Turning Thoughts into Action: New Advance in Brain-Controlled Computer Cursors

Washington, November 19 (ANI): In recent years, neuroscientists and neuroengineers working in prosthetics have begun to develop brain-implantable sensors that can measure signals from individual neurons, and after passing those signals through a mathematical decode algorithm, can use them to control computer cursors with thoughts.

Now, a team of Stanford researchers including Indian origins have developed an algorithm, known as ReFIT, that vastly improves the speed and accuracy of neural prosthetics that control computer cursors.

Research associate Dr. Vikash Gilja and bioengineering doctoral candidate Paul Nuyujukian led the team.

 Perfecting the computer algorithm for this translation has proven a challenge. Recently, however, researchers at Stanford University have designed an algorithm, known as ReFIT, that vastly improves the speed and accuracy of neural prostheses that control computer cursors.

The advantage of the ReFIT technology is that it allows the system to make immediate adjustments while guiding the cursor to a target, just as a hand and eye work together to move a mouse-cursor onto an icon on a computer desktop.

According to the press release:

The system relies on a silicon chip implanted into the brain, which records “action potentials” in neural activity from an array of electrode sensors and sends data to a computer. The frequency with which action potentials are generated provides the computer key information about the direction and speed of the user’s intended movement….

In side-by-side demonstrations with rhesus monkeys, cursors controlled by the ReFIT algorithm doubled the performance of existing systems and approached performance of the real arm. Better yet, more than four years after implantation, the new system is still going strong, while previous systems have seen a steady decline in performance over time.

“These findings could lead to greatly improved prosthetic system performance and robustness in paralyzed people, which we are actively pursuing as part of the FDA Phase-I BrainGate2 clinical trial here at Stanford,” said [Krishna] Shenoy.

The efficiency of cursor movement ranged from between 75-85 percent of the speed of real arms – a remarkable advancement.

Check out a video demonstrating how this algorithm offers an improvement on previous technologies:

Lock Your Folder With Password Without Any Software..!

Paste the code given below in notepad and ‘Save’ it as batch file (with extension ‘.bat’) any name will do. Then you see a batch file. Double click on this batch file to create a folder locker.New folder named ‘Locker’ would be formed at the same location. Now bring all the files you want to hide in the ‘Locker’ folder. Double click on the batch file to lock the folder namely ‘Locker’. If you want to unlock your files,double click the batch file again and you would be prompted for password. Enter the password and enjoy access to the folder.

if EXIST “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” goto UNLOCK

if NOT EXIST Locker goto MDLOCKER

:CONFIRM

echo Are you sure u want to Lock the folder(Y/N)

set/p “cho=>”

if %cho%==Y goto LOCK

if %cho%==y goto LOCK

if %cho%==n goto END

if %cho%==N goto END

echo Invalid choice.

goto CONFIRM

:LOCK

ren Locker “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”

attrib +h +s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”

echo Folder locked

goto End

:UNLOCK

echo Enter password to Unlock folder

set/p “pass=>”

if NOT %pass%==type your password here goto FAIL

attrib -h -s “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}”

ren “Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}” Locker

echo Folder Unlocked successfully

goto End

:FAIL

echo Invalid password

goto end

:MDLOCKER

md Locker

echo Locker created successfully

goto End

:End

How To Password Protect USB Flash Drives – Lock Pen Drives

Flash drives have become the storage medium of choice these days. With the increasing storage capacities available, people are beginning to store a majority of their data on pen drives. But in such cases, data security is a persistent problem. One would think twice before carrying important or sensitive data on portable media. If the pen drive is lost or compromised, sensitive data could fall in the wrong hands. But there’s a solution to this, password protection! You can simply password protect USB flash drives so that only you or authorized users can access the data. So there’s two types of protection, there’s simple password protection wherein data cannot be seen without entering a password and there’s encryption, in which the data is actually encrypted and can be decrypted and accessed only with a password. In the free tools below, we have both types of protection, so take your pick!

5 Free Software to Password Protect USB Flash Drives

1) Encrypt Stick Free

First up, we have Encrypt Stick Free. It boasts of quite an impressive list of features but unfortunately not all of them are completely available in the free version. However, if you’re looking for a free program to password protect small amounts of data this can be the software for you. It’s got password protection, storage vaults, password expiry time and a cool feature that automatically reprotects files after a certain amount of time if left idle.

Download Encrypt Stick Free

2) USB Secure

USB Secure is another solution to password protect flash drives and in fact, any removable media including memory cards, external hard disks and the like. Like Encrypt Stick Free, it also provides additional features in a paid full version. Nevertheless, it does what it’s supposed to and if you need advanced features like virtual partitions, vaults and more you can buy the full version.

Download USB Secure

3) USB Flash Security

One of the simplest tools on the list, USB Flash Security lets you select your USB drive and protection is simply a few clicks away. Along with the password even a hint can be mentioned. The features are rather basic, but it gets the job done. One thing you have to keep in mind though, this is made by a Japanese company and the grammar in the program and help files can be quite horrible. If you don’t mind a few typos, language errors and such, USB Flash Security is a good tool to password protect USB flash drives.

Download USB Flash Security

4) Rohos Mini Drive

Rohos Mini Drive is program that lets you create a hidden, encrypted partition in the USB flash drive that can be accessed only by inputting a password. It comes in an installation as well as portable version that can be carried on removable media and used without installation. Futhermore, Rohos Mini Drive can be used to password protect files and folders even on your computer. For example, you can hide specific subfolders within an otherwise visible directory. Download Rohos Mini Drive

5) TrueCrypt

TrueCrypt is the most fully featured encryption tool and the best part is, it’s completely free and open source! It provides extremely solid protection by encrypting files, folders, you name it on both removable media and your computer. You can even choose encryption algorithms. Specific files can be used as “key files” to unlock too. TrueCrypt has an great feature where hidden, encrypted partitions can be created and accessed differently based on passwords. For example, you can create 2 partitions on an 8 GB pendrive of 4 GB each called A and B. Now, you can encrypt it such that one password unlocks and decrypts only partition A and another password does the same only for partition B. TrueCrypt is your best bet if you’re looking for an encryption solution not only to password protect USB Flash Drives but protect other data too. Download TrueCrypt

'Genius' computer with an IQ of 150 is 'more intelligent' than 96 per cent of humans !!!

Software uses mixture of logic and 'human-like' thinking 

Score is classified as 'genius' 

It could 'spot patterns' in financial data

A computer has become the first to be classed as a 'genius' after scoring 150 in an IQ test.

The average score for people is 100. A score of 150 ranks the artificial intelligence programme among the top four per cent of humans.

The programme uses a mixture of mathematical logic and 'human-like' thinking, enabling it to outperform previous software on IQ tests.

Even advanced maths programmes usually score below 100.

The software was designed by a team led by researcher Claes Strannegård at the University of Gothenburg. His aim was to make a programme that 'thinks' like a person.
'We're trying to make programmes that can discover the same types of patterns that humans can see,' he says.
IQ tests are based on two types of problems - seeing visual patterns and guessing number sequences.

The Swedish research group believes that number sequence problems are only partly mathematics – psychology is important too.
Strannegård says 'One, two - what comes next? Most people would say 3, but it could also be a repeating sequence like 1, 2, 1 or a doubling sequence like 1, 2, 4. Neither of these alternatives is more mathematically correct than the others. What it comes down to is that most people have learned the 1-2-3 pattern.'

he group is therefore using a psychological model of human patterns in their software.

They have integrated a mathematical model that models human-like The group has improved the programme that specialises in number sequences to the point where its score implies an IQ of at least 150.
'Our programmes are beating the conventional math programmes because we are combining mathematics and psychology.'

The programme's 'human-like' thinking could have uses outside IQ tests. It can spot 'patterns' in any information that has a human component, such as financial data.

'Our method can potentially be used to identify patterns in any data with a psychological component, such as financial data. But it is not as good at finding patterns in more science-type data, such as weather data, since then the human psyche is not involved,' says Strannegård.

IBM Shrinks Computer Memory Into Only Twelve Atoms..!

Scanning tunneling microscope image of
twelve iron atoms that were assembled
into an atomically precise
antiferromagnet.
(Credit: IBM)

IBM announced last week that it had successfully created the smallest magnetic memory storage yet – they were able to record a bit into just 12 iron atoms. The results of this research can be found in the current issue of Science.

“It begins with a simple question,How small can you make a magnetic structure, and still act as a classic magnet for data storage?” - IBM researcher Andreas Heinrich. 

The traditional way to approach this is the simple Moore’s Law approach – starting from the top down, keep shrinking storage. The other approach, which is what Heinrich’s team is working on, is to actually build the magnet up, atom by atom.

They did this by using a scanning, tunneling electron microscope, placing iron atoms one at a time on a copper-nitrogen surface. By placing the atoms one at a time, the researchers could start to understand how small it was possible to make the storage of one bit.

As it turns out, the absolute limit is 12 atoms – a magnetic storage unit for data just can’t get any smaller. That’s because when there are fewer than 12 atoms, quantum effects dominate. For example, a structure of six iron atoms switches quantum spin states about 1,000 times per second. At eight atoms, it was significantly less – about once per second. But at 12 atoms, there was no quantum switching at all. In other words, as long as you have at least 12 atoms, the iron structure will behave like a classical magnet, and it’s possible to store a single bit of information in the structure.

Below you can see eight of the 12-atom structures, each storing one bit. This is one byte of information in only 96 atoms.

Another challenge of building on such a small scale is the ferromagnetic properties of most magnetic storage. In a ferromagnetic piece of metal, like a compass needle, all of the atoms have their magnetic moments aligned, producing a large magnetic field that can be sent across large distances. While this works great for storing bits in a hard drive, “it’s bad on the nanoscale,” according to Heinrich. That’s because the atoms are packed so closely together. If the atoms have the same magnetic moment, they’ll repel each other.

Instead, the atoms in this memory system are anti-ferromagnetic. In other words, says Heinrich, “One points north, then south, then north. Locally, the magnetic fields cancel, which means they can be packed closely together. Bits are literally next to each other on the atomic scale.”

Of course, this is just the first step in a long road to practical application. Building bits like this are expensive. But Heinrich is optimistic about the potential. He expects practical applications in the area of spintronics within the next 5-10 years, and is also excited about the possibility of applying his methods to computation – possibly even quantum computation. “What I’m going to be doing is focusing on whether quantum effect can be enhanced to do quantum computation using the scanning, tunneling microscope,” he said. His team is looking into different materials to apply potential quantum computing applications to, including silicon.

It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with.