http://www.michaelchorost.com Michael Chorost, author of <i>Rebuilt</i>, on cochlear implants Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:33:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Wired's just published my latest article, Powered by Photons, in its November 2009 issue. This article is about the emerging technology of optogenetics, which allows neuroscientists to stimulate genetically altered neurons in the brain by cell type. It's a much more precise technology than electricity, and it can be used ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/10/23/my-latest-article-in-wired-powered-by-photons/ I've been off my blog for months now, but there's a good reason for it: I've been writing for Wired and working on my second book, which is due at the end of the year. Other things have been going on, too. I spent much of the spring semester writing ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/08/07/just-moved-to-washington-dc/ This is a fascinating video of a prototype device that projects information onto things in the world around you, like a book's Amazon rating onto the book itself, and a person's keywords onto their clothes. A tour de force of technological imagination. (Talk by Pattie Maes, demonstrating technology developed by ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/03/12/incredible-video-about-wearable-technology/ A student in Steve Potter's class at Georgia Tech asked me, "Which character in Frank Herbert's Dune do you most relate to? Has that changed since you got the cochlear implant?" I would say Duncan Idaho, the ghola. There's a passage in book 2 or 3 -- I've looked for it ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/03/02/questions-from-steve-potters-class/ On Wednesday and Thursday I visited Georgia Tech and Emory in Atlanta, and it was a trip full of happy surprises. I went to visit Steve Potter, who is best known for creating neural networks with living brain cells and giving them “bodies” to use and virtual worlds to ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/02/28/the-performance-artist-of-memory/ During Gallaudet's long winter break -- with the campus empty, the gym shuttered, and the cafeteria closed -- I've taken to walking around the athletic track for exercise. It's boring. Around and around and around and around. A few days ago I discovered my iPhone's earbuds in my desk ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2009/01/12/in-which-i-discover-podcasts/ So here's my second book, just published by Routledge: It's titled Educating Learning Technology Designers: Guiding and Inspiring Creators of Innovative Educational Tools. It's an edited volume, with chapters by many authors. The book is the brainchild of Chris DiGiano, an excellent fellow with whom I worked at SRI International ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2008/11/26/my-second-book-is-out/ My iPhone had a software glitch yesterday, so I took it to the Apple store in Pentagon City for expert care. While I was waiting, a young and quite cute Asian woman sat down next to me. Her iPhone's screen was shattered. "You dropped it?" I asked her, sympathetically. ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2008/11/24/how-not-to-treat-an-iphone/ This weekend I saw two plays, Frost/Nixon at the Kennedy Center and Fences at Gallaudet's Elstad Auditorium. Frost/Nixon was a one-note play. It chronicled how David Frost, a lightweight talk-show host, got Nixon to confess to wrongdoing in a TV interview three years after he resigned. (Yes, ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2008/11/22/two-plays/ In that blessed future when civilization has thrown away its keyboards and people can just think what they want to do, I’ll say to the young ‘uns, “Oh, yes, I first did it that way back in 2008, when you had to wear funny caps and do it one letter ... http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2008/11/16/in-which-i-type-with-my-mind/