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Wearable computing: How hi-tech got under our skin Prof Yash
Pal THIS UNIVERSE |
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Wearable computing: How hi-tech got under our skin THE revelation that British Chancellor George Osborne has begun using Jawbone Up, the activity-tracking wristband that monitors how much you move during the day and whether you sleep enough at night, caused some mirth in Westminster recently. But the Chancellor isn’t the only one joining in the wearable technology trend. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, is giving Up wristbands to its 11,000 employees, and tech industry observers foresee a time when the activity tracker is issued to new employees with their laptop and smartphone. While wearable computing isn’t new, this year it’s everywhere. Activity trackers like Jawbone Up and Fitbit Flex are increasingly prominent. Google Glass, the computer-enhanced eyewear with in-built camera, speaker and Internet connectivity has a growing profile. And smartwatches, such as the Pebble, are moving smartphone features to a wristwatch. Juniper research says that 15 million wearable computing gadgets will be sold this year and expects that to increase to 70 million by 2017. If Apple’s rumoured iWatch appears, then expect growth to hasten. Wristbands, watches and glasses are just the beginning. Next-generation wearables will be part of the fabric of our clothes — literally. London-based CuteCircuit has developed a mobile phone dress with an antenna in the seam and the SIM card in the label. Artist and designer Dominic Wilcox’s No Place Like Home shoes use GPS and LED lights to give directions. These are concepts, not commercial products, but compared with what’s coming, they seem crude. Research published in 2011 by a team of scientists from Italy, France and the US explored the possibilities of using conductive thread — cotton coated in nanoparticles and polymers — to form transistors and circuits. Instead of wearing a dress with a computer built-in, your dress will be the computer. Sabine Seymour, founder of Moondial, an agency that develops and consults on wearables, says: “We forget that we constantly wear a textile on our body. If we use that assumption that a consumer is covered everyday, we have a fantastic surface where we can embed a lot of functionality.” She foresees smart clothes that change colour, regulate our temperature, charge the gadgets we carry and don’t need to be washed. Wearable computers and smart clothes are fine, but what about simply having the technology surgically implanted in your body? Instead of glasses, imagine if your retina had a display built-in. Consider an activity tracker implanted in your foot, or a tooth-filling sensor that vibrates when you have a message. Embedded technology has been used in medicine for decades. Pacemakers and cochlear implants were first developed in the 1960s. More recently, work has begun on sensors that can be swallowed to monitor the effect of medical treatment and disposable monitoring patches that can be attached to the body. There is a difference between medical implants, which are often the best way to deal with a health problem, and lifestyle implants — but there’s no reason to think there won’t be demand for the latter. Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, has been experimenting on himself for more than a decade. In 1998, he had a silicon chip implanted in his arm that controlled the door and the lights in his laboratory. A second experiment, four years later, let him remotely control a prosthetic hand. This year, Rich Lee, a 34-year-old American, had magnets implanted in the tragus — the small protuberance in front of the ear canal — that act as speakers when combined with a coil necklace. In 2011, Trevor Prideaux, 50, had a smartphone embedded in his prosthetic arm, making it easier to use the device with only one hand. It will be some time before such modifications become mainstream, particularly because nobody knows what the long-term health effects of implants might be. On a practical level, returning a broken smartphone is straightforward; “returning” a broken implant would be trickier. For now, there are other concerns about wearable technology. The US anti-Google Glass campaign, Stop The Cyborgs, provides downloadable stickers reading: “No surveillance devices”. Some critics warn that Google Glass facial recognition software could track people without their knowledge. Google currently doesn’t permit such software but a determined developer could get around that. Data security is a potential worry, too. What happens to all that information about your exercise and sleep habits? What if your health data was sold to a third party, such as an insurance company? Could an employer discriminate against a worker with an “unhealthy” lifestyle? Finally, there’s the problem of compulsion. Dr Larry Rosen, a Professor at California State University and an expert in the psychology of technology, says: “In our studies, the typical teen and young adult checks his or her smartphone every 15 minutes or less and if they can’t check as often as they like they get anxious. This anxiety then drives the need to check in to reduce the anxiety which then begins to build again.” The more immediate nature of wearable technology could make this problem worse, he says. But these concerns aren’t exclusive to wearables; they apply equally to smartphones and other technology. For most people, the benefits — helping us to understand ourselves better and bringing us information in a less distracting way — will outweigh the risks, as they have with smartphones. The technology will advance regardless and George Osborne’s wristband will seem quaint when our children are confronted by the first cyborg Chancellor. —
The Independent Tooth sensor to beep when you eat too much The unstoppable proliferation of wearable tech into polite society continues to blur the lines between science fiction and reality with a new tooth sensor that can tell you when you’re eating too much. Developed by a team of Taiwanese scientists, the news was released their paper under the snappy title of ‘Sensor-Embedded Teeth for Oral Activity Recognition’. The scientists say that the new sensor “recognises human oral activities, such as chewing, drinking, speaking and coughing.” The most important part of the sensor is an accelerometer (the same gadget that knows whether your smartphone is upright or on its side) which distinguishes between the ‘motion profiles’ of all the different and entertaining things you do with your mouth. The team says that their research is a big improvement on previous sensors aiming to record “oral activities” simply because of where the sensor is placed. Having the tech take the place of a tooth “has the advantage of being in proximity to where oral activities actually occur” and allows the sensor to correctly identify what’s going on in your mouth 94 per cent of the time. Once the sensor has figured out whether you’re chewing the cud or just chewing the fat, this data can then be turned into meaningful information on how you spend your day and recommendations for a healthier lifestyle. The technology is currently only in a prototype stage but the researchers propose that in future the sensor could come equipped with Bluetooth to wirelessly “transmit sensor data to a nearby smartphone”. The scientists also hope to shrink the device so it might fit into a tooth cavity. “Because the mouth is an opening into human health,” say the scientists, “this oral sensory system has the potential to enhance exiting oral-related healthcare monitoring applications such as dietary tracking.” — The Independent |
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THIS UNIVERSE I think you have asked a very deep question related to the kind of language and coding our brain uses to think and to communicate. While thinking about the possible answer I might give, I remembered a lecture I heard several years ago from a revered scientist Professor Philip Morrison. I thought it might be useful to share some of his thoughts and wonderings. The title of his lecture was “Ant Hills and Telescopes”. He compared the thought process and communication that might be required by scientists in designing large telescopes, with the skills of ants that construct large ant colonies. Both these are complicated structures, requiring great deal of planning, communication and architectural and building skills. Slightest mistake can lead to disaster. It is clear, however, that communication methodology required by the two building and designing teams will have a great deal of difference in their heritage and urgency. In the case of ants, tradition and hard-wired skills have great precedence. As a result, they will not require cell phones or fast feedback loops with fast computers. Their products will carry seals of reliability and long period of testing. On the other hand, the telescopes produced by the scientists will be subject to change. Besides, they will be influenced by fashions and market competition. They will also need their builders to come after training in schools of management and interior design!
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Copper nanoparticles can help protect food against bacteria WASHINGTON: A scientist has discovered that copper — an element long valued for its antibiotic properties — can be used as a shield from bacteria which lurk almost everywhere, from fresh food and air filters to toilet seats and folding money. The innovation by Michigan Technological University scientist Jaroslaw Drelich relies on copper, an element valued for centuries for its antibiotic properties. In preliminary tests on local lake water, it killed 100 per cent of E. coli bacteria in the sample. Drelich also found that it was effective in killing Staphylococcus aureus, the common staph bacteria. Paleontologists discover dinosaur tail in northern Mexico MEXICO CITY: A team of paleontologists have discovered the fossilised remains of a 72 million-year-old dinosaur tail in a desert in northern Mexico, the country’s National Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) said. Apart from being unusually well preserved, the 16-foot tail was the first-ever found in Mexico, said Francisco Aguilar, INAH's director in the border state of Coahuila. NASA pushing to keep space taxi competition going CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: NASA is pressing ahead with a programme to fly its astronauts on commercial spaceships despite budget uncertainties that threaten to undermine a heated competition for its business. Since 2010, when the US space agency begin partnering with private companies interested in developing space taxis, and May 2014, when the current phase of the so-called Commercial Crew initiative ends, NASA expects to have spent about $1.5 billion on the programme. —
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