-academy-of-science.org/worldcomp11/ws/conferences/cgvr11

You are invited to submit a full paper for consideration. All accepted papers will be published in the CGVR conference proceedings (in printed book form; later, the proceedings will also be accessible online). Those interested in proposing workshops/sessions, should refer to the relevant sections that appear below. Read more on Call: International Conference on Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality (CGVR’11)…

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Attending the Christmas party as a telepresence robot

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 28, 2010

[From MIT's Technology Review Editors blog] 

Attending the Christmas Party as a Robot

Office parties can be even more trying when you send an electronic avatar in your place.

Tom Simonite 12/22/2010

My recollections of the Technology Review holiday party, which took place yesterday, are a whirl of awkward shouted conversations, blurred vision and an embarrassing incident where I ran into a wall. Fortunately that’s only because I was attending as a robot rather than in person. The party took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while I was sat safely in my office in San Francisco, California. Read more on Attending the Christmas party as a telepresence robot…

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Call: Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts track at GECCO 2011 conference

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 27, 2010

GECCO 2011: Call for Papers

NEW FRONTIERS TRACK: Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts
(This track is newly established and runs for the first time)

2011 GENETIC AND EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION CONFERENCE (GECCO-2011)
July 12-16, Dublin, Ireland
Sponsored by ACM SIGEVO

http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2011

GECCO 2011 is a recombination of the 20th International Conference on Genetic Algorithms (ICGA) and the 16th Annual Genetic Programming Conference (GP) into One Conference – Many Mini-Conferences, with 16 Program Tracks. The Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts track encompass the young areas of games, music and arts and all aspects of supportive computational methods. Arts, music and games are currently becoming key application fields for genetic and evolutionary computation and related techniques. Indeed, they match up well with the desire of innovative game production and creative artists active in music and visual design. Moreover, they pair up well, as game development depends on visual and music/sound creativity. This new frontiers track explicitly focusses on these areas and propels joint works, thereby strengthening a currently forming area of high scientific, commercial, and cultural interest. Read more on Call: Digital Entertainment Technologies and Arts track at GECCO 2011 conference…

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Robots fill roles at new China hotpot restaurant

By Matthew Lombard | Published: December 27, 2010

[From AP via NPR, where the story features additional images]

Robot Waiters In China Never Lose Patience

by The Associated Press
JINAN, China
December 22, 2010

Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips.

The restaurant, which opened this month in Jinan in northern Shandong province, is touted as China’s first robot hotpot eatery where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food in a conveyor belt-like system.

More than a dozen robots operate in the restaurant as entertainers, servers, greeters and receptionists. Each robot has a motion sensor that tells it to stop when someone is in its path so customers can reach for dishes they want. Read more on Robots fill roles at new China hotpot restaurant…

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