Kinect Technologies for PCs, can track you through walls

Intel’s gesture control tech will be built into PCs from 2014

Ever since Microsoft’s Kinect came out, it has been wondering when the technology would get built into PCs. Yes, there is Kinect for Windows, but it’s a peripheral — about having advanced motion detection capabilities in the webcam, as a bridge to exciting future user interfaces.

Well, today, such technology is on its way, but not from Microsoft. No, it’s Intel that the PC manufacturers are talking to, and it’s not Kinect that’s the base: it’s Intel’s perceptual computing technology.

According to Paul Tapp, senior product manager in Intel’s perceptual computing division, manufacturers have “committed to doing it” in 2014 – “it” being the integration of an Intel-designed motion-detection system into their machines. And in the meanwhile, peripherals maker Creative put its $210 Senz3D, the first retail device to use the technology.

Creative’s Senz3D camera is up for pre-order. It’s the first peripheral to use Intel’s perceptual computing tech, which will be built into computers from next year. >>

Contributed by By David Meyer Gigaom.com

MIT’s ‘Kinect of the future’ can track you through walls

Researchers from MIT have unveiled a new form of motion tracking that uses a three-point system to follow a person’s position, even through a totally opaque wall. Though the word “Kinect” has been thrown around quite liberally for the sake of accessibility, this is strictly a positional tracker — that means that it won’t be interpreting sign language or reading lips any time soon. Rather than being a control mechanism, this device is purely for keeping tabs on users as they move both within and between rooms. At present the tracker is set up directionally, so it can only see through the single wall at which it is pointed, but the obvious end goal is an omnidirectional tracker that could follow a user through the whole house, upstairs and down.

The system works using three radio antennas spaced about a meter apart to bounce signals off a person’s body. Even through the researchers’ office wall, it can follow people with an accuracy of up to 10 centimeters (four inches), better than WiFi localization can currently provide. Though the device is exploded and sitting as component parts at present, one grad student working on the project said they expect to be able to condense it down to a final unit no larger than Microsoft’s Kinect sensor.

Beyond the loss of Kinect-like image and silhouette tracking, the MIT system can also only track a single person at a time. A second moving object within the system’s field of view will cause confusion and make the system useless — though that problem is, of course, to be addressed soon. It also has trouble with stationary objects, but they already have a first pass on an algorithm to get around this by recognizing the motion of a person breathing.

Applications for the technology, assuming its kinks and limitations are addressed, are numerous. There are the obvious gaming applications, perhaps blurring the line between real and virtual locations as players stalk through real hallways full of video-game enemies. All Oculus Rift fantasies aside though, there are plenty of more substantive reasons to be excited about the ability to keep track of people without their need to carry a transmitter. Rather than installing motion trackers in every corner of the home, a single tracker near the center might be able to intelligently turn the lights on and off as you move from room to room.

Architects and advertising researchers would love to know how people move through a particular space, where they spend their time, and what places they tend to avoid. The health care industry could keep better track of people in need of supervision, receiving an alert if, say, a person with dementia begins to wander away.

Though it’s a sprawling array today, the researchers say that the device could end up smaller than a Kinect.>>

Of course, there are also the more troubling possible uses. WiFi localization currently requires users to hold a tracking device, while more versatile options like holographic localization are slow and low fidelity. MIT is now bringing a high degree of accuracy and usability together with the versatility that comes with being able to track people who have never consented to be tracked. If the signal could be made strong enough, it could render prison break-outs virtually impossible, or let law enforcement quickly check the number and position of people in a hostage situation.

Human and civil rights activists might have something to say about such applications, however. That’s really the downfall of a catch-all people-tracker for use outside of private homes: I can’t imagine a world in which its use would remain legal for long. People are leery enough about ad agencies tracking their online activities — how might people react to the idea of a company monetizing their walking path through the local mall? The Kinect has already got certain people up in arms over just the possibility of always-on functionality, and that would only have mattered when the user was standing directly in front of their television.

The team has a patent pending for the technology, but the concept seems like it would be easy enough to adapt with slight changes. It’s still in its infancy, but finding a person through a wall by picking up on their breathing is about as strong a proof of concept as they could ever have hoped for.

Contributed by Graham Templeton Extremetech.com

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LiFi, instead of WiFi: Chinese scientists achieve Internet access through lightbulbs

Malaysia's Budget to increase real property gains tax (RPGT) will dampen market short term but rise up prices eventually

GEORGE TOWN: The Federal Government should leave real property gains tax (RPGT) alone in the 2014 Budget.

New Bob Group director Dr Lee Ville said that if the RPGT is increased, then it will dampen the property market, which has already started to cool.

Lee is also president of ERA Malaysia, which is the world’s leading real estate brand.

It is expected that the Federal Government will raise the RPGT rate to 30% from 15% for properties sold within two years, and 15% from 10% for properties sold within three to four years.

For properties sold in the fifth and sixth year, the RPGT is expected to remain unchanged at the current 10% and zero RPGT respectively.

“The anticipated RPGT will not deter foreigners from buying, as they are allowed to dispose their properties only after the third year,” he said.

Mont’Kiara and Sri Hartamas apartments Kuala Lumpur

Lee said the anticipated RPGT would work in the initial stages, curbing speculation in the short term.

“If implemented, developers will respond by reducing their delivery of residential housing projects.

“This will eventually lead to a shortage, triggering demand and causing property prices to rise up again in the long term,” he said.

Lee said the Federal Government should look into controlling price, other than cement, of essential building materials, as the rising price of raw materials was a reason for soaring property prices.

Meanwhile, Raine & Horne Malaysia director Michael Geh (pic) said the RPGT would hurt current speculators who had already bought properties, and not the future ones who had yet to buy properties.

“If the existing speculators are hurt, the banks will also be dragged down.

“The Federal Government should look at curbing speculation through other means such as providing middle-income homes with an effective delivery mechanism that ensures only the eligible income category benefits,” Geh said.

Contributed by  BY DAVID TAN The Star/Asia News Network

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LiFi, instead of WiFi: Chinese scientists achieve Internet access through lightbulbs

Lightbulbs may one day be used for connecting to Internet

Successful experiments by Chinese scientists have indicated the possibility of the country's netizens getting online through signals sent by lightbulbs (LiFi), instead of WiFi.

Four computers under a one-watt LED lightbulb may connect to the Internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier instead of traditional radio frequencies, as in WiFi, said Chi Nan, an information technology professor with Shanghai's Fudan University, on Thursday.

A lightbulb with embedded microchips can produce data rates as fast as 150 megabits per second, which is speedier than the average broadband connection in China, said Chi, who leads a LiFi research team including scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

With LiFi cost-effective as well as efficient, netizens should be excited to view 10 sample LiFi kits that will be on display at the China International Industry Fair that will kick off on Nov. 5 in Shanghai.

The current wireless signal transmission equipment is expensive and low in efficiency, said Chi.

"As for cell phones, millions of base stations have been established around the world to strengthen the signal but most of the energy is consumed on their cooling systems," she explained. "The energy utilization rate is only 5 percent."

Compared with base stations, the number of lightbulbs that can be used is practically limitless. Meanwhile, Chinese people are replacing the old-fashioned incandescent bulbs with LED lightbulbs at a fast pace.

"Wherever there is an LED lightbulb, there is an Internet signal," said Chi. "Turn off the light and there is no signal."

However, there is still a long way to go to make LiFi a commercial success.

"If the light is blocked, then the signal will be cut off," said Chi.

More importantly, according to the scientist, the development of a series of key related pieces of technology, including light communication controls as well as microchip design and manufacturing, is still in an experimental period.

The term LiFi was coined by Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh in the UK and refers to a type of visible light communication technology that delivers a networked, mobile, high-speed communication solution in a similar manner as WiFi.

Contributed by Shanghai Xinhua  Editor: Fu Peng

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South China Sea breakthrough helps China, Vietnam build trust, boost cooperation

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R, front) meets with representatives of youth from both China and Vietnam at Vietnam National University in Hanoi, Vietnam, Oct. 15, 2013. (Xinhua/Liu Jiansheng)

The establishment of a bilateral work group to discuss joint maritime development was a "breakthrough" for China and Vietnam on their way to peacefully handle maritime disputes, analysts say.

During the talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged the two sides to pursue substantive progress in their joint development in waters out of the mouth of the Beibu Bay, a semi-enclosed sea whose delimitation remains under negotiation between China and Vietnam, and accumulate experience for broader maritime cooperation.

Analysts said the establishment of the group sends a positive signal of the bilateral readiness for solving difficult problems through cooperation, and the two countries are taking a step-by-step approach in solving the disputes.

"Joint development in waters out of the mouth of the Beibu Bay is acceptable to both sides. The approach that the two countries are taking is to start with the easiest and then to the difficult," said Zhang Yunling, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The relationship between China and Vietnam has been overshadowed by maritime frictions in the South China Sea, but the two countries have made efforts to maintain frequent high-level exchanges this year. Li's visit followed trips of the Vietnamese president, prime minister and deputy prime minister to China earlier this year.

The South China Sea issue involves several parties and the disputes between China and Vietnam are, in deed, bigger and more complicated, said Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS).

"The agreement reached by China and Vietnam, undoubtedly, send a clear message to other claimants that putting aside bickering on sovereignty and sitting at the table for joint development is a pragmatic choice. The attempts to internationalize the South China Sea issue will result in the deterioration of bilateral ties and worsen the situation," Wu said.

The decision to establish the group was announced just two days after China and Brunei vowed in a statement to encourage closer joint exploration and exploitation of maritime oil and gas resources in the South China Sea.

In a pioneering move, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Brunei National Petroleum Company Sendirian Berhad have inked a deal on establishing a joint venture on oil field services.

Considering that disputes between Beijing and Hanoi over the South China Sea have, from time to time, upset bilateral ties in recent years, the multiple results Li's visit to Vietnam achieved are clear evidence that the two neighbors are showing a greater political will to rise above their disputes and forge a mutually acceptable path of cooperation, said Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies.

Li returned to Beijing on Tuesday after attending the East Asia leaders meetings and paying official visits to Brunei, Thailand and Vietnam.

-  HANOI, Xinhua

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A de-Americanized world needed !

SHUTDOWN. A view of a hall on Capitol Hill September 29, 2013 in Washington, DC. AFP/Brendan Smialowski

As U.S. politicians of both political parties are still shuffling back and forth between the White House and the Capitol Hill without striking a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world.

Emerging from the bloodshed of the Second World War as the world's most powerful nation, the United States has since then been trying to build a global empire by imposing a postwar world order, fueling recovery in Europe, and encouraging regime-change in nations that it deems hardly Washington-friendly.

With its seemingly unrivaled economic and military might, the United States has declared that it has vital national interests to protect in nearly every corner of the globe, and been habituated to meddling in the business of other countries and regions far away from its shores.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has gone to all lengths to appear before the world as the one that claims the moral high ground, yet covertly doing things that are as audacious as torturing prisoners of war, slaying civilians in drone attacks, and spying on world leaders.

Under what is known as the Pax-Americana, we fail to see a world where the United States is helping to defuse violence and conflicts, reduce poor and displaced population, and bring about real, lasting peace.

Moreover, instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.

As a result, the world is still crawling its way out of an economic disaster thanks to the voracious Wall Street elites, while bombings and killings have become virtually daily routines in Iraq years after Washington claimed it has liberated its people from tyrannical rule.

Most recently, the cyclical stagnation in Washington for a viable bipartisan solution over a federal budget and an approval for raising debt ceiling has again left many nations' tremendous dollar assets in jeopardy and the international community highly agonized.

Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated, and a new world order should be put in place, according to which all nations, big or small, poor or rich, can have their key interests respected and protected on an equal footing.

To that end, several corner stones should be laid to underpin a de-Americanized world.

For starters, all nations need to hew to the basic principles of the international law, including respect for sovereignty, and keeping hands off domestic affairs of others.

Furthermore, the authority of the United Nations in handling global hotspot issues has to be recognized. That means no one has the right to wage any form of military action against others without a UN mandate.

Apart from that, the world's financial system also has to embrace some substantial reforms.

The developing and emerging market economies need to have more say in major international financial institutions including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, so that they could better reflect the transformations of the global economic and political landscape.

What may also be included as a key part of an effective reform is the introduction of a new international reserve currency that is to be created to replace the dominant U.S. dollar, so that the international community could permanently stay away from the spillover of the intensifying domestic political turmoil in the United States.

Of course, the purpose of promoting these changes is not to completely toss the United States aside, which is also impossible. Rather, it is to encourage Washington to play a much more constructive role in addressing global affairs.

And among all options, it is suggested that the beltway politicians first begin with ending the pernicious impasse.

- By Xinhua Commentary writer Liu Chang 2013-10-13

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