Posts in Future Tech

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A new artificial larynx for better-sounding speech

Leslie Katz | Dec 04, 2009

The space-time graph pictured below the device corresponds to the tongue-palate contact pattern for the word "been". (Credit: Jaren Wilke/Megan Russell/University of the Witwatersrand )

A new type of artificial larynx could mean better-sounding speech for those who've had their larynx removed due to laryngeal cancer or other ailments.

Researchers hope the SmartPalate can work for those without a larynx. The space-time graph pictured below the device corresponds to the tongue-palate contact pattern for the word "been".

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, have come up with a system that tracks mouth movements to determine what word is being formed and then uses a speech synthesizer to audibly produce the correct word.

"All of the currently available devices produce such bad sound--it either sounds robotic or has a gruff speaking voice," Megan Russell, a Ph.D. candidate at the university, told Technology Review. "We felt the tech was there for an artificial synthesized voice solution."
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Enter the mind-controlled cybernetic arm

Matt Hickey | Dec 03, 2009

An undated photo from the Campus Bio-Medico di Roma shows Pierpaolo Petruzziello's amputated hand linked with electrodes to a robotic hand.
(Credit: Campus Bio-Medico di Roma)

European scientists have successfully built a brain-controlled bionic hand that could be used to kill or maim hundreds of humans in the coming robot versus humans' civil war. Or, far more admirably, allow amputees to feel hand sensations and manipulate their limb--via the brain--as if it were still there.

Pierpaolo Petruzziello--who lost his arm under the elbow in a car crash several years ago--has done just that, Italy's University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome announced Wednesday.
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Intel debuts 48-core processor that could reshape how PCs are built

Stephen Shankland | Dec 03, 2009

Each node on the SCC chip includes two x86 cores with its own memory cache. (Credit: Intel)

Pushing several steps farther in the multicore direction, Intel on Wednesday demonstrated a fully programmable 48-core processor it thinks will pave the way for massive data computers powerful enough to do more of what humans can.

The 1.3-billion transistor processor, called Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) is successor generation to the 80-core "Polaris" processor that Intel's Tera-scale research project produced in 2007. Unlike that precursor, though, the second-generation model is able to run the standard software of Intel's x86 chips such as its Pentium and Core models.
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Filed under: Future Tech, PC & Peripherals
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Intel unveils 48-core chip, paves way for multicore insanity

Damian Koh | Dec 03, 2009

(Credit: Intel)

The multicore madness continues. And if Intel has its way, computers in the future could possibly mimic human behavior, bringing the bits and bytes from virtual reality into the physical world. When that happens, you simply need to think to process computer commands, bringing laziness to epic levels. You could also try on new clothes or learn how to dance without even stepping away from the PC monitor.
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Creative demos Zii-based videoconferencing

John Chan | Dec 02, 2009

A model with the Project Lionfish 003 tablet.
(Credit: John Chan/CNET Asia)

SHENZHEN, China--Creative demonstrated the versatility of its Zii platform during its Zii Summit with different concept hardware and software products. These included various videoconferencing tools aside from yesterday's announcement of the Trinity smartphone platform.

When the Singapore-based company first announced its Zii platform, it was presented as a scalable computer that can be used to create a supercomputer efficiently. Thereafter, Creative showed off the Zii Egg, a portable media player very different from that initial idea as it now targets the consumer market. The Trinity concept smartphone is an extension of the Egg, adding cellular capabilities to the touchscreen media player.

The Trinity may be the highlight of the ongoing conference, but Creative's other concepts are worth mentioning, too. The device codenamed Project Turtle 002 is a portable videoconferencing camera with a fisheye lens so it's able to give an overview of the participants around a meeting table. Using the accompanying Zii Meet conferencing software, someone on the other end of the call can get a split-screen view and zoom in on specific participants, useful if you are addressing one person in a group.
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