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Archive for Development

Bionic Hands – A Different Feeling

Bionic Hands

Bionic hands have been around for quite some time now. But I’m sure these pair of hands that can help one feel is going to be one of those breakthroughs in technology that can touch the hearts of millions, bringing tears of happiness to ones eyes. The world’s first bionic hand with the sense of touch is here. A team of researchers from Case Western University have made a new prosthetic bionic hand, designed to be capable of using measurements from 20 sensor points to control ones grip. Amazingly, the sensor data is linked directly to the sensory nerves in the patient’s forearm. The control for the grip is then extracted myoelectrically and returned to the muscles in the forearm. “Our dream is to have Luke Skywalker getting back his hand with normal function,” researcher Silvestro Micera told TechNewsDaily, referencing the hero in “Star Wars” who gets an artificial hand after his real one is cut off.

Sorenson

This was the first time that such a variant of the bionic hand was implanted into an amputee with high hopes that he would regain his sense of touch. The patient wore the bionic hand for some time over a month to see how his body adapts to the new presence. “When I held an object, I could feel if it was soft or hard, round or square,” said Dennis Aabo Sorenson, a 36-year-old man from Denmark who lost his left hand in a fireworks accident. “I could feel things that I hadn’t been able to feel in over nine years,” Sorensen said in another statement.

This is truly a miracle. An answered prayer. A dream come true for many.

Feel

Motorola’s e-Tattoo

Motorola though on shaky grounds have some cool products up their sleeve. For one here’s Motorola’s e-Tattoo. Google has always been at the pinnacle when it comes to innovative commercial products. First, it was Google Glass, now Motorola Mobility (now owned by Lenovo, work on the project started while at Google) appears to be aiming a few inches lower, working on a temporary electronic tattoo that would stick to the user’s throat. In other words, they have come up with an electronic tattoo that lets you communicate with your smartphone, gaming devices, tablets or any wearable tech. The idea is that wearer can communicate with their devices via voice commands without having to wear an earpiece or the Glass headset. Instead of actually speaking to Apple’s Siri or Google Now, you could merely think your voice command.

e Tattoo

But hold on for a minute, as there is a bit more to the whole concept than might first appear. The tattoo they have in mind is actually one that will be emblazoned over your vocal cords to intercept subtle voice commands — perhaps even subvocal commands, or even the fully internal whisperings that fail to pluck the vocal cords when not given full cerebral approval. The patent even states, “the electronic tattoo can also be applied to an animal as well.” I still can’t figure out what Motorola has in mind.

e Tattoo

In images attached to the patent filing, the size of the tattoo appears to be between a postage stamp and a Band-Aid. Other possible uses include making both incoming and outgoing audio clearer. That could mean anything from making smartphone conversations clearer in a crowded room to being able to listen to music without earphones. Still, whether the e-tattoo becomes a reality for any consumer to buy is yet to be seen.

How to move your blog from Posterous to WordPress, or Tumblr

posterousPosterous has been acquired by Twitter. Reading their FAQ it becomes apparent the developers plan to spend their future working on Twitter, and not Posterous.

Given its uncertain future, now would be a good time to begin planning your move away from Posterous, to another blogging platform like WordPress or Tumblr. Unfortunately, Posterous has never taken strides to make moving easy.

Can I export my Space’s to WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, or another service?
Over the coming weeks we’ll provide you with specific instructions for exporting your content to other services.

What are your current options?

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Are We Taking Gadget Improvements TOO Far?

In the name of progress, companies keep pushing themselves to create the next new big THING. We consumers have all gotten quite spoiled. We want more out of our phones. We want our MP3 players to do more than just play music. We want our eBook readers to do more than just read books. We want it all. In order to try and satisfy us, manufacturers are rushing to stuff more features into our already jam-packed devices.

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Google crawls into source-code search

The company on Thursday launched a Web site, Google Code Search, which the company says will let programmers search billions of lines of code for tips on how to write their own software.

The service, conceived by the Google Labs early technology group, will crawl publicly available code, most of which is made available through open-source projects. The search and indexing covers code on Web pages and code that resides in compressed files, said Tom Stocky, a product manager at Google.

Google expects that the search engine will be used primarily as a learning tool to help students and serious programmers, rather than a way to find and copy another person’s code.

“Most of the code is open source so you can reuse it. But I don’t think that’s the primary use–it’s more about how to learn about things and, when you’re building open-source packages, to make sure you doing it the right way,” Stocky said.

View: Google Code Search
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News source: News.com