Hugh Garry

MIT Working on a SIXth Sense

Before you even ask about uses for this just enjoy it for what it is... Bloody marvelous.

Designed by MIT's Pattie Maes SIXth Sense attempts to create a new digital sense for humans. The fantastic device augments the physical world around us with digital information using natural hand gestures to deliver and shape how the information is viewed. The framing of a view using only your fingers can capture a photo to be viewed on any surface, whilst the outlining a circle on your wrist will deliver a digital watch... Awesomeness.

It works by using a camera and a tiny projector mounted on a hat. The camera sees what you see and projects any surfaces or objects you are interacting with. The prototype uses an ordinary webcam and a battery-powered projector, connected with an internet enabled mobile phone. Apparently this prototype costs less than $350.

What excites me about SIXth Sense is that it pulls together multiple technologies to create something quite spectacular, the true definition of creativity. In the last couple of years we have been wowed by technological advances such as QR codes, augmented reality and Microsoft Surface and now along comes something that combines elements of each in a brilliant way.

It's all very Tom Cruise in Minority Report, futuristic, full of possibilities and probably closer to a reality than you might think on first viewing. Whist the idea of walking around with a projector on your hat may seem unthinkable one of the more talked about additions to the handset in mobile at this year's Mobile World Congress was a phone with a projector in it.

The 'How to make a viral video' myth

Since the birth of Youtube and the unmasking of Lonelygirl I can't count the number of times I've been involved in one of those 'lets make a viral video' conversations. And... I'd have to be a total and utter ***t if I tried to make out that I've never replied "Sounds amazing!!!" Over the years (and I'm amazed it took me more than a few seconds to catch on) I realised that there's no such thing as a viral video. Sure, there are videos that are spread virally, but there is nothing in the video's DNA that would make it distinguishable as a viral video.

There's no shortage of lists out there offering advice on 'How to make a viral video', you know the sort "Follow points 1 thought to 1001 and you'll have a Youtube hit on your hands". I've made my own list and if you follow points 1 through to 1 you are sure to have a Youtube hit on your hands.

Hugh Garry's "How to make a viral video" list

1. Just make a good video

The end. That's it. That's all you need to know. Sure, there are 1001 things you can do to help spread the video but the hard fact is that the only element of the video that makes it spreadable is the fact that it is good. It might be clever, it might be funny, it might be dumb, it might be deceptive, it could be anything. Think about all the viral videos you've shared in the last 3 years, did any of them have anything in common other than being good? What did the Sneezing Panda have in common with the Dove Evolution commercial? What did the Evolution of Dance have in common with Lonelygirl? Nothing other than they were all good in their own way. Some people will go to ridiculous lengths to attempt to make a viral video (as parodied in the video above) and usually fail through being more concerned with the viral nature than the content.

I can draw on my experience in my other job for a parallel. As a club DJ with a huge amount of experience I'm frequently approached by new DJs asking for advice. More often than not they want to concentrate on mixing techniques, formats and hardware only to be faced with my one piece of very simple advice... "Have good tunes". As obvious as it sounds it's the last thing they expect.

The reason I mention this is because earlier this year I went to speak to a company in Paris about their Augmented Reality software for a project I was working on. I filmed myself at their HQ trying out their cool toys so that I could demo it to a few people when I got back. I uploaded the videos and sent the link to 5 people in the office. I then forgot about the demos and got on with the rest of the project as you do. Today in a moment of nostalgia I went back through my archive and came across the Paris videos. One video in particular caught my attention. My Lego video had been watched over 10,000 times and linked to from blogs all over the globe. Amazing when you consider that I didn't follow rules 1 thought to 1001 from all the other lists, I just filmed something that I thought was good.