MYO Wearable-Computing Armbands with Bluetooth 4.0 Connectivity

"Wave goodbye to camera-based gesture control." That is the confident directive coming from a one-year-old Waterloo, Ontario, startup called Thalmic Labs.

The company is prepared to ship its next batch of wearable-computing armbands for device controls early next year.

The $149 armbands called MYO do not require cameras in order to track hand or arm movements. The armbands can wirelessly control and interact with computers and other digital consumer products by recognizing the electric impulses in users' muscles.

The MYO is worn around the forearm; its purpose is to control computers, phones, and other devices, sending the data via Bluetooth. Windows and Mac operating systems are supported and APIs will be available for iOS and Android.

Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE) is used for the MYO to communicate with the paired devices. (Bluetooth version 4.0 is the most recent version of Bluetooth wireless technology.

It includes a low-energy feature promoted as good news for developers and manufacturers of Bluetooth devices and applications—enabling markets for devices that are low-cost and operate with low-power wireless connectivity.)

The MYO specs include on-board, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and an ARM processor. Also part of the mix are the company's proprietary muscle-activity sensors and a six-axis inertial measurement unit.

A user's gestures and movements are actually detected in two ways: muscle activity and motion sensing. The Thalmic team says that when sensing the muscle movements of the user, the MYO can detect changes down to each individual finger.

Also, when tracking arm and hand positions, the MYO picks up subtle movements and rotations in all directions.

Right now, as indicated in their newly released video of the company, Thalmic Labs hopes for greater things for MYO via a developer community. They expect an official developer program to be up and running in the next few months.

They pride themselves in groundbreaking technology, as a team with specialties from electrical engineering to embedded system design. Nonetheless, they are looking to developers for innovative ideas in applications.

The TOOB! The New Gamers Immersive Domed Console - Video

WHAT IS THE PLAN?
TOOB plans to manufacture and sell the world’s first affordable dome displays. TOOB has spent the last 2 years developing its 2nd generation product TOOB Earth.

WHAT IS TOOB Earth?
TOOB Earth is a 1.2 Metre (4ft) diameter half dome which when used with a standard projector fitted with a standard lens can project an image onto the inside curved surface giving the viewer the sense of being fully immersed in the content. Think IMAX/ OMNI MAX but in the home.

One of the key differentiator's is that the projector and screen are all contained within the same footprint meaning you no longer need to compromise on space.

TOOB Earth is the first in a range of dome products planned and will be the foundation for the world’s first consumer focused Gaming/ Simulation/ Film curved screen company.

Its uniquely patented design allows you to place your dome on any hard surface or on our GRAVITY-E adjustable stand.

Using the GRAVITY-E stand adds a further layer of flexibility as it then allows you to either use TOOBs brand new TSR/ TFX & M-spec simulation rigs

or use many existing racing or flight rigs which can be comfortably slide underneath. Or simply use the GRAVITY-E as a furniture piece in your room for watching stereo 3D movies.

CORPORATE
TOOB is well suited for the corporate environment and this is a great opportunity to get a TOOB and be one of the first to showcase TOOB Dome technology with your business.

TOOB's 007 reward shows how you can take a TOOB product and customise it with a unique brand or design.

In April 2011 TOOB attended the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham (UK) visted by over 40,000 tech hungry guests.

TOOB was so popular it increased footfall on our partners stand by thousands. The increased footfall generated more sales.

TOOB gave 1400 demos during the event. That guarenteed 1400 more potential customers + the 1000s of people that stoped to look at the technology.

(T.O.O.B. LTD acknowledges all rights, copyrights and trademarks of 3rd parties, the above image is an artists illustration only)

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world?

Games like World of Warcraft give players the means to save worlds, and incentive to learn the habits of heroes. What if we could harness this gamer power to solve real-world problems? Jane McGonigal says we can, and explains how.

Reality is broken, says Jane McGonigal, and we need to make it work more like a game. Her work shows us how.

China Continues Persecution of Internet Teenagers

Another 14-year-old boy allegedly beaten at a boot camp in China for young Internet addicts was in critical condition Thursday, less than three weeks after a youth at a different camp died, Chinese state media reported.

People sit at a wireless cafe in Beijing, using their laptop computers.

Internet use has skyrocketed in China, especially among teens and Chinese parents have turned to hundreds of training camps that offer to wean their children -- mostly teenagers -- from excessive Internet use.

There are at least 400 private rehabilitation clinics or camps in the country, according to a recent survey by the China Youth Internet Association, adding that China has 10 million teenage Web addicts but the Chinese Ministry of Health says none of the private rehab clinics are legally registered.

The parents of Pu Liang, the injured teen, had sent him to a camp called the Anti-traditional Education Training Center on August 4 near Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, Chinese media reported.

Pu allegedly was beaten three times between August 4 and August 11. Police discovered the boy in solitary confinement last week and he was taken to a hospital, according to media reports.

His parents accused a counselor at the camp and Pu's peers of repeatedly hitting him, Chinese media said, adding that particular camp has been closed.

"He is suffering from water on the lungs (pneumonia) and kidney failure," Pu's father, Pu Shiwei, told the publication China View on Wednesday. "All injuries were done by the people at the camp."

The training cenere denied that a counselor beat the youth, contending Pu was hit by other campers because he couldn't get along with them, China View reported.

Authorities in Zhongjiang county, where the camp is located, said they detained the counselor after a report of alleged abuse from the parents of another child.

The man who established the military-style camp, Wu Yongjing, admitted to the BBC that youngsters were sometimes subjected to "physical punishment."

"Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children -- as long as it can be controlled," he said in an online story Wednesday.

The injured youth's mother told Chinese media that her son "got addicted to online games and frequented Internet cafes ... at the end of last semester, my son said he didn't want to go to school."

The mother, Li Shubing, saw an ad for the training camp and hoped her son could be helped, she told China Daily. The parents signed a contract with the center and paid 5,000 yuan (about $730), she said.

In a separate incident, 15-year-old Deng Senshan died after his parents sent him to a summer training camp for his Internet addiction, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. That camp was in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.