Computing

Researchers mod computer to copycat human motions

Webcams and video-conferencing software like Skype have really enhanced the way we communicate with friends, family, and colleagues around the world. Even so, talking to a floating head on a computer screen can still feel pretty cold, and it doesn't look like we're going to get a teleportation device any time soon (le sigh). However, researchers at Stanford University are hoping to make that interaction a little more lifelike with a computer that can mimic human motions.

David Sirkin and Wendy Ju from Stanford's Center for Design Research created a motorized flat-screen display that copycats various human motions like shrugging, nodding, and laughing. The team did so by adding motors to the Apple iMac G4 and then linking it to software that reads a person's movements and instructs the G4's moveable arm to perform one of nine motions. … Read more

Google X Labs: First Project Glass, next space elevators?

I will be probably the last person to use augmented reality specs from Google's Project Glass. But I have to applaud the company for taking on far-out concepts at Google X Labs.

Google today for the first time acknowledged Project Glass, in which an eyeglass-like frame essentially brings the Internet to a small screen above the right eye. The demonstration video shows, from the perspective of someone wearing the glasses, a person communicating with friends and looking up information just as he might use a smartphone.

Personally, I don't need any more distractions as I move through my … Read more

Google: Yep, we're testing augmented-reality glasses

Google finally acknowledged that it's testing a prototype set of eyeglasses that can stream data to the wearer's eyes in real time.

A video of this augmented-reality experiment was posted by Google on YouTube showing someone wearing the glasses as he made his way around variety of Manhattan venues, receiving up-to-the-minute updates as information streamed into his glasses.

Let's not be too cynical about an idea that, at first blush, seems delightful but not very relevant. Also, given that the authorities take a dim view of driving while texting, you can image how they'll react to … Read more

IBM thinks exascale for massive Astron telescope

IBM and Astron, a Netherlands-based astronomy organization, plan to develop an exascale computer system that will form the backbone of the largest and most sensitive radio telescope.

This exascale system will be designed for low-power usage and plug into the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA). SKA will be built out with the help of astronomers from more than 20 countries. The telescope will have millions of antennas and have a collection area of about one square kilometer. SKA will also be able to scan the width of the continental United States.

Under a 5-year, 32.9 million euro ($43.9 … Read more

Google self-driving car chauffeurs legally blind man

Google yesterday released a poignant video demonstrating the potential of its self-driving car.

In the short video, a man walks out of his house and gets behind the wheel of one of Google's robotic cars, a Toyota Prius equipped with an array of high-tech gadgetry including radar, lasers, and cameras.

The car takes the man, Steve Mahan, for a ride including visits to a Taco Bell and the dry cleaners without him needing to touch the steering wheel or pedals. Midway through, Mahan says he is legally blind, having lost about 95 percent of his vision.

The three-minute clip … Read more

Why science really needs big data

In years past, the go-to tools for researchers were specific to their field, whether it was a telescope or a microscope. Increasingly, it's computers and big data sets.

The White House today announced a $200 million big-data initiative to create tools to improve scientific research by making sense of the huge amounts of data now available. The programs are needed to improve the technologies for getting insight from complex and large sets of digital data, according to the White House.

"The initiative we are launching today promises to transform our ability to use Big Data for scientific discovery, … Read more

Can IBM's Watson help cancer patients?

Patients at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center may receive cancer diagnoses and treatment with the help of IBM's Watson supercomputer by the end of 2013.

Watson would make diagnoses and suggest treatment approaches that take into account individual patient concerns, the Associated Press reported today.

Using its natural-language processing powers, the artificial intelligence system will study textbooks, oncology studies, and medical records if patients give permission. An advisory panel will test its assessments of increasingly complicated cancer cases. … Read more

Will the iPad 3's display let you 'feel' what's on-screen?

When you scroll around the iPad 2 with your finger, all you feel is a screen. But what if you had the chance to actually feel all the things you're seeing?

According to U.K. tech blog Pocket-lint, you might just have that chance with the new iPad 3. The blog reported today that it spoke with a company spokesman at haptic-feedback firm Senseg, who said that the firm "won't be making any statements until after Apple's announcement." It wasn't necessarily a smoking gun, but Pocket-lint believes that it was enough to suggest Senseg's technology will be coming to the iPad 3.… Read more

Could smartphones be sped up without burning them out?

The demands placed on smartphones by marathon sessions of texting, streaming video, and surfing the Web require that they have blazing-fast processors while, at the same time, be able to disburse the heat these processors generate. A team of engineers is proposing something of a counterintuitive model to designing smartphones in the future--one that has processors alternately powering up and then cooling down, more like sprinters than long-distance runners.

Heat dissipation has become a major limitation to the computational power of processors used in smartphones, where there is no room for a fan or other type of cooling system. Only … Read more