New laptop battery lasts for a month

Samsung has developed a new fuel cell based laptop battery that can power a laptop for a month before a recharge is required. This is a giant step from 2-4 hours of battery-operation-time in current technology. It's just what we need in this time of mobile computing :)

[ more ] [ also ]

Image-based Search

A start-up, Polar Rose says it can search images on the Web to find pictures of people, delivering better results than today's text-based search engines. Polar Rose claims they can make photos searchable by analyzing their content and recognizing the people in them.

[ more ]

Do-it-yourself Web

Teqlo, Inc., a Silicon Valley company at the forefront of user assembled application technology that makes it possible for the non-developers in small through large enterprises to assemble and publish their own applications, then invite others to use them. Jeff Nolan, the CEO Teqlo Inc., previously led the Apollo Strategy Group for SAP. Teqlo the company is committed to the vision that users should be able to assemble functional web applications without having to know how to program.

[ more ]

Hakia.com

Hakia.com is a semantic (meaning-based) search engine that promises better search results. The company's motto is "You should never search after searching." Here's a message from the CEO of Hakia.com; Dr. Riza Beran. The message has good points and venture capitals thinks same way because Hakia.com could raise $5 million recently. The New York and Istanbul based company will kick-off at New Year's Eve at Times Square, New York.

[ more ] [ also ]

Direct brain control of humanoid robot

Researchers have demonstrated a proof-of-concept EEG based BCI that allows control of a humanoid robot. The BCI allows a human subject to command the robot, via brain activity, to pick up a desired object and bring it to a desired location. BCI uses 32 electrodoes and preliminary results show 94% accuracy.

[ more ] [ also ]

Google Patent Search

Google has announced a patent search engine. All patents available through Google Patent Search come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

http://www.google.com/patents

Belief in placebos can release natural painkillers in patients

Using brain scans, acupuncture and the nasty stuff that puts the sting in pepper spray, researchers are learning how placebos play out in our brains.These innocuous medications - long used as decoys in clinical drug trials - aren't supposed to have real chemical effect on the body.

But experience over the years has taught doctors that some patients who take placebos experience real relief.Now brain scans show that when test subjects think a placebo is a real medication or treatment, the expectation of relief can release natural painkillers. That, in turn, can ease the discomfort of ailments from overworked muscles to a stinging hand.

[ more ]

Conscious Machine

Can we ever build such a device? This was discussed at the debate and a lecture that followed MIT's celebration of the 70th anniversary of Alan Turing's paper "On Computable Numbers" which was published in 1936...

[ more ]

Next 50 years in science

What will be the biggest breakthrough of the next 50 years? In the last weeks issue of New Scientist, this question was asked to over 70 of the world's most brilliant scientists for their ideas.

[ more ]

Neural signature of bilingualism

Researchers have found areas in the brain that indicate bilingualism using NIRS. The finding sheds new light on decades of debate about how the human brain's language centers may actually be enhanced when faced with two or more languages as opposed to only one. The study was presented at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting on October 14-18 in Atlanta, Ga.

[ more ]

Hitachi Brain Computer Interface

Hitachi has reportedly created and successfully tested an interface that allows users to turn a power switch on and off by using their brain only (Japanese)(English).

Optical topography, a neuroimaging technique which measures the changes in blood hemoglobin concentration in parts of the brain responsible for mental activity, is utilized with Hitachi's brain-controlled interface.
Any significant changes monitored in the brain blood flow is then translated into voltage signals that are used for activating the model train's power switch.

[ more ]

WinXP patch for improving battery life using USB devices

This patch is to address an issue where a Windows XP-based portable computer may not have as long a battery life under certain circumstances when certain USB 2.0 devices are connected.

[ more ]

Near Infrared for Examining Coronary Arteries

InfraReDx has developed a near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system to identify plaque composition. U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a clearance for the company’s 510(k) application to market its near infrared spectroscopic system for examining coronary arteries.

[ more ]

Implanted chip modifies pathways in brain

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) are working on an implantable electronic chip that may help establish new nerve connections in the part of the brain that controls movement. Their most recent study, published in the Nov. 2, 2006 edition of Nature, showed such a device can induce brain changes in monkeys lasting more than a week. Strengthening of weak connections through this mechanism may have potential in the rehabilitation of patients with brain injuries, stroke, or paralysis.

[ more ] [ comment ]

Clinical trial for ECoG based BCI

A 14-year-old who suffers from epilepsy, is the first teenager to play a two-dimensional video game, Space Invaders, using only the signals from his brain to make movements. The teenager had a grid atop his brain to record brain surface signals, a brain-computer interface (BCI) technique that uses electrocorticographic (ECoG) activity - data taken invasively right from the brain surface. It is an alternative to a frequently used technique to study humans called electroencephalographic activity (EEG) - data taken non-invasively by electrodes outside the brain on the scalp. The results were encouraging. The teenager could pass the level 1 easily learned instantaneously...

[ more ] [ video ]

Foot activated user interface

We are still in the early ages of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) though there are recent achievements. Meanwhile, researchers at HP are working on alternative communication devices and come up with a foot-activated user interface that can bring mousing abilities to those without hands / arms (or a suitable amount of dexterity). Although this solution is not the ultimate human computer interface, it is a progress in the right direction and useful to many before we have neural based mature BCIs.

Within the device, a magnetic sensor is affixed to one foot, while a transmitter emitting "pulsed magnetic signals" is clipped onto the other, and as the pulsating foot wiggles about, the relative distance and position is calculated and converted into cursor movements on screen. The designers have suggested that "twists" could be understood as "right / left clicks," while "sliding atop the ground" could be translated as "dragging and dropping."

[ patent ] [ more ]

Face Detection on Digital Camera

Fujifilm today said that it will ship its Finepix S5 Pro digital SLR camera in early 2007. The camera will provide a resolution of 12.1 megapixels and introduce a face recognition feature: According to the manufacturer, the feature can detect up to ten faces in one image and will allow users to zoom in facial detail, for example whether eyes are open or closed.

[ more ]

NXP Semiconductors

Royal Philips Electronics has decided to launch their semiconductor division as an independent company backed by a consortium of private investors where Phillips will retain only 20% of interest. This new company, called NXP, has sales over 5 billion euro, 37k employees and more than 25k patents. The campaign website, describes the vision and mission of this brand-new, top-ten electronics company.

[ site ] [campaign ]

Tesla Motors

Imagine a 100% electric car that is more powerful, fast and beautiful than most cars you know. A car that can accelerate to 100km/h in 4 seconds, faster than a Ferrari, and travel 1 mile for 1 cent. This is not a dream anymore, thanks to chairman of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk and others like Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It's little bit pricy now, but it is the future...

[ site ]

Kevin Mitnick's website hacked

Kevin Mitnick, an ex-hacker or the renown cracker specialized in social engineering techniques is certainly a prominent figure in IT Security. His life made the Hollywood screens and he is now, known as a person who is building his professional reputation by offering a variety of services in the IT Security field.

A group of Pakistani crackers vandalized the websites of 4 different Kevin Mitnick's ventures, in what it looks like to be a focused personal attack. The sites defensivethinking.com, mitsec.com, kevinmitnick.com and mitnicksecurity.com have been defaced with offensive messages.

[ more ]

Viewer Created Content

Introduction at www.current.tv starts with "Current is a cable and satellite television network.." They enable viewers to select videos that everyone can watch. Selection is mainly by voting. Nice concept, but if you have time to play!

[ site ]

Photosynth turns photo collections into 3D virtual reality

Microsoft's new project Photosynth, is a collobaration between Microsoft and the University of Washington. Basically, the application organize a large collection of non-structured photos and place them in a virtual world which can be explored/navigated easily. A paper has been published about the application in August 2006. Photosynth is planned to be available for download in the second half of 2007. Demo videos are available at the official project page.

[ more ] [ site ]

Biometric Vending Machine

Imagine a summer day: you are thirsty and want to get a soda, you approach a device at the corner of the corridor, the device looks at you through its camera and welcomes you (!), you press a button on the touch-screen and get your soda. No coins, no cards, even no need to reach your wallet. Well, this is not a science fiction, the device is now a reality thanks to a group of graduate students at University of California San Diago and also thanks to their prof pressing for a course project... :)

[ more ] [ site ]

Ancient Egypt King possessed glass from outer space?

Among King Tutankhamun's treasures, an eloborate necklace contains beetle shaped yellow gem dated back BC1300s. Recently, it has been understood that this is actually glass. But how could King Tut had glass is still unknown.

At extreme temperatures, like 1800 degree celcius, glass can occur and only events like atomic bomb explosions can produce such heat resulting a thin layer of glass. However, for the thickness of King Tut's beetle, power of thousands of atomic bombs are necessary. A possibility, scientists consider is, large meteor hits; but there's no proof of such hit at that time period in Egypt.

Since, there's no Earth based source for such high temperatures, scientists believe the source of the gem in King Tut's necklace is from outer space...

[ more ]

Computer game tests telepathy

In an interesting research project, computer technology is put to work. Researchers at Manchester University have created a virtual world to test for evidence of telepathic links between 100 people in what is being described as the most objective study undertaken so far.

The test is carried out using two volunteers who could be friends, work colleagues or family. They are placed in separate rooms on different floors of the same building to eliminate any possibility of communication. During the experiment participants view a random selection of computer-generated objects. These include a telephone, a football and an umbrella. The person in the first room sees one object at a time, which they are asked to concentrate on and interact with. The person in the other room is simultaneously presented with the same object plus three decoy objects. They are then asked to select the object they believe the other participant is trying to transmit to them.

The results of the experiment are expected to be published early in 2007. And, although experimenters reported that they have not intended to prove or disprove telepathy, this will study certainly add a scientific dimension to the discussion.

[ more ]

Microsoft acquired Winternals

Microsoft today announced the acquisition of Winternals Software, a privately held company based in Austin, Texas, that provides Windows®-based enterprises with systems recovery and data protection solutions in addition to offering a freeware tools web site called Sysinternals.

[ more ]

Google's Domains

Here's an updated list of more than 500 domains owned by Google. The list is maintained by Neil Patel. In case you have ever wondered :))

[ list ]

Using our brain

There has been a recent break-through in brain computer interface research with the successful trial of BrainGate; an implantable chip that records electric activity directly from cortex. Although BrainGate is an invasive tool and subjects need to get surgery to get started, there are many volunteers. It is like a beginnings of new era where science fictions meets reality.

[ more ]

There's also some progress in non-invasive brain-computer interface technologies. A team of cognitive neuroscientists including John Kounios of Drexel University used EEG to identify Aha signal. A recent study use this technique to enable humans to sort/find images much faster. A computer monitors the human subject while he is looking at a series of images and computer captures much before then the subject himself if he has found what he is looking for.

[ more ]

All these tell me one thing, we are certainly in the "stone age" of cognitive sciences and the way we live will change (big time) after we understand more about how brain works and invent tools to intervene....

Virtual PC for free

Microsoft makes Windows-based version of Virtual PC 2004 free. Also upcoming version Virtual PC 2007 is planned to be released free.

[ more ] [ download ]

Intel Core 2

Intel has set date for the launch of its next generation CPUs. Core 2 Duo will be unveiled at July 27. Recently, AMD 's Athlon 64 X2 was beating Pentium D of Intel in several becnhmarks, yielding high-end performance seeking users to AMD. Intel expects the new chips to bring 20% better performance than AMD's. Let's see the benchmarks...

[ more ]

Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006

Imagine Cup 2006 finalists will compete in India between August 6 and 12. Here are some pictures and information about the projects of groups representing various countries during their visit to Microsoft Headquarters. Among all, a promising project is "Docterra": medical information management system from Team Japan. This is certainly a fertile subject and much work is needed.

Google SketchUp

Another cool program released from Google, SketchUp [ http://sketchup.google.com/ ]
This is a free 3D graphic design & modelling program originally developed by @Last Software. This powerful tool has been used in Holywood and even visited Goldern Globe Awards. [ more ]
A design competition, 3D Challenge, is also underway for users of this tool.

Media Blogging for Profit

YouTube's rival eefoof promises to share advertisement profit with content providers that is users. If your video attracts lots of traffic, you will start making some cash ;)

[ more ]

Ruby On Rails - the new trend

Ruby on Rails framework is an open-source web application development framework developed initially by David Heinemeier Hansson at 37signals in Chicago while working on the BaseCamp productivity application. Ruby on Rails is written in the highly-dynamic open-source object-oriented Ruby programming language.

Some see Ruby as an alternative to Java and even as its heir. They believe, Ruby as a dynamically-typed language is superior to statically-typed languages such as Java.
And yet others believe although they have some common features they can co-exist in the foreseeble far future. Here is a comparison of Ruby on Rails and Java. And here's another view.

Obviously, there are so many enterprises that have invested in Java and its not going anywhere soon, but this new trend might give new direction to its evolution and maybe to other programming langugages'. But there's one thing is certain now, Ruby on Rails is becoming more and more popular. New books about it is being released frequently and conferences are being organized...

Dell laptop exploded into flames

At a conference in Japan, a Dell laptop suddenly exploded into flames that last for 5 minutes. Flames could be put down by fire extinguishers. Some photos are posted here. Previously Dell recalled defective batteries. Dell representatives announced that they are investigating the incident.

[ also ]

Next generation DVD

DVD wars heat up as Toshiba announced the release of first HD-DVD recorder equipped with 1 TB hard-disk on July 14. The rival of HD-DVD, Blue-ray DVD is promoted by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co (Panasonic). A similar war on VHS format was lost by Sony on their VHS-Betamax although it was superior to its competitor.

[ more ] [ also ]

Virtual Reality becoming real with VirtuSphere

VirtuSphere is a a giant plastic sphere that spins with the movement of a person in it. It is on stationary wheels, allowing user to walk, crawl, run and maybe even do gymnastics, all while the wheel itself spin in place.

[ VirtuSphere ] [ more ]

Adobe will distribute Google software

Adobe and Google signed multi-year software distribution agreement. According to the press release on June 21, Adobe will distribute Google Toolbar along with its Macromedia Flash Player.

[Press Release ]

First "Skype Edition" Notebook

Packard Bell, a known PC brand in Europe, announced a deal with Skype. According to the press release, Packard Bell's new laptops will have a Skype button by which users can answer calls or intiate a call.

[ Press Release ]

Microsoft announced Robotics Studio

Microsoft released a new software package with the effort of providing standardized platform to the robotics community. The software is available for free from Microsoft's page.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/robotics/

French Microsoft website hacked

Turkish hackers gained access to http://experts.microsoft.fr
Above is the screenshot of the site on June 18, 2006
The incident stirred up the questions about safety of IIS 6.0

[ more ]

Windows Live Messenger - Official Version

At last, Beta period is over for Windows Live Messenger and Messenger version 8.0 is officially realased late night on Jun 19th. You can get it from here.
Also, you can read developers' blog

Illumio

A new social network, Illumio (http://www.illumio.com) is under preparation. It aims at connecting friends and collegues as well as talent and knowledge. Unlike a bulletin board or forum, however, illumio doesn’t rely on others to read posted questions and respond. Instead, illumio uses each group member’s PC to filter requests in real time and alert him or her when there is a strong match. Read more from the developers' blog.

Windows for SuperComputers

Microsoft released a new version of windows for high performance computing.

[ Press Release ]

Trial version version is available for free from here. The product will be available in August for an estimated price of US$469 per node.

A new peer-review model for scientific papers?

Nature is undertaking a trial of a particular type of open peer review. In this trial, authors whose submissions to Nature are sent for peer review will also be offered the opportunity to participate in an open peer review process

http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/

The web debate page below contains a range of perspectives about peer review from those who believe it is working well, to those who prefer other options.

http://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/debate/

At least, it's very stimulating that this now a debate topic and a better way might be on the way...

Parallels: A virtual machine solution that can run Windows on Mac

Parallels has released a beta of intel-mac version software that can run Windows on Mac OS X. The release condidate (RC2) version can be downloaded for free from http://www.parallels.com/en/download/
Final version is expected to be about $40 to $50.

Free Online Storage

www.box.net gives 1GB free online file storage with a cool interface that allows easily loading and managing files...

Thought Controlled Robots

Scientists in Japan have succeeded in developing robotic hands, which can be controlled by the power of thought. Yukiyasu Kamitani and colleagues, from Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) and Honda Research Institute Japan (HRI), have developed these robotic arms which can immitate the movements of a person's real hand.

The brain monitoring technology used here is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A person is made to lay in a MRI scanner and then asked to make shapes with his right hand. The MRI scanner records the activities of the brain as the subject performs some action. This recorded data is then fed to a computer. After several sessions, the computer starts recognising the brain activities related to each shape imagined by the subject, and then instructs the robotic arm to immitate them.

[ More ] [ Also ]

HyTech - Hydrogen Technology Applications

HyTech Inc (http://hytechapps.com) is a promising technology company of gas generators that require only water (H2O) and electricity. These generators output HyTech's Aquygen is a new, practical fuel for clean and less expensive energy solutions...

One application is to use this technology for cars. Initial prototypes that use Aquygen gained 17 HP compared to just electrical ones. If their project succeeds we will fill our cars with only water :)

Pay-As-You-Go Personal Computing

Microsoft introduced Pay-As-You-Go Personal Computing for "emerging markets" where pirate software is ubiquitous. With this bussiness model, initial cost of the operating system is low but users have to pay a monthly subscription or use prepaid cards to access their system! :)

[ News Release ]

Windows Media Player 11 Beta

Windows Media Player 11 Beta is available for download.

It has a new user interface and couple of new features but the most dubbed is URGE online music store.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/11

Google News

Google today (May 10) announced several new features or updates in its services. An updated version of Google Desktop is availabe with more integration with online features like new Google Calendar. A new service called Google Trends allows comparing searches. Google has confirmed that their number one priority is search...

Windows CE 6 on its way...

Microsoft announced the beta release of Windows CE 6, next generation of its industry-leading embedded operating system.

[ Press Release ]

Product Page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/windowsce

Industry analysts expect to see new products based on both embedded CE (set-top boxes, industrial automation and medical devices) as well as sophisticated SmartPhones and PocketPCs coming sometime in 2007.

Your Thoughts Are Your Password

 What if you could one day unlock your door or access your bank account by simply "thinking" your password? Too far out? Perhaps not.

Researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, are exploring the possibility of a biometric security device that will use a person's thoughts to authenticate her or his identity.

Their idea of utilizing brain-wave signatures as "pass-thoughts" is based on the premise that brain waves are unique to each individual. Even when thinking of the same thing, the brain's measurable electrical impulses vary slightly from person to person. Some researchers believe the difference might just be enough to create a system that allows you to log in with your thoughts.

[Source]

Researchers Use Tongue as Interface

 
At the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, researchers are developing a system that will use the tongue as the interface for Navy SEAL divers, Army Rangers, and other front-line soldiers.

"Most of the human-computer interaction so far has been on using the eyes, ears, and hands," said Dr. Geri Gay, professor of Communications and Information Sciences at Cornell University and an expert on interface design.

"Everything nowadays is so ubiquitous with mobile computing, and we need to find new, hands-free ways of interacting for environments where your hands and eyes are busy," she noted.  "I could see something like this being used in cars."

[Source]

Windows Live Mail Beta

 Microsoft is promoting Windows Live Mail Beta with a sweeptakes campaign. All you have to do is to browse to this page and enter your hotmail address. Although it is not as good as gmail, this new hotmail bestows 2GB space along with the new outlook interface. It is nice to have a taste of different flavours...

Made in Express Contest

 Microsoft has announced a contest where you can attendees submit their idea and get paid 10k to implement it with Visual Studio Express Edition. 
Interested? 
More info is here.

MS Office 2007 Preview

Microsoft is preparing Office 2007 for beta users. A preview is available from the following link.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview

Academic Search

Microsoft Announced Windows Live Academic Search
[Press Release]

The website for the search is http://academic.live.com

The interface looks good and user-friendly but database is not as large as Google's Scholar (http://scholar.google.com)

Neo free email organizer for Microsoft Outlook

This is a free and useful add-in to Microsoft Outlook. If you have ever used Outlook you would know how slow it is to search through emails and how difficult it becomes to browse through emails. This free tool solves this problem. It doesn't change any settings or datafile so it is safe. It indexes your files, list them according to correesponder and makes it very easy to search. It is a must have tool for Outlook users. Homepage for Neo Free is http://www.emailorganizer.com

Tunatic

Tunatic is a nice, free and small application for both Windows and Mac. Unique feature of Tunatic is that, it promises to identify a song you are listening.

It captures sound from mic and sends this to the server where classification is performed among a community driven database. Then you can see the song title/singer...

Tunatic homepage is http://www.wildbits.com/tunatic/

Yahoo Mail Beta

Yahoo, as one of the head-player of web-based free email, is answering back Google's gmail with the new yahoo mail beta which is now in test by many. You can get on the waiting list from here:
http://surveylink.yahoo.com/wix/p0473306.aspx

Although it is not yet optimized and work as fast as gmail, the interface looks much like Outlook Express and has the similar functionality. It is definetely nice to have such an interface accesible from various computers.

Here's a yahoo mail beta review with screen-shots and here's the a blog from the yahoo mail team.It seems Yahoo is catching up with Google and playing hard for hotmail. Anyway, it's always the user that benefit from competition. :))

Online ClearType Tuner for WinXP

If you have WinXP, you should have ClearType turned on. Here's a tool from Microsoft to adjust it online within Microsoft IE
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx

For more information about ClearType:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartypeInfo.mspx

Windows Live services online and on tap

Windows Live Messenger and Mail are just two popular member of Windows Live family. Here's a list of others and their competitors...

http://news.com.com/2009-1032-6049254.html

3x battery power with biomedical research

Researchers at MIT accomplished to design a new battery that utilizes genetically modified virus that attracts cobalt oxide and gold, and assembled the metals into ultra-thin wires just six nanometres in diameter...This allows battery to store two or three times more energy for its size and weight compared to previous battery electrode materials. And adding the gold further increased the wires' energy density.
[vnunet]

Job Hunt 2020

U.S. News asked some leading business executives to offer advice...

Full article @ U.S. News

"Figure out something that you really like. Because you'll be competing against students in Russia, China, India, and the Czech Republic."
Craig Barrett, chairman, Intel

"I want them to think of the world as their neighborhood. I'd take them to Korea, China, India, Japan, and the former Soviet bloc."
Sky Dayton, founder, EarthLink

"I hope my son learns Spanish and Chinese, and I would love for him to be a computer engineer, but I also hope he studies literature. It's more about how your brain works than about specific jobs."
Scott Meyer, CEO, About.com

"Figure out if your job can be digitized. If it can, it's only a matter of time before it becomes geographically movable."Jessie Paul, chief marketing officer, Wipro Technologies"Learn Chinese. There's going to be a lot of action in China."
Lakshmi Narayanan, CEO, Cognizant Technology

"Make sure you are really good, because you are competing against people who are very, very good. Instead of going to Disney World, spend three or four weeks living with a family in a poorer country."Roy Singham, CEO, ThoughtWorks

Introduction

Technojection (Technology Projection from my angle) is the place for news and updates about developments in computer and internet industry....