2016 marks new era in virtual reality

 

According to the article Oculus Rift hitting market early next year by Brandon Griggs, "the long-awaited Oculus Rift finally has a release date.The virtual-reality headset will ship to consumers in the first quarter of 2016, and they will begin taking pre-orders later this year. No price was announced". The Oculus Rift was designed to enhance video gaming, although Facebook sees the device as a potential future communication platform. Iribe, the Oculus CEO, has mentioned virtual tourism, real-time cinema experiences and education as other possible applications.

 http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/06/tech/oculus-rift-launch-feat/

Apple tries to resuscitate iPad sales with new ad campaign. How will that work out?

According to the article,Apple tries to resuscitate iPad sales with new ad campaign by Lance Whitney, With Apple tablet sales dwindling, the company is hoping a new series of iPad ads will draw in more buyers. People are not exactly buying as much tablets like when the iPad was launched because, people are holding onto their tablets longer and sharing them with family members, so there's less of a need to buy new ones. And instead of purchasing both a mobile phone and a tablet, more consumers are opting to buy bigger-screened iPhones, or phablets, such as the iPhone 6 Plus with its 5.5-inch screen.

http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-tries-to-resuscitate-ipad-sales-with-new-ad-campaign/

 

 Health Apps. Are they helpful or not?

 

 

 

 According to the article,Are Health Apps Harmful or Helpful? Experts Debate by Christopher Wanjek, health apps are ubiquitous, but do they do more harm than good? Some doctors are beginning to ask whether these self-monitoring applications are useless: or even dangerous. Health apps have a range of goals: some simply encourage people to adopt healthy behaviors, while others actually help people manage conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. There are more than 100,000 such apps available. If there is any perceived incongruity in monitoring — a skipped heart beat, a momentary and natural dip or rise in blood pressure, or a variation in oxygen levels — can lead people to feel unnecessary anxiety and pursue unneeded medical tests.

The Apple Watch

 

 

 

 

 

 According to the article,1 Million Orders and Counting: Why So Many Covet the Apple Watch by Tanya Lewis, more than 1 million Apple Watches were pre-ordered last week, on the first day the device went on sale, according to a firm that tracks consumer spending.Based on receipt data, an estimated 957,000 people in the United States ordered an average of 1.3 watches each on Friday (April 10), spending about $503.83 per device. That's alot.

http://www.livescience.com/50485-apple-watch-mania.html

Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA

 

According to this article, Bio-Art: 3D-Printed Faces Reconstructed from Stray DNA by Tia Ghose, Dewey-Hagborgtook collected a bag of human leftovers to Genspace, a community biology lab in New York City. After analyzing the DNA for identifiable traits, she used a computer model to predict the faces of the people who left them and used 3D printing to recreate those faces.The art reveals the wealth of personal information that could hide in seemingly anonymous pieces of trash. Dewey-Hagborg argues that this genetic information needs to be protected. She developed a way for people to wipe away their genetic traces.

The two-part product, called Invisible, consists of two chemical solutions. The first, called Erase, removes 99.5 percent of genetic information. The second solution, called Replace, essentially scrambles the genetic signal by cloaking it with a kind of DNA noise.

The chemical solution is actually on sale, and contains a mix of simple chemicals such as bleach. The recipe for Invisible is available open-source on Dewey-Hagborg's website, biononymous.me.

 http://www.livescience.com/50146-art-genetic-data-privacy.html

Screwing Up Artificial Intelligence Could Be Disastrous, Experts Say

 

According to this article, Screwing Up Artificial Intelligence Could Be Disastrous, Experts Say by Tanya Lewis, science and tech heavyweights Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking have warned that intelligent machines could be one of humanity's biggest existential threats. But throughout history, human inventions, such as fire, have also posed dangers. Why should people treat AI any differently?The downside is the possibility of creating a computer program capable of continually improving itself that we might lose control of. In my opinion, I think AI has its benefits and its pitfalls. 

http://www.livescience.com/50467-artificial-intelligence-stakes.html

Voice to the Voiceless

 

A speech prosthetic could give voice to people who can't speak, by converting their brain activity into words according to this article, Brain-Machine Interface Could Give Voice to the Voiceless by Gordy Slack. A group of San Francisco neuroscientists and engineers is developing a device that aims to figure out what people with paralysis or brain injury are trying to say by studying how they attempt to move their mouths.It would be nice to know how this turns out.

 

 http://discovermagazine.com/2014/april/9-whats-on-your-mind