See how data from sensors can revamp a city’s sewer system
DARPA Robot Hands Dextrous Enough to Use Tools, Change a Tire
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has a robot that can change a tire, picking up the tire, getting it off and on the (simulated) wheel and using the lug wrench. This may sound pretty simple, but the point isn’t the changing of the tire — it’s holding the tools.
Robots that can hold tools are a lot more versatile than those built for a specific task, because then they can adapt to doing whatever is asked of them — instead of a robot that only tightens nuts, it’s possible to ask one to pick up a screwdriver as well.
(via Robot Changes Tires So You Don’t Have To : Discovery News)
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NIH explains Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative | KurzweilAI
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has provided further details on the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative announced April 2 by President Obama, aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain.
By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a revolutionary new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, shows how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space, the agency says.
Long desired by researchers seeking new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders, this picture will fill major gaps in our current knowledge and provide unprecedented opportunities for exploring exactly how the brain enables the human body to record, process, utilize, store, and retrieve vast quantities of information, all at the speed of thought.
Spot crime before it occurs
Miami-Dade Police Department is Using statistical analysis to find similarities in crime patterns.These patterns help the department break cold cases.
IBM Government Analytics Forum 2013 (by ibmbusinessanalytics)
Drive financial performance. Improve citizen outcomes. Deliver on your mission with analytics. Join us on April 9 in Washington DC to find out more: http://ibm.co/12ljsKv
Five Ways The Government Can Create Sustainable Innovation | Co.Exist
The government doesn’t have the best track record when investing directly in sustainable companies, but there is a lot it can do to create an environment conducive to real innovation. This is how it should do it in Obama’s second term.
FCC pushes for gigabit broadband in all 50 states by 2015 | CNET News
FCC’s Julius Genachowski challenges service providers and local communities to build such networks, saying communities would turn themselves into innovation hubs that would create valuable jobs.
The emergence of mobile-supported national health information systems in developing countries | MobileActive.org
A major challenge for national health information systems in developing countries is their scalability and sustainability at the lowest levels where primary health care is delivered. This paper contributes to the discourse on how national health information systems can scale to the lower levels and how mobile technology is supporting the collection, handling and dissemination of data. But can mHealth go beyond the ‘hype’ and visions it has come to be associated with? Using an action research methodology in a long-term action research project, the usability and then scalability of mobile solutions for large scale national health information systems are studied. In this paper, initial successes and challenges with using m-Health for national public health information systems is reported and discussed.
How Obama Used Big Data to Rally Voters | MIT Technology Review
After the voters returned Obama to office for a second term, his campaign became celebrated for its use of technology—much of it developed by an unusual team of coders and engineers—that redefined how individuals could use the Web, social media, and smartphones to participate in the political process. A mobile app allowed a canvasser to download and return walk sheets without ever entering a campaign office; a Web platform called Dashboard gamified volunteer activity by ranking the most active supporters; and “targeted sharing” protocols mined an Obama backer’s Facebook network in search of friends the campaign wanted to register, mobilize, or persuade.
But underneath all that were scores describing particular voters: a new political currency that predicted the behavior of individual humans. The campaign didn’t just know who you were; it knew exactly how it could turn you into the type of person it wanted you to be.
Mayor Emanuel Expands Open Data on City Portal with Executive Order
Today, the City of Chicago expanded its open data efforts with an executive order by Mayor Emanuel.
“An open and transparent administration makes it easier for residents to hold their government accountable, but it also serves as a platform for innovative tools that improve the lives of all residents,” said Mayor Emanuel, in statement on the city website.
“Chicago’s vibrant technology and startup community will leverage this wealth of open, public data to create applications that will improve service delivery and lead to greater quality of service for residents and more public engagement in City government.”
The city released 21 new “high value” datasets today, including real-time traffic data from Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses, environmental data, liquor regulation, and recycling programs.
When asked what made these datasets high value, the Mayor’s Office responded via email.
“The datasets released today aren’t necessarily more critical than the more than 400 others that have been released,” wrote Caroline Weisser, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office.
“They continue the commitment the administration has taken to being a leader in municipal open data. The executive order itself codifies the actions that Brett and John Tolva, the CTO, have taken over the past year and a half to pursue both open data policy and detailed analytics in tandem. Making a firm commitment to continue adding writable data to the dataportal about how the city works provides the raw materials for the City to collaborate and innovate with the developer community, which ultimately helps the City do a better job of serving Chicagoans.”
For more context on opening government, the Chicago way, read our feature from 2011 and more recent coverage of how Brett Goldstein, Chicago’s chief information officer and chief data officer, is using data in the public sector.
Bringing Hidden Healthcare Data Into the Open | Wired Business | Wired.com
As anyone who has had the courage to research a sore throat or mystery rash online knows, there is an overabundance of information available to help you try and get a handle on what ails you. What has been missing, however, is easy access to other kinds of medical information that have a direct bearing on healthcare, including a patient’s own medical records, test results, copies of X-rays and MRIs, and how one doctor performs when compared to others in his or her area of expertise. Enter self-described health IT hacktivist and author Fred Trotter, who, with a bit of crowdfunding cash, and a whole lot of patience, has hatched a plan to bring hidden healthcare data into the open.
Nate Silver and Political Data: Every One of His State-level Presidential Predictions Proved True
Beyond just personal vindication, Silver has proven to the public the power of Big Data in transforming our electoral process. We already rely on statistical models to do everything from flying our airplanes to predicting the weather. This serves as yet another example of computers showing their ability to be better at handling the unknown than loud-talking experts.
“Dear Nate Silver:
My name is Emma Gertlowitz and I’m eleven years old and for a million years I liked Justin Bieber because he was so cute but now I like you. I watched you on MSNBC and HBO and on “Charlie Rose” and I can’t stop thinking about how you study polls and create probability models and predict elections and how you’re always right, which I think is so unbelievably cute, and I keep imagining you saying to me, “Emma, I think that there’s a 93.7% chance of me falling in love with you…”
Read “A Date with Nate,” one girl’s love letter to Nate Silver, by Paul Rudnick
(via newyorker)
(via newyorker)
New DARPA RFP Calls for All-In-One HUD that Sees Through Smoke, In The Dark and In Broad Daylight
DARPA wants a multi-band head-up display, which could be mounted to a helmet or a weapon scope, that combines several wavelengths of light into one image.
Sunny? No problem—the camera can see in visible light. Smoke bomb blocking your view? No sweat; the camera can see thermal infrared signatures. The system would also have near-infrared capability to help users see through darkness.
A new DARPA project called the Pixel Network for Dynamic Visualization (PIXNET) seeks proposals for new sensors that can do all of this in one package. A successful proposal would be small, lightweight, low-power and low-cost, said Nibir Dhar, DARPA program manager for PIXNET.
The system would communicate wirelessly with Android-based smart phones to fuse the images together, like you can see in the inset above. The warfighter would see a scene with visible imagery, thermal sensitivity and near-IR capability all in one.
Existing sensors are a good starting point, but they’re not advanced enough to combine multiple functions the way DARPA wants. Combining reflective and thermal bands will be a challenge, not to mention making it ultra-portable. “What we really need are breakthroughs in aperture design, focal plane arrays, electronics, packaging and materials science,” Dhar said.
(via DARPA Wants Cheap Head-Up Displays That Work In Any Kind Of Light | Popular Science)
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