The Boston Retinal Implant Project recently developed a bionic eye implant that will restore vision to those affected by degenerative blindness. The device works by being implanted into the back of the eyeball and working as a light transmitter to the brain, where the two are connected by a nerve/wire thinner than a human hair.
Now the technology has its limitations; it won’t give site to those born blind or who suffer glaucoma, nor will it offer perfect vision. Only those who previously had sight, and a semi-functional optical nerve, are eligible. The idea is that it will give the blind a general sense of their surroundings so they can function on a basic level. But researchers do hope to improve the technology so that users can recognize things like facial detail and expressions in the future. [Boston Herald via Crunch Gear]
Original post by Adrian Covert
Lionsgate is in the midst of working out an agreement with apple that will make it the latest movie studio to offer iTunes digital copies on select DVD and Blu-ray titles. In order to get a piece of the action you will have to redeem the copies using a code that will come packaged with the title. Then it is just a simple matter of plugging the code into iTunes and downloading. The first movies up for grabs with this addition are Rambo and The Eye, both of which will be released around the summer. Stallone and Alba kicking things off. Man, I can’t wait. [Canadian Press and PC World]
Original post by Sean Fallon
Art Lebedev and his Lebedevites are hard at work designing a followup to the Optimus Mini 3, a smaller, three-buttoned version of the Maximus keyboard we saw at CES. Here’s what they’re thinking: wireless, possibly Bluetooth, maybe AC-powered. People use this to control Powerpoint presentations (good idea, you can see what’s coming up before others do) and would like to have it not tethered to the computer. No actual renders of prototypes yet, but Art says they’re coming soon. [Optimus Blog]
Original post by Jason Chen
So a 1TB external drive is nothing new, but it is hard to deny that this thing is pretty…real pretty. LaCie has been getting heavy into the aluminum casings recently, which may play a factor in cooling, but those devices definitely did not bring this kind of sleek, cool look. Users can also expect 7200rpm spindle speeds and USB 2.0. At the moment, there is no price or release date information available. [LaCie via Gizmos.es]
Original post by Sean Fallon
Before MySong from Microsoft Research, people without musical talent had to resort to consuming music and not bothering the rest of us with their amateur stylings. No longer. All you have to be able to do is sing a short tune (provided you can sing somewhat on key) and this MySong software will dynamically generate a piano accompaniment just for you.
As you can see in the video, it actually sounds pretty good, and you can adjust the sliders to make the piano part happier, sadder, jazzier, or not quite so jazzy. The bad news is that this is just a Microsoft Research project, not an actual package you can buy. Maybe in a few years? [IStartedSomething via Geekologie via Dvice]
Original post by Jason Chen