The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

fMRI Reads the Images in Your Brain – We Know What You’re Looking At

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by Aaron Saenz on March 17th, 2010
fmri-reads-your-brain

Inside this fMRI machine a test subject in Kyoto is having his mind read to determine which image he sees.

If you had to nominate one modern technology as a mind reading device, the fMRI looks like a good bet. By measuring blood flow fMRI can track activity in your brain, and this opens the window to your mind – it may even allow us to figure out what your eyes are seeing at any given moment. The ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan is able to show a geometric pattern to a test subject and then have a computer program recreate that image by analyzing brain activity gathered by fMRI (NIPS 2009). Scientists at UC Berkeley have used fMRI to study the visual cortex to encode images as brain activity and decode brain activity into images. In other words, for a given image they know how your brain will react, and for a given brain reaction they know the image that would cause it. Researchers at UCB have even managed to do the same with video – their decoding system can create a rough facsimile of what a subject was watching at the time. This is incredible! I had a chance to talk with Jack Gallant of UC Berkeley about these attempts to see what the brain sees. While this technology is still in its very early stages, the work already finished is truly astounding. Check out a video discussing ATR, and pics of research from UCB after the break.

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Thinking Surveillance System, Vitamin D Video, Now For Sale

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by Aaron Saenz on February 8th, 2010
vitamin d video surveillance software

Vitamin D Video is out of beta and ready to purchase. Better still, the most basic package is free!

Ground breaking surveillance software, Vitamin D Video, is now available for sale at an impressively low price. I had a chance to review the program’s impressive object recognition and recording capabilities when I covered the beta launch a few months ago. This is a really cool application of limited artificial intelligence. Vitamin D Video uses algorithms based on human brain activity to quickly identify objects in a video feed. By setting the controls, you can specify events that will trigger a recording, an email alert, or an audio notice. Vitamin D not only acts like an electronic watchdog for your camera, it can take hours of monotonous footage and reduce it down to a highlight reel you want to watch. During the beta, testers used the program for some really cool applications you can read about on the VDV site. Interested in getting a copy for yourself? It’s free if you only want to use it on one camera. Two cameras and you’ll have to pay $50. Or you can pay $200 and use as many cameras as you like from one computer. That cheap price tag could launch Vitamin D Video to dominate the small business and home market. Catch a new demo video of the program below.

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Recording the Entire Life of an Animal

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by Aaron Saenz on February 2nd, 2010
c. elegans worm

Work at Harvard University will allow scientists to observe the entire lifespan of worms. Humans could be in the far future.

The lessons of a lifetime are powerful, even if that life belongs to a worm. Harvard scientists have developed a microfluidics system so that they can observe the entire lifespan of minute water born animals . These researchers hope their observation will provide important insight into the effects of aging, and diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. According to a paper published on RSC, the microfluidics system allows the Caenorhabditis elegans worms to move as normal without leaving the field of view of cameras and microscopes. Their microfludic cells are sort of the worm equivalent of virtual reality treadmills. Food (in the form of bacteria) comes in, waste is removed, and the worm can swim around. There’s even a special suction system (developed by other teams) to temporarily secure the C. elegans and facilitate close observation or laser microsurgery. The microfluidics system has many different chambers so that a large number of worms can be observed while still tracking the individual identity of each one. In short, Harvard’s created a means to completely observe the entire life of an animal, and it may lead to some remarkable insights in biology.

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Sorry China, No More ‘Sexting’

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by Aaron Saenz on January 27th, 2010
china restricts and monitors text

China requires its mobile phone companies to report on "criminal activity" including lewd txts.

Censorship in China just got a little kinky. Chinese mobile phone users wanting to send that special someone a scandalous text message should think twice. According to the Telegraph, China’s two largest mobile phone companies (China Mobile and China Unicom) are complying with police demands to report any and all text messages that contain illegal activity. While this is ostensibly to help combat violent crime and terrorism, pornography and “inapropriate messages” are also included. China Mobile alone has 500+ million customers and handles 1.7+ billion text messages a day. Accordingly, the telecom companies are using software filters to automatically block a users text service once it detects a risque message. The same would happen for texts which indicated a terrorist activity or other crime. The sheer scope of this censorship is daunting and its extension into sexting is alarming. China is monitoring billions of texts every day for criminal activity…and the definition of “criminal” is loose enough to be terrifying.

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Check Your Date Before You Mate – iPhone Has an App for That

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by Aaron Saenz on January 13th, 2010
date check from intelius

Ignore the catch line. Intelius has far bigger goals than just a dating App.

Maybe you’ve dated someone you shouldn’t have. Sometimes that means getting bored or a little inconvenienced. For a friend of mine that meant being lied to by a con-artist for months in his elaborate ruse to get money. It’s a tough world out there so information snooping website Intelius is offering Date Check, a new sort of free App for your iPhone, Android, or (soon) BlackBerry. Using just an email address or phone number, Date Check lets you search for someone’s criminal record, investigate their living situation, scan through their social networking, and browse other public information. It’s the online equivalent of a full body frisk. Maybe not the most romantic thing to do to someone you’re hoping to have a nice meal with, but it could be helpful to people hoping to avoid being conned. Check out the video from Intelius after the break.

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Watch the Watchmen With Anti-Spy Camera Technologies

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by Aaron Saenz on January 8th, 2010
$333 for a wireless camera detector? Privacy doens't come cheap.

$333 for a wireless camera detector? Privacy doens't come cheap.

If the growing capabilities of surveillance technology has you feeling paranoid, don’t worry. There are dozens of companies out there ready to sell you nifty gadgets that just might keep others from spying on you. Or, at least, let you know when they are.

Cameras are getting smaller, and it’s a simple thing these days to set up a wireless camera to transmit images to a distant receiver. Luckily for the privacy advocate, you can buy an anti-spy camera scanner that will alert you to the presence of wireless camera signals and help you locate them. Gadget Brando is selling one for $333 that has a small TFT LCD screen (2.3in), covers a broad spectrum of frequencies (900-2700 MHz), and handles all the popular signal systems (PAL, NTSC, CCIR, EIA). It can even run for 3.5 hours on a single set of AA batteries.

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Facial Recognition Door Lock and Time Clock for Less than $500

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by Aaron Saenz on December 29th, 2009
Forgot to punch your time clock? Don't worry, your face did it for you.

Forgot to punch your time clock? Don't worry, your face did it for you.

Ditch the keys and throw away the time cards, now all you need is your face. Wholesale electronics giant Chinavision is offering a facial recognition door lock for around $465. The device uses two night vision equipped cameras to recognize up to 500 faces from 2D photographs, and transmit information via USB or ethernet port. Once it recognizes someone the facial recognition system can unlock a door and/or record the arrival of an individual (up to 150,000 such records can be stored). Chinavision is promoting the device as a replacement for time clocks at businesses, able to record access to restricted areas or keep track of employee attendance. It’s not clear how easy it is to defeat this device, so I wouldn’t wire it to your front door just yet. Still, if cheap facial recognition proves itself, we could see it replacing traditional locks in the year ahead. Check out more photos of the facial recognition door lock after the break.

Facial Recognition (FR) technology is already in use in government run security checks. While FR seems well suited to surveillance and restricting access, we’ve also recently seen it gain popularity on Facebook as a way to augment social networking. Right now, I certainly trust it more in the latter than I do the former. FR checks are only as good as the original images with which they are calibrated. London airports (and others) are often comparing against passport photos. The device from Chinavision also uses 2D images. While using two cameras and applying some careful stereography will keep FR from being tricked by a photo cut out from a magazine, the technique is far from fool proof. If facial recognition gains popularity, we may see a push for ID cards to contain 3D scans of our features to provide extra security. Still, while humans naturally focus on faces, other biometrics (finger prints, ear scans) may be a better avenue for tracking our identity. It’s still unclear which kinds of scans, or combinations of them, will form the security check of the future, but you can bet it will involve using your body as its own ID. Carrying around strangely shaped pieces of metal can’t last forever.

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SAMURAI Project – Smart CCTV Security (Video)

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by Aaron Saenz on December 23rd, 2009

The eye-in-the-sky is about to get a brain. Researchers led by Professor Shaogang (Sean) Gong at Queen Mary University of London are developing a system to enhance the capabilities of CCTV. Termed the Samurai Project, and funded under the auspices of the EC, the new program would detect suspicious behavior in real time by monitoring a vast network of cameras. Feedback from system operators would help Samurai determine which behavior was abnormal, and which acceptable. The software is capable of tracking objects and people across several different camera views even under lighting changes (as when someone moves indoors). If ultimately successful, the project will go a long way to improving the usefulness of CCTV networks, allowing for intelligent, adaptive, and fast security surveillance. Check out the brief video from New Scientist after the break.
samurai-project
Samurai is indicative of a wider trend towards intelligent surveillance. Project Indect (funded by the EU) is looking to pour over online digital information, and software like Vitamin D Video is bringing smart video filtering to the private sector. We are likely to see a marked improvement in what passive elements, like cameras, are capable of when guided by learning software. In the short term this could mean the UK could get better use out of its nationwide (but London focused) CCTV system. Over the next few years transportation hubs, military bases, and other government run facilities will have the means to secure themselves against terrorist attacks. Just as importantly, intelligent software packages are likely to provide measured response suggestions for security personnel, so that someone suspected of graffiti wouldn’t be targeted in the same way as someone suspected of planting an improvised explosive device. Eventually, smart surveillance could allow those behind the cameras unprecedented insight into what all of us are doing, and possibly thinking.

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Facial Recognition on Facebook (Video)

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by Aaron Saenz on December 22nd, 2009

I met somebody who looks just like you. And someone who looks just like me. And someone who looks just like our friend…

A new application on Facebook lets you find your doppleganger. Thanks, Coke!

A new application on Facebook lets you find your doppelganger. Thanks, Coke!

As a means of promoting Coke Zero, the Coca Cola company hired ad firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky (CPB Group) to produce the next hot Facebook application. The Coke Zero Facial Profiler scans uploaded pictures with facial recognition software to find someone who looks like you, but isn’t. While it doesn’t do much besides play facial matchmaker, the application is being toted by CPB as an experiment in social networking, and I have to admit that it’s a great way to waste some time. Still, is it curiosity or just narcissism if you want to meet someone who looks like yourself? Check out the commercial for the Facial Profiler after the break and decide for yourself.

Typical facial recognition (FR) software uses key indicators on your face (nose width, eye spacing, etc) to create a dynamic profile of your features. The Coke version likely runs on the same sort of algorithms that protect Heathrow airport, and are becoming more common in security check points around the world. It says something about the advancement of this technology that it is now available as an advertising gimmick on Facebook. As trivial as the application may be, even this version of FR has a limited learning ability to better help it pair one face to another. Eventually higher resolution cameras and better artificial intelligence may allow FR to replace many uses of identification cards . In the next decade FR may synchronize with multimedia digital mobile interfaces to provide us with augmented reality information about the people we meet. The real world could become a physical version of Facebook.

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Broadcast Streaming Video – iPhone Finally Has an App for That

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by Aaron Saenz on December 21st, 2009
Ustream Live Broadcaster is the first such app approved for sale at the App store.

Ustream Live Broadcaster is available for free at the App store.

Technology is turning us all into miniature media moguls. For those that want to share moments of their lives as they happen, recording video and uploading it later is simply too slow of a process. They need streaming video and they need it know. Luckily iPhone can finally help them out. While Ustream has had a broadcast streaming video application for Nokia and Android phones for months, the iPhone version just came out earlier in December. With Ustream Live Broadcaster, users can upload and record live video to the web, alert their social networks (via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube), and archive their work for later. Best yet, Ustream offers the application for free.

There are other live video phone applications. Qik is available on many phone platforms, and can be used on the iPhone, but only if you hack it. Knocking Live Video will share streaming video, but only between one mobile and another. Ustream is the first one to many broadcasting iPhone App approved by Apple, which means it’s the first that is likely to dominate the market. That market is set to increase in the years to come. Already we’ve seen how life recording and other extreme sharing concepts are gaining ground, it’s probably only a matter of time before broadcasting events is as popular as texting about them on Facebook and Twitter. I wonder how the next generation’s concepts about privacy will change with this new technology. A new sense of what is private is bound to shape everything from job hunting to airport screening. It’s going to get harder to tell governments, and employers, they can’t hunt for information when we’re all sharing it freely online.

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GINA Makes Genetic Discrimination Illegal In US

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by Steven Wasick on December 16th, 2009
Did we dodge a bullet?

Did we dodge a bullet?

Craig Venter was the first person to ever publish his genome, and while he may have had some worries before exposing his DNA to the world, getting fired was not one of them. Now, the rest of us can relax as well. The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) has recently been implemented to prevent employers from discriminating based on genetic information. This reform goes a long way towards eliminating this new form of prejudice, but there are gaps and ambiguities in what it protects, and questions about how it will hold up in the future.

First, the basics: GINA passed almost unanimously out of congress and was signed by President Bush in May of 2008. Regulations preventing health insurance discrimination have been phasing in since May of this year. The law applies to all health policies, except those for long term care, and also exempts life insurance, despite the fact that genetic discrimination for life insurance has been banned in both the U.K. and Australia.

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Dragon Dictation, Voice Recognition Comes to the iPhone for Free (Video)

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by Aaron Saenz on December 14th, 2009

Can’t afford a stenographer? Well now iPhone has an App for that. Nuance, the creators of the successful Dragon Naturally Speaking dictation software have expanded into mobile service. Dragon Dictation is now available for free on the App store and it brings all of the high quality speech recognition you’d expect from Nuance and puts it in the palm of your hand. Dictations up to 30 minutes can be converted to writing and then emailed, texted, or copied to the clipboard for later use. Check out the demo video from Nuance after the break.

Dragon Dictation lets you record up to 30 minutes of text, edit it, then send it via SMS, email, or your iPhone's clipboard.

Dragon Dictation lets you record speech, edit , and send via SMS, email, or clipboard.

Dragon Dictation has most of the features you’d want in a speech to text App. It allows you to edit converted text easily. It let’s you cut and paste text into other Apps. It can’t directly interact with other applications, but that’s Apple’s fault (damn the ‘no Apps running in the background’ restriction). DD is also fairly quick. Wifi connections allow for text conversions to happen in a second or less. 3G connections bring that time up to around three seconds or so (depending on connection). As speech recognition technology improves further it’s going to become even more universal. The new 3GS iPhone has voice command capabilities and Nuance provides the voice command routines for the Samsung Rogue (see the second video below). We’re likely to see the smart phones of the future run on a combination of touch, talk, and physical movement.

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