iBrain: A Mind Reading Machine
The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism.
The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism. Invented by a team led by Philip Low, a 32-year-old neuroscientist who is chief executive of NeuroVigil, a company based in San Diego, the iBrain is gaining attention as a possible alternative to expensive sleep labs that use rubber and plastic caps riddled with dozens of electrodes and usually require a patient to stay overnight.
“The iBrain can collect data in real time in a person’s own bed, or when they’re watching TV, or doing just about anything,” Dr. Low said.
Why the Coming Patent Crisis is Inevitable
"At some point in the future, a company is going to skip the settlement and use the courts to shut down a popular and universal feature on the Web's top domains, simply because it has a patent that says it came up with the notion first. It will be a shock that reverberates all the way to the U.S. government and the World Trade Organization.
I suspect a patent crisis is both necessary and inevitable. The reason is simple: there isn't enough political will or pressure to institute massive patent reform without a crisis to rally around."
GSA chief gone: fallout continues in wake of lavish expense
"Tangherlini said in a letter of introduction to GSA employees that the agency was taking some immediate action "to ensure that our customers maintain their faith in our services." Those measure include a review of planned conferences and meetings that involve travel or substantial expenditures of public funds and the cancellation of a number of conferences that only or primarily involved staff, he said in the letter."
" "Groupon's internal controls were so poor and inadequate that Groupon's reported results were not reliable," shareholder Fan Zhang alleged, according to Bloomberg review of the complaint filed in federal court in Chicago....
The lawsuit comes a day after reports that Groupon's revision of its first set of financial results as a public company had attracted the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, although the commission has reportedly not yet elected to launch a formal investigation of the company."
"Big Society Capital has £600m, of which the majority comes from unused cash in bank accounts that had been dormant for more than 15 years. The fund will back social enterprises that prove they can repay an investment through the income they generate. "This is about supplying capital to help society expand," said Prime Minister David Cameron."
"In its lawsuit, Yahoo claimed that Mark Zuckerberg's company's "entire social network model" was based on its technology, and infringed its rights to innovations involved in messaging, privacy controls, advertising, customisation and social networking.
Facebook is preparing for initial public offering on a stock market that could value Facebook at $100bn (£64bn). Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years against competition from both Facebook and Google, has a market value of $18.3bn. On Wall Street, Yahoo shares fell 28 cents on Tuesday to close at $15.18."
"One of the City's top bankers, Ian Hannam, has been fined £450,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for providing inside information to a prospective client. Mr Hannam has resigned as chairman of Capital Markets at JP Morgan Cazenove, and is appealing against the decision. A former captain in the territorial SAS, he said the FSA's conclusion was wrong and he had acted with integrity.
The FSA said that while Mr Hannam had not deliberately set out to commit market abuse, his failings were serious because of his experience and senior position at JP Morgan. It claims he disclosed inside information in two emails sent to a prospective client towards the end of 2008."
"BRUSSELS — The European Union’s competition office on Tuesday opened two antitrust cases against Motorola Mobility for possibly abusing its patents following complaints by two rivals, Microsoft and Apple.
The cases are the latest stage in what has become a full-blown battle over the ownership of essential technologies that help power mobile and gaming devices, a fight that has engulfed Google and virtually all the other major players in the industry."
"Peter Gelb has both raised expectations and invited criticism by calling Robert Lepage’s $16 million production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle for the Metropolitan Opera revolutionary. He used the word again in a recent interview at his office, as he spoke of the “trials and tribulations” of executing Mr. Lepage’s “superhuman,” technically daunting concept in a repertory theater “against amazing odds.”
"...But Mr. Gelb, the Met’s general manager since 2006, has been living it, attending every stage rehearsal and “complaining bitterly,” he said, about the persistent clankiness of the so-called machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks that dominate the production.He could be right....But for many people, making the set a character is the problem. The machine imposes itself and distracts us from Wagner’s music drama."
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Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 production of “Die Walküre,” on the machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks.
So, is this statistical debate over whether the poverty line is too high or too low missing the real issue?
Jean Drèze, an economist and former member of the National Advisory Council, certainly thinks so. “What is really shocking is not that the official poverty line is abysmally low, but that even with that abysmal benchmark, so many people are below it,” he told us. “The belated discovery that it is impossible to have a dignified life on the official poverty line draws our attention to the appalling living conditions of the Indian poor.” Taking a position diametrically opposed to Mr. Bhalla and Mr. Panagariya, Mr. Drèze argues, “The message about the terrifying nature of ‘hidden poverty’ in India has been somewhat lost in the din of the recent debate.”
NEW ORLEANS — Rarely has a national title seemed to yield so little to celebrate. The starting five for the champion Kentucky Wildcats — a mix of freshmen and sophomores — are expected to enter the N.B.A. draft, and never again play for the college they ever so briefly attended....
"Mark Emmert, the president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, had already expressed regret that the N.B.A.’s so-called “one-and-done” rule allows universities to recruit athletes who show little interest in getting an education.
"...The rule is actually enforced by the N.B.A., which has no plans to change it. It was put in place in 2005 as part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, after teams spent years investing in athletic but unproven teenagers who were jumping straight to the N.B.A. from high school. Some, like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, turned into stars. Others flopped.
"Technically, the rule does not force talented players like Kentucky’s Anthony Davis to go to college, but it states that they must be one year removed from their graduating high school class to be eligible for the N.B.A. draft. Academics have criticized the rule and the N.C.A.A. has complained, but neither had the power to make any changes. Even a former Kentucky president, Lee T. Todd Jr., has expressed uneasiness with the situation, one which can give players little incentive to attend class, let alone excel academically, after a certain point in the season."
"First Amendment rights group Media Coalition, which represents the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of American Publishers and other related groups, says the bill is not only a violation of the First Amendment, but is so far-ranging as to be preposterous.
In a letter to the governor, the coalition said while government can criminalize speech "that rises to the level of harassment, and many states have laws that do so," Arizona's legislation:
... takes a law meant to address irritating phone calls and applies it to communication on web sites, blogs, listserves and other Internet communication. H.B. 2549 is not limited to a one to one conversation between two specific people. The communication does not need to be repetitive or even unwanted. There is no requirement that the recipient or subject of the speech actually feel offended, annoyed or scared. Nor does the legislation make clear that the communication must be intended to offend or annoy the reader, the subject or even any specific person."
“(Superintendent Colby) asked me three times if he could view my Facebook and I repeatedly said I was not OK with that,” Hester told WSBT.
In a letter to Hester from the Lewis Cass ISD Special Education Director, he wrote “…in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.
Hester is currently on unpaid leave, collecting workman's compensation while legally battling the school district. "I stand by it," Hester told WSTB News. "I did nothing wrong. And I would not, still to this day, let them in my Facebook. And I don’t think it’s OK for an employer to ask you.”
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