10 Modern Devices That Will Change Our Lives Many believe that we are now experiencing the most intense technological revolution of all time, and that we are transitioning into a High Technology Age, where new advancements will make previous models extinct. Here are some gadgets that are slated to be released in the very near future (some have been released already). Many of these modern devices will change our lives—and the world we live in—for good: Fear of the dentist can be a very serious issue for many children and adolescents. The truth is that no one really enjoys going to the dentist regardless of their age, even if it’s just for a plain check-up. The sensor will alert you when it detects any bacteria that could cause cavities, plaque buildup, or any other infections—in this way you’ll be able to prevent a major problem, and thereby avoid the dentist’s office. Welcome to the future of fun and entertainment. It’s not recommended for people who are afraid of high rises, nor for those of us who have a propensity to vomit.
25 movies to watch when you're bored. Paralyzed Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Her Thoughts A neural interface device allows patients to control a robotic arm with their minds. Cathy Hutchinson hasn’t moved her limbs of her own volition for 15 years, but by imagining she was using her own hand, she controlled a robotic arm to pick up a thermos of coffee and took a sip. The technology is a neural interface system called BrainGate2, currently in clinical trials, which connects Cathy’s brain to a robot. The device is the result of over 10 years of research at Brown University and an extension of the first BrainGate in 2006, which allowed patients to control a computer cursor on a screen. Cathy was one of two patients on the study, which was recently reported in Nature, who suffer from tetraplegia, a condition in which communication between the brain and the rest of the body is disconnected either through a stroke or damage to the spinal cord. Check out the video to see the moment for yourself: Prof. [Media: YouTube] [Sources: Arstechnica, BrainGate, Nature, Nature Video]
Window Socket - Solar Energy Powered Socket by Kyuho Song & Boa Oh The Window Socket offers a neat way to harness solar energy and use it as a plug socket. So far we have seen solutions that act as a solar battery backup, but none as a direct plug-in. Simple in design, the plug just attaches to any window and does its job intuitively. Designers: Kyuho Song & Boa Oh
Duet Display Cyborg Future Draws Closer As Woman Controls Robotic Arm With Brain Implant In 1996, Jan Scheuermann was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration, a hereditary condition in which areas of the spinal cord and brain that control movement deteriorate. She gradually became quadriplegic, losing the use of her arms and legs. But researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt School of Medicine sought to give Scheuermann control back, not of her own arm, but of a robotic arm she would control with her own thoughts. The brain-computer interface (BCI) that surgeons implanted consisted of two quarter-inch arrays containing 96 electrode contacts. The arrays were placed on the surface of Scheuermann’s motor cortex – one over the area that is activated when she thinks about moving her hand, the other over the area activated when she thinks about moving her shoulder. The arrays are able to detect the electrical activity of underlying neurons and use the firing patterns to control a robotic arm. Scheuermann showed rapid progress during training.
Star Wars-style robotic arm approved for mass production Published time: May 10, 2014 08:55 Edited time: May 12, 2014 22:00 Image from darpa.mil A “near-natural” prosthetic arm, that took eight years to develop and test, has been approved for mass production by the US Food and Drug Administration. The DEKA Arm System has been affectionately dubbed “The Luke,” after Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker who received a robotic replacement for the hand he lost in a fight with Darth Vader in the 1980 film “The Empire Strikes Back.” One of the developers, Dean Camen, the inventor of the Segway, says that the new type of a prosthetic limb will dramatically improve the lives of amputees. According to the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) release, it “reviewed clinical information relating to the device, including a 4-site Department of Veterans Affairs study in which 36 DEKA Arm System study participants provided data on how the arm performed in common household and self-care tasks."
Coffitivity Google reveals Project Tango experimental phone with built in 3D scanners Phone will only be sold to app developersCould be used for indoor navigation and augmented reality gamesTechnology similar to Microsoft's Kinect for game consoles By Mark Prigg Published: 20:33 GMT, 20 February 2014 | Updated: 17:59 GMT, 21 February 2014 Google has revealed a mobile phone with a built in 3D scanner that could revolutionise navigation. Called Project Tango, the phone can build up a live 3D map of its surrounding area. It will initially only be sold to developers, who Google hope will develop everything from satnav apps to games similar to those found on Microsoft's Xbox, which uses the 3D Kinect sensor.. Scroll down for video Google's prototype phone - a 5inch handset packed with 3D sensors The handset can automatically build a 3D map of anywhere the user is, allowing for far better indoor navigation The handset can take 250,000 3D measurements a second It was created by Motorola's ATAP division, which last week joined Google. A live map created by the handset
50 Must See TED Talks about Creativity and Design – Design School If you’re looking for ideas about design or seeking a creative muse, TED talks can be a worthwhile watch to stir your curiosity. From the latest web trends to the meaning of happiness, these 50 Talks are sure to arouse your creative fire. 01. John Maeda: How art, technology and design inform creative leaders Old meets new as designers find balance among the possibilities of technology, the solutions of design, and the questions asked by art. 02. Design is about more than function. 03. Websites that interact with huge markets such as Google and Facebook provide their own unique challenges shaped by the sheer size of the end product. 04. Design is more than visual presentation. 05. Communication is about more than words on a page. 06. Happiness in design comes in two forms: that which brings happiness to the designer, and that which brings happiness to the user. 07. Design is not always about the big picture. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 16. What makes a convincing poster? 17. 18. 19. 20.
ITER: How a new star will be born | euronews, science The ITER project is truly at the frontier of knowledge, a collective effort to explore the tantalising future of free, clean and inexhaustible energy offered by nuclear fusion. Where the Large Hadron Collider at CERN pushes the boundaries of physics to find the origins of matter, the ITER project seeks to give humans an endless stream of power which could have potentially game-changing consequences for the entire planet. In this article, Robert Arnoux from ITER offers us his vision of nuclear fusion. Opinion: A new star will soon be born, a star unlike any other … a man-made star. ITER— both the Latin word for “The Way” and the acronym of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor—will light up in the early years of the coming decade. From a scientific and technological point of view, it will be one of mankind’s major accomplishments. The ITER machine is a tokamak, the Russian acronym for Toroidal Chamber, Magnetic Coils. Preparation work on the ITER site began in January 2007.