I see the future (1 Viewer)

[Arbu]

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.

 

[Otto McDiesel]

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.

Yes, i can see the utility of that when working a scientific survey. But when birdwatching, it defeats the purpose of birdwatching: have fun while finding birds and trying to figure out what they are.
Of course, there will be idiots buying them.

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

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.

Spooky!

Don't think I'd subscribe to that kind of technology. People start using this it might have a 'dumbing down' effect ("why should I learn that - my machine will tell me about it").

Kinda takes the 'fun' out of Googling for the best prices!

Andy.

 

[marcus]

I suppose that there would be some ornithologists who may feel they need it, but like Otto said, the fun in birdwatching is being able to identify a species with your own memory and knowledge. At least that's one of the funs.

 

[Atomic Chicken]

Greetings!

Wow... reading the title of this thread ("I see the future") I thought for a minute someone was actually seeing into the future through their binoculars!

I can't tell you how much I would pay for a pair of binoculars like that... no price would be too high. After all, I'd make it all back next week in the stock market... after a bit of "future newspaper watching" !

Best wishes,
Bawko

 

[Arbu]

19 years later ... AX Visio - SWAROVSKI OPTIK

 

[Ignatius]

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.

 

[Rotherbirder]

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.

Even more sadly, he didn't appear to foresee it!

RB

 

[Maljunulo]

I once had a graduate student tell me “I don’t have to know how to spell, I’m going to have a secretary.”

He wasn’t kidding.

 

[Binocollector]

@Maljunulo
Splleing is oervrtead.

 

[quincy88]

19 years later ... AX Visio - SWAROVSKI OPTIK

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.

 

[Scott98]

I can't help but ask - is this a good goal? To have tech do everything for you? And if so....where does it end? A robot to make love to your spouse for you? I think I can say that on these forums......

I like to remind people - don't just think of what tech is going to do for you....think about how it's going to change you. Because of every adaptation of tech does change us as well

 

[Maljunulo]

“I don’t have to know anything …… I have expensive technology .”

I’ll stop right there.

 

[Ignatius]

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.

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.

 

[quincy88]

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.

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.

 

[Scott98]

I definitely need to put the work in to become fluent in birdsong. I can probably ID 20-25 species by sound now, I'd like to get that number much higher. I spend a lot of time hiking outdoors without binoculars and with heavy leaf canopy and most of the birding is by ear.

I've never been good at sitting down and trying to memorize stuff though