Positive Technology Journal

Via New Scientist

The electronic age is changing our brains, but are we getting smarter, or dumb and dangerous?

New Scientist investigates...

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Re-blogged from 3dPoint

The International Herald Tribune breaks the news that IBM is launching a new mainframe platform specifically designed for next-generation virtual worlds and 3D virtual environments. In concert with Brazilian game developer Hoplon, IBM will use the PlayStation3’s ultra-high-powered Cell processor to create a mainframe architecture that will provide the security, scalability and speed that are currently lacking in 3D environments — a lack that is one of the factors keeping them from becoming widely adopted. If it works, it sounds like worldmakers working on IBM’s platform should be able to support concurrencies far above todays’ capabilities, and implement commerce systems far more secure than is currently possible.

Evolution of visually guided behavior in artificial agents.

Network. 2007 Mar;18(1):11-34

Authors: Boots B, Nundy S, Purves D

Recent work on brightness, color, and form has suggested that human visual percepts represent the probable sources of retinal images rather than stimulus features as such. Here we investigate the plausibility of this empirical concept of vision by allowing autonomous agents to evolve in virtual environments based solely on the relative success of their behavior. The responses of evolved agents to visual stimuli indicate that fitness improves as the neural network control systems gradually incorporate the statistical relationship between projected images and behavior appropriate to the sources of the inherently ambiguous images. These results: (1) demonstrate the merits of a wholly empirical strategy of animal vision as a means of contending with the inverse optics problem; (2) argue that the information incorporated into biological visual processing circuitry is the relationship between images and their probable sources; and (3) suggest why human percepts do not map neatly onto physical reality.

Re-blogged from Smart Mobs

Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A ``Second Life'' in the Virtual World by the End of 2011.

Gartner's advice to enterprise clients is that this is a trend that they should investigate and experiment with, but limit substantial financial investments until the environments stabilize and mature.

"The collaborative and community-related aspects of these environments will dominate in the future, and significant transaction-based commercial opportunities will be limited to niche areas, which have yet to be clearly identified," said Steve Prentice, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "However, the majority of active Internet users and major enterprises will find value in participating in this area in the coming years."

Meaningful corporate use of public virtual worlds/platforms will lag considerably behind individual consumer use as enterprises struggle to develop appropriate and relevant business models. As enterprise try to define their role in the virtual world, Gartner has identified five laws for companies participating in the virtual world.

First Law: Virtual worlds are not games, but neither are they a parallel universe (yet). Second Law: Behind every avatar is a real person.  Third Law: Be relevant and add value. Many commercial companies have established a virtual world presence, but none have converted it into an effective, profitable sales channel. Fourth Law: Understand and contain the downside. Enterprises face serious questions, such as "Could activities in the virtual world undermine or influence my organization/brand in the real world?" Fifth Law: This is a long haul. Today's multiplicity of virtual environments has developed through the convergence of social networking, simulation and online gaming. There are many new entrants, whose stability and scalability are not yet established.

Gartner recommends that enterprises should experiment with virtual worlds, but not plan massive projects, and look for community benefits rather than commerce.

 

Read more of this Business Wire Press Release in Forbes

Via UsabilityNews 

Event Date: 14 May 2007 to 14 May 2007

Cambridge Usability Group: The speaker at our next event will be Bob Spence, author of the textbook "Information Visualization: Design for Interaction" and Emeritus Professor of Information Engineering at Imperial College London.

Date: Monday 14th May
Time: 6.30 for 6.45
Venue: Microsoft Research, Cambridge
Cost: The event is FREE and you do not need to be a UK UPA member to attend
Registration: Please email cambridge.usability@gmail.com to reserve a place.

From Pink Tentacle 

NTT-Neomeit, an NTT subisidiary, has unveiled plans for a convenient and inexpensive service that allows users to remotely control home devices from their cellphones. 

Read full post on Pink Tentacle 

From UsabilityNews 

Event Date: 26 April 2007 to 26 April 2007

Using Eyetracking to Optimise Persuasion-Centered Design: Rob Stevens, Bunnyfoot

Persuasion-Centered Design (PCD) utilises behavioural segmentation to plan different user journeys for different personality types. For example, competitive consumers receive less detailed information than methodical consumers. PCD facilitates consumers in self-selecting their behavioural type by utilizing descriptive in line links. By eyetracking consumers we can see if they engage with a link and choose not to select it. With PCD this outcome is often a planned for event, one that would be impossible to reliably measure without eyetracking.

On-line journal Hz is looking for articles on New Media, Net Art, Sound Art and Electro-Acoustic Music. We accept earlier published and unpublished articles in English. Please send your submissions to hz-journal[at]telia.com: Deadline: 25 May, 2007. Hz is also looking for Net Art works to be included in its virtual gallery. Please send your URLs to hz-journal[at]telia.com.

Hz is published by the non-profit organization Fylkingen in Stockholm. Established in 1933, Fylkingen has been known for introducing yet-to-be-established art forms throughout its history. Nam June Paik, Stockhausen, Cage, etc. have all been introduced to the Swedish audience through Fylkingen. Its members consist of leading composers, musicians, dancers, performance artists and video artists in Sweden. For more information on Fylkingen, please visit http://www.fylkingen.se/about or http://www.hz-journal.org/n4/hultberg.html.

The effects of neurofeedback training in the cognitive division of the anterior cingulate gyrus.

Int J Neurosci. 2007 Mar;117(3):337-57

Authors: Cannon R, Lubar J, Congedo M, Thornton K, Towler K, Hutchens T

This study examines the efficacy of neurofeedback training in the cognitive division of the anterior cingulate gyrus and describes its relationship with cortical regions known to be involved in executive functions. This study was conducted with eight non-clinical students, four male and four female, with a mean age of twenty-two. Learning occurred in the ACcd at significant levels over sessions and in the anterior regions that receive projections from the AC. There appears to be a multidimensional executive circuit that increases in the same frequency in apparent synchrony with the AC and it may be possible to train this sub-cortical region using LNFB.

Are complex psychotherapies more effective than biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both? A meta-analysis.

Psychol Rep. 2007 Feb;100(1):303-24

Authors: Stevens SE, Hynan MT, Allen M, Braun MM, McCart MR

A meta-analysis of 26 studies was conducted to assess whether more complex forms of psychotherapy would be superior to control treatments of either biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, or both. Consistent with hypotheses, more complex treatments provided a small, significant improvement over biofeedback and progressive muscle relaxation (r = .09). A subset of the more complex behavioral treatments accounted for most of this small incremental effectiveness of more complex treatments (r = .15). Possible sources of this incremental effectiveness are discussed.

From KurzweilAI.net

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a prototype of the first fully integrated prosthetic arm that can be controlled naturally, provide sensory feedback, and allow for eight degrees of freedom

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