Telepathy Playground
Marseilles-based artist Mathieu Briand makes installations that use light, video, sound, and other media to let viewers destabilize and manipulate their own perceptions. His stylish works adopt the sleek, cold, and ambiguously menacing look of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and other dystopian science fiction fables of that era. Briand’s first U.S. solo show recently opened at Los Angeles’ Redcat gallery, and its title, ‘Ubiq: A Mental Odyssey’ references both the Kubrick film and ‘Ubik,’ the Philip K. Dick classic about telepathy, unstable realities, and an elusive cure-all product. On view through June 18, the exhibition includes a standout work consisting of four retro-futuristic helmets outfitted with cameras and monitors, which allow wearers to swap perspectives and steal each other’s points of view as they explore the exhibition. The piece highlights an important difference between Briand’s work and the bleak science fiction tradition that he references: his work makes a! hallucinatory future of failed technological utopias seem like fun. In these playful installations, a Phillip K. Dick-style confusion between reality and fractured perceptions becomes the perfect context for anarchic play. – Bill Hanley

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Valéry Grancher via Rhizome news

The soldier does not use a microphone for voice commands, but instead wears a headband with an osteo-phone. The helmet will also be equipped with passive elements for audio protection. The helmet mounted day/night microcamera will offer 50 degrees field of view. Using the standard headgear, the soldier will be able to detect a human target at 150 meters and identify it at a range of 70 meters.
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The computer is connected to a man-machine interface enabling the soldier to control the system and carry out operations such as firing around a corner or see through obstacles.
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The specialized section commanders will get portable information system terminals, (SIT), which are PDA sized digital assistants, used for tactical situation assessment. The SIT will display images, maps with overlaid symbology, and will be able to exchange encrypted messages with other commanders and higher echelons.

In terms of group coordination, it also appears interesting:

The infantryman will use a small personal radio (RIF) transmitting voice and data communication. The RIF will be functional both in mounted or dismounted operations enabling GPS position tracking and information sharing within the squad and platoon. The communication bandwidth provided by the RIF is sufficient to pass operational graphics, imagery, maps and video sequences between team members and back to the higher echelon. (…)
FELIN platoon will operate five networks: four will operate as RIFintra squad networks, (three infantry and one antitank squads) maintaining continuous and open “conference” between the squad members. Each RIFIntra network will also be separable into two intra-team sub-networks, allowing control of small team operations when required. At the platoon level, RIF Command network will operate, communicating between squad leaders, platoon commander, CO, snipers and the unit’s armored personnel carriers.

Why do I blog this? No I am not a military freak however, I do think military stuff offers an interesting potential in the field of Human-Computer Interaction as well as to study how technology disrupts/impacts/reshapes/supports group coordination, which is closely related to my phd project. Moreover, I would be interested to see how people could hack this kind of tool and turn it into something crazier…