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

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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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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Sensor Sensibility: New Information from Toumaz CEO

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by Aaron Saenz on July 13th, 2009

It’s time to let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. For anyone who has visited the hospital recently, medical sensors should be familiar to you. Little sticky pads for ECG and EEG, thermometers, biochemical monitors…there a thousand things doctors can stick on or in you. Up to now, the data from each sensor was collected separately, transmitted separately, and often analyzed separately. The correlation between activities in your heart, head, and hands was largely absent. Until now.

Toumaz's Sensium is a new way to collect, analyze, and transmit data from body sensors.

Toumaz's Sensium is a new way to collect, analyze, and transmit data from body sensors.

Britain’s Toumaz Technology has developed Sensium, a device that allows data collected from various sensors on your body to be collected, processed, and transmitted via wireless signals in a single network. They don’t make the sensors, but they allow you to synchronize the signal from each one. That’s a key ingredient in getting better care. It also has huge applications in sports and fitness. A small Belgian company working with an Italian football club (read here: soccer) has been using earlier generation bulky devices to record the timing of their players movement, stress levels, and other factors. With their own algorithms they are able to predict the mental state of their players. They are now looking to use Sensium to bring a non-intrusive, real-time element to this technique. Knowing the precise time and way to field players could be a winning edge.

Singularity Hub was impressed with Toumaz Technology before, so much so that we hunted down its CEO, Keith Errey, for an exclusive phone interview. From that conversation we were able to get some great insights into how the company will change the way that we monitor our health. Hear about the exciting new information after the break.

“There is a whole new set of things that are gonna be understood and [help us] learn about how we actually are and operate and respond as physical beings.” — Keith Errey June 30, 2009

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The eScale: Broadcast your Weight to the World

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by Aaron Saenz on July 8th, 2009

The eScale will send your weight via cell phone signal to the Internet. Better start working out!

The eScale will send your weight via cell phone signal to the Internet. Better start working out!

If Reality TV has taught us anything about weight loss it’s that the more people who are watching you, the quicker you’ll drop the pounds. Social pressure is a key ingredient in the eScale from Body Trace. This bathroom scale comes equipped with a modified cell phone module allowing it to broadcast your weight to a Body Trace “motivational webpage.” There you, or your avatar, can display the fluctuations in your weight with all the pride or shame that you want. Along with a calorie calculator, BMI graph, and health tips, the Body Trace motivational page allows you to connect with friends and strangers to share in your experience. It’s social networking meets weight loss obsession.

This isn’t the first web-based weight loss device Singularity Hub has seen. There are smart toilets that will analyze your weight as you pee, as well as analyze it for your doctor. There are big differences with Body Trace, however. First, the eScale has a GSM network module, so it connects directly to the Body Trace server straight out of the box. No WiFi or other setup necessary. You just pop in the batteries (six D-cells included) and step on the eScale. It’s that simple. Second, Body Trace is really pushing the networking aspects of their motivational page. Looking at the screen shot, I am reminded of Facebook’s wall interface. It’s a nice concept, and I have no doubt that being able to share the weight loss struggle will really help some people achieve their goals.

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