Strange designs in China are optometry charts for spy planes

How can you tell if your spy planes and satellites need corrective eye wear? You have them read an optometry chart, of course. The only difference is that instead of reading letters and capital E’s pointed in different directions, they have to discern the patterns scattered around the Gobi Desert and other locations.

The image above found on Google Maps is one of many being discovered by people of the web since they were first spotted in 2011. Here are some of the others that have been located so far.

Like a huge puzzle:

They can be round as well.

… or square.

Ericsson’s vision of a “Networked Society” is beautiful, terrifying

There’s a fine line between technology that enables a better world and technology that makes us head in the wrong direction. Movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and iRobot have given us a fiction view of what could happen if technology connected us all and eventually had the ability to take over. Such a vision has been a distant whimsical threat until very recently. Today, it all seems possible.

We’re On the Brink of amazing things in society, as Ericsson puts it.

The telecom gear maker has put a lot of effort into communicating their dream of the near future with their Networked Society website. The documentary they had created below tells the tale of a potentially beautiful string of technological advances that will completely change the way humans do, well, everything. Meanwhile, their Facebook page for the project is part advertisement, part educational. Even their To-Do List of Tomorrow advertisement asks questions that will make you think.

Why doesn’t our shopping cart know what items are in it?

Their Networked Society City Index pictured above is disappointingly clunky (it’s made with Adobe Flash, for crying out loud!) but the statistics are strong and it seems to be a work in progress.

“The Networked Society City Index interactive tool lets you explore and compare the effects ICT has on society, people, and business – in major cities all over the world. Learn about a city, drag-and-drop two cities and compare, or discover initiatives happening in the cities right now.”

Here is the documentary and 2 other advertorial-style videos that tell us the direction that Ericsson is heading with this as well as gives us insights into where society itself may be heading in the near future.

According to Stacey Higginbotham of Gigaom, “The 20-minute documentary looks at the past, present and future of connectivity and technology, and the impacts on people, business and society.”

20-minutes may be considered long for an online video, but it’s well worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7cuatm_bqw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzmvjf88Sfw

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/30848566[/vimeo]

See The World From Your Pet’s Perspective with Pet Vision

Meow! What’s better than a cute kitty?

A cute kitty with a webcam, of course! Pet Vision.

A new concept by TOOUT Industrial Design hints at a future where pet owners can check up on their pets at anytime by logging into a computer and tapping into the webcam attached to your pet’s collar. In essence, it will give you a first-person perspective of your pet at anytime.

Now, we know how popular videos of cute cats and kittens are on YouTube, but could you imagine a world with live webcam feeds of cute kittens? Could you imagine how much time and productivity will be lost throughout the day if this happened?

Regardless, there are some interesting use cases for this technology that make it a viable product: your pet goes missing, your pet is sick and you want to keep track, or your out on vacation and want to make sure everything’s okay. Stuff like that is very useful, and this technology would enable that.

Quite honestly, though, it is hard to imagine that we don’t already have Pet Vision. You’d have to believe that it would be a hit.

[via YankoDesign]

A look into the future with this Bionic Eye for the blind

I guess we all should of seen this one coming. Ten years in the making, researchers at Bionic Vision Australia have developed an early prototype that when surgically inserted into your eye, will allow the user to see real-world applications.

Its funny that I refer to the “human” who receives the surgery as a user. This is one step close to robots taking over the world, but at the same time I believe this is a much need invention and definitely will be a historic and breakthrough invention for years to come.

I couldn’t imagine a world without vision.

The Australian government has already invested close to 40 million dollars into this developing technology and it is still years away from being fully complete.

The researchers aren’t saying that it will bring back the user’s vision completely but what it will do is allow them to see images recreated from light.

Source: DVICE

Strange designs in China are optometry charts for spy planes

Ericsson’s vision of a “Networked Society” is beautiful, terrifying

See The World From Your Pet’s Perspective with Pet Vision

A look into the future with this Bionic Eye for the blind

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