Positive Technology Journal

 Via Engadget

A company named AbleNet is busting out an interesting new handheld device called Tango! which does the "AAC" thing (Augmentative and Alternative Communication - new one on us) to help kids learn English, or for those that are hearing or speech impaired, allowing for the easy creation of sentences. You can use predetermined phrases by punching through a few sub-categories, or make your own with the device's intuitive interface. The Tango! also allows the creation of your own items; the built-in camera can capture a new image to serve as an icon, and then an adult can record the correct phrase for the item, even with a simulated child's voice. The device can expand its functionality via USB, CompactFlash, and SD, with the option to use a keyboard, or even work over a cellphone down the line. Sadly the unit runs for a steep $6899, but hopefully AbleNet can get some quantity orders in and cut that down a bit.

In a lengthy and thorough article entitled Mobile phones and health, The Economist, reports on a study carried out by Rifat Atun and his colleagues at Imperial College, London, rounding up 150 examples of the use of text-messaging in the delivery of health care. "These uses fall into three categories: efficiency gains; public-health gains; and direct benefits to patients by incorporating text-messaging nto treatment regimes. The study, funded by Vodafone.

Kwabena Boahen, an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering, leads a research group that is trying to mimic the functions of the brain’s complex neural system using silicon chips.

Read the Stanford's report

 
From CIO: What is this ball of colors? It is the North American Internet, or more specifically a map of just about every router on the North American backbone, (there are 134,855 of them for those who are counting). The colors represent who each router is registered to. Red is Verizon; blue AT&T; yellow Qwest; green is major backbone players like Level 3 and Sprint Nextel; black is the entire cable industry put together; and gray is everyone else, from small telecommunications companies to large international players who only have a small presence in the U.S. If you click on the map it will take you to much bigger version complete with labels that tell you the address of many of the routers