The thumb has two motors, one for rotating and the other for flexing, giving it a broad range of motion. A prototype is in the works, and future versions may include fingers that can sense pressure to simulate touch.
Source: RealTechNews
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Groundbreaking Artificial Hand Includes a Thumb
One of the limitations of prosthetic hands is that they lack functioning opposable thumbs. After all, it's a thumb that makes the human hand so functional. Researchers at Britain's University of Southampton have developed a motorized hand that includes a thumb, allowing the user to grip and manipulate objects.
The thumb has two motors, one for rotating and the other for flexing, giving it a broad range of motion. A prototype is in the works, and future versions may include fingers that can sense pressure to simulate touch.
Source: RealTechNews
The thumb has two motors, one for rotating and the other for flexing, giving it a broad range of motion. A prototype is in the works, and future versions may include fingers that can sense pressure to simulate touch.
Source: RealTechNews
Roland Piquepaille Blogging for ZDNet
Roland Piquepaille, an emerging tech blogger whose posts are frequently cited here and elsewhere, is now blogging for tech publisher Ziff-Davis (ZDnet). His blog, Emerging Tech Trends (RSS), covers most of the same topics as does his old blog. Always good to see bloggers landing some gigs as a result of their work. Congrats, Roland!
Number of Japanese Aged 100+ Doubles in Five Years
The number of Japanese age 100 and older is expected to surpass 25,000, with 1 million Japanese centenarians by 2050. Japan has a nationwide average of 20 centenarians per 100,000 people, twice the US average.
Currently, the oldest person in Japan, Yone Minagawa, is 112 years old. Putting this in perspective, Yone was born in 1893, the year that Rudolf Diesel patented his diesel engine and Thomas Edison opened the world's first motion picture studio. She was two years old when Marconi invented radio, seven at the turn of the 20th Century, 12 when Einstein introduced his theory of relativity, 15 when Picasso co-founded cubism, 19 when the Titanic sank, 39 when Hitler took power in Germany, 52 when World War II ended, and 76 when Apollo 11 made the first manned moon landing. Her life spanned the entire rise and fall of Soviet communism, as well as the history of flight from the Wright Brothers onward.
Futurists and other specialists will want to study Japan's aging population for two reasons. First, Japan will serve as a policy laboratory for learning how to manage an aging population while its youth population is shrinking. One approach Japan is pursuing is leveraging its robotics expertise to support both the elderly and their caregivers. Surveys in Japan have found that those needing care frequently prefer robotic assistance to the help of humans.
Second, it's clear that Japanese are living longer on average than their counterparts in other countries. Healthcare and public policy researchers will want to learn what factors contribute to this, as well as how to enhance the quality of life and quality of healthcare for the elderly. Even in Japan, age rates vary; Okinawa, for example, has a remarkable centenarian rate of 51 for every 100,000 people.
Currently, the oldest person in Japan, Yone Minagawa, is 112 years old. Putting this in perspective, Yone was born in 1893, the year that Rudolf Diesel patented his diesel engine and Thomas Edison opened the world's first motion picture studio. She was two years old when Marconi invented radio, seven at the turn of the 20th Century, 12 when Einstein introduced his theory of relativity, 15 when Picasso co-founded cubism, 19 when the Titanic sank, 39 when Hitler took power in Germany, 52 when World War II ended, and 76 when Apollo 11 made the first manned moon landing. Her life spanned the entire rise and fall of Soviet communism, as well as the history of flight from the Wright Brothers onward.
Futurists and other specialists will want to study Japan's aging population for two reasons. First, Japan will serve as a policy laboratory for learning how to manage an aging population while its youth population is shrinking. One approach Japan is pursuing is leveraging its robotics expertise to support both the elderly and their caregivers. Surveys in Japan have found that those needing care frequently prefer robotic assistance to the help of humans.
Second, it's clear that Japanese are living longer on average than their counterparts in other countries. Healthcare and public policy researchers will want to learn what factors contribute to this, as well as how to enhance the quality of life and quality of healthcare for the elderly. Even in Japan, age rates vary; Okinawa, for example, has a remarkable centenarian rate of 51 for every 100,000 people.
Katrina Could Boost Housing Market, Construction Industry
Concerns about the bursting of the housing market "bubble" might be mitigated by Katrina, as thousands of dislocated Gulf Coast residents deplete an already low housing inventory. Rebuilding efforts, which could cost anywhere from $100 billion to $200 billion, will likewise put a strain on construction labor and materials... perhaps to the point of accelerating wage and price inflation.
Construction of single-family homes are expected to hit 2.04 million units this year -- the highest level since 1973, a period when young Baby Boomer families were flooding the housing market. In 2004, housing prices rose by a whopping 12.5% -- four times the rate of inflation. In some states, home prices were up by more than 30%!
Any increased value in the housing market is only sure to exacerbate fears among New Orleans' poorer residents that a conspiracy exists to dislocate them and confiscate their homes, and validate accusations of racial discrimination. To help those displaced by Katrina find new places to live, however, several Internet tools have appeared to help match people to available housing.
RELATED: An article in MSNBC.com takes the opposite, more pessimistic approach to Katrina's effect on the housing market. Under this theory, inflation caused by post-Katrina economic disruption could cause interest rates to rise. This, combined with related job losses, would erode homebuyers' buying power, effectively bursting the real estate bubble.
Source: CNN Money
Construction of single-family homes are expected to hit 2.04 million units this year -- the highest level since 1973, a period when young Baby Boomer families were flooding the housing market. In 2004, housing prices rose by a whopping 12.5% -- four times the rate of inflation. In some states, home prices were up by more than 30%!
Any increased value in the housing market is only sure to exacerbate fears among New Orleans' poorer residents that a conspiracy exists to dislocate them and confiscate their homes, and validate accusations of racial discrimination. To help those displaced by Katrina find new places to live, however, several Internet tools have appeared to help match people to available housing.
RELATED: An article in MSNBC.com takes the opposite, more pessimistic approach to Katrina's effect on the housing market. Under this theory, inflation caused by post-Katrina economic disruption could cause interest rates to rise. This, combined with related job losses, would erode homebuyers' buying power, effectively bursting the real estate bubble.
Source: CNN Money
FEMA on Sustainable Futures
If anyone understands the effects wrought by poor planning and limited foresight, it ought to be the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Perhaps with new leadership in place, FEMA can begin to put plans such as those for sustainable reconstruction into action, especially in New Orleans.
Japan Sees Fewer Coins in Use
Yet another casualty of technology may be traditional coinage. In Japan, digital cash and credit cards have apparently led to history's first decrease of the number of coins in use (by 0.05% in July).
Aside from the demise of a currency that's been around since antiquity, this drop shows that, in Japan at least, purchases of even very small items are being made digitally. The implications of this are huge, for it suggests an electronic "paper trail" through which purchases of all sorts can be tracked and monitored.
Sources: Smart Mobs, RFID in Japan
Aside from the demise of a currency that's been around since antiquity, this drop shows that, in Japan at least, purchases of even very small items are being made digitally. The implications of this are huge, for it suggests an electronic "paper trail" through which purchases of all sorts can be tracked and monitored.
Sources: Smart Mobs, RFID in Japan
Monday, September 12, 2005
Why Pimp Your Ride When You Can Geek It?
So, you had your heart set on that sweet SUV until the gas prices soared out of control? Well, you can still ride in style by "geeking" your car, or outfitting it with the latest in technology.
GPS screens are only the beginning. Experts in "telematics," the art of geeking cars, have installed full PCs that monitor the vehicle's vital signs and enable advanced communications such as e-mail and "personalized telemetry," which can tell your friends where you are at any given moment. Cars are also being outfitted with cameras that record the road around the car... handy if one is the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
And if you worry that all this technology is distracting, cars are even being equipped with cameras that watch the driver for signs of drowsiness or inattention... and "yell" at him or her to wake up!
Sources: USA Today, Techdirt
GPS screens are only the beginning. Experts in "telematics," the art of geeking cars, have installed full PCs that monitor the vehicle's vital signs and enable advanced communications such as e-mail and "personalized telemetry," which can tell your friends where you are at any given moment. Cars are also being outfitted with cameras that record the road around the car... handy if one is the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
And if you worry that all this technology is distracting, cars are even being equipped with cameras that watch the driver for signs of drowsiness or inattention... and "yell" at him or her to wake up!
Sources: USA Today, Techdirt
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