http://www.realworldtech.com/arm64/
The new ARMv8 architecture is classically British; a clean and elegant 64-bit instruction set, with compatibility for 32-bit software. The 64-bit mode eliminates many complicated and awkward features and will foster a larger and more diverse ARM ecosystem with new licensees and applications.
I’ve long lamented the lack of a direct brain-to-device interface. So here we are, finally: a simple bit of EEG output, snapped at a time where I was relaxing rather than highly focused (those are specifically measured metrics):
The above was done using a Neurosky MindWave headset and a bit of Python code (on github) written by Andreas Klostermann run on my Linux desktop.
The Neurosky hardware comes with some Windows and Mac software but the protocol is public so interfacing with it from Linux or anywhere else is not a problem. The headset I have uses a wireless interface with a USB dongle that shows up as a serial device. Other models have Bluetooth (enabling use directly on Android and iPhone) but the essense is the same. You can read a defined output stream, and people build more convenient interface libraries on top of that.
Apart from visualising/recording your own EEG, at home, at very low cost (about $150) and being able to not just view but play with all that directly, the one-sensor headset decodes “meditation” and “attention” states. These signals are decoded by an signal processor developed by Neurosky, based on the different frequency bands used by the brain. There’s a MindBand (not yet available for general sale) which has two sensors instead of one, enabling additional uses for controlling devices. But even with one sensor you can actually do a fair bit already.
The system uses a dry surface sensor (metal strip) on the forehead, and an earlobe clip to provide a baseline as the system needs to filter out the myriad of environmental noise including the 50Hz buzz from the power grid, and much more.
Ok, it’s obviously not yet at the stage where I can simply “braindump” my thoughts into a computer, but it’s a modest start to some really useful stuff. I reckon it’s one of those enabling technologies… what was previously available only in labs with expensive equipment, we can now play with directly. Such tools change a lot of things in a very dramatic way. Watch this space!
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/apple-amazon-mat-honan-hacking
[story of Mat Honan affecting his Amazon account, GMail account, Twitter account, iPhone and MacBook data]
In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. Here’s the story of exactly how my hackers created havoc by exploiting Apple and Amazon security flaws.
(delayed publish as we wanted to personally tell various family members and other connections – which are scattered around the globe and somewhat hard to catch ;-)
Horay! Claire and I are engaged!
Last weekend I whisked Claire away for a surprise weekend near Stanthorpe (the cold South of Queensland). I managed to keep it all a surprise, and a good one it turned out to be: in the evening by a nice fireplace I proposed and Claire accepted without any hesitation.
I figured there wouldn’t be much chance of her saying no but of course I was nervous anyway! Some might note that this is all pretty quick and they’d be correct in terms of time, but sometimes something is just right and our blended family has been living together in my new house since March. We’re very happy together and the kids are getting along well.
We don’t have wedding plans sorted yet at this stage, but there’ll be an engagement party (extended pot luck) in a few weeks.
In case you’re curious about the ring… neither Claire nor I particularly care about “rocks”, but her favourite colour is light blue – the gem is a blue topaz.
Thanks to living with a cat the past few months I have made an observation that cats appear to have variable density. Sometimes they are light as a feather and can glide between pieces of furniture, other times they appear to be heavier and floppier than almost anything else that I can think of. This is shown mostly by Figaro’s ability to leap from the ground to the couch via his scratching post, where he then goes into “dense mode” and slumps over the edges of the couch like some sort of liquid.
Sleeping on top of a bunk bed I have the opportunity to examine this very odd behaviour. He pounces up onto the top and waltzes very gently over my toes, finds a comfortable and warm spot then activates “dense mode” and suddenly there is a pile of bricks lying on my feet.
I find that all this points towards the fact that cats have variable density. It also fixes the one big problem in my “multiverse” theory.