Today’s Tech Sightings: Russia Plans National OS to Escape Android, iOS Dependence Russia’s Minister of Communication Nikolai Nikiforov announced that the country will develop a national operating system based on open source mobile operating system Sailfish. The intent is to slash dependence by half on the Android and iOS mobile operating systems by 2025. Digital […]
Smartphones Detect Cancer; Venom Fixed; Apple Watch Flaw
Posted May 14th, 2015 at 2:47 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Smartphones Can Detect Eye Cancer Believe it or not, smartphones can actually diagnose Retinoblastoma, a rare type of aggressive eye cancer that develops as a tumor in the retina and almost exclusively affects children. Those suffering from this disease often have a white glow around their pupils that shows up when photographed with […]
Hacking to Aid Nepal; ‘Venom’ Bug; Unforgettable Searches; ‘Bleep’ Goes Live
Posted May 13th, 2015 at 2:46 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: Nepal’s Aid System Is Broken. So These Lifesavers Hacked It As Nepal’s government and NGOs struggle to cope with the devastation of the country’s second major earthquake in less than a month, a group of young people armed with Facebook, open source mapping technology and a lot of nerve have come together […]
Kinect for Parkinson’s; IBM’s ‘Light’ Chip; Privacy; VR
Posted May 12th, 2015 at 2:06 pm (UTC-4)
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 […]
FINDER Saves Lives in Nepal; Tech Diversity; Brain Spying; Iran’s Bieber Headache
Posted May 7th, 2015 at 2:05 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: New Device That Detects Heartbeats Saves 4 Lives in Nepal Prototype devices provided by NASA – called FINDER or Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response, have located four people trapped under the rubble of Nepal’s devastating April 25 earthquake. Using microwave radar that specifically zeros in on human heartbeats, FINDER devices […]
Watson Joins Cancer Fight; Tech Diversity; Linux Malware, Patch Tuesday
Posted May 6th, 2015 at 2:04 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: How IBM Watson Will Change the Fight Against Cancer IBM has announced a new Watson Genomics initiative that will allow clinicians to use the supercomputer’s data-crunching capabilities to sequence the genomes of cancerous tumors and then access relevant medical and treatment data to make appropriate recommendations to their patients. IBM’s Watson is […]
Reinventing Desktop PCs; New GPS; Rombertik; Smart Luggage
Posted May 5th, 2015 at 2:39 pm (UTC-4)
Today’s Tech Sightings: A Desktop Computer for Developing Countries? Mobile devices are prevalent in developing countries, particularly in remote areas with poor infrastructure and regions where power supplies are unpredictable. But the CEO of Endless Computers, Matt Dalio, has come up with a $169 desktop PC for emerging markets, equipped with app-based software and hardware […]
Nepal Internet Recovering, but Long Road Ahead
Posted May 1st, 2015 at 2:37 pm (UTC-4)
Internet traffic to Nepal has slowly picked up since a massive April 25 earthquake killed more than 7,800 people and partially knocked out Internet connectivity, leaving people in the disaster zone unable to access web and mobile tools designed to help them connect with loved ones. “They’re not back at pre-quake levels yet,” said David […]