Smithsonian.com

Product shot of the Lytro

Every once in a while a story comes along that seems as likely as cats and dogs playing poker. Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an article suggesting that Kodak was on the brink of bankruptcy. That’s right, Kodak, the company once so iconic it was able to equate its brand with stopping time, aka the “Kodak moment.”

It’s not like Kodak slept through the digital revolution. Heck, one of its engineers invented digital photography in 1975, although back then they called it “film-less photography.” By 2005, Kodak was the top-selling digital camera brand in the U.S.

No, this is a case of death by smartphone. According to the latest estimate from Samsung, 2.5 billion people–that’s a third of the world’s population–now have digital cameras and most are in cell phones. Last year more than one out of every four photos taken in America was with a smartphone. And by last summer–less than a year after its launch–the iPhone 4S was the most popular camera for uploading photos on Flickr.

So if a digital camera that’s not a cell phone hopes to survive these days, it better be able to do some pretty snazzy techno-voodoo.

Enter the Lytro. Not only does it do away with the whole matter of focusing a shot, but it also turns photos into playthings.

Allow me to explain. Shaped like a stick of butter, the Lytro deals with light in a truly innovative way. It captures far more data–including the light’s direction and angles–than a conventional camera, all of which is stored in the photo. The result is that there’s not just one version of an image, but many. Each person who views it can shift the focus, creating a different picture. In short, your photos on Facebook or Flickr or wherever else you want to post them, become truly interactive.

This sounds very cool, although given the quality of most Facebook photos, your choice would often come down to shifting the focus from this head to that head. Still, the notion of what inventor Ren Ng calls “living pictures” could dramatically change how we try to capture images, knowing that within each photo there can be way more than meets the eye.

Two versions of the Lytro will be available when it hits the market soon, a $399 model that holds 350 shots and a $499 version that holds 750. Neither of these early models will be able to shoot video nor can your images be loaded on to anything other than a Mac at this point. And as Joshua Goldman noted in a CNET review, you can’t do much real photo-editing yet and there’s no wireless way to transfer images to your computer.

But hey, we finally have a genuine point-and-shoot. Let’s all say cheese.

Cream of the crops

Face it, the new Facebook Timeline has upped the ante on how we present our visual selves. Now we have that big honkin’ space at the top of the page for a cover photo to celebrate the wonder of us.

That’s why it’s good there are mobile apps out there like Snapseed ($4.99), the iPad App of the Year last year. You can crop photos, rotate them, you can adjust brightness and contrast, all by tapping and sliding your finger. And you can filter into special effects–you can go Drama or Vintage, with sepia tones, or even Grunge, in the event you’re feeling post-apocalyptic.

Image conscious

Here’s more camera and photo news:

• Go with the flow: Researchers at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a pill camera that doctors can actually steer through your digestive system.
• Samsung unplugged: The South Korean tech giant has rolled out an impressive selection of Wi-Fi cameras at the Consumer Electronics Show.
• The camera doesn’t lie: GoBandit now has a tiny HD video camera with a built-in GPS and altimeter. Attach it to your bike and it not only records your ride, but it also adds an interactive map and your vitals (speed and altitude) to the video.
• Big Mother: British firm BabyPing has unveiled what it’s calling the next generation of baby monitors, a Wi-Fi model that allows parents to watch or listen to their baby on their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Every move you make, she’ll be watching you.

Video Bonus: Check out CNET’s Brian Tong’s Lytro demo in which he shows you how you can use it to photograph dinosaurs.

Will the Ford EVOS remain just a concept car?

It’s time again for the Super Bowl of Stuff.  Its official name is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and this is the week when Las Vegas gets its wonk on, filling up with people who prefer gizmos over G-strings and find nothing quite so ravishing as a TV screen big enough to need two zip codes.

CES brings its own kind of decadence to Sin City, one that cranks up consumption by making the gadgets you got last month already feel retro. But it also has been the event where we’ve taken our first looks at tech that quickly moved into our daily lives–the VCR in 1970, the camcorder and CD player in 1981, DVRs and high-definition TVs in 1998.

This year, though, CES is going through some changes. Yes, tonight, as usual, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will kick things off with the opening keynote address. But it will be Microsoft’s CES swan song; the company won’t be back next year. At the same time, the keynoter tomorrow morning is someone who’s never been there before–Dieter Zetsche, Daimler chairman and head of Mercedes-Benz.  And among the three speakers on Wednesday morning’s “CES Innovation Power Panel” is Ford CEO Alan Mulally. Ford alone will have 20 models on display.

Bottom line: CES is turning into a mini-auto show.

What’s driving this is the belief that modern cars need to be as much smartphone as vehicle, that  just because you’re cruising down the highway doesn’t mean you should feel any less connected than you do on your couch.  Auto execs talk about turning cars into “infotainment centers” and are promising that models of the future shouldn’t be any less a personal assistant than Apple’s Siri, the voice-controlled digital concierge on the iPhone 4S.  Why shouldn’t you be able to ask your car to read you your email or have it know which tunes you like to hear when you’re out on the interstate?

Daimler’s Zetsche and Ford’s Mulally will likely talk about cloud computing from inside your auto, how your car and smartphone will soon be talking to each other and how you’ll one day be able control the temperature, the speaker volume and and plenty of other things simply by moving your fingers without your hands leaving the wheel.

Mulally also will bang the drums for a new smartphone app called MyFord Mobile, rolled out in conjunction with Ford’s first electric car, the Focus Electric, which hits the market later this year. The app will let users check the charge level of their cars, find charging stations, warm up or cool down the interior and unlock the doors, all while they’re away from their vehicles.

Talk about a dream car

But the Ford product at CES most likely to make gearheads gaga is its latest concept car, the Ford Evos.  Keep in mind that concept cars are meant to be way out of the box and sometimes can end up looking daft. (Consider the Ford Nucleon, a concept car unveiled in 1957 that was supposed to be powered by a small nuclear reactor in the back.)

As envisioned by Ford, the Evos would start its day while you’re still sleeping, checking the weather, traffic reports, your email and work schedule, then, based on what it finds out, tells your alarm clock when you need to get up.  It would also know what you’ve been listening to and resume playing it when you get in the car.  If conditions are dicey, it can check your heart rate and switch your smartphone to Do Not Disturb mode. Or if you’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, your buddy Evos would take over the driving and let you answer emails.  It could even direct you away from roads where pollution levels are high, then wrap things up by finding you parking space.

Nice concept, eh?

By the way, a few days ago Ford announced that it will open an R&D lab in Silicon Valley this year. Renault-Nissan, GM, BMW and Volkswagen are already there.

Gizmo alert

Here are some other gadgets that will get some attention at CES this week:

• Thanks, I needed that: BodyMedia has mixed a nifty armband with IBM software to create a device that gives you access to your own personal digital trainer and nutritionist.
• Another reason not to read in the dark: There’s now a cover for the Kindle that uses solar power to give your tablet a nice long charge, compliments of a company called SolarFocus.
• The ride stuff: The iBike Powerhouse attaches to a bike and uploads your performance data to an iPhone and sets goals for your next ride.  It also gives you digital pep talks.
• Turning up the heat: The Nest Learning Thermostat tracks your habits in adjusting the heat in your home for a week, then takes over and adjusts the temperature for you. And it gives you a report on your energy savings.   
• Where, oh where has my iPhone gone?: BungeeAir Protect has come up with a wireless “tether” that lets you know if you’ve strayed too far from your iPhone.

Video Bonus: Go along for the ride as Ford spins the tale of its Evos concept car.

CES Bonus:  Three places where you can get regular CES updates this week are The New York Times, Wired and CNet.

How does free will function in the brain? Image courtesy of Flickr user alles-schlumpf

If you have, so far, held true to your New Year’s resolutions, I salute you and wish you much success in this noble endeavor. If, however, you have already tossed them aside like scolding squatters in your psyche, do I have a blog post for you.

Turns out that the more scientists learn about how our brain functions, the less they think we’re as much in control of our behavior as we’d like to believe. Our genetic wiring apparently is a very powerful thing, so powerful that it starts to calls into question just how much we really do control our destiny. Who doesn’t want to believe that if you really needed to, you could change the way you act or think, that ultimately you’re the one running the show inside your skull, not millions of nondescript neurons? But are you really? And if so, how much of it?

This is sobering stuff, although it does give you an out if you’ve already surrendered to the siren song of chocolate cheesecake. That was, after all, out of your control, right?

Alfred Mele wouldn’t be so quick to give you a pass. He’s believes in at least some level of free will and has been researching and writing about these kind of things for many years. In 2010 he was awarded a $4.4 million foundation grant to head a four-year project called “Big Questions in Free Will.” Big questions indeed, from “Is there any scientific evidence that human beings sometimes make free decisions?” to “Is there any scientific evidence that our subjective sense of free choice is an illusion?” and a lot of ground in between.

These questions have been bending our minds for thousands of years. But only recently has technology allowed scientists to track brain activity during the decision-making process. And that has raised some profound possibilities.  One study in particular, by neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes concluded that people seemed to become conscious of making a decision only after their neurons had already fired into action. Haynes asked people to hit a button randomly with their right or left hand and, based on what he observed in their brain scans, was able to predict their decisions seven seconds before they realized they were making them.

Or as Haynes put it, “By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done.”

Not so fast, says Alfred Mele.  There’s a big difference between hitting a button in a lab and say, deciding to move cross-country to start a career or a relationship. Only when scientists can see how brains behave during those kind of complex, life-changing decisions, will they be able to draw any meaningful conclusions about how much free will shapes our lives.

What makes Mele’s project particularly innovative is that it’s taking on free will from three different directions, mixing neuroscientists with philosophers and theological scholars. The idea is to merge modern science and ancient wisdom, and through those diverse perspectives bring us closer to figuring out if we’re in the driver’s seat or if consciousness is simply your brain’s way of  tricking you into thinking you have control.

Don’t blame me

Of course, there’s risk that comes with this. If the researchers were to conclude that free will is largely an illusion and behavior is predetermined by a combination of our genes and our environment, well, that opens up one Costco-size can of worms.

Other research suggests that if people believe they have little control–and ultimately little responsibility–for what happens in their lives, they slide  to the dark side. One study found that we’re more willing to cheat, another that we’re more likely to become slackers at work. Still another, that we become less generous.

This was enough to have the researchers for the “cheater” study, Kathleen Vohs and Jonathan Schooler, conclude: “If exposure to deterministic messages increases the likelihood of unethical actions, then identifying approaches for insulating the public against this danger becomes imperative.”

In other words, if free will does turn out to be an illusion, maybe it’s better if we didn’t know.

Who’s in charge here?

• When the genes fit: A study by scientists at the University of Oxford concluded that genetics, not environment, plays a major role in how primates behave in groups.
• Now stop blaming your mother: Yes, there is a “fat gene” that makes it more likely you’ll be overweight, but no, it’s not a one-way ticket to Fatsville. New research suggests that the effect of the gene is relatively small and exercise and a healthy diet can more than compensate for it.
• So why doesn’t Queen Latifah have her own country?: Another study examines how much a person’s name influences their career choice. It cites, for instance, the “disproportionate” number of dentists named Dennis or Denise. Who knew?
• Ugly truth: Researchers in Belgium say prejudice is a deep psychological need for people who aren’t comfortable with ambiguity and feel compelled to make quick, firm decisions about others. And, they argue, it’s virtually impossible to change this basic way that people think. Now there’s a ray of sunshine.

Video Bonus: Sit back and pretend you’re a philosophy student at the University of Oxford and hear what Peter Millican has to say about free will.  

The X-Box Kinect is one of the ABCs to watch in 2012. Image courtesy of Flickr user popculturegeek.com

Seeing that one of my New Year’s resolutions is to finish what I start, here’s Part II of the ABCs of 2012, a list of innovations you’ll hear more about this year.

In case you missed it, here’s Part I.

Near Field Communication (NFC): A wonkish name for the digital voodoo that will let you buy things with your cell phone. As yet, most smartphones don’t have the NFC chip they need to communicate with digital readers in stores or restaurants. But a lot of people think that will start to change this year, especially if the iPhone 5 comes with an NFC chip, as expected.

Open Graph: Remember when Like buttons started popping up on websites everywhere. That was Phase 1 of Facebook’s plan to encourage everyone to share everything they can about themselves. Phase 2 of its “Open Graph Protocol” came last September when mobile apps made it possible for your friends to see on Facebook, in real time, what you’re listening to on Spotify or watching on Hulu. Phase 3 begins this month when websites will be able to replace their Like buttons with any combo of verbs and nouns, such as “Hiked this trail” or “Read this book.” Mark Zuckerberg calls his “frictionless sharing.” Sounds so painless, doesn’t it?

Pinterest: While we’re in share mode, here’s the hottest property in the social network universe. Pinterest is a website and app where members—you have to be invited by another member—share photos of things they find interesting, usually organized around subjects such as fashion, cars, décor or food. But it could also be cats or quilts or cats on quilts. The idea is to connect, through images, people with like interests. It seems to be working. In November, Pinterest moved into the Top Ten of social websites.

Quantified self: If your idea of a high-tech health device is a thermometer that’s beeps, maybe you should skip this one. Quantified self is a philosophy-turned-movement built around the mantra of “self-knowledge through numbers.” There now are thousands of “body hackers” around the world dedicated to using technology to track what they’re doing to their bodies—whether it’s recording how much REM sleep they get every night or capturing data on their attention spans, caffeine intake, and yes, their sweat output.

Recommerce: Talk about an idea whose time has come. If you have any doubt, look in the closet where you’ve dumped all your antique cellphones, iPads and laptops. Some companies are now making a nice business out of recommerce—taking your old things in exchange for cash or gift cards, then restoring and reselling them. Not only does this keep a lot of stuff out of landfills, but it provides a payoff for our now annual tradition of upgrading our gadgets.

Social robotics: As talented as robots have become—they can pour drinks, make sandwiches, tell the difference between a human’s smile or frown– they’re still pretty clueless when it comes to expressing feelings, or even reading our feelings. So a lot of focus now is on social robotics, namely how robots and humans interact. In New Zealand, for instance, more than 30 robots are working in a retirement community as part of a new study. The good news is that when robots finally get the social thing down, they’ll already have their own version of Facebook. Imagine being de-friended by your vacuum cleaner.

3D Printers: It’s easy to get carried away with the potential of 3D printers. They’re being hyped as the future of manufacturing and the innovation that could bring the demise of our throwaway culture. And now that companies like MakerBot have brought the price down close to $1,000, even the more fanciful notions–kids will start using them to design and build their own toys—no longer seem so far-fetched. As PCWorld put it, this is a technology awaiting its iPad moment.

Ultrabooks: Last year the world went gaga over digital tablets; this year it’s likely to be ultrabooks. They’re the ridiculously thin, light laptops that come with an actual keyboard. They weigh less than three pounds and are only ¾ of an inch high. Plus, there’s that 13-inch screen. Up to now, the MacBook Air has ruled this turf; expect a bunch of challengers to roll out in the coming months.

Voice control: No question that Apple raised the bar on voice control when it trotted out Siri on the iPhone 4S last fall. Now you can have the semblance of a real conversation with a device, one with exquisite deadpan delivery and an impressive awareness of upcoming weather. Android smartphones have their own version of a voice-operated buddy, named Speaktoit Assistant. Already, one new app, Air Dictate, allows you to use Siri on a Mac computer, and another one, named Zypr, will make it possible to give voice commands to other devices, including TVs. But what should really pump up the volume on voice control will be Google’s launch this year of its Siri rival. It’s codenamed Majel, after the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry. Geek alert!

Wearable tech: We now have jeans that can pull pollution from the air, T-shirts that can convert sound into energy and a prototype of a contact lens that can display text or images right in front of your eyes. But wearable tech is also one of the latest fronts in the war between Apple and Google, with the former reportedly creating an iPod that wraps around your wrist and the latter developing peripherals that, when attached to your clothing or body, will be able to communicate with an Android smartphone.

Xbox 360 Kinect: This was designed to be an innovative way to play video games by allowing people to control the action just by moving their bodies. But then hackers took over, pushing the Kinect system in all kinds of new directions, even into hospital operating rooms. Eventually, Microsoft caught on and started celebrating what it dubbed “The Kinect Effect” and not long ago announced “Kinect Accelerator,” a program designed to help developers and startups create original products using the Kinect. And the word is that the next version of Kinect will be able to read your lips and facial expressions and gauge how you’re feeling by the tone of your voice.

Yelp: Not everyone loves this San Francisco-based user feedback outfit, particularly restaurant owners who knock the credibility of its diner reviews. But clearly Yelp has become a favorite of people looking for dining options on their smartphones. In fact, a Harvard Business School study of restaurants in Washington State found that a one-star rise in Yelp ratings can drive business up as much as 9 percent and that growth of Yelp in a market tends to hurt franchise restaurants. And a few weeks ago, BMW announced that BMW drivers will soon be able have Yelp reviews read to them by their vehicles. This year we’ll find out how much all of the above really means when Yelp goes public.

Zeo Mobile: When you consider how much sleep is lost by people worrying about not sleeping, not to mention their anxiety about what kind of sleep they’re getting when they do manage to nod off, you have to like the prospects for a product that lets you track what’s going on in your brain every night. The Zeo Sleep Manager has been out there for a few years now, but it’s mobile version—basically a headband that connects to an app on your smartphone—gives you the same lowdown on your night in the sack, breaking down how much time you spent in REM sleep, heavy sleep and light sleep. And it’s cheaper.

Video Bonus: If you still have doubts about 3D printers, watch this clip of a wrench hot off the printer.

Be innovative this year.