Cyberdyne - this is the name of the corporation that created the evil AI Skynet in the Terminator Series, and now, it is the name of a Japanese company that produces exoskeletons. Guess the name of their flagship product... that's right, HAL, another evil AI!
Their technology (like their naming tendencies) is in fact amazing...
First, the exoskeleton reads electrical signals produced from motor neurons and translates this into action. In fact, HAL reads the motion faster than humans do, meaning it can move before you do.
Second, with HAL, you can lift from 2 to 10 times as much, according to the FAQ. Also, the battery life lasts 5 hours, which seems surprisingly long for an exoskeleton of this type. Target capabilities are similar to Raytheon's Sarcos, but that's tethered (for now). Berkeley's exohiker lasts 21 hours, but that's a different type of exoskeleton.
Originally, the price appeared to be around $4200, which would have been amazing, but we don't know for now. It may go up to $20k. Cyberdyne is currently in mass-production, but apparently, from the website, is only selling to Japanese customers (there are plans for expansion though)
Recently (Aug 3rd), Cyberdyne had a demonstration of some company employees walking around using half of the suit:
Credits and more info: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/english/, http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/11/cyberdyne-lets-hal-cyborgs-take-a-stroll-through-tokyo/
I've been pretty hyped up for the Always Innovating Touch Book since I found out about it off http://www.tabletpcreview.com/. It seems like the best design yet in the "cheap tablets" category.Students usually already have a laptop and cell phone. The Touch Book fits the niche right between the two as an all-in-one portable device. The main limitation at this point is the lack of ARM support in software, but this shouldn't be too much of an issue. On the human side, a limitation is tech-savvyness. Compiling software for ARM may be confusing for the average user. Unfortunately, Windows 7 won't be supporting ARM. The other faults may be improved by doing some improvements:
Onoes where's the computer?
Now that we're through with the limitations, here's why the Touchbook is awesome :D
Other Touch Book-like products that I see potential in are the Asus T91 and T101h, Gigabyte T1028, and Intel Classmate. There's also the rumored Mac tablet... The Asus products especially are appealing, since multitouch Windows 7 versions are coming out soon. If you want an informative comparison, look here: http://www.touchbookfans.com/forums/showthread.php?p=414
The T91 - Wait for the multitouch/Windows 7 version
At the moment though, the Touch Book seems to be the best option. Unfortunately. production and shipping seems to be rather problematic (there is a backlog of pre-orders), so if you order now, it may take a while before it arrives. It may be prudent to wait for reviews.
Recently, I found out that my old Chinese School had almost died completely, partly due to this recession. In one year, they lost around 100 students. I used to go every Friday night in the school year. While we had lots of fun, for many, there was little learning going on. Supposedly, we learned the language and culture of Taiwan and China. In actuality, many learned nothing. In the higher grades, apathy spread like a disease. Few people did their homework. People skipped classes and many dropped out altogether. Because teachers didn't like failing students, grade inflation run rampant. A huge gap developed between the students who were doing well and those who weren't...
I'm sorry to say that I was one of the students affected. I believe it started in 9th grade. No one seemed to care (although some undoubtedly did, like the 7th grader in our class).
So what can we do to fix this ongoing situation? I believe reform should begin with the teachers:
I'll share more ideas and student-side issues when I think of them :D
Picture Credit: Anonymous
This is another set of Dad's photos, this time of Cinque Terre in Italy. He took them on the same trip to Barcelona November 2008.
Personally, I think this place is awesome. Wish I were there.
Dad's going to be giving me more photos to put up, so if you like them, stay posted!
Read more...This is to help anyone who might have the same problem diagnose themselves:
I've had patchy skin since I was in jr. high. My skin itched when I got too hot/exercised too much. I looked online and at first thought it could be vitiligo. However, my skin wasn't turning pure white.
Today, I finally went to the dermatologist to get it checked out. Apparently, it's called Tinea Versicolor and is an infection by a common yeast relative, Malassezia globosa. It likes oily skin, and probably because of that, commonly occurs in teenagers.
Well, there's a way to treat it, and it's with an unpleasant-smelling lotion called tersifoam:
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I didn't post any pictures of skin cause honestly, it's not pleasant. But if you want to check, go google it.
P.S. Don't worry, it's not contagious, and everyone has already has small numbers of M. globosa on the skin
Read more...
