Sydney’s premier zoo was celebrating the birth on Tuesday of its first female Asian elephant, a 270 pound calf that was reported to be doing well. The newborn, which has yet to be named, is the third born in the Sydney zoo and the first female. (Nov. 2)
Continue reading …UCLA / Caltech researchers help patients move mouse cursors with their brains
November 2, 2010 No Comment
It’s certainly not a revolutionary new concept — whiz kids have been tinkering with brain-controlled interfaces for years on end — but a collaboration between UCLA scientists and colleagues from the California Institute of Technology has taken the idea one leap closer to commercialization. Itzhak Fried, a professor of neurosurgery at UCLA, kept a close watch (via embedded electrodes) on how a dozen humans reacted to certain images, and eventually, Fried and co. were able to show that Earthlings can “regulate the activity of their neurons to intentionally alter the outcome of stimulation.” In other words, they were able to move a mouse cursor with just their mind, and brighten a test image with a 70 percent success rate. By honing the process of controlling what actions occur when focused on a given subject (or input peripheral), it opens up the possibility for paralyzed individuals to not only check their email, but also control prosthetic limbs. It’s hard to say when this stuff will be put to good use outside of a hospital, but the video after the break definitely makes us long for “sooner” rather than “later.” Continue reading UCLA / Caltech researchers help patients move mouse cursors with their brains UCLA / Caltech researchers help patients move mouse cursors with their brains originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton were on the campaign trail supporting fellow Democrats Candidates have made their final push for votes, with the US Congressional mid-term elections due to start within hours. President Barack Obama’s Democratic party is expected to lose its majority in the House of Representatives and is struggling to keep the Senate. Mr Obama spent Monday at the White House, while First Lady Michelle Obama campaigned in Nevada and Pennsylvania. Republicans hope to capitalise on voters’ discontent with the economy. “We’re hoping now for a fresh start with the American people,” Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said. “If we don’t live up to…
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Some researchers at the Technical University of Munich have built an unassuming but no-less-remarkable mechanism for tilting and panning a small camera robotically. Designed to keep up with the eye movements of a human in gaze-tracking studies, the camera mount features three degrees of movement, and can flick around at a rapid 2500 degrees per second — our flesh-composed eyeballs max out at a mere 1000. The setup uses ultrasonic piezo-actuators, which move prismatic joints, which drive spherically-jointed rods attached to the camera, keeping the weight under 100 grams and still acting gently enough to avoid rattling on top of the wearer’s head. We’ll take two. Speedy robo-cam mimics the movements of the human eye, exceeds them originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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By Mr. Fish Related Entries October 29, 2010 Pack Your Trunk October 27, 2010 Everyone Looks a Little Bit Asian
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If the damp blanket of leaves warming the ground is any indicator, then we’d say that fall has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere. That means Google’s Chrome OS is due . What better time for DigiTimes to cite sources from “component players” claiming that the first smartbooks featuring the Chrome OS will launch later this month. According to the Taiwanese rumor rag, Google will follow a similar strategy as its Nexus One and be first from the gate with the launch of a self-branded Chrome OS notebook manufactured by Inventec — the ARM-based machine will not be sold through normal retail channels and is expectated to ship a very modest 60,000 to 70,000 units. Acer and HP are then rumored to be launching Quanta-manufactured Chrome OS gear as early as December while ASUS waits to gauge market reaction. Of course, if all of this is true then we should be getting a Google event press invite right about, well, now. Google-branded Chrome OS smartbook launching this month? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The San Francisco Giants are World Series Champs, the first time since 1954. And fans in the Bay Area reacted Monday night to the team’s impressive win over the Texas Rangers. (Nov. 2)
Continue reading …Shocker! Kids spending too much time in front of TV screens, too little in loving parents’ embrace
November 2, 2010 No Comment
Not that anyone really needed to have this spelled out, but America’s tots are apparently spending too much time in front of the telly tubes. The latest study, conducted by the Seattle Children’s Research Institute and the University of Washington, finds that children under the age of five are spending 4.1 hours of each day watching movies or TV, doubling the recommended maximum of two hours a day. Whether you take the slightly arbitrary two-hour RDA to heart or not, it’s undeniable that all of us — not just the young ‘uns — are spending increasingly larger chunks of our time looking at the world through a screen and not through our own retinas. And, if you want an extra topping of alarmist extrapolation, these figures come from a research sample concluded in 2006, today’s better-equipped toddlers are very likely to outdo those numbers when mobile devices and the like are factored in. Imagine how bad this would all be if the US didn’t have so much quality programming to entertain and educate them with. Shocker! Kids spending too much time in front of TV screens, too little in loving parents’ embrace originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …VUDU, Wal-mart and Disney join forces, add a free streaming copy to Toy Story 3 Blu-ray discs
November 2, 2010 No Comment
Wal-mart is showing how it might make use of VUDU after purchasing the 1080p movie streaming house earlier this year, now that the two have teamed up with Disney to throw in a free digital copy of Toy Story 3 with each one purchased at the store on DVD or Blu-ray. When the movie goes on sale today, customers will receive a download code they can use on their nearest VUDU player ( now including Boxee on the Box, PC or Mac) to stream some Buzz and Woody at any time without a disc involved. Wal-mart and VUDU are quick to describe this mix of of physical and digital access as the future of content, and we’re thinking this type of promotion is about to become much more widespread since Amazon’s already offered a similar deal with Disc+ , and Best Buy purchased CinemaNow specifically for this type of offer . The only question now is if customers will start asking “which streaming service does this connect to?” before they run out to buy a new Blu-ray instead of simply looking for the lowest price or other promotional tie-in. Continue reading VUDU, Wal-mart and Disney join forces, add a free streaming copy to Toy Story 3 Blu-ray discs VUDU, Wal-mart and Disney join forces, add a free streaming copy to Toy Story 3 Blu-ray discs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Highlights of this day in history: President Harry Truman wins re-election in an upset; South Vietnam’s Ngo Dinh Diem killed after coup; Howard Hughes flies his ‘Spruce Goose’; Game show scandal rocks early TV; Singer kd lang born. (Nov. 2)
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