Researchers at Brown University have made the first wireless, implantable, rechargeable brain-computer interface. Humans might be next in line for testing of the device, after 13 months of successful trials in monkeys and pigs. More »
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The First Wireless, Implantable Brain-Computer Interface Will Help Us Move Things With Our Minds On the Go
Hugh Pickens writes writes “Science Daily Headlines reports that researchers have applied a recently developed technique to directly measure the polarization states of light overcoming some important challenges of Heisenberg’s famous Uncertainty Principle and demonstrating that it is possible to measure key related variables, known as ‘conjugate’ variables, of a quantum particle or state directly. Such direct measurements of the wave-function had long seemed impossible because of a key tenet of the uncertainty principle — the idea that certain properties of a quantum system could be known only poorly if certain other related properties were known with precision. ‘The reason it wasn’t thought possible to measure two conjugate variables directly was because measuring one would destroy the wave-function before the other one could be measured,’ says co-author Jonathan Leach. The direct measurement technique employs a ‘trick’ to measure the first property in such a way that the system is not disturbed significantly and information about the second property can still be obtained. This careful measurement relies on the ‘weak measurement’ of the first property followed by a ‘strong measurement’ of the second property. First described 25 years ago, weak measurement requires that the coupling between the system and what is used to measure it be, as its name suggests, ‘weak,’ which means that the system is barely disturbed in the measurement process. The downside of this type of measurement is that a single measurement only provides a small amount of information, and to get an accurate readout, the process has to be repeated multiple times and the average taken. Researchers passed polarized light through two crystals of differing thicknesses: the first, a very thin crystal that ‘weakly’ measures the horizontal and vertical polarization state; the second, a much thicker crystal that ‘strongly’ measures the diagonal and anti-diagonal polarization state. As the first measurement was performed weakly, the system is not significantly disturbed, and therefore, information gained from the second measurement was still valid. This process is repeated several times to build up accurate statistics. Putting all of this together gives a full, direct characterization of the polarization states of the light.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Physicists Discover a Way Around Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
asjk writes “The controversial database includes millions of children and documents their names, addresses, disabilities other statistics and demographics. Federal law allows for the files to be shared with private companies. From the article: ‘In operation just three months, the database already holds files on millions of children identified by name, address and sometimes social security number. Learning disabilities are documented, test scores recorded, attendance noted. In some cases, the database tracks student hobbies, career goals, attitudes toward school – even homework completion. Local education officials retain legal control over their students’ information. But federal law allows them to share files in their portion of the database with private companies selling educational products and services.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple’s iWatch is the new primary focus of speculation for the company’s unannounced products, and a new article at Bloomberg today detailing its market potential also let slip that the wrist-mounted computer could arrive by the end of this year. Bloomberg’s source, which is one of the same that leaked details about the team within Apple working on the iWatch , said Apple hopes to have the device out to market “as soon as this year.” Bloomberg’s report today adds a bit more color about what we might expect to see from an Apple iWatch, too. The still-unconfirmed device would be able to make calls, check caller ID, relay map coordinates and carry a built-in pedometer and health monitoring sensors, according to the news publication’s source. That might mean another partnership with Nike for built-in fitness tracking, as we’ve seen in iPods and iPhones from the company to date. The news comes after reports from Apple supply partners and Gorilla Glass manufacturer Corning said that products based on its flexible Willow Glass product wouldn’t come to market for another three years, prompting many to assume that meant an iWatch was also at least three years out . Apple had patented a wrist-mounted computer based on flexible display tech, but that’s far from the company’s only option for producing an iWatch – it could easily take a more traditional form, like the Pebble smart watch . Bloomberg also notes that Apple’s chief product designer Jony Ive has also long had an interest in watches, and previously paid a visit with his Apple design team to Nike’s own watchmaking operations. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Apple has an internal team of as many as 100 individuals working on the iWatch project. Of course, despite the growing number of reports around the iWatch, Apple keeps its release timelines purposefully close to the chest for a reason: even if it was targeting a 2013 launch for the iWatch, missing that date wouldn’t actually constitute a delay since nothing has been officially announced. Accordingly, it’s always a good idea to treat rumors at this stage in the game with a healthy dose of skepticism, even when sourced from reputable publications. Still, Google wants to launch its own wearable computing product by year’s end , so there’s at least one reason for Apple to target the same time frame.
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Apple’s iWatch Could Arrive By The End Of 2013, Says Bloomberg
I’m in ur email, watching ur filez. Diana Dee Sophia Exchange 2013 and Office 365 include a new feature that can peek into e-mail messages and enclosed documents, then flag them, forward them, or block them entirely based on what it finds. This sort of data loss prevention technology has become increasingly common in corporate mail systems. But its inclusion as a feature in Office 365’s cloud service makes it a lot more accessible to organizations that haven’t had the budget or expertise to monitor the e-mail lives of their employees. As we showed in our review of the new Office server platforms , the data loss prevention feature of Microsoft’s new messaging platforms can detect things like credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other content that has no business travelling by e-mail. Because of how simple it is to configure rules for Microsoft’s DLP and security features, administrators will also have the power to do other sorts of snooping into what’s coming and going from users’ mailboxes. Unfortunately, depending on the mix of mail servers in your organization—or which Exchange instances you happen to hit in the O365 Azure cloud—they may not work all the time. And they won’t help defeat someone determined to steal data via e-mail. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Trigger word: e-mail monitoring gets easy in Office 365, Exchange
angry tapir writes “A court in the U.K. has ordered key Internet service providers in the country to block three torrent sites on a complaint from music labels including EMI Records and Sony Music. The High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, ordered six ISPs including Virgin Media, British Telecommunications and British Sky Broadcasting to block H33t, Kickass Torrents and Fenopy.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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UK Court Orders Block of Three Torrent Sites
Nicholas Webber, serving five years for creating a hacker’s forum site, is somehow invited into an IT class in jail. The consequences are difficult. [Read more]
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Jailed hacker allowed into IT class, hacks prison computers
Aurich Lawson, Age 5 If you’ve come anywhere near a tech site in the last year or so, you’ve heard it all before. “iOS is getting stale compared to Android! It needs some new ideas!” Whether that’s actually true is up for (heated) debate, but those with an open mind are usually willing to acknowledge that Apple and Google could afford to swap a few ideas when it comes to their mobile OSes. So in a fantasy world where we could bring over some of the better Android features to iOS, which features would those be? Among the Ars staff, we sometimes have spirited “conversations” about what aspects would be the best for each company to photocopy. So, we thought we’d pick a few that might go over well with iOS users. Don’t worry, we have a companion post of features that Android could afford to steal from iOS. The copying can go both ways. No one wants iOS to become Android or vice versa. This is about recognizing how to improve iOS with features that would be useful to people depending on their smartphones for more than the occasional text or phone call. We recognize that Apple tries to keep an eye towards elegant implementation, too. So which features are we talking about? Glad you asked… Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Five features iOS should steal from Android
It may sound hard to believe, but doctors from Mississippi are saying that for the first time, an infant has been cured of an HIV infection. The New York Times relays reports from doctors who say the infant had tested positive for HIV on five separate occasions and now, at age two and a half and off drugs for an entire year, the child shows no signs of the virus in its body. More »
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A Baby Has Been Cured of HIV
Austin Wilson and Neil Underwood from the North Carolina makerspace Fablocker invented a great, simple process for smoothing out 3D prints using evaporated nail-polish remover in a large jar. The process produces a beautiful finish and sidesteps a bunch of dumb patents for polishing 3D printing output. They’re still experimenting with the details, and the fact that the first experiments turned out such great looking pieces is cause for excitement about where this will go when it’s fully refined. ABS-based printed parts are placed in the jar with the acetone and heated to 90 degrees Celsius on the hot plate. Acetone has a low evaporation point, but is heavier than air so the process creates a small cloud around the model which melts the surface, slowly smoothing it to a mirror finish. After a couple hours, the parts solidify, can be removed, and be displayed with pride. …Since their initial success the duo has been experimenting with the process by controlling temperature ranges and exposure times, but there are still many tests to be conducted. One area in need of more research is measuring how the process impacts the physical properties of the parts. “It doesn’t really seem to change the shape of objects or alter the dimensions, but we haven’t had time to do test cubes and measure them with calipers,” says Wilson. “If anything the smoothing out process might make things work better. People have tried to use 3-D printed models as bushings and axels before, but they never work because they’re too rough.” Slick Trick Adds Much-Needed Shine to 3-D Printed Parts [Joseph Flaherty/Wired]
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Smoothing 3D prints with acetone and without patent violations