Personal computers could soon fit entirely on a key ring. Researchers at IBM have developed a way to carry a powerful, personalised virtual computer from one PC to the next, without losing the user�s work.

The trick is to store the virtual computer on a USB key, or any portable device with substantial storage space, like an MP3 player.

An effort to create the first computer simulation of the entire human brain, right down to the molecular level has been launched by IBM and a Swiss university team. Called the “Blue Brain” project, it will involve building a custom-made supercomputer based on IBM’s Blue Gene design.

The hope is that the virtual brain will help shed light on some aspects of human cognition, such as perception, memory and perhaps even consciousness. It will be the first time humans will be able to observe the electrical code our brains use to represent the world, and to do so in real time, says Henry Markram, director of Brain and Mind Institute at the Ecole Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.

Very thin slices of mouse brain were kept alive under a microscope and probed electrically before being stained to reveal the synaptic, or nerve, connections. “We have the largest database in the world of single neurons that have been recorded and stained,” says Markram.
Neocortical columns

Using this database the initial phase of Blue Brain will model the electrical structure of neocortical columns - neural circuits that are repeated throughout the brain.

“These are the network units of the brain,” says Markram. Measuring just 0.5 millimetres by 2 mm, these units contain between 10 and 70,000 neurons, depending upon the species.

Once this is complete, the behaviour of columns can be mapped and modelled before moving into the second phase of the project. Two new models will be built, one a molecular model of the neurons involved. The other will clone the behavioural model of columns thousands of times to produce a complete neocortex, and eventually the rest of the brain.

The end product, which will take at least a decade to achieve, can then be stimulated and observed to see how different parts of the brain behave. For example, visual information can be inputted to the visual cortex, while Blue Brain’s response is observed. [New Scientist]

KITTY, a finger-mounted keyboard for data entry into PDA's, Pocket PC's and Wearable Computers which has been developed here at the University of California in Irvine.
KITTY was one of this years ISWC (Int. Symposium on Wearable Computers) Wearable Fashion Show main features (see here).

KITTY, an acronym for Keyboard-Independent Touch-TYping, is a fingermounted keyboard that uses touch-typing as the method of data entry.

The device targets the portable computing market and in particular wearable computing systems, which are in the need of a silent, "invisible" data entry system based on touch-typing. The new device combines the idea of a finger-mounted chording device (such as the "Twiddler" by the HandKey Corp.), with the advantages of a system that uses touch-typing (such as the Virtual Keyboard by Senseboard or the Scurry by Samsung).

However, the KITTY system has distinct and important advantages in comparison to the mentioned devices (see attached Comment.txt document).

A patent application for KITTY has been submitted. We also have secured the international rights on the device.

More information about KITTY (including a Flash Demo) can be found at Kittytech.

A full-featured PC that is small enough to slip into a shirt pocket is being hailed by its makers as the world's first modular computer. The machine can perform as both a PC and a handheld computer, but it remains to be seen if consumers are willing to pay for such a hybrid device.

The Modular Computing Core is being launched on 7 November by Antelope Technologies, a Colorado-based start-up. The device is a single portable unit into which all the essential computing components are crammed. At 76 by 127 by 19 millimetres (5 x 3 x 3/4 inches), the MCC is not much bigger than a deck of cards.

This core unit can then either be slotted into a docking station to be used with a screen and keyboard as a desktop computer, or into small portable "shell" with a touch-sensitive screen, turning it into a handheld computer. "Modular computers will change the way people use their computer," claims Kenneth Geyer, president of Antelope Technologies.

Inside the MCC is a 1GHz microprocessor, 256 MB of RAM and a 10 or 15 GB hard drive. It will also run a full version of Microsoft's XP operating system, instead of the stripped-down operating systems used by handheld computers.

Source: NewScientist