Interesting work on brain implants by BrianGate

Controlling a cursor on a computer screen to follow an indicated object is now possible. This is a cool feat and perhaps countless who have lost control of their hands either through disease or an injury.
This work was carried out by a group called BrainGate with the one liner, "Turning Thought into Action". It's a group of high profile professionals from different areas that include neurology, engineering, computers, etc. Details of this team here:
http://braingate2.org/researchTeam.asp

They appear to be heavily funded by quite a large number of funding agencies.

This recent work shown in this video is so cool! This present work was related to helping patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).




Read more information here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-29/watch-two-people-with-brain-implants-control-computers-with-their-thoughts

Google launches Nexus phones with latest Operating System

The two phones are manufactured by two different companies but both use the Android Marshmallow OS (Android 6.0).

• Nexus 6P form Huawei ($499)

 

 

 

 

 

• Nexus 5X from LG ($349)

 

Pictures: Copied from Google site.

The main thing is that Android OS has captured the Mobile OS market (phones tablets) and Microsoft Windows 10 has to strive very hard to get there.

The new phones have Android Pay (payment technology) with improved privacy and power saving capabilities. Hey! There is a new personal assistant as well, the Google Now on Tap.

New feature round up:

• Finger print sensor (aka Nexus Imprint); not in the front but on the back
• Cameras: 12.3 Pixel for back facing, for front-facing (5x has 5MP and 6S has 8 MP)
• Processor: 65-bit QUALCOMM
• New input: USB Type-C input for charging and data (new cables! may be)
• Service provider: Project FI wireless service
• Body and display: 6P aluminum and 5.7" and  5X Plastic(?) and 5.2"

 

Apple's banner day at Kahala Mall in Honolulu

New Apple phones went on sale today at the Apple store in Kahala Mall in Honolulu (there are two Apple Stores in Honolulu). I went there a little after 1:00 p.m. The crowd was not more than what is normal for this store. Sales assistants told me there was a crowd in the morning. As most of the people pre-registered there was no queue to buy.

Phones looked real good. I took some pictures using the main camera and sent them to my email address using the phone. They never reached me. Pictures looked gorgeous and with very good resolution on the phone.

I checked out the 3D touch. It's OK and perhaps a little too tough to copy by copy cats but they will find a way. You can set up the camera to take selfies but you need to activate the 'flash' icon before you do. Do not press the camera button too much; it takes a very soft tap to activate the flash. You can feel the flash and the picture get saved. I tried out a couple of loaded apps they all worked faultlessly.

 Here are two shots taken at the store. A bunch of curious people were looking at the cameras:

How long does it take to install Windows 10 on a tablet?

The tablet I have which has Windows 8.1 on it is the Toshiba Encore 2 WT-10A. It is a pretty good tablet and there is a brief review here.

I started installing Windows 10 by clicking the Windows icon (the Windows logo) in the notification area at the bottom of the screen. If you had registered before hand you would have this icon.

The installation started immediately by downloading the required files. This really took long on my Wi-Fi connection and finished after 1:30 hours. Then there was a chekcing phase after which the installation started.
You get a warning that the computer may restart several times during the installation. The installation took something like 45 minutes.

There were no error messages and it was smooth. After the installation an express setting was chosen and there was no need to do anything else. Most of the earlier apps were still there.

Windows 10 looks much better than the Windows 8.1 and Microsoft Edge (ME and not IE) looks nice with all its features. ME is not a browser supported by Google sites.

Here are some screen shots taken during installation with a camera.

 

Get entertrained using this freee iOS app, eBaum's Daily Digest

eBaum Daily Digest promises to put entertainment in the palm of your hand. The app expands pat its popular website with this mobile option. The app is specially designed for iOS platforms.

The highlights as seen on their website are:

- Daily content handpicked by Ebaum’s World's staff
- Visually stunning user interface with simple navigation
- Real-time notifications and alerts for users
- Social component + conversation; fun and fast for users
 The developers are Tel Aviv based PeakApps.
Here is the eBaum World website:

 

Spotting a Hawaiian Monk Seal at Laie

While spending a weekend at Laie beach in Oahu's northern shore we spotted a Hawaiian Monk Seal (endangered species) basking in the sun at the villa's (Tiki Moon Villa) private beach where we were staying.

It was not moving very much keeping to itself but the wild life folks had planted flags on either wide of the sleeping seal to warn visitors not to disturb. After a couple of hours it just slid into the waves and went away to where it came from. Here is video taken by Jannet Lee Jayaram.

The villa we stayed at is opposite the Polynesian Cultural Center separated by the Kamehameha highway. It is in a very convenient location. Bus number 55 takes you to Polynesian Cultural Center or Drive along Kamehameha Driveway and you can reach the beach where you can find the sea lion.

When can you find it? I am not sure on that one, perhaps we got lucky on this day the 18th of September.

Things may change for this area drastically in the future if developers get their projects going. Polynesian Cultural Center itself a highly commercial enterprise and if you expand turtle bay further you may have traffic/environmental problems in addition to other habitat related issues.

Read this interesting article:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jun/19/op/FP706190303.html

Read about Laie, the district where we found the sea lion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laie,_Hawaii

Even if you do not meet the seal the beaches are gorgeous and coast line is terrific.

This one is a must have app on your computer with windows 10

I have been using Notepad for writing notes for a long time. I have neither been attracted to OneNote nor have I found Notepad 8 an attractive substitute for Notepad which remained as Notepad for all versions of Windows. Notepad 8 made its debut in Windows 8, but frankly it was quite bad.

Windows 10 comes, out-of-the box with a program called Windows Journal. This is quite a good one and its presence may not be quite obvious.

Click on All apps and scroll down to letter W. You can see Windows Journal after expanding Windows Accessories (3rd from bottom).

WJ_00

When you click this you will be greeted with a message. The message window is on top of the Windows Journal's default note, Note1 as shown.

WJ_01

You agree to install and click Yes. It might require permission and after which the driver is installed.

WJ_02

It is now ready to use. You can insert text (after clicking Insert | Textbox) and start typing in the box. You can format it anyway you want, size, font, color etc. You can insert an image from your computer or you can sketch out something with the minimalist drawing tools. Here is an example of what I did.

WJ_03

You can save it and it gets saved to the Notes folder as shown. Of course you can choose another location.

WJ-04

You an also send it over to someone by email as, a journal note (opened by Windows Journal of the receiver);a web page (,mht) that you cannot edit; or a black and white image(.tiff)

Do not forget to check out the Help menu item.

I think this is a cool tool since Notepad was lacking in some many features and MS Word had too many less used features.