A 36-year-old German man in a completely locked-in state was outfitted with a novel brain-computer interface (BCI) system that relies on auditory feedback. The man learned to alter his brain activity in response to that auditory feedback to compose simple messages. He used this ability to ask for a beer, for his caretakers to play his favourite rock band, and to communicate with his young son, according to a recent paper published in Nature Communications.

BCIs interact with brain cells, recording the electrical activity of neurons and translating those signals into action. Such systems generally involve electrode sensors to record neuronal activity, a chipset to transmit the signals, and computer algorithms to translate the signals. BCIs can be external, similar to medical EEGs in that the electrodes are placed onto the scalp or forehead with a wearable cap, or they can be implanted directly into the brain. The former method is less invasive but can be less accurate because more noise interferes with the signals; the latter requires brain surgery, which can be risky. But for many paralysed or locked-in patients, it's an acceptable risk.

See https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/04/bci-lets-completely-locked-in-man-communicate-with-his-son-ask-for-a-beer/

#technology #BCI #health #medical

Scrabble Web, as this new online version of the classic word game is sensibly and unfussily known, delivers all the letter-plopping thrills of the board game original, albeit it in a free, easily accessible new digital guise. And while it might be relatively low on frills right now, it does at least feature a fairly solid range of options when it comes to ways to play.

For starters, there's a solo mode, pitting players against an AI opponent, but also some competitive PvP for those that prefer to test their word prowess against living, breathing challengers - be they randoms or friends - all served up in selectable flavours of match length, lasting between 3 and 45 minutes.

You don't need to register at all to play, but registration does get you progress tracking, in-game chat, and participation in the Scrabble Web Forms. Importantly you can change the language, including UK vs US English.

See https://www.eurogamer.net/sate-your-word-game-cravings-with-scrabbles-free-new-official-web-version

#technology #gaming #scrabble #scrabbleweb

Their goal is to improve access to technology for those dealing with Parkinson’s disease and other health issues that cause tremors. While the app is currently only available for use on Apple’s iPad, its creators aim to bring it to other digital devices and platforms in the future.

Using the iPad’s accelerometer, Staybl can detect when the device is shaken because of tremors and then immediately respond by moving its on-screen web browser in the opposite direction. This stabilizes the screen so the user can easily view the web page and hold the device steady.

You can download the free app through the App Store, though it’s only currently compatible with iPads running iPadOS 14 or later.

See https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/13/23024029/staybl-ipads-hand-tremors-parkinsons-disease

#technology #stabl #Parkinsonsdisease #accessibility #tremors

Where do I start? It's just possible that no-one at Google actually goes shopping, and it's clear yet again that this app is just another after thought that will get abandoned in time. It does allow one to create multiple lists (per shop in other words) but everything is just added in one long list which can be alphabetically sorted or kept in the order you added it. Really!!! No manual re-ordering, and no grouping into shopping aisles or categories?

There are also no quantities to be set, or prices, or notes, or photos per item. The app came out a few years back, and I'll bet many don't know about it. Even the average todo type app will do a better job for shopping lists than this offering.

I've long been using Our Groceries app, on both Android and iOS, and it has all my shopping very well organised, including being able to tick items off on my Apple Watch, as I shop. I also did a video overview, just this week, of the Grocy ERP app that does a much better shopping list than Google's one.

Yes, the Google Shopping List has Google Home integration, but then so does Our Groceries app.

See https://www.androidpolice.com/how-to-use-google-shopping-list/

#technology #shopping #shoppinglist #google #groceries

Yep I must say this does ring pretty true. Recently I've seen a few people really struggling with stuff under Windows, for example, setting up a VPN. It's not that people are dumb at all, it's more about the "acceptance" of Windows as an OS, resting on its legacy from days gone by, when hardware drivers used to work best with Windows. If one has never used anything else, a comparison really cannot be made to other OSs.

Today the tables have turned, especially when it comes to support of older peripherals, where I've seen Linux doing a far better job straight out of the box. Manufacturers just want to bring out new Windows drivers for their newest hardware only.

Linux does now come preinstalled on a few desktops and laptops, and as the author says though, if you really need to install Linux: "it all boils down to knowing how to burn an ISO image to a USB stick, rebooting your computer from it, playing with it to make sure it works, and then pressing the install button".

Even on the gaming front, I play some quite advanced Windows-only games on my Linux desktop (thanks to Proton drivers on Steam Games). Most software installation is now even easier than Windows as it is often installed with a single click straight from the softwrae repository. And updating applications? Well that all happens when you run update, for everything at once. It does not get much simpler than that.

My 80-year old mom also was using Linux Mint which I set up for her, and she had no idea it was actually Linux running.

See https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/13/linux_column/

#technology #linux #opensource

Before the iPhone 13 launch last fall (Northern Hemisphere), a flurry of reports had suggested the 2021 iPhone lineup would feature "LEO," or satellite connectivity. Satellite connectivity would enable the ‌iPhone‌ to send short messages to emergency contacts over satellite networks without going through a carrier.

Apple's plan includes two parts to let users leverage satellite connectivity. The first, called "Emergency Message via Contacts," and the second component would let users report a crisis, such as a car, boat, or plane crash, to relevant authorities.

As expected, Bloomberg cautions that the feature will be dependent on local regulation and availability, adding "they’re not designed to work in every country."

So the question remains whether, according to the Bloomberg report, it could still launch with the iPhone 14 this year. If so, it would certainly be a revolutionary step forward in terms of communications ability. The Apple Watch already found a strong following with regard to it's health monitoring capabilities, and this would likely provide another massive growth spurt, as current satellites comms all require some form of subscription service. The capability also requires a special modem chip to be included, which would probably have to fit inside the phone itself, so this may be a Watch and Phone combo requirement. And of course, very importantly, there is also the dependency on local regulations and satellite locations (so that could rule out many non-US countries anyway).

See https://www.macrumors.com/2022/04/12/apple-watch-eventually-gain-satellite-connectivity/

#technology #apple #satellite #crisis #emergency #rumour

As of 2019, over 11,000 non-profits use CiviCRM. CiviCRM currently manages over 303,000,000 contacts, 265,000,000 donations, and 42,000,000 event registrations. CiviCRM allows organisations to record and manage all this information about the various people and organizations they interact with. CiviCRM is more than just an address book, it is a flexible platform that allows users to manage a range of interactions including donations, events, memberships, activities, cases, campaigns, mailings and more, all located in a single system that integrates tightly with popular open source content management systems (CMS). CiviCRM focuses on the needs of non-profits, NGO's and civic sector organizations, empowering communications, community engagement, activism, outreach, donor management, and much more.

CiviCRM is Free/Open Source software, which means there are no license costs or user fees associated with downloading, installing, or using the software. Being Free/Open Source also ensures that you have the freedom to view and modify the source code and to distribute copies of the original source to any person or organization.

CiviCRM is web-based, which means it can be accessed by many users at the same time from different locations. It has been developed with the international community in mind, and translations and multi-language options are supported. CiviCRM integrates with Backdrop, Drupal, Joomla and WordPress. Integration with a CMS opens up a lot of useful possibilities. Visitors to your website can carry out many activities on their own, such as renewing their membership, signing up for events, requesting email updates, and donating money and you can share parts of your CRM data, for example event information, with visitors to your website.

See https://civicrm.org/

#technology #opensource #NGO #CRM #nonprofit

In January 1981, a handful of semiconductor engineers at MOS Technology in West Chester, Pa., a subsidiary of Commodore International Ltd., began designing a graphics chip and a sound chip to sell to whoever wanted to make “the world’s best video game.” In January 1982, a home computer incorporating those chips was introduced at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev. By using in-house integrated-circuit-fabrication facilities for prototyping, the engineers had cut the design time for each chip to less than nine months, and they had designed and built five prototype computers for the show in less than five weeks. What surprised the rest of the home-computer industry most, however, was the introductory price of the Commodore 64: $595 for a unit incorporating a keyboard, a central processor, the graphics and sound chips, and 64 kilobytes of memory instead of the 16 or 32 that were then considered the norm.

I still remember getting my C64 back in the 1980's. It was my stepping stone between the ZX81 and the Commodore Amiga. After the ZX81 (and those very early PC's that started to appear), the C64 was actually a big step forward with its graphics (sprites) and synthesizer sound. I always thought it was the Amiga that brought the big step forward, but had forgotten about the C64.

See https://spectrum.ieee.org/commodore-64

#technology #retro #C64 #commodore64 #hardware

Grocy can help manage not only shopping lists based on inventory, recipes and meal plans, but also chores, tasks, equipment manuals with notes, and batteries that need to be charged or replaced across devices. A key part of its inventory management is keeping an eye on expiring products which could be just thawed out of a freezer, or could be medicine stored in a first aid kit, etc. It can also monitor how much wastage you produce from spoilt products. You can use all of its integrated features, or just a single feature if you want to keep it simple.

It will easily run on a Windows PC, or in a docker container, or easily installed under cPanel on any Linux VPS hosting.

This video gives an overview of what Grocy does, as well as a tour of the interface and features, and the settings menu.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMpui1hw-gM

#technology #opensource #groceries #grocy #selfhosted