Historians have found the earliest digital computer music recording, which was made in 1951 by the BBC for a musical performance in a children's radio show.

The recording captures one of the earliest computers to use short term random access memory playing God Save the King, Baa Baa Black Sheep and a short piece of Glenn Miller's In The Mood.

The Ferranti Mark 1 computer was built by UK electrical engineering firm Ferranti in collaboration with Manchester University, UK. It was the world's first commercial computer, and nine were sold between 1951 and 1957.

Link to article.
Link to mp3 file of recording
[via MeFi]

Tuning an instrument can sometimes be a pain, but Gibson Guitar has come up with the world's first robot guitar, Les Paul Robot Guitar, that keeps itself in tune.

"It will not make you a better guitar player but it will allow the average player to access some very sophisticated tunings," Gibson Guitar Chief Executive Henry Juszkiewicz told Reuters on Tuesday.

The six nonstandard preset tunings were used on hits ranging from "Honky Tonk Women" by The Rolling Stones and Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" to Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" and Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game."

Gibson says the robot guitar is aimed at amateurs who have a hard time keeping their guitars in tune, as well as professionals who now use technicians during concerts to keep about 100 guitars tuned to different keys.

Only 4,000 limited edition guitars will be available worldwide on December 7.  Price ta?  $2,500.

Here is a 1969 ad put out by Western Electric, makers of Bell telephones, which describes their 'smartphone' technology.  Full page ad.

Programmers Kasper Neilson and Ole Iverson from Denmark have developed interactive learning floors called "Wisdom Wells".  Not meant to replace ordinary classroom teaching, Wisdom Wells not only encourages individual learning, but also collaborative learning where the students can learn from each other.  [link]

In the late 90s electric cars were popping up all over California. These were not hybrid vehicles—they ran without gasoline and had zero emissions at the tailpipe. These were not powered by hydrogen fuel cells—they ran on currently available battery technology and were charged on the grid.

They were reliable.
They were fast.
They were functional for about 90% of the US market.

They were discontinued.

Manufacturing was stopped. All of the existing electric automobiles were taken off the road, crushed and disposed of. Who is responsible for the death of the electric car and why did this happen?

The documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car" was released earlier this year to select theaters in the US. If you weren't able to catch it when it was in your area, it looks like the screening version has just been posted to removed from Google Video. Now we can all watch it imagine it playing on our computers, presumably without driving to the theater in our gas-guzzlers.

Update: Shortly after posting this, the video was taken offline. I've replaced the video with a PBS interview with the film's director, Chris Paine.

Update 2: Who killed the electric car videos? The PBS interview is now gone as well. Oh well, no electric car for you. No movies about them either.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is in the process of developing a System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN) which will help the sight-impaired navigate through daily life. 

SWAN is a wearable computer:

Besides a pendant-sized wireless GPS tracker, there are light sensors and thermometers that help distinguish between indoors and outdoors. Cameras gauge how far away objects and obstacles are. A compass establishes direction. And an inertia detector tracks the roll, pitch and yaw of the user's head.

All the data are crunched by a computer in a backpack, which relays high-pitch sonar-like signals that direct users to their destinations. It also works with a database of maps and floor plans to help pinpoint each sidewalk, door, hall and stairwell.

Like a sonar device, the SWAN system sends out audible blips that quicken as users move closer to a preprogrammed target and slow as they get farther away. The sound of a hinge opening plays as it passes by a door, and cues can signal bathrooms, restaurants, stores, and other attractions.

The sounds are sent through bone-conducting headphones, specialized devices that are worn behind the ears to appease users reluctant to have their ears covered.

"This is not intended to replace a guide dog or a white cane," Walker said. "This just supplements it."

The SWAN reminded me of the research project one of our favorite Lego League Teams has been together for their presentation a couple years ago. 

This man shows us how the MIT Assist Sketch Understanding System and Operation works by sketching a simple mechanical device onto the drawing board and then demonstrating how the system understands the sketch through movement.

I could see this tool being used not just in the classrooms but also in the workplace. 

Previously:
Pythagoras Switch: Japanese Kids Show and Crazy Smart Kids, Interactive Periodic Table, A Different Kind of Periodic Table Poster

My friend Nate wrote me the other day about the SIGGRAPH 06 conference:

A friend of mine from CMU's Human-Computer Interaction program went to SIGGRAPH last week.

If you aren't aware, SIGGRAPH is supposedly THE conference for people who design human-computer interfaces. She took some videos of really cool toys, I thought I'd share a few of them with you.

All of the videos are now located at:
http://www.aubreyshick.com/SIGGRAPH06/

Definately check out the command interface, it's amazing.

I'm not positive, but it looks like the command interface might be the latest incarnation of the Multi-Touch system that I've been drooling over for a while.  The OS in this new video has a minority report look to it and allows users to drag, rotate, and scale windows with natural hand movements.

The MIT huggable also caught my eye.  The huggable is cute bear equipped with various skin sensors, cameras, microphones and an embedded wireless PC which allows it to interact with its owner on a pseudo-emotional level.  It's an interactive stuffed animal, and it's way less creepy than robogrover.

The page has links to 7 AVIs in total.  If you have any trouble playing them, try to right-click and download them first rather than attempting to play in-browser.

Tabu Ultra Lounge in Las Vegas' MGM Grand is a trendsetting lounge that sports 5 cool Human Locator interactive tables.  Move your hands over the table and play around with water, fire, bubbles, blur, spin, rotation, flap, video scratch, or sand.

Previously:
Multi-Touch: High Tech Touchscreen