Mar 12

Could Computers Read Minds?

Posted in: medical, science, Space Tech, Today's Chili

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It’s the stuff of science fiction, and yet it could soon become reality–at least down the road, if not today.
NPR reports that a new computer program analyzing brain activity figured out which of three short films 10 volunteers were thinking about–with perfect accuracy.
Here how it works: the program analyzes the hippocampus, a part of the brain that appears to index memories of events, and searches it for traces of these events in brain scans. The volunteers watched the three short films over and over–word is they weren’t just cat videos–and then were asked to recall the movies when hooked up to the scanner.
Not only did the program get every single case correct, but scientists also discovered that the pattern for each movie was similar across all 10 brains, the report said. Yikes. The study originally appeared in the journal Current Biology. (Image credit: Barco Coronis medical LCD)

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Mar 10

You, Too, Could Own a Working Jetpack for $90,000

Posted in: Gadgets, science, space, Space Tech, Today's Chili

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Near the top of the list of “unfulfilled science fiction concepts,” you’ll find the jetpack, a staple of future transportation that somehow hasn’t arrived yet. (Well, we did get the Segway.)
Nonetheless, Martin Aircraft Company wants to change that with the Martin Jetpack, a $90,000 carbon fiber model that can generate 600 pounds of thrust. Wired reports that the jetpack is self-righting; you can let go of the controls and just hover.
The Martin Jetpack runs on gasoline, and burns through its five-gallon tank in about half an hour. It’s classified as an ultralight aircraft, so you don’t need a pilot’s license, although the company enforces its own training program.
Anyone who wants one faces a 12-month wait; to get on the list, you’ll need to put 10 percent down ($9,000).
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Mar 09

Type with Your Thoughts on the $12,000 Intendix Computer

Posted in: Today's Chili

Intendix.jpgTired of playing at being a Jedi, controlling objects with your mind? No? Well, get back to work anyway! But that doesn’t mean you have to stop being a Jedi…

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) measuring EEG output as input data have been on the periphery of modern technology for years. Now, the Intendix from Guger Technologies (g*tec) is a system that uses an EEG cap to measure
brain activity in order to let you type with your thoughts.

For 9,000 euros (about $12,200) you can purchase the Intendix, which allows you to connect an EEG cap and “type” words in using your mind. There’s even a video of a user playing Second Life, although I suspect that there’s a bit of fudging going on.

And what’s the world record for typing with your mind? Write down your guess, then hit the jump and find out. The Second Life video is there as well.

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Mar 08

3D TVs Go on Sale This Week: Want One?

Posted in: hdtv, samsung, sony, Today's Chili

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Anyone who watched the Oscars last Sunday knows that Samsung is about to start selling 3D LED HDTVs in the near future—some say this week. The company won’t be alone, though: Panasonic also plans to begin selling 3D TVs at Best Buy starting Wednesday.

High-definition 3D television is exciting stuff and, thanks to the record-breaking-success of Avatar (leaving aside its Best Picture and Best Director losses), Hollywood is fully embracing it for movies today and now for home consumption as soon as possible. Just as in theaters, you won’t get a 3D experience at home without the right content and proper glasses, and of course, a 3D-ready TV.

The question is, do you want one? Take our poll below:


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Mar 01

Conde Nast Prepping iPad New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Others

Posted in: Apple, apple ipad, ipad, Today's Chili

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Conde Nast is prepping numerous versions of its top magazines for the upcoming Apple iPad, which is due to be released later this month.
The New York Times reports that the first Conde Nast magazines to hit the iPad will be The New Yorker, GQ, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Glamour, according to an internal Conde Nast memorandum scheduled for Monday.
GQ will hit first with its April issue–which is expected, since GQ is the only Conde Nast property with a dedicated iPhone app that covers the entire magazine’s contents to date.
After that, Vanity Fair and Wired will hit the iPad beginning with their June issues. The New Yorker and Glamour will land sometime during the summer, according to the report.
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Feb 26

IBM Scientists Analyze, Break Traffic Gridlock

Posted in: gps, science, Today's Chili

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IBM announced yesterday a new research initiative that could slash travel times, by building personalized routes for commuters to avoid traffic gridlock.
At a smart transportation event in Washington D.C, IBM announced that its researchers are using advanced analytics to develop adaptive traffic systems. These systems, in theory, could “learn” traveler patterns and behavior–sort of like an advanced version of TomTom’s IQ Routes for its GPS devices, which is based on historical data.
The researchers are developing models that go one step further, and actually predict the outcomes of different transportation routes, from which it will devise personalized recommendations for specific commutes. This is much more useful than plain traffic reporting, which talks about jams after they happen in the hopes that commuters can learn the reports and avoid the jams in time (often without success).
There’s no word yet when we could see consumer-level applications of this technology. For more information on the research, visit IBM’s dedicated Smart Traffic site. (Image credit: IBM)
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Feb 19

MWC: Myriad Dalvik Turbo Promises Faster Android App Speed

Posted in: Android, Today's Chili

Google’s Android was a major topic at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and one of the companies taking advantage of the OS is Myriad. The Zurich-based mobile technology firm has released the Dalvik Turbo virtual machine, which can boost application execution speed by up to three times, according to exes.

Dalvik is the virtual machine that powers the Java platform on Android-based phones. Myriad’s Dalvik Turbo basically replaces the existing Dalvik engine with a more powerful version, which speeds up apps, preserves battery life, and allows for more powerful apps – like games.

I stopped by Myriad’s booth at MWC, where Gael Rosset, vice president of product management at Myriad, showed off a demo of the technology.

Rosset launched a spinning, 3D cube animation on two identical, Android-based HTC phones – one running Dalvik Turbo and the other the standard Dalvik engine. The cube on the Dalvik Turbo was spinning much faster than the cube on the other phone, as demonstrated on the video above.

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Feb 02

Citrix, OK Labs Team to Create Nirvana Phone

Posted in: Apple, Google, Smartphones, Today's Chili

NirvanaPhone.jpgWhat if your monitor could be plugged into your phone? What if you really didn’t need a laptop, since your phone’s CPU could power most applications, and draw data from the cloud?

That’s the premise of the “nirvana phone,” a reference design co-authored by virtualization giant Citrix and by the Open Kernel Labs to do just that.

Basically, the phone is less a phone and more of an I/O layer and hypervisor laid atop the existing phone operating system. The OK Labs technology uses Bluetooth to connect to a keyboard, and uses a wired connection to plug in an external display. The phone’s native applications then can be accessed via the larger display. Although the nirvana phone can connect via Bluetooth via a mouse, a nifty demonstration video (embedded after the jump) showed the phone’s touchscreen actually serving as a trackpad.

If this sounds familiar, then you’re right, sort of.

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Feb 02

IBM Demonstrates Carbon-Based Transistors

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, science, Today's Chili

IBM_Carbon_Diagram.jpgIBM Research has unveiled and demonstrated a carbon-based transistor that could render silicon-based CMOS chips obsolete over the next 10 years, according to Smarter Technology.

Carbon nanotubes, nanowires, and quantum dots are already in the works. But  “pure crystalline sheets of carbon” called graphene are the closest substitute yet for silicon sheets, the report said. Why bother? Because silicon chips generate more and more heat as manufacturers shrink the chips and speed them up.

Carbon, at least in labs, seems to reverse the effect using quantum effects, and actually consume less power as researchers shrink the chips. In addition, graphene sheets can carry electrons faster with the same voltage, the report said. The trick has been improving the “on-to-off current ratios,” which IBM has done via a “bi-layer construction method for graphene transistors.”

Sounds complex–but as Moore’s Law threatens to run out of steam, this could be our next best bet.

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Jan 21

7 Apps Wed Like to See for the Amazon Kindle

Posted in: amazon, e ink, e reader, e-book, kindle, Today's Chili

Kindle 2.jpgAmazon’s decision to open the Kindle up to developers is a good, if late, idea. Clearly another response to the upcoming Apple tablet, the Kindle SDK could turn the mostly single-use device into a multifaceted source of entertainment.

Or not.

One of the reasons I love the Kindle is that it doesn’t try to do too much. I rarely use any of the experimental features Amazon built for it because, frankly, they stink. Web browsing on the Kindle is a painful experience. The browser can barely handle simple HTML and the screen refresh simply isn’t designed to handle the interactivity found on Web sites.

So what will developers do with the Kindle SDK? Already a couple, such as Handmark and Zagat, are building apps and games for the Kindle. Electronics Art’s mobile division is promising big things, too. Still, it’s a limited platform. It has a slow-to-update black-and-white E Ink screen, a zippy 3G Whispernet, speakers, a keyboard, and firm control buttons. Is there any hardware inside that Amazon hasn’t turned on? I hope so.

In any event, I asked my Twitter followers what apps they’d like to see developed for the Kindle. Perhaps because the Kindle hardware is so limited, I got just a few suggestions. I’ve added some ideas I heard around the office, as well as a few of my own.

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