Tag: software

  • Smartphones Studied to Upgrade Hearing Aids

    6 February 2015. Engineers at University of Texas in Dallas are studying the potential of smartphones to boost the ability of hearing aids to help people who are hard of hearing. Electrical engineering professor Issa Panahi is leading a team of engineers and audiologists in a two-year, $522,000 project funded by National Institute on Deafness…

  • Robotics Designed for Laundry and Other Uncertain Tasks

    6 February 2015. Computer scientists designed and tested decision-making models using artificial intelligence for robots to plan and perform unstructured and ill-defined tasks, from doing household laundry to conducting search-and-rescue operations. The team led by Siddharth Srivastava, now with United Technologies in Berkeley, California and Shlomo Zilberstein from University of Massachusetts in Amherst described their…

  • Report: U.S. Edge in Advanced Industries Slipping

    5 February 2015. A new report from Brookings Institution says the United States is losing ground to overseas competitors in critical advanced industries that hold the key to the country’s long-term economic future. The study by the Washington, D.C. think tank was discussed in a forum today with six CEOs of U.S. companies and the…

  • Multiple Sclerosis Patients to Crowdsource Health Data

    3 February 2015. A new initiative, called iConquerMS, is recruiting 20,000 patients with multiple sclerosis in the U.S. to offer their health data and research ideas to find a cure for the disease. iConquerMS is an undertaking of the Accelerated Cure Project for MS, with the research network segment funded by Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute or…

  • NIH Grant Funding Stress-Obesity Control System

    2 February 2015. A team from University of Massachusetts Medical School and Worcester Polytechnic Institute are creating a smartphone app combined with a cloud-based data store to help people who overeat due to stress control their eating. The system known as the RELAX Application Suite is funded by a 3-year, $2 million grant from National…

  • Cancer Progress Indicators Devised

    29 January 2015. Researchers in public health and cancer medicine developed statistical tools that capture findings on cancer treatments and care, and provide indicators of progress in defeating the disease. A team from Lilly Oncology — with colleagues from the U.S., Germany, U.K., and Italy — published its findings about the Continuous Innovation Indicators initiative…

  • XPrize Awards $5.25M for Lunar Technologies

    26 January 2015. A competition to develop new technologies for landing and robotic exploration of the moon awarded $5.25 million in 9 prizes to 5 private companies, as part of the Google Lunar XPrize challenge. The companies — from the U.S., Germany, Japan, and India — received the prizes for their design and development of…

  • Mobile Heart Monitor Algorithm Approved in Europe

    22 January 2015. An algorithm analyzing signals to detect atrial fibrillation from a heart monitor built into mobile devices received regulatory approval in Europe. AliveCor, a developer of heart monitoring systems for mobile devices, says the company received the Conformité Européene or CE mark for the algorithm that analyzes heart monitoring signals in its AliveECG…

  • FDA Issues Draft Wellness Device Guidance

    19 January 2015. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday released draft guidance defining low-risk general wellness devices that the agency intends to exclude from regulatory oversight. The 8-page document, published on the FDA Web site, will be open for comment for 90 days beginning tomorrow. FDA says it prepared the document to answers…

  • Behavioral App Developer Lands $20 Million in Venture Funds

    13 January 2015. Ginger.io, a company in San Francisco developing smartphone apps for monitoring mental state and wellness, raised $20 million in its second venture financing cycle. The new funding was led by first-round investors Khosla Ventures and True Ventures, with participation by undisclosed new investors. Ginger.io, a spin-off from human dynamics research at MIT’s…