:: posted by Donald Melanson, 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Tuesday, March 29, 2005

:: posted by Donald Melanson, 10:50 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Monday, March 28, 2005
The Washington Post, in "Recalling Iraq's Terrors Through Virtual Reality" (free registration), and the San Diego Union-Tribune, in "Military to try virtual combat stress remedy," are both reporting on the progress of this initiative.
If you don't have time to read the two articles mentioned above, this overview contains selected excerpts about this virtual reality therapy project, as well as other references to previous projects in this domain.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 5:30 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Today, Pelz is working on how deaf students process information in the classroom or how the human eye perceives high-speed motion on large-scale LCD monitors. I've assembled a photo gallery with other details and references for you about this research.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 5:28 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
You type a story in plain English in one panel of the tool. In other panels, you can see the outputs of the parser and the debugger. Finally the fourth panel contains your story rendered as code -- or the program "skeleton." Here is an example taken from Liu's research. 'If I said, "Look in the bin and pick out just the red apples," that's the equivalent of programming: "map(Pick, filter(lambda apple: apple.color == red, bin.getApples()))."'
This overview contains other details and references, including a picture of the Metafor tool.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 5:25 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
This robot will be used for industrial inspection and surveillance in hazardous environments, and also for military and urban search and rescue operations. Read more for other details, pictures and references.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 5:22 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
"The technology could allow surgical instructors to transmit hand and scalpel movements thousands of kilometres across a computer network, where the movements would be recreated." Or you'll build a 3D model of the Earth core on your computer and a teammate will be able to reconstruct it and interact with it at the other end of the world. Read more for other details and references.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 5:19 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Not only this is saving money by better managing patients and reducing the length of their stays in hospitals, this investment is also saving lives. Lots of them! It is estimated that "hospital errors result in up to 98,000 deaths annually," including 7,000 just by missing drug-interaction problems. Amazing numbers, isn't?
For more information, please read the whole report, preferably the print edition because it will bring some money to BusinessWeek, which will be able to do more of these reports in the future. On the other hand, the online version has some extra articles, so read both. Or you can simply read this summary which gives more details about Mr. Rounder, a robot used by 35 U.S. hospitals.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 8:36 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
This news release, "UF's Virtual Reality 'Patient' Teaches Bedside Manners to Medical Students," tells us more about DIANA, which stands for "DIgital ANimated Avatar" and is a life-sized image of a young woman. Her image, completed by a simulation of a doctor's office, is projected in front of a student who can interview her.
So far, the method has only been used by two dozens students, but results are promising. Read more for other details, pictures and references about DIANA.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 8:34 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Computerworld writes that they're not enough standards in this industry and asks a fundamental question: who will administer these building networks, IT or facilities managers? Take for example Yale University which wants to connect 210 campus buildings, but also wishes "to integrate the BAS with the university's accounting system for billing and chargeback."
Imagine the security risks involved with such an approach. This shorter summary contains selected exerpts of this must-read article.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 8:32 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
When a user receives a call on his phone, he can see an animated head "speaking" the words being said over the telephone, which helps him to better understand the conversation. The project took more than three years for a total cost of about 1.4 million euros.
And with about 80 million people in the EU alone suffering from some kind of hearing impairment, this could be potentially a huge market, even if the technology is not currently commercially available. This overview contains more details, pictures and links about this project.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 8:30 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Sunday, March 20, 2005

:: posted by Donald Melanson, 8:35 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Thursday, March 17, 2005
This teasing story said that when elephants start to approach their fields, the farmers are alerted by SMS in time to politely ask the elephants to move over and save their crops. The whole story is told on the Save the Elephants (STE) site.
In fact, these conservationists are putting GSM/GPS collars around elephants in some areas of Kenya. And the collared elephants are sending SMS messages directly to farmers' phones. You can even track individual elephants on the Web -- if you're an authorized user. But read more for other details, pictures and references.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 10:45 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Now, according to this article from ExtremeTech, IBM has unveiled a mouse adapter which treats these tremors as "noise" by filtering out the unintentional movements of the hand caused by a tremor. This new mouse will also help the ten million people which are affected by this genetic disorder every year, and who aren't necessarily old.
This adapter will be sold for about $100. This overview contains more details, pictures and references.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
But engineers and robotic designers at MIT also are developing submarine-like vessels to help the U.S. Navy in mine warfare and battlespace preparation. And others are building 'intelligent' aircrafts, such as a 'robochopper' which would be better suited than surface robots to move in chaotic urban environments. This overview contains selected excerpts and tons of links, especially about the recent MIT's 'robotoddler.'
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 3:35 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
In this long article, Desktop Engineering gives several examples of these new VR developments. But even if PC clusters and off-the-shelf graphic cards are cheap, a state-of-the-art VR facility such as an immersive CAVE can still cost more than one million dollars, because you need to build the viewing facility and buy expensive projection systems.
However, costs are still decreasing and virtual prototyping is reaching the mainstream stage. This overview contains selected excerpts and comments.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 2:50 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
And according to Wired News in "England's EBay for Sex," there is another British website where you can offer your sexual expertise, becoming in fact a part-time prostitute. Of course, you also can buy the services of such a part-time sex worker.
But the most outrageous service of the week is described by the San Francisco Chronicle in "Point, click and shoot." From your computer, you can visualize animals living in a Texas ranch and kill them with a click of your mouse, using what the site calls "computer-assisted remote hunting."
Are these services dangerous, illegal, and should they be shut down? Read more about them and post your comments.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 2:47 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Users, who can be lawyers, judges, jurors or detectives, can zoom on any object in the 3D model. Other usages of this gun-shaped camera and its associated software include remote explorations of mines, or even other planets such as Mars. The software works by identifying common features in the sequence of images taken by the special camera.
And it has already been used to pilot Aibo, Sony's robotic dog. This overview contains more details and references including a picture of this gun-shaped camera (no pun intended).
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:34 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
But now, according to "Carpet Cleaning or Rocket Science?," published by ICS Cleaning Specialist, it's also being used to quantify carpet cleanliness by the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) to give its Seal of Approval (SOA) to vacuum cleaners. This overview contains more details, references and pictures about this unusual transfer of high-tech to a really 'down-to-earth' domain.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:31 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
And according to research firm IDC, the clunky wearable computers which required users to be wrapped in wires like Christmas gifts are quickly becoming things of the past. The future of wearable computers is already here, especially for some health-care applications, such as a 'smart band' that collects data on your physical activities and can be used as a weight-loss monitoring tool.
Read more for other details and several illustrations about these wearable assistants.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:29 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
In "The new age of sail," New Scientist describes a ship that will be partially pulled by a high-tech kite flying at an altitude of up to 500 meters where winds are more stable than at sea level. The German designers, who tested a prototype last year, estimate that such a hybrid sailing ship would see a 50 percent reduction of its fuel consumption.
Danish and Japanese companies are also designing wind-assisted ships. This overview contains several illustrations about these wind-assisted ships.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:26 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
The increase is by far larger near the coasts, where the ocean floor is less than 200 meters and where phytoplankton levels grew by more than 10 percent in the last 5 years. At a moment where everyone is concerned by the global warming effect, this is very good news because one of the things phytoplankton does is absorbing carbon dioxide. This overview contains more details and images showing the increase of phytoplankton between 1998 and 2003.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:24 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
They already created a psychodrama called "The Trial The Trail" in which "the user is given two companions named Filopat and Patofil and told that at the end of her experience she will get her heart's desire." And because the software agents are continuously improving and 'improvising' around human users, the show is different every time.
I don't know if this will lead to some mainstream application, but I'm sure that the researchers had lots of fun in their CAVEs-like systems. This overview contains more details and pictures about this unusual project, including those of Patofil and Filopat, two of the software agents.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 7:21 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Friday, March 04, 2005
Q: What rules will apply to the Internet that did not before?[Via JD Lasica]
A: The commission has generally been hands-off on the Internet. We've said, "If you advertise on the Internet, that's an expenditure of money--much like if you were advertising on television or the newspaper."
The real question is: Would a link to a candidate's page be a problem? If someone sets up a home page and links to their favorite politician, is that a contribution? This is a big deal, if someone has already contributed the legal maximum, or if they're at the disclosure threshold and additional expenditures have to be disclosed under federal law.
Certainly a lot of bloggers are very much out front. Do we give bloggers the press exemption? If we don't give bloggers the press exemption, we have the question of, do we extend this to online-only journals like CNET?
:: posted by Donald Melanson, 3:35 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
Thursday, March 03, 2005

:: posted by Donald Melanson, 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
The first goal of such networks is of course to save lives, but in the case of central Indiana, it also could save more than $500 million per year. Of course, there are many hurdles to overcome, many of them financial: finding money to fund the networks or convincing doctors to invest in new technologies.
But the two biggest obstacles are human. First, less than a doctor over five is currently using electronic medical records (EMRs). And obviously, in our world where banks and payroll companies more or less routinely see some of their records leaked to the general public or even criminals, it's a little bit scary to think about your medical records flying over not so secure networks. But read these selected excerpts and my comments if you don't have enough time to read the original article.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 4:09 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
But in "'Social Web' Has Far To Go, But Much Promise," the American Reporter is more skeptical about the usability of these social networking sites, saying that they are making contacts more difficult instead of easier.
And Stowe Boyd, from Corante, concurs, by unlinking from social networking applications he subscribed to in a recent past (links to part 1 and to part 2).
So what do you think about these applications? Have you ever used one? And if yes, have you seen some benefits? Please read all the above articles before answering these questions or these selected excerpts and commentsif you don't have enough time.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 4:07 AM | Comments (1)
Links to this post |
Using motion-capture technology, Palette will be able to act as a supermodel. And with its specialized sensors and software, it also will be able to identify the sex and age of shoppers before transmitting them to store owners for marketing purposes.
The price has not been set yet, but Palette should go on sale in 2005 in two versions: a body without legs to showcase clothings, and a torso model for jewelry. Read more for other details and an interesting picture of Palette, which intentionally has no human face.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 4:05 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |
With this toolkit consisting of a Java-based middleware and Bluetooth-enabled sensors, all the medical patient data can be wirelessly exported to a doctor's office via a PC or a cell phone. Read this overview for other details and references.
:: posted by Roland Piquepaille, 4:02 AM | Comments (0)
Links to this post |