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| Nine-year old whiz-kid writes iPhone application - While most nine-year olds sketch on paper with crayons, Lim Ding Wen from Singapore has a very different canvas -- his iPhone. Lim, who is in the fourth grade, writes applications for Apple’s iPhone. His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in its first two weeks. "I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw," Lim said. His sisters are aged 3 and 5. [more] |
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| Researchers develop "brain-controlled" wheelchair robotic arm - State-of-the-art add-ons to wheelchair-arm technology such as a 3-D joy-stick, keypad and touch screen are making big differences, but the newest and perhaps the most revolutionary device is the addition of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), the technology that captures the users thoughts and turns them into wheelchair robotic arm movements. According to Rajiv Dubey, professor and chair of the USF Department of Mechanical Engineering, and director of the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering & Technology, the design of intelligent therapeutic and assistive robotic systems is based on sensor-fusion technology that is used to map limited human input into complex motion using "sensor-assisted scaled teleoperation." [more] |
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| Are we becoming a new species? - Juan Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says what makes this species so unique is that it "takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species." Calling it the "ultimate reboot," he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as making this great leap possible. [more] |
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| Business is down, ID fraud is up - Identity fraud rose 22 percent in 2008 from the year before, reaching the highest level since 2004, according to a report released by Javelin Research. "Almost 10 million Americans learned they were victims of identity fraud in 2008, up from 8.1 million victims in 2007," the report overview said. "More consumers are becoming victimized by this serious crime, reversing a previous trend in which identity fraud had been gradually decreasing. This makes sense because overall criminal activity tends to increase when there is a recession." [more] |
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 Are
you a stupid user? - Have you ever had the experience
of pushing on a door and having it not move only to realize that you
missed the enormous sign that says "PULL"? How did that make you
feel? Did you slink through hoping no one noticed, particularly
since you've worked in the building for years and you use this door
every day? Did you feel "stupid"? IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! A door
shouldn't need a user manual! It’s evidence of failed design. The
same is true for software! The need for a user manual is evidence of
failed design. Come to Menlo for a
Taste of how we use High-tech Anthropology® to avoid
this common failure of software design. |
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| Man claims treasure found on Google Earth - If you spend enough time on Google Earth, you never know what you'll find. Nathan Smith, a Los Angeles musician, believes he's found the remnants of a Spanish barquentine, worth upwards of $3 million. One problem: the location isn't on public land. This has caused the whole thing to end up in court. [more] |
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| Is this the face of the future? - Social networking has certainly grown over the past few years. Sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter allow people to communicate easily online. However, there's a darkside to this ease: a recent poll revealed 48 per cent of under 21s and 18 per cent of 22-30-year-olds publicly dumped a love one in the last 12 months via the likes of Facebook and Twitter. [more] |
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| A Little About Menlo Innovations |
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So what happens when passion, joy, fun and a bit of whimsical irreverence meet up with process, discipline, seriousness, dedication and hard work? You get a place like the Menlo Software FactoryTM. Just one peek and you know we're different!
Menlo Innovations is a refugee camp for an industry gone off course. We've escaped from the land of mindless specification documents that no one reads and just collect dust on the bookshelf, Microsoft Project generated Gantt Charts that never match with reality, project managers who can claim success even when the project fails, software that doesn't work, designs that are only usable by the power users who designed them, and project schedules that claim they are right on target even though the team is working 80 hour weeks that were never forecast. Imagine a place where you know exactly what everyone is working without even having to ask them. Imagine a place where there are almost no meetings but far more communication. Imagine a place where you get a weekly check-in on project progress by running the software being built. Try to imagine a place where project teams are always the right size and have just the right mix of skills for the phase of the project. Imagine a place where if we need more done we can add more people, which means sane 40 hour workweeks that result in high quality software produced by an energized team that works at a sustainable pace. Imagine a place that so believes in the power of great user experience that we consider it bad design if there is a need for a user manual or help text. Come visit us for a tour or a seminar and you won't have to imagine it any longer! Menlo Innovations LLC Coding, format, and on-site content copyright © 2009
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