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Team:Wellesley HCI/Notebook/LindaNotebook
From 2012.igem.org
Linda's Notebook
May 29: First Day of Research
First Day of Research
I woke up bright and early to be surprised that the whole Lakehouse was already bustling with activity. Then, I realized that almost everyone was doing research at Wellesley, so pretty much, everyone walked to the Science Center together!
Today was the first day of research. My group met together, did some intros, and gave an overview of the whole lab. We went over briefly what kind of projects we’re going to be working on and the activities that we’re going to do. And they’re all going to be super exciting!
I’m going to be working with another lab partner on building softwares on the Beast (aka a tabletop interaction surface, but it’s almost the size of a bed!), something unique and made especially by and for our lab. But first we had to make sure that it can display images well, so our task today was to align the mirrors that project the image of the beast to create a desktop smooth background. However, these mirrors were very sensitive and we had a limited amount of space to work with! We were under the table for the whole time and everything took a lot of patience. We all knew that we can get our images aligned and calibrated, but it’s just going to take time. So there we are, under the table/ screen, fiddling around with the knobs, and trying to figure out with way to turn it tighter/ looser (lefty loosy, righty tighty) for the whole day. But wala! It finally worked. We were able to get our images align and smooth out the pattern on top. It was very satisfying to see it work and to know that we did it!
May 31: Laser keyboard
Check this keyboard out: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e722/. Isn't it cool!
June 4: Microsoft
Today, our HCI lab got to visit a branch of Microsoft that was located at Cambridge, MA. I was super impressed with Microsoft. First of all, they had an amazing view of Charles River. A whole panorama! It was absolutely gorgeous and stunning even though today was cold and raining.
Their recruitment and education chair presented Microsoft 8 to us and their tablet. It was amazing. I’ll be honest and say that I had my doubts about a tablet version of Microsoft because ipad is already amazing. But I quickly learned that Microsoft has some pretty nifty ideas too. With swips on the sides and touches on the corners of the screen, Microsoft 8 seems to be as lively and useful as it can be too! I was really amazed at what other options and ideas Microsoft 8 is going to put forth in the realm of technology. And after seeing and learning about this whole thing, I am absolutely amazed and excited about the technology that I get to work with in the lab and the possibilities/ creativities of the next generation technology.
