Three Developing Inventions that Could Change Everyday Life

There is an endless debate about the ever-increasing amount of technology in our world, and how good it is. At the TED India Conference earlier this year MIT student Pranav Mistry demoed his latest invention, which he calls SixthSense.

Named Popular Science's Invention of the Year for 2009, SixthSense consists of a camera and projector contained in an apparatus worn around its users' neck. The camera tracks the movements of the user, while the projector can display images onto any surface.

With SixthSense your fingers are your mouse and the world is your desktop.

Want to take a picture? Position your thumbs and index fingers in the shape of a rectangle; the camera automatically senses that you want a snapshot and takes a picture. Then walk up to any wall and the projector will display your photo album. By using only your fingers you can zoom in, crop them, and e-mail your photo album to your friends or post it on Facebook.

See a book that looks interesting? Pull it off the shelf and SixthSense will scan the cover and instantly project the latest reviews.

Add headphones and a microphone, and even with no flat surface available, SixthSense will project a number pad onto the palm of your hand. Dial any phone number and start talking.

While it is still being developed, SixthSense will not cost an arm and a leg, even if it can track them. The current prototype costs $350, but Mistry is going to release the plans to everyone--for free.

Mistry feels that strapping a computer around our necks will not move us closer to becoming robots, it will do the opposite. We will "be more connected to our physical world," says Mistry, "it will help us, actually, not be machines sitting in front of other machines."

Google Wave

"Email was invented more than forty years ago," Google's Lars Rasmussen explains. Lars and his brother, Jens, have spent the last two years discovering "what might e-mail look like if it was invented today."

Two years in the making, Google Wave, was announced at the Google I/O Conference in May. Though only available through an invite from users who have Wave, the program was released while still being developed.

Lars describes Wave as a "communication and collaboration tool." Wave allows multiple users to e-mail and instant message seamlessly. Instead of e-mailing back and forth from one individual to another, multiple users can see a single conversation hosted in Wave.

Though messages will pop up in recipients inbox upon arrival, real-time communication is where Wave shows something new. When instant messaging, users see what the other person is saying letter-by-letter as it is typed, not when the person hits Enter.

Members of a conversation are added with a single click. Users control who can see their comments when multiple people are in a conversation. If a new person needs brought up to speed on a particular project, they can use the Playback feature to watch how the conversation progressed, comment by comment.

Wave integrates pictures and videos, which other users can see instantly. Wave can also be integrated into blogs so comments are instantly seen from the main Wave screen.

Google Wave will be open source–which means that anyone can develop add-ons.

Microsoft Surface

Microsoft Surface is touchable 30-inch computer screen that takes the form of a tabletop. Like SixthSense, no mouse is necessary, users move objects on the screen with their fingers.

Lay down your camera and the pictures on the camera will appear on Surface's screen. With the touch of a finger users can move, resize and edit their photo gallery. Another person can place their device, be it a cell phone or another camera, on Surface and by dragging the pictures on the screen over to the new device they are automatically uploaded to your friend's device.

Unlike most touch screens, Surface can track multiple touches at once, allowing for a number of people to use it at once.

Surface is not limited to pictures; video and 3D maps can be displayed as well. Surface helped coordinate the efforts of local police and fire departments with other organizations like the FBI at Super Bowl XLIII.