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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Using "Superblimps" to unlock riches in Africa

Lockheed Martin and Hybrid Enterprises have created the Hybrid Airship, a blip that can revolutionize the mining industry in Africa. It's powered by helium, can travel thousands of kilometers at a top notch speed of 60 knots in one journey, can carry loads of 20 tons, and does not need a runway. These qualities allow the blimp be better equip to provide transportation of materials for mining companies and projects, as no roads or railway lines need to be built allowing miners to bypass the most expensive and time-consuming aspects of mining. All that is needed for the blimp to be able to land is a space of 2-3 football fields. This is especially for Africa, as an estimated 90% of ore is located in remote locations. Before the blimp, a mining company would first have to build roads and railways before they could begin the actual mining, which wastes time and money. Hybrid Enterprises is currently undergoing FAA certification, and they hope that the ships will be in operation by 2018, with each unit being expected to cost tens of millions of dollars. 

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Samsung Debuts its First VR Camera, the Gear 360

The Gear 360 is small, white, orb-like camera that fits in the palm of your hand and only weighs a little less than half a pound. The camera has two lenses, each of which can capture 195 degrees of HD visual, allowing the camera see 360 degrees. It has a microSD storage card up to 128 GB. The settings are easy to use, and you are able to see  preview of your image before you shoot. The final product can be shared to a Samsung Galaxy Phone, online to YouTube or Facebook, or viewed with a Gear VR headset. The camera is expected to start selling in the second quarter, yet there is no word on pricing yet. By selling the camera, they hope to spur help spur the growth of VR and 360-degree video entertainment, as well as helping them sell their Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones.
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New Crystals That Can Store Data for Billions of Years

Researchers in the UK have created crystals that can store 360 terabytes of data, which is equivalent to the storage of 22,500 basic iPhones. They take the shape of small glass discs which encodes information using a sophisticated laser in the nano structures inside fused quartz. The data is stored in 5D, as the information is translated into the height, length, width, position, and orientation (five dimensions) of the nano structures. The data can be read by special optical devices, as the structures alter the way that light travels through the glass.
They have already used these crystals to store historic documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Bible. By using this technology, we ensure that the evidence of our civilization and all that we have learned will not be forgotten. The scientists who are presenting this research are looking for industry partners so that they can further develop and commercialize their technology. 
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The Future of Virtual Assistants

All major mobile operating systems have digital personalities, such as Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google Now. However these are not true virtual personal assistants, as they can only preform simple tasks such as scheduling appointments, setting reminders, looking things up on the internet, and a few other simple tasks. They have limited capabilities, and struggle to understand things that humans would have no problem with. Maluuba, an artificial intelligence company based in Canada has partnered with artificial intelligence researcher Yoshua Bengio. In order for machines to interact better with humans, they are looking to train networks on stories written by humans, starting with children's stories, rather than documents found on the web. By tracking the characters narratives, they are hoping the system will be able to know more about what the user wants, allowing it to be more effective. This could mean your phone using GPS data to know that you like to go to the grocery store before the bank, so it could automatically bring up your shopping list or a recipe, or bringing up something work related because of an email you received the previous day, as it now understands the flow of your day.
 

Other researchers and developers are looking to create a whole team of digital experts as you would in real-life scenarios, rather than making the current virtual assistants better. They could be bankers, financial planners, personal shoppers, etc., and the companies creating these fleets of bots call them virtual personal specialists. Sentient Technologies is one such company, and they have already put one such bot out into the field on Shoes.com, which helps people buy shoes. The site uses an algorithm that uses the costumer's choices to suggest products that they may want. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that it is his personal goal to build his own true virtual assistant this year.

 

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Advanced Web Design

In this class I expect to learn computer coding.