Slashdot Mirror
SenseCam Aids Patients with Memory Problems
Ponca City, We Love You writes "A small digital camera developed by Microsoft Research could boost memory in people with dementia and possibly mild forms of Alzheimer's disease. SenseCam is worn around the neck and automatically takes a wide-angle, low-resolution photograph every 30 seconds. It contains an accelerometer to stabilize the image and reduce blurriness, and it can be configured to take pictures in response to changes in movement, temperature, or lighting. An entire day's events can be captured and downloaded onto a PC where software converts the pictures into a short movie displaying the images at up to 10 frames per second, to allow patients to view a day's events in a few minutes to jolt their memory. "Not only does SenseCam allow people to recall memories while they are looking at the images, which in itself is wonderful, but after an initial period of consolidation, it appears to lead to long-term retention of memories over many months, without the need to view the images repeatedly," says neuropsychologist Emma Berry."
this image would have been more appropriate for this article http://images.slashdot.org/topics/topicms.gif
Do not believe Teddy's lies.
I have something sorta like that. When I was using Gallery along with a shell script out of procmail to do uploads from e-mail to handle my mobile pictures, it would create galleries in the format yyyymmdd and I can usually recall almost to the day what I was doing.
It's most likely because I would go back through the photos either that day or the next and caption some. This would help to jog my memory and help me recall the dates much later. My friends say I'm an idiot savant (in the most negative connotation possible) but I tell them that I'm just a nerd.
The problem of memory in Alzheimer patients (at least at the early stages) is not one of forgetfulness, so much, but the loss of context due to the loss of connections between two situations. A patient could sit down with a lunch tray at the hospital cafeteria when a nurse walks in the door and the patient would suddenly be unclear as to why they were in the cafeteria in the first place. Oliver Sacks discusses this quite a bit in his books. By taking the patient through the series of events, leaving out the extraneous information like the nurse walking in, it is possible to reconnect the events for the patient and they will typically be able to regain their "memory".
Now, if deodorant makers would simply stop using Aluminum oxide in their products, we could probably cut the number of Alzheimer cases in half, but it's no big surprise that the makers of those products are also the ones making the drugs to treat the disease.
The whole "upload the day to the PC" part seems a bit contrived. Why can't you just watch this life movie wherever you are?
This is my sig.
The guy from Memento could have used this! Even using Microsoft products has to be less painful than constantly tatooing yourself.
What!?!
Look, I've been a vegan for 19 years now, but not even I can see how this comment is anywhere near relevant to this article. It's not like the camera is going to somehow to a time warp on the dead animal on your plate, follow its constituent atoms back to its grains etc.
Seriously, wtf. Debate where it is an appropriate forum, just interjecting where it makes no sense gives a bad image to vegans/vegetarians.
Josh
Open Your Mind. Open Your Source.
Isn't this just a rehash of the MS "Lifecam" or some trendy name like that? IIRC, we were all supposed to be wearing this thing around our necks and not bothering to remember anything anymore, the camera would keep a "life record" or some such.
Wasn't that a fail? I can't remember...
ah.clem
"Life is not magic." Dr. Ron Weiss - "If we don't play God, who will?" Dr. James Watson
Supposedly the problem is not that memory itself fails, but often we cannot remember things because we didn't "register" them properly. Which also explains after-party blackouts, of course.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
It seems I've seen this on /. in the last couple of weeks (maybe not the same article, but the same MS camera thing). It was tagged "biotech" then too.
This is not biotech any more than the mouse on your computer is biotech or the shirt on your back is biotech.
Also, what's the point of repeatedly posting this? Not only has it been on in the last week or two, but it's been posted once or twice before that, at least.
Great, MS is putting small cameras on people to help them remember and associate memories.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
That's great and all, that technology is being used to help people.
;)
But I have to wonder, now, how people with cameras around their necks will be treated. Will they be arrested as terrorists for taking pictures of busy streets and important bridges? Will they be barred from entering many businesses who have a "no pictures" policy? If they witness a crime, will they be hassled to give up their helpful device for evidence? Or worse yet, be a higher-risk target for the bad guys wanting to make sure that evidence is destroyed?
Furthermore, where does their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness end and my right to privacy begin? I don't like being monitored without my knowledge/permission.
On the other hand, integrate a GPS and a voluntary program, and they could earn extra income from Google Streets for getting updated street-level pictures of cities...
Now, if only I could find where I put my keys.
...that is all.
I don't care what company you are and what products you normally sell. If you can create something as useful as this, you deserve respect. Well done!
I quickly scanned the article, but i couldn't find a built-in lcd. That would've been perfect, although i can assume the power comsumption would be too heavy and you'll end up losing half a day because of it. *shrug* Wonderful device though.
But, there was a new twist, with the Sorbanes-Oxley (spelling?) Act that mandates preservation of all electronic records, whether or not they are evidence, whether or not you knew it is evidence. So these pictures should be preserved for whatever period the act says they must be preserved.
Of course any one who posts drivel like this could not be a lawyer and I am not one.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I could see how you could use this in school, to capture a lecture in a very basic form. Then you can run through 1 minute of audio around the time each picture was taken (say every 5 minutes) and review a 50 minute lecture in 10 minutes. Of course it's possible to record all the audio (the snippet function would be in software), so if you came to a spot that you needed to fully review, you could listen to all the audio of the section. I think that if dementia patients could benefit from this then everyone can.
It might be useful to add some additional information, such as geocoordinates, to the recordings also. Then you could "tag" your regular locations (such as the lecture hall, etc), and set up rules to automatically download and save to certain categories in the database, based on the location you were at when they recorded. So, for instance, you could set up a rule that all recordings at the coordinates of Lecture Hall One should be saved to "Physics Lectures", and all recordings at the coordinates of Lecture Hall Two go to "Accounting Lectures". It's going to need to be automatic if people are going to use it.
Cool! Amazing Toys.
Alzheimer's and dementia are not necessarily caused by problem diets. I know there's a lot of vegan propoganda circulating around about how supposedly the consumption of meat and animal products is to blame for Alzheimer's and dementia, but this is simply not the case. There are many complex reasons for dementia, which can be caused by an entire host of mental disorders, which includes Alzheimers but also include others. Sometimes it's just due to aging. Alzheimer's is most probably genetic in nature since it seems that there genetic mutations in four genes that have been linked to the disease, one of which is has been clearly established as a definite susceptibility gene.
Anyone telling you these diseases have something to do with diet are talking out their arse.
My blog
In many countries, like Japan, there is a law that says whenever a picture is taken using a digital camera a loud and distinct click must be sounded. This was because people were snapping surreptitious pictures of other people of a particular gender from very peculiar angles and there was a public outcry. So should this camera on the lanyard sound click every 30 seconds?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Or your picture may just resemble the blue screen of death!
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
How is an accelerometer in a low resolution, wide angle camera going to accomplish counteracting camera shake? Any insight?
...Now all the user has to do is remember to charge the thing every day.
Oxford Dictionaries Online
To be able to remember what a persone did during the day, (s)he would still have to remember to wear the camera in the morning.
See http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/. It's fun to see a good idea turned into another good idea.
[Pruneau
Reminds me of that whole sousveillance thing that was hot about a year ago. Though of course, the intent is different. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousveillance
This bears an eerie resemblance to the movie Final Cut. From the IMDB plot summary:
Not nearly the same, admittedly, but I couldn't help but be reminded.
"You call it a new way of thinking; I call it regression to ignorance!" -- Operation Ivy
Plus the act itself is pretty complicated for someone who can't even remember if they ate lunch that day. I suspect that this is going to end with the nurse finding the computer in the freezer and grandma trying to plug in her camera to a carton of ice cream.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The idea of a full visual record of one's life has been around for many years. Here's one of the pioneers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann
I don't see what Microsoft actually contributed to this work.
You only have to comply with SOX if you incorporate yourself into a public company. I suppose that's possible, but you will have to retain 51% of your own stock to avoid violating the 13th amendment of US constitution.
I use TimeSnapper to do this for my computer usage on Windows. It takes a snapshot (across multiple desktops) at a user-defined interval, and can play the resulting images back as a time-lapse. Extremely useful if you need to figure out what you were doing last Tuesday, or forget where the day went. There's a free version (for non-commercial use) and a paid one with more features. Yeah, it's not a camera--but like many of us, I spend more time most days sitting in front of a computer than talking to people, anyway. --(())
Because they're microsoft.
So they can claim more copies of Vista Sold (because more people will have to install Vista on their machine to use this gadget)
And probably the technology will require that the patient's family gets equipped with "Windows Vista Home Server".
Maybe also a couple of server license sold to the Care center.
And I'm sure they'll manage to cram "Xbox" somewhat into the requirement.
Probably the only way to whatch them "on the move" would be using a Zune. Thus enabling microsoft to boast every where that they are outselling iPods 10-to-1 (in the specific field of portable media devices used to play back Alzheimer patient's memory aids).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
A few technologists are recording 100% of their waking lives on video, but maybe this one percent solution might be adequate for most of the time.
Then I might be able to remember what I ate for breakfast yeseterday!
As much as I don't like Microsoft, I'd actually like to have one. I've always wanted to be able to record my life (apparently, I don't remember a few family trips that everyone else remembers), and go back to any day. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it is available to the public. Has anyone seen anything similar that is available?
Kernel Krunch - Part of a Complete OS
It would be even better with help from a skywriter.
"A problem has been detected and Earth has been shut down to prevent damage to the universe."
Finally I will be able to know wtf happens during my blackouts and hth do I manage to get home with no cash!
Now, if deodorant makers would simply stop using Aluminum oxide in their products, we could probably cut the number of Alzheimer cases in half
Give me a break. Failing that, give me some evidence, in the form of peer-reviewed studies in legitimate scientific journals.
How do you know it's not the case?
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/S/SLAUGHTERHOUSE_ILLNESS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-12-07-20-38-21
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
The story in your link has nothing to do with consuming meat or animal products. The disease allegedly triggered by pig brain tissue exposure had to do with slaughterhouse workers. And, the disease in question in the article, CIDP, doesn't produce dementia, either. It's a CNS disorder, not a brain disorder.
And, I know it's not the case because my wife is a clinical psychologist and my mother works with Alzheimer's patients. As such, for a layperson, I know quite a bit about disorders of the brain.
My blog
You make a strange statement. "The story in your link has nothing to do with consuming meat or animal products. The disease allegedly triggered by pig brain tissue exposure had to do with slaughterhouse workers." Ok then. The brain is part of the CNS. But my point wasn't that meat causes Alzheimer's, rather that there is a lot that is not known, so I find your assertion rather.. bold. Probably one that a non layperson wouldn't make. ;)
Okay, well, these workers are claiming that there exposure to pig brain tissue may be responsible for their disorder. But -- and here's the key point -- it may not. In fact, all we know is that these workers worked in the same slaughterhouse. Perhaps there is some chemical used in the slaughterhouse that is causing their CNS problems. That story doesn't support the either conclusion that eating meat or animal products causes Alzheimer's or dementia or my conclusion that eating meat or animal products has nothing to do with either, and the fact that much is not known also doesn't support those conclusions either, nor does it necessarily deny those conclusions.
My conclusions are based on solid scientific evidence about what is known. You are attempting to say I'm an idiot by saying there's a lot we don't know. It's a straw man argument. Give it up.
My blog
It's a skrode, but for people!
Old people with dementia find a change of routine remarkably debilitating. Even minor changes of routine. The solution is not to try keeping their world the way it was, the solution is to make them comfortable with their new world.
That involves deep immersion in routine ("the rut is your friend"), simplification of process, and acknowledging that their world *will* shrink as their sphere of competence decreases... that that this is a *good* thing, not a bad thing. Better for them to have a small world in which they feel they are coping, than to stretch to keep their world slightly wider, and thereby adding to their distress by the constant realization they are not coping.
If they manage to make a cup of tea at some point during the day, that's great. Giving them the opportunity at the end of the day to see themselves put the kettle on 16 times, take the cup out 8 times and put it away again 7 times, well that won't do anything to make them happy. And that's assuming they can remember why they've got this thing around their neck, and where the computer is.
I'm not sure why the extra step of downloading to a PC. It wouldn't be hard to put a screen on the other side of the device, like most digital snapshot cameras currently have, and view the movie there. Sure, the device would cost more, but not nearly as much as a PC and Vista license. (Or even XP license.)
I suppose one could say that "most people have a PC", but the people I know of with dementia either aren't computer-savvy or have lost the knack. To be really useful, it should be self-contained, easy to hold, and really easy to use, with big buttons.
Seems to me that Microsoft isn't actually solving "how can we do this". They're solving "how can we do this with Windows".
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Just imagine the amount damage a hacker could do, planting false images to lead a person to believe or do something that they wouldn't otherwise then erasing the evidence afterwards.
This is big news... you might say: well at least they are helping the same people they drove insane... but no, how do you think the software REALLY behaves? It Mixes photograms with different patients, randomly inserts blue screens of death in movies and as the camera shuts down unexpectedly it turns out that you loose a lot of frames per day... so you never know if it is working or you just get insanely mad... nice way to go Microsoft!!!!
Donde Ser Geek No Duele