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.

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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...

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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... :)

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