It's only a matter of time before the body hackers make their way - literally - into your life.
Join Scoop.it for Free
Share ideas that matter on the social web and experience
the benefits of curating the world's best content.
I don't have a Facebook, a Twitter or a LinkedIn account
Already have an account: Login
 Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
No comment yet.
Sign up to comment
Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Princeton scientists developed a "bionic" ear that can hear radio frequencies human can't, by using 3D-printed materials combined with special electronics.
luiy's insight:
Scientists at Princeton University have designed a bionic ear that can hear better than human ears. And get this: It was printed using an off-the-shelf 3D printer.
We've heard of 3D printers someday building human organs before, but what's noteworthy about this project is this printed ear intertwines embedded electronics. These Princeton researchers basically 3D-printed cells and nanoparticles, and then combined a small coil antenna with cartilage to create this "bionic" ear, according to the university.
The result was a fully-functional organ that can hear radio frequencies a million times higher than our human ears, lead researcher Michael McAlpine told Mashable.
"The way that our ear hears now is we pick up acoustic signals and then we convert those into electrical signals that go to our brain," said McAlpine, who is an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton. "What this ear does is it has this electronic coil on it and it picks up electronic signals directly."
McAlpine said he and his research team basically wanted to ask the question of whether they could grow an organ in a petri dish, with the electronics intertwined into the organ as it grew. Their successful project used a $1,000 3D printer to print the cells with the electronics (see video below). The "ear" was then put in a dish so the cells could culture for 10 weeks into cartilage tissue. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
In recent years, machines have grown increasingly capable of listening, communicating, and learning—transforming the way they collaborate with us, and significantly impacting our economy, health, and daily routines. Who, or what, are these thinking machines? As we teach them to become more sophisticated, how will they complement our lives? What will separate their ways of thinking from ours? And what happens when these machines understand data, concepts, and behaviors too big or impenetrable for humans to grasp? We were joined by IBM's WATSON, the computer Jeopardy! champion, along with leading roboticists and computer scientists, to explore the thinking machines of today and the possibilities to come in the not-too-distant future. Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald, Ashish Umre Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
luiy's insight:
#socialchange #cyberculture Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
The CIA has invested an undisclosed sum in "robot journalism" startup Narrative Science through its venture arm In-Q-Tel. Via Andrea Naranjo Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Via juandoming
luiy's insight:
The Convergence of Devices, Data and the Net
We’re starting to realize the magic of the IoT today in some of the most basic aspects of our lives. While at Le Web, the audience was introduced to Lockitron, a clever system that combines a mobile app, a household device that mounts to existing door locks, and the Internet to open and close doors remotely. I immediately thought of a partnership with Airbnb to give renters peace of mind in controlling their rentals.
Nest is disrupting the long dormant world of thermostats by connecting mobile devices to existing thermostats (heating/air conditioning) with the simplicity and elegance of an iPod. But it’s more than controlling energy and temperatures remotely, Nest learns and begins to adapt without input. Square’s Jack Dorsey has disrupted the age old world of payment systems by transforming mobile devices into cash registers, connecting money, data, and the net into one frictionless transaction. It’s the data part that represents something so much more however. In that regard, Dorsey sees the real value beyond the transaction—where the swipe and the receipt ultimately become a communication medium. In his view, payments represent “a necessary transaction” to create a channel where merchants learn more about individual consumers and equally, consumers learn more about their behavior. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
luiy's insight:
Grindhouse Wetwares was founded January 2012, by what was then a rag tag group of programmers, engineers, and enthusiasts. In the short five months that followed, Grindhouse evolved from a group of highly driven individuals on the biohack.me forums, to a dedicated team working towards a common goal - augmenting humanity using safe, affordable, open source technology.
"What would you like to be today?" Grindhouse hardware and software are designed with the hacker in mind. The hardware and software are open source, which allows the user to reconfigure code, add on or take off sensors, and generally explore. Though all hardware can be purchased from the Grindhouse website, all schematics for our implants and cyberware are open source - the user can either use our schematics to build their custom model from scratch, or purchase our model with a breakout board to get started. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Ever dream of living out your days on a hostile desert world, exiled from the garden planet of your youth? Who do you think you are? Paul Atreides? Well, maybe it’s not so strange. 78,000 other Earthlings (and counting) share your dream of exile.
luiy's insight:
Ever dream of living out your days on a hostile desert world, exiled from the garden planet of your youth? Who do you think you are? Paul Atreides? Well, maybe it’s not so strange. 78,000 Earthlings (and counting) share that dream. Since late April, the not-for-profit organization, Mars One, has been flooded with applications for a one-way ticket to colonize Mars in 2023. The trip will be funded in part by proceeds from a reality television show (or as the firm calls it, a “global media event”) covering the epic journey from crew selection to colonization. The Mars One team hopes this media coverage will provide a significant influx of income to help back the estimated $6 billion project. Apart from television, funding may include sale of merchandise—t-shirts, hoodies, coffee mugs, and posters—donations (even Bitcoin donations!), and sponsorships. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
'Posthumanist' art reflects wearable tech's impact on humanity The Verge Nautilus notes this art movement is called "transhumanism" or "posthumanism," and that some of the artists producing the work are biohackers like Neil Harbisson who are using...
luiy's insight:
Interest in wearable technology, such as Google Glass, is on the rise. Just about every major tech player, and a growing number of startups, are looking into wearables — fromsmartwatches and electronic tattoos, to retinal implants. And, as is documented in the first issue of Nautilus magazine, the art world is paying attention. Photographers, musicians, painters, philosophers and other creatives are reflecting this technological shift in their work, and in the process, these artists are questioning what it really means to be human.
Nautilus notes this art movement is called "transhumanism" or "posthumanism," and that some of the artists producing the work are biohackers like Neil Harbisson who are using devices to augment who and what they are. Harbisson, who suffers from a disorder that causes him to see in shades of gray, wears an "eyeborg." The device, which juts out the back of his head like an antenna, uses a built-in camera to turn colors into sound waves that he can listen to and interpret. Read more about Harbisson and other posthumanist artists — including some who want to get their wearables implanted in their bodies — at Nautilus. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Singularity is near. The natural progression of human evolution with a just little twist — technology. In other words, super intelligence will soon become a part of our daily lives and man will be merged with machine.
luiy's insight:
The ideas about the future by Raymond Kurzweil -------------------------------------------------------------------
Sure it sounds wild, but just think about what we have been able to achieve over the past 50 years alone. We’ve come a long way from colorless television sets and sending white guys to the moon. These days we’re launching rovers to Mars and 3D printing sh*t out. Now that’s a leap.
Just look how addictive consumer behavior is for a new Apple product. Sure you can cop the latest iPhone or Mac, but the newer and improved version will always be released in the next couple of months. Similarly, all technology will keep replacing itself at a faster and faster rate until it all becomes a blur. Everything is becoming more efficient and compact and we can expect to see this trend continue until it isn’t even tangible.
Is it that crazy to assume that technological advances will not only continue, but grow and flourish exponentially over the next 50 years? Have you even stopped to think how crazy Google Glass actually is? Or even self-driving cars?
We are at the forefront of the tech revolution. And we need not look further than Dr. Raymond Kurzweil, who is leading the way. His insight into what will happen to us over the course of the next half century are humbling to say the least. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Lambda Labs, an early-stage startup out of San Francisco, is preparing to release a facial recognition API for developers working on Google Glass apps.
luiy's insight:
One of those questions was whether or not Glass would have support for facial recognition. That’s something Steve Lee, Glass director of product management, has already answered. In a statement offered to The New York Times, he replied, “We’ve consistently said that we won’t add new face recognition features to our services unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”
That’s not a solid “no,” of course. It’s more of a “no, for now.” Glass is simply too new of a technology to begin limiting what it will or will not do, at least in such definitive terms.
Facial recognition, however, doesn’t appear to be specifically prohibited in Google’s API policies, which inform Glass developers what they can and can’t do in their applications. That means, for now at least, Lambda’s facial recognition API for Glass developers would be permitted. The only cause that would impact its use, according to Google’s policies, is one that says Glass is “not intended for use in connection with applications and services that might be subject to industry-specific privacy regulations.”
Obviously, lawmakers could still enact such a policy, if they chose to do so. “Assuming Google and Joe Barton’s Privacy Caucus don’t attempt to stop us, [the API] will be available to everybody within the week,” Balaban says.
Google, it shouldbe noted, has long since had the technology to build apps capable of facial recognition itself, but has always tread very carefully to not incite a privacy backlash. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Long before Watson and Crick famously uncovered the structure of DNA in 1953, people envisioned with both horror and hope a day when babies could be custom designed — free of inherited disease, yet equipped with superior genes for good looks, intelligence,...
luiy's insight:
Now, in the latest twist in the march towards designer babies, The Fertility Institutes says they will soon be able to offer couples the ability to screen their embryos for eye color, hair color, and complexion. The Institute cannot change the DNA of the donating couple — if neither the mother nor the father has genes for green eyes, for example, then the Institute cannot give them a baby with green eyes. Yet within the constraints inherent in the DNA of the donating couple, The Fertility Institute is willing to screen embryos for these traits. The Fertility Institute wants to offer several other customizations, and many more are sure to be released in the coming years as the science behind screening for them is developed.
In many countries around the world PGD is heavily regulated and designer babies are strictly out of the question. Yet in a strange paradox, even as the United States is one of the world’s most regulated nations in several areas of medical research and development, PGD is completely legal and unregulated in the United States. Hence, even as the United States is hindered by regulation in areas such as stem cell research, the country seems poised to be a world leader in the designer baby revolution. At the moment, The Fertility Institutes carries the mantle as the company at the forefront of this revolution, and as such they are a lightning rod for the praise and adoration, but also the bitter and severe anger, of those on both sides of this great moral debate.
The genie is officially out of the bottle, in fact it probably has been for a long time. There is no stopping the designer baby revolution. Even as some countries try to clamp down on it, others will allow it. Progress, if we call it that, will continue unabated. A similar phenomenon has unfolded with embryonic stem cell research in recent years. Even as the Bush administration almost completely strangled US investment and research in this promising field, other countries invested heavily and advances continued.
A new generation of genetically enhanced designer babies is inevitable in the coming decades. Yet for those of us that are merely “normal”, do not despair. Even as we are outmatched by the next generation genetically, a host of new technologies from chip implants to gene therapy may allow us to keep up, allowing us to enhance ourselves in equally transformative ways. The future will indeed be interesting. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
meta 1 Dev Kit- the first device allowing visualization and interaction with 3D virtual objects in the real world using your hands.
meta presents the world’s first developer kit and platform for augmented reality; users will have direct gestural control of 3D virtual objects attached to their real environment. A game-changing two part wearable computer allows users to play with virtual objects in 3D space using nature’s perfect controllers - their hands. This truly unique product has to be worn to be believed, so meta put the device on the heads of an Emmy® award winning team, and a number of top-notch UI engineers and they produced a series of promotional materials, the first of which is featured on http://www.meta-view.com.
We were inspired by the interfaces in films like Iron Man, Avatar and Minority Report and wanted to make them a reality. The meta 1 Developers Kit has the power to finally deliver a natural interface between the virtual world and reality.
We are integrating customized hardware components and building a robust SDK (software development kit). meta 1 is the most advanced and affordable interface for augmented reality, we want every developer to have the opportunity to create the apps of the future. Via Ashish Umre
luiy's insight:
Risks and challenges
The most likely obstacle facing us is one similar projects have faced--managing production and shipping deadlines. Fortunately, we are working with established and experienced partners to manufacture meta 1. We have worked closely with our partners and planned out a manufacturing forecast that has led us to the tentative shipping date of September 2013. Below are the primary components of our manufacturing roadmap:
2. Integration and 3D printing
3. Testing and package assembly
Additionally, we will be consulting industry experts to advise us as we progress. With the strength of our team, we hope to avoid the setbacks that inexperienced startups usually face. In any case, we will do our utmost to keep our supporters posted on our progress. Thank you! Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
|
Scoop.it!
A Russian company looks to bring built-in navigation and augmented reality to motorbike helmets. Think Google Glass in helmet form.
luiy's insight:
Using high-tech dashboards, drivers can reference navigation systems and voice control in the comfort of a quiet car, but motorcyclists still don't have an effective, high-tech solution. Referencing maps requires a roadside stop, and GPS systems can be distracting. Now, the team at LiveMap is looking to fund a project that would bring built-in navigation and augmented reality to helmets. Think Google Glass in helmet form. The motorycle helmet, which is currently listed on crowdfunding site Indiegogo, comes with technology and features so powerful only fighter pilots currently have access. The project already has the financial backing and support from the Moscow Department of Science and several other Russian organizations, but LiveMap is looking for additional funding to get it up and running. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
“One of the definitions of sanity is the ability to tell real from unreal.Soon we’ll need a new definition.” Alvin Toffler - The reality of our technophile civilization is presently, I believe, beyond dispute, even the most ardent Luddite will find it hard to deny the almost invisible casualness with which she uses a smart phone. The two main concepts which seem to provide some kind of indication as to where we are headed are Situational Awareness (SA)1 and the Adjacent Possible (AP)2. Via Wildcat2030, Xaos
luiy's insight:
Situational awareness, as defined by Endsley is : “the perception of elements in the environment within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future,” is probably the most salient at present if for nothing else that it represents the conceptualization of a person’s ‘feeling’ of one’s infocology, the absorption of said information and the correlated response.
When the prime paradigm of the future is ‘everything is programmable’ sooner than later a combination of augmented reality technologies, coupled with programmable genetics and synthetic biology will permit our bodies to extend their senses into domains previously inaccessible.
Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
A team of Australian industrial designers and scientists have unveiled their prototype for the world's first bionic eye. - It is hoped the device, which involves a microchip implanted in the skull and a digital camera attached to a pair of glasses, will allow recipients to see the outlines of their surroundings. If successful, the bionic eye has the potential to help over 85 per cent of those people classified as legally blind. With trials beginning next year, Monash University's Professor Mark Armstrong says the bionic eye should give recipients a degree of extra mobility. "There's a camera at the front and the camera is actually very similar to an iPhone camera, so it takes live action for colour," he told PM. "And then that imagery is then distilled via a very sophisticated processor down to, let's say, a distilled signal. Via Wildcat2030
luiy's insight:
How does the bionic eye work?
A digital camera (1) embedded in the glasses will capture images. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Quand on se rend compte que la pornographie se saisit d’un mode d’expression ou de communication, on peut avoir confiance dans le succès et la pérennité de celui-ci (voir le porno qui s’annonce déjà sur les Google glasses). Internet a très tôt été le support d’images X, avant même son usage grand public, par exemple sur les groupes Usenet au début des années 90. Et même si Google trends affirme que « facebook » est le mot le plus recherché dans son moteur depuis 2004, on peut imaginer que d’autres requêtes plus « fesses » que « face » font de très beaux scores. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Visualized: a history of augmented and virtual reality eyewear Engadget We've seen the prototypes that led Google to Glass, but there are many devices that predate Mountain View's smart specs, and Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, California was... Via Dulcie Mills, Rui Guimarães Lima Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
This is the official website of STELARC. Stelarc is a performance artist who has visually probed and acoustically amplified his body. Between 1976-1988 he completed 25 body suspension performances with hooks into his skin.
luiy's insight:
He has performed with a THIRD HAND, a VIRTUAL ARM, a STOMACH SCULPTURE and EXOSKELETON, a 6-legged walking robot. His FRACTAL FLESH, PING BODY and PARASITE performances explored involuntary, remote and internet choreography of the body with electrical stimulation of the muscles. His PROSTHETIC HEAD is an embodied conversational agent that speaks to the person who interrogates it. He is surgically constructing an EXTRA EAR on his arm that will be internet enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustical organ for people in other places. He is presently performing as his avatar from his SECOND LIFE site. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
On the second balmy day of the year in New York, Neil Harbisson, a Catalan artist, musician, and self-professed “cyborg,” walked…
luiy's insight:
On the second balmy day of the year in New York, Neil Harbisson, a Catalan artist, musician, and self-professed “cyborg,” walked into a café in the Nolita district of Manhattan. The actor Gabriel Byrne was sitting at a table in the corner. Harbisson approached. “May I do a sound portrait of you? It will just take one minute. For nine years, I’ve been listening to colors,” he explained.
Byrne eyed his questioner from under raised eyebrows. On a slight frame, the 30-year-old Harbisson wore a white T-shirt, deep-pink jeans and black-and-white showman’s brogues. His face was angular, with an aquiline nose and a chin smudged with grown-out stubble. A small plastic oval floated in front of his forehead, attached to the end of a flexible stem that reached around from the back of his head and over a sandy pageboy mop, like the light on the head of an angler fish. This “eyeborg,” as Harbisson calls it, converts light into audible sound, with a pitch that varies according to the color of the light. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
It’s finally happened — there is a porn app for Google Glass.
luiy's insight:
The porno apps ---> Google Glass Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
The media is full of stories about the amazing properties of smart drugs. But you could be putting your brain at risk, warns David Cox - Modafinil has emerged as the crown prince of smart drugs, that seductive group of pharmaceutical friends that promise enhanced memory, motivation, and an unrelenting ability to focus, all for hours at a time. In the absence of long-term data, the media, particularly the student media, has tended to be relaxed about potential side-effects. The Oxford Tab, for example, simply shrugs: Who cares? The novelist MJ Hyland, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, wrote a paean to the drug in the Guardian recently – understandably, for her, any potential side-effects are worth the risk given the benefits she's experienced. But should stressed students, tempted by a quick fix, be worried about what modafinil could be doing their brains in the long term? Professor Barbara Sahakian, at the University of Cambridge, has been researching modafinil as a possible clinical treatment for the cognitive problems of patients with psychosis. She's fascinated by healthy people taking these drugs and has co-authored a recent book on the subject. "Some people just want the competitive edge – they want to do better at exams so they can get into a better university or get a better degree. And there's another group of people who want to function the best they can all the time. But people have also told me that they've used these drugs to help them do tasks that they've found not very interesting, or things they've been putting off." Via Wildcat2030
luiy's insight:
Smart drugs o drogas inteligentes. #controversias y #riesgos Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Here is a 3D printed doll, cloned from a real human’s head, that you can never unsee. Via Alessio Erioli
luiy's insight:
The cloning service is popular among some Japanese women looking to preserve that special moment in life such as their wedding day, cloning hair & makeup and even the dress they wore.
Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Entrepreneurs in the Isle of Man are being offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a place at the world renowned Singularity University in California.
luiy's insight:
Open to anyone working in the Isle of Man, the competition is called the Isle of Man Grand Challenge and as the title suggests, it involves a bit more work than your standard competition. Entrants are being asked to to take up the challenge of facilitating the development of advancing technologies and applying them to address one or more of humanity’s grand challenges. Sponsored by Pokerstars.com and organised in conjunction with Singularity University and the Isle of Man Government's Department for Economic Development, the winners will be rewarded with a place each at Singularity University’s week-long Executive Programme in December 2013. The $25,000 total prize also includes flight and accommodation expenses. In giving advice to entrants, Mike Halsall an alumnus of Singularity University, said: "You may already have effected change through the use of emerging technologies, or used your entrepreneurial skills to great benefit. You may also be an up and coming inspirational leader with a great vision.
"Applications are invited that may be just ideas, concepts or fully developed proposals, ranging from complex to mind-bogglingly simple. Focus your submission on the benefits to the Isle of Man as well as global humanity."
Singularity University was founded by celebrated technologist and proponent of Singularity theory, Ray Kurzweil, and Peter Diamandis, founder of the X-Prize, to leverage the power of exponential technologies to solve humanity’s Grand Challenges. It is based at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley and has been embraced by many of the world's greatest minds and world class organisations such as Google, NASA, Cisco, Nokia, Autodesk and Genentech. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
Scoop.it!
Hindu Business Line What Google Glass Reveals About Privacy Fears Bloomberg One site, Stop the Cyborgs, already offers downloadable signs businesses are encouraged to display announcing that "Google Glass is Banned on these Premises." They also...
luiy's insight:
In a literal sense, Google Glass is nothing new. Head-mounted displays have been around for decades, initially designed for military and advanced simulation applications but now cost-effective for consumers. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, I saw perhaps a dozen companies offering such devices, pitched for the convenience of hands-free computing, as aids to those with disabilities, or for high-end immersive gaming.
Nor are any of the functions performed by Glass especially novel. The device will simply mimic some of what billions of us can already do with a smartphone. Except that you wear it on your head rather than holding it in your hands. As many of us also already do with Bluetooth headsets. There is, I suppose, one difference that's worth mentioning. The product will be made and sold by Google. On the one hand, that seriously ups its coolness factor, making Glass a "must have" for the technorati. On the other hand, it also increases the anxiety level of those already uncomfortable with the company, and with smartphones and other mobile devices that can record audio and video more or less without notice.
The Red Flags are flying high. A White House petition asks the Obama Administration to "ban Google Glass from use in the USA until clear limitations are placed to prevent indecent public surveillance." (So far, 38 of 100,000 required signatures have been collected.) One site, Stop the Cyborgs, already offers downloadable signs businesses are encouraged to display announcing that "Google Glass is Banned on these Premises." They also sell t-shirts, though one customer complained that the material used was so thin as to be transparent, an unfortunate irony. Delete the scoop?
Are you sure you want to delete this scoop?
Yes
|
Are you happy with your body? Or is just too darned organic? The fusing of man and machine is already happening, with so-called 'body hackers' implanting cameras, brainwave sensors and magnets in their bodies to allow everything from mind-control gadgets to dreaming in sound and navigation by vibration.
For now, these experiments are the reserve of 'grinders', a small group of DIY body modifiers who design, build and test their own modifications, but they may not remain outside the mainstream for long.
Google Glass might be called revolutionary by some, but could this mass-market wearable device also be an important step in human evolution?
As a standalone gadget, the much-anticipated Explorer Edition probably won't be as mind-blowing as some might think, but it could be a catalyst for a new era where electronics are worn, and where body hacking becomes the ultimate in geek chic.
Over 485 million of us will be wearing a web-connected watch, camera, eyepiece, pacemaker or other device by 2018, according to ABI Research. The web is becoming wearable.