Latest news with #CarnegieMellon
Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Science
- Indian Express
Meta's new wristband lets you type and click without touching anything
Researchers at Meta's Reality Labs division are working on a wristband that lets people interact with a computer using simple hand gestures. The company's new product could someday replace the mouse and keyboard and enable users with reduced or limited motor abilities to interact with computers. In a blog post, the tech giant announced that it has successfully tested a prototype wristband with Orion, its highly anticipated first augmented reality glasses. Meta went on to say that the wristband eliminates the need for more cumbersome forms of input and lets users do things like send messages without a keyboard, navigate a menu without a mouse, and see and engage with digital content without having to look down at a smartphone. The wristband can also recognise a wide range of gestures like tapping, pinching and swiping even if your hand is at rest. Moreover, it also supports handwriting recognition, meaning you will be able to write messages on hard surfaces like a desk, table or leg. Since it is easy and natural, the technology can be particularly useful for doing things like sending a private message in public. Meta says it is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon to test its new wristband on people with spinal cord injuries to see if they can use computers even if they are unable to move their arms or hands. Since people with complete hand paralysis show signs of muscle activity, which might mean that the wristband may be able to understand the actions they want to perform. You can watch it in action in the video below. In a paper published in Nature, Meta says its new wristband technology uses a non-invasive technique called surface electromyography, or sEMG for short, which packs several sensors that help convert electrical motor nerve signals travelling through the wrist to the hand into digital commands to control devices. In case you are wondering, these are the very signals sent by the brain to tell your hand to perform certain actions. The company says the model powering the wristband was trained on data from thousands of participating volunteers, making the device highly accurate at understanding subtle gestures across a wide range of people and eliminating the need for individual calibration. Since the new sEMG wristband does not require any operation, Meta says the technology may be able to work for people with 'diverse physical abilities and characteristics.' Compared to Elon Musk's Neuralink, which wants to insert brain chips in individuals with paralysis, Meta's approach is much safer since it requires no surgical insertion and does no damage to the part of the body it's attached to. Meta's new wristband may make its public debut alongside its highly anticipated upcoming smart glasses with a built-in display. Codenamed 'Hypernova', these smartglasses are said to cost somewhere between $1,000 and $1,400 and might be launched sometime later this year.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Meta researchers are developing a gesture-controlled wristband that can interact with a computer
Meta researchers are developing a wristband that lets people control a computer using hand gestures. This includes moving a cursor, opening apps, and sending messages by writing in the air as if using a pencil. Meta's wristband employs a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG), which detects electrical signals generated by muscle activity to interpret user movements, as explained in a research paper published in the journal Nature. These signals can sense a person's intended actions, even before they do them. The goal of this wristband is to provide less invasive tools to interact with computers for people with motor disabilities. The company is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon to test the wristband with people who have spinal cord injuries, enabling them to use computers even if they are unable to fully use their arms or hands. Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, noted that even people with complete hand paralysis still exhibit some muscle activity. As a result, the device is able to interpret their intended actions. The wristband is a simpler alternative to other projects, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, which aims to implant brain chips in individuals with severe paralysis. Other non-invasive approaches include headsets that utilize electroencephalogram (EEG) signals; however, these have limitations due to the weak signals they produce. Meanwhile, Meta's wristband could be used immediately without surgical intervention, and its use of sEMG signals means it operates at a higher frequency than EEG. 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Science
- TechCrunch
Meta researchers are developing a gesture-controlled wristband that can interact with a computer
Meta researchers are developing a wristband that lets people control a computer using hand gestures. This includes moving a cursor, opening apps, and sending messages by writing in the air as if using a pencil. Meta's wristband employs a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG), which detects electrical signals generated by muscle activity to interpret user movements, as explained in a research paper published in the journal Nature. These signals can sense a person's intended actions, even before they do them. The goal of this wristband is to provide less invasive tools to interact with computers for people with motor disabilities. The company is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon to test the wristband with people who have spinal cord injuries, enabling them to use computers even if they are unable to fully use their arms or hands. Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, noted that even people with complete hand paralysis still exhibit some muscle activity. As a result, the device is able to interpret their intended actions. The wristband is a simpler alternative to other projects, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, which aims to implant brain chips in individuals with severe paralysis. Other non-invasive approaches include headsets that utilize electroencephalogram (EEG) signals; however, these have limitations due to the weak signals they produce. Meanwhile, Meta's wristband could be used immediately without surgical intervention, and its use of sEMG signals means it operates at a higher frequency than EEG.
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Science
- TechCrunch
Meta researchers are developing a gesture-controlled wristband that can control a computer
Meta researchers are developing a wristband that lets people control a computer using hand gestures. This includes moving a cursor, opening apps, and sending messages by writing in the air as if using a pencil. Meta's wristband employs a technique called surface electromyography (sEMG), which detects electrical signals generated by muscle activity to interpret user movements, as explained in a research paper published in the journal Nature. These signals can sense a person's intended actions, even before they do them. The goal of this wristband is to provide less invasive tools to interact with computers for people with motor disabilities. The company is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon to test the wristband with people who have spinal cord injuries, enabling them to use computers even if they are unable to fully use their arms or hands. Douglas Weber, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Neuroscience Institute, noted that even people with complete hand paralysis still exhibit some muscle activity. As a result, the device is able to interpret their intended actions. The wristband is a simpler alternative to other projects, such as Elon Musk's Neuralink, which aims to implant brain chips in individuals with severe paralysis. Other non-invasive approaches include headsets that utilize electroencephalogram (EEG) signals; however, these have limitations due to the weak signals they produce. Meanwhile, Meta's wristband could be used immediately without surgical intervention, and its use of sEMG signals means it operates at a higher frequency than EEG.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
This 1 Hidden iPhone Feature Could Instantly Make Your Online Data Safer — And It's Easy To Activate
Our iPhones carry our most private photos and secret files and notes inside them –– and there's one step you could do right now to keep their iCloud backups safer from prying eyes. It's called Advanced Data Protection, and it's a software option that was rolled out for iOS 16.2 in 2022 for U.S. users that you may not know about, because it's not a default setting, so you have to turn it on yourself. But you should. This feature 'maximizes the amount of privacy you can have' on Apple devices, explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. Advanced Data Protection is a strong privacy and security feature because it enables end-to-end encryption for your iCloud backups. When you save your files and photos to the cloud, platforms like Apple, by default, will do 'in transit encryption,' meaning transferred data is private but that Apple itself can still see what you are doing. End-to-end encryption goes one step further because it will scramble data so that it's inaccessible unless there is an encryption key that only you know. It 'makes it so that even the platform owners cannot see that activity, those contents being created,' explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation. This way, no one –– not even Apple or a U.S. government that has the power to seize devices at the border –– can gain access to your revealing photos and voice memos saved on your iCloud, because only you have the encryption key. 'End-to-end encryption does make it so that law enforcement would have a tough time accessing things from cloud providers who get court orders, subpoenas ... sent to them to get access to different types of information,' Huerta said. Even if you are not an activist, celebrity or a journalist with sensitive information on your phone, you might still want your private photos, like your nudes, or your vulnerable breakup notes you back up to iCloud, to be under this extra layer of privacy. 'If you don't want your content to be used for advertising ... one of the best ways to get that to happen is to use a service that is end-to-end encrypted,' said Sarah Scheffler, an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. She noted that end-to-end encryption also helps protect against potential employee misuse of your data or data breaches. Apple already automatically does end-to-end encryption protection for your payment information, passwords and health data — but it does not, by default, do it for other revealing parts of your iPhone, such as your photo libraries or your Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts and Voice Memos. Turning on Advanced Data Protection changes that. Here's how it works. How To Turn On Apple's Advanced Data Protection Feature First, you need to make sure you enable two-factor authentication and update your device to at least iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2 or watchOS 9.2. Then go to Settings, click your Apple name, so you go to your Apple Account. Then select iCloud and Advanced Data Protection. As part of Advanced Data Protection, you must either create a recovery key or a recovery contact in case you get locked out of your account. For the recovery key option: You need to create a 28-character key that will help you unlock your account. You must write this down and keep it somewhere you will remember, because Apple can't help you recover this key if you forget it. For the recovery contact option: You need to designate someone you trust who has an Apple device to be your recovery contact. They'll get a message with a code to help you regain access to your end-to-end encrypted data if you get locked out. What Advanced Data Protection Doesn't Do This feature is a great, simple way to add a much-needed layer of security and privacy to your iPhone and the outside world — but it does come with caveats. Notably, iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendar events will not be end-to-end encrypted under this extra layer of security. And it still takes a bit of time to set up. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation acknowledges in its pitch for people to use this feature, the digital rights group states, 'It'd be even better if this became Apple's default, instead of an opt-in.' And it's not available for users in every country, either. This year, Apple said it is withdrawing this feature for U.K. users, reportedly as a way to avoid complying with a request from the U.K. government to create a technical 'back door' for accessing user data. Unfortunately, there is also no exact equivalent to this one-stop, additional end-to-end encryption feature for Android users. 'Your Android phone, if it's a modern Android phone, will have full disk encryption, which is good, so that the actual device itself and the files in it are protected,' explained Huerta. 'But then as soon as you put that or save that in Google Photos or Google Drive or whatever, then that's when you know Google now has a fully readable copy of your data.' Don't let your guard down, either. Even if you are an Apple user with Advanced Data Protection turned on, don't assume that this step means you are completely private and secure on your phone. You should always be doing basic security steps like enabling two-factor authentication and password managers on your phone apps. But overall, Advanced Data Protection should be a feature you have on if you are worried about having your most sensitive photo libraries and files exposed for an authority or a hacker to find. In this era of online surveillance by hackers and empowered border agents, it doesn't hurt to be more careful. Related... This 1 iPhone Setting Might Be Messing With Your Friendships Knowing The Difference Between These 3 Types Of Emergency Alerts Could Save Your Life This Hidden iPhone Feature May Just Save Your Life In An Emergency 1 Seemingly Innocent Thing On Your Phone Might Make Border Agents Deny You Entry
