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For many years, technology has become more portable in that wearable technology has been used in military and emergency operations to allow officers in the field wearing VR goggles, video cameras and portable computers to be a gateway for commanders back in the main office to see what's happening "out there."
What's happening now, however, is taking that a step further, actually integrating the technology into the human action and control, making them one.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known also as DARPA, is funding a team of engineers and researchers to develop binoculars that actually run input through the brain via electrodes on the user's scalp. The hope is that when images are received through the binoculars, the organization and identification function of the brain may better be able to categorize the images and ID the subject, because of human associations.
The intent is to program the binoculars to capture images and feed them to the electronic connections, allowing the human brain to then process them.
A wide variety of research facilities are working on the project, including Sensics, Inc., a Northrop Grumman company, as well as SAIC of San Diego, Theia Technologies LLC, of Wilsonville, Oregon; and Dallas-based L-3 Communications Infrared Products. Universities participating include Georgetown. Portland State, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, is going in a slightly different direction, as they attempt to develop touchless tech--the ability to fast forward, turn up and down volume just by a shift of one's eyeballs, or to detect the tapping together of forefinger and thumb to activate a remote control device for a video or DVD player.
The industry is moving forward with the development of more personal, intimate tech. On July 7, 2008, the Second Wearable Technologies Conference takes place in Munich, Germany, intending to show how "a combination of sports, fashion and lifestyle with current trends of the electronics industry can create an added value for clients and increase the turnover potential on both sides."