Leonardo, a journal that focuses on applications of science and technology in art, included this paper in its second-to-last issue of 2002. The author discusses a fascinating method of creating three dimensional shapes in a semi-immersive virtual environment. Developed at Caltech, the technique tracks the motion of a user's hand, which is fitted with a special type of glove. With the help of an...

With a work history that includes Apple and Hewlett Packard, Dr. Don Norman is certainly no pushover when it comes to technology. He created this site to express his vision of technology that is inviting and enjoyable to use, instead of being cold and inhuman. Several of his essays are presented here, including his most recent "Emotion and Design," published in July 2002. In it, he argues for...

In the April-June 2002 special issue of the IEEE Pervasive Computing journal, a team from Carnegie Mellon University contributed with a discussion of their Project Aura. The project's goal is to increase computing efficiency, particularly in wireless environments, so that "distractions such as poor performance and failures" are minimized. With greater system reliability and fewer distractions,...

The Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand (HIT Lab NZ) is hosted at the University of Canterbury. In partnership with HIT Lab US, based at the University of Washington and industry, the group conducts human-computer interface research and develops technology that can be utilized in areas such as education, medicine, scientific visualization, telecommunications and entertainment. The...

The Stanford Archimedes Project researches and develops tools that improve accessibility to information technology. This article, printed in a journal of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, describes much of the project's current work. One of the breakthrough devices from Archimedes is the Total Access System (TAS), which provides "access to computers and other electronic...