Bionic eye gives blind man sight

A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye.

Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital.
He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II.

It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye.
In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an array of electrodes which sit on the retina - the layer of specialised cells that normally respond to light found at the back of the eye.

When these electrodes are stimulated they send messages along the optic nerve to the brain, which is able to perceive patterns of light and dark spots corresponding to which electrodes have been stimulated.

The hope is that patients will learn to interpret the visual patterns produced into meaningful images.
The bionic eye has been developed by US company Second Sight. So far 18 patients across the world, including three at Moorfields, have been fitted with the device.

It is designed to help people, like Ron, who have been made blind through retinitis pigmentosa, a group of inherited eye diseases that cause degeneration of the retina.
The disease progresses over a number of years, normally after people have been diagnosed when they are children.
It is estimated between 20,000 to 25,000 are affected in the UK.

Encouraging progress
Ron, who has not revealed his surname, told the BBC: "For 30 years I've seen absolutely nothing at all, it's all been black, but now light is coming through. Suddenly to be able to see light again is truly wonderful.

"I can actually sort out white socks, grey socks and black socks."
"My one ambition at the moment is to be able to go out on a nice, clear evening and be able to pick up the moon."

Ron's wife Tracy is also hugely encouraged by the progress he has made.
She said: "He can do a lot more now than he could before, doing the washing, being able to tell white from a coloured item.

"I've taught him how to use the washing machine and away he goes. It's just the ironing next."
Consultant retinal surgeon Lyndon da Cruz, who carried out Ron's operation said the patients were starting to get meaningful visual stimuli from the technology.

He said: "We are very encouraged by the trial's progress so far.
"The implants have been stable and functioning for six months, with consistent visual perceptions generated by the device.
"The trial remains inspiring in terms of presenting a very real and tangible step forward in treating patients with total vision loss.

"But with more than two years of the trial left to run, these are early days and continued testing will be crucial in determining the success of the new technology."

Gregoire Cosendai, of Second Sight, is convinced the technology will prove to be invaluable - but also admits there is still much work to be done.

He said: "We are trying to see what level of vision we can provide with this.
"Theoretically, the people should be able to have reasonably good level of vision.
"We are not there yet, but what we are trying to see how best they can use it in their normal life."
• Ron's progress will be featured on a BBC Inside Out documentary in the London area at 1930 GMT on 4 March.

Taken from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7919645.stm

3D Printer

Another nice approach to push boundaries between virtual world and reality.

Exploring Second Life

Here my post about exploring in Second Life

So I've got a task to explore 5 out of 10 locations and review what's the location is all about

1. Kowloon
Is an urban area in Hong Kong. I've never been there so I can't compare it to the real one. The first thing that catch my attention was the alley in the first place I got here, it's full of neon sign with their own unique color and sign which make the alley so colorful and bright.



The place was very detailed, you can see a neon sign, lamp, some trash on the floor and you can even enter to the inside of some building here and they got their own unique ambient sound.

There's a thing that perhaps not there in the real life is this mailbox because if you touch it, it'll open and there's some kind of panel so it's not that old mailbox anymore perhaps you can send an email from it.

I found that the place was almost filled with shops and stalls, like the one in the picture above, well, it sells only Second Life stuff though.

So I've been wandering on the edge of the map and well, I fell into the water and found this! an old lighthouse with scary weird-looking eel-like fish! Scary for sure if you found something like this in real life, luckily it's in Second Life.


That's all my adventure in Kowloon.

2. Straylight


From the name I thought it was some kind of dark place with unique lights and stuff, but it's actually a big lush green garden. Its environment was so awesome, it was like I’m inside it right now.

Never thought there'd be a waterfall in Second Life, but here you can find one! not as realistic as in real life of course but still it was nice to see one here and the waterfall was complete with its splashing ambient sounds which telling you that's a real waterfall, at least.


Another unique detail that I found was this fence that being crushed by some random tree's root, the designer could just put a normal fence like other but hey there's a root blocking the way. Not to mention that the ambient sounds here was also good, you can hear the birds chirping to each other, cricket sound, etc.


Even though I mentioned about the big lush green garden but it wasn't 100% like that, because I found something that you couldn't find in any other places even in real life was this eerie spot in the garden. Well, perhaps the eerie part exist in some place but here you can find a lava! exactly, a lava inside a garden! Isn't that way too much? Oh well, it's a game anyway.


Things that I liked here was the ambient sounds, the detail, animations like fireflies flying around. It was like almost in real life and of course with some twist to reminds you that this place was actually a game.

That's all my adventure in Straylight.

3. The Pot Healers Adventure
First time I got here was like "wow what a mess" lot of stuff scattered on the floor, book, box, briefcase, paper etc, so there must be something happened before. Let's find out!


After some walk through the cave I ended up in somewhere that's very otherworldly. These building in the picture below has an unusual architecture that I've never seen before. It was like these buildings wasn’t built by human.



From the pic above I found a paper lay on the ground that saying Stranger stop... I'm sure there must be something happened before, some sort of destruction perhaps? since there was like a mess in the first place. Anyway, with small story embedded into the game like this made me to explore some more and find out what was going on.

Those big plants telling me that I'm not in somewhere I know anymore. Ok I'm off the main track I guess, and found this secret spot! A bed, chair and a journal, so I assume there was someone live here.


After couple of minutes hiking I found another awesome house architecture built completely in wood which different from the buildings I found on the ground and the house is on top of a giant tree. The more I ascend to the top I found many weird and kind of old building.


So I manage to get on the highest level on the map and found this old-looking temple, there was nothing munch inside the temple but many of pot and a big weird plant, so I guess that's the Pot Healer (as in symbol)?

Kinda disappointed on how the map end made me explore the temple some more since there was a small gap that could lead to inside the earth below the temple. I was right! there was some more inside the earth below the temple, the environment below here was so eerie and cold and at the end of the place I found a single pot on top this kind of exclusive altar, and I bet this pot was the Pot Healer was all about.


That's all my adventure in The Pot Healers Adventure.

4. International Spaceflight Museum
First thought about this map after reading the title was "ugghh.. another boring museum", but after entering the map it wasn't even inside a museum at all but in outer space! The map was all about description on something hence the map name got "museum" label.


The map might be small but it's actually big, it just separated into different spot. The first time you got here is the main spot, but then you can teleport to other spot via clicking on some interactive object. Other thing that you can do is to visit the Spaceport right below where you got here first time.


The Spaceport itself was so huge complete with description for each one of spaceflight stuff. I didn't explore the whole Spaceport because it might be just showcasing other Spaceflight stuff which as myself hate to read a long description.


That's all my adventure in International Spaceflight Museum.

5. SS Galaxy Cruise Ship


Not sure if you're just like me because I thought this map was all about visiting a battleship that roam in outer space since the name has Galaxy word. It was actually a ship that float on water like in real life, here you can either get inside the ship or use the raft to guide and inform you about the ship.


The raft will take you around the ship and telling you about its history and services. You can find a mall inside the ship full of another Second Life stuff shops, you can even rent a room so you can take a rest after a long walk exploring the Second life world. It might be fail idea but there's actually someone who rent and shop here in Second Life.


The background music was playing an old 70's music and some radio speech. The environment was good, kinda plain though maybe that's because they keep it that way, clean and clear.


So I found this swimming pool, in here you can interact with some object like I did in the picture, you can even use the slide here. The best thing in this map is that you can actually get in an elevator and interact with it, it just like in real life!.


That's all my adventure in SS Galaxy Cruise Ship.

Day 2 - Singapore Trip

Universal Studio

Right after we had those awesome experience from ArtScience Museum and Lion King Theater Performance, our lecturer gave us one special time where we can spend whole the next day experiencing this Universal Studio park. Universal Studio is a theme park with various kind of attraction with different theme, almost like Disneyland but this one is filled with attraction from Universal Studio production.

I've never been there before so it was my first time and it was very awesome, kinda disappointed with theme park size though but if the theme park was so big it might need more than one day to experience everything. The theme park located on Sentosa Island, another tiny island in Singapore not sure whether it was artificially created or it was there naturally since there's a gossip where
Singapore created many artificial island.

Anyway, the theme park separated into 7 themes that exactly derived from Universal Studio production like The Lost World Jurassic Park. The park's size wasn't that big so probably it just need no more than couple of hours to experience everything inside but the thing that might slow you down is the queue to the attraction. Enough for such general story about it and now it's time where I should be telling you some of my experience while I was there. The front gate might be deceiving to what the theme park would look like because it was like any other boring gate but when you entering the theme park, it'll change your perception about how the theme park would look like. Right after I'm entering the theme park, I was like "Wow, where am I?" but then I found that it was the exact mimic of the New York alley. It wasn't normal floor anymore but an asphalt, you can see the sidewalk complete with their own New York themed street lamp, shops, cars and any other thing that might be on the road in New York. The first attraction that I tried was Lights, Camera, Action!: Hosted By Steven Spielberg. The queue wasn't that long so I could experience it right away. Before the real attraction begin there was some sort of intermezzo that telling me about the attraction but not spoiling it. The attraction was about hurricane simulation, the place was like inside the some sort of storage for boat (not sure about the name) complete with its boat, gas tank, petrol station, etc. The simulation was pretty good, right after the simulation start I can feel the floor was shaking, the wind was getting stronger and any other things that simulate us as the audience that we were in somewhere where the hurricane occurred.

After experiencing that attraction me and my friends went to Sci-fi themed area, the place was so Sci-fi-ed, the floor wasn't asphalt anymore but plate of steel, the building was so steel-y as well. There was downside as well, the cleaning staff didn't blend with the surrounding, they were just like any other cleaning staff you find outside the theme park. After Sci-fi we went to an Ancient Egypt themed area, full with their renown Anubis (jackal-headed god) statues, many Egyptian hieroglyphs carved on every wall I found while in this area, aged stones, etc.

After Ancient Egypt themed area we went to The Lost World themed area, the area was adapted from The Lost World movie obviously complete with its unique huge gate that separate the real world with the lost world (places where they conducting an experiment on how to revive the dinosaur). The environment was so The-Lost-World-ly, there was so many green lush jungle plants just like in the movie, even the floor which was an old stone with some fossil on it, the wall with some fossil sticking out from it, even the speaker got an alteration into a big rock.

Next one is the Far Far Away themed area adapted from Shrek movie. I think this one is the one that being icon-ed for the whole theme park since you can find a big castle here which was epic. They changed the environment to an old medieval style just like in the movie. From the shops to the flooring, they completely changed everything here again, so that can feel that you're inside the Far Far Away world.

The last one is the Madagascar themed area adapted from Madagascar movie of course. The props were like telling you a bit of story from Madagascar movie for instance the big titanic-like ship which used in the movie as well. Just like any other section I've mentioned before, they changed everything here again from flooring to the way they represent information, even the shops got an alteration as well.

Day 1 - Singapore Trip

ArtScience Museum and Lion King theater performance


It's been a while since I updated my blog here...
Well, before things getting worse, last two week ago, me and some of my classmates went to Singapore in sort of another awesome class trip. Usually if there's a class trip to somewhere there must be some project or assignment that you have to do while in trip, but this one is different! There's no such project or assignment that I have to do while in trip but there's one task from my lecturer of this subject that I have to do while in trip which is "enjoy and experience everything while in trip" just like that.

So yeah, Singapore is somewhat far from where I'm now but it's not a need-one-day-to-get-there place. We went there by train at 11pm and got in Singapore in the morning and guess what?! I couldn't sleep at all while in train which render me so tired in the morning, not only that... because we have to go to the museum before going to take a rest in our booked hotel.

Talking about the museum, the name is ArtScience Museum located right across the Singapore lovely iconic statue, Merlion. First thing that got in my mind while I got there is its epic architecture design! Yep, it's not like other usual boring box-architecture-type museum it's more like a pile of bananas or lotus flower.



Inside the museum there was a lot of awesome stuff especially the multi-projected interactive screening, Van Gogh Alive! where you enter a full of his artworks being projected onto the whole room, some of them were static and interactive to each other which was awesome especially those who embrace his legacy, Dali Mind of A Genius with his renown melted clock and the last exhibit is Shipwrecked: Tang Treasure and Monsoon Winds which all about the old treasure ranging from old urn to sophisticated instrument which was carried by a ninth-century Arab dhow.

After couple of hours of wandering and enjoying the museum, right around 2pm we had kinda nice lunch, kinda nice that's because the meal wasn't cheap at all, it cost me like twice compared in Malaysia.



So after having that kinda nice lunch, we head to our booked hotel, luckily the hotel wasn't that far to where we had our lunch, more like brunch though. Oh! forgot to mention about SkyPark! Right before going to the hotel we had a nice quick peek at this awesome SkyPark because it's built above the mall where we had our lunch and double as hotel. Its design was like a boat, concrete boat. I can almost see the whole Singapore from here but there's drawback as well, it was so hot! I was like dancing on a hot plate! maybe that's because it was no cloud at all but still the city scenery was so nice.

After having fun at that hot SkyPark, we head to our booked hotel right away. Then at last I can take a rest after like staying up for 2 days.



At night we went to see Lion King theater performance. It was unexpectedly theater performance, I was like jaw-dropping in the whole performance. It wasn't that animated sprite anymore or just boring theater performance like any other. They had their own unique costume that represent character from Lion King movie like Mufasa, so they weren't exactly look like in the movie for example Mufasa which is a lion but here in the performance, the guy who act as Mufasa wasn't wearing a lion costume but instead using other thing that represent a lion like mask, furry costume and claws. Each character has their own voice and style like Scar, the antagonist in the story. Another lovely thing in the performance is the background set, it wasn't that boring flat background anymore but instead combining many backgrounds into one and they even had an actor/actress who act as a part of the background like grass, tree and rocks. One word for this performance, AWESOME!

So that's all for day 1 in Singapore. I'll update for the second day soon. Bye

Transformer 3 in 3D!

Nice cover

Last week I went to watch a new transformers movie called Transformers Dark Of The Moon with all my classmates. It was totally different with all the other movies I've ever watched because it was in 3D! but to experience all those fancy 3D effects you have to wear a 3D glasses which in some cases could give someone a headache including me.

There's some things to consider in 3D

1. The use of the screen space: on, behind and in front of the screen; the X, Y, and the Z axis. How well was it used, or was it over-used ? Did you get a realistic or a hyper-realistic sense of depth in the film and why?

- To me it was hard to see the 3D space within the movie, because there was a lot of stuff going on and most of the foreground object like the actor were half off the screen which made them look like a flat object instead of 3D object.

2. Consider the director’s shot designs. How does the cinematographer maximize the sense of 3D by placement of the camera, choice of angles, placement/direction of actors ?

- Well, I don't really understand about the camera placement affect the sense of 3D, as long as the subject within the frame then it's okay, but alas most of the subjects that could give or boost the 3D sense were half off from the screen.

3. What shots or visual sequences remain in your mind as visually strong ? Discuss specific examples that you liked and why.

- The scene that still remain in my mind is where the astronaut and their tiny spaceship went to the moon to investigate some sort of anomaly on it. The scene was just showing the spaceship move toward the screen but I felt like it was going to crash out from the screen.

4. Consider the overall “soundscape” of the Transformers film. Did the sound match the 3D visuals? Add to the visuals, or dominate the visuals? In your opinion, what is the role of sound in a 3D film such as this one?

- The sound was good, I can feel its 3D space with only the sound itself like when the sound source moving from right to left. For me the role of sound in a 3D film is very important because the sound isn't only act as the sound but as the 3D space measurement as well.

5. Compared to any other 3D film you have seen, what was the best part of this one, and why? Give examples for your comparison.

- Well, FYI this is the first 3D movie I've ever seen, so yeah I can't give you the comparison part. Anyway, the best part for this movie is where the tentacle-thingy transformer wrecking the skyscraper building apart.

6. Discuss any other aspect of the film that you found added to the 3D experience.

- The screen's size is the second vital part in 3D film, the bigger the screen is, the more experience it could give to the audience.

I think that's all for now.

Rexy!

So I watched this awesome 3D anaglyph short animation from youtube yesterday. The animation was about a small dino named Rexy which is pretty much kind of adventurous dino. Using only red and cyan glasses I can see the depth within the animation, it was almost I'm seeing the animation from a window not from a flat screen, from the tree's root to the dino itself it's funny animation by the way so there's no that kind of bloody battle between dinos just like your old tv channel about dinos told you. Well, why don't you just check it out instead of hoping that I'm gonna spoil it here and make sure you that you have your awesome 3D anaglyph glasses with you.



In case the youtube video doesn't show up here's the link.