Recently in Computers Category

Internet pioneer Jaron Lanier argues that free technologies like Facebook come with a hidden and heavy cost -- the livelihoods of their consumers.

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A "Google Earth" style map of the human body could revolutionise the way patients are treated, scientists claim.

A digital replica of a patient would be created using their medical data to give an overall picture of their health.

The 3D computer avatar which would then allow doctors to test how different treatments would work on that person's body.

Professor Alejandro Frangi of Sheffield University said: "There is a lot of data about us in the healthcare system, but it is fragmented.

"I think the modelling framework gives us a mechanism - I like to see it as Google Earth, putting all of these different layers of information together."

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A computer programme that translates sign language into written text could revolutionise the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing, scientists say.

The software, which can be used on portable devices and provides near instantaneous translation, would be the first of its kind.

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen hope the move will help young deaf people find work and communicate with colleagues.

It's time to embrace the retro!

One in ten Britons has admitted tracking down former lovers through Facebook in the hope of rekindling lost romance, according to a survey.

A total of 16 per cent revealed they regularly use social media to keep tabs on old flames, while one per cent ended up sleeping with their exes after reconnecting online.

But most flings tended to be one-offs, with few finding past passions still burning, according to the poll by people finding service FinderMonkey.co.uk

Others questioned said seeing a picture of a past partner was enough to make them reconsider whether they were wise to have started a relationship in the first place.

Some four per cent of those surveyed had used the internet to trace long-lost family members, including parents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Lots of people have been playing with the iPhone 4S personal assistant, Siri.

But now the new piece of tech now has its own song.

Times are a changing... quickly.

Astrophysicists from the University of Zurich present the world's first realistic simulation of the formation of our home galaxy together with astronomers from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The new results were partly calculated on the computer of the Swiss National Supercomputing Center (CSCS) and show, for instance, that there has to be stars on the outer edge of the Milky Way.

As we run head first into Judgement Day, here's something we might ruefully look back on in ten years or so.

Researchers in Tokyo have implemented a kind of self-replicating neural technology into their robot that enables it not only to perform tasks but also to learn as it goes, integrating prior knowledge into new tasks and environments.

Over on the Science Punk Blog, they've waxed lyrical over the super manual for 1980s' personal computer, the ZX Spectrum.

A piece of art, no doubt. But my favourite will always be the instruction booklet for the venerable ZX81.