Wetware Hacking

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2012-02-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

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Wetware Hacking Devices

2012-01-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

This is a process that stimulates the brain through the use of a time varying magnetic field. First introduced in the 1980’s for noninvasive stimulation of the brain, it has primarily been used in conjunction with diagnostic techniques. TMS can be used to activate or suppress the following: motor control, visual perception, and cognitive processes. The effect is transient.

With the development of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS, therapeutic applications are being developed. The effect of this technique can be long lasting.

In both types of TMS the magnetic field is produced by passing an alternating current through an inductor. With the device near the skull, the magnetic field directly induces bioelectricity within the brain through neural depolarization.

The shape and size of the application coil directly affect the shape of the magnetic field created. This directly affects the precision of the induced currents. The magnetic field strength is limited to two Teslas, and the frequency is limited to one Hertz for normal TMS.

TMS possess to ability to not only augment perception, but to bypass the external means of sensory input. As the understanding of brain function localization continues to grow, so does that ability to directly access specific functions of consciousness. Visual stimuli can be created without the input of the eyes, sounds and patterns can be focused directly into the brain.

The potential of TMS to bypass current forms of recreational stimulation should be obvious. Possibly as effective as wireheading, and the lack of a permanent hole in the skull has it's obvious advantages. The ability to specialize and localize the effect should also make it more popular then CES.

Normal TMS has been approved for many applications in scientific and medical fields, and healthy control subjects are allowed to participate without additional constraints.

rTMS is a placed in a different category of feasibility. This type of stimulation can exceed twenty-five Hertz, and last several minutes. Approved for very limited use, rTMS has been known to cause seizures in healthy control subjects.

As far as enhancement is concerned, a research paper studying savant like skills released in 'normal' people was written in 2003.

Electroencephalograph

Electroencephalograph is a device to measure brainwave activity. It is relatively imprecise compared to many new diagnostic medical devices, but the technology has reached a state of maturation that ensures safety in operation.

EEG has an immense amount of potential for control supplementation. Brain Computer Interfaces are very popular in certain research circles, and predominantly centered around EEG.

EEG coupled with biofeedback has amazing potential for enhancing recreational stimulus.

This area has seen an amazing amount of research in the past ten years. Although used in brainwave feedback programs to improve meditation and well being, the full potential of rehab and enhancement has not been tapped. Only in recent literature are you seeing a real evaluation the potential to repair and improve wetware permanently with neurofeedback techniques.

Cranial Electrical Stimulation

Pulses of milliamp level current is passed through the cranium via electrodes often attached to the earlobes. The desire is to induce a chemical response from the hypothalamic region. Also known as TCES, Transcutaneous Cranial Electrical Stimulation.

The use of CES in perception augmentation is an underdeveloped area of research.

CES is certainly the most powerful form of recreation neural electromagnetic stimulation available. It is the first fully formed "Digital Drug" accessible to the masses. The effects are significant.

"The main property of TCES is to potentiate some drug effects, especially opiates and neuroleptics, ..."

This technology has a long history in the medical device community, but has never gained widespread acceptance. Although, some insurance programs are beginning to investigate the validity of the technology.

Light Machines

Light Machines utilize pulsing lights, in the form of LEDs, to entrain brainwaves to desired frequency. Different patterns are thought to create alternative experiences for the user. Although the effect of different patterns has not been studied rigorously, the frequency following response has been verified with EEG studies.

The most frequently used commercial version would be the Audiostrobe encoding system, that is compatible with the BrainWave Generator.

There are possibilities for Light Machines in perception augmentation, but further development will be required. Light machines suffer from a similar problem to binaural beats, the difficulty in incorporating them into a multisensory experience. It is possible to incorporate audio programming into the experience relatively successfully.

Light machines are currently the most accessible form of recreational stimulation. When implemented correctly the effect is significantly more noticeable then binaural beats. The difference between the entrained frequencies is possibly more important then the specific frequency.

Light Machines are advertised in the same way as binaural beats, for improved meditation and increased mental health.

BrainWave Generator

The BrainWave Generator is a shareware GUI for the development of brainwave entraining binaural beat programs. With the AudioStrobe encoding option, the program can also be used to facilitate Light Machine programs.

Although their are many optional programs that fulfil the same purpose, the BrainWave Generator is a well developed and proven software program, with a intuitive interface.

With continued research, the goal of perception augmentation will be accomplished when a more complete multisensory experience can be developed within the entrainment requirements.

The software offers an extremely accessible opportunity to experiment with the effects of brainwave entrainment.

Improved meditation and mental health.

Wetware Hacking Techniques

2012-01-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Binaural Beats

Binaural Beats are an auditory form of brainwave entrainment. When two signals are sent, one to each ear, and the signals differ by thirty hertz or less, the frequency follow response is evoked. It is important that the signals are identical except for this desired entrainment frequency, and nominally headphones are used.

Discovered in the 1800's by a meteorologist named Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, the difference in signals affects the brain-stem's superior olivary nucleus, the site of contralateral integration of auditory input.

We are constantly bombarded by virtually random differences in signals throughout a normal day, but it is the filtered precision of a properly prepared signal that produces a noticeable effect.

There are several opportunities in perception augmentation for binaural beat technology. The difficulty arise in incorporating the necessary filtered precision into a multisensory experience.

Binural Beats have been used for many years in attempts to create recreational stimulation. Some entrepreneurs are marketing thier encoded audio programs as the first Digital Drug. Without further innovation the current techniques will not exceed a Class III effect.

Mental rehab and enhancement is the primary area that binaural beats are currently utilized. Everything from basic meditation to improved learning techniques through beats as the end all development.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is centered around the concept that we have the ability to influence automatic functions of the human body with conscious will. A person can be trained to control the temperature of one hand without movement or muscle contraction, and without affecting the temperature in the rest of the body.

By using electric devices to make a person consciously aware of previously unknown parameters, such as hand temperature, blood pressure, or brain waves, a person can control said parameters.

This process has been repeatedly proven with strenuous scientific means.

Biofeedback is one of the most powerful techniques for control supplementation. Gaining conscious control of areas of the brain and body not previously accessible is the definition of control supplementation.

This is an exciting area for biofeedback that has barely been discussed. Theoretically one could train oneself to consciously activate pleasure centers of the brain directly.

Biofeedback, as with many techniques, was initially developed for this area. Treating patients to control their blood pressure, or learning to meditate at more relaxed brain states, has been very effective.

Brainwave Entrainment

Brainwave entrainment is the process by which the dominant brainwaves of a subject are induced to a desired frequency. Termed "frequency-following response" in the scientific literature, the process is relatively easy to accomplish and often occurs naturally. Certain types of music and many natural sounds of nature randomly accomplish this task.

Binaural beats, light machine and the BrainWave Generator are all trying to induce brainwave entrainment.

In Mega Brain, Michael Hutchison discusses the thought that the rhythmic drum beats and dancing around a flickering bonfire, popular in many ancient rituals, was an attempt to induce this phenomenon.

Brainwave entrainment certainly has a role to play in perception augmentation. General state of mind, as reflected in dominant brainwaves, influences perception to a significant degree. Also, the transition between states can be harnessed to elicit desired associations with other simultaneously presented stimulus.

Brainwave entrainment can be very valuable in recreational stimulation. Normal utilization of entrainment can be enjoyable in itself, but current research into the transition between frequencies has to most potential for significant effects.

You will often find literature using brainwave entrainment to fix or to improve overall mental state.

Wireheading

In the 1950s, H. R. Delgado at Yale University, and James Olds at McGill University, studied the effects on behavior that implanted electrodes have on rats. In one well known experiment, when given the choice between a lever that gave the rat food, and a lever that stimulated the pleasure center of the rats brain, the rat choose the electric stimulation to the point of death.

This concept of direct stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain have been carried over to humans is science fiction. Most recognizable in Larry Niven’s The Ringworld Engineers published in the 1980’s.

Wireheading is an invasive procedure that requires that a hole is drilled in the skull. In addition, the pleasure ‘center’ of the brain is surrounded by many other important functional areas that might not react well to a wire poking through them.

Theoretically any part of the brain could be wired too, thus eliciting any type of perception augmentation or control supplementation that you could imagine.

This would be the most severe and significant form of recreational electromagnetic neural stimulation.

Enhancement, the concept of human augmentation comes to mind.

What is a Wetware Hacker?

2011-12-24T14:47:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt in the mind of the alert observer that humans and technology will continue to merge, both metaphorically and in the physical sense. An effort is underway to take advantage of the physical interface with the brain; the pathways of visual and auditory perception, to alter the mind.

As we continue to surround ourselves with ambient artificial intelligence and ubiquitous computing, the proximity of techno-physical contact is enhanced. Already present in medical applications, implants and interfaces are blurring the lines between man and machine. It is a trend that has no end.

Since the advent of electronics, and the inception of science fiction, the idea of mind manipulation, for good and evil, has permeated our literature and our films.

It is only in today’s world that the understanding of wetware, and the maturation of an interface technology, that the narrow bandwidth of common perception can be bypassed, and the mind’s information superhighway can be tapped.

Wetware can be defined as the processes of the brain and nervous system, and is derived from the concepts of ‘hardware’ and ‘software’.

An early reference to the term wetware is in the in the novels of Rudy Rucker, one of which he so entitled "Wetware". Rudy Rucker was a science fiction writer and a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at San Jose State University in the 1980s.

A quote from him in reference to wetware, "... all sparks and tastes and tangles, all its stimulus/response patterns – the whole biocybernetic software of mind."

Today you can find countless references to the word in both fiction and nonfiction, and mainstream media is slowly instantiating it into their vocabulary.

You can also find several misuses, our perhaps just drifting meanings, of the term. For our purposes the totality of wetware needs to be discussed.

The physical brain itself is a beautiful creation, far exceeding in complexity anything humanity could hope to create on its own. Within four weeks of conception an embryo begins producing half a million neurons every minute.

Soon the neurons will begin establishing synapses, or connections, at a rate of two million a second. And although neuroscientists would say that the brain doesn’t reach full maturity until somewhere in the third decade of life, an important development of cognitive science is the appreciation for the plasticity of the human brain, possibly extending our entire lives.

The important question now, for wetware consideration, is the link between the physical brain and the ‘mind’.

This question still fills voluminous tombs of scientific literature, with much left for debate, how the electrochemical properties of the physical structure lead to the collection of experiences we define as self-awareness. A new concept, specifically the term wetware, was required in order to accurately describe this system. It is in many ways a integration of "hardware" and "software" that exceeds the definition of those individual terms.

It is the link between the physical brain and the 'mind', the unique exploitables created by the integration of the hardware and software concepts, that a wetware hacker will utilize in the effort to reverse engineer attainable subsections of this most multifaceted of constructions.

It is the desire of a wetware hacker is to take advantage of the physical interface with the brain, visual and auditory perception, along with direct electromagnetic manipulation, to alter the mind, at least temporarily.

Of primary interest are the concepts of sensory perception, pleasure and pain ‘centers’, and the function of memory. I use the idea of ‘centers’ loosely, as more and more research sheds light on the function that distributed cognition plays.

Will Game Technology Include Brainwave Interface in the Future?

2011-03-19T16:53:00.001-07:00

Apparently Sony Computer Entertainment America's head of Research & Development Dr. Richard Marks doesn't think so. He said recently in a Gamasutra interview that removing the human body from the equation is the "wrong direction".

Gamasutra - Features - Meet The Man Behind The Move

I wonder if his opinion is just a reaction to the current state of the technology, or a plug for his motion sensing handheld peripherals that Sony is pushing these days. Either way, I think that is is a seriously limiting viewpoint. Check out the video below where AutoNOMOS innovation labs of Freie Universität Berlin has developed a car steered by brainwaves ... using commercially avaliable sensors.

Thanks to Jeanine Celestin at gamrFeed, this is where I first linked to the Marks interview.

PS Move Creator: "I Think the Brain Interface Thing Is Too Far." - gamrFeed

Wetware Technology Movies - Gamer

2010-11-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

I have to preface this post by saying that I was not prepared to like this movie. I completely expected to fill a couple of hours with mindless television, and regret that I would never get the time back ... but Gamer had several interesting components that surprised me.
Yes, it spends a lot of time blowing thing up, and the mindless nature of killing is very much the point. It also had terrible dialog and a tired plot. The main story is about a convict that is forced to be a meat puppet in a viloent video game, and be controlled by a player remotely. It also explored the idea of a "Sim City" where the avatars are real people choosing to rent their bodies to the paying users of the game.

Not requiring the computer system to construct the reality, instead relying on brain to brain transmission may be the more reasonable path. It is more akin to video simply recording audio and visual for transmission than the special effects industry recreating a reality real enough to pass for recorded content.

Wetware Technology Movies - Inception

2010-08-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

I recently saw the movie Inception at the IMAX. It was a rather good movie, and dealt with several very interesting ideas around wetware hacking. The title 'inception' is a concept in the movie where an idea can be implanted in someone's mind through directed shared dreaming. As opposed to 'extraction' where an idea is retrieved from the sub-conscious of the subject, usually against the will of the subject.

They didn't spend much time on the technology used to create this shared dreaming experience, besides using intravenous chemicals to introduce a sedative delivered from the same suitcase. They covered how an 'architect' would created the environment, and the selected subject's subconscious would fill that dream reality with projections of people they knew and ideas stored in their mind. The ideas would manifest as written documents, locked in safes, and sometimes the subconscious would protect itself from foreign intruders(ideas or dreamers) with 'antibodies' that looked and acted like armed guards.

They kicked around peripherally an interesting concept that perhaps initiating some level of connection, and the mind will fill in the rest. Based on the true idea that complex senses are constantly integrated; humans create as much of their reality as the observe. How much input would actually need to be provided to trick the mind into thinking it was real, even if they know it is not – like how you do not always know it was a dream until you awake.

Wetware Technology Movies - Matrix

2010-03-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

The ultimate in immersive virtual environments based on an intensely invasive brain computer interface ...
The first Matrix film was an amazing use of wetware technology, very thought provoking. Note that I am talking about the first movie, not the two silly sequels.

Wireheading is not that outrageous, medical devices for seizure prevention is on the cusp of mainstream at this point. Certainly not a fully interactive simulation with high bandwidth bi-directional communication, but all steps forward are important. Although I am not sure how long it will take for the chrome head port to catch on in the populace.

Wetware Technology Movies - Brainstorm

2010-03-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

As I was thinking of good wetware technology movies, a few exceptional ones jump to mind. 1983 "Brainstorm" with Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood is certainly one of the best. Like all science fiction they taken certain liberties with the tech, but absolutely worth watching.

" ... have developed a system of recording and playing back actual experiences of people. Once the capability of tapping into 'higher brain functions' is added in, and you can literally jump into someone else's head and play back recordings of what he or she was thinking, feeling, seeing, etc., at the time of the recording."

Brain Computer Interfaces

2010-03-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

BCI(Brain Computer Interfaces) continue to make significant progress in technology development, and are starting to become commercially avaliable at reasonable prices. One way this has become possible is that several companies are offering robust yet basic products.

Neurosky is a great example - "The NeuroSky MindSet and MindKit Pro are available for Developers and Partners to create their own products."
Here is a small shop out of Iceland that has used Neurosky as an input for an iPhone game. - MindGames

Another good example I have seen is Emotiv. Both Emotiv and Neurosky have developer kits avaliable.

You can also find high-end products aimed at medical applications in disabled patients. There is a good write-up of the Intendix at the Singularity Hub, including a video of a Second Life(3D virtual world) application prototype. - link.

Wetware Technology - James Cameron's AVATAR

2010-03-11T20:16:00.000-08:00

I ran across an interesting post today discussing the technology in the Avatar film. Not the technology used to make the film, which has been getting a lot of press, but rather the science and technology of 2100 depicted in the film. The post was written by Ray Kurzweil, and he was positive about the representation of wetware technology, but critical of the lazy representation of the other technology permeating the lives of the characters. - "Reflections on Avatar by Ray Kurzweil"
If you have not yet seen the film in 3D, you may not get a chance to see it in IMAX 3D as they are moving on now, you should see it for the visual effects alone. I am interested in the wetware technology, and how it shapes our ideas on what is possible, moral, useful, enjoyable, etc.

It made me think back to the many great science fiction movies that had intrigued and inspired my thinking of wetware technology.

Wetwarehacker.com

2009-09-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Never far from my mind, after several years of focusing on other projects, Wetwarehacker.com is back! To kick us off, I have completely updated the main site with a new look and navigation. Please let me know what you think.

The decider

2006-11-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

As a graduate student in the Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems at Boston University, I expected to use my research training for a career in brain modeling, robot design, even biomedical engineering. However, I recently stumbled upon a more unexpected application of my PhD skills: winning $500,000 on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

The decider - The Boston Globe

Brain–computer interface offers paralyzed patients improved quality of life

2006-11-05T10:48:00.001-08:00

Tuebingen, Germany. A brain–computer interface installed early enough in patients with neuron-destroying diseases can enable them to be taught to communicate through an electronic device and slow destruction of the nervous system.Fundamental theories regarding consciousness, emotion and quality of life in sufferers of paralysis from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as 'Lou Gerhig's disease') are being challenged based on new research on brain-computer interaction. ALS is a progressive disease that destroys neurons affecting movement.

MTB Europe - Brain–computer interface offers paralyzed patients improved quality of life

Use your brain power to play Mindball

2006-11-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

Who needs feet? You can control a ball with the power of your brain at the new Neurobotics exhibition at the Science Museum in London.The game is called Mindball - a neurofeedback game in which the most chilled-out brain wins. Mindball players sit at either end of a table, wearing a headband that scans their brains’ alpha and theta waves, measuring their state of relaxation and concentration.

Tech Digest: Use your brain power to play Mindball

ACE 2007 Game Conference Calls for Submissions

2006-11-05T10:44:00.001-08:00

According to the organizers: "Recently, the field of computer entertainment technology has aroused great interest amongst researchers and developers in both academic and industrial fields as it is duly recognized to show high promise of bringing on exciting new forms of human computer interaction.""Now deemed to deserve both serious academic research, as well as major industry and business uptake, techniques used in computer entertainment are also seen to translate into advances in research ranging from industrial training, collaborative work, novel interfaces, novel multimedia, network computing, and ubiquitous computing."

Gamasutra - ACE 2007 Game Conference Calls for Submissions

Learn to use your initiative

2006-11-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

As a coach in New York, Rock studied hundreds of coaching sessions and says the key to learning and changing is facilitating new connections in your brain. "It really is impossible to fix people in any way. You can only grow them in ways that reduce the problem." But in some ways the brain is working against us. At a recent book launch in Auckland, Rock said the brain is attracted to problems and attuned to always examine what is wrong with us.

Learn to use your initiative - 04 Nov 2006 - Employment

Trial Balloons

2006-10-28T09:22:00.000-07:00

Many of MUSAC’s galleries felt like vast chill-out zones of a mega-club (with Trance music leaking throughout) or sophisticated ‘edutainment’ experiences. Truly to appreciate the abstract computer-generated videos by Katarina Löfström and Chris Rehberger, for example, seemed to require the zoned-out faculties of a chemical comedown. Then there were bright lights: Lang/Baumann’s Pocket Stadium (2005) and Gunda Förster’s 13-metre-long Tunnel (2002) throbbed with megawatt intensity. And participation: Shu-Min Lin’s digital pond of ‘holographic’ water-lilies and fish responded to the brainwaves of wired-up visitors

frieze

Electronic chip, interacting with the brain, modifies pathways for controlling movement

2006-10-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

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, to be 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.

Electronic chip, interacting with the brain, modifies pathways for controlling movement

Cisco's TelePresence: not yet virtual reality

2006-10-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Cisco has launched its upmarket videoconferencing system, TelePresence accompanied by claims that it is the only system that makes you feel as if you are in the same room with other people, even those on the other side of the world. But I've seen videoconferencing that's way in advance of this.

iTWire - Cisco's TelePresence: not yet virtual reality

Tame your brain to keep your cool

2006-10-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Niels Birbaumer and Ranganatha Sitaram from the University of Tübingen in Germany found that by showing healthy volunteers the activity levels of the insula, a brain region important in emotional processing, represented in real time as a thermometer bar on a screen, the volunteers could control their emotional responses.

Tame your brain to keep your cool - being-human - 28 October 2006 - New Scientist

Cross-train your brain

2006-10-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

Science is showing evidence for what some have long felt are the benefits of cross-training your brain. Ask Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, why his undergraduate training in nuclear propulsion systems remains indispensable. "I'm not applying those exact skills every day, but it taught me ways to think through problems - visualizing, conceptualizing - that I do use every day," he told Fortune last year. "Your mind touches on these resources and you're not even conscious of it."

Secrets of greatness:�Multiple hobbies improve performance - October 30, 2006

Virtual-Reality Helmet Gives 360-Degree View

2006-10-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's designed to show images in a 360-degree view — synched with the motion of the wearer's head to deliver the illusion of being someplace else: a cityscape at night, for example, or outer space.

FOXNews.com - Virtual-Reality Helmet Gives 360-Degree View - Technology News | News On Technology

Brain Chip Tested in Monkeys May Help Humans With Movement Disorders

2006-10-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

A new brain chip under development established new connections in the brains of monkeys in a region that controls movement. Scientists hope to eventually make a version that could help humans with movement disorders.

FOXNews.com - Brain Chip Tested in Monkeys May Help Humans With Movement Disorders - Science News | Current Articles

Haunted house frightens with virtual reality 'prison'

2006-10-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

Bringing together the virtual and the real, the Purdue Memorial Union will change into a prison this weekend.Students can escape Halloween boredom at Purdue Student Union Board's "Escape from Union Prison" for a delightfully wicked creepy crawler fright. The Envision Center and PSUB will jointly sponsor this Halloween treat, which will offer virtual and real frights.The twisted house of horror has two sections. It begins with a classically frightening haunted house located in Union Station across from the cafeteria in the Purdue Memorial Union.Next, participants are led into a virtual reality haunted house, where it takes a twist that causes you to face your fears and ask if you can truly believe your eyes.

The Exponent - Purdue's Student Newspaper

Good Information? It's Not All About The Brain

2006-10-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

Olaf Sporns, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington, and UT's Max Lungarella used real and simulated robots in Sporns' Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory to create this mathematical framework, which they consider the first step toward the development of an explicit quantitative framework that unifies neural and behavioral processes.

ScienceDaily: Good Information? It's Not All About The Brain

Bioelectromagnetic Therapies: Science Fiction or Reality?

2006-10-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

Electromagnetic therapies have certainly been around for a while. The first pacemakers were developed in the 1950s and the first implantable pacemaker was introduced in 1960. For chronic pain, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been FDA approved since the 1970s and works by suppressing pain signals to the brain. Several trends have driven growth in these technologies including: 1. Growing regulatory approval and reimbursement acceptance 2. Increasing acceptance of alternative medicine 3. Improved technology (in particular the miniaturization of electrical devices and improved software-driven intelligence of these devices)

MidwestBusiness.com: Midwest Business & Technology News

U-city control center to begin trial runs in Incheon

2006-10-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and a consortium of information-technology firms signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to begin trial runs of a "u-city control center."The consortium is composed of IBM Korea, LG CNS Co. and SK Telecom Co.U-city control center is a facility that integrates and controls traffic and telecommunications in urban spaces through the ubiquitous sensor network, or USN.U-city is a futuristic city that allows people to get networked anytime, anywhere through a ubiquitous computing network.The project calls for an estimated budget of 1.8 billion won to test the validity of a standardized platform - which, if approved, will be used for the control center until March 2007.

The Korea Herald : The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper

Fast ForWord(R) Products Produce Enduring Neurological Changes

2006-10-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Two longitudinal studies of Idaho students using Scientific Learning Corporation's (NASDAQ: SCIL) Fast ForWord® software intervention found that the students not only made significant and dramatic gains in reading achievement and learning, but also continued to improve their skills more than a year later.

PRESS RELEASE Longitudinal Research Demonstrates That Fast ForWord(R) Products Produce Enduring Neurological Changes

Tacx

2006-10-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

Got a good old boring cycling machine collecting dust in the corner of your house? It’s time to dump that thing and get yourself a new iMagic Virtual Reality Trainer from Tacx. This virtual reality biking system allows you to set different configurations including wind force, wind direction, and types of terrain. You can even cycle against other riders’ times and courses from all over the world via the internet.

i-Magic Virtual Reality Trainer Keeps You Cycling - SlashGear

Study shows seniors can learn to multi-task

2006-10-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

The good news is that multi-tasking can be re-learned. Researchers at McMaster University have found that seniors, who typically have more difficulty than younger people dividing attention between two or more tasks at a time, can overcome these difficulties with practice. In fact, with practice, seniors can learn to do two tasks at the same time just as well as they can do one of those tasks in isolation.

Mountain News

Virtual companionship

2006-10-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

Engineers at some of the leading technology centers are feverishly working on the next generation of technological marvels to address our lonesome high-tech existence. The field is called ``affective computing" and the goal is to create technology that can express emotion, interpret and respond to the emotions of their human handlers, and even establish a sense of intimacy with their human companions.

Virtual companionship - The Boston Globe

GPS-Like System Designed To Lead Blind

2006-10-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers may have found a new technology used to lead the blind. The equipment is compared to a Global Positioning System, only on a smaller, more intimate scale.The System for Wearable Audio Navigation, or SWAN is attached to a headband and is essentially a "wearable computer." The headband's sensors can show the vision-impaired their way around a street block or their own home.

All Headline News - GPS-Like System Designed To Lead Blind - October 13, 2006

Analysis: Sci-Fi 'brain' restores motion

2006-10-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

In a presentation at Wednesday's closing session of the 131st annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Chicago, John Donoghue, director of the Brain Science Department at Brown University, Providence, R.I., said four people have been surgically implanted with electrodes in the brain."We are on a path that will allow patients to participate in their own rehabilitation and perhaps learn to operate an exo-skeleton that is neurally controlled," said Donoghue, founder of Cyperkinetics Inc., developers of the BrainGate device he demonstrated Wednesday.

United Press International - Health Business - Analysis: Sci-Fi 'brain' restores motion

Unselfish brain region discovered

2006-10-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

Ever held back from taking that last piece of chocolate, offered your bus seat to a stranger or given a busker all your change? Scientists have located the region of your brain that made you do it, according to a new international study.

Unselfish brain region discovered | COSMOS magazine

Free your mind: a scientific approach to unleashing creativity

2006-10-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

A neuroscientist claims he can unleash creativity by boosting low-frequency brainwaves - and he's tested the theory on 100 students at the Royal College of Music. Genevieve Roberts

How can musicians improve their performance skills without even picking up their instruments? It's not a trick question; in fact, neuroscience may have hit upon the answer. According to an exhibition at the Science Museum in London, the brain can be trained to slow itself down and, by doing so, lift musicians' performances by at least one grade.

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology

Teenager plays Space Invaders with only his brain

2006-10-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

While having a robotic assistant play video games for you might sound novel, it's certainly not as thrilling as interacting with the 1s and 0s yourself. A team of researchers, engineers, and students at Washington University in St. Louis have crafted a brain-computer interface system that allowed a 14-year old gamer suffering from epilepsy to cruise through the first two levels of Space Invaders using only his imagination.

Teenager plays Space Invaders with only his brain - Engadget

whitney music box

2006-10-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

in this variation the dots trigger sine waves which are multiples of the fundamental frequency 20hzwhen multiple dots hit at the same time, they combine to form buzzier soundsmusic generated using my own syd synthesis softwareView this variation on a page by itself...

whitney music box var. 2 - harmonics of 20hz

Top IT companies embracing virtual reality

2006-10-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Among the space stations and vampire castles in the virtual world of Second Life, a new kind of development is emerging: IT expo. This week IBM, Intel and Sun separately staged events in the virtual world, which boasts a population of nearly 900,000.

Top IT companies embracing virtual reality - Network World

Neurofeedback Training

2006-10-13T18:48:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City, Utah (AHN) - A new study reveals that neurofeedback training may help normalize abnormal brain waves caused by some medical conditions.The study was published in the latest edition of Biofeedback a journal published by the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

All Headline News - Neurofeedback Training May Help Normalize Some Abnormal Brain Wave Patterns - October 13, 2006

The Art of the Brain

2006-10-13T18:47:00.000-07:00

Co-curated with Giovanni Frazzetto, a Branco Weiss Fellow and molecular biologist, "Neuroculture" addressed three related themes: the landscape of the brain as mapped by imaging technology; conceptualized images of mind and consciousness; and pharmacological enhancement of the neurochemical self. Anker contributed to the exhibition a series of Rorschach inkblot tests made three-dimensional and distributed, seashell-like, among chunks of pyrite and other seemingly biological matter."Consciousness is layered by experience, education, and connoisseurship," said Anker, adding that these levels of awareness inform the way we look at images. "This is true of scientists looking at MRI scans as well as artists looking at a painting or a sculpture."

The Scientist : The Art of the Brain

USA: Researchers develops smart wearable computer pants

2006-10-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

The researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University have developed smart wearable computer pants that detect movement and let the computer know every move, press release stated here.Mark Jones, a computer scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg said, "We view electronic textiles as, sort of, where computing meets the fabric."

USA: Researchers develops smart wearable computer pants - Textile - Technology News - Textile News

Printed polymer electronics – the future of RFID

2006-10-04T20:06:00.000-07:00

Polymer-based RFID tags are here to stay. But, as Brian Holliday explains, one company is aiming to manufacture the electronic components they require using high-volume printing techniques.A specialist company in the field of polymer electronics has introduced the world’s first fully functioning polymer-based eight-bit RFID tag that operates at the industry standard radio frequency of 13.56MHz.

Engineer Live!

Sensic's Virtual Reality System to Improve Vehicles, Road Safety

2006-10-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sensic's piSightSensic's piSight, a 150-degree head-mounted virtual reality system, will be integrated into Renault's (manufacturer of environmentally-friendly vehicles worldwide) ULTIMATE driving simulator.The Renault ULTIMATE simulator is a driving simulation for industrial use that consists of a car cockpit, panoramic display, and driver-access systems with 15 databases of different road journeys.

Gearlog : Sensic's Virtual Reality System to Improve Vehicles, Road Safety

Microsoft Research Demos Some Technologies of the Future

2006-10-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

REDMOND, Wash.—Microsoft Research demonstrated a number of cutting-edge technologies that are under development at an event here Sept. 26, including a transparent display that uses computer vision, technology that brings real-world aspects back into computing, and the use of spatial memory to navigate source code.

Microsoft Research Demos Some Technologies of the Future

Virtual Heroes' CTO Randy Brown to speak at Games for Health Annual Conference

2006-10-04T20:03:00.001-07:00

Brown will speak as part of the Brain-based Biofeedback & Games for Health Session, demonstrating how biofeedback can be integrated as an assessment tool into projects dealing with medical team training and adaptive thinking & leadership. For this discussion, he will relate experience from his current role at Virtual Heroes and nearly two decades of experience directing scientific, graphics library, visualization, training, education, simulation, and gaming content for a wide range of commercial, government, and private organizations.

Virtual Heroes' CTO Randy Brown to speak at Games for Health Annual Conference - published in CarolinaNewswire.com. - Stay on top of the day's business & technology news.

Wearable Computers

2006-10-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

The company has a new wearable computer coming in October called the WT4000. The devices are typically used in warehouses for loading and picking operations. Building on Symbol's 14 years in the wearable computer business, the WT4000 can be worn on the arm or the hip and be operated by text or speech. Brian Viscount, VP at Symbol's mobile computing division, adds that the device has a larger display and offers better battery life.

Unstrung - Symbol's Dunkin' Devices - Wireless Networking News Analysis

The body electric

2006-10-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

When she’s asleep, a doctor will press a button and for a fraction of a second, an electrical stimulus will pass into her brain.Yes, electroconvulsive therapy or ECT — formerly known as electroshock — does still exist. About 100,000 patients will have these treatments in the United States this year, including more than 385 in South Carolina.

The State | 09/28/2006 | The body electric

MIT's Media Lab To Get $120 Million New Building

2006-10-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

MIT's well-known Media Lab will get a new $120 million research facility with groundbreaking to take place in the spring, according to an announcement from the university.The 163,000-square-foot, six-story building will feature an open architecture designed to foster the Media Lab's collaborative research approach. The building was designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.

MIT's Media Lab To Get $120 Million New Building - News by InformationWeek

Tomorrow's hot tech gear today

2006-10-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Dancing robots, underwater "dolphin" vehicles and a solar panel car that can run in below-freezing temperatures may be technologies for tomorrow, but they're being talked about today.These and other products were just some of the gadgets on display at WIRED NextFest, a showcase of tech gear for the future that opened Friday and runs through Sunday in New York. The show drew visitors ranging from techies to school children.

Tomorrow's tech gear, gadgets debut at WIRED NextFest - Sep. 29, 2006

A step in the right direction

2006-10-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

Five years ago, when the World Trade Centre fell, the shockwave rolled around the world. It ruined many lives, and sank a few companies. But who could have known that it would hit Sir Trevor Baylis's business so hard? Baylis, the British inventor best known for the wind-up radio, was developing a shoe that would charge your mobile phone battery as you walked. The shoe, complete with a slot for the battery, captured some of the energy discharged in the average human step, roughly eight watts, and used it to charge a phone over thousands of strides. Baylis had even walked 100 miles across the Namibian desert to raise money for the idea. But his idea collapsed along with the twin towers."After 9/11, anyone wearing electric shoes would look like a bomber. That's what you have to watch with any electric kit that you carry nowadays," muses Bailey.

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | A step in the right direction

HP researchers patent foot activated user interface

2006-10-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

Nevermind those fancy thought-based biometric systems and brain controlled computers, as a clever group of inventors have patented a foot-activated user interface that can bring mousing abilities to those without hands / arms (or a suitable amount of dexterity). Three blokes working for HP's UK operation have developed a prototype in which humans can use their feet in order to mimic cursor movements more traditionally handled by the keyboard's right-hand man.

HP researchers patent foot activated user interface - Engadget

Browsing in the rain

2006-10-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Takashi Matsumoto, a doctoral student in the media design programme at Keio University in Tokyo, and undergraduates Sho Hashimoto and Shingo Iwata, are the inventors of the Pileus umbrella photo browser.The wi-fi connected umbrella with a built-in camera takes pictures and uploads them on to the photo-sharing website Flickr.com

The Engineer Online - [News: engineering news, engineering info, latest technology, manufacturing news, manufacturing info, automotive news, aerospace news, materials news, research & development]

Williams Syndrome, The Brain And Music

2006-10-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Children with Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, just love music and will spend hours listening to or making music. Despite averaging an IQ score of 60, many possess a great memory for songs, an uncanny sense of rhythm, and the kind of auditory acuity, than can discern differences between different vacuum cleaner brands.A study by a multi-institutional collaboration of scientists, published in a forthcoming issue of NeuroImage, identified structural abnormalities in a certain brain area of people afflicted with Williams syndrome. This might explain their heightened interest in music and, in some cases, savant-like musical skill.

Brain & Nervous System > Williams Syndrome, The Brain And Music

Neurotherapy patients wired to train the brain

2006-09-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

On a computer screen in her psychotherapist's office, Linda Newberry watches three colorful rockets -- purple, blue and yellow -- race across a dark sky.Newberry is trying to get the blue rocket to outdistance the yellow and purple ones, therapist Rosalyn Baker explains. But there is no mouse or keypad to help her. She is supposed to win this race by using only her brain -- her brainwaves, to be exact.

Neurotherapy patients wired to train the brain

Virtual Reality Simulator Lands at McMaster

2006-09-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Students operate a new interactive motion simulator while Praveena Asokan, Computing and Software student (left), and Martin von Mohrenschildt, Chair, Department of Computing and Software, monitor activities by computer at McMaster University in Hamilton recently. McMaster is the first university in Canada to use an interactive motion simulator for undergraduate study of virtual reality software. (CCNMATTHEWS PHOTO/Faculty of Engineering, McMaster University)

Virtual Reality Simulator Lands at McMaster

Virtual Reality Consortium to be Lead by Avesta, EnterNetica

2006-09-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Avesta Design Studio and EnterNetica have been selected to jointly lead the VR Consortium, an association for the advancement of virtual reality technologies and content development across Europe. The VR Consortium actively promotes international standardization and development of technologies for the creation of interactive 3D presentations and multi-user social environments.

ClickPress | Virtual Reality Consortium to be Lead by Avesta, EnterNetica

R&I event explores a wealth of future technology trends

2006-09-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

Keynote speaker Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, opened the event exploring how the semantic web - an automated extension of the web using machine-readable information to share and reuse data - has the potential to boost its reach and functionality: "Everything can be given a uniform resource identifier (URI), which describes concepts as well as objects. Translating your data into Resource Description Framework (RDF) language means you can explain what it does, make it available and connect to other people."

Ordnance Survey: R&I event explores a wealth of future technology trends

Teen-only gym: Virtual reality, real sweat

2006-09-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

The gym, called Overtime, will have its grand opening here on Saturday, a stone's throw away from the Googleplex, a Wi-Fi-enabled Starbucks and a Gold's Gym (where the older set works out). Unlike Gold's and other adult-oriented gyms, Overtime restricts access to members ages 13 to 18. Little kids and parents must wait in the lobby.The gym is playing on teen's love of technology and video games to encourage workouts on high-tech gear ranging from the likes of "Dance Dance Revolution" to virtual-reality bikes that make it feel as if the rider is racing around an apple orchard.

Teen-only gym: Virtual reality, real sweat | CNET News.com

AGC: Keynote - Vernor Vinge On The 'Inside Out' Cyberworld

2006-09-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Award-winning science fiction author Vernor Vinge, speaking at the Austin Game Conference, gave his vision of a future in which connectivity was literally in the air around us.Most recently author of Rainbow's End, Vinge painted a picture of ubiquitous connectivity similar to the one narrated in that novel. So well connected will we be, according to Vinge, that "post-human" capabilities will arise from groups of people networked together. "Virtually every aspect of purpose, faith and fantasy could have a constituency in such a world," Vinge said.

Gamasutra - AGC: Keynote - Vernor Vinge On The 'Inside Out' Cyberworld

Rock 'n' roll ain't noise pollution

2006-09-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

It boosts immune function. It can trigger long and short-term memory, and facilitate cognitive retraining of damaged brain tissue by increasing blood flow to the brain. It positively affects the release of brain chemicals that affect mood and sleep. It acts on the limbic system, getting us in touch with our emotions. And, maybe most surprising, it can soothe hyperactivity.The young have always been drawn to rhythmic music, but research now confirms that a strong beat causes brainwaves to resonate in time with the rhythm, and that brainwave activity accelerated by rhythm increases concentration very much like Ritalin and Adderall do. It’s called entrainment, which is the tendency for two vibrating bodies to lock into phase so they vibrate in harmony.

Vue Weekly : Articles

The Pervasive Internet has the Potential to Revolutionise the Business Environment

2006-09-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

This report covers the significant technologies and addresses all the major venues that comprise the Pervasive arena. We analyze each venue according to customer segments, application groups and, ultimately, specific device segments, as illustrated in the M2M-PI Map. As a result, we monitor the M2M-PI opportunity for over 300 device segments across both wireless and wireline technologies occurring in eight principal venues.

The Pervasive Internet has the Potential to Revolutionise the Business Environment

Pervasive Computing

2006-09-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

IEEE (News - Alert) publishes Pervasive Computing, described as “a catalyst for advancing research and practice in mobile and ubiquitous computing.” Manufacturers, prodded by Wal-Mart, have implemented RFID; analytics and dashboards add value to the supply chain. Enterprise employees bring consumer electronics into their cubes, adding more headaches for corporate IT departments worldwide.

Ambient Education

Brain waves can help pick antidepressants

2006-09-19T18:08:00.000-07:00

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles say there may now be a faster way to figure out which meds will knock out a person's depression best. A UCLA study showed that measurable changes in the front of the brain can predict the effectiveness of an antidepressant within days of treatment -- weeks before a patient begins to feel better.

News 8 Austin | 24 Hour Local News | HEADLINES | Brain waves can help pick antidepressants

MTV taking 'Laguna Beach' to virtual reality

2006-09-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

At MTV, reality has always been a moving target. Sixteen years ago, the network heralded the era of reality television with "The Real World." Three years ago, it pushed the genre further with "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County," in which the mundane lives of a clique of attractive teenagers were presented in a way that appeared scripted and dramatic. Now the cable channel aims to push the boundaries of false reality one step further. On Wednesday, MTV is scheduled to introduce Virtual Laguna Beach, an online service in which fans of the program can immerse themselves - or at least can immerse digitized, three-dimensional characters, called avatars, that they control - in virtual versions of the show's familiar seaside hangouts.

MTV taking 'Laguna Beach' to virtual reality - Technology - International Herald Tribune

Super Mario Brothers in Virtual Reality

2006-09-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, this looks like pure fun and the dream of any Mario fan out there. Joystiq are linking to a demonstration of Super Mario Brothers in virtual reality. I have included the video link to the demonstration below.This virtual reality setup was created by students from Carnegie Mellon University. After putting on the virtual helmet and starting the game, you must move your hands up and down to make Mario run, then to jump you simply put one hand in the air.It looks like the bloke is really enjoying it, as are the onlookers.Virtual Reality Mario Brother Demostration

: Super Mario Brothers in Virtual Reality : Igniq

Synesthesia

2006-09-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

When you eat chicken, does it feel pointy or round? Is a week shaped like a tipped-over D with the days arranged counterclockwise? Does the note B taste like horseradish? Do you get confused about appointments because Tuesday and Thursday have the same color? Do you go to the wrong train station in New York City because Grand Central has the same color as the 42nd Street address of Penn Station? When you read a newspaper or listen to someone speaking do you see a rainbow of colors? If so, you might have synesthesia.

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Ask the Experts: Biology: What is synesthesia?

Concept of 'personal space' survives in virtual reality

2006-09-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

When the first virtual worlds emerged during the early days of the Internet, fans of these alternative realities enthused about a possible deliverance from social norms. Online, people could change their sex or even species. A new kind of cyber-freedom beckoned.But according to a study of social interactions in one online world, some quirks of how people interact in the real world have survived the digital transition.

news @ nature.com - Concept of 'personal space' survives in virtual reality - Psychologists find real-world social rules mirrored in 'Second Life' interactions.

Technology Advances in Education

2006-09-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Though long known for their adherence to tradition, colleges in California and elsewhere increasingly are embracing a variety of higher-tech approaches to teaching and learning.And new gizmos, including gear with cutting-edge videogame or artificial intelligence technology, are on the way to provide more individualized instruction. Some of the most futuristic devices — if colleges are adventurous enough to try them — could even monitor students' brainwaves to keep track of how they're learning.

Colleges see the future in technology - Los Angeles Times

It is not just WOW

2006-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Edward Castronova sees all this as an early indicator of what will become a vast participation in synthetic worlds, with fuzzier and fuzzier lines between virtual and physical realms. "In 20 or 30 years the technology will be here to create incredibly more realistic and immersive worlds," he says. "There will be a world that fits the fantasy of any life you want to lead." Those deep into WOW, of course, are already living that future. "Yes, it's just a game," says Joi Ito. "The way that the real world is a game."

World of Warcraft: Is It a Game? - Newsweek Technology - MSNBC.com

Neuroeconomics

2006-09-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

I met Peter Sokol-Hessner, a twenty-four-year-old graduate student, who escorted me to a control room full of computers. Sokol-Hessner is completing a doctorate in psychology, but he is currently working on a research project in the emerging field of neuroeconomics, which uses state-of-the-art imaging technology to explore the neural bases of economic decision-making.

The New Yorker: Fact

The Lie Machine

2006-09-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

But now a company in California reckons that it can rumble a fibber with unprecedented accuracy by using a brain scan. No Lie MRI Inc has just started offering its service on the market. Next Monday the first paying customers will be slid into a brain scanner and asked a series of questions to determine if they are telling the truth. All the customers are involved in legal proceedings and have elected to take the lie-detector test to demonstrate that their testimony to their lawyers has been truthful.

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology

Metaverse Technology

2006-09-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to MetaverseTech! We are devoted to building innovative solutions to connect the emerging virtual worlds with the existing information superhighway. Our base of operation is currently in Second Life, the most advanced general platform 3D environment accessible to the masses, but we are developing additional products that will help bridge the divide between the user and other virtual environments.

Metaverse Tech

Alternative HCI allows us humans to live our lives better.

2006-09-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

Though he had virtually no use of his arms and legs, this man got himself to work each day, taught three classes, conducted research, and had a healthy social life. One might argue he did more than do some people who have full use of their appendages. Thanks to a plethora of software programs and other technologies that allow people with disabilities to perform day-to-day functions, this professor was able to live a productive and somewhat normal life.

ACM Queue - Able Bodies - Alternative HCI allows us humans to live our lives better.

Xbox for Stroke Rehabilitation

2006-09-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Rutgers hand rehabilitation system is an example of virtual rehabilitation, which combines virtual reality - computer-generated interactive visual environments in which users control actions in a lifelike way - with traditional therapy techniques. Virtual rehabilitation gives therapists new tools to do their jobs more effectively and engages patients who may otherwise lack interest or motivation to complete normal exercise regimens...

Xbox for Stroke Rehabilitation - Medgadget - www.medgadget.com

EnterNetica and Vesta Alpha Build Virtual Reality Franchise Management System

2006-09-09T16:47:00.000-07:00

EnterNetica and Vesta Alpha today announced a joint effort focused on building the first franchising system built in virtual reality. EnterNetica will design the system on its Multidimension technology base, extending the existing Vesta Alpha supply system and franchiser database.The franchise management system will support advanced authentication and session security, sales review, product management, reporting, and real-time feedback.

ClickPress | EnterNetica and Vesta Alpha Build Virtual Reality Franchise Management System

Neurological disorders: Mind over machine

2006-09-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

The brain is thought by some to be the most powerful computer known. Harnessing these impressive processing powers to control machines, including computers and robots, has been considered to be in the realms of fantasy. However, two reports in Nature describing advances in electronic neuronal implants indicate that in the future the mind could be used to manipulate machines, with the potential to improve mobility and communication for those with severe spinal cord injuries.

Mind over machine: Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Virtual-reality tasks aid work on Ares I

2006-09-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

The tools to build America's next rocket - the Ares I - took form this summer at Marshall Space Flight Center partly because of the virtual-reality work of college student Valerie Collins.Collins, 30, a student worker from Tennessee State University, is part of a three-member Marshall team using computer simulations and a suit of body sensors to help NASA managers design tools, place doorways, and define work procedures for the Ares I.

Virtual-reality tasks aid work on Ares I

Zeitgeist

2006-09-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

A program that works out the meaning of newly coined words using the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia could help machines understand the slang used in blogs and other informal texts, say researchers.The program – called Zeitgeist – hunts through Wikipedia looking for entries about new words that do not appear in an online resource called WordNet, an official linguistics tool that is both a dictionary and a thesaurus. WordNet is used by researchers to help computers understand human language. New words, or neologisms, that do not appear in WordNet inevitably leave computers stumped.

Software learns new words from Wikipedia - tech - 04 September 2006 - New Scientist Tech

Scientific Visualization

2006-09-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

Visualization expertise at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is provided through the Visualization Laboratory and with a variety of other research and development efforts.

LLNL Scientific Visualization

New Study Looks At Virtual Reality CAD

2006-09-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

This report summarizes results of a new study that compares user experience within the Sensics panoramic HMD to the experience inside a projection-wall virtual reality system. The study was conducted in June 2006 during an exclusive industry event held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The study reveals that on average, expert users prefer the Sensics HMD over CAVE-like system in all surveyed dimensions including image quality, field of view, and degree of immersion.

New Study Looks At Virtual Reality CAD

Brain's Filing System Uncovered

2006-09-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

They report in the advanced online Nature that they have identified neurons that assist in categorizing visual stimuli. They found that the activity of neurons in a part of the brain called the parietal cortex encode the category, or meaning, of familiar visual images and that brain activity patterns changed dramatically as a result of learning. Their results suggest that categories are encoded by the activity of individual neurons (brain cells) and that the parietal cortex is a part of the brain circuitry that learns and recognizes the meaning of the things that we see.

Brain's Filing System Uncovered

Lumalive textile garments

2006-09-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Philips Research intends to impress the visitors at this year’s IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) with a world-first demonstration of promotional jackets and furniture featuring its innovative Lumalive technology. Lumalive textiles make it possible to create fabrics that carry dynamic advertisements, graphics and constantly changing color surfaces.

Philips showcases productionready Lumalive textile garments

Science Museum shows what brains can do next

2006-09-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Today's medical technology could be used in the future to enhance our brains to make them work quicker and better, as revealed in a new free exhibition opening at the Science Museum shortly. Visitors to the museum will be able to see how today's pioneering science works, alongside the mind boggling future possibilities and the ethical questions they raise at this exciting new interactive exhibition

Science Museum shows what brains can do next: News from Processingtalk Editorial

Virtual reality technologies workshop

2006-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

A workshop on virtual reality hardware and software will take place from 30 November to 1 December in Stuttgart, Germany.The workshop will present new trends in virtual reality hardware and software, organised around the following themes:- best practice in different industrial applications;- training and education using virtual reality;- new industrial applications for virtual environments;- new applications for virtual reality;- haptic [tactile] interaction with virtual environments;- collaborative virtual environments;- towards realistic virtual environments;- virtual reality in medicine;- augmented reality in industrial applications.

CORDIS : News

Entertaible

2006-09-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

The Entertaible concept is a tabletop gaming platform that marries traditional multi-player board and computer games in a uniquely simple and intuitive way. Entertaible comprises a 32-inch horizontal LCD, sophisticated touch screen-based multi-object position detection, and all supporting control electronics.

Philips Research Technologies - Entertaible: combination of electronic gaming and traditional board games

'Augmented reality' glasses

2006-09-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

Superimposing computer-generated images over real scenes can dramatically improve the way people with visual impairment use their sight, say US researchers.That conclusion is the result of tests of a so-called augmented-reality system on patients with tunnel vision, a condition which narrows a person’s field of view.

'Augmented reality' glasses tackle tunnel vision - tech - 31 August 2006 - New Scientist Tech

Making money in Entropia

2006-08-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs, the Gamer who bought a Virtual Asteroid inside Entropia Universe in late 2005, reports the Club NEVERDIE, his virtual Resort, grossed $100,000 USD in the first eight months of operation. The Resort opened on December 19th, 2005. "It's a tremendous vindication to reach the break-even mark so fast; very few people really believed a turnkey virtual business inside an MMORPG could do these kind of numbers, but the dynamic real cash economy in Entropia Universe is extremely conducive for operating a business or developing a trade; however, once you have the tools or skills it's really up to the individual to serve the community and develop the business.

PRESS RELEASE Champion Gamer NEVERDIE Rakes in $100,000 USD in Virtual Reality

Onyx

2006-08-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

The Onyx device understands signs and gestures, thanks to the sensitive touch pad covering most of its surface. It opens and closes applications when swiped by one or two fingers. The phone recognizes shapes and body parts. Lift Onyx to your cheek and it will pick up a call. "The goal of this concept was to show people a completely different way of designing and making a phone," says Mariel Vantatenhove, senior product line director at Synaptics (SYNA). "We think that the market is ready for some sort of change." A sea change is more like it.

A Quantum Leap for Cell Phones

American Inventor Spot

2006-08-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Called "Yumemi Kobo" which is Japanese for "dream workshop," the devise boasts the ability to influence the user's dreams. Armed to the teeth with an arsenal of speakers, a voice recorder, small lights, a picture frame, and even a fragrance dispenser, the Yumemi Kobo is designed to ‘determine' when you enter REM sleep (the stage of sleep at which dreaming occurs) and only activate accordingly.

With its 6 sensors and vocabulary of 1200 different sentences, the doll
is capable of determining a user's sleep patterns and then badgering
you when you don't stick to said sleeping patterns. So that night that
you have insomnia because you're nervous about an important project at
work will be made even more fun with a disturbing doll berating you for
not being asleep.

7 Inventive Ways To Go To Sleep | American Inventor Spot

Fakespace virtual reality project

2006-08-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Marshalltown Medical & Surgical Center has teamed with Fakespace to launch a collaborative research and development project to combine the latest in high resolution medical imaging with large-scale virtual reality systems. Once completed, the project could offer a three-dimensional tour of a patient’s body, making diagnosis and treatment decisions almost as easy as watching a movie.

Times-Republican

Trazer

2006-08-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

The Trazer is a "virtual reality" exercise machine by Cybex. The user wears an infrared belt, or "beacon", which tracks movement and mimics it on-screen in one of Trazer's 20 proprietary games. Yes, we said "proprietary". Instead of opening the technology to support real games, you are stuck with some Lawnmower Man-looking 3D titles. In the end, you are paying for what looks to be a basic PC with a basic infrared peripheral. The idea is sound, but we'd rather spend the $6,495 on a pony.– Mark Wilson

CYBEX Trazer: Virtual Reality Games, Costs As Much As a Pony - Gizmodo

New Neurons Need Signals to Survive

2006-08-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

The human brain continues to produce new nerve cells throughout its life and these neurons may be key to learning new information. But many of these novice neurons wither and die before joining the vast signaling network of their mature peers. Now new research seems to show that the presence or absence of new information--represented by the neurotransmitter glutamate--may determine a young neuron's survival.

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: New Neurons Need Signals to Survive

Harnessing the Power of Video Games

2006-08-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

The first big focus of health-related games was pain
relief. "We knew that kids are engrossed by video games. So we offered
games as a distraction alongside music, books, cartoons, and other
options like hypnosis or guided visualization," says Dr. Madhumita
Sinha, an emergency-room physician at Maricopa Medical Center in
Phoenix, Ariz. Sinha co-authored a study on nondrug distraction methods
for children being treated in the ER at Children's Hospital in Akron,
Ohio. "Music was the favorite distraction among the kids (52.5%), video
games (23.4%) came in second, and cartoon videos (27%) third," says
Sinha of the findings, which were published in the April, 2006, issue
of the journal Pediatrics.

Harnessing the Power of Video Games

Awards Prize for Study of Brain's Response to Neurofeedback

2006-08-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

CANOGA PARK, CALIF., August 18 /CNW/ - The Foundation for Neurofeedback and Applied Neuroscience has announced its first annual award recognizing the most significant contribution to the advancement of the field of neurofeedback during the previous year. The recipients of this year's award, which includes a one thousand dollar (USD) cash prize, were Johanne Levesque, Mario Beauregard and Boualem Mensour of the Universite de Montreal for their article, "Effect of neurofeedback training on the neural substrates of selective attention in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study." The article appeared in the February 20, 2006 issue of the journal Neuroscience Letters.

CNW Group

One Labs experiment with Ubiquitous Computing

2006-08-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

Ubiquitous computing seeks to place computers everywhere around us—into the very fabric of everyday life1—so that our lives are made better. Whether it is improving our job productivity, our ability to stay connected with family and friends, or our entertainment, the goal is to find ways to put technology to work for us by getting all those computers—large and small, visible and invisible—to work together. Since Mark Weiser presented the ubiquitous computing vision in 1991, we have made significant progress in creating faster, smaller, and lower-power computing devices.We have just barely begun, however, to tackle the problem of how we get these devices to interact effectively with us and with each other.

ACM Queue - The Invisible Assistant - A cell biology lab puts ubiquitous computing technology to the test.

Seeing Through Sound

2006-08-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

Blind people traversing a city face a formidable challenge: quickly and safely navigating a complex environment. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology say their wearable computer provides the newest high-tech solution.The system's hardware includes two Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, a laptop, head and body compasses, a gyroscope-based tracker that measures the head's tilt, and four small cameras mounted on a helmet. For audio (the device uses a speech interface), users listen to "bone phones," which fit behind the ears and transmit sound by vibrating against the skull. A user's ears are thus free to listen to important ambient noise, such as city traffic. It weighs about three pounds in total, and most parts tuck neatly into a backpack.

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

The Future & History of the User Interface (with Snazzy New UI Videos)

2006-08-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

I get the feeling we are about to enter a computer user interface renaissance. My guess is that somewhere in the next 2 years (and maybe as soon as with Mac OS X 10.5), we'll see the revitalization of the entire computer field because of UI advances. And with any UI renaissance, we will also see increases in new hardware sales supporting the new paradigms, which in turn will lead to further gains in personal productivity levels.

The Devil's Advocate: Mac UI Ain't All That: The Future & History of the User Interface || The Mac Observer

Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

2006-08-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

As we yawn and open our eyes in the morning, the brain stem sends little puffs of nitric oxide to another part of the brain, the thalamus, which then directs it elsewhere. Like a computer booting up its operating system before running more complicated programs, the nitric oxide triggers certain functions that set the stage for more complex brain operations, according to a new study.In these first moments of the day, sensory information floods the system—the bright sunlight coming through the curtains, the time on the screeching alarm clock—and all of it needs to be processed and organized, so the brain can understand its surroundings and begin to perform more complex tasks.

LiveScience.com - Your Brain Boots Up Like a Computer

SL Chatbot

2006-08-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the introduction for a Second Life Chatbot. Second Life is a virtual world that allows the occupants to create almost anything that they can imagine. Our Chatbot is based on the A.L.I.C.E. foundations AIML, and is designed to carry on relatively intricate conversations with humans. The Chatbot program is hosted on the free Pandorabots website. Our primary contribution is a Second Life interface that utilizes the LLHttpRequest functionality to instantiate a Chatbot in the Second Life Metaverse.

Second Life Chatbot