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Researchers Create Computer That Fits On a Pen Tip
CWmike writes "Researchers at the University of Michigan announced Wednesday that they have created the first prototype for a millimeter-scale computing system that can hold up to a week's worth of data when implanted in something as small as a human eye. The computer, called the Phoenix chip, is just over one cubic millimeter in size and was designed to monitor eye pressure in glaucoma patients. 'This is the first true millimeter-scale complete computing system,' said Dennis Sylvester, a professor at the school and one of the researchers on the project. Within the computer is an ultra low-power microprocessor, a pressure sensor, memory, a thin-film battery, a solar cell and a wireless radio with an antenna that can transmit data to an external reader device held near the eye."
I must say.
... that is one of the most jaw-dropping things I've heard in quite a while.
I want that bad boy right in my eye...
Both eyes even!!!!
"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"
A week's worth of what data? I can store a university's worth of data if I'm not too concerned about the data I'm collecting being sampled often.
Dr. John Connor. Paging Dr. John Connor.
I'd happily pay you Tuesday for a biopsy today!
Well, at least it "fits on pen tip" rather than "fit on pen tip."
Palm trees and 8
...does it run Linux?
...when I can skip Lasik and go straight to cybereyes. I'm sick of paying for contact lenses and glasses just to give me 20/20 vision. I want IR, UV, and better than human-standard sight with recording capabilities. Oh yeah, and augmented reality without the damn external glasses.
"A week's worth of data" - What is that in LOCs?
Researcher Create Computer That Fits On Pen Tip
My team obviously went the wrong direction. We've just completed work on a breakthrough - a pen that's large enough to fit onto a computer - comfortably. We figured that computers were tired of just writing to disk, so we'd let them write on paper as well. The actual apparatus is so comically large, that, obviously, only a large-ish computer would want to use it.
Embarassing.
Informatus Technologicus
"It can store up to a week's worth of information." How much is that? What does it mean to have a week's worth of information?
I made a widget for my X-10 system YEARS ago that did all this and more.
"Outdated business models" is code for "I don't like paying for things, but want them anyway"
Okay fine, but what am I going to do with the rest of the pen? Throw it away? Sheesh, stupid researchers.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
"that can hold up to a week's worth of data"
Sweeeet...Now if somebody could explain WTH is a weeks worth of data...
Glad they integrated solar cell. That way after it's implanted in your eye you can always recharge it by staring at the sun.
Excerpt from section 3.1 of user manual, page 66: "To recharge the battery, simply stare straight at the sun for 4 hours."
Grammar nazis are to this community what excrements are to gold.
A weeks worth of data on a pen-tip? How many Libraries of Congress per Volkswagon is that?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
A week's worth of NASA's data or week's worth of data on stephen hawking's sporting achievements?
...actually that might have been a bit low...
Every Phoenix project crashes & burns - should've called it "mote"!!
Even a Beowolf cluster of these pen-tip computers would still be tiny.
Now we have to tell paranoid schizophrenics that it is merely improbable that a microchip could be implanted in their body, monitoring various functions on behalf of the Illuminati, and transmitting to their underground city.
So probably only a few kilobytes at most.
nt
Cannot wait until someone creates a wifi hack for this and PWN some old people's eyeballs at the nursing home...human botnet!
In related news, the University of Michigan received a research grant from EYE Tech.
The Web is like Usenet, but
the elephants are untrained.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9cS1xh4GAB8/SdNkbwLTu7I/AAAAAAAACP8/0zhNJQvDh-I/s1600-h/world_largest_pen.jpg
"we need to embed surreptitiously an eye camera in the occipital organ of mr. Joe Seeecks pahc (must be a terrorist)"
I can't help but imagine them flicking a little 640X480 vga camera that takes 1 pic a second and can be applied without my knowledge...
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
A Beowulf cluster of these yet?
Blaauw said in a statement. "The next big challenge is to achieve millimeter-scale systems, which have a host of new applications for monitoring our bodies, our environment and our buildings."
And a compact radio that needs no tuning to find the right frequency could be a key enabler to organizing millimeter-scale systems into wireless sensor networks. These networks could one day track pollution, monitor structural integrity, perform surveillance, or make virtually any object smart and trackable.
Yeeess, well... Although I do believe that the vast majority of these will be used for good purposes, there are a few Big Brothers in the world that might their own ideas. And these tiny things are going to be very hard to spot.
...does it run Linux?
It won't run linux but someone will come up with a way to turn it into an arduino clone.
- World's smallest microprocessor to blink an led
(duck)
It used to be that wanking would make just YOU go blind.
But now, our eyes will be able to record the act of us wanking, so OTHER people can go blind along with us.
[End Of Line]
I know this is /., but seriously now....Real-time collection and reporting of blood pressure, heart rate (or not!), glucose, cholesterol, liver enzymes, O2 and PSA levels, all relayed via your cellphone/base station to your trusted medical service. These are right around the corner, awaiting only the right transducers. I, for one, welcome our new medical capabilities.
The law requires a neutral third-party observer to use interceptors without the knowledge of the implantee.
only old people have computers implanted in their eyes.
but , does it run Crysis ??
You hypocrite, first take the 32 gigabyte flash drive out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the millimeter-scale computing system from your brother's eye.
"A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
"Researcher Create Computer That Fits On a Pen Tip "
"Researcher create"? Who wrote this shit? The fucking ape man?
is the antenna telescopic?
(ghost in the shell reference)... I don't like where this might lead.
A modern day 8051 is also known as a tiny computer. It has onboard memory, cpu, clock, serial port, parallel port, PWM port, the works. It is able to drive a display directly.
There are probably better examples than a 8051 (please do suggest them), but for sake of putting things in scale (no pun intended) what is the die size of a recent 8051?
It goes without saying i did not RTFA. I just wondered.
Hivemind harvest in progress..
Remember, if you decide to open it up, you void all warranties.
These should be a dim a dozen, on space station or shuttle flight, that way if anything ever breaks, you can pull out the ball point and let it take over, if it runs out of ink, pull out the next one....seriously though, it is nice to see the portability of it, as having more then one pc available in emergencies is amazing.
But does it run Linux???
Where is this implanted? The article did not specify. I assume inside the eye but where inside the eye and at what depth? Can the patients feel it? It may be small but even a tiny grain of sand in your eye is an incredibly noticeable sensation.
does it run BSD?
Good people go to bed earlier.
Is there anyone working on a port?
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Clearly the Pen is Mightier Now Trebek!
I'm waiting for a heads-up display in my eyeball.