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======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Mass Psychosis In the USA?
* Lennart Poettering: BSD Isn't Relevant Anymore
* Belgian Newspapers Delisted On Google
* Firefox Is Going 64-Bit: What You Need To Know
* Study Shows Programmers Get Better With Age
* HTC Infringed Apple Patents, Says ITC's Initial Determination
* Police Increasingly Looking To Smartphones For Evidence
* Customer Asks For Itemized Bill, Verizon Tells Her To Get a Subpoena
* Judge Says You Can't Know If Google Spies For NSA
* How Education Is Changing Thanks To Khan Academy
* UK Developers Quit US App Store Over Patent Fears
* Scientists Derive Gelatin From Human Tissue
* Japanese Military Invents Tumbling, Flying Sphere
* Google Launches News Badges
* A High-Bandwidth Interplanetary Connection
* Online Collaboration Helps Mumbai Attack Victims
* Robot Helps Quadriplegic Scratch an Itch
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Mass Psychosis In the USA?
| from the don't-actually-want-to-be-sedated dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday July 16, @08:17 (Medicine)
| with 431 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/036230/Mass-Psychosis-In-the-USA?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Hugh Pickens writes "James Ridgeway writes in Al Jazeera that with
over $14 billion in sales in 2008, antipsychotics have become the
[1]single top-selling therapeutic class of prescription drugs in the
U.S., surpassing drugs used to treat high cholesterol and acid reflux.
While once upon a time, antipsychotics were reserved for a relatively
small number of patients with hard-core psychiatric diagnoses, today it
seems, everyone is taking antipsychotics. 'Parents are told that their
unruly kids are in fact bipolar, and in need of anti-psychotics, while
old people with dementia are dosed, in large numbers, with drugs once
reserved largely for schizophrenics,' writes Ridgeway. 'Americans with
symptoms ranging from chronic depression to anxiety to insomnia are now
being prescribed anti-psychotics at rates that seem to indicate a
national mass psychosis.' By now, just about everyone knows how the
[2]drug industry works to influence the minds of American doctors, plying
them with gifts, junkets, ego-tripping awards, and research funding in
exchange for endorsing or prescribing the latest and most lucrative
drugs. According to Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England
Journal of Medicine, under the tutelage of Big Pharma, we are 'simply
[3]expanding the criteria for mental illness so that nearly everyone has
one.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/036230/Mass-Psychosis-In-the-USA?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://hughpickens.com/
1. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/20117313948379987.html
2. http://unsilentgeneration.com/2009/04/06/big-pharma-psychs-out-the-shrinks/
3. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/epidemic-mental-illness-why/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Lennart Poettering: BSD Isn't Relevant Anymore
| from the fightin'-words dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday July 15, @22:14 (Debian)
| with 379 comments
| https://bsd.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0020243/Lennart-Poettering-BSD-Isnt-Relevant-Anymore?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
halfaperson writes "In an interview with LinuxFr.org, [0]Lennart
Poettering speaks freely about his creations, PulseAudio, Avahi and
systemd among other things. Naturally, what has [1]stirred up most of the
discussions online is Lennart's opinions on BSD. Following the recent
proposal to make [2]Gnome a Linux-exclusive desktop, Lennart explains
that he thinks BSD support is holding back a lot of Free Software
development. He says this while also taking a stab at Debian kFreeBSD:
'Debian kFreeBSD is a toy OS, people really shouldn't misunderstand
that.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://bsd.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0020243/Lennart-Poettering-BSD-Isnt-Relevant-Anymore?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://linuxfr.org/nodes/86687/comments/1249943
1. http://lwn.net/Articles/450299/
2. http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/05/19/1512246/Proposal-For-Gnome-To-Become-Linux-Only
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Belgian Newspapers Delisted On Google
| from the you-will-not-be-assimilated dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday July 16, @03:57 (Google)
| with 361 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0028255/Belgian-Newspapers-Delisted-On-Google?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D H NG writes "After being [0]ordered by the Belgian courts to 'remove
from its Google.be and Google.com sites, and in particular, cached links
visible on Google Web and the Google News service, all articles,
photographs and graphics of daily newspapers published in French and
German by Belgian publishers,' Google had [1]removed all traces of the
newspapers in question from all its search services. The newspapers,
however, are crying foul, and alleged that it was done in retaliation for
being sued for copyright violations."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0028255/Belgian-Newspapers-Delisted-On-Google?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/story/06/09/18/115203/Google-News-Removes-Belgian-Newspaper
1. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jj9ad340cxT7i1ADyPk_ksWRtLgQ?docId=79891bacb5a84c068862fba59868b1d6
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Firefox Is Going 64-Bit: What You Need To Know
| from the hands-extended-and-upturned dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @13:50 (Firefox)
| with 285 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1724256/Firefox-Is-Going-64-Bit-What-You-Need-To-Know?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Firefox product manager Asa Dotzler
determined that figuring out the 64-bit confusion surrounding Firefox it
will be 'near the top' of his to-do list this summer and fall. One could
conclude that Mozilla has no idea at this point what people are expecting
from a 64-bit version of Firefox, so [0]Dotzler is asking for some
feedback. More speed? More security? What about plug-in availability?
[1]All of the above, please."
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1724256/Firefox-Is-Going-64-Bit-What-You-Need-To-Know?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2011/07/questions_about_64bi.html
1. http://www.conceivablytech.com/8455/products/firefox-is-going-64-bit-what-you-need-to-know
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Study Shows Programmers Get Better With Age
| from the practice-makes-perfect dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @16:09 (Programming)
| with 233 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1736226/Study-Shows-Programmers-Get-Better-With-Age?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mikejuk writes "It's a prejudice the young and old both share, but with
opposite conclusions, of course. Young is best or old is best ��� most have
an opinion. Now we have some interesting statistics [0]ingeniously
gathered and processed by Peter Knego, 'big data' style, that [1]'proves'
older is better when it comes to programming, at least!"
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1736226/Study-Shows-Programmers-Get-Better-With-Age?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://coding-and-more.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-official-developers-get-better-with.html
1. http://www.i-programmer.info/news/150-training-a-education/2741-older-programmers-are-better.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| HTC Infringed Apple Patents, Says ITC's Initial Determination
| from the why-rent-seekers-do-it dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday July 16, @01:09 (Android)
| with 210 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0222241/HTC-Infringed-Apple-Patents-Says-ITCs-Initial-Determination?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]CWmike writes "A judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission has
made an [1]initial determination that HTC infringed two Apple patents,
HTC said late Friday. If the judgment is made final, HTC could be banned
from importing phones to the U.S. It's the latest blow to Google's
Android operating system, which is being attacked by competitors
including Apple, Microsoft and Oracle. The initial determination will now
be reviewed by a larger panel of ITC judges, who can uphold or reject it.
The two patents appear to be fundamental to Android, according to Florian
Mueller, a patent expert. 'They are very likely to be infringed by code
that is at the core of Android,' [2]he wrote in a blog post. The same
patents are also at the heart of a [3]dispute between Apple and Motorola,
he said."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0222241/HTC-Infringed-Apple-Patents-Says-ITCs-Initial-Determination?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://twitter.com/mikeatcw
1. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218465/HTC_loses_ITC_patent_ruling_in_Apple_tussle
2. http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/07/itc-judge-finds-htc-in-infringement-of.html
3. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9194138/Apple_sues_Motorola_over_patents_in_mobile_phones
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Police Increasingly Looking To Smartphones For Evidence
| from the big-brother-fits-in-your-pocket dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @11:36 (Crime)
| with 185 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/159229/Police-Increasingly-Looking-To-Smartphones-For-Evidence?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]Barence writes "Your [1]smartphone could place you at the scene of a
crime, destroy an alibi or maybe even provide one ��� which is why one of
the first things police now do at the scene of a crime is take away a
suspect's cellphone. This look into smartphone forensics reveals how even
wiping incriminating data from iPhones isn't enough to get criminals off
the hook. 'If you're looking at your email messages and you rotate the
phone, there's a snapshot of that message,' said Phil Ridley, a mobile
phone analyst with CCL-Forensics. And what people leave on their phones
is horrific. 'We were contacted by police who couldn't get a video to
work on a handset ��� it turned out to be a bloke beheading someone in his
garage,' claimed another forensics expert."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/159229/Police-Increasingly-Looking-To-Smartphones-For-Evidence?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
1. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/368674/csi-smartphone
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Customer Asks For Itemized Bill, Verizon Tells Her To Get a Subpoena
| from the customer-is-always-right-when-backed-by-a-court-of-law dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @18:18 (Cellphones)
| with 183 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/204218/Customer-Asks-For-Itemized-Bill-Verizon-Tells-Her-To-Get-a-Subpoena?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
suraj.sun writes with this quote from an article at Techdirt: "A woman,
who called Verizon to try to find out about the $4.19 she was being
charged for six local calls, was told by Verizon reps that the only way
it would provide her an itemized bill was to [0]get a lawyer and have the
lawyer get a subpoena to force Verizon to disclose the information.
Instead, the woman went to court (by herself) and [1]a judge told Verizon
(.docx) to [2]hand over the itemized bill info. 'It is a basic matter of
fair business practice that a consumer should be able to contact a
utility about a charge on a bill and learn what the charge is for and
learn that the charge was correctly applied. The only verification that
Verizon's witness could offer that a charge like [the customer's] $4.19
measured use charge was accurate and billed correctly was her faith in
the accuracy of Verizon's computer system. The only way that Verizon
would offer any information about a past charge in response to a consumer
inquiry was to require that customer to hire a lawyer and subpoena their
own usage information. By no reasonable standard could this be considered
reasonable customer service."
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/204218/Customer-Asks-For-Itemized-Bill-Verizon-Tells-Her-To-Get-a-Subpoena?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20110715/02212815101/verizon-tells-customer-to-get-lawyer-subpoena-to-get-itemized-bill.shtml
1. http://www.puc.state.pa.us/pcdocs/1138012.docx
2. http://www.philly.com/philly/business/Montco-woman-wins-victory-over-Verizon.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Judge Says You Can't Know If Google Spies For NSA
| from the all-fibers-lead-to-maryland dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday July 16, @06:46 (Google)
| with 180 comments
| https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0540244/Judge-Says-You-Cant-Know-If-Google-Spies-For-NSA?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
witherstaff writes "A federal judge has ordered that whether Google is
spying for the National Security Agency or not, [0]you have no right to
know. EPIC, which brought the lawsuit, says [1]the NSA can neither
confirm nor deny any relationship with Google. EPIC is worried the 'NSA
is developing technical standards that would enable greater surveillance
of Internet users.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0540244/Judge-Says-You-Cant-Know-If-Google-Spies-For-NSA?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/07/14/38157.htm
1. http://epic.org/2011/07/epic-v-nsa-agency-can-neither.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| How Education Is Changing Thanks To Khan Academy
| from the knowledge-distribution-engine dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @09:23 (Education)
| with 165 comments
| https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1238241/How-Education-Is-Changing-Thanks-To-Khan-Academy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Wired reports on how freely-available
lectures from Khan Academy are [0]affecting both teaching methods and
learning methods in classrooms across the country. From the article:
'Initially, Thordarson thought Khan Academy would merely be a helpful
supplement to her normal instruction. But it quickly become far more than
that. She's now on her way to "flipping" the way her class works. This
involves replacing some of her lectures with Khan's videos, which
students can watch at home. Then, in class, they focus on working problem
sets. The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that
lectures are viewed on the kids' own time and homework is done at school.
... It's when they're doing homework that students are really grappling
with a subject and are most likely to need someone to talk to. And now
Thordarson can tell just when this grappling occurs: Khan Academy
provides teachers with a dashboard application that lets her see the
instant a student gets stuck. "I'm able to give specific, pinpointed help
when needed, she says. The result is that Thordarson's students move at
their own pace. Those who are struggling get surgically targeted
guidance, while advanced kids ... rocket far ahead; once they're
answering questions without making mistakes, Khan's site automatically
recommends new topics to move on to.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://news.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1238241/How-Education-Is-Changing-Thanks-To-Khan-Academy?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_khan/all/1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| UK Developers Quit US App Store Over Patent Fears
| from the risk-vs-reward dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @10:35 (Patents)
| with 160 comments
| https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1152252/UK-Developers-Quit-US-App-Store-Over-Patent-Fears?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
iamflimflam1 writes "The Guardian is running a story on how app
developers in the UK are [0]withdrawing from the U.S. app store over
patent fears. 'The growth of patent lawsuits over apps raises serious
issues for all the emerging smartphone platforms, because none of the
principal companies involved ��� Apple, Google or Microsoft ��� can guarantee
to protect developers from them. Even when the mobile OS developer has
signed a patent licence ��� as Apple has with at least one company
currently pursuing patent lawsuits ��� it is not clear that it has any
legal standing to defend developers.' This follows a blog post from the
iconfactory about the [1]death of independent developers. Have the big
corporations really won? What is the future for small teams and
one-man-band developers?"
Discuss this story at:
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1152252/UK-Developers-Quit-US-App-Store-Over-Patent-Fears?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/jul/15/app-developers-withdraw-us-patents
1. http://furbo.org/2011/07/13/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-independent-developer/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Scientists Derive Gelatin From Human Tissue
| from the as-do-we-all dept.
| posted by timothy on Friday July 15, @20:23 (Biotech)
| with 119 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0015211/Scientists-Derive-Gelatin-From-Human-Tissue?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Conventional gelatin is made from collagen
inside animals' skin and bones, however a group of researchers has
managed to [0]replace that animal base with a human one. The process
involves taking human gelatin genes and inserting them into a strain of
yeast, which can be cultivated to grow gelatin with controllable
features. Jinchun Chen, the leader of the study, and his colleagues
believe they can scale this process up to produce large amounts of
human-based gelatin for medical uses. The research appears in the
American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0015211/Scientists-Derive-Gelatin-From-Human-Tissue?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://inhabitat.com/scientists-grow-gelatin-derived-from-human-tissue/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Japanese Military Invents Tumbling, Flying Sphere
| from the didn't-darth-vader-have-one-of-these dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @12:45 (Hardware Hacking)
| with 116 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1628237/Japanese-Military-Invents-Tumbling-Flying-Sphere?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thebchuckster writes "A Japanese developer has released a cool, new
sphere that is billed as being able to go where humans can't. The sphere
is 17-inches, features eight movable rudders, and [0]can hover in the air
for at least eight minutes. While reaching speeds of up to 37 miles per
hour, the sphere deftly moves through the air without much effort. It
doesn't take much to get it up in the air and moving, and it will be
adept at going into tight areas."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1628237/Japanese-Military-Invents-Tumbling-Flying-Sphere?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/us-japan-flying-idUSTRE76D0SR20110714
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Google Launches News Badges
| from the this-must-be-the-decade-of-sharing-literally-everything dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @14:58 (Google)
| with 100 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1731212/Google-Launches-News-Badges?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
theodp writes "Does it make you sad that you're too grown up to [0]earn
Scouting Merit Badges? Well, thanks to the PhDs at Google, you can now
start [1]earning Google News badges as you read articles about your
favorite topics. The more you read, the higher rank you'll attain;
[2]Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and finally, Ultimate. They say, 'Your
badges are private by default, but if you want, you can share your badges
with your friends. Tell them about your news interests, display your
expertise, start a conversation or just plain brag about how well-read
you are.'"
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1731212/Google-Launches-News-Badges?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges.aspx
1. http://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shareable-google-news-badges-for-your.html
2. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20079954-1/google-badges-what-have-you-been-reading/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| A High-Bandwidth Interplanetary Connection
| from the tell-your-data-to-get-bent dept.
| posted by timothy on Saturday July 16, @08:33 (Communications)
| with 89 comments
| https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0528208/A-High-Bandwidth-Interplanetary-Connection?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sciencehabit writes "A new study suggests that by twisting laser light,
scientists could pack enough information into interplanetary beams to
[0]speed up extraterrestrial communications to the multi-gigabit level.
The pulses would be passed through a hologram or multimode optical fiber,
which twists the light. On the other side, a telescope would focus the
light and a second hologram, or fiber would decode the signal. That could
allow much more data-rich communication between, say, Earth and probes on
Mars, the researchers say. Closer to home, the approach could provide
Internet links of 100 gigabits per second."
Discuss this story at:
https://science.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/0528208/A-High-Bandwidth-Interplanetary-Connection?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/07/a-high-bandwidth-interplanetary-.html?ref=hp
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Online Collaboration Helps Mumbai Attack Victims
| from the pulling-together dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @17:20 (Communications)
| with 28 comments
| https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1926223/Online-Collaboration-Helps-Mumbai-Attack-Victims?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[0]GillBates0 writes "CNN has a nice story about how online collaboration
swiftly helped [1]form a centrally organized online disaster effort
during Wednesday's [2]Mumbai attacks. India accounts for [3]almost
one-fifth of the world's cell phone subscribers. At a time when chaos
reigned, and voice calls were jammed, a loose collaboration of techies,
laymen, and good samaritans quickly collaborated online via social media,
Wikipedia, Google docs and other online resources to coordinate blood
donors, assistance, rides, and other services to help the victims of the
attack."
Discuss this story at:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/1926223/Online-Collaboration-Helps-Mumbai-Attack-Victims?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
Links:
0. http://slashdot.org/~GillBates0
1. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/07/14/india.blasts.help/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_July_2011_Mumbai_bombings
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Robot Helps Quadriplegic Scratch an Itch
| from the scratch-all-humans dept.
| posted by Soulskill on Saturday July 16, @19:22 (Robotics)
| with 14 comments
| https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/2134202/Robot-Helps-Quadriplegic-Scratch-an-Itch?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An anonymous reader writes "Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab and
Willow Garage have been collaborating with Henry Evans, who became a mute
quadriplegic after suffering a stroke 10 years ago, to [0]use a PR2 robot
as his surrogate. The robot is allowing him to do things like shave
himself and scratch itches when he has them, things for which he's been
dependent on other people. Henry uses a head tracker to directly move the
robot's body, including its arms and head, or invoke autonomous actions,
such as navigating in a room or fetching objects. The researchers hope
personal robots will allow people with severe physical disabilities to
live better and gain more independence."
Discuss this story at:
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/07/16/2134202/Robot-Helps-Quadriplegic-Scratch-an-Itch?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email#commentlisting
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