Creating immersive content using generative AI is a likely future. In this paper, we take a sneak peek into that future. We collaborated with sixteen users to create their memories with them. Different methods, including three generative AI pipelines and Gaussian Splatting, were used to recreate twelve personal objects. Twelve participants were instructed to select one version and subjectively assess each 3D reconstruction in four dimensions: realism, aesthetics, resemblance, and reminiscence. Our results show that Gaussian Splatting is generally preferred for its fidelity, while image-to-3D pipelines are competitive on aesthetic appeal. Crucially, reminiscence, how well a reconstruction evokes the original memory, emerged as the strongest driver of preference, suggesting that for this group emotional resonance matters more than visual realism.

HiruXR is a Javascript library aimed at creating collaborative and interactive data visualizations in eXtended Reality (XR). Developers can use it to create environments where multiple users can communicate and collaborate around one or many visualizations. We want to open these environments to users with 2D displaying and interaction capabilities, e.g. allowing them to collaborate from their laptops and phones with others using Head Mounted Displays (HMD). But displaying the same interface is not optimal, users should see an interface according to their device capabilities. Therefore, we are steering the design of HiruXR towards supporting responsiveness without putting all the burden in application developers. The library defines visualization, interaction and collaboration components that adapt to the user device capabilities, i.e. 2D or XR. In this paper, we share the design philosophy, initial implementation examples and lessons learned so far building some of these components for collaboration between VR and 2D devices.

The CWI-ADE2016 Dataset is a collection of more than 40 million Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) packets and of 14 million accelerometer and temperature samples generated by wristbands that people wore in a nightclub. The data was gathered during Amsterdam Dance Event 2016 in an exclusive club experience curated around human senses, which leveraged technology as a bridge between the club and the guests. Each guest was handed a custom-made wristband with a BLE-enabled device that broadcast movement, temperature and other sensor readings. A network of Raspberry Pi receivers deployed for the occasion captured broadcast packets from wristbands and any other BLE device in the environment. This data provides a full picture of the performance of the real life deployment of a sensing infrastructure and gives insights to designing sensing platforms, understanding networks and crowds behaviour or studying opportunistic sensing. This paper describes an analysis of this dataset and some examples of usage.

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) is the premier technology for Internet video streaming. DASH efficiently uses existing HTTP-based delivery infrastructures implementing adaptive streaming. However, DASH traffic is bursty in nature. This causes performance problems when DASH players share a network connection or in networks with heavy background traffic. The result is unstable and lower quality video. In this article, we present the design and implementation of a so-called DASH Assisting Network Element (DANE). Our system provides target bitrate signaling and dynamic traffic control. These two mechanisms realize proper bandwidth sharing among clients. Our system is privacy friendly and fully supports encrypted video streams. Trying to improve the streaming experience for users who share a network connection, our system increases the video bitrate and reduces the number of quality switches. We show this through evaluations in our Wi-Fi testbed.

Dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) is a simple, but effective, technology for video streaming over the Internet. It provides adaptive streaming while being highly scalable at the side of the content providers. However, the mismatch between TCP and the adaptive bursty nature of DASH traffic results in underperformance of DASH streams in busy networks. This paper describes a networking architecture based on the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm. Controllers in the network with a broad overview on the network activity provide two mechanisms for adaptation assistance: explicitly signaling target bitrates to DASH players and dynamic traffic control in the network. We evaluate how each of these mechanisms can contribute to the delivery of a stable and high quality stream. It shows that our architecture improves the quality of experience by doubling the video bitrate and reducing disturbing quality switches. As such, this paper contributes insights on how to implement DASH-aware networking that also enables internet service providers, network administrators, and end-users to configure their networks to their requirements.

Remote controls are especially problematic for writing text, something necessary in many interactive digital TV applications (IDTV). In the context of research aimed at finding effective entry methods for IDTV applications, an empirical investigation was carried out and is presented in this article. The study analyzed the errors committed by 82 users in an experiment in which they wrote 7,395 sentences. Several typing methods suitable for IDTV contexts were used for experimentation. There were 3,562 of the sentences that registered at least one error. These errors were classified and their main causes analyzed, the particular characteristics of the users taken into account. The results show that the most frequent errors are proximity mistakes in all the evaluated methods. They appear in between 13.75% and 32.31% of the sentences, depending on the input method. Also, age and background are major aspects affecting the number and type of mistakes. The results could be the basis of changes in the design of conventional remote controls or in the design of advanced techniques for error recognition and correction.

Nowadays there is a huge market emerging in the interactive digital TV realm. In this context, we need new and effective methods of user interaction, as the main interaction device is still the classical remote control. Remote controls are especially problematic when it comes to writing text, something needed in most applications. Thus, we have carried out an empirical investigation to find effective methods of text entry with remote controls. We analyze several methods by performing experiments based on a methodology in which a heterogeneous set of real users carries out several sequential tasks in an incremental process. We analyze entry speeds, error rates, learning profiles, and subjective impressions, taking into account the particular characteristics of the users. Our results show, for instance, that Multitap is a good method for simple texts. It is between 12% and 34% faster than the fastest virtual keyboard, depending on the age of the user. Nevertheless, when complex texts need to be written, virtual keyboards present the same or even better writing speeds (QWERTY is 13% faster) and with significant lower error rates (Multitap is 347% worse than QWERTY). We consider that our results are very interesting for researchers, designers of TV applications, and hardware vendors.

Video streaming is not possible between nodes in different partitions of a Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET). However, ferry nodes can be used to deliver video in this environment. This service is helpful in some application scenarios, like emergencies. An important problem arises when the capacity offered by such a delay-tolerant network is not enough to deliver all the video produced. Then, video adaptation is necessary, but the network capacity is hard to estimate. Dynamic Temporal Scalability (DTS) is a novel technique to solve this problem. DTS schedules frames from a stream stored in a node adapting the frame rate to the available resources. The results of evaluating this technique show that the frame sequence delivered to the user is close to live video and has small quality variations. In addition, video quality scales with the available resources. Finally, the efficiency in the use of network resources is similar with DTS and the default scheduling technique, i.e., FIFO.

The development of the technologies behind Interactive Digital Television (IDTV) services has produced a new type of audience. Traditional viewers now become users as they may play an active role in front of the TV, for example, by choosing a video to be played on demand or by introducing text on an IDTV application. In these services, interactions need to be performed with a remote control, currently the main interaction device, or other devices such as keyboards or mice, which are not very popular in this environment. Nevertheless, although remote controls are essential tools for IDTV services, they are very limited when it comes to writing text. Thus, this study evaluated different alternatives to introduce text on an IDTV application with a remote control. A heterogeneous group of people was selected to write predefined sentences in Spanish in a test environment using three virtual keyboard layouts and the multitap mechanism. Their performance and subjective impressions reveal weaknesses and strengths of the evaluated methods. The article draws important conclusions about the usage of remote controls in IDTV applications, not only for the design of new applications but also for the research of new techniques to introduce text.

Using Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) for audio and video transmission is very promising for application domains such as emergency and rescue. However, audio/video streaming services are not designed for such dynamic and unstable networks. The problems are even more important in so-called sparse MANETs where the node density is relatively low so that disconnections and network partitions are common. We have designed an architecture that combines MANET routing with caching and delay tolerant store-carry-forward operations in an overlay network to improve the quality of audio/video transmission over sparse MANETs. We have implemented a prototype to evaluate the architecture. The results from the experiments demonstrate that our system clearly outperforms simple client-server solutions when the network has temporal disconnections.