The U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced it is developing a brain interface to inject images directly into the human visual cortex via a “cortical modem” chip implanted in the brain. DARPA announced the project at the Biology Is Technology conference this past week and subsequently in the transhumanist magazine Humanity Plus. DARPA Biological … continue reading
Node.js is moving to an open governance model under the auspices of the newly announced Node.js Foundation. Cloud infrastructure company Joyent, the corporate steward behind the open-source runtime technology, announced the establishment of an independent Node.js Foundation with Fidelity, IBM, Microsoft, PayPal and The Linux Foundation as founding members. Under the open governance model, the … continue reading
Amazon has released version 2.0 of its Ruby SDK for Amazon Web Services, reducing coding complexity with new features, resource interfaces and APIs. Amazon detailed the AWS Ruby SDK 2.0 improvements in a blog post. The features include: Resource interfaces for 7 services Client response stubs Waiters Response paging Improved parameter validation Flexible Gem dependencies … continue reading
IBM has added five new beta services to its Watson Developer Cloud, a cognitive computing platform that has a collection of APIs and SDKs for developers to build applications integrated with the processing capabilities of IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence. Building upon eight existing services, the Watson Developer Cloud’s five new services include speech-to-text translation, text-to-speech … continue reading
Oculus VR, the virtual reality startup acquired by Facebook for US$2 billion, is developing cinematic experiences specifically for its Oculus Rift VR headset. At the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, the new Oculus Story Studio, led by creative director and former Pixar animator Saschka Unseld, premiered its first short film, entitled “Lost.” Unseld, who created … continue reading
IBM has announced that a team of students from the University of Texas at Austin has won first place in the company’s Watson University Competition. The competition was held as part of IBM’s cognitive computing academic initiative to strengthen students’ skills and prepare them for in-demand jobs. “The opportunities to apply Watson are endless,” said … continue reading
Microsoft isn’t happy about Google’s disclosure of a zero-day vulnerability in Windows 8.1, and the company has publicly voiced its displeasure. In a blog post entitled “A Call for Better Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure,” senior director of Microsoft’s Security Response Center Chris Betz admonished Google for disclosing the vulnerability only two days before Microsoft was scheduled … continue reading
This was the last year in which Big Data was an off-the-street term. As the year ended, Hortonworks was preparing to go public, with Cloudera preparing for the same outcome. Big Data will officially transition into being a big business this year. Thus, 2014 was the year when pilot projects went into production, or when … continue reading
In 2014, “mobile” evolved into a more widely unified and interconnected concept. The last several years have seen smartphones, tablets and mobile apps take control of how we consume and compute information, redefining how we communicate with each other. A train with that much momentum doesn’t stop when the market reaches its peak; it barrels … continue reading
IBM has released the IBM Design Language, a shared vocabulary, framework and collection of resources for software design. The IBM Design Language website is a set of living guidelines for IBM’s software product design. The framework encompasses experience, visual, interaction and front-end sections, and the site includes resources such as a type scale calculator, icon … continue reading
iRobot has unveiled a new robot designed for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Based off the company’s Roomba, Create 2 features a preassembled robot platform to give educators, students and developers an affordable source to learn the fundamentals of robotics, computer science and engineering. “As a global leader in robotics technology, iRobot believes … continue reading
Microsoft has laid out plans for the open-source release of .NET Core, and how it fits into .NET 2015 and the company’s overall strategy. .NET Framework program manager Immo Landwerth explained the strategy in a blog post, giving an overview of .NET Core, how it will be released open-source and what role .NET Core will … continue reading
