Deconstructing Code

ThinkPads put brakes on crashes

ThinkPads put brakes on crashes
IBM introduced on Monday two ThinkPad notebooks with an automatic hard drive safeguard. The ThinkPad T41 and ThinkPad R50 include the IBM Active Protection System, a new feature that uses an accelerometer chip and software to help avoid damaging the hard drive when the ThinkPad is dropped or falls.

Posted by rshah on October 07, 2003| Comments (0)

An Electronic Tag for the Peripatetic Pet

An Electronic Tag for the Peripatetic Pet
They are therefore puzzled that the microchips, introduced in the late 1980's, have failed to catch on more widely. Based on data provided by registries, only 4.7 million, or fewer than 4 percent, of the 130 million dogs and cats in the United States have microchip implants.

Posted by rshah on April 24, 2003| Comments (0)

Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires

Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires
Michelin this week revealed that it has begun fleet testing of an RFID transponder embedded in its tires to enable them to be tracked electronically. After it completes testing, which will likely last 18 months, Michelin will begin offering automakers the option of purchasing tires with embedded transponders.

Posted by rshah on January 22, 2003| Comments (0)

Vision Quest

Vision Quest
Dobelle leads one of a dozen teams spread out over four continents racing ahead with all sorts of artificial-vision systems. There are teams working on battery-powered retinal implants and solar-powered retinal implants, and teams growing ganglion cells on silicon chips, and teams working on optic-nerve stimulators. And there is Dick Normann, the former head of the University of Utah's Department of Bioengineering, who up until Dobelle's success was among the front-runners.

Posted by rshah on January 09, 2003| Comments (0)

Hi-tech homes to help the elderly

Hi-tech homes to help the elderly
Ten homes were packed with sensors linked to a base station where the welfare of elderly residents could be monitored unobtrusively.

Posted by rshah on January 09, 2003| Comments (0)

ID Them By the Way They Walk

ID Them By the Way They Walk
Pattern-recognition software soon will be able to analyze the stride of a person, University of Maryland professor Larry Davis said Thursday at the Biometric Consortium 2000 Conference co-sponsored by the National Security Agency.

Posted by rshah on October 29, 2002| Comments (0)

Family Armed With Chip in Medical First

Family Armed With Chip in Medical First
The chips used by the Jacobs family contain only telephone numbers and information about previous medications. The data can be read by a hand-held computer and printed out.

Posted by rshah on May 16, 2002| Comments (0)

Surveillance cameras to predict behaviour

Surveillance cameras to predict behaviour
CCTV cameras that can predict behaviour could play a vital role in the fight against crime. Camera software, dubbed Cromatica, is being developed at London's Kingston University to help improve security on public transport systems but it could be used on a wider scale.

Posted by rshah on May 02, 2002| Comments (0)

Bullwinkle Defense System

Bullwinkle Defense System
InTransTech is using infrared photo sensors to help detect animals on British Columbia's mountain roads in the hope it will cut back on the number of accidents caused by motorists slamming into deer, moose and other wildlife.

Posted by rshah on February 18, 2002| Comments (0)

An ID Chip Planted in Your Body?

An ID Chip Planted in Your Body?
A New Jersey surgeon has embedded under his skin tiny computer chips that can automatically transmit personal information to a scanner, a technology that his employer hopes will someday be widely used as a way to identify people.

Posted by rshah on December 31, 2001| Comments (0)

Anti-Drowning System

Anti-Drowning System
With ogling robotic eyes, this underwater "creature" - part of an artificial intelligence system that includes a centralized computer, a poolside workstation, and a collection of submerged and above-water cameras - searches for swimmers in distress.

Posted by rshah on October 05, 2001| Comments (0)

M2A capsule camera

M2A capsule camera
Once swallowed, the M2A capsule camera created by Royal London Hospital gastroenterologist Paul Swain acts as a roving diagnostic tool, transmitting images of the digestive tract.

Posted by rshah on October 05, 2001| Comments (0)

Radar flashlight" lets cops spot people through walls

Radar flashlight" lets cops spot people through walls
A prototype device called the RADAR Flashlight, developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), can detect a human's presence through doors and walls up to 8 inches thick. The device uses a narrow 16-degree radar beam and specialized signal processor to discern respiration and/or movement up to three meters behind a wall. The device can penetrate even heavy clothing to detect respiration and movements of as little as a few millimeters.

Posted by rshah on April 27, 2001| Comments (0)

Calif. bill makes it a crime NOT to implant pets with chips

Calif. bill makes it a crime NOT to implant pets with chips
Dogs and cats: micro-chip: owner's registry.

Posted by rshah on March 19, 2001| Comments (0)

Radio Tags In All Consumer Goods

Radio Tags In All Consumer Goods
Collaborative effort by Sun, Motorola and others to tag all consumer items with transmitting radio tags that uniquely identify each individual item with a 96-bit ID, for less than a penny each, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on February 19, 2001| Comments (0)

Eye test for workplace drug tests

Eye test for workplace drug tests
SafetyScope, by Eye Dynamics, examines people's eyes to determine whether they are too impaired by drugs, alcohol, fatigue, or other factors to do their jobs safely.

Posted by rshah on February 09, 2001| Comments (0)

Implant Achieves Female Orgasm

Implant Achieves Female Orgasm
While Dr. Stuart Meloy was putting an electrode into the her spine in an attempt to ease her chronic pain, he not only reduced her back pain, but gave her an unexpected -- but delightful -- side-effect.

Posted by rshah on February 08, 2001| Comments (0)

Biometrics will allow travelers to avoid the lengthy airport customs and check-in lines

Biometrics will allow travelers to avoid the lengthy airport customs and check-in lines
The ConciergeCard from Unisys stores biometric information and traveling preferences on an optical memory card. Participating airports will enable frequent fliers to check themselves in and receive their boarding passes at kiosks.

Posted by rshah on February 05, 2001| Comments (0)

Portable Lie Detector

Portable Lie Detector
Truster analyzes the emotional (indicates the level of excitement and emotion with which the words are being said), cognitive (indicates the amount of conflict or agreement with the words that are being spoken), and physiological (indicates stress, physiological alertness, and general physiological condition) patterns in the human voice to derive results.

Posted by rshah on January 24, 2001| Comments (0)

Smart Camera that Watch & Predict

Smart Camera that Watch & Predict
If the team of European scientists behind Advisor can perfect the software, cameras will add a brain to their roving eyes, allowing guards not only to monitor and track people but to predict what they will do next.

Posted by rshah on January 18, 2001| Comments (0)

SafetyScope measures eye movement and pupil dilation

SafetyScope measures eye movement and pupil dilation
But a failed test doesn't necessarily mean that illegal substances are involved. "Many things can cause a person to be impaired: hypoglycemia, fatigue, a reaction to a prescription, abuse of over-the-counter medications,"

Posted by rshah on January 18, 2001| Comments (0)

Voice-based polygraph analysis

Voice-based polygraph analysis
A new portable polygraph meant for consumer use is said to be able to snag eight out of 10 tall tales simply by analyzing the stress levels in the fibber's voice.

Posted by rshah on November 30, 2000| Comments (0)

New Device Improves Low Vision

New Device Improves Low Vision
Low vision can't be corrected with medical procedures, glasses or contact lenses. But a Microvision's Nomad uses lasers to "paint" rows of pixels directly onto the eye is helping people with low-vision see clearly again, see also Slashdot

Posted by rshah on November 29, 2000| Comments (0)

'Smart' minibars track hotel snacking

'Smart' minibars track hotel snacking
Minibars fitted with infrared sensors under products, telling a computer what items have been removed and when, are now in more than 30,000 U.S. hotel rooms. The technology has been around, but it's now catching on with hotel management.

Posted by rshah on November 21, 2000| Comments (0)

Trakus: Sensors for television sports

Posted by rshah on November 16, 2000| Comments (0)

BioPassword

BioPassword
Using keystroke patterns for biometrics

Posted by rshah on November 16, 2000| Comments (0)

Biomedical nanotechnology

Biomedical nanotechnology
Researchers are combining the latest innovations in microchip technology and robotic heart surgery to create biomedical nanotechnology treatments.

Posted by rshah on October 04, 2000| Comments (0)

Web-enabled monitoring devices promise better health

Posted by rshah on September 26, 2000| Comments (0)

Screaming Notebook

Screaming Notebook
Traveling with your computer can fill you with anxiety. Even bringing your notebook to a coffee shop or a library can feel a bit sketchy. If somebody makes off with it while you're staring dreamily out the window, for instance, there's really nothing you can do to replace your saved work