Frighteningly enough, this isn't the first (or second) time that we've seen scientists pat themselves on the back for creating a mind-reading machine, but a dedicated team from Carnegie Mellon has just announced a computer that "has been trained to read people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words." In a completely unsurprising move, gurus familiar with the development are suggesting that the breakthrough could be used to better understand how the brain organizes knowledge, and eventually, treat language disorders and learning disabilities more effectively. That's all gravy from here, but when this stuff starts passing as evidence in court, you'll know it's time to seriously investigate a relocation to Mars.

Scientists have successfully developed a computer out of E. coli bacteria (again), which has managed to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem -- at least in a limited form. The problem involves creating a golden-side-up stack of pancakes out of all different size pancakes, each of which is burned one side, with the largest pancake on the bottom tapering up to the smallest on top. You can only use a spatula to flip a top section of pancakes, and the math problem is to sort the stack in as few flips as possible. In addition to making regular human mathematicians very hungry, the problem exponentially spirals out of control -- for six pancakes there are 46,080 permutations, for 12 pancakes there are 1.9 trillion. The E. coli computer differs from a regular computer in that it turn each piece of DNA into a simulated pancake, with sections of DNA being flipped to hide from a killer antibiotic if they get the answer right, and killed if they get the answer wrong. With millions of "computers" able to fit in a drop of water, scaling won't be an issue once they figure things out, but for now E. coli can only figure out how to sort two pancakes.

[Thanks, Hraefn]

Spray-on gadgetry isn't exactly new, but the possibility of spritzing a computer on your epidermis most certainly piqued our interest. A team of Scottish scientists have reportedly "developed a computer the size of a matchstick head, thousands of which can be sprayed onto patients to give a comprehensive analysis of their condition." The device(s) joins the ever-growing array of communication-enabled health sensors aimed at helping the elderly stay in contact with their doctors even in remote locations, and can compute a variety of inputs such as blood pressure, muscle movement, and pulse rate. The technology, dubbed speckled computing, can even be rigged to transmit information via radio waves, meaning that a full-fledged diagnostic report could get a whole lot less invasive if this stuff pans out.

[Via MedGadget, photo courtesy of EISF]

Here's an interesting one. It appears that a newly-elected mayor is trying desperately to restore order to the "notorious inner-city barrio of Tepito," but rather than raiding gang hangouts and throwing 'em all in the slammer, the Mexican government is looking to reward them. In a presumably last ditch effort to curb gunfighting, officials are offering up computers ( reportedly worth $769) to gunslingers who give up a "high-caliber weapon such as a machine gun," while folks coughing up smaller artillery will be blessed with an Xbox console. Notably, the effort is already seeing minor "success," as some 17 guns were turned in on the program's launch day alone. Look, we know it's a hard choice between gaming and booze (and hair, for that matter), but we seriously doubt that turning citywide bullies into hackers and couch potatoes is the ideal solution here.

Mouse Computer's new LuvBook L and m-Book P series both sport a glossy 15.4-inch WXGA screen, but that's about all they have in common. The LuvBook L comes preloaded with Windows Vista Home Basic or Premium and offers a Celeron M or Core 2 Duo processor, 512MB to 1GB RAM, 40GB to 80GB hard drive, and CD-RW / DVD combo-drive or DVD multi-drive, with prices starting at ¥79,800 (about $674). The m-Book P's tote Windows Vista Premium / Ultimate, Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB RAM (with option for 2GB upgrade), 256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go video card, DVD multi-drive, and 80GB to 120GB hard drive. The game-ready m-Book P series runs from ¥139,860 (about $1,180) to ¥169,050 (about $1,427). If you really want one, tack on another grand for the flight to Japan.

[Via Akihabara News]

Read - Mouse Computer LuvBook L
Read - Mouse Computer m-Book P

Flipping over to alternate energy sources isn't just the rage in vehicles, as we've seen steam-powered and string-powered computers already, and now we're witnessing an oddity that's actually energized by bubbles. The "microfluidic" computer performs calculations by squeezing bubbles through tiny channels etched into a chip, and although it runs around 1,000 times slower than you're average desktop today and takes up quite a bit more room, no AC outlet is required to churn out chemical analysis. Manu Prakash and Neil Gershenfeld of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms created the devices by "etching channels about one micron wide into silicon, and then using nitrogen bubbles contained in water to represent bits of information flowing through these channels." The computer utilizes Boolean logic functions to carry out its work, and the researchers are already envisioning it carrying bubbles of molecules or individual cells to "conduct diagnostics or detect pathogens." We'll admit, a bubble-powered PC ain't too shabby, but even proponents fessed up that such a snail isn't putting modern day machine vendors out of business anytime soon.

While one may argue that a computer doesn't talk back, disagree, or rub one the wrong way as we're sure just about everyone's spouse / SO definitely can, you must have somehow avoided the BSOD, kernel error, 404, clicking HDD, invalid drivers, and the host of other "cyber stresses" that can elicit all sorts of rage and frustration. A recent survey conducted by Kelton Research discovered that a majority of Americans (52-percent) said their "most recent experience with a computer problem provoked emotions such as anger, sadness or alienation," yet a whopping 65-percent of these same folks spend more time with their beloved computer than their own spouse. Adding even more fuel to the computer addict fire, 84-percent of responders stated that they were "more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago." Interestingly enough, rather than founding some sort of rehab facility to coax folks away from the keyboard and back into reality, SupportSoft is looking to provide loving, caring advice to help folks suffering from "cyber stress" solve their PC troubles without tearing down the house. Essentially, the service actually encourages folks glued to their computer to stay that way, as the new startup looks to provide answers to the issues that could eventually run even the most loyal computer user back to their oft forgotten spouse, but the company does insinuate that by solving PC quandaries, folks will have more time to spend when the ones they love. Nevertheless, we can't say these figures are entirely shocking, especially when you consider that folks would take an iPod over booze and nearly anything trendy for an SO.

[Via TGDaily]

In our last installment of Stupid Gadget Criminals, we brought you the amusing tale of two dimwitted Arkansas men who had made a habit of stuffing videogames from Wal-Mart down their pants and then reselling the stolen merchandise at a local GameStop outlet -- which happened to be right next door to the 'Mart. Today's episode features a Marin County, California gentleman by the name of Jon Houston Eipp who was caught by police trying to steal a number of Apple computers from Portal Publications in Ignacio; Eipp was captured following a brief struggle, while his accomplice was apprehended minutes later after crashing the getaway car on an off-ramp. So far there's nothing all that noteworthy about this crime -- until Eipp showed up in court last Wednesday for his hearing, that is -- when, upon being released on bail, he proceeded to hide in the Civic Center courthouse until closing time and steal even more computers by carting them out in a recycling bin. Even though he was stopped by maintenance workers and sheriff's deputies on the way out, Mr. Eipp still managed to vacate the premises without being apprehended, and might have remained a free man for awhile longer had he not been caught later that night trying to steal a 1996 Volkswagen. Although one might gather from this story that Eipp has a severe Internet addiction, he later admitted that he was just stealing the PCs for drug money, a habit that he'll hopefully be able to kick during a likely prison term of 4+ years.

[Via Fark]

A computer program called WebCrow, shown at the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Italy, has completed two crosswords from the New York Times and Washington Post in less time than the 25 attendees and 50 people competing over the internet. Linguistics have, to date, been the great leveler between AI and human intelligence: creating software that can complete crosswords (one of the most complex types of linguistic puzzles) faster than humans is a notable milestone on the journey towards true artificial intelligence. The program works by cross-referencing each word from the clue with previously solved crosswords, a dictionary, and the internet. It then records words of the correct length, and combines the suggestions generated from each referenced source: the program then uses trial and error until the answers interlock and the grid is complete. Although the process amounts to not much more than an extremely complicated guess, feeble humans are still left in the dust by the speed of the program. Fortunately, when the inevitable linguistically-aware robot uprising arrives, there will still exist a glimmer of hope for humanity: at the moment, WebCrow takes a long time to complete crosswords with clues that contain puns and politics. In light of this, we'd strongly advise that you keep a political crossword handy at all times: when the robots and computers do decide to take over, at least we'll be able to keep them occupied for a while.

Sony is never a company to back down from raising a few eyebrows or ruffling a few feathers in the standards game, and so shall it be with the not-quite-UMPC UX180P. There's little question that the UX whips up on the current crop of UMPCs in the marketplace, sporting a more powerful processor, higher-res screen, integrated keyboard and EDGE -- but at $1800, it needs to. And right there lies the million-dollar question: at almost double the cost of a UMPC, does the UX serve its function? And what exactly is its function, for that matter? Read on for our take on the answers, along with some in-depth imagery.

The last time we heard anything about the OnHand wrist PDA was probably close to two years ago. So, given its almost complete lack of marketing, distribution, buzz or sales, we're not exactly surprised that manufacturer Matsucom has decided to call it quits and stop producing the device, which managed to incorporate a full set of PDA functions into a fairly ugly watch. The OnHand was hobbled not just by a laissez-faire approach to marketing and a poor design, but by its use of proprietary technology and limited PC support (despite being introduced in 2003, it used a serial cable instead of USB). The small OnHand community did come up with some decent hacks, including a GPS hookup and an external keyboard, but that wasn't enough to keep this going. If you're still dying to get a wrist PDA, though, all hope isn't lost. Despite constant rumors of its death, Fossil's Palm-based Abacus wrist PDA is still available from TigerDirect for about $50.