7 ms·

NYT R&D Lab uses Kinect to make 'magic mirror' for bathroom surfing

26 points by mrsebastian 15y ago

phsr 15y ago
Obvious issue with this: You are placing cameras in the bathroom. You are a hack away from providing live feeds of a bathroom users.
wccrawford 15y ago
It's cute, but... "On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day" And only about 3-5 minutes of that is spent in front of a mirror. And even less is spent looking at said mirror. Why would I slow down brushing my teeth to play which-tie-should-I-wear with my mirror? The closet is right around the corner.
- waitwhat 15y ago
  On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day [citation needed] Honestly, that statistic doesn't even pass the smell test.
  - mrsebastian 15y ago
    Believe it or not, it's from a survey by the National Association for Continence... http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=93103&page=1 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=93103...
- erikb 15y ago
  Even if your statics are correct the time spent in a place changes when you can do different things there. In the past people only sat on the toilet to take a shit, but these days you have books, ebooks, netbooks, smartphones. I bet people spend a lot more time there. And this technology can also be used for other mirrors in your house. AND don't forget people have big, big mirrors in their bedrooms for a reason and then remember the slogan "sex sells" and that the possibilities only stop, where creativity ends.
msutherl 15y ago
My friends at Supertouch (also in NYC) who have been doing work with 'interactive mirrors' for years won't be happy about this article: http://www.supertou.ch/ http://www.supertou.ch/
jachreja 15y ago
Hopefully someone should get a kick out of my story: Over memorial weekend of this year, my new 360 250gig Slim and entire 360 collection was stolen out of my home. What they did not take: My kinect and small collection of 2-3 kinect games. Perhaps "Dance Central" Scared them off. Seeing hacks like this for the kinect has given me something to do with it while I waited for an appropriate deal/time to purchase a new system, but honestly it's a little bit creepy. I do not think the average consumer would be okay with a camera/internet connected device with a camera in their bathroom. That being said, coolest hack since the head tracking.
roc 15y ago
I could see a mirror computer for showing things like weather, appointments, pill reminders and maybe some quick news clips or a news scroll. And of course, there's an opportunity for interactive apps, such as the 'tooth brush watcher/timer' that ensures you're getting good coverage over each section of your teeth for a decent amount of time. And similarly for flossing. (Though they'd need to do better work in fog-free mirrors than has been done thus far. Because every one I've owned has had its coating lose effectiveness in a few months.) But what this really begs for, is a continuous computing environment: a whole-house computer that can take your session with you from the bathroom mirror to the bedroom mirror, to the surface-style kitchen table and so on, with speakers and microphones throughout the home so that you can interact with it even without a screen. In that situation, the value of a bathroom mirror computer isn't judged in the context of "will I be in front of this mirror long enough for it to be useful", but instead in the context of "would I like my whole-house computer to be able to provide me services here too." And I think that's a much more compelling case.
- asolove 15y ago
  Idea: mount a Kinect on a robotic arm, then hooked up the servos to the Kinect's human movement detection so that the Kinect can follow you moving through a large space. Hmm, what could I do with that?
  - sliverstorm 15y ago
    Are you thinking what I'm thinking? http://wiredcontroller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/196903-portal-2-wheatley_header.jpg http://wiredcontroller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/196903...
- WiseWeasel 15y ago
  "Dave, it looks like you need to eat more fiber."
BonoboBoner 15y ago
There goes the last room we dont spend our time starring at screens.
par 15y ago
This looks pretty cool and futuristic, just not sure how extremely useful it is. But anything that brings us closer to our inevitable, dystopian, blade runner-esque world, I am all for.
huhtenberg 15y ago
Ingenious! Now I can be stuffed with genuine NYT ads even when taking a leak! Can't wait! Seriously though - it's a great tech, but their focus on ad revenue at the prototyping phase is disturbing.
- 198d 15y ago
  Sarcasm aside, the fact that this sort of thing is being developed at what, I'm pretty sure, most people would consider a newspaper company is pretty fascinating in and of itself.
th0ma5 15y ago
i'm kind of sick of NYT co-opting a lot of things that the whole experimental media community is doing, and not contributing back code, nor even citing sources.

26 points by mrsebastian 15y ago

phsr 15y ago

Obvious issue with this: You are placing cameras in the bathroom. You are a hack away from providing live feeds of a bathroom users.

wccrawford 15y ago

It's cute, but... "On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day" And only about 3-5 minutes of that is spent in front of a mirror. And even less is spent looking at said mirror. Why would I slow down brushing my teeth to play which-tie-should-I-wear with my mirror? The closet is right around the corner.

waitwhat 15y ago
On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day [citation needed] Honestly, that statistic doesn't even pass the smell test.
- mrsebastian 15y ago
  Believe it or not, it's from a survey by the National Association for Continence... http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=93103&page=1 http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WolfFiles/story?id=93103...
erikb 15y ago
Even if your statics are correct the time spent in a place changes when you can do different things there. In the past people only sat on the toilet to take a shit, but these days you have books, ebooks, netbooks, smartphones. I bet people spend a lot more time there. And this technology can also be used for other mirrors in your house. AND don't forget people have big, big mirrors in their bedrooms for a reason and then remember the slogan "sex sells" and that the possibilities only stop, where creativity ends.

msutherl 15y ago

My friends at Supertouch (also in NYC) who have been doing work with 'interactive mirrors' for years won't be happy about this article: http://www.supertou.ch/ http://www.supertou.ch/

jachreja 15y ago

Hopefully someone should get a kick out of my story: Over memorial weekend of this year, my new 360 250gig Slim and entire 360 collection was stolen out of my home. What they did not take: My kinect and small collection of 2-3 kinect games. Perhaps "Dance Central" Scared them off. Seeing hacks like this for the kinect has given me something to do with it while I waited for an appropriate deal/time to purchase a new system, but honestly it's a little bit creepy. I do not think the average consumer would be okay with a camera/internet connected device with a camera in their bathroom. That being said, coolest hack since the head tracking.

roc 15y ago

I could see a mirror computer for showing things like weather, appointments, pill reminders and maybe some quick news clips or a news scroll. And of course, there's an opportunity for interactive apps, such as the 'tooth brush watcher/timer' that ensures you're getting good coverage over each section of your teeth for a decent amount of time. And similarly for flossing. (Though they'd need to do better work in fog-free mirrors than has been done thus far. Because every one I've owned has had its coating lose effectiveness in a few months.) But what this really begs for, is a continuous computing environment: a whole-house computer that can take your session with you from the bathroom mirror to the bedroom mirror, to the surface-style kitchen table and so on, with speakers and microphones throughout the home so that you can interact with it even without a screen. In that situation, the value of a bathroom mirror computer isn't judged in the context of "will I be in front of this mirror long enough for it to be useful", but instead in the context of "would I like my whole-house computer to be able to provide me services here too." And I think that's a much more compelling case.

asolove 15y ago
Idea: mount a Kinect on a robotic arm, then hooked up the servos to the Kinect's human movement detection so that the Kinect can follow you moving through a large space. Hmm, what could I do with that?
- sliverstorm 15y ago
  Are you thinking what I'm thinking? http://wiredcontroller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/196903-portal-2-wheatley_header.jpg http://wiredcontroller.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/196903...
WiseWeasel 15y ago
"Dave, it looks like you need to eat more fiber."

BonoboBoner 15y ago

There goes the last room we dont spend our time starring at screens.

par 15y ago

This looks pretty cool and futuristic, just not sure how extremely useful it is. But anything that brings us closer to our inevitable, dystopian, blade runner-esque world, I am all for.

huhtenberg 15y ago

Ingenious! Now I can be stuffed with genuine NYT ads even when taking a leak! Can't wait! Seriously though - it's a great tech, but their focus on ad revenue at the prototyping phase is disturbing.

198d 15y ago
Sarcasm aside, the fact that this sort of thing is being developed at what, I'm pretty sure, most people would consider a newspaper company is pretty fascinating in and of itself.

th0ma5 15y ago

i'm kind of sick of NYT co-opting a lot of things that the whole experimental media community is doing, and not contributing back code, nor even citing sources.