Nomad

Background
While working on the [Weather Fairy], I began to think of other uses for intelligent displays, especially for commercial use by regular consumers. It occurred to me that consumer displays, namely televisions, are already used for more than just watching television shows.

Video game consoles have existed as early as the 19070s with the advent of Atari’s Pong. Since then, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Microsoft have all come out with their own systems, which easily connect to a television display and work through controllers. Also, VHS tape players and DVD players have gained popularity as well, changing how users interact with these displays.

Of interest are DVD players and game consoles, which are very good at introducing new interface environments. Game condoles now are able to play DVDs ad CDs as well as the video game discs they are formatted to read. DVD players can also play CDs.

Now, would it be possible to create a new kind of interaction? In this second iteration of the Weather Fairy, the Nomad, I am interested in another intelligent system that can take feedback and learn to adapt from that feedback.


The Project
This project is fairly straightforward. It involves a small system which connects to a display, like a game console. The purpose of this system is to serve as a display, imitating a window. It’s almost reminiscent of a fireplace display, except that what it shows is an evolving environment that adapts to user inputs. The user is able to specify what he or she wants to be presented with and is also allowed to make changes. Unlike the Weather Fairy, the Nomad does not ping users.

Video feeds are different from this in that they are usually live from some location. Video feeds may not be ideal if the user cannot find what he is looking for, especially if the user wants to control the content.


The Proposal
The Nomad has the following capabilities:
DVD playing capabilities
CD playing capabilities
Mp3 playing capabilities (via CD)
Nomad software

The uses for it are mostly related to home entertainment. Existing technology, such as virtual aquariums and the screens that play fireplace scenes, is already out there, but no intelligent technologies exist to adapt to what the user wants to see. Also, the Nomad could be used as another option to the Weather Fairy. Because it does not require a server, it can swerve the same purpose without the use of servers. The only drawback to this would be that it cannot receive input from multiple users.


The User Interface