Today’s idea is one that someone else has no doubt already patented and implemented in a VR system 20 years ago. But nevermind.
The stupid network is all about intelligence at the edge. But the edge is fuzzy. Does it begin with my DSL modem? My laptop? Or the headset I speak into?
Well, I want to see more intelligence at that very last bit of the edge. In particular, I want a headset that has a motion sensor in it, so it knows if it is being worn (unless you’re so stupefyingly drunk and comatose you’ve stopped moving entirely). My presence icon is then either wearing a headset or not, and people know if I’m ready to talk.
There is a certain irony to this. It involves replacing a headphone using minijacks — layer 0 analogue transmission — with one using USB and a rich protocol. So the last link in the machine network gets smarter, not stupider, in order to push intelligence to the edge.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 08:28 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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Why don't you use the intelligence at the very edge (your finger connected to the mouse) to click on the "I'm ready to talk" button.
That way nobody has to design, support and manufacture a whole new kind of usb headset.
just saying...
The headphones should also be able to detect whether I'm engaged in a face-to-face conversation or some other activity that cannot be interrupted (e.g. politely talking to the policeman about that red light).
In other words, the headphones should be context-sensitive, and not assume exclusivity or priority in orchestrating my communications. I think this is an important aspect of intelligence-at-the-edge.
Posted by: at April 18, 2005 01:00 PM