Enabling speed reading

The reading game is about to change forever. With Spritz, which is coming to the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Gear 2 watch, words appear one at a time in rapid succession. This allows you to read at speeds of between 250 and 1,000 words per minute. The typical college-level reader reads at a pace of between 200 and 400 a minute.

Other apps have offered up similar types of rapid serial visual presentation to enhance reading speed and convenience on mobile devices in the past. What Spritz does differently is manipulate the format of the words to more appropriately line them up with the eye’s natural motion of reading. The “Optimal Recognition Point” (ORP) is slightly left of the center of each word, and is the precise point at which our brain deciphers each jumble of letters. The unique aspect of Spritz is that it identifies the ORP of each word, makes that letter red and presents all of the ORPs at the same space on the screen. In this way, our eyes don’t move at all as we see the words, and we can therefore process information instantaneously rather than spend time decoding each word.

This is 250 words per minute. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone is 76,944 words long. At this rate you could read HP1 in just over 5 hours.




350 words per minute doesn't seem that much faster. 3 hours and 40 minutes to finish Potter.

Science quote from their web page:
When reading, only around 20% of your time is spent processing content. The remaining 80% is spent physically moving your eyes from word to word and scanning for the next [Optimal Recognition Point].




Now it's getting harder to follow. Probably takes time to get used to, but still, I can't imagine being able to concentrate on this for too long. If you could keep up with this for two and a half hours, you could read Harry Potter 1 from cover to cover.




Boston-based Spritz, which says its been in "Stealth Mode" for nearly three years, is working on licensing its technology to software developers, ebook makers and even wearables.

Here's a little bit more about how it works: In every word you read, there is an "Optimal Recognition Point” or ORP. This is also called a "fixation point." The "fixation point" in every word is generally immediately to the left of the middle of a word, explains Kevin Larson, of Microsoft's Advanced Reading Technologies team. As you read, your eyes hop from fixation point to fixation point, often skipping significantly shorter words.

"After your eyes find the ORP, your brain starts to process the meaning of the word that you’re viewing," Spritz explains on its website. Spritz indicates the ORP by making it red, and positions each word so that the ORP is at the same point, so your eyes don't have to move. That's what makes it different from RSVP speed reading, which just shows you words in rapid succession with no regard to the ORP. Here's a graphic that shows how Spritz keeps your eyes still while reading:



via HuffingtonPost

Feel textures on a screen

Fujitsu have been demonstrating a prototype tablet that features haptic technology which gives the user the ability to feel the texture of the on screen image.

The Fujitsu uses ultrasonic inducers on the screen to vibrate it at different frequencies, creating a cushion of high-pressure above the screen that can be varied based on your fingertip's position on an X-Y axis. Match that with an onscreen image and you have something pretty magical - different 'surfaces' in images feel different to the touch.




"This technology enables tactile sensations — either smooth or rough, which had until now been difficult to achieve — right on the touch-screen display," Fujitsu said in a statement. "Users can enjoy realistic tactile sensations as they are applied to images of objects displayed on the screen."

The technology currently works only with a single point of contact, too - the whole screen reacts to that point of contact, and feedback can't be more accurately localised - but it's very early days and will undoubtedly evolve. Down the line, a version that could replicate a two-thumb control pad on screen would transform mobile gaming.

Fujitsu's track record with bringing its technology experiments to market, either in its own products on licensed to other vendors, is excellent - about 90% see manufacture. It hopes this one will hit retail in 2015.

Robot & Frank

Set in the near future, Frank, a retired cat burglar, has two grown kids who are concerned he can no longer live alone. They are tempted to place him in a nursing home until Frank's son chooses a different option: against the old man's wishes, he buys Frank a walking, talking humanoid robot programmed to improve his physical and mental health. What follows is an often hilarious and somewhat heartbreaking story about finding friends and family in the most unexpected places.

Robotic Pillow Phone Lets You Hug The Person You’re Calling

Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, Director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory in Japan, is known for his life-like androids. His latest creation may not resemble a realistic human, but these body-shaped pillows are equipped with two vibrators that mimic heartbeats. The Hugvie robot connects to your mobile phone and responds the caller’s voice. The throbbing vibrations become faster and stronger depending on the pitch, volume, and mood of the caller. via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2012/04/robotic-pillow-phone.html#ixzz1tXDxwbQv

Scientists regenerate hair on bald mouse

After cultivating two different kinds of cells taken from hair follicles in mice, the team transplanted the cells into the hair follicles of a bald mouse. Within three weeks, 74% of the hair follicles implanted with the cells grew back hair. The new hair connected with nerves and surrounding tissues showing that the follicles had become fully functional and were able to regrow hair even after hair was pulled out. The scientists were also able to play around with the density and color of the hair by changing the type of cells they transplanted into the mouse’s hair follicles. When they used cells from a human hair follicle, a human hair grew.

Evacuated Tube Transport could take you around the world in just 6 hours

Evacuated Tube Transport is an airless, frictionless, maglev-like form of transportation which is safer, cheaper and quieter than trains or airplanes. Six-person capsules travel in the tubes and can reach a maximum speed of 6,500 km/h, and provide 50 times more transportation per kwh. A tube can travel from New York to Beijing in two hours, and make a round-the-world trip in just six hours.

Behind the Screen Overlay Interactions

Behind the Screen Overlay Interactions: Behind-the-screen interaction with a transparent OLED with view-dependent, depth-corrected gaze.
A project by Jinha Lee and Cati Boulanger, former intern and researcher respectively, at Microsoft Applied Sciences would change all that. They’re using a special transparent OLED screen from Samsung and a series of sensors, along with custom software that reshuffles the keyboard to the back of the screen. So you can work with your hands inside the virtual desktop.

A Day Made of Glass 2: Same Day. Expanded Corning Vision.

"A Day Made of Glass 2," Corning's expanded vision for the future of glass technologies. This video continues the story of how highly engineered glass, with companion technologies, will help shape our world.

Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing

2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.

Soon, You May Download New Skills to Your Brain

New research suggests it may be possible to learn complex tasks with little to no conscious effort, just like in The Matrix.

PROBLEM: Unlike Neo in The Matrix or the titular superspy in the comedy series Chuck, we can't master kung fu just by beaming information to our brain. We have to put in time and effort to learn new skills.

METHODOLOGY: Researchers from Boston University and Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories designed a decoded functional MRI neurofeedback method that induces a pre-recorded activation pattern in targeted early visual brain areas that could also produce the pattern through regular learning. They then tested whether repetitions of the fMRI pattern caused an improvement in the performance of that visual feature.

RESULTS: The experiments successfully demonstrated that, through a person's visual cortex, decoded fMRI could be used to impart brain activity patterns that match a previously known target state. Interestingly, behavioral data obtained before and after the neurofeedback training showed improved performance of the relevant visual tasks especially when the subjects were unaware of the nature of what they were learning.

Read more at The Atlantic

Robot guards to patrol South Korean prisons

A group of scientists has developed robot warders under a one billion won ($850,000) project organised by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The robots — 1.5 metres (five feet) high and running on four wheels — will mostly be used at night.

They can connect prisoners with officers through a remote conversation function, according to a statement from the Asian Forum for Corrections (AFC), a South Korea-based group of researchers in criminality and prison policies.

It pioneered the project with the justice ministry’s cooperation.

The robots’ sensors will enable them to detect abnormalities such as suicidal behaviour and violence and report it to officers in charge, the statement said.

via PhysOrg

Petri dish to dinner plate, in-vitro meat coming soon

"Cultured meat" -- burgers or sausages grown in laboratory Petri dishes rather than made from slaughtered livestock -- could be the answer that feeds the world, saves the environment and spares the lives of millions of animals, they say.

The first lab-grown hamburger will cost around 250,000 euros ($345,000) to produce, according to Mark Post, a vascular biologist at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, who hopes to unveil such a delicacy soon.

Experts say the meat's potential for saving animals' lives, land, water, energy and the planet itself could be enormous.

"The first one will be a proof of concept, just to show it's possible," Post told Reuters in a telephone interview from his Maastricht lab. "I believe I can do this in the coming year."

via Reuters

Zero-Energy Bio Refrigerator

In a valiant effort to rethink the ubiquitous refrigerator — which has seen few design changes since the invention of freon refrigerators in the 1930′s — Russian designer Yuriy Dmitriev has unveiled a fresh-looking, gel-filled appliance of the future. His Bio Robot Refrigerator utilizes a special gel-like substance that suspends and cools food once inserted. Dmitriev’s design is one of 25 finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab competition, which challenged entrants with the task of redesigning modern appliances for the future.

via Inhabitat

Kinect Effect

See the future possibilities of Kinect that go beyond the expected, into truly amazing things that people around the world are beginning to imagine.

Nest the Learning Thermostat

"Nest learns from your temperature adjustments, programs itself to keep you comfortable, and guides you to energy savings. You can control the thermostat from anywhere using a smartphone, tablet or laptop, and Nest never stops learning, even as your life and the seasons change."

Read more at the Nest website

Personal transport pods unveiled at Heathrow Airport

Heathrow Airport has begun to transport passengers in computer controlled, driverless, car-sized personal "pods".

Researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee has developed amputees a bionic "to walk without the leg-dragging gait characteristic of conventional artificial legs". Unlike the average peg-leg, the Vanderbilt leg has motors in the knee and ankle to actively move like the real thing. Sensors and microprocessors predict what the user is about to do and the leg moves accordingly. The leg itself is also pretty light on power, running for up to three days (or 14 kilometers) on a single charge.

The Vanderbilt leg is seen above worn by Craig Hutto, left, and Professor Michael Goldfarb, who is leading the team at VU. The leg itself has been in development for always seven years now, and packs in quite a bit of tech.

From Vanderbilt:
The device uses the latest advances in computer, sensor, electric motor and battery technology to give it bionic capabilities: It is the first prosthetic with powered knee and ankle joints that operate in unison. It comes equipped with sensors that monitor its user's motion. It has microprocessors programmed to use this data to predict what the person is trying to do and operate the device in ways that facilitate these movements.



via Wired and the Vanderbilt Unversity

NeuroFocus Uses Neuromarketing To Hack Your Brain

Orange cheese dust. That wholly unnatural neon stuff that gloms onto your fingers when you're mindlessly snacking on chips or doodles. The stuff you don't think about until you realize you've smeared it on your shirt or couch cushions--and then keep on eating anyway, despite your better intentions. Orange cheese dust is probably not the first thing you think of when talking about how the brain functions, but it's exactly the kind of thing that makes NeuroFocus, and neuromarketing in general, such a potentially huge and growing business. In 2008, Frito-Lay hired NeuroFocus to look into Cheetos, the junk-food staple. After scanning the brains of a carefully chosen group of consumers, the NeuroFocus team discovered that the icky coating triggers an unusually powerful response in the brain: a sense of giddy subversion that consumers enjoy over the messiness of the product. In other words, the sticky stuff is what makes those snacks such a sticky brand. Frito-Lay leveraged that information into its advertising campaign for Cheetos, which has made the most of the mess. For its efforts, NeuroFocus earned a Grand Ogilvy award for advertising research, given out by the Advertising Research Foundation, for "demonstrating the most successful use of research in the creation of superior advertising that achieves a critical business objective."

via FastCompany

3D Printing at high speed

3D printing technology is rapidly advancing, as this video 'Insane Speeds with PLA on Ultimaker' shows.

Smart materials coming to 100% Design

Chris Lefteri from 100% Materials meets with Bibi Nelson from Bare Conductive to find out all about their smart paint, whether skin-safe conductive or interactive. Bibi also demonstrates paint that detects proximity. Weird science at its best...