finger
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Author claims video games lead to finger deformities in children
We've received a number of unsightly wounds upon our mitts from certain games -- "Mario Party Stigmata" comes to mind -- but according to author Mike Tomlich, a different kind of "silent epidemic" is sweeping through the adolescent gaming populous: Crooked fingers. He claims the repeated actions associated with controller manipulation can lead to "accumulative damage" on the soft hand bones of gamers under the age of eight. It's a theory sensational enough to have merited coverage from Tomlich's local TV news station a few years ago, which we've posted after the break. Tomlich apparently has a plethora of research and the endorsement of a rheumatologist to back up his claims, though we still find them a tad suspect. Sure, our hands are gnarled stubs with digits irrevocably curled in unnatural directions, but that's probably from our tireless journalizing, and not our lifelong penchant for button-mashing.[Via GamePolitics]
DOTS gloves let you use your iPhone even when it's cold
This is pretty brilliant in its own special way. Let's paint the scene -- you're wandering the cold streets of Chicago a few months from now, and you're wondering where the closest pizza place is. You whip out your iPhone to pull up the Google Maps application, but wait -- your hands are covered in gloves, and no matter how much you try to swipe the screen, you can't get it to register your swipes, much less hit those little keys on the keyboard. But it's too cold to take your gloves off -- what do you do?Solution: DOTS gloves. They've got little smooth plastic "dots" built into the fingertips so you can control a touchscreen even while your hands are kept warm. Like I said, genius in its own way. However, I haven't actually used them, so I can't say for sure they work the way we'd expect. While they specifically mention them working on the iPhone, I've had trouble in the past getting the iPhone to register materials other than my finger. Still, if you want to take their word for it, $15 is cheap for a good pair of knit gloves anyway. If you're in the market for a new pair this winter and know you won't want to have to take your gloves off just to work a touchscreen, seems like a good deal to me.[via Waxy]
Biomagic "pixie dust" regrows man's lopped-off finger
It's the stuff of sci-fi and really crappy awesome horror films, but now it looks like regrowing damaged skin and limbs isn't so far-fetched -- in fact, it's already happening. A certain 69 year old Lee Spievak lost half an inch of finger to an aggressive model plane blade, and doctors had little hope for the appendage. Lucky for Lee, his brother Alan works in the field of regenerative medicine, and sent him some powder (which lee calls "pixie dust") to apply to the finger. Four weeks later Lee had grown back the entire finger, as good as new. The pixie dust is actually modified cells scraped from the lining of a pig's bladder cleaned into a general-purpose tissue generator -- the cells basically tell the body to grow instead of scar. Doctors have high hopes for the cells, for everything from amputees to burn victims to cancer patients. We're just waiting until they can program these cells to grow that third arm we always wanted.Update: These claims are being called "junk science" by some folks in the UK. We don't know who to believe, but the claims above are certainly sensational, and the critics are right about calling this some Nobel Prize-winning research if is indeed legitimate, and therefore it's certainly odd that this research has bypassed the mainstream of science. Dr. Stephen Badylak, who mailed his brother the cells, says "we're not smart enough to figure out how to regrow a finger," and credits this freaky success to nature doing its thing. Science fight!
Two Ring to rule them all
Two Ring to rule them all, Two Ring to find them,Two Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. Forget The 1 Ring folks, Massively lead and WoW Insider blogger Krystalle Voecks came across The 2 Ring today via a Live Journal entry. For many years World of Warcraft players all around Azeroth have been on the look out for this seemingly missing piece of loot, and in patch 2.4 they will be rewarded via the daily fishing quest.The ring features +22 to the primary five stats, making it (wait... let me make sure my math is right here...) 22 times better than The 1 Ring.I'm not sure of it's use initially. It's a well rounded stats ring, so perhaps a druid or other hybrid class might be interested in it if they find themselves changing roles often enough. However for a single role / gear set, there are a plethora of better choices easily obtainable.Of course, with that said, it makes a helluva nice ring to start off at 70 with.
University of Leeds developing artificial finger for sensory studies
If you were a tad freaked out by a robotic hand clothed in cucumbers, we promise this one's a bit tamer. A team of researchers at the University of Leeds have put forth a proposal to create an "artificial finger" in order to better understand why we react differently to different textures / surfaces. The finger will purportedly be used in testing rigs that "measure variables such as friction and compliance," and when combined with data from "a series of self-report experiments," the team aims to identity relationships between certain surface profiles and emotions. Of course, this kind of analysis would be a marketers dream come true, and let's face it, you know we couldn't resist picking up a Winnie the Pooh DAP that was inexplicably fuzzy.[Via Core77]
Non-robotic "X-Finger" replaces lost digits
An inventor with no medical background looks to have already made quite a name for himself with his X-Finger prosthetic device, which gives folks that have lost fingers a full range of motion without relying on robotics. To control the device, the wearer simply pushes against a lever with the remaining portion of their finger, which sets the knuckles into motion, apparently providing enough force to hold a coffee cup or clutch a golf club. While inventor Dan Didrick's already churning out 100 fingers every 45 days, according to The Naples Daily News, he's apparently far from meeting the demand, for which he says he needs about $11 million in funding. Presumably, that'd also help reduce the cost of the mechanical digits, which currently run a cool $10,000 per finger.[Photo courtesy of Lexey Swall / Naples Daily News]
XM patents multi-finger touchscreen -- no, not that one
While the "multi-touch" iPhone screen might lay claim to a nice collection of patents, XM is putting a whole new spin on the term with its "multi-finger" patent for satellite radio operation. The patent, which was filed in June '05 and published this last December, describes "context sensitive data input using finger or fingerprint recognition." Basically, instead of having to look at the device and punch the correct part of the screen with your finger, the screen can tell which finger you're tapping it with, and perform an operation based on whatever finger you're using. As illustrated above -- we use the term "illustrated" loosely here, it looks like the picture was drawn by a blind man using his feet -- the thumb could automatically mute the device, while other fingers coud be set to preset channels or to menu shortcuts. We're not super clear on the actual method of finger recognition, or if there is one as of yet, but the system will supposedly be able to work with multiple users, each with unique fingerprints and particular shortcut setups. Naturally, no word on when this might hit devices.
The EEM-GTMS-300BK finger mouse
Being that we're not precisely masters of the Japanese language -- written or spoken (that's why we have Engadget Japan after all) -- we're not even sure who the makes this thing, but it looks like the cleverly named EEM-GTMS-300BK finger mouse is now available (at least across the Pacific). The mouse straps onto your finger, and it should work on any surface thanks to the 800 dpi optical sensor, not unlike your run of the mill optical mouse. The device itself weighs 35 grams and, as you can see, isn't wireless, although you can convientently (and we use the word loosely here, people) wrap up the cable with the finger strap. It also appears to be Windows only, but doesn't require a specialized driver and is shown plugged into a Mac, so who knows. List price looks to be 4,980 Yen ($45US), but at least one Japanese online retailer is selling it for as little as 3,140 Yen ($28US), a real deal if this is actually something you've been looking for (and happen to live overseas).[Via Akihabara News]
Enable two-finger right-click on 15" MacBook Pros
Rejoice, fellow 15" MacBook Pro owners, for the enterprising hackers over in the OSx86 Project forum have put together an installer package that enables the fancy two-finger right-click for 15" MacBook Pros. This is a standard feature of the MacBook and 17" MacBook Pro, but the early-adopting 15" MacBook Pro owners were left out in the cold with this most essential and highly-requested of features.The installer is linked in a forum thread here. An uninstaller is included, and you might want to peruse the rest of the thread for experiences and tips in case you run into issues. After all, this is a hack, so remember to cross your t's, dot your i's and post in their thread if you run into any speedbumps.[via macosxhints]
Dear Apple: stop leaving your early adopters out in the cold
Dan Lurie from The Apple Blog pointed me towards an early MacBook review at Macworld in which Jason Snell points out the new MacBook's ability to right-click when you have two fingers on the trackpad. It's a setting you can toggle in the MacBook's System Preferences, and it apparently also exists on the 17" MacBook Pro (and possibly on the revamped 15" models; reports pending).But not on the 15" MacBook Pro that I bought three weeks ago.Dear Apple: please stop leaving your early adopters out in the cold. I realize you're a company whose purpose is to make money. That's fine, in fact: I can't think of many other companies I'm happier to give my money to. That said, tiny new features like this which you aren't even bragging about on your product sites obviously aren't crucial selling points designed to sell X many more MacBooks and 17" MacBook Pros. They're small but important innovations that all MacBooks to date should have, especially when you consider the fact that right-clicking on a Mac has been a topic of geek controversy since someone first took a side on the Mac vs. PC debate.Apple, if you're listening (of course, you aren't), please give your early-adopting MacBook Pro buyers (what I'm hoping is) a simple software update so they can right-click with the rest of their MacBook brethren.
