Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Researchers Successfully Translate Brainwaves Into Words [Science]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5632821/researchers-successfully-translate-brainwaves-into-words

Researchers Successfully Translate Brainwaves Into Words In a recent study, researchers at the University of Utah successfully translated brainwaves into words, a huge breakthrough that could eventually give paralyzed patients a new way to communicate.

The trials, which involve placing a grid of electrodes directly on an epileptic subject's brain, are preliminary—only that one individual has been tested, and when the entire pool of words, ten in all, were used, they were only identified with 48% accuracy. But when limited simply to "yes" and "no," researchers were able read the brainwaves accurately 90% of the time.

Those results are extremely promising. Bradley Greger, a bioengineer at the University of Utah who worked on the studies, explains:

This is quite a simple technology … based on devices that have been used in humans for 50 years now...We're pretty hopeful that, with a better design, we'll be able to decode more words and, in two or three years get approval for a real feasibility trial in paralyzed patients.

With some paralyzed patients' means of communication limited to blinking their eyelids or wiggling their finger, this research has profound potential. [LATimes]

Working Tractor Beam Can Move Objects 5 Feet With Just Light [Awesome]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5632911/working-tractor-beam-can-move-objects-5-feet-with-just-light

Working Tractor Beam Can Move Objects 5 Feet With Just Light Have you ever lazily wished you could just use a tractor beam to grab that out-of-reach object? Apparently, you can. Using only light, Australian researchers say they are able to move small particles almost five feet through the air.

It's more than 100 times the distance achieved by existing optical "tweezers," the researchers say.

Not quite a simple grabby tractor beam, the new system works by shining a hollow laser beam at an object and taking advantage of air-temperature differences to move it around.

Moving objects with powerful light is not new - researchers have long been using optical tweezers to pluck bacteria-sized particles and move them a few millimeters. The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, won his Nobel Prize for work with optical tweezers. But Andrei Rhode and colleagues at the Australian National University say their new laser device can move glass objects hundreds of times bigger than bacteria, and shove them a meter and a half (5 feet) or more. Rhode says the 1.5-meter limit was only because of the size of the table where he placed his lasers - he thinks he can move objects up to 10 meters, or about 30 feet.

It works by shining a hollow laser beam around small glass particles, as Inside Science explains. The air around the particle heats up, but the hollow center of the beam stays cool. The heated air molecules keep the object balanced in the dark center. But a small amount of light sneaks into the hollow, warming the air on one side of the object and nudging it along the length of the laser beam. Researchers can change the speed and direction of the glass object by changing the lasers' brightness.

The system needs heated air or gas to work, so in its present incarnation it wouldn't work in space - sorry, Star Wars fans. But it could be used for a variety of purposes on Earth, like biological research or movement of hazardous materials.

[Inside Science News Service]

Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. Reporting on what's new and what's next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

USB 3.0 Hard Drives So Fast and Small That Even a Monkey Wants Them [LaCie]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5633380/usb-30-hard-drives-so-fast-and-small-that-even-a-monkey-wants-them

I don't know what this cute little creature is up to, but the hard drives he's fondling are some of the world's smallest USB 3.0 drives: The LaCie Rikiki and the Minimus.

The LaCie Rikiki and Minimus are some of the world's smallest mobile and desktop USB 3.0 hard drives available. The Rikiki will come in a 500GB capacity and cost $100 while the Minimus will offer a 1TB capacity for $130.

LaCie Introduces the Worlds Smallest Mobile and Desktop USB 3.0 Hard Drives

September 8, 2010 - LaCie debuts today sleek USB 3.0 hard drives for your desktop or pocket – the LaCie Minimus and LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0. Proving size does matter, LaCie delivers the industry's fastest transfer speeds at 5Gb/s* in its ultra–small Rikiki form factor – perfect for users that refuse to sacrifice performance for mobility; and the LaCie Minimus – for users that enjoy their terabytes as much as desk space.

Complementing their remarkably small sizes, the Rikiki and Minimus hard drives are encased in sturdy brushed aluminum for an elegant aesthetic appeal. The aluminum offers resilience from blunders, improved heat dissipation, and is fully recyclable.

Designed to be simple from the inside out, the Rikiki and Minimus come with LaCie's Software Suite to ensure seamless setup and backup support for Mac or PC. Additionally, each product comes with 10GB of Wuala online storage so you can securely store and share files online.

"The Minimus and Rikiki USB 3.0 offer our customers easy and affordable options to access the super speeds of USB 3.0," said Philippe Rault, LaCie Consumer Product Manager. "Since these products offer backward compatibility with USB 2.0, they will work on any PC or Mac with no worry."

Availability

The LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0 is available in a 500GB capacity at $99.99. The LaCie Minimus is available in a 1TB capacity at $129.99. Both products are available through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Corner, and LaCie Reseller+. For more product information, visit www.lacie.com.

* Based on theoretical rate given by the USB–IF. More info on www.usb.org

Dual-Screen Kno Tablet To Be Available by Year's End [Tablets]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5633557/dual+screen-kno-tablet-will-be-available-by-years-end

Dual-Screen Kno Tablet To Be Available by Year's End Does the lure of playing with "the most powerful tablet anyone has ever made" tempt you? How about those dual 14.1-inch touchscreens? (That's a combined might of 28.2-inches!) Kno has received $46m investment, with an end-of-year launch already penciled-in.

After being shown off at the D8 event in June, we were bowled over by the idea of having two capacitive IPS screens, measuring 14.1-inches each. That's a seriously large tablet, but could be the closest thing we see to Microsoft's Courier, which has now been binned.

Running on a Tegra 2 chip with 16GB of storage, we're not quite sure what warrants investor Marc Andreessen's claims that the Linux device will be the "most powerful tablet anyone has ever made" (considering other Tegra 2 tablets exist, such as Toshiba's Folio), but perhaps they're holding a few cards back for now.

It sounds expensive, doesn't it? The company's CEO Osman Rashid claims it'll cost under $1,000, though a tablet's got to be nearer $500 for most to even consider it. Especially students, who the tablet is said to be aimed at. Kno wants to offer college textbooks through an app store, which will allow them to draw on the pages and take notes like a lot of the ereaders nowadays. However, Kno plans to use webkit, so the textbooks can be transferable between the tablet and other devices—smells like a pricey way of pirating schoolbooks to me, however pretty the device may be. [TechCrunch]

Zotac introduces ID33 and ID34 Zbox mini PCs, complete with Atom D525 and Blu-ray

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/08/zotac-introduces-id33-and-id34-zbox-mini-pcs-complete-with-atom/

Now this is an HTPC worth gawking at. Zotac has just revised its long-standing Zbox line with a new duo, and we have to say -- we're digging the new look. Beyond the exterior improvements, the outfit has bolstered the internals by providing the HD-ID33 and HD-ID34 with Intel's new 1.8GHz Atom D525 CPU, 2GB of DDR2-800 memory, NVIDIA's next-gen Ion graphics platform, an HDMI output, 6-in-1 card reader, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a couple of USB 2.0 ports and an unexpected pair of USB 3.0 sockets. The only notable difference between the two is the inclusion of a 250GB hard drive in the ID34, while the 2.5-inch HDD slot is left open for DIYers in the ID33. Windows 7 is onboard, naturally, as is a slot-loading Blu-ray drive that the company is (rightfully) proud of. It's not talking prices just yet, but we're willing to overlook a modest premium to finally get BD support within a delightfully small package. Hit the gallery below for more eye candy.

Gallery: Zotac's Zbox ID33 and ID34 with Blu-ray