Neural Interfaces
Personal Infrastructure
Or just jack in. dot.com mania all over again?
“Brainwave signals, eye movements, and other bio-signals are captured and amplified via our patented Dry-Active Sensor technology.”
http://www.neurosky.com/
Or just jack in. dot.com mania all over again?
“Brainwave signals, eye movements, and other bio-signals are captured and amplified via our patented Dry-Active Sensor technology.”
http://www.neurosky.com/
Here’s one that gets us out of the constricting box of the mouse and click paradigm.
“In this demo, Jeff Han shows off (for the first time publicly) a high-resolution multi-touch computer screen that may herald the end of the point-and-click mouse. The demo, which drew spontaneous applause and audible gasps from the audience, begins with a simple lava lamp, then turns into a virtual photo-editing tabletop, where Han flicks photos across the screen as if they were paper snapshots. (The Apple iPhone, to be released a year later, also does multi-touch — but only with two fingers.)”
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65
A complex entity is a complex thing to perceive. This site enables you to roll your own Google Earth, if you have reams of data burning a hole in your pocket.
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/app
The Well conferencing system used to have a series of topics called “Status”; finally on the Web, on steroids (or Google).
“David Troy, a software developer in Maryland, has created a Web site called Twittervision that superimposes this public timeline on a Google map. Every few seconds, a tweet appears and vanishes somewhere on the globe. It is an absorbing spectacle: a global vision of the human race’s quotidian thoughts and activities, or at least of that portion of the species who twitter.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/business/yourmoney/22stream.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
An overview of advances in bio-technical interfaces including, yes, the bionic anus.
http://www.doctorsgadgets.com/building-the-bionic-man-from-eye-to-anus.html
Smart Grid – the phrase itself is a condensation of the ideas of Teilhard – a conscious net.
“GridWeek provides the opportunity for organizations focused on grid modernization to hold meetings and participate in collaborative sessions that include leading speakers on smart grid and grid modernization.”
www.gridweek.com
Interesting and broad review of neural interface research.
“Neural interfaces have emerged as effective interventions to reduce the burden associated
with some neurologic diseases, injuries, and disabilities. The 2005 Neural Interfaces Workshop was convened to discuss recent advances and future opportunities for neural technologies….areas of interest include functional neuro- muscular stimulation (FNS), auditory prosthesis, cortical prosthesis, microelectrode array technology, and logy, and brain computer/machine interfaces. “
http://www.nibib.nih.gov/nibib/File/News%20and%20Events/Previous%20Symposia%20and%20Workshops/Neuromodulation%202005%20Final%20Report.pdf
“Numenta is developing a new type of computer memory system modeled after the human neocortex. The applications of this technology are broad and can be applied to solve problems in computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning.”
http://www.numenta.com/
“The $6-million eel it ain’t. But researchers who have taken the unprecedented step of connecting a brain, in this case a sea lamprey’s brain, to a small mobile robot say they’ve got a roving fishbot that may someday lead to better prosthetic devices for humans.”
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20001111/fob4.asp
“The first PHANTOM® haptic device was designed and built in the early 1990s by Thomas Massie and Dr. Kenneth Salisbury. Massie, an undergraduate student at MIT at the time, and Dr. Kenneth Salisbury, then a principal research scientist at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, worked together to combine robotic and haptic technologies to “reach into the computer display” and touch and manipulate 3D data. What began as a thesis project was validated when demand for the PHANTOM device began to spread through MIT and the research communities of other leading institutions. SensAble™ was formally incorporated in 1993.”
http://www.sensable.com/company/aboutus.asp
Try the Grid!
“For a brief introductory walkthrough of the grid, try the GILDA Grid Demonstrator (opens in a new window), accept the certificate and follow the steps as described in the EGEE Grid Walkthrough below. The GILDA Grid Demonstrator is a secure area on the GILDA Testbed which is used for training purposes.”
http://www.eu-egee.org/try-the-grid
News on Grid Computing from Europe’s CoreGrid initiative.
“The Grid promise is starting to materialize today: large-scale multi-site infrastructures have grown to assist the work of scientists from all around the world. In only ten years, production Grid environments have grown from a few hundred to several tens of thousands of resources, and from few to hundreds of users.”
http://www.coregrid.net/mambo/
Tools for the grid.
“The Globus Alliance is a community of organizations and individuals developing fundamental technologies behind the “Grid,” which lets people share computing power, databases, instruments, and other on-line tools securely across corporate, institutional, and geographic boundaries without sacrificing local autonomy.”
http://www.globus.org/
http://www.clusterresources.com/pages/products/moab-grid-suite.php
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/condor/condorg/
A quote from an art show catalog from some years ago.
“…the flow of electrons around us in today’s world penetrates the hard shell and reaches our body. Our physical being has realised that it is once again linked with the external world by means of a flow of electrons such as a computer network… Unlike the hard shell we used to be armoured with, the media cladding is light and flexible and protects us from and controls the profuse flood of information.”
Toyo Ito
Tarzan in the Forest of the Media
http://www.awarehome.gatech.edu/publications/index.html
Global Voices
“A growing number of bloggers around the world are emerging as “bridge bloggers:” people who are talking about their country or region to a global audience. Global Voices is your guide to the most interesting conversations, information, and ideas appearing around the world on various forms of participatory media such as blogs, podcasts, photo sharing sites, and videoblogs.”
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/
Sacred World Foundation
“The Sacred World Foundation is a state of the art research and design think tank whose projects are exploring innovation created by building bridges between techno and traditional cultures.”
http://www.sacredworld.com/
Reporters Without Borders
“On 27 February 2006, 119 journalists and 57 cyberdissidents were still imprisoned simply for wanting to provide us with information.”
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=20
www.internet.rsf.org