Adrian Cheok Speaker at EU Event in Brussels – Ethics in the Digital World – A Closer Look at Clouds, Big Data and the Internet of Things

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Event: Ethics in the Digital World – A Closer Look at Clouds, Big Data and the Internet of Things

Date: Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Time: Registration and welcome drink 15.00, seminar 15:30 – 17:00, mingle until 19:00
Venue: L’Atelier, 28 rue Franklin, 1000 Brussels

Confirmed Speakers

  • Nicole Dewandre, Advisor for societal issues to the Director General, DG CONNECT, EU Commission
  • Peter Warren and Jane Whyatt, Technology journalists and authors of the report Making the Digital World Ethical
  • Dr Murray Shanahan, Professor of Cognitive Robotics, Imperial College London
  • Dr Adrian Cheok, Professor of Pervasive Computing, London’s City University
  • Moderator: Per Strömbäck, Editor Netopia

Please RSVP to event@netopia.eu. Seats are limited.

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The emergence of the cloud services, big data and the internet of things could be one of the greatest boons to humankind in history, enabling a paradigm-shift in quality of life. The bad news is that there could be a downside. The development has profound implications for us in terms of surveillance, privacy and consumer rights.

  • Will we humans remain in control of the process, or will the process begin to control us?
  • Where do human rights such as privacy stand?
  • Can or should a system of ethics be imposed on computer software and the internet of things itself?
  • Are existing legal frameworks and approaches able to adapt to the coming machine age?
  • What rules will govern the makers of the machines and the ‘Lords of the Clouds’?

In the midst of the complex and often exciting technical changes that are being developed to help the human condition, we should ensure that humanity itself is not left out of the equation. Netopia invites to an afternoon of discussion, report presentation and mingle.

http://www.netopia.eu/2014/01/31/event-ethics-in-the-digital-world-feb-18/

Mugaritz App That Lets People Smell Their Dishes

http://www.finedininglovers.com/blog/news-trends/scentee-mugaritz-smell-food-phone/

BY FDL ON 

risotto

Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz at the Mugaritz restaurant is working on a new digital app that lets users recreate one of the restaurant’s dishes on their screen before a device attached to the bottom of the phone kicks out the actual smell of the dish.

The device, called Scentee, is created by a Japanese company and it’s this technology that ProfessorAdrian Cheok from the City University in London harnessed while working with Chef Aduriz.

Scentee is basically a small tank that sits on the bottom of the phone. It’s controlled by an application and once triggered it emits a puff of odor. The idea is that you could one day send someone the scent of a coffee, great wine, or in the case of Mugaritz, actually smell a dish before you taste it.

Cheok says: “The Digital Food app opens up new vistas for people around the world who may not have had the opportunity to physically dine in the restaurant to virtually experience the real smell of gourmet food prepared by one of the world’s top restaurants and chefs. The revolutionary new device brings the sense of smell to mobile phone communications.”

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The Scentee device was shown this week at Madrid Fusion, it can be ordered online but it’s hard to find an English or American seller – at the moment the Japanese arm of Amazon stock the devices for ¥3,654 ($35) and the cartridges at ¥525 ($5).The app can be downloaded for iPhone and Android and the technology really is paving the way for a future of Scentagram style social media apps, supermarkets that let you smell the meals you’re buying and restaurants that trick diners by offering mixed scents and tastes at the table.

Cheok says the early future of the device will be driven by the adoption of private companies. He also notes that it could have wider applications away from the food and drink world, offering real medical benefits, saying that people with smell and taste disabilities could benefit from the technology: “Their experience of the world could be enhanced using technology. It could also be used by using familiar smells to trigger memories for elderly patients, reminding them to do things such as take their medication.”

Is that a risotto in your pocket? The app that smells like dinner

http://theconversation.com/is-that-a-risotto-in-your-pocket-the-app-that-smells-like-dinner-22443

The Conversation

By Adrian Cheok on 27 January 2014, 2.57pm GMT

risotto
Incoming message: Nice glass of rioja and a baked camembert.

Even though we are communicating in more ways than ever using online technology, we remain largely confined to the audiovisual when we do it. An app that has been on sale in Japan for some time aims to add smell into the mix.

Now that so many interactions are mediated by means of a screen, we find ourselves behind a window all the time. The virtual world of the internet does not permit us to use all of our senses; touch, taste and smell are off-limits.

The next frontier is allowing people to use all their senses to communicate over the internet and that’s what we’re trying to do at the Mixed Reality Lab, using the Scentee app. So instead of sending a picture of your dinner to a friend, you’ll be able to send them the smell. It can also be synced with your alarm clock to emit a whiff of freshly brewed coffee to get you going in the morning.

The app works when the user presses an icon on the smartphone screen. The app comes with a small tank which is plugged in to the smartphone and will light up and release a puff of scent is released from the top. The individual tanks are each filled with various food aromas so different smells can be sent.

Daily specials, straight to your nose

Given the close relationship between smell and taste, this technology has potential for those who want to change the taste of their food too. If you’re dieting, you might want to spray the smell of beef into the air when you’re eating a salad to trick yourself into thinking you are having something more substantial.

This kind of technology is already being taken up in the restaurant industry, where digital dining is becoming an increasingly popular way to deliver fine cuisine. Customers already get a mixed-media experience in some restaurants, such as when they listen to the sounds of the sea when eating fish.

My team of researchers is working with Mugaritz, a restaurant in Spain, to develop a digital food app that will enable customers to not only see the dishes on offer when they look at the menu but to be able to smell them too. So instead of only relying on traditional audio visual information to pick a meal, auxiliary technology bridges the gap between culinary creativity and customer experience.

We use Scentee to enable them to virtually prepare a recipe from Mugaritz and then smell the results when the aroma from the dish is emitted from the phone.

Private companies are likely to lead the charge in adopting them, as can be seen in the keenness with which restaurants are experimenting.

But there are also applications for health, such as for people with smell and taste disabilities. Their experience of the world could be enhanced using technology. It could also be used by using familiar smells to trigger memories for elderly patients, reminding them to do things such as take their medication.

Fine dining chef to bring ‘Smell-O-Vision’ to smartphones

http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Food/Features/2014/02/04/Fine-dining-chef-to-bring-SmellOVision-to-smartphones

-AFP Relaxnews

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Diners can get preview of upcoming dinner.

A TRIPLE Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain is hoping to bring the concept of “Smell-O-Vision” to guests with the development of a new mobile app that will allow diners to get a whiff of their dinner from their smartphone.

Chef Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz restaurant has teamed up with a Japanese technology company to work on a digital app that would diffuse the smell of the restaurant’s dishes from a small plug-in accessory that attaches to the phone via the earphone jack.

After calling up a dish on the screen, the diffuser called Scentee will release a burst of fragrance from a cartridge that simulates the aromas of the meal.

The concept was unveiled at gastronomy festival Madrid Fusion in January, reports Fine Dining Lovers, and is being developed with a professor from City University in London.

Not only would the mobile app offer prospective diners a preview of their upcoming dinner or a chance to revisit their meal, the digital mobile device could “open up new vistas” for foodies who may not be able to travel to the San Sebastian restaurant, Professor Adrian Cheok told Fine Dining Lovers.

The latest collaboration could also pave the way for future scentagram-style social media apps that could allow friends to send one another scented messages, recreate virtual meals, and allow grocery store shoppers to smell their food before purchase, Cheok added.

For now, the device is pitched as a 4D experience that could be used as an alternative alarm clock – think coffee aromas nudging you awake – and an added layer to the video gaming experience with the smell of gunpowder released every time players click the “fire” button.

Scentee is now available worldwide and ships to 120 countries. The small balloon-like device retails for US$35 (RM117) while cartridges are US$5 (RM16). Aromas that are already available include strawberry, lavender, coffee and rosemary. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

Mugaritz Is Developing Smartphone Smellovision

http://eater.com/archives/2014/02/03/mugaritz-is-developing-smart-phone-smellovision.php

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Monday, February 3, 2014, by Paula Forbes

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[Photos: ScenteeMugaritz]

Chef Andoni Luiz Aduriz of Spain’s three Michelin-starred restaurant Mugaritz is developing a way for diners to smell his food via cellphone, the chef announced at Madrid Fusion last week. Aduriz is working with City University London’s professor Adrian Cheok to develop scents to be used with an add-on device that is operated by the app Scentee.

According to a press release, the app “permit[s] the user to virtually prepare a recipe from the restaurant; the aroma from the finished dish is then released from the phone.” Neat? Cheok tells Fine Dining Lovers that this kind of smellovision “opens up new vistas for people around the world who may not have had the opportunity to physically dine in the restaurant to virtually experience the real smell of gourmet food prepared by one of the world’s top restaurants and chefs.”

It’s unclear when the Mugaritz scents will become available, but the technology is around now. The Scentee device retails for about $35 and cartridges are $5, which, while a little pricey, is still cheaper than going to Spain. The app itself, available for iPhone and Android, is free.