MIT Student Turns Lamp into a Thinking, Robotic Assistant

The MIT Media Lab never ceases to amaze us – its latest invention is from Natan Linder, and at first glance could be taken as a quirky looking desktop lamp. Oh, but LuminAR is so much more than a light source. It’s a personal computer, desktop helper robot and research assistant all in one!

When plugged into a robotic arm, the LuminAR will search out an uncluttered space on your desktop to project on using a teeny tiny pico projector, and you can also point it in a certain direction or pre-program it to open your e-mail on the left and your website on the right. Or you can unscrew the bulb from the robotic arm and screw it into a standard desk lamp or portable light socket and bring the LuminAR wherever you please.

“This is a new form factor for a computer,” Linder says. “Most computers that we know of today are prison cells for pixels -this robotic interface releases the pixels from the screen.” And the LuminAR is smart, put a can of Coke under its watchful eye and it will pull up the Coca-Cola webpage. And this doesn’t work only with Coke cans – LuminAR recognizes a lot of things.

This nifty piece of technology — and it really is little, measuring just a bit larger than a regular light bulb — could revolutionize the way we compute

The power of google

You may not be using the full power of google simply because you did not know it was capable of so much. Here are some very handy google tips that i frequently use. The list is quite long so there is a quick reference menu below or you can scroll on your own. These are functions i use on a  daily basis.   

 

Google as a calculator

You can type basic arithmetic into google and will calculate answers very quickly. For e.g try typing into the search bar:

• 234 squared
• 124 + 76 - 199
• 1243*2

Google Measurement Conversions

Another great use is converting measurements. For try typing in one of the following:

• 2 cups to ml
• 236 minutes to secs
• 365 days to minutes

Currency conversions

• 100 USD to NZD (American to NZ)
• 300 NZD to AUD (NZ to Aussie)

World weather and times

• weather invercargill NZ (Probably raining)
• what time is it? (The time in your local area)
• time london (the time in london)

Dictionary Definitions

The first entry at the top of the page will be the dictionary definition

• define prestidigitation
• define philosophy

Public data

Perhaps you would like to know the population of a city, or the birth rate?

• population Erowal Bay Australia
• birth rate egypt

Map searches

You can bring up a map of (almost) any area on earth

• Newcastle Australia map
• London map

Number Ranges

Very useful when searching for a range of numbers or dates

best movies 2001..2007

Search Refinements 

Below are some very handy search refinements. Most times when searching a particular subject google returns millions of hits for you to wade through. We all know how difficult it can be to track down very specific data on the net by just typing in a few words. Here are some great tips.

Quotes.

If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["swine flu victims"] will only find that exact phrase. [swine "flu victims] will find pages that contain the word swine and the exact phrase "flu victims".

Fill in the blank

If i want to know the date that Einstein was born, i could use the wildcard feature *. It will look for the exact phrase i ask for and fill in the wild card.

• " Einstein was born on the *"
• "A * by any other name" should return the wild card rose

Everything except

Imagine i am searching for the James Bond character "Pussy Galore". You can imagine which types of sites i will get back if i simply type in that name. So i can use the - operator to stop google including certain other words.

"pussy galore" -sex -porn -girls