

MIT Whiz Wants to Turn Your Skin Into a Computer Interface - schrodingersCat
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/07/at-mit-charting-the-future-of-vibrating-devices/

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c-oreills
I can't find the article discussing it, but this reminds me of "Beyond sensory
substitution--learning the sixth sense." [1] which is one of my favourite
studies on neuroplasticity.

Basically, hook up a load of cell phone vibrators to a belt, add GPS, make the
vibrator closest to north vibrate so that you have a constant haptic compass.

People wore them constantly and became better at navigational tasks: were
better at finding their way around in new areas, were much more conscious of
subtle curves in roads and could more reliably point in a direction and say
"My house is over there". The haptic compass became a new sense for them.

Interestingly, once the compass was removed, people also reported a sense of
being lost without it that subsided after a few days, because they had come to
depend on it.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16317228](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16317228)

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fsck--off
> Basically, hook up a load of cell phone vibrators to a belt, add GPS, make
> the vibrator closest to north vibrate so that you have a constant haptic
> compass.

Or you could learn a language like Guugu Yimithirr, which doesn't use
egocentric coordinates at all (e.g "to my left", "behind me", "in front of
me"). Instead, speakers use north, south, east, and west when giving
directions, which means that they must know what direction they are facing at
all times. There are stories of native speakers being blindfolded and spun
around many times in a dark room without losing their sense of direction. [1]

[1]
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?pagewanted=all)

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solistice
I would find it intresting whether tacile interfaces of that kind would
aggravate the problem we allready know as phantom ringing. You sure know the
feeling that your phone has just rung in your pocket, but when you get it out,
it didn't ring at all. Having these tacile buttons on your skin will proably
just make the problem worse.

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yaddayadda
Haptic information has been utilized for military pilots for at least a decade
now. I know early research was focused on the same types of information Ms.
Jones is gathering.

I never read any of the research results, but the resultant information passed
on to me was that there are key areas (e.g. each shoulder, lower spine, etc)
that were easily interpreted and did not cognitively overload pilots.

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cafard
In Thomas Pynchon's novel _V_ , there is a lazy type who uses a switch on his
skin to control the television. The resistance of his skin varies depending on
whether he is asleep or awake, so he automatically starts the TV when he wakes
and turns if off when he falls asleep.

