reading

Toyota thinks up mind-reading wheelchair

Last week, we told you about Mindflex, a Mattel toy that lets players move objects with their brains. This week comes word that the same technology is making its way into a more functional application--a wheelchair that users can maneuver with thought alone.

Toyota has developed the wheelchair in collaboration with researchers in Japan. The system analyzes brain wave data using signal-processing technology and delivers neuro-feedback to the driver.

Brain wave-detecting technology, or electroencephalography (EEG), isn't new. In layman's terms, a device, usually a cap wired with sensors, detects a person's brain waves. That information is analyzed by a computer and applied to the device in question. Scientists have pursued the technology for decades, but have had difficulty achieving short response times, explains the Associated Press.

Toyota's mind-controlled wheelchair, however, has what appears to be the quickest response time yet: 125 milliseconds, or 125 thousandths of a second. The user can almost instantly steer right, left, and forward. To stop, the person in the chair must puff up a cheek, a motion that's then detected by the headpiece.

Because of this quick response time, plans are under way to turn the wheelchair into a commercial health care product. The most practical use would be for rehabilitation patients who have been paralyzed, suffered a stroke, or have other conditions that hinder their muscle control. So far, the research has centered on brain waves related to imaginary hand and foot control. However, Toyota hopes the system could ultimately be applied to brain waves generated by emotions. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1007: Crank up the beats on space

NASA may have found the lost moon tapes and our best hope is for some kind of remix. Also, Molly tells us all to beware the sticky death roller if we use the dead-fly-powered alarm clock. We also still don't have a sponsor. In case you were curious.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 1007

Steve Jobs returns to work as Apple CEO after medical leave (thanks, Nate Lanxon on Twitter!) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSy0WezEGvvY

Sony considers adding phone to PSP … Read more

Reading machine to snoop on Web

What if the wisdom of Web could be yours, without having to read through it one page at a time? That's what the military wants.

DARPA has hired a company to develop a reading machine to reduce the gap between the ever increasing mountain of digitized text and the intelligence community's insatiable appetite for data input.

BBN Technologies was awarded the $29.7 million contract to develop a universal text engine capable of capturing knowledge from written matter and rendering it into a format that artificial intelligence systems (AI) and human analysts can work with. (PDF)

The military … Read more

Read It Later's API and iPhone app get big updates

Personal bookmarking service Read It Later has some nice new features this week for both users and developers.

On the user side, there's now an updated version of its reading application for the iPhone, which lets users access their saved reading list even when they're not near a data connection. The new version supports both password-protected sites and articles that are spread out over multiple pages. Once you've plugged in your password to a site that needs it, the app stores the password so you don't have to enter it each time the app needs to … Read more

Tarot teacher

MB Learn Tarot Software provides users with a way to learn and test themselves in the art of tarot card reading. With a simple interface and helpful organization, this program's minor flaw in its added features can be overlooked.

This program provides users with a simple interface that is very useful toward learning how to read tarot. Divided into separate tabs, users are able to quickly navigate through each and achieve the goal of memorizing tarot cards. Our only complaint here was the Help file's lack of tarot insight, though it did provide step-by-step instructions on operating the … Read more

Digital tarot reader

MB Tarot Reading Software gives users the tools to predict their fortunes by using a digital deck of tarot cards. With a simple layout and beautiful cards, the program manages not only to help show your future, but teaches about tarot as well.

The program's interface is incredibly easy to use, which makes it inviting for experts and novices alike. There are clear fields for entering data and a well-planned tutorial on tarot card layouts, as well as a simple-to-interpret reading of your tarot. For users who require a little more depth, there is an online Help file that … Read more

Simple speech converter

For many people, having their typed words read aloud is a necessity. If you fall into this category, Ultra Hal Text-to-Speech Reader offers a simple program to help users select text and have it read aloud.

This free program has a very plain interface that may not impress users with its looks, but will gain fans with its simplicity. A large, open white screen with pull-down menus along the top for File, Option, Format, Saving, and Printing options dominates the view. Along the right side are three sliders to control speed, pitch and volume, a time counter, and a link … Read more

Score the best deals on iPhone e-books

I love reading books on my iPhone, but I don't love e-book prices. I mean, digital content requires no printing, binding, shipping, storage, or heavy lifting--so why does Amazon charge the same price for the Kindle edition of "The Kite Runner" as for the paperback?

That's a debate for another day (though let me go on record saying I'd buy a lot more e-books if they were priced in the $1 to $4 range). For now, let's look at ways you can read on the cheap--or, at least, the cheaper--on your iPhone.

Look for freebies Stanza, one of my favorite e-book viewers ( just acquired by Amazon, incidentally), connects you with thousands of freebies. For example, check out the Random House Free Library, which currently stocks 10 mainstream e-books. (Best bet: Charlie Huston's superb crime-noir series, which starts with "Caught Stealing.") Meanwhile, there's Google Book Search, a browser-based solution that connects you to a whopping 1.5 million public-domain books. Point Safari to http://books.google.com/m. Look for deals E-bookseller Fictionwise already discounts its e-books, but you can stretch your dollar even further by setting up a "Micropay" account (i.e., a debit account). Most books come with a Micropay rebate, meaning you get 10 percent to 15 percent of the purchase price added back to your account. But sometimes Fictionwise runs rebate specials, as it's doing right now with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series: Buy any/all of the books and you get back 100 percent. You can read Fictionwise e-books using eReader or Stanza. (Just make sure to choose titles that are available in the Secure eReader format.) Try before you buy Amazon's Kindle app lets you read free of charge the entire first chapter of any book in the Kindle Store. That's a great way to see if you like a book before plunking down your $10. However, you can't browse the store from within the app: You have to queue up your sample chapters from your browser. Not so with Shortcovers, an e-book viewer with a built-in bookstore that offers sample chapters for many titles (but only forewords for others).… Read more

Lip-reading computer can distinguish languages

Watch what you say. Scientists in England have developed a computer that can not only read lips, but can tell the difference between languages.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia's School of Computing Sciences developed the technology by statistically modeling the lip motions of 23 bilingual and trilingual speakers. The resulting system is able to identify the language spoken by an individual with "very high accuracy," according to the university. Identifiable languages included English, French, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Polish, and Russian.

What gives you away? The movement of your articulators--when you wag your tongue, … Read more

Save now, read later

Those already using the bookmarking tool Read It Later will appreciate being able to sync lists of unread stories between desktop computers and the iPhone or iPod Touch. For those who are new to Read It Later, the free version isn't quite as convenient as it could be, though the application is still one good way to flag stories of interest for later perusing, without having to bookmark each one individually.

The initial setup to bookmark the plug-in is a multistep process, but one the application's developer guides you through in text, pictures, and a video. Registration is … Read more