Two masks to have super powers

They’re coming superheroes, or rather, super powers. After the smart glasses that promise an “augmented reality”, come from England, Eidos, two masks that will enhance sight and hearing. The appearance of the tool is quite aseptic: white plastic and squared traits.

The mask, hearing dedicated, covers mouth and ears as an helmet without the top. Inside there is a directional microphone that allows you to isolate a sound source while a processor analyzes the received sounds and purifies them from any noise. Then, it sends them to the ear through two speakers and a system of bone vibration so you can hear clearly what is happening at several meters away. The mechanism is very similar to that of the most advanced models of directional microphones that from years excellently fulfill the amplifying function for remote listening.

The second mask, sight dedicated, looks like a pair of giant glasses that cover eyes, forehead and cheeks, the parts left uncovered by the other complementary mask. The surface is perforated with holes of different sizes. Under this sheath is placed a tiny camera that takes everything that happens in front of the wearer. An internal processor elaborates the images captured and projected onto a screen allowing you to see a movement in its sequences. The idea seems taken directly from the chrono-photography, photographic technique of the late nineteenth century that allowed you to record moving objects by taking pictures in rapid sequences.

The creators, a group of students from the Royal College of Art in London, expressed the purpose of the masks: to isolate and analyze the information separtaing them from the chaos of everyday life. In a practical sense the applications can be many, from the the medical to entertainment. At a concert, for example, you could hear in a detached manner the performance of a single instrument. Children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder could be focused towards the teacher who speaks, calcelling other sounds. And much more.

Beyond aesthetics, very flashy and impractical, the tools are inserted into the modern “wearable” technology. But the prototype isn’t still perfect in form and substance. Fortunately there are useful tools tested and trusted as directional microphones and micro cameras that offer excellent performances at low prices.

How airport body scanners work

There are millions of travelers each day that are subject to monitoring through the body scanners or, more technically, millimetral scanner. These security tools “lay bare” the passengers to check what is hidden under clothing.

In the beginning these instruments were introduced to avoid the search “by hand” by the agents of airports. Until a few years ago, the X-ray detectors could see only metal objects possibly present under the clothes.
Millimetral scanners, however, are lighter radiation, but at very high frequency (millimeter waves, in the order of Terahertz (112 Hertz)) crossing the clothes, but they’re partially reflected from any object, even non-metallic, and skin. The opaque materials (for example clothes) become transparent with this device allowing to distinguish any hidden objects.

In the most popular devices in the U.S., the millimeter-wave are transmitted simultaneously from two antennas that rotate around the body. The energy of the waves reflected from the body or from other objects is collected by two detectors placed diametrically to the object and then used to reconstruct a 3D image.

The scan lasts 2-3 seconds and raises some concerns regarding privacy. People scanned appear virtually naked and then you can see everything including any breast implants or piercings in sparsely exposed parts.

At this concern was answered by putting the operator that observes images in a room from which he can’t see passengers directly. Furthermore, at least in the U.S., passengers can refuse to pass through the scanner, preferring to be searched by an agent. The system also doesn’t provide at the time the ability to save and store images.

Contrary to what one might think, electromagnetic waves used have a power 10 thousand times lower than those of a common mobile phone and aren’t considered ionizing, ie aren’t able to break the bond that unites electrons and nucleuses in a atom, therefore they aren’t overly harmful to health. It could be said that privacy and health are slightly sacrificed for security. In fact, the biometry is often applied to the surveillance industry, just think to the fingerprint locks increasingly used both in private companies and in public places. These allow for greater security due to the singularity of the recognition and offer alternative management methods used in the absence of electric current.

The electronic bracelets will change our daily life

The introduction of wearable electronic devices will bring profound changes in our daily lives. After the smart glasses, comes Myo, the bracelet designed by the U.S. Thalmic Labs.

It’s enough move your fingers to interact with your PC and other devices: scroll the pages up or down, start playing music or video, rotate the arm as virtual knob to increase the volume, raise a hand to block a play, interact with a presentation of work.

The creators have recorded a series of electrical pulses on the basis of our movements and then translate them into thousands of digital controls. They analyzed the connections of the human muscle, both at rest and in action, producing electrical microvolt. Using the technique of electromyography, the sensors placed inside Myo have the ability to amplify of thousands of times the recording of the signal, sending it to an internal processor which performs machine learning algorithms. The device, wirelessly connected (using the bluetooth system 4.0), allows you to interact with remote computers, video games, smart phones and appliances.

Myo improves with time, because as the device is used, it learns to recognize always better the gestures of the user, thereby increasing its accuracy. Obviously the product now is limited to the hands and arms, but in the future may also relate to other parts of the body. The bracelet will be on sale at the end of 2013 to about $ 149.

In fact, the bracelets are items that have numerous uses. One example is the anti drowning and anti loss Endoacustica’s bracelet. For years the device is chosen for the safety of thousands of children.
The bracelet is connected to a base unit which sends an alarm if the wearer comes into contact with the water or moves away over a predetermined limit (usually 50mt). A great way to keep track of their children, but also domestic animals when you are outdoors.

Enter into the screen and interact with the PC

From time immemorial, the man try to interact as much as possible with machines. Now have been patented powerful tools used by law enforcement to look through walls, for example, or the more and more used of biometric access systems.

The new frontier is Leap Motion and will be on the market within a few months. It’s a box to be placed under the PC or TV screen and allow you to enter physically into the device. The Leap Motion works roughly like Kinect, the system webcam for the Xbox 360 console from Microsoft. Thanks to a field of infrared rays, projecting upwards and translates the gestures into commands interpretable by the computer.

Long about 76.2 mm, a little more than a USB, occupies the same type of port, through which it interfaces to a PC or TV, and is capable of detecting the movement of the hands and of individual fingers in a field of view of 150° of amplitude, with a speed of 290 frames per second and a detection accuracy of the movement of only a hundredth of a millimeter.

Therefore allow you to move files, open documents, enlarge a photo, moving your hand in front of the screen. The idea is of Buckwald Michael and David Holz founders of the company of the device. Buckwald has worked for several years in the three-dimensional graphics struggling in having to work hard and for a long time with the mouse to get good results. So the two have had the idea to enter into the program, making them easier the work.

The project has quickly gathered over thirty million dollars in funding and more than forty thousand developers have registered on the site to start creating the first applications, already numerous.

This item could be the step of overcoming the relationship man-machine no longer divided by a screen, thanks to simple motion sensors and technologies that are increasingly precise and low cost. In fact the cost would be around $70. Leap Motion developers are discussing with the giants of consumer technology to directly integrate the device in laptops.

The new touchless method could bring significant benefits not only for graphic projects or action games, but it could have valuable applications in medical and scientific field.

The human GPS to know their origins

A few months ago in the magazine Nature Genetics appeared a new research related to human genetic mapping. The scientific work speaks of a probabilistic method that combines the genetic traits of each individual to geographical coordinates in order to identify the geographic origins of each person by mapping its complete lineage related to migration that have characterized the various populations over time. Scientists have studied the genetic mutations (SNPs) that have occurred in the human genome and were sent to the inhabitants according to the different geographical areas of origin. The probability that a person possesses these mutations today depending on the geographic location of his ancestors. They are therefore the genetic mutations “transported” in several generations to configure the natural GPS of DNA.

The study resulted a mathematical algorithm based on probabilistic mutations in the genome, which identifies the geographical origin of their ancestors.
The method may, therefore, be a valuable support both in the medical field to study such diseases that affect a particular group of individuals and in zoological field to understand the causes that led to migrations and habitat changes of the animals.

Always of “human GPS” spoke Steven M. Reppert, a neurobiologist at the University of Massachusetts, that along with some colleagues, he discovered that humans, like many animals, may be able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field. The “sense of orientation” of which we hear about, so could have a scientific explanation.

Reppert has been studying the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) identifying in cryptochromes, special light-sensitive proteins, the orientation system of the insect. The butterfly would orient watching the sun at day, while at night these proteins are sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the butterfly to find their way home in the dark. The same gene that encodes the cryptochromes is also active in humans, and this has led scientists to think that we might be able to “feel” the magnetic fields.

Fortunately, those who haven’t great orientative skills can rely on safe localization systems or GSM tracker that ensure the validity of the information even when our “sense of orientation” fails. With these tools it’s easy to find parked cars, house keys, luggage, but also don’t lose sight of children or animals.

iShoes, footwear branded Apple

Steve Jobs in the 90s gave to Apple employees a pair of white sneakers with logo on the tongue and the word “Apple” on the side. Last autumn the staff of the bitten apple had fun imagining, between reality and fantasy, the next big company products. Pets robot, glasses, innovative bikes and someone hypothesized a pair of sneakers: the iShoes.

The company has filed to the U.S. patents office, a request for a system of sensors and connectivity inserted in footwear. Unlike smartwatch or other wearable devices, smart shoes don’t constitute an extension of your smartphone, but they are primarily an instrument of self-tracking for runners or simple pedestrians (it also speaks of boots). The sensors can be inserted in the heel or take the form of a layer which passes through the shoe. In the patent it’s stated that the iShoes will be equipped with accelerometers and pressure sensors integrated in the sole that allows the monitoring of the performances, but also, and above all, the measurement of parameters such as the posture, the position of the foot in the shoe…It also speaks of the measurement of shoes level of wear that make impossible to wear shoes that are too worn ensuring a healthy posture. The data, once collected, are transferred to other personal devices such as smartphones or tablet.
This expedient is considered by many as a ploy to push the sales that could be taken into consideration for many garments of clothing or objects of any kind.

The wearable devices represent an horizon of the market more and more close. These have always been a priority for control and monitoring. An example closer to the concrete can be represented by GPS trackers or bugs that, due to their small size, they can be implanted almost anywhere: belts, ties, glasses watches, necklaces…The small size didn’t reduce the potentialities, indeed they were amplified.
DVR “All in one” of Endoacustica, for example, allow to you the audio/video recording and, considered its minimum size, can be hidden almost anywhere. The DVR is able to make audio and video files of high quality, thanks to the hight resolution component video and to the powerful microphone preamp. Not only, with “All in one”, you can take great pictures in high resolution, with just one click.

The future of hi-tech with the 5 senses

If we aren’t yet accustomed to the fingerprint locks and to the access control based on biometric recognition, hardly we’ll be able to accept the five fundamental changes that will be operated over the next 5 years in the field of technology.
5In5, the project of IBM with starring the five senses. PCs, smartphones and tablets in a few years will be equipped with the possibility to analyze reality through complex cognitive digital systems. In their turn, users will expand the capabilities of their physical senses interacting with these systems easy to use.

In about 100 years, the PC has raided in the company, in our homes and in our private. With the device can do almost anything: see air travel, talk with friends, spy on your partner, chat, cook, observe the stars and so on. To further enhance the capabilities of electronic devices comes the implementation of the 5 senses. The computers will be able to see, hear, smell and also have a digital palate and touch. These features will allow to emulate the activities that occur on the right side of the human brain.

But we see the senses in particular. Regarding the touch, that sense has entered fully into the touchscreen technology for smartphone and for PC supporting Windows 8. The new challenge involves the perception at 360°, perhaps to feel the texture of the fabrics or the softness of the wool.
As regards the view, we can easily refer to the facial recognition systems. In the future this technology can be used to perceive imperceptible things to the naked eye as a disease for example.
The hearing will be based on existing speech recognition systems, developing beyond the threshold of human and picking up inaudible sounds will be able predict disasters like the collapse of a bridge or a building.
Entirely new will be the development of the digital palate that will allow the elaboration of customized recipes that will link nutritional needs with the personal taste.
Even the smell can be perceived by hi-tech devices, because the slight volatile molecules in fragrances can be picked up by powerful systems. This sense will haven’t only superficial developments, but may perceive before men the characteristic odor of the indicators of infection or other diseases, or reports harmful hygienic conditions.
As you can imagine, therefore, the development of the 5 senses will not be a digital accessory for fanatics of biotechnology, but, if implemented, could have important implications in daily life.

The electronics could be biodegradable?

There is who thinks to save data for millions of years, who instead want to get rid of them as soon as possible.

To be precise, they’re hi-tech components very durable and completely biodegradable. The research conducted by the American University of Illinois and published in “Science” aims to solve the problem of disposing of electronic devices. The raw material of the project is the silk. This ancient material, completely revised in a technological key and made very strong, would be to cover the traditional electronics devices, however, composed of silicon and magnesium. The researchers would be able to precisely control the structure of the casing of silk that covers them so calculating the expiration date of the components.

This new mix also promises great performance, preserving the environment. The advantages of “transient electronics”, so named by the researchers, would be many, in addition to the disposal of many components, we can think to the mobile phones, it could have important applications in the biomedical field, would be feasible for example prosthesis perfectly absorbed by the body without having to be surgically removed. The life may vary from a few minutes to several years and they simply dissolve in water or organic liquids.

In the market there are already “hard drive destoyer” such as the secure deletion of data on electronic devices. HD-Eraser for example, is a device that uses the technique of demagnetization to ensure the protection of privacy with regard to private, public or financial institutions. Once this is done, it would be best to dispose of the equipment.

Thinking about the environment and the huge amount of electronic waste abandoned in landfills for years, the benefits that electronic biodegradable could make would be very important: products may dissolve themselves with no damage, once they have completed their work.

The biometric scanners arrive at school

Access control systems that use the biometry are becoming more and more part of institutions and companies because they allow a high degree of safety and the reduction of physical control procedures.

From some days, no badge or card for teachers and staff of the high school “Plinio Seniore” in Rome. The school principal has imposed on the employees the use of biometric scanners to signal the entry to and exit from the building. The trade unions together with the interested have been moving to contest the use of these tools because they cast doubt on the effective functioning of the same and, first of all, they criticize the lack of an official informative that authorizes the school princypal to use their fingerprints, appealing to the Privacy Act. Very questionable visions.

In England are the same students to be recipients of these new technologies. The protagonists are the children of a school in Berkshire that, since the beginning of the year, enter and leave the school using fingertips. In fact, was introduced a biometric system of identification through fingerprints. At the beginning and in the end of lessons, each student places his thumb on a sensor, installed at the entrance of the institute, to allows his identification. The school principal was reached much consensus by parents of children given the increase of security that this entails. The teachers had no hesitation, thanks to this system they save valuable time required by the roll call in classroom. For now, the project is an experiment, it lasts one year.

In Pennsylvania, instead, for some years now is in use a system that allows to the students to pay the cost of meals at the school, simply using fingerprints and accumulating a debt paid periodically by the families.

Elsewhere, for example in the schools of the New Jersey, are in function more complex biometric systems that involve the iris scan to allow access to the institute, only to authorized personnel and to members.

The biometric control is a good example of how technology is combined with safety.

One second to identify a person: the new FBI system

Its name is NGI, Next Generation Identification, the ultra-fast program that will allows to the FBI to identify in a very short time the americans offenders. How i twill do? It will do by connecting to a database containing photographs, iris scans, fingerprints, voice samples, DNA samples and much more. At the base, an efficient system for facial identifying. The recognition will start, in most cases, by a simple surveillance camera that captures images transferring them to the database.

FBI agents will be able to identify a wanted in the crowd through surveillance cameras or recognize him by the voice sound captured by a microrecorder or a phone with a spy software. But even with identifying marks such as scars, tattoos or skin blemishes. The reliability of the new system assumes a margin of error of 8% in the case in which NGI comparisons in approximately 1.2 seconds an image captured from any source, as surveillance cameras, with the database containing millions of criminals; while the reliability becomes 100% in the case in which the image to be compared comes from defined sources as in the case of mug shots.

The protection of privacy is the only obstacle to the project. Infact there is a high possibility that the image of an uncensured enters in the FBI system because it appears in the background of a criminal photo. It would also seem that the investigative agency intends to connect its database to the government sources.
This perspective has also aroused the interest of Anonymous who has already announced protests on 20 October. Of course, the group of protesters who are sensitive to issues of privacy, will catch the attention of many people.

The system, able to use new technologies for rapid feedback comparing the biometric data, about the press, is already in test phase in several U.S. states and it comes into operation in the summer of 2014. The cost seems to be around a billion dollars.