Researchers develop eye-implantable camera

Posted Jan 22nd 2008 1:36PM by Nilay Patel
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wearables

Most of the bionic eye systems we've seen involve clunky glasses-cam headgear, but the implantable camera now being developed at UCLA does it straight Terminator-style and keeps your face unemcumbered. The camera, which researcher Michelle Hauer and her team recently filed a patent for, is small enough to be implanted directly on the eye's lens, and feeds image data to a chip at the back of the eye, where it can either be fed into the optic nerve to aid the blind, or just into a portable hard drive to aid the creepy. Hauer says power will come from on an onboard battery, but we're more interested in the mention of "optical control signals" in the patent application -- and by "interested" we mean "terrified of a zombie android army."

Read - NewScientist blurb
Read - Patent application

Tags: bionic, bionic eye, BionicEye, camera, camera implant, CameraImplant, eye, eyeball, implant, implants, lens implant, LensImplant

The Impatience of the Google Generation

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 18, @05:27AM
from the everything-i-need-to-know-i-learned-from-google dept.

profBill writes "As a fifty-something professor who teaches introductory computer science, I am very aware that the twenty-somethings in my class are much more at ease with computers than any other generation. However, does that mean they are more adept at using those computers? Apparently not, according to the researchers at University College London. Their research indicates that while more adept at conducting searches, younger users also show 'impatience in search and navigation, and zero tolerance for any delay in satisfying their information needs'. Moreover, these traits 'are now becoming the norm for all age-groups, from younger pupils and undergraduates through to professors'. The panel makes two conclusions: That libraries (and I wonder what a library will become in the future, anyway) will have to adapt, and that the information processing skills of todays young people are lacking. Why are those skills lacking and, if they are, what can be done about it?"

New Dell Laptops Give Users a Literal Shock

Posted by Zonk on Thursday January 17, @06:01PM
from the i'll-call-him-sparky dept.

An anonymous reader writes "According to CNET.co.uk, certain new Dell laptops with a brushed-aluminum finish are giving users more than they bargained for. 'We know this because several CNET staff were hit with an electrical charge while using Dell's new XPS M1530 — and we're not the only ones. Dell's forums are littered with user complaints about the shocking experiences they've had with some systems. The problem only seems to occur in Dell laptops that have a brushed-aluminum finish. These include the XPS M1330 and XPS M1530. It's caused by the two-pronged connection between the mains lead and the power adapter, which isn't earthed properly because of its lack of a third pin. The laptop therefore exhibits an electrical potential (voltage) between its exposed metal parts (the brushed aluminum wrist pad) and earth ground. Since there is no earth, the human body basically acts as a wire that can conduct electric current, hence the tingling, jolting sensation.'"

[+] shocking, hardware, portables, humor, earthed (tagging beta)

Oh, the humanity! Hydrogen fuel cell phone on the way

by Patrick Metzger
Jan 17th 2008 @ 12:30PM

Filed under: Gadgets and Tech, GreenTech, Alternative Energy

Ready to walk around with a pocket full of hydrogen? Canadian fuel cell maker Angstrom is looking to bring a hydrogen fuel cell powered mobile phone to market within the next couple of years. A test fuel cell has already been successfully integrated into a Motorola phone, which Angstrom says can be charged up in about 10 minutes and will operate on a single charge for about twice as long as a standard lithium-ion battery.

There are still hurdles to overcome - charging up a fuel cell isn't a matter of just plugging the thing into a wall socket. Hydrogen has to be created, typically from water, meaning new devices for the home or an infrastructure of cell phone "filling stations" where users can recharge. There's also the perception issue - although Angstrom says that their storage system is absolutely safe, the Hindenberg is still most famous thing that's ever happened to hydrogen.

The company is optimistic that the public will embrace the new technology, however, and expects to launch a product by 2010.

via [Green Tech Gazette]

Related Link

Sustainable House: First Platinum LEED Remodel

by Laura Malesich
Jan 17th 2008 @ 1:36PM

Filed under: Home

Sure we've seen these ratings awarded to homes and office buildings already but not to a remodel -- until now. Sustainable House is a revamped 1948 rambler now completely outfitted in green technology and eco-saving devices. Such renovations include: energy-efficient appliances, CFLs, natural Quartz countertops, Aquia dual-flush toilets, fly ash cement where used, four 130 feet closed-loop wells for geothermal energy, greywater system, super insulation, passive solar, photovoltaic panels, solar hot water system, Solatubes, and triple-glazed argon windows, just to name a few. With the economy struggling a bit this may be the beginning of some beautiful changes in homes across the country. Save a few bucks on utilities and save the environment -- sounds like a plan to me!

Gallery: Sustainable House

Update on teen's all-electric 1988 Mazda pickup truck

Posted Jan 17th 2008 1:38PM by Sebastian Blanco
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Mazda, Green Daily

High school student Andrew Angellotti contacted AutoblogGreen last fall to tell us about his 1988 Mazda B2200 pickup truck that he converted into an electric vehicle, taking nine months to learn how to do it and getting seriously DIY on the project. Our friend at Michigan Public Radio, Dustin Dwyer, was able to spend some with with Angellotti and an update on the teen and his truck was broadcast this week.

Angellotti put 20 "basically golf cart" batteries into his truck; most (16) take up lots of space in the bed. The batteries give him a 40-mile range from a 10-hour charge. Considering that the truck's heat originally came from the engine, the EV doesn't have a warm cab any more, which must make for some tough driving these days. Still, Angellotti is pretty darn happy with his homemade truck. As he told Dustin, "There were quite a few points during the project, during you know, kind of a hard part, I'd start thinking, you know, for six thousand dollars I could have a really cool car. But, you know, I woke up the next morning and I'm like, 'But nobody else is going to have an electric car. So I decided to keep going with it." We're glad he did.

Listen to the report here or read the transcript here.

Honey stops coughing better than OTC drugs

by Kelly Leahy
Jan 17th 2008 @ 10:31AM

Filed under: Health, Kids and Parenting

Not too long ago the FDA ruled that cough and cold medicines should not be given to small children. Shortly thereafter, bottles started disappearing from shelves, leaving parents to their own devices while their child suffers from common winter ailments. It turns out that instead of turning to the medicine cabinet with every common cold, parents should have been raiding the pantry for honey.

A recent study gave 105 coughing children between the ages of 2-18 cough syrup, a placebo and buckwheat honey to control their symptoms. 47% of the children who ingested honey reported less coughing overnight than both the cough medicine and the placebo. This is attributed to honey's throat coating and antioxidant properties.

Mom was right all along. Next time you have a cold, go natural with a cup of tea and a spoonful of honey.

[It should be noted that children under one year old should not be given honey to sooth nighttime coughing so you will all have to suffer through the long nights -- it's not like you were getting any sleep anyway.]

[via: WebMD]

Related Link

AT&T's Plan to Play Internet Cop

Posted by Zonk on Thursday January 17, @10:01AM
from the sorry-i-was-surfing-too-fast-occifer dept.

Ponca City, We Love You writes "Tim Wu has an interesting (and funny) article on Slate that says that AT&T's recent proposal to examine all the traffic it carries for potential violations of US intellectual property laws is not just bad but corporate seppuku bad. At present AT&T is shielded by a federal law they wrote themselves that provides they have no liability for 'Transitory Digital Network Communications' — content AT&T carries over the Internet. To maintain that immunity, AT&T must transmit data 'without selection of the material by the service provider' and 'without modification of its content' but if AT&T gets into the business of choosing what content travels over its network, it runs the serious risk of losing its all-important immunity. 'As the world's largest gatekeeper,' Wu writes, 'AT&T would immediately become the world's largest target for copyright infringement lawsuits.' ATT's new strategy 'exposes it to so much potential liability that adopting it would arguably violate AT&T's fiduciary duty to its shareholders,' concludes Wu."

[+] business, communications, internet, greatwallofusa (tagging beta)

Some DNS Requests Ruled Illegal in North Dakota

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 17, @07:53AM
from the that's-a-paddling dept.

jgreco writes "A judge in North Dakota has just ruled that requesting a zone transfer from a public DNS server is criminal activity within the meaning of the North Dakota Computer Crimes Law. A zone transfer is a simple request that a DNS server hand over information in bulk, and a DNS server may be configured to allow or deny such requests. That the owner of a DNS server would configure the server to allow such requests, and then claim such requests were unauthorized, is simply stunning."

Wearable farming robot suit takes the load off

Posted Jan 17th 2008 9:20AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Robots, Wearables

Hard to believe we're seeing yet another wearable robot suit emerge from Japan, eh? All sarcasm aside, there actually is a newcomer to the curiously growing market courtesy of Shigeki Toyama and colleagues from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. The aptly dubbed farming robot suit is a strap-on contraption that makes lifting objects much easier than nature intended, reportedly reducing the wear and tear (read: force) placed on one's joints, knees and back by around 50-percent. Additionally, the suit will be programmable depending on the type of work being done, but we've no idea if any third-party attachments (you know, rubber band launchers, integrated HMDs, etc.) are in the works. On the real, you'll be looking at around ¥500,000 ($4,559) to ¥1,000,000 ($9,117) to ease your load, but that could dip as low as ¥200,000 ($1,823) per suit if mass production becomes viable.

[Via The Register]

Tags: exoskeleton, farm, farmer, farming, farming robot suit, FarmingRobotSuit, japan, japanese, robot suit, RobotSuit, suit, Tokyo University, TokyoUniversity

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Mini-boom: US baby-making soars

by Josh Loposer
Jan 17th 2008 @ 10:00AM

Filed under: Health, Kids and Parenting, Climate Change

In what is probably the best news for the baby-poop scoop bag industry in years, the US birthrate hit a 45 year high in 2006 -- I guess it took statisticians a year to put all the numbers together? In 2006, a total of 4.3 million babies were born in the US, a number that reflects a rising population, shifts in culture, and a sign that Americans are not slowing down their baby-making -- despite recommendations by environmental think tanks.

On the whole, Americans seem to have a more baby-friendly attitude than other industrialized nations, with a higher fertility rate that Australia, Canada, Japan or any nation in Europe. The bulk of the change seems to be coming from a cultural shift. The increase in the Latino presence in the US has been a major contributor; the fertility rate among Latinos is 3 children per woman. Experts also attribute the "boomlet" to a drop in the use of contraceptives, reproductive education, and access to abortion.

Is the trend good or bad? According to economists, it's great -- the ideal birthrate is 2.1, the rate necessary to stabilize the current population. Of course, that's not necessarily adjusted for immigration. Environmentally, Americans have the largest carbon footprint, so a rise in population signifies a greater challenge to lowering our environmental impact as a nation.

Related Link

Star Trek-like 'Phraselator' Helps Police

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 16, @10:09PM
from the set-phraselateor-to-drunk dept.

coondoggie writes "Yet another Star Trek-like device is making its way into the real world. VoxTec's Phraselator name sounds a bit like something the Three Stooges might have used long ago but no, this PDA-like device was developed through Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for use in Afghanistan and Iraq by American soldiers for communicating with locals who spoke Farsi, Dari, Pashto and other languages. It is now being used as one tool to help keep the peace between English and non-English speakers by police departments in California, Florida, Nevada. In a nutshell the $2,500 ruggedized Phraselator runs an Intel PXA255 400mHz processor that supports a built-In noise canceling microphone, a VOCON 3200 Speech Recognizer, 1GB removable SD card, 256MB of DRAM Memory and 64MB Flash Memory. It can store up to 10,000 phrases."

[+] myhovercraftisfullofeels, hardware, technology, beafroginmybidet, thereappearst (tagging beta)

And you thought that laptop fire sucked...

Posted Jan 16th 2008 4:13PM by Evan Blass
Filed under: Transportation

GEM neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) burning peacefully on the UC Riverside campus, January 15th, 2008. Bigger version in the gallery below.

[Image courtesy of Matt G.]

Prosthetic-limbed runner disqualified from Olympics

Posted Jan 17th 2008 6:29AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee sprinter, has been denied a shot at the Olympics... for being too fast. The runner -- who uses carbon-fiber, prosthetic feet -- was reviewed by the International Association of Athletics Federations (or IAAF), a review which found the combination of man and machine to be too much for its purely human competitors. According to the IAAF report, the "mechanical advantage of the blade in relation to the healthy ankle joint of an able bodied athlete is higher than 30-percent." Additionally, Pistorius uses 25-percent less energy than average runners due to the artificial limbs, therefore giving him an unfair advantage on the track... or so they say. Oscar is expected to appeal the decision, saying a lack of variables explored by the single scientific study calls for deeper investigation into the matter. Our suggestion? Prosthetic legs for all!

[Via Medgadget]

Tags: iaaf, International Association of Athletics Federations, InternationalAssociationOfAthleticsFederations, olympics, oscar pistorius, OscarPistorius, prosthesis, prosthetic feet, prosthetic limbs, ProstheticFeet, ProstheticLimbs

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Nanotubes Form The Darkest Material Yet Created

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 17, @03:08AM
from the none-more-black dept.

toxcspdrmn writes "Bad news for Spinal Tap fans. The BBC reports that researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, have produced the darkest known material by manufacturing "forests" of carbon nanotubes. This forms a surface that absorbs or scatters 99.9% of all incidental light."

Monkeys Thoughts Make Robot Walk

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 16, @08:42PM
from the surrender-now dept.

geekbits writes "For all those who have at one time or another been too lazy to get up off the couch and go to the fridge and get a beer, heat up some pizza, or change the channel when the remote is missing, we may be one step closer to being able to keep our tushes parked just a little while longer. There may also be some slightly more noble implications here. According to an article in The New York Times, in an experiment at Duke University, a 12-pound, 32-inch monkey made a 200-pound, 5-foot humanoid robot walk on a treadmill using only her brain activity. She was in North Carolina, and the robot was in Japan."

Panasonic's EVOLTA: "the longest lasting AA battery cell in the world"

Posted Jan 16th 2008 9:33AM by Thomas Ricker

If you're barbaric enough to still use disposable alkaline batteries instead of new generation rechargeables like Eneloops, then you'll be stoked by this news Atouk. Panasonic's new EVOLTA lineup is said to perform "almost 1.3 - 2 times" longer than their existing alkalines. In fact, they now claim to have the "longest lasting AA battery cell in the world." For that, Panny will charge you an approximate 15% premium when they hit the market on April 26th.

Tags: alkaline, eneloop, evolta, panasonic

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Modeling Urban Panic

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 14, @04:44PM
from the godzilla-disappointed dept.

Schneier is reporting that Arizona State University's Paul Torrens has been developing a computer simulation to model urban panic. "The goal of this project is to develop a reusable and behaviorally founded computer model of pedestrian movement and crowd behavior amid dense urban environments, to serve as a test-bed for experimentation." The simulation tests behaviors from how a crowd flees from a burning car to how a pathogen might be transmitted through a mobile pedestrian over time among others.

Ford Claims Ownership Of Your Pictures

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 14, @01:47PM
from the like-a-child-shouting-MINE dept.

Mike Rogers writes "In a move that can only be described as 'Copyright Insanity', Ford Motor Company now claims that they hold the rights to any image of a Ford vehicle, even if it's a picture you took of your own car. The Black Mustang Club wanted to put together a calendar featuring member's cars and print it through CafePress, but an attorney from Ford nixed the project, stating that the calendar pics and 'anything with one of (member's) cars in it infringes on Ford's trademarks which include the use of images of their vehicles.' Does Ford have the right to prevent you from printing images of a car you own?"

Shiny crops for a bright and shiny future?

by Wendy Davidson
Jan 14th 2008 @ 10:02AM

Filed under: Climate Change

I love experimental cooking. Give me a pan, some vegetables, herbs and spices and I'll do my best to whip up something mouth-wateringly delicious. The problem is, it's all too easy to get the balance of flavourings wrong and once you have too much of something, it's very hard to correct it.

I look on the changes to the Earth's climate like a recipe gone haywire. We have messed up royally and now the race is on to limit the damage and restore our climate to something resembling normal. It's hard. All these destructive greenhouse gases, that we fight to reduce with endless protocols and international carbon emission limits and deadlines, just keep on increasing. It's scary. To effectively stop the climate crisis, we need to bring carbon emissions down to zero within the next 2 decades. Or we need to find other ways to restore the balance as fast as we can.

First, those desperate scientists came up with space mirrors to reduce the amount of solar energy zapping our planet. Now, 2 years later, they're talking about shiny trees. Fields of shiny crops, say those in the know, could send more of the sun's heat back into space, and even reverse temperature rises in parts of the world. We could even reduce local day time temperatures by as much as 1.9C. Which might go down well in the Sahara but I'm not too sure about England getting any cooler.

I wonder what's next. Perhaps we could start growing already-tinselled Christmas trees? The mind boggles.

Related Link

Judge to Navy: no pinging near the whales

by Josh Loposer
Jan 14th 2008 @ 9:02AM

Filed under: News, Activism

Times are a changin'. Resulting from a court case between the US Navy and the Natural Resources Defense Council, a federal judge has ordered the Navy to respect sea animals when running their sonar training exercises off the coast of Southern California. To the benefit of whales and dolphins, the Navy is restricted from using their medium-range sonar within 12 miles of the coast. Not only that, but if whales or porpoises are spotted within 2,200 yards of the sonar vessels, exercises must undergo a mandatory shutdown.

Apparently, the sonar blasts have been shown to disorient whales and dolphins, messing with their minds and such. In the judge's ruling, she outlines an entire regimen to safeguard against disturbing the sea creatures. One measure includes having airborne lookouts spotting for dolphins during the exercises -- perhaps a little over the top.

The Navy contends that these exercises are a matter of necessity, since silent submarines technology has become the norm. While this is a momentary win for the environment, Navy and Pentagon officials are saying it's a loss for national security -- and it will most likely be appealed.

Related Link

Toyota announces plug-in hybrid for 2010

Posted Jan 14th 2008 4:38AM by Joshua Topolsky
Filed under: Transportation

According to reports, roost-ruling, green automaker Toyota has confirmed plans to launch a plug-in hybrid by 2010. Our man in Japan Katsuaki Watanabe (company president) dropped the bombshell at this year's Detroit Auto Show while detailing the automaker's plans for tackling environmental concerns. Apparently, the new lithium-ion-equipped vehicles will first be made available to Toyota's commercial customers -- such as government agencies. Watanabe gave no indication of when a general consumer rollout would occur. The vehicle, which is a modified version of the ultra-popular Prius, is capable of achieving fuel efficiency of 99.9 miles-per-gallon in EV mode, though it can only sustain pure battery power for about seven miles. The announcement will no doubt come as a total bummer to GM, which has plans to sell its own plug-in, the Volt, around the same time -- though the Chevy vehicle is said to be able to make trips of up to 40 miles on a six-hour charge. It's about time we saw some healthy competition in the green-auto-game -- let's just hope consumers reap the benefits.

Tags: 2010, announcement, auto, automotive, car, detroit auto show, DetroitAutoShow, electric, green, hybrid, plug in, plug-in, PlugIn, prius, toyota, vehicle