Lifeboat Foundation

A new smartphone add-on has been demonstrated to detect cancer with 99% accuracy in the lab. The breakthrough could have significant implications for diagnostic capabilities in remote areas or when limited medical services are available.

Very cool; I do look forward to see where we land in the next 5 years on mobile imaging systems.

Years ago I remember developing software for a mobile blood gas analyzer to help researchers and doctors in some of the world’s most remote locations. And, the technology then did improve survival rates for so many. And, I see advances like this one doing so much for many who do not have access or the luxury of centralize labs, or hospitals, etc.

Continue reading “Now You Can Make Movies of Living Cells With Your Smartphone!” »

CTO Clive Brown announces new Oxford Nanopore sequencing and library prep devices during his keynote address to the company’s user group conference

Stop the presses! Not something we call on a regular bases at FLG towers because, well, our work is largely digital. But when the latest news from Oxford Nanopore landed on our desks this afternoon, this old print journalism adage felt rather apt.

Your daily round-up of some of the other security stories in the news

Groupon grief – was it password reuse?

The Telegraph reports that crooks have hijacked a number of Groupon accounts and used them to purchase expensive items like games consoles, iPhones and holidays. Some victims have suffered thousands of pounds of losses.

Continue reading “News in brief: Groupon grief; Apple encryption delay; post-quantum crypto” »

A column on #transhumanism I did for Flaunt:

Are you ready for the future? A Transhumanist future in which everyone around you—friends, family, and neighbors—has dipped into the cybernetic punch bowl? This is a future of contact lenses that see in the dark, endoskeleton artificial limbs that lift a half-ton, and brain chip implants that read your thoughts and instantly communicate them to others. Sound crazy? Indeed, it does. Nevertheless, it’s coming soon. Very soon. In fact, much of the technology already exists. It’s being sold commercially at your local superstore or being tested in laboratories right now around the world.

We’ve all heard about driverless test cars on the roads and how doctors in France are replacing people’s hearts with permanent robotic ones, but did you know there’s already a multi-billion dollar market for brainwave-reading headsets? Using electroencephalography (EEG) sensors that pick up and monitor brain activity, NeuroSky’s MindWave can attach to Google Glass and allow you to take a picture and post it to Facebook and Twitter just by thinking about it. Other headsets allow you to play video games on your iPhone with only your thoughts as well. In fact, a few months ago, the first mind-to-mind communication took place. A researcher in India projected a thought to a colleague in France, and using their headsets, they understood each other. Telepathy went from science fiction to reality, just like that.

Continue reading “Flaunt Magazine” »

Tune In, Take Control.

With OV, your day becomes more productive, enjoyable, and just a whole lot easier. Use your voice to play a song, order groceries and check the news. Switch seamlessly between the best music and calls, voice commands and real world conversations, without missing a beat and without touching your phone.

Commentary: These envelope-pushing phones will move everyone forward, but it will be years before they’re fully embraced.

Researchers from the Tyndall National Institute in Cork have created micro-structures shaped like small pyramids that can create entangled photons. Does this mean that quantum computers are closer than we realize?

Quantum computers have been the stuff of science fiction for the past few decades. In recent times, quantum computers have slowly become more of a reality with some machines successfully solving real world problems such as games and path finding algorithms.

But why are quantum computers so desired by tech firms and why is there so much research into the field? Silicon has been incredibly loyal to the tech world for the past 50 years, giving us the point contact transistor in 1947. Now, silicon is at the center of technology with computers, tablets, smartphones, the IoT, and even everyday items. In fact, you cannot walk down a city street without being in range of some Wi-Fi network or influence from a small silicon device.

Continue reading “Accessible Photon Emission Could Bring Quantum Computing Out of the Lab” »

New article on immigration and AI in The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/14/donald-tr…automation #future

All of this could be under threat if we are to take some of the comments the Trump campaign made in the run-up to the election at face value. The outspoken candidate claimed that Mark Zuckerberg’s push for specialist H1B visas (the main visa used to hire foreign talent to tech companies) was a threat to jobs for American women and minorities. Meanwhile, Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon suggested that Asians have too much power in Silicon Valley.

About a dozen members of Silicon Valley’s elite – including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg – will meet with Trump in New York. The meeting is likely to provide an opportunity for them to highlight their concerns and priorities with the incoming administration.

Continue reading “Trump to meet tech firms including Apple, Facebook and Google” »