Synopsis: Domenii: Ict:


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#$150 smartphone spectrometer can tell the number of calories in your food If you wanted to look up the calorie content of a specific food you are eating you could take it to a lab and run it through a spectrometer.

however, wants to make it easy as running an app and pairing a bluetooth dongle. The SCIO is a handheld device that pairs with a smartphone through Bluetooth LE being developed by Consumer Physics

an Israel-based startup funded by Kholsa Ventures. It based on near-infrared spectroscopy, which means it reflects light onto an object,

but Kickstarter backers pledging over $300 will receive two years of guaranteed app upgrades. While scientists and researchers use near-infrared spectroscopy on a regular basis,

Consumer Physics will offer both Android and iphone apps, and also hopes to develop a platform upon

In a few seconds, the associated smartphone app will take the spectrometer reading, send it to SCIO servers,

analyze it and compare it to a database of known spectral signatures, and display the information in an easy-to-understand manner.

In turn, the readings provided by users will make the spectral signature database more complete. Consumer Physics has developed three different applications for identifying food, medicines, and plants.

During a short demo, I saw the module return the percentage of fat and number of calories per 100 grams of cheese.

It closer to the size of a smartphone camera module, and could one day be included in a variety of forms,

Developer kits available through the Kickstarter for $200 offer barebones SCIO modules and come with CAD designs for 3d printers.

in addition to developing the hardware, is also populating the first databases and apps that work with the SCIO,

hopefully other companies will build their own apps, using the developer kit available from Kickstarter.

Other companies working in the portable spectrometer space have used also the technology to track calories eaten and nutritional intake through a user sweat.


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despite the excitement that 3-D printing has generated. It can be used to make complex shapes,

But what if 3-D printers could use a wide assortment of different materials, from living cells to semiconductors, mixing

This means 3-D printing technology could make objects that sense and respond to their environment. ntegrating form and function,

s the next big thing that needs to happen in 3-D printing. A group at Princeton university has printed a bionic ear, combining biological tissue and electronics,

But even among these impressive efforts to extend the possibilities of 3-D printing Lewis lab stands out for the range of materials

In a basement lab a few hundred yards from Lewis office, her group has jury-rigged a 3-D printer, equipped with a microscope,

Another, larger 3-D printer, using printing nozzles with multiple outlets to print multiple inks simultaneously,

and easily destroyed as they are forced through the printing nozzle. In all cases, though, the inks must be formulated to flow out of the nozzle under pressure

Before coming to Harvard from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign last year, Lewis had spent more than a decade developing 3-D printing techniques using ceramics, metal nanoparticles, polymers,

Printing blood vessels was an encouraging step toward artificial tissues capable of the complex biological functions found in organs.


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Most of us on our small team are musicians who are tired of being stuck behind computer screens, keyboards, faders

lightweight and self-contained system requiring little more than a laptop to function fully. The gloves capture the movements and postures of your hands.

Our software allows this information to be mapped to musical control messages which can then be routed easily to your favourite music software.

Specifically, the gloves track the following: The orientation of your hand The lexof your fingers Your current hand posture (e g. fist, open hand,

backwards) of your hand Sharp movements such as drum hits This information is transmitted wirelessly to your computer, over Wifi (via the x-OSC board on the wrist).

we have developed software allowing you to apglove data to musical control signals (e g. MIDI and OSC.

The software also allows you to combine glove inputs to make complex controls. For example, the software would allow you to program the following:

f I am making a fist with my right hand, and pointing downwards with my left hand,

map the ollof my right wrist to MIDI control change message 60 on channel 2 These mappings can then be used to control third party software such as Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic pro or Max

This ability of the software to combine postures and gestures for mapping, combined with other innovative technological advances,

-more than most MIDI controllers on the market all without having to even look at a screen during performance.

Finally, you can use the software to listen out for other inputs, as well, further increasing the richness of control and expressive mappability with your favourite music software.

Some details about the evolution of the project over the last few years can be seen on our Glove Project Blog.

hardware and software and we have arrived finally at a point where we can make them available to others through this Kickstarter.

Gestural data interface have been around for decades and have been used for many different applications (see our review of other glove systems).


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and use to follow a line of text in a book or on a screen.

Fingerreader software recognizes that and offers haptic feedback, even knowing when it reaches the end of a line.


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#Mayo Clinic s Better turns your smartphone into a personal health concierge The Mayo Clinic is offering unlimited access to the famed hospital nurses through a smartphone app for about $50 a month.

Along with real-time video chats with Mayo Clinic nurses, the new service also includes personally-tailored health information culled from Mayo Clinic databases

a ymptom checkerthat incorporate individual user health histories, and access to a personal medical concierge who can provide more information or schedule patientsdoctor appointments.

Fast Company has covered previously New york-based medical concierge service Sherpaa and Oscar, a new health insurer which tailors its products for web and mobile use.

or smartphone application is far less than a comparable standalone product, which requires far greater fees for the FDA process.

The Mayo Clinic Global Business Solutions wing has been actively building partnerships with everything from benefits providers to a variety of software developers.

The Mayo Clinic is entering a crowded market of smartphone-based concierge medicine firms. Beyond Sherpaa, there also Grand Rounds, Stat Doctors, Doctor on Demand,

which offers subsidized concierge medicine services via smartphones for residents of British columbia. For Better, the Mayo Clinic,

the real (and unanswered) question is just how much of a market for their services really exists via smartphone apps s


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announcing a bachelor degree in information technology costing students just under $10, 000 in tuition and fees.

In May of 2013, Georgia Tech announced an online master degree in computer science for $7

According to THECB website, students arriving ith no prior college credits should be able to complete the degree program in three years at a total cost of $13, 000 to $15, 000.


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#Facebook and Google are drooling over drone companies Last month it seemed as if Facebook would acquire the long-range solar-powered drone maker Titan Aerospace

and use its technology to deliver Internet to remote areas of the world. It was ostensibly a hedge against Google balloon-driven Project Loon and the possibility that Google,

rather than Facebook, would connect the ext billioninternet users. Today that picture is opaque at best.

Google not Facebook is buying Titan Aerospace, and Facebook has acquired a different U k.-based solar-powered drones startup called Ascenta.

And an answer to the question of how exactly the two Silicon valley giants will leverage their new technology?

Still elusive. What is clear is that while delivering connectivity to far-flung parts of the globe is advantageous for both Facebook and Google,

the race to acquire unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, technology is about much more. Exactly what, well, that more difficult to discern. ou definitely have to look at it as part of a broader business strategy,

says Mark Bünger, research director at Lux Research. he two of them are shooting for the strategic high ground here Amazon is obviously doing this, too.

For Facebook, the incentive is simple: catch up. Rival Google has been developing a means to provide Internet connectivity to remote regions of the world for years now through Project Loon,

which uses Internet hubs suspended from high-flying balloons to provide bandwidth to areas of New zealand that are wired off the grid.

Facebook isn breaking new ground by getting into commercialized drone technology, Bünger says, just keeping up. oogle has been working on the autonomous vehicles, the Nest acquisition,

and a bunch of other stuff that surprising if you think of them as a search engine company which hopefully nobody does anymore,

Bünger says. Facebook knows that if it wants to remain a major presence in the emerging Internet of things,

it will need to extend beyond software and into hardware. Drones are one means of doing so.

UAS are also a means of bypassing mobile carriers, which have given Facebook some trouble in parts of the developing world,

particularly where the company has attempted to negotiate ero-ratedeals that allow customers to use some of Facebook offerings without it counting against their data plans.

If Facebook does follow through with its ambitious plans to connect the next billion people through Facebook-owned Internet drones

Facebook can not only bypass mobile carriers that don want to play ball, but also push those new users toward Facebook offerings like its recently acquired messaging app Whatapp.

But one oft-overlooked area where UAS technology could really be a boon for Facebook is in data moving the other direction.

Right now, Facebook owns mountains of data on its users, but relatively little on the parts of the world that aren connected already to Facebook.

Comparatively, Google acquisitions and exclusive deals with third parties provide it with everything from the rich trove of geospatial data that powers Google maps to the energy use

and living habits of those using its Nest smart home technology, providing a far more robust picture of the world

and a wider range of services it can provide. With a fleet of UAS in the sky, Facebook could begin gathering its own proprietary geospatial data, aerial imagery, traffic data,

meteorological data information that it could then integrate into new products or sell to companies that need it,

much like Google does and other companies threaten to do, at least with regard to drones. or Facebook and Google and those guys,

they know they need a toehold in this space, Bünger says. here are a hundred other areas like that where theye having to compete now to get a toehold in the technology,

and they can really know right now what theye going to use it for. Nobody really knows.

At $20 million, Facebook found its way into the drone space for a third of

what it was reportedly going to pay to acquire Titan. The terms of Google purchase of Titan haven yet been disclosed,

but whatever the final figure, it will likely be worth it. The acquisitions certainly have the attention of the rest of the drone industry,

both of these drone acquisitions by Facebook and Google; a lot of this technology that has to do with wearables;

technologies that have to do with crunching all the data that you get from all these things those are the weapons you need to have with you going into the next competitive battles


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#Google buys Titan Aerospace, a solar-powered drone company Solar-powered drone This week, Google announced the acquisition of Titan Aerospace for an undisclosed sum in a move that sees the technology

Following Facebook s $20 million purchase of U k.-based aerospace company Ascenta which has been working on the development of unmanned,

solar-powered aerial drones for the past few years Google acted fast to usurp an expected bid by Facebook to also acquire Titan Aerospace.

and nonstop for years at a time a technology Google hopes to utilize in order to extend its influence

a source close to Google said that the company offered to top any offer from Facebook for Titan Aerospace.

but as yet largely unproven technology that Google hopes can help beam internet access to areas of the globe that remain unserved by cellphone towers or telephone wires.

Solar-powered drones are an attractive proposition to company like Google and Facebook because of their reliability and stability in often adverse weather conditions.

Google s technical experts will work with Titan Aerospace to advance the material design for the drones wings,

while also developing advanced algorithms to help the aircraft better traverse wind patterns and flight routes.

and detail to atmospheric sensors used in many of Google s applications, such as Google maps. It is still early days

and environmental damage like deforestation, said a Google statement announcing the acquisition. Solar s influence Titan Aerospace caught Google s attention thanks to its innovative dragonfly-shaped drones that are powered by its wing-mounted solar panels

and onboard battery storage that allows the planes to fly at night. The drones are huge aircraft the smaller model,

whether the solar technology is advanced currently enough to deliver the kind of long-range reliability that Google will require.

and it takes a lot of power to broadcast internet signals. However, a source close to Facebook has revealed that the social media giants had been reviewing Titan Aerospace s solar-powered drones some six months ago,

and were impressed enough to open talks with the company about a possible acquisition. Google were evidently also eager to speak with Titan

and are believed to have gazumped Facebook s offer r


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#Neuroscientists reverse symptoms of Alzheimer s in mice Researchers found that the overproduction of the protein known as p25 may be the culprit behind the sticky protein-fragment clusters that build up in the brains of Alzheimer patients.

The work, which was published in the April 10 issue of Cell, could provide a new drug target for the treatment of the disease that affects more than five million Americans,

In the mouse model of Alzheimer disease, inhibiting p25 production improved cognitive function, greatly reduced plaque formation and neuroinflammation, hallmark features of Alzheimer disease.


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the era of suitcase-schlepping may soon be over. magine design is just data, and products could travel through the Internet as code,

produced on demand at any location, Kyttanen says in a video explaining the project. Now on view as part of Kyttanen solo exhibition at Galerie Vivid in Rotterdam

The files for these products could be sent in an email and then printed out, all in one operation,


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The heavy lifting is done by the software that generates these designs employing a branch of mathematics called computational geometry.

For example, a user can tell the software he wants a two-wheeled robot of a certain size,

and it will generate a cut-and-fold pattern that looks like this: You can use an off-the-shelf vinyl cutter to make super-precise cuts automatically,


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#DNA computers deliver drugs inside cockroaches Nano-sized entities made of DNA that are able to perform the same kind of logic operations as a silicon-based computer have been introduced into a living animal.

A computer inside a cockroach. The DNA computers known as origami robots because they work by folding

and unfolding strands of DNA travel around the insect body and interact with each other, as well as the insect cells.

and control of the nanobots is equivalent to a computer system. his is the first time that biological therapy has been able to match how a computer processor works,

which are suitable for our watches, our cars or phones, we can use these robots in life domains,

you can perform any kind of computation. In this case we have gone past that threshold, he says.

The team says it should be possible to scale up the computing power in the cockroach to that of an 8-bit computer, equivalent to a Commodore 64 or Atari 800 from the 1980s.

so the complexity of the computations will soon become higher, he says. An obvious benefit of this technology would be cancer treatments,


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Below is a U s. Naval Research Laboratory Youtube video explaining the breakthrough Y


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#Israeli startup Storedot charges smartphone batteries to full in 30 seconds Storedot It possible that youl be able to plug the smartphone in

and charge it from 0 percent to 100 percent in just under a minute, according to a report by the Wall street journal. An Israeli startup by the name of Storedot revealed the technology at Microsoft Think Next Conference using standard smartphone batteries,

and they claim itl even be portable. video) As the demo was held at a Microsoft conference,

the actual demonstration was shown on a Samsung galaxy S3; however, the technology will almost certainly be available for Apple smartphone.

Fast battery chargers already exist, but theye expensive, unwieldy things for special batteries. Storedot, however, claims that its technology will only cost around twice as much as traditional chargers.

Batteries traditionally charge quickly during the first 80 percent of the charge, but slow to a trickle for the last 20 percent

however, this technology could be used for other products such as Macbooks and ipads. And as Cult of Mac points out,


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#Amazon Dash barcode scanning, voice-recording grocery gadget Amazon was not content with unveiling its Amazon Fire TV SET-top box earlier this week,

they casually dropped a new gadget into the tech realm Friday the Amazon Dash. The Dash is part barcode scanner, part voice recorder.

Press it and whatever you say will be stored as a search the next time you visit the Amazonfresh website.

The Dash is currently free but y invitation only, according to its website, and no release date has been announced yet.


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#Europe to abolish roaming charges by December 2015 The first move was to slash pricing of mobile phone roaming costs across Europe.

Then calls were made to abolish mobile roaming costs completely, with a view towards afeguarding citizensright to access an open Internet.

Today that vision has become a reality. Neelie Kroes has been one of the main drivers behind this reform, with the outspoken European commission VP a strong proponent if a single ICT and telecoms market,

previously saying she would ight with my last breath to get us there together. Perhaps the most significant nugget from today news is that the European parliament has voted now to banish roaming charges by Christmas 2015.

This headline-grabber constitutes part of the broader move towards the onnected Continentthat would be created by a single telecoms market.

This is an historic day for the open Internet. The finer nuances of the net neutrality law have yet to be ratified,

distinct capacity, cannot be mistaken for Internet, no replacement of Internet services by specialised services. In other words, an ISP can reclassify Amazon Instant Video

or Netflix as a service other than Internet to bypass these new net neutrality laws. It a pretty solid advance for the Internet in Europe,

one that will ensure providers can slow down or otherwise degrade the speed of an Internet connection on a whim.

The European parliament is being very clear about this: the Internet cannot be affected by specialised services.

While there could still be some twists and turns with the finer details still to be ironed out,

and prevent someone from procuring a mobile phone plan in a cheaper EU country, and using it exclusively in another.

The main focus with this ruling is to ensure that you pay the same for calls, texts and data across the EU,

while contract rules will also apply to non-telecoms elements of bundles, such as TV. And there will be no automatic extension of contract terms


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And it also about learning and gathering data. And I can also make tooling that can use more conventional manufacturing. t not just about making a final part,


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and 45 other jurisdictions that have adopted new Common Core standards for English and math. The unprecedented scope of the move to standardize K-12 academic achievement targets has resulted in a flurry of business activity among startups,

state estimates peg the implementation costs of Common Core around $3 billion, opening the door for companies pitching cost-effective tech tools. here a cottage industry

now that sprung up around Common Core, said Deborah Stipek, an education researcher and professor at Stanford university. eople in district offices in schools have a really tough job.

and Google have attracted much attention and tens of millions of dollars intheir bid to translate increasingly expensive college courses into cheaper online formats.

Common Core offers new market incentives for entrepreneurs who can navigate those thorny realities. he big market condition that it enabling is consistency

Muhammed Chaudhry, CEO of the Silicon valley Education Foundation, said of the Common Core requirements. efore we had 50 states with 50 different standards.

like Portland-based Edcaliber, specifically mention Common Core in their mission statements. Edcaliber, which raised a $500,

advertises a curriculum management system that aims to urn Common Core into common practice. But one unique dynamic in the K-12 education tech market

Mountain view Khan academy already counts 10 million monthly users, and Neeru Khosla Palo alto-based CK-12 Foundation provides free online tools to more than 38,

Lots and lots of ipads. The proliferation of mobile technology is used often as a selling point for entrepreneurs hoping to get their products into classrooms.

But Khosla said there one major hitch in the vision for software-powered classrooms: A lack of necessary hardware. he biggest challenge is said access,

she, noting that many schools don have the technological infrastructure to make ed tech products viable on a consistent basis. Teacher training is another challenge that Chaudhry group has identified.

Apple Inc.,Google Inc.,Microsoft corp. and Cisco systems Inc. are a few major Silicon valley tech companies selling either hardware or software to K-12 educators.

In the meantime, Stipek said success in the field remains about much more than the number of users a provider can claim. don give a whole lot of confidence in just the fact that (the technology) is being adopted,


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GPS-guided rounds and stealth design that gives the 610-foot ship the radar signature of a small fishing vesselhere also a computer intelligence capable of preparing the ship for battle

which made most of the ship computer systems. his is a $5 billion UAV. Unlike aerial drones,

The Zumwalt also boasts what Raytheon calls a Total Ship Computing Environment, which allows it to be controlled from any of a couple dozen consoles around the ship.

If the captain happens to be on the bow or the stern rather than up on the bridge when there an emergency,

The captain just signs in to the nearest console and enters a password, as if he doing some online banking.


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#Altaeros Energies floating wind turbine churns out electricity and Wi-fi This floating turbine, developed by Altaeros Energies could someday travel to every remote corner of the globe.

and Internet connectivity to people and villages living off-the-grid. Video) Think of these floating turbines as the wind farms of the future

While in the air, the turbines can also serve as Wi-fi, cell service hubs, and weather monitoring stations.

you instantly get data coverage, electricity and local weather data, even if your previous system involved a sun dial and carrier pigeons.


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Underpinning this vision is the provision of high-speed wireless internet connectivity for citizens in all public locations.

Glasgow aims to open up data to demonstrate how providing integrated health, transport, energy and public safety services can improve both the local economy and the quality of life for the city citizens.


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The machine sends out an email when it is running low on stock. It also has built-in security features such as cameras


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The new technology makes it easy for users to read as quickly as 1, 000 words per minute by focusing userseyes on a single word at a time.

The company says its technology places each word at the optimal location on the screen,

ensuring users can rapidly recognize them. his method makes communication faster, easier and more effective by removing the inefficient eye movements associated with traditional reading,

According to the company, with traditional reading, users spend 80%of their time simply moving their eyes

A demo of Spritz technology can be found on the company website. Spritz is set to launch in April as a feature with the upcoming Samsung galaxy S5 smartphone

and the Gear 2 smartwatch. ith the growth of wearable devices, Spritz patent-pending technology will enable Samsung device users to read emails comfortably

and conveniently one streaming word at a time, the company said in a statement. Spritz said it is working on enabling its technology so it can also be used to read text messages

social media streams, web content and digital books. At 1, 000 words per minute, users could potentially read the shortest Harry potter book he Sorcerer Stone,

which is about 77,000 words long in a little more than an hour. The longest book he Order of the Phoenix,


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#In-car facial recognition system can detect road rage Researchers at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne


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wire-free energy transfer could be as easy as wireless internet. When Katie Hall saw a light-bulb glowing in the middle of a room with no wires attached she was shocked.

they are the same kind of fields used in Wi-fi routers. In the house of the future, wire-free energy transfer could be as easy as wireless internet.

If all goes to Witricity plans, smartphones will charge in your pocket as you wander around,

televisions will flicker with no wires attached, and electric cars will refuel while sitting on the driveway.

Witricity have demonstrated already their ability to power laptops, cellphones, and TVS by attaching resonator coils to batteries

and an electric car refueller is reportedly in the works. Hall sees a bright future for the family without wires:

It great to see so much discussion of this technology on social media and the comments thread.

As Witricity have mentioned on their website the Highly Resonant Wireless power transfer technology they have developed is also distinct from Tesla creations and


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