The Technology, Entertainment, Design conference - otherwise known simply as TED - is an exclusive annual conference that serves as a launch pad for "ideas worth spreading." Its participants usually include well-achieved personalities such as former presidents, Nobel Prize winners and successful executives from a number of fields, but also less known entrepreneurs with innovative and world-changing ideas.
Hundreds of lectures and demonstrations have been delivered since 1984 and one in particular from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT was the buzz of TED this year. Dubbed 'sixth sense', this device is the brainchild of student Pranav Mistry and combines optical sensors with mobile connectivity to augment the physical world around us with digital information.
For instance, one could seamlessly pull up data on various items while shopping for groceries, interact with this information based on gestures and even take photos by forming a frame with your fingers. You really have to watch the video demo after the jump to fully understand what the project is about, but basically, it should enable users to interact with any real life surface by using gestures and have constant access to relevant and real time information available on the web.