Techno

Neural network learns the recorded signal patterns of gestures

Nasa scientists have succeeded in an astonishing experiment. A pilot succeeded for the first time to steer and land a passing airplane without operation of the knob and only with the decrease of the signals of muscle nerves. However, it was not a real aircraft, but only a simulated one.

The pilot wore a bracelet with 8 electrodes to record the nerve signals. The sensors recorded the signals that the muscle neurons produced when the pilot made the appropriate gestures of steering: "In the experiment, a pilot clenches his hand in empty air, makes movements, and thus generates nerve signals that are picked up by dry electrodes on his arm", explains Charles Jorgensen of the Ames Research Center The signals are analyzed and then sent through a computer, allowing the pilot to control the simulated aircraft."

NGOs use the attention of the WTO Ministerial Conference for their content. With "radiohongkong.de" there is even critical video coverage from the scene of the event

High-level delegations from 149 countries are currently negotiating the future of world trade in Hong Kong. The opponents of the WTO negotiations also use the event to convey their view of things. German non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are relying more and more on the Internet for their public relations work this time. Even before the start of the negotiations, an online demonstration was launched. Parallel to the official negotiations, Attac’s Hong Kong weblog provides atmospheric impressions from the world of resistance, and the Evangelical Development Service (EED), together with WEED (World Economy, Ecology Develoment) a "critical channel to the WTO conference": on their Internet homepage www.radiohongkong.The latest reports from Hong Kong can be found on a daily basis.

From a Radio Hong Kong video of a protest event

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Energy and climate newsreel: Of conversion scenarios, drinking water problems, droughts, famine, tropical hurricanes and the long-term consequences of opencast lignite mining

How could the world economy be rebuilt to be climate neutral by 2050?. A comprehensive study commissioned by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris tries to answer this question.

For the time being, data remain more or less protected only if they are not transmitted by radio waves

Earlier in September, the California Senate passed a landmark bill that established broad privacy rules for the use of radio frequency identification devices (RFID). But even though it passed with a large majority, Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign the Identity Information Protection Act. The law included giving citizens control over whether or not information is transmitted from RFID-enabled cards. The access to the data without the knowledge and consent of the citizens would have become in principle a crime punishable by imprisonment for up to five years. In particular, the state’s public institutions were required to inform citizens where exactly reading gates are located and what information is collected with them. And – not unimportant in the land of exorbitant compensation claims – victims of data theft had been able to claim damages from the state.

Arnold Schwarzenegger took it too far, saying the law was "wicked". In his explanatory statement he writes that the restrictions are too broad and will "excessively complicate the numerous useful applications". In addition, the governor pointed out that to date a federal legal regulation for RFID is still pending. Although the Bush administration mandated its use in the Real ID Act, it did not set any technical standards or other rules there. That’s why, he said, it’s possible that California’s regulations could soon contradict a national law.

notes from the enemy of the people

How you would analyze and value the new possibilities of interactive media? Post-communist people tend to see them as instruments of manipulation, in western countries they are valued as means of democratization and individualisation. Lev Manovich proposes a third way of interpretation.

In "Art, Power, and Communication" (RHIZOME DIGEST Alexei Shulgin writes: