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Rapidly advancing robot appendages are in vogue lately, and they’re going to change how we do everything.

When it comes to robot design, there are the pragmatists and the biomimetics. The pragmatists will design a robot that efficiently carries out its designated function without much worry about what the finished product looks like. As long as it can complete its repetitive task day-in and day-out, who cares about the cosmetics? An industrial robot arm that holds a welding torch, for example, isn’t much of an “arm” at all, but rather something that could easily be mistaken for a sci-fi villain.

But the biomimetics school of thought aims to duplicate a lifelike quality in its robots. Consider the Replicants of Blade Runner, robots so lifelike that they are routinely mistaken as biological humans. They are fiction, however; contemporary robotic technology has to overcome all kinds of challenges in order to move like a human and exhibit convincing fluid motion.

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MIT has developed a quantum computer design featuring an array of superconducting islands on the surface of a topological insulator that they’re experimenting with to process 0’s & 1’s — if they are successful; this could possibly get us within a 5 yr window for QC platforms.


Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a quantum computer design featuring an array of superconducting islands on the surface of a topological insulator.

The researchers propose basing both quantum computation and error correction on the peculiar behavior of electrons at neighboring corners of these islands and their ability to interact across islands at a distance.

The system can characterize the state of a quantum bit as a zero or a one based on whether there is an odd or even number of electrons associated with a superconducting quantum bit, but the underlying physical interactions that enables this are highly complex.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is often difficult to treat due to an enzyme (endonuclease DFF40/CAD (Death Fragmentation Factor, 40 kDa subunit / Caspase-Activated DNase)). This enzyme, which is essential for degrading DNA during apoptosis, appears both downregulated and improperly located inside the tumour cells. The researchers observed that overexpression of the enzyme allows the glioblastoma cells to properly degrade their DNA content.


Glioblastoma is the most aggressive manifestation of brain tumours. Due to its high invasive capacity and uncontrolled, infiltrating growth, it is particularly difficult to manage. Currently, the treatment for this disease consists of a combination of surgery (when possible), radiation and chemotherapy. Although current therapy raises the overall survival of patients by around 15 months, it remains inefficient at eradicating tumour cells and, unfortunately, recurrences are another of this cancer’s characteristics.

A team of researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience at the UAB, together with the Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge — ICO, have identified a common molecular alteration in glioblastoma. The researchers observed that the cells of this type of tumour harbour a common intrinsic defect that prevents them from degrading their genetic material during apoptosis, the most important form of programmed cell death induced by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

This defect is related to an enzyme: the endonuclease DFF40/CAD (Death Fragmentation Factor, 40 kDa subunit / Caspase-Activated DNase). This enzyme, which is essential for degrading DNA during apoptosis, appears both downregulated and improperly located inside the tumour cells when compared with non-tumoural cells. The researchers observed that overexpression of the enzyme allows the glioblastoma cells to properly degrade their DNA content as expected in an apoptotic cell death.

Could VR give Hollywood a new boost? Looks like it. Imagine you can be part of the Bond or MI experience instead of sitting an watching it.


On Latest Stop in Global Campaign to Be Elected The World’s First “President of VR” Debuts “I AM MY AVATAR” Campaign Music Video

Honoring Late ‘Motorhead’ Founder Lemmy Kilmister on the Heels of Emotional Grammy© Awards Tribute

LOS ANGELES and BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Visionary entrepreneur Jon NEVERDIE Jacobs has been selected to represent the rapidly expanding Virtual Reality (VR) industry as the voice of ‘all things’ VR, as a speaker on the highly anticipated ‘Entertainment Showcase’ conference panel of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the leading industry conference for mobile technology and related industries. The conference panel takes place on the GSMA Mobile World Showcase stage, on Tuesday, February 23, from 1 PM – 2 PM (CET)/12 PM – 1 PM (GMT), in Barcelona, Spain. A cyber-celebrity and global VR visionary, NEVERDIE Jacobs’ participation on the panel will accompany a headlining appearance at the MWC’s companion Gamelab Mobile confab where he will lead the industry-leading group’s discussion on ‘games skills as currency’ in the emerging VR world. The panel joins a slate of appearances with top technology executives which is the most recent stop on a global press tour to promote his campaign to become the first-ever ‘President of Virtual Reality.” (#voteNEVERDIE)

VR experience with SCM, CRM, etc. Imagine the improved connected customer experiences with VR.


Envelop VR, a software company that is leading businesses to immersive computing, announced today that it has hired Jeff Hansen as Vice President of Business Development. Jeff’s primary role will be to engage with enterprise customers wanting to solve for real business challenges by utilizing a virtual reality environment, including improving their work flow processes and efficiencies, visualizing data, or collaborating on engineering or product development. Envelop VR solutions enable enterprise customers to unlock the tremendous benefits and advantages of working and collaborating in a three-dimensional virtual environment.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160218005289/en/

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I will admit; AR is more practical than VR in areas of SCM, etc. However, it is interesting to see how both play and evolve in the enterprise/ corporate models and connected customer experience areas of business. Also, overtime some of the small AR shops could be buying opportunities for mid-tier enterprise software companies.


Here’s where small tech companies can challenge the big guys in the world of virtual and augmented reality.

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