Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Smartgun with authentication and minicam. A new South African gun comes equipped with a biometric authentication system (so it can only be fired by its owner) and a built-in minicam (so you can document the circumstances of each shot fired). Link Discuss (via /.) [Boing Boing Blog] Great, I can just see the new TV series now, "Gun Shot."  Showing all the footage of people getting shot at from the gunners POV, of course for TV, no one ever dies.  Maybe the cops can review the footage and understand why these highly trained officers are such bad shots most of the time.  "One shot, One Kill." 7:05:04 AM    comment []

hong kong flu. BBC: A global warning has been issued about a virulent flu and pneumonia sweeping hospitals in Hong Kong and Vietnam. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]   This worries me since it seems to be an airborne virus.  Easy to spread, hard to stop. 6:50:49 AM    comment []

Is the Brain Equivalent to a Turing Machine?. From the NewScientist.com: "The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is replacing. The prosthesis will first be tested on tissue from rats' brains, and then on live animals. If all goes well, it will then be tested as a way to help people who have suffered brain damage due to stroke, epilepsy or Alzheimer's disease." [kuro5hin.org]   Wow! Now we have brain and Face implants, what's next? 6:48:11 AM    comment []