Arbu said:Binoculars that will identify the bird you're looking at for you. The Japanese have done it for flowers. Look here
Not for a while, but I reckon one day someone will produce them.
Other gadgetry that went on display for the first time yesterday included object-recognition binoculars created by NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest mobile phone company.
As users scan the surrounding area, the binoculars will recognise certain objects and details about them will appear in the eyepiece.
Fix on a passing plane, for example, and the machine will tell you the flight number and destination. Turn your attention to a flower, and it will tell you what variety it is.
The machine contains a 360-degree “radar” to point you in the direction of things that it knows it already has information on.
DoCoMo hopes to use the technology in camera-equipped handsets. With particular databases of information installed, the phones could be pointed at objects of interest and used to collect information. Waved past an item in a shop, for example, it might inform users where the same thing could be bought more cheaply.
Even more sadly, he didn't appear to foresee it!A bit like re-reading Michael Dertouzos' brilliant 1997 tome 'What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives' today. Sadly the man died in 2001. He was the director of MIT's LCS from 1974 until his death.
Well done. I'm fascinated that you even remembered this post after all these years.19 years later ... AX Visio - SWAROVSKI OPTIK
I remember as a child my one grandfather played me records with birdsongs on them so I could learn them for when we went for walks in the forest.Well done. I'm fascinated that you even remembered this post after all these years.
Now, I suppose the question is whether or not this type of thing becomes common. I imagine that as they become cheaper and the software more reliable, there will be a large contingent of birders using this technology.
I'm surprised by how many people use the Merlin app to identify birds by song. I've always thought that it was cheating, but a lot of people have embraced it.
Haha. Yes, I had an awesome two-disc CD collection of Birds of Alaska that I used to listen to all the time. Particularly on road trips.I remember as a child my one grandfather played me records with birdsongs on them so I could learn them for when we went for walks in the forest.