Today’s Tech Sightings:
New Kinect Controller Could Be a Game-Changer for Parkinson’s Patients
Dr. Konstantinos Banitsas and PhD candidate Amin Amini Maghsoud Bigy of Brunel University London have altered the Kinect game controller to help Parkinson’s patients counter some of the symptoms of the disease. The scientists developed a system that connects Kinect to a ceiling laser that helps patients suffering from freezing of gait (FOG) and automatically triggers a video conference call should they fall.
New IBM Chip Swaps Uses Pulses of Light to Transfer Data
IBM’s new silicon photonics chip, which took nearly a decade to research, uses pulses of light over a distance of two kilometers to transfer data at aggregate speeds of 100Gbps (Gigabits per second) – a development that could spell the end of slower electrical wiring.
Apple Aiming to Go All Green in China Manufacturing
Apple is planning to run its entire China business on renewable energy. While no time frame has been provided, the company acknowledged in an announcement Monday that it will take time to convert its manufacturing partners in China to renewable energy,
3 SciFi Technologies That Are About to Get Amazingly Real
The rate of technological advancement has been stunning, to say the least, with some innovations evoking images right out of science fiction novels. Along those lines, writer Rob Enderle features three technologies with the potential to bring the world of science fiction even closer to reality.
Web Usage Doubles in a Decade With Tablets, Smartphones
According to Ofcom’s Media Use and Attributes Report, weekly Internet usage among 16-24-year-olds in Britain almost tripled in the decade prior to 2014 from 10 hours and 24 minutes in 2005 to 27 hours and 36 minutes. Last year, the average Internet user spent more than three and a half hours longer online every week than in 2013:
Worker Fired for Disabling GPS App that Tracked Her 24 Hours a Day
A California woman claiming she was fired after she removed from the company phone an app that let her employer track her every movement at all times – including when off-duty, is suing the company for privacy violations, retaliation, and a host of other reasons.
Virtual-Reality Theme Park Blurs Lines Between Digital and Physical
It’s called “The Void.” And it is a virtual reality theme park that is expected to launch in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2016.The park is looking to make visitors feel like they are in the middle of a video game, exploring tombs and ruins and taking in all the ambiance that a video game typically has.
