Anh « Rest Of You

Telepresence Experiment

By Anh, on December 19th, 2011%

For my final project for Rest of You, I experimented with a new way to teleconference. Rather, I took the old way and added — and subtracted — a couple of key elements.

In an article written in InformationWeek in June, the president of IT consultancy Yeoman Technology Group, Mike, said that he only used video conferencing for . . . → Read More: Telepresence Experiment

Research: Machine Therapy

By Anh, on November 26th, 2011%

One of the subjects that have interested me during this course is how machines can assist, supplement and possibly enhance our bodies. Normally when we think of machine therapy, we think about artificial organs such as the hearing aid.

Recently, however, Kelly Dobson has defined the term “machine therapy” as a new practice combining art, design, psychoanalysis, and . . . → Read More: Research: Machine Therapy

Our complex brain is not meant for modern life

By Anh, on November 26th, 2011%

Earlier this semester, we were asked to read a primer on evolutionary psychology, which seeks to discover and understand the design of the human mind and determine which human psychological traits are the result of natural selection. As humans, we tend to think that we are smarter than animals because we are ruled by reason, unlike . . . → Read More: Our complex brain is not meant for modern life

Happiness and “Flow”

By Anh, on November 13th, 2011%

What is happiness? Is it an emotion or a state of mind? Wikipedia defines it as a mental state of well-being, characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happiness, according to hedonists, are emotions obtained by feeding positive stimuli into one’s sensory system. Seligman remarks that one can only be momentarily happy, and . . . → Read More: Happiness and “Flow”

Text analysis

By Anh, on October 25th, 2011%

Counting the number of times “occupy wall street” appears in the New York Times in October, 2011, and what section it appears in.
/*
NYTimes Article Search API Library
/*

import blprnt.nytimes.*;

String apiKey = “2d3b99054486a8c7c56d58718a6c8c6d:7:41049435″;

void setup() {
size(500,500);
background(255);

//Initialize the TimesEngine with your apiKey
TimesEngine.init(this, apiKey);

//Construct a simple keyword search
TimesArticleSearch . . . → Read More: Text analysis

Mirror Neurons

By Anh, on October 10th, 2011%

In Marco Iacoboni’s talk on mirror neurons, the neurologist explained that humans have special cells that are designed to help us imitate others. Studies show that the area of the brain that activates when a person grabs an object also activates when a person simply sees someone else grabbing an object. Imitation, as it turns out, is a powerful way . . . → Read More: Mirror Neurons

Rushing through life

By Anh, on October 4th, 2011%

One of the things that I wanted to explore is if the pace in which you go through life reflects how happy you are at the moment. Last year, I worked on a project called iStride that worked essentially as a pedometer, calculating your cadence and alerting you to when you were over striding during runs. . . . → Read More: Rushing through life

Processing for Android

By Anh, on September 27th, 2011%

This week, I attempted to upload a Processing sketch that was reading data from an GSR sensor on an Arduino to the Android via Bluetooth. It sounds complicated and, well, it was complicated.

I managed to successfully download Processing for the Android and all of its components. Simple processing sketches worked in both the emulator and on . . . → Read More: Processing for Android

Illusions

By Anh, on September 13th, 2011%

What is consciousness, and how does it play a role in the decisions we make? That was the topic of this week’s readings: Visual Illusions, Consciousness Illusions and Illusion of Rationality.

Julian Jaynes writes in “Consciousness Illusions” about the illusions we have about consciousness: We don’t need to be conscious to do everyday activities (speaking is one example of an activity . . . → Read More: Illusions

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