http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/ibm_predictions_for_future/ideas/index.html IBM published its annual report, this year focusing on the five basic senses. Highlighted future abilities of computers include: -the ability to identify distinctive image features, foregoing the need for tags -the development a sense of taste -smelling computers that detect explosives in the public and cancer in our bodies -touch sensitivity, allowing us […]
Machine Learning
Ray Kurzweil joins Google
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/508896/what-google-sees-in-new-hire-futurist-ray-kurzweil/ Esteemed futurist Ray Kurzweil has joined Google as Director of Engineering. His focus will be machine learning and language processing, and will lead to advances in networks, data centers and algorithms. “I’m thrilled to be teaming up with Google to work on some of the hardest problems in computer science so we can turn […]
Brain
Brain technology market to exceed $1B by end of 2012
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/brain-health-technology-market-exceed-1b-years-end The market for brain health technology will surpass $1 billion by the end of 2012, and is set to grow at a brisk thereafter, to between $4 and $10 billion by 2020. Technologies in demand include computerized Web-based and mobile cognitive assessments, cognitive training and cognitive behavioral therapies, and biometrics-based monitoring and brain training […]
Brain
MIT 3-D optogenetics chip promises better control of the brain
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/507841/3-d-chip-promises-better-brain-control/ A new device will let scientists create complex patterns of activity within the brain using optogenetics. The goal is to boost the amount of information and control that current systems deliver. It could also give more flexibility to optogenetics based neural prostheses.
Conference
4 top trends in digital healthcare
http://blogs.computerworld.com/healthcare-it/21405/top-four-trends-will-shape-digital-health As we approach 2013, the following trends continue to spawn companies, investment, and technologies: The proliferation of personalized mobile health technologies. The maturation of the Big Data ecosystem in health care. The rise of health startup accelerators. The emergence of health care exchange and alternative care delivery platforms.
Brain
SPAUN brain model created inside a computer
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-spaun-human-brain-simulator-tasks.html The Semantic Pointer Architecture Unified Network (Spaun) is a computer model of the human brain built by Professor Chris Eliasmith and colleagues of the University of Waterloo in Canada. It comprises around two and a half million virtual neurons organized into functional groups rather like real neurons in regions of the human brain associated […]