Wind deadline is 18 May, requires “strong social media skills” and a laptop (sounds like an NMD student to me). Also two internships in the health sector.
Apr 022011
So we know from NMDnet that cell phones are privacy disasters–but what are they good at? How about detecting cancer, getting drivers out of speeding tickets, and blowing up terrorists, for starters?
“Scientists at the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital have integrated a microNMR device that accurately detects cancer cells and integrates with a smartphone (abstract). Though just a prototype, this device enables a clinician to extract small amounts of cells from a mass inside of a patient, analyze the sample on the spot, acquire the results in an hour, and pass the results to other clinicians and into medical records rapidly. How much does the device cost to make? $200. Seriously, smartphones just got their own Samuel L. Jackson-esque wallet.” Reader Stoobalou points out other cancer-related news that Norwegian researchers have found a group of genes that increase a person’s risk to develop lung cancer.
Of course, cell phones have also been accused of causing cancer. Well, how about getting out of a speeding ticket?
“Sahas Katta writes in Skattertech that a traffic cop pulled him over while driving home and gave him a speeding ticket but thanks to his Android, he ended up walking out of traffic court without having to pay a fine or adding a single point to his record. “I fortunately happened to have Google Tracks running when an officer cited me for speeding while heading back home from a friend’s place,” writes Katta. “The speed limit in the area was a mere 25 miles per hour and the cop’s radar gun shockingly clocked me driving over 40 miles per hour.” Once in court Katta asked the officer the last time he attended radar gun training, when the device was last calibrated, or the unit’s model number — none of which the officer could answer. “I then presented my time stamped GPS data with details about my average moving speed and maximum speed during my short drive home. Both numbers were well within the posted speed limits,” says Katta. “The judge took a moment and declared that I was not guilty, but he had an unusual statement that followed. To avoid any misinterpretations about his ruling, he chose to clarify his decision by citing the lack of evidence on the officer’s part. He mentioned that he was not familiar enough with GPS technology to make a decision based on my evidence, but I can’t help but imagine that it was an important factor.”"
Not impressed? How about the ability to blow up suicide bombers before they get to you ?
http://idle.slashdot.org/story/11/01/28/1228241/Spam-Text-Prematurely-Blows-Up-Suicide-Bomber?from=rss via Byline“A suicide bomber’s plan to detonate explosives in Central Moscow on New Year’s Eve was foiled when she received an unexpected spam text message that caused her deadly payload to blow up too early. A message wishing her a happy new year came hours before the unnamed woman was to set off her suicide belt near Red Square, an act of terrorism that could have killed hundreds of people. Islamist terrorists in Russia often use mobile phones as detonators. The bomber’s handler, who is usually watching his charge, sends the bomber a text message to set off the explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties.”
How to keep these apps from wasting your phone battery? Throw one of these in your backpack.
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/6k03KlR8C0w/ via Byline
Put this tubular object in your backpack, and you can generate juice for your cellphone — just by walking around.
This would be a lot cooler if Dustin O’Conner hadn’t already done it in my Creative Networks class.
Is there anywhere JavaScript can’t go?
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2011/01/kinect-javascript-handwaving-browser/ (Via Bruce Sterling)
*Another lash-up. They’re coming thick and fast. I’ve never seen a tech-development scene work like this before — so virally. This is not “Augmented Reality,” it’s more of a gestural interface… but c’mon, it’s 2011 and they’re websurfing by waving their hands.
DepthJS from Fluid Interfaces on Vimeo.
High-tech engineering for those who want more privacy for their privates. Will Victoria’s Secret come out with a Kevlar-lined bra in time for the holidays?
http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/11/23/150207/Underwear-Invention-Protects-Privacy-At-Airport
Thanks to Jeff Buske you don’t have to be embarrassed while going through the full body scanners at the airport. Buske has invented radiation shielding underwear for the shy traveler. From the article: “Jeff Buske says his invention uses a powdered metal that protects people’s privacy when undergoing medical or security screenings. Buske of Las Vegas, Nev.-Rocky Flats Gear says the underwear’s inserts are thin and conform to the body’s contours, making it difficult to hide anything beneath them. The mix of tungsten and other metals do not set off metal detectors.”
If I were thinking about a new media installation I’d try to get my hands on one of these.
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/11/another-kinect-hack-thats-vastly-more-interesting-than-the-games/*I may have to start a whole category for these, because they’re coming thick and fast and it’s only been a week. Looks like Microsoft accidentally invented a primo piece of art-installation hardware.
No, we’re not talking piercings. The latest in interactive installations are on view at the 2010 Ars Electronica, the same festival where NMD students Kristen Murphy, Max Langton, Matt James, and John Bell presented in 2002.
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/MarPwmaPkY4/ via Byline Robots, phantom limbs and a nostril-powered digital painting take center stage at Ars Electronica 2010. Organizers for the digital arts festival, a longtime magnet for madcap interactive designers, describe this year’s exhibition as “a response to impending doom….”
Italian artist Sonia Cillari exhales through a cable connecting her left nostril to the center of a big screen. Her breathing defines the contours of a digital creature called “feather.”
Sep 042010
I’m all for designing with simplicity in mind. But when I was shown this sign by a Bangor ER triage nurse after breaking a crown off my molar, I couldn’t help noticing that the picture had a couple of names in the “credits.”
Which left me with two questions: 1) Did both scientists get tenure as a result of creating this innovative “pain scale”? And 2) did this clever pair go on to create the US government’s color-coded Terror Threat Levels?
Aug 222010
At least if your surgeon is using this new augmented reality viewer.
I’m afraid the soothing music doesn’t make up for the creepy video.
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/08/augmented-reality-osirix-surgery/ via Byline“We applied mixed reality (MR) consist of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology, in which electronically-generated dynamic 3D images are superimposed on the actual space in front of the surgeon, on the patient’s operative field or the surface of the abdomen, and evaluated such a system as a reference for surgical navigation and education.
“First we performed MDCT and generated anatomical VR imaging using DICOM viewer OsiriX and previewed on the patient body surface of the operative field from the projector as MR navigation. (((”Previewed on the patient body surface” A-OK remark for 2010)))
“Our image overlay surgical navigation system OsiriX provided accurate image guided navigation for minimally invasive surgery.”
via @kurakura
http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=28670d984d82bb4f003ffa1d73de829c via Byline Some doctors in Massachusetts are handing out coupons for use at farmers’ markets in an effort to promote healthy eating and combat childhood obesity.
Aug 212010
http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/Sz72MmtSvMQ/ via Byline This New York bike sharing startup uses GPS and wireless technology to make finding and reserving a bicycle as easy as using a smartphone….
SoBi doesn’t use cycle stations; the bikes are parked throughout the city (starting in New York) at regular racks. Bikes could, in fact, be anywhere at any given time, not just at a designated station that could be blocks away. Users can grab any bike that isn’t already reserved and drop it off anywhere. No need to search for a drop-off station.
Like a Zipcar, each SoBi bike has its own “lockbox” (shown above) that communicates wirelessly with SoBi servers via GPS and a cellular receiver (an H-24 module from Motorola). When you make a reservation online or via smartphone, a map displays all the bikes in the area and gives you the option of unlocking a specific bike by clicking on it.
Intriguing, if disturbing, news from scientists who’ve managed to track people’s recent travel based on how water isotopes end up in their hair.
Bottled water was already suspicious, but now I’m going to assume anyone drinking Poland Spring could be the next Anna Chapman.
“Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon’s Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year’s SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JWO3sJUIK2A/Skinput-Turns-Your-Body-Into-Your-IO
Compare the extraordinary electric body installations of Italian artist Sonia Cillari, who proves that you don’t have to move to perform.
“Skinput is a system from Carnegie Mellon’s Chris Harrison that monitors acoustic signals on your arm to translate gestures and taps into input commands. Just by touching different points on your arm, hand, or fingers you can tell your portable device to change volume, answer a call, or turn itself off. Even better, Harrison can couple Skinput with a pico projector so that you can see a graphic interface on your arm and use the acoustic signals to control it. The project is set to be presented at this year’s SIGCHI conference in April, but you can check it out now in several video demonstrations
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/JWO3sJUIK2A/Skinput-Turns-Your-Body-Into-Your-IO
Compare the extraordinary electric body installations of Italian artist Sonia Cillari, who proves that you don’t have to move to perform.
Feb 172010
“Computer as furoshiki, here we come”–Bruce Sterling
BERKELEY — In research that gives literal meaning to the term “power suit,” University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.
These nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches and twists.
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/computer-as-furoshiki-here-we-come/
Feb 172010
“Computer as furoshiki, here we come”–Bruce Sterling
BERKELEY — In research that gives literal meaning to the term “power suit,” University of California, Berkeley, engineers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles.
These nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches and twists.
http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/02/computer-as-furoshiki-here-we-come/
The debate over cell phone radiation and cancer is still raging, thanks to a report that one in four of studies paid for by the phone industry showed harmful effects, while three in four of independently funded studies showed bioeffects. This review isn’t proof of the influence of mobile phones on cancer, but it does make a pretty scary case for the influence of economics on science.
Geeks may protest that the energy of phone photons is too low to fold proteins in carcinogenic ways, but meanwhile many of them (er, us) are exposing ourselves to much greater hazards through technologies we take for granted.
Too bad they didn’t mention the best solution of all, which is switching to the Dvorak keyboard.
From Wired:
Make fun of computer geeks all you want, but there is one constant threat to our health and safety that we all face daily. That would be RSI, or repetitive strain injury. It’s also known as cumulative trauma disorder (CTD) or occupational overuse syndrome.
Actually, RSI can encompass any number of specific injuries resulting from performing the same task for extended periods of time, like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
The best way to cure it is to stop working. But you can prevent RSI with a few common-sense tips.
Jan 222010
I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:
Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.
Jan 222010
I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:
Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.
Jan 222010
I’m not making that title up–it’s a book about how the stuff we buy ends up under our skin, quite literally:
Over a four-day period, our intrepid (and perhaps foolhardy) authors ingest and inhale a host of things that surround us all every day, all of which are suspected of being toxic and posing long term health risks to humans. By revealing the pollution load in their bodies before and after the experiment – and the results in most cases are downright frightening – they tell the inside story of seven common substances.
http://slowdeathbyrubberduck.com/ (via Vanessa Vobis)