overeduc8ed - Slashdot User

Comment Um, sorry, not "brainwaves" (Score 2, Insightful) 119

by overeduc8ed on Thursday October 09, 2008 @10:29AM (#25311269) Attached to: Brainwave Controlled Game From Square Enix

Sorry their device probably does not measure brainwaves. A single electrode on the forehead would measure only forehead muscle activity (EMG) and eye movements (EOG), but not brainwave activity (EEG). The developers are basically banking that you wrinkle your forehead when you "concentrate". As an aside, EMG is really easy to record, while EEG is much more complicated and not well-suited to a consumer device.

I hope it's the marketing department BS and not the inventors who are misrepresenting their product.

[I am a professional EEG researcher.]

Submission + - Google Algorithm to Search Out Hospital Superbugs 1

Submitted by

Googling Yourself

on Friday January 04, 2008 @10:45AM

Googling Yourself writes: "Researchers in the UK plan to use Google's PageRank algorithm to find how super-bugs like MRSA spread in a hospital setting. Previous studies have discovered how particular objects, like doctors' neckties, can harbor infection, but little is known about the network routes by which bugs spread. Mathematician Simon Shepherd plans to build a matrix describing all interactions between people and objects in a hospital ward, based on observing normal daily activity. "Obviously nurses move among patients and that can spread infection, but they also touch light switches and lots of other surfaces too," says Shepard., "If you observe a network of all those interactions you can build a matrix of which nodes in the network are in contact with which other nodes." Combining that information with the strength of different interactions within a ward makes it possible to calculate which ties to cut — by, perhaps, tougher cleaning — to maximally disrupt the network and cut infections. "Ultimately, we would like to produce a software tool so managers of wards can carry out the analysis for themselves," says Shepherd."

Submission + - Is Apple Killing Linux on the Desktop 1

Submitted by

Domains May Disappear

on Friday January 04, 2008 @10:24AM

Domains May Disappear writes: "Chris Howard has an interesting commentary at Apple Matters on recent trends in OS market share that says that while OS X has seen continual growth, from 4.21% in Jan 2006 to 7.31% in December 2007 at the same time, Linux's percentage has risen from only 0.29% to 0.63%. The reasons? "Apple has Microsoft Office, Linux doesn't; Apple has Adobe Creative Suite, Linux doesn't; Apple has easily accessed and easy to use service and support, Linux doesn't; Apple is driven by someone who has some understanding of end-user needs, Linux is not," says Howard. "Early in the decade it seemed that if you wanted a Windows alternative, Linux was it. Nowadays, an Apple Mac is undoubtedly the alternative and, with its resurgence and its Intel base, a very viable one.""

Slashdot Top Deals