Daily News Courier

The Brain is Not Computable

A leading neuroscientist says Kurzweil’s Singularity isn’t going to happen. Instead, humans will assimilate machines.

Miguel Nicolelis, a top neuroscientist at Duke University, says computers will never replicate the human brain and that technological Singularity is “a bunch of hot air.”

A Know-it-all Sleep Tracker

The Lullaby will tell you why you weren’t sleeping last night.

Sleep tracking is in vogue. You can buy gadgets shaped like headsets, bracelets, and thumb drives (like the Zeo, Basis, or Fitbit) even under-mattress sensor pads that will track a whole constellation of sleep indicators—body temperature, movement, electrical activity in your brain—as you slumber.  

Mitts on with the almighty Android oven

Forget Tegra 4 and its its 72 GPUs. Forget NVIDIA's Project Shield handheld gaming console. Hell, forget Sony's beautiful 4K televisions and its also-impressive new Xperia Z smarpthone. No, this is what everyone's buzzing about here at CES in beautiful Las Vegas, where dreams are made, fortunes are won and lost.

The Android oven.

Yes. It's an oven. That you cook food in. And it's running Android. Not for the heat, mind you. That's silly. It's a relatively normal (if stylish) convection oven, just like mom uses to make your banana bread. (I've had your mom's banana bread, and it's great.) Only, yeah. This one's got an Android brain inside it that, well, runs Android. It'll run Android apps, yeah, but the real purpose for all this is that it'll walk you through the cooking process, and send you alerts when it's time to baste the turkey. That's pretty much what connected devices have done for the past year, but this one's making all the noise this week here in Vegas. So there.

We've got some video after the break for you Android-oven-loving fans out there. Namaste.

read more

Scorpion Protein Illuminates Brain Tumors for Surgeons

A compound derived from a toxin from scorpion venom could help neurosurgeons differentiate between healthy and cancerous brain tissue.

Jim Olson, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at Seattle Children

It

In 2012, genomics tiptoed into the doctor

Brain Pacemaker Tested on Alzheimer

In an experimental trial, surgeons have implanted deep-brain stimulators into U.S. and Canadian Alzheimer

Sentry System Combines a Human Brain with Computer Vision

A DARPA project suggests a mix of man and machine may be the most efficient way to spot danger.

Sentry duty is a tough assignment. Most of the time there’s nothing to see, and when a threat does pop up, it can be hard to spot. In some military studies, humans are shown to detect only 47 percent of visible dangers.

AR Eyewear Fools Your Belly (and Brain) Into Feeling Full

The headset alters how big or small food appears, and influenced how much wearers ate.

Of all the diet tricks out there, Tokyo researchers may have hit upon the most devious: just lie to your brain.

Barclays Bank Invests in Over 8,000 iPads

The Channel reports today on Barclays Bank in the UK snapping up 8,500 iPads, via dealer Insight UK. According to the report, this is one of the biggest investments in any tablet by a UK finance firm. A spokeswoman for Barclays told The Channel that the Barclays staff had expressed a preference for the iPad over any other gadget, and it seems as if they have all been granted their wish. The spokeswoman went on to say that the iPads will be used in Barclays Bank branches all over the country, to help the employees in the branches to interact better with customers.

Quote:

---

?We investigated a number of different tablet options and in this instance, we concluded that iPads were the best solution for their specific needs,? the spokeswoman told The Channel. ?We are now starting to use these across Barclays branches in the UK.?

---

According to the report, the Barclays employees will be using a special app called Mortgage Brain on the iPad as one way of helping their customers.

Source: Barclays Bank buys 8,500 Apple iPads in one go

94-Year-Old Gran Says the iPad Has Changed Her Life

The Daily Mail has a lovely story today about 94-year-old gran, Elsie Corner from Manchester, England, who is a massive iPad fan, and who credits the iPad with greatly improving her quality of life. Mrs Corner loves to play Words With Friends on her iPad, sometimes having 16 games on the go at one time. She also uses her iPad to track planes flying over her home with Flight Tracker, as she is near Manchester Airport.

Quote:

---

?It?s been a wonderful way to keep in touch with my family,? Elsie told The Mail. ?I use it nearly all the hours of daylight, 2-3 hours in the morning, then again in the afternoon.?

---

Elsie?s daughter, Jean Holt, said that her mum did previously own a laptop, but was unable to see the cursor and struggled with using the mouse as well. It was Jean who bought her mum the iPad after seeing one in America.

Quote:

---

?She says it is the best thing she has ever owned,? Mrs Holt told The Mail. ?It keeps her in touch with her family and she says it keeps her brain active.?

---

Source: The world’s oldest iFan? 94 year old Elsie Corner claims the iPad has changed her life (and turned her into a Words With Friends addict) | Mail Online