Man With Thought-Controlled Bionic Leg to Climb Chicago Tower

After losing his right leg in a motorcycle accident, Zac Vawter, 31-year-old software engineer will put his thought-controlled bionic leg to the ultimate test on Sunday when he attempts to climb 103 flights of stairs to the top of Chicago’s Willis Tower, one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. If all goes well, he’ll make history with the bionic leg’s public debut.

Vawter has signed up to become a research subject, , helping to test a trailblazing prosthetic leg that’s controlled by his thoughts. The robotic leg responds to electrical impulses from muscles in his hamstring. Vawter will think, “Climb stairs,” and the motors, belts and chains in his leg will synchronize the movements of its ankle and knee. Vawter hopes to make it to the top in an hour, longer than it would’ve taken before his amputation, less time than it would take with his normal prosthetic leg — or, as he calls it, his “dumb” leg.

A team of researchers will be cheering him on and noting the smart leg’s performance. Vawter can not keep the leg after the experiment, the bionic limb will stay behind in Chicago. Researchers will continue to refine its steering. Taking it to the market is still years away.

“Somewhere down the road, it will benefit me and I hope it will benefit a lot of other people as well,” Vawter said about the research at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

Bionic — or thought-controlled — prosthetic arms have been available for a few years, thanks to pioneering work done at the Rehabilitation Institute. With leg amputees outnumbering people who’ve lost arms and hands, the Chicago researchers are focusing more on lower limbs. Safety is important. If a bionic hand fails, a person drops a glass of water. If a bionic leg fails, a person falls down stairs.

In this Oct. 25, 2012 photo, physical therapist assistant Suzanne Finucane, right, helps Zac Vawter as he practices walking with an experimental "bionic" leg at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. After losing his right leg in a motorcycle accident, the 31-year-old software engineer signed up to become a research subject, helping test a trailblazing prosthetic leg that's controlled by his thoughts. He will put this leg to the ultimate test Sunday, Nov. 4 when he attempts to climb 103 flights of stairs to the top of Chicago's Willis Tower, one of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey

The Willis Tower climb will be the bionic leg’s first test in the public eye, said lead researcher Levi Hargrove of the institute’s Center for Bionic Medicine. The climb, called “SkyRise Chicago,” is a fundraiser for the institute with about 2,700 people climbing. This is the first time the climb has played a role in the facility’s research.

To prepare, Vawter and the scientists have spent hours adjusting the leg’s movements. On one recent day, 11 electrodes placed on the skin of Vawter’s thigh fed data to the bionic leg’s microcomputer. The researchers turned over the “steering” to Vawter. He kicked a soccer ball, walked around the room and climbed stairs.

It started with surgery in 2009. When Vawter’s leg was amputated, a surgeon repositioned the residual spaghetti-like nerves that normally would carry signals to the lower leg and sewed them to new spots on his hamstring. That would allow Vawter one day to be able to use a bionic leg, even though the technology was years away. The surgery is called “targeted muscle reinnervation” and it’s like “rewiring the patient,” Hargrove said. “And now when he just thinks about moving his ankle, his hamstring moves and we’re able to tell the prosthesis how to move appropriately.”

Experts not involved in the project say the Chicago research is on the leading edge. Most artificial legs are passive. “They’re basically fancy wooden legs,” said Daniel Ferris of the University of Michigan. Others have motorized or mechanical components but don’t respond to the electrical impulses caused by thought.

Printer pencil

So you don’t want to join  pencil stubs and make a long pencil. No worries, we have another alternative, how about using them to print on paper. Yes, like a printer that uses pencil to print your documents. Traditional don’t you think? I feel the concept gets even more radical because it proposes the use of eraser to erase off mistakes! Do I hear my office scream in delight; no more cartridge woes!

Designers: Hoyoung Lee

Faster way of IRCTC tatkal booking in chrome

For the fastest Irctc ticket booking( mainly for tatkal ticket booking) follow the steps:
1) First of all you should have the Google chrome
2)Then  you have to add the  IRCTC Tatkal Booking Assistant extension into chrome browser  from this link  https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/irctc-tatkal-booking-assi/kpfgbhjnichkadiogfnojjljohhdnffk
3) Then you can see a train icon on the topleft of your browser.click that and create a new profile for the       journey.
4)Start filling your details of your journey in that form appears..
5)You can select the tatkal or general.



6)After filling the details,save it.
7)Now its ready.. .If you open the IRCTC WEBSITE... Based on the details provided in that form...It automatically makes the process...At the stage of entering CAPTCHA it prompt you to enter..
8)After entering,It automatically takes you to payment gateway provided in that form.
9)After booking the ticket... disable this extension by right click that train icon or go to chrome://extensions/ and disable this... Enable this feature at the time of booking the ticket
10)That's all enjoy the Faster and Automatic ticket booking in chrome. 
  

Windows 8 - "Picture Password"

Windows 8 includes a feature called picture passwords that allow you to login to your account by using gestures on an image with your finger or your mouse. This is especially useful for tablets where you want to avoid typing if you can. Instead of typing in a password, you select a picture and then create three gestures on it to act as your password. When you create the picture password you can use gestures that consist of taps, circles, or lines. Once the picture password is created you can then login to your Windows accounts by performing these gestures in the same direction as when you created them. That means if you circled an object counterclockwise you would need to circle it counterclockwise to login. Circling it clockwise would not count as a successful gesture. This method allows for tremendous variation in possible passwords on a given picture and allows you to avoid having to use the virtual keyboard.

To enable picture passwords, type picture password at the Windows 8 Start Screen and then click on the Settings category as shown below.

When the search results appear, click on the Create or change picture password option to open the User Settings screen.

On the above screen click on the Create a picture password option. Windows 8 will now prompt you for your password to confirm that you are the owner of the account we are adding a picture password to.

Type your password and then click on the OK button. You will now be shown a screen that gives a brief explanation on picture passwords.

To start the process of creating your picture password, click on the Choose picture button. A window will open that shows all the pictures in your library so that you can select a picture you wish to use for your picture password.

Select a picture you would like to use and then click on the Open button. Windows 8 will now show how your selected picture will look and ask if you would like to use it or select another one.

If you are happy with the picture click on the Use this picture, otherwise click on the Choose new picture to pick a different once. Once you select a picture you will be shown a screen where you need to create three gestures that will act as your password.

When creating these gestures, you can make circles, straight lines, or tap in the picture. Please note that when you use these picture passwords the order in which you make the gesture and their direction matters. So each gesture must be followed in the same order and in the same direction when you use it to login. In this tutorial, I am going to create three easy gestures of circling two of the cars and then drawing a line from the truck to the minivan.

To do this, I would use my finger or drag my mouse to draw a circle around two of the cars and then create a line between the truck and the minivan. Each time I create a gesture it will briefly show on the screen like in the images below. You can see the three gestures that were created in the series of images below.

Gesture 1: Circle a car in a clockwise motion

Gesture 2: Circle the second car in a counterclockwise motion

Gesture 3: Line from the truck to the car

When you are done creating your three gestures, Windows 8 will then prompt you to confirm all three gestures again to make sure you remember it.

At the above screen you need to perform the gestures just like you previously made them. If you wish to create new gestures, please click on the Start over button. Once you complete all three properly, you will be presented with a screen that states you have successfully created a picture password.

You can then click the Finish button to get out of this setup wizard.

Now when you login to your account you will be shown your selected picture where you need to perform the exact gestures that you setup previously.

Once you complete all three gestures in the proper direction, Windows will log you into your account. If at any time you forget your gestures or are having problems, you can click on the Switch to password button to go back to using your normal text password.

To disable the picture password feature, you simply need to back into the Users settings and click on the Remove button as shown in the image below.

Accessing Remote Computer

Remotely accessing a computer via the Internet has been possible for a long time, but the process usually involved static IP addresses or live Internet IP addresses. LogMeIn Hamachi and TeamViewer are two of the most powerful applications and they're also free to use for personal and non-commercial environments. The process involves downloading a simple utility on both the host and client computers and connecting them over a reasonably fast Internet connection. In this simple workshop, we’ll show you how to install and use TeamViewer for non-commercial use. Corporate users can create presentations, transfer important files or conduct video conferences, and service engineers can offer online help using the licensed version meant for commercial usage.

Firstly, download the 3.4 MB free application from www.teamviewer.com on the host and client computers, which need to be controlled (Fig 1). After the download is complete, you can choose to either run the application as a standalone or install it on your PC. Don’t choose the install option if you don't own the computer (for instance, if you are running the application from a public PC (cybercafé) or a friend’s home). Once done with the installation, TeamViewer will access the Internet and allot your computer with a unique ID and password, which will be displayed on the screen (Fig 2). Now your machine is ready to either be a host PC or connect to a client PC. The computer on the other end will also have a unique ID and password, which needs to be passed on to you so that you can gain access to that computer. Key the details into the ‘Create Session’ fields (Fig 3) on the right side of the window.

Finally, select the type of activity you need the connection for - remote control, file transfer, or VPN.Click on the ‘Connect to partner’ icon and TeamViewer will connect your system to the host and ask you for the password (Fig 4).

Remote control will show you the entire screen of the other PC on your monitor, which you can control and use as you like (Fig 5). You have options such as switching sides with the host, sending crucial commands such as locking, rebooting, etc. You can also view or send video feeds if webcams are installed on either side. Voice chat is also possible.