High School Student Invents a Cheaper Hearing Aid

After spending a summer in India with his grandfather when he was 14 Mukund Venkatakrishan began the process of trying to create a hearing aid that people in developing countries would be able to afford. When he was in India, he went with his grandfather to get tested an fitted for a hearing aid, which was hard because it is hard to get an appointment with an audiologist in India as they are specialists, and the appointments and actual hearing aid are very expensive. His grandfather spent over $2,000 on his hearing aid and appointments, which is very expensive especially in India as the average household median income is $616 a year. This means that even if people in India and developing countries saved up their money for a year and did not spend a single penny, they still would not have enough money for a hearing aid. It was Venkatakrishan's goal to create a hearing aid that these people would be able to buy.

The device the he made only costs about $50 to make, and can be used with even the cheapest set of headphones. This means that if an ear piece gets damaged, it won't be expensive to replace, as they would just have to buy a new set of earphones. The current form of the device is about two inches long, looks like a computer processor, and has a standard headphone port, however Venkatakrishan is planing on bringing the size down to one inch and encasing the operating system, which would allow the device to fit into someone's pocket. This device tests a person's hearing with a series of beeps, and programs itself to become a hearing aid. This eliminates the need to see a doctor to get a hearing exam, which can allow even more money to be saved. The device is calibrated by a person rubbing their hands together, as each device has an audio recording of hand rubbing together and doing it their self allows the device to be calibrated. If someone cannot hear the sound of their hands rubbing together, they can get somebody else to calibrate the device. Venkatakrishan  made the device completely on his own, however he received guidance from audiologists and engineers like his father. To make sure his device was accurate, he worked with doctors to conduct tests on patients with hearing loss. 

Venkatakrishan says that it is often hard to get someone to admit to having hearing problems, and needing a hearing aid. He hopes that as his device works with standard headphones, this problem will be lessened. While Venkatakrishan is eager to make a difference, he is adamant that his audio software remain open so that other developers can modify and tweak it, and hopefully that an organization with existing connections in developing countries, will want to mass produce and distribute the device. He has started talking to someone form the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and his device could have broad appeal as there are around 360 million people around the world who suffer from hearing loss. In the U.S., only about 2%-3% of people with mild hearing loss use hearing aids, and his device targets people with mild to moderate hearing loss. And while his device still needs a few tweaks, he hopes that it will be used to help others, "amplify life."

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This elevator could shape the cities of the future

A German company called Thyssenkrup has used magnetic levitation, or maglev technology, to create elevators that do not rely on the traditional suspension system that the common elevators use. This current system confines elevators to only travelling  up an down, so that it is only capable of moving you to the same spot on a different floor. However using the maglev technology, elevators are no longer confined like this, but can travel sideways, at angles, and even into the city; these elevators are called Multi. This new innovation makes it so buildings do not be designed around a core of elevators, but into different shapes. For example, one wouldn't have to walk from one elevator on the east side of the building  to the west, but simply take one trip and be where they are needed. 

The North American CEO of Thyssenkrupp, Patrick Bass, believes that Multi elevators have the potential to create new transportation networks to support cities of the future. Currently, in order to get somewhere you likely have to take multiple forms of transportation, such as cars, trains, buses, and elevators. Bass wants to help remedy this problem by seamlessly working together other technology from Thyssenhrupp along with Multi. This includes Accel which is a moving walkway that accelerates after you step using maglev technology that allows you to go twice the speed of a regular moving walkway. This plan per say is already in motion, with Accel currently being used in some cities, yet the Multi elevators are still new. A one-third scale version of the elevators was made by Thyssenhrupp in 2014, and by the end of the year they hope to complete the first full size elevator in their own high-rise in Germany. While Thyssenhrupp is responsible for more than a million elevators across the world, they see themselves as more than an elevator company, but rather a, "transportation company," said Bass.

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Comcast Will Let You Replace Your Cable Box With an App

Comcast is creating an app that will allow customers to bypass the cable box and get Xfinity services directly on their television sets or streaming media gadgets. It will be available next year, and will serve live TV, on demand video, and record for the DVR. By being able to return the cable boxes, customers will be able to save $10 a month from the equipment fee that they are no longer paying. Comcast hopes that they will be able to expand their new Xfinity TV Partner Program beyond Samsung and Roku. While the app is similar to others already out there, that have been downloaded about 23 million times, their new app would more closely mirror the experience that you get from your cable box. Other companies, such as Time Warner Cable, have similar apps. Comcast has done something similar to what they are doing now, when they made a deal with Xbox, however this deal only lasted a little over a year. 

The FCC previously voted in February to start a public discussion about changing current set-up requirements, with the Chairman Tom Wheeler wanting to give customers the option to choose between renting a set-top box from their cable company or getting another kind of compatible device on their own. The hope is to create a robust marketplace for video services that would allow customers who subscribe to multiple service to buy a gadget that is able to play all of them. The FCC is criticizing Comcast's new app,as it would only allow customer to search through Comcast content. Comcast has responded to the FCC's proposal rule change on boxes that it would, "create substantial costs ... take years to develop," and would ultimately be unnecessary in light of the success that app-based models have seen in the marketplace. 
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Google is helping this school build a 'Waze' for the blind

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced the Google Disability Challenge last year to which they recently announced the 30 winners that were chosen out of over a thousand applicants from 88 countries. The winners would receive an average of %750,000 each to help them develop technology that would help the disabled. Some of these projects were high tech such as 3-D printing prosthesis, creating software that helps people with Autism Spectrum Disorders practice job interviews on digital people, a device that can turn a manual wheel chair into a power wheel chair, and an on-screen keyboard that helps people with impaired moral skilled type with their hands. Not all of the products that Google selected and supported were not high tech, such as expanding the use of SMS messages to help clubfooted patients keep up with treatments. 

One of the projects that Google supports is Perkins School of the Blind's building of an app that crowd-sources micro-location information to identify where local bus stops are. This could be extremely benifical to the blind, as the noraml GPS today, is only accurate give or take 30 feet. For those that are blind, this was cause a problem as they wouldn't know where exactly the bus stop was. This situation happened to Joann Becker. The app will allow for a more detailed description of where things are, more speically bus stops, by asking shighted computers to share more deatiled information about bus stops they visit, such as the exact place where a bench or shelter is located. People will be motivated to share information by making it into a game or offering reward such as a discount on coffee. A final version of the app is hoped to be done next year. Perkins is not necessary working on their own to develop the app, as when they won the contest Google connected them with a team of experts to consult on their final product. This team is from Google and called Waze; they do a lot of crowdsourced clues.

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Why Your Next Hotel Will Be Staffed By Robots

Robots are already working in some hotels, with more are popping up. The Henn-na Hotel in Sasebo, Japan is run entirely by robots, and they even have a robot resembling a dinosaur. However, its not only the Japense that have robots in their hotels,  but so does a Marriott Hotel in Ghent, Belgium. They have a humanoid robot named Mario who has been greeting guests in 19 different languages, guarding the buffet since June of 2015, and will soon be able to order taxis. A Hilton hotel in Virginia had a robot take up the concierge, and last year Royal Caribbean installed robot cocktail mixing robots to their cruise ships. 

Oxford University's Carl Benedikt Frey has ranked jobs on the likelihood of them becoming computerized. He was ranked recreational therapist to be on the safe scale, while tour guides' jobs will be in danger. According to information gathered by Travelzoo, a US online booking company, nearly 2/3 out of 6,000 travelers globally said that they would be at ease with the idea of being looked after by machines on their travels. The European president of Travelzoo, Richard Singer, said that he welcomes the swiftly advancing day when apps and machines will get us from lobby to room without the, "service inconsistencies," of humans, yet that it will still be worth ensuring that hotels have that personal touch. 

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College student 3D prints his own braces

Amos Dudley, a college student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, 3-D printed his own braces. He had not worn his retainer as much as he should have, and his teeth shifted. However, when looking for clear braces such as Invisalign, Damon, and ClearCorrect can cost as much as $8,000, so he decided to make his own costing him less than $60. He made 12 sets of clear braces, determining how far to more his teeth in each set to correct the problems using a process similar to that of Orthodontists. To make the braces, he used NJIT's equipment to scan and print models of his teeth, which he molded non-toxic plastic around to form the braces. He has gotten requests to make braces for other people, however he declines as, "It was more of a hacker project," than a business he said, and he doesn't recommend anyone else trying what he did. Nevertheless, stories like his illustrate what the how much easier it may be in the future for people to make rather than buy what they need.

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A Company Called Second Sight is Helping Blind People See

The company Second Sight Medical Products, EYES in the stock market, has created technology that they call Argus II that helps blind people see. Argus II works with those who suffer from retinitis pigmentosa also known as RP or advanced macular degeneration, by surgically attaching an electrode array to the eye which receives signals from a pair of glasses equipped with a video camera that the patient wears. The video footage is then transmitted to the eye using a series of electrical pulses that the brain processes as visual images. This allows patients to detect shapes and pick up contrast between light and dark, which while does not correct damage to the retina, allows people who had previously been able to see nothing see windows, doorways, and has even allowed a patient to see 3 or 4 letters in a row. It was approved by the FDA in 2013, and more than 170 patients have been equipped with Argus II. The company is also working on another project called Orion I, which would help those who have gone blind from other conditions such as glaucoma, diabetes, or trauma that led to a detached retina, however it is still in animal testing. 

The Company was recently featured on the latest episode or "Vice" from HBO. After this, their stock surged, reaching nearly 60% at one point and finishing with a 22% gain. However, Second Sight has a relatively small commercial footprint, and in its first nine months they had total sales of $6.6 million and a loss of $14.5 million. They recently announced that they will be giving existing shareholders the ability to buy more stock at a discount, which they hope could raise as much as $20 million that should help them get through the end of 1017 before they would need more money. 

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