Technology

A pair of Masters students at the University of Konstanz in Germany have undertaken a study that uses Microsoft Kinect to give virtual sight to the blind. The study involves a number of strategically-placed tech devices in a given location, with ... Kinect overseeing every movement. Navigation for the Visually Impaired Originally designed for the Xbox 360 as a way for hands-free gaming, the Microsoft Kinect system has taken on new meaning -- now providing what could be virtual sight to the blind. Dubbed NAVI (Navigational Aids for the Visually Impaired), the system works by connecting Kinect to a ... (view more)

Researchers at a Montreal university are using nanotechnology to combat cancer in the human body. This new method directly targets problem areas, potentially saving thousands of lives in the process. One of Canada's leading engineering schools, ... Polytechnique Montreal, revealed the successful manipulation of a tiny remote-controlled magnetic sphere that could travel through the body and deposit cancer treatment directly on the targeted area. In the study, a live animal with a situation comparable to liver cancer was used and treated. (Source: thesudburystar.com ) The traveling sphere used to ... (view more)

An innovative smartphone application is causing great distress for police officers everywhere. It features a built-in warning system that informs motorists when a hidden police vehicle is in the area. Anti-Police Speed Trap App a Hit with Motorists ... "Trapster" was designed by a car enthusiast in San Diego and has since become an overnight sensation in terms of its download figures and usage. Many are referring to the system as a hi-tech version of the age-old scenario in which people flash their headlights to warn one another that a speed trap is in the vicinity. In this same spirit ... (view more)

A recent nation-wide survey investigating sleeping habits has linked the use of technology with insufficient sleep. But the findings may not be that clear-cut. The details come from the National Sleep Foundation, a non-profit group aiming to tackle ... sleep-related health issues and thus cut the number of tiredness-related problems. It surveyed 1,500 people aged 13 to 64. The two most prominent figures are that 43 per cent of those questioned say they rarely, if ever, get a decent night's sleep on weeknights, and that 95 per cent of people use electronic devices in the hour before bedtime. ... (view more)

Recently, well-known analysts The Nielson Company asked nearly 15,000 Americans which mobile operating system they were currently using. Although several leading platforms scored very well, Google's Android narrowly took first place. The Nielson ... Company polled 14,701 Americans, asking each participant (who was also a postpaid mobile subscriber) what mobile OS was running on their primary smartphones. The race was a close one: 29 per cent reported using an Android-based device, 27 per cent said they use an (Apple) iOS phone, and another 27 per cent said they own a RIM (Reasearch in Motion) ... (view more)

Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed new technology that is set to revolutionize the ways in which we manipulate certain handheld devices, by transforming the human body into an actual touchscreen platform. Skinput, the name given ... to the wireless device, allows an individual to push a few holographic buttons on their arm or hand to control their mobile phone, MP3 player and even certain video game consoles. The technology was first developed by Chris Harrison at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Desney Tan and Dan Morris at Microsoft Research Computational ... (view more)

Do you watch Jeopardy!? For those unfamiliar, Jeopardy! is "a North American quiz show featuring trivia in history, literature, the arts, pop culture, science, sports, geography, wordplay, and more. The show has a unique answer-and-question format ... in which contestants are presented with clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in question form." (Source: wikipedia.org ) Recently, IBM's Watson super computer brain was able to defeat two of Jeopardy's most acclaimed game show champions. One of the human champions won Jeopardy! a mind-blowing 74 times in a row, ... (view more)

A pair of Georgia-based scientists have engineered a hand-held device containing parasitic wasps able to do the work of drug-sniffing police dogs and bomb-testing robots. However, the wasps' most interesting feature may be their ability to sniff out ... bedbugs. The "Wasp Hound" is the brainchild of researchers Glen C. Rains and W. Joe Lewis, who, along with associate J.H. Tumlinson back in 1988 published a report that suggested wasps, like dogs, could be used to detect certain targets. Since then, Mr. Lewis made it a personal crusade to develop working prototypes that support his radical ... (view more)

In the end, the battle between man and machine wasn't much of a battle at all -- Watson, the IBM supercomputer specially engineered to squash humans at trivia, earlier this week easily defeated the game show Jeopardy!'s two most prolific players, ... Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Now, the question becomes: what's next for IBM's Watson? Earlier this week the long-running and very popular trivia TV show Jeopardy! switched things up by replacing one of its human competitors with a computer built by IBM. There were three intense days of competition between Watson, Jennings and Rutter (the two human ... (view more)