It's a projected keyboard so the ergonomics is even worse than on the Optimus, but hey
for "only" $179.99 that's what you get. Anyone interested in writing drivers to make it
reconfigurable?
As a computational neuroscientist let me add my 2 cents:
(1) The topic treated is old stuff, there is plenty of evidence for it, for instance see Roberto Malinow's beautiful work on this subject. Unfortunately the model does not add anything.
(2) I have no idea how they got themselves into Scientific American, clearly its
quality is going down.
(2) The posted link is to a text-book with little relevance to the actual research. However, I was very surprised to find an unattributed figure in the text made by me!!! He doesn't even cite my paper... out his 150 or so references. This really shows who this Bressloff guy is.
Oh well.
-phystor
As a neuroscientist I completely agree that it would be useful to present at least some simplified version of the actual findings instead of some nifty computer analogy to make it sound cool. The actual findings are in
stark contrast what is being claimed by the news piece.
The paper you link is a different one. This is the actual paper:
Indeed the area they study is somewhat mysterious: The thalamus provides separate communication channels for
essentially all sensory information from the sensory organs (e.g. eyes) to the cerebral cortex. However, unlike
most brain areas it appears that there is no transformation going on in the thalamus. So if there is no computation, it must be a relay! As much as much most neuroscientist find the idea of pure "relay" unsatisfactory
we simply have no evidence for anything beyond it. Hence all the speculation.
Unfortunately, the present paper sheds no light onto the thalamus mystery. The authos cut a slice out of a brain and study in isolation. Clearly you won't get much functional information about what's actually going on in this way. Then the authors dump a drug onto the slice to show that it differentially turns up the gain of one input and turns down the gain of another one. Nice, but we don't know if this is actually going on in the brain or how this chemical would get there. If --as the journalists claim-- this finding were to transform our ideas about the thalamus then it probably wouldn't be published in a third tier journal like 'Neuroscience'.
"All photography is propaganda... blah-blah-blah..."
Maybe, but not all propaganda is the same. Seems like you haven't actually read the story. We're not talking about changing the contrast and the color etc.
The "reporter" was explicitely changing the *content* of the pictures. Then passing off the same pictures of a tragedy as a new tragedy on a different date. Pretty clear cases of exaggeration, no? Not like changing the resolution....
I hope that newspapers stop carrying Reuters or at least publishing their news on Lebanon. This sort of exaggeration only hursts the already bleak propects of peace in the region.
> If you lack privacy, tyrants can go unchecked in power. They can, they can also start a military coup. And once tyrants take over Europe then they can certainly change all the privacy laws.
> We/need/ privacy in order to sustain a democracy. Huh? How about just counting the votes?
I am not sure if actually agree with the legistlation but dear/. crowd, please let's have a real discussion & stop shooting the same crap over and over again. Europe has some of the strongest privacy laws in the world and most of the data available to the government and corporations here in the US are simply not available or usable to European govt's and corps.
For instance, i know that in several countries (say Belgium or Hungary) parking tickets are not enforcable b/c the city governments don't have the information to connect licence plates with people and addresses. I've never seen spam in my mailbox and the kind of information collection going on about every one of us is here in the US is simply illegal in the Europe. And this has important consequences on a daily basis not just b.s. arguments about democracy.
Slashdot Mirror
Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/input/8193/>
It's a projected keyboard so the ergonomics is even worse than on the Optimus, but hey for "only" $179.99 that's what you get. Anyone interested in writing drivers to make it reconfigurable?
p
As a computational neuroscientist let me add my 2 cents:
(1) The topic treated is old stuff, there is plenty of evidence for it, for instance see Roberto Malinow's beautiful work on this subject. Unfortunately the model does not add anything.
(2) I have no idea how they got themselves into Scientific American, clearly its quality is going down.
(2) The posted link is to a text-book with little relevance to the actual research. However, I was very surprised to find an unattributed figure in the text made by me!!! He doesn't even cite my paper... out his 150 or so references. This really shows who this Bressloff guy is. Oh well. -phystor
The paper you link is a different one. This is the actual paper:
Alexander GM, Kurukulasuriya NC, Mu J, Godwin DW. Cortical feedback to the thalamus is selectively enhanced by nitric oxide. Neuroscience. 2006 Jul 28 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=p ubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=168 76956&query_hl=12&itool=pubmed_docsum
Indeed the area they study is somewhat mysterious: The thalamus provides separate communication channels for essentially all sensory information from the sensory organs (e.g. eyes) to the cerebral cortex. However, unlike most brain areas it appears that there is no transformation going on in the thalamus. So if there is no computation, it must be a relay! As much as much most neuroscientist find the idea of pure "relay" unsatisfactory we simply have no evidence for anything beyond it. Hence all the speculation. Unfortunately, the present paper sheds no light onto the thalamus mystery. The authos cut a slice out of a brain and study in isolation. Clearly you won't get much functional information about what's actually going on in this way. Then the authors dump a drug onto the slice to show that it differentially turns up the gain of one input and turns down the gain of another one. Nice, but we don't know if this is actually going on in the brain or how this chemical would get there. If --as the journalists claim-- this finding were to transform our ideas about the thalamus then it probably wouldn't be published in a third tier journal like 'Neuroscience'.
So much for science journalisms.
-phystor-
"All photography is propaganda ... blah-blah-blah..."
Maybe, but not all propaganda is the same. Seems like you haven't actually
read the story. We're not talking about changing the contrast and the color etc.
The "reporter" was explicitely changing the *content* of the pictures. Then passing
off the same pictures of a tragedy as a new tragedy on a different date. Pretty
clear cases of exaggeration, no? Not like changing the resolution....
I hope that newspapers stop carrying Reuters or at least publishing their news on Lebanon.
This sort of exaggeration only hursts the already bleak propects of peace in the region.
Bad logic and completely besides the point.
/need/ privacy in order to sustain a democracy.
/. crowd, please let's have a
> If you lack privacy, tyrants can go unchecked in power.
They can, they can also start a military coup. And once tyrants take over Europe then they
can certainly change all the privacy laws.
> We
Huh?
How about just counting the votes?
I am not sure if actually agree with the legistlation but dear
real discussion & stop shooting the same crap over and over again. Europe has some of
the strongest privacy laws in the world and most of the data available to the government
and corporations here in the US are simply not available or usable to European govt's and corps.
For instance, i know that in several countries (say Belgium or Hungary) parking tickets are not
enforcable b/c the city governments don't have the information to connect licence plates with
people and addresses. I've never seen spam in my mailbox and the kind of information collection
going on about every one of us is here in the US is simply illegal in the Europe. And this
has important consequences on a daily basis not just b.s. arguments about democracy.
Please try inform yourself before posting.