[NFBP-Talk] another way to read

Thu Jun 21 19:47:02 UTC 2018

Holy cow. Another way to read.

Facebook wants you to read your messages by touch

________________________________

>From New Atlas

Facebook wants you to read your messages by touch

Wearables<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click
<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZ
D0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4M
DYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ
2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ
2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&101&&&https://newatlas.com
/wearableelectronics/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>
&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2
VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4MDYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPT
E3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbm
dhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&
&101&&&https://newatlas.com/wearableelectronics/?utm_medium=email&utm_source
=govdelivery>

James Holloway<
<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZ
D0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4M
DYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ
2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ
2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&103&&&https://newatlas.com
/author/james-holloway/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>
http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD
0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4MD
YxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ2
h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ2
V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&103&&&https://newatlas.com/
author/james-holloway/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

5 hours ago

Forearmed is forewarned: The Purdue wearable includes 24 vibrating devices
which can alter the location and intensity of a Facebook alert

As part of Facebook's ongoing quest to be first to capitalize on The Next
Big Thing in Technology (whatever it turns out to be), the social media
juggernaut has written a check for some Purdue College research into haptic
technology that can not only alert you to new messages through your skin,
but read them too.

"I'm excited about this," lead researcher Hong Tan says in a Purdue press
release. "Imagine a future where you're able to wear a sleeve that
discreetly sends messages to you - through your skin - in times when it may
be inconvenient to look at a text message."

Before we panic too much about invasive implants, at this point the research
uses a wearable cuff which wraps around the wearer's entire forearm. The
wearable includes 24 vibrating devices which can alter the location and
intensity of the alert. The researchers call these vibrating devices
"tactors," but strictly speaking, a tactor is a touch sensor rather than an
emitter.

It's this variety in the vibrations that allows the technology to relay
message content. The researchers have mapped all 39 phonemes of the English
language to different vibrations, phonemes being the audible sounds that
make up spoken words. The researchers differentiated consonants from vowels
by keeping them static, while vowel sensations move in varying directions.

The research was geared towards the ease of learning using two different
approaches: one based on phonemes and the other on letters. Twelve
participants were asked to learn 100 words in 100 minutes. Though results
varied significantly, with both methods some users achieved an accuracy of
over 90 percent. However, the researchers found that phonemes proved easier
to learn. Tan points out that the typical word contains fewer phonemes than
letters.

The researchers worked out a training schedule of 10 minutes a day which
they think would be practical for most users. "It is more efficient than if
they sit here for three hours to study," Tan reasons. "You can't keep good
concentration for that long."

Clearly, any technology that can relay messages through touch could prove
relevant to people with impairments to seeing and hearing, but the potential
applications are much broader - from receiving messages on the go, or where
message privacy is a cause for concern.

Along with Purdue's researchers, the team included others from MIT and
Facebook itself.

"I'm really hoping this takes off as a general idea for a new way to
communicate," Tan adds. "When that happens, the hearing-impaired, the
visually-impaired, everyone can benefit."

The team's work was presented on June 15 the Proceedings of EuroHaptics 2018
conference in Italy.

The research was previously mentioned at Facebook's F8 development
conference last year, along with a brain-typing
technology<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click
<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZ
D0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4M
DYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ
2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ
2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&104&&&https://newatlas.com
/facebook-f8-building-8-brain-typing-skin-hearing/49106/?utm_medium=email&ut
m_source=govdelivery>
&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2
VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4MDYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPT
E3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbm
dhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&
&104&&&https://newatlas.com/facebook-f8-building-8-brain-typing-skin-hearing
/49106/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery> purportedly five times
faster than using a keyboard. Facebook's purchase of Oculus sees the company
also plowing funds into virtual and augmented reality
research<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click
<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZ
D0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4M
DYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ
2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ
2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&105&&&https://newatlas.com
/facebook-f8-michael-abrash-future-augmented-reality/49133/?utm_medium=email
&utm_source=govdelivery>
&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2
VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE4MDYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPT
E3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaWQ9bm5pZ2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbm
dhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZXQmdGFyZ2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&
&105&&&https://newatlas.com/facebook-f8-michael-abrash-future-augmented-real
ity/49133/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>. Clearly the company
wants to be well positioned if (or when) its social network fizzles out.

Source: Purdue
College<http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD
0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTgwNjE5LjkxMzczMzcxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC
0yMDE4MDYxOS45MTM3MzM3MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MTc2OTUwJmVtYWlsaW
Q9bm5pZ2h0aW5nYWxlQGNvbWNhc3QubmV0JnVzZXJpZD1ubmlnaHRpbmdhbGVAY29tY2FzdC5uZX
QmdGFyZ2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&106&&&https://www.p
urdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2018/Q2/purdue-phoneme-project-creates-new-hapti
c-communications-future.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbp-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180621/a9420ad9/attachment.html>