Sometimes people say "we CAN do this", but should say "we SHOULDN'T do this". Sounds like a touch screen phone with an optional keypad. The only interesting use case they presented was if you are concerned about health issues of keeping phones near your head. Sounds to me like they would have been better off actually bundling and blue-tooth headset with a standard touch phone. On the other hand, it kind of makes the phone sound like a break apart robot, and we all know the Japanese are big into robots. Maybe they will add a feature later where you can attach multiple phones together to create Megazord. Now THAT is a phone I would consider buying...
Well from the reports of penetration tests I've heard, many places do claim their systems are not connected to the internet, the gap has been bridged by someone, be it management or whomever. Someone above said he's heard of people bridging the networks with IR interfaces. When I interviewed computer security professionals at local power plants for me research on this topic, I was told people connect things to the network all the time that are supposed to be isolated. Even the government's classified network gets bridged to the internet from time to time, and there are strict regulations on the air gap for it. Maybe your companies actually maintained an air gap, but if your entire security method is compromised when someone accidentally plugs something into the wrong port on the wall, you've seriously failed in your duties for security. If you protect it like its on the internet, even when an accident happens and its plugged in you'll be protected.
I mean SCADA systems and Digital Control Systems. Sure, now even more computers are controlling these things, like windows desktops, but they are interfacing with the old control system usually. If the control system had good security, it would be much less important that they sit on the internet. Maintaining an air gap and keeping the computers off the internet is a nice thought, but its just not going to stay isolated.
I'm actually doing an undergraduate thesis on computer security and critical infrastructure. It really is shocking what kinds of things you can do on these "critical" systems. It's a big combination of things causing such a headache. The big problem is that these computer systems were not designed with the internet in mind. SCADA systems that control physical systems over a wide geographic area were built before the internet even existed. That means there's poor authentication, and little security at all (and no encryption to boot). This is all very bad, HOWEVER I have been quite pleased that everywhere I have been so far, apparently I'm on the heels of the DHS who are actively investigating these weaknesses, and lots of federal resources are being used to bring these standards up. Yes its bad. Yes its getting better. No its not ever going to be good enough.
Unfortunately it is never practical to maintain an air gap. If you rely on an air gap for your digital security, you are going to get royally screwed when someone brings in a wireless router or something and bypasses your entire security mechanism. Even the government's classified computer network gets bridged with the normal tubes once in awhile.
Well, I already have little to no sense of touch, but they are making progress in the area of providing sensory feedback from my understanding, but yes, it's probably one of the farthest off aspects.
Well, now we are talking about a totally separate treatment method. Getting an organic arm is an entirely different ballpark. Unfortunately, due to the never damage, my arm has had developmental problems, and its significantly smaller than my left. Also, I've had several surgeries that would at the very lease be difficult to reverse, so I believe repairing the nerves with stem cell therapy would not have the desired effect, although I'm sure it could potentially help. I'm not sure if I'd want a regrown organic arm. The criteria for if I would want it would be similar to a robotic arm though I suppose.
While I agree that it would probably become second nature quickly, it is a bit of a hassle, especially if you intend to have all of the degrees of freedom of a normal arm, you just don't have enough muscles to twitch The technology for reading brainwaves is definitely a long way off still, to be sure, but there is plenty of time to refine it, and they really are already pretty far along. Again, I'm being particularly picky since I still have a partly functional organic arm.
Well, I know I'm answering a different question, but I'm answering my version of it anyway. I suffer from a condition where I have only about 10% of the use of my right arm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachial_plexus_injury). I have no fine motor skills at all. My wrist has been surgically fused. I've had several tendons and muscles moved in my shoulders, forearm, and wrist to increase its function (with limited, but some success). I can preform some basic tasks, such as propping boxes and things on it to help carry things, and I can open doors using my elbow. According to doctors, my condition will deteriorate steadily as time goes on (I'm 21 now) due to several factors, and there is even a chance (however small) it will need to be amputated later in life.
I always love reading news articles like this, because I know we have the technology to create a fully functional replacement arm, but we just haven't done it. Fortunately, this is a big step in the right direction. The question I ask myself though, is how good does a replacement arm have to be before I would decide to amputate and replace my current arm (of course there's always the questions of if a doctor would actually do this and all that, but thats a different story). For me to replace my current live arm with a robotic one would require it to be a pretty good model. The noninvasive interface sounds good, but its clunky and hard to use. I've seem people use current prosthetics this way, and the thought of it makes me cringe. Before using a robotic arm, I would need it to be controlled with my brain somehow. Of course many people have probably seen articles where they are actually trying to do this (and being met with success), but I don't think the two projects are related, although I hope they become related soon. Not only would I require it to be controlled with my mind, I would want it to have at least 90% of the functionality of a standard arm. I would not want to replace it unless I would be able to use it to type after enough therapy. Of course I'd never expect to be as fast with it as I am even with just one hand now, but if it doesn't have that much dexterity, I wouldn't bother getting it. Of course I'm being exceptionally picky since I at least have an arm to begin with. Ideally, I would like there to be some sort of sensory response, so I could have some feeling (I currently have almost no feeling from the elbow down). I know they are also making big advancements in this kind of technology. Finally, I would want it to look like a human arm. Maybe not exactly alike, but I would it so I could take of my shirt, and people would have to look closely to notice. I'd want to be able to shake hands with it without someone noticing (which means it should possibly also be heated to roughly 98 degrees F).
I'm willing to answer any further questions as well if anyone has any, or if there are any amputees in the audience, please throw in your $0.02 as well.
Oh yeah, and a can opener attachment would be nice......
Slashdot Mirror
Sometimes people say "we CAN do this", but should say "we SHOULDN'T do this". Sounds like a touch screen phone with an optional keypad. The only interesting use case they presented was if you are concerned about health issues of keeping phones near your head. Sounds to me like they would have been better off actually bundling and blue-tooth headset with a standard touch phone. On the other hand, it kind of makes the phone sound like a break apart robot, and we all know the Japanese are big into robots. Maybe they will add a feature later where you can attach multiple phones together to create Megazord. Now THAT is a phone I would consider buying...
I am so screwed.
Well from the reports of penetration tests I've heard, many places do claim their systems are not connected to the internet, the gap has been bridged by someone, be it management or whomever. Someone above said he's heard of people bridging the networks with IR interfaces. When I interviewed computer security professionals at local power plants for me research on this topic, I was told people connect things to the network all the time that are supposed to be isolated. Even the government's classified network gets bridged to the internet from time to time, and there are strict regulations on the air gap for it. Maybe your companies actually maintained an air gap, but if your entire security method is compromised when someone accidentally plugs something into the wrong port on the wall, you've seriously failed in your duties for security. If you protect it like its on the internet, even when an accident happens and its plugged in you'll be protected.
I mean SCADA systems and Digital Control Systems. Sure, now even more computers are controlling these things, like windows desktops, but they are interfacing with the old control system usually. If the control system had good security, it would be much less important that they sit on the internet. Maintaining an air gap and keeping the computers off the internet is a nice thought, but its just not going to stay isolated.
I'm actually doing an undergraduate thesis on computer security and critical infrastructure. It really is shocking what kinds of things you can do on these "critical" systems. It's a big combination of things causing such a headache. The big problem is that these computer systems were not designed with the internet in mind. SCADA systems that control physical systems over a wide geographic area were built before the internet even existed. That means there's poor authentication, and little security at all (and no encryption to boot). This is all very bad, HOWEVER I have been quite pleased that everywhere I have been so far, apparently I'm on the heels of the DHS who are actively investigating these weaknesses, and lots of federal resources are being used to bring these standards up. Yes its bad. Yes its getting better. No its not ever going to be good enough.
Unfortunately it is never practical to maintain an air gap. If you rely on an air gap for your digital security, you are going to get royally screwed when someone brings in a wireless router or something and bypasses your entire security mechanism. Even the government's classified computer network gets bridged with the normal tubes once in awhile.
Well, I already have little to no sense of touch, but they are making progress in the area of providing sensory feedback from my understanding, but yes, it's probably one of the farthest off aspects.
Well, now we are talking about a totally separate treatment method. Getting an organic arm is an entirely different ballpark. Unfortunately, due to the never damage, my arm has had developmental problems, and its significantly smaller than my left. Also, I've had several surgeries that would at the very lease be difficult to reverse, so I believe repairing the nerves with stem cell therapy would not have the desired effect, although I'm sure it could potentially help. I'm not sure if I'd want a regrown organic arm. The criteria for if I would want it would be similar to a robotic arm though I suppose.
While I agree that it would probably become second nature quickly, it is a bit of a hassle, especially if you intend to have all of the degrees of freedom of a normal arm, you just don't have enough muscles to twitch The technology for reading brainwaves is definitely a long way off still, to be sure, but there is plenty of time to refine it, and they really are already pretty far along. Again, I'm being particularly picky since I still have a partly functional organic arm.
Well, I know I'm answering a different question, but I'm answering my version of it anyway. I suffer from a condition where I have only about 10% of the use of my right arm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachial_plexus_injury). I have no fine motor skills at all. My wrist has been surgically fused. I've had several tendons and muscles moved in my shoulders, forearm, and wrist to increase its function (with limited, but some success). I can preform some basic tasks, such as propping boxes and things on it to help carry things, and I can open doors using my elbow. According to doctors, my condition will deteriorate steadily as time goes on (I'm 21 now) due to several factors, and there is even a chance (however small) it will need to be amputated later in life.
I always love reading news articles like this, because I know we have the technology to create a fully functional replacement arm, but we just haven't done it. Fortunately, this is a big step in the right direction. The question I ask myself though, is how good does a replacement arm have to be before I would decide to amputate and replace my current arm (of course there's always the questions of if a doctor would actually do this and all that, but thats a different story). For me to replace my current live arm with a robotic one would require it to be a pretty good model. The noninvasive interface sounds good, but its clunky and hard to use. I've seem people use current prosthetics this way, and the thought of it makes me cringe. Before using a robotic arm, I would need it to be controlled with my brain somehow. Of course many people have probably seen articles where they are actually trying to do this (and being met with success), but I don't think the two projects are related, although I hope they become related soon. Not only would I require it to be controlled with my mind, I would want it to have at least 90% of the functionality of a standard arm. I would not want to replace it unless I would be able to use it to type after enough therapy. Of course I'd never expect to be as fast with it as I am even with just one hand now, but if it doesn't have that much dexterity, I wouldn't bother getting it. Of course I'm being exceptionally picky since I at least have an arm to begin with. Ideally, I would like there to be some sort of sensory response, so I could have some feeling (I currently have almost no feeling from the elbow down). I know they are also making big advancements in this kind of technology. Finally, I would want it to look like a human arm. Maybe not exactly alike, but I would it so I could take of my shirt, and people would have to look closely to notice. I'd want to be able to shake hands with it without someone noticing (which means it should possibly also be heated to roughly 98 degrees F).
I'm willing to answer any further questions as well if anyone has any, or if there are any amputees in the audience, please throw in your $0.02 as well.Oh yeah, and a can opener attachment would be nice......