SocialStream !'s List: Futurism, Singularity

• Bionic eye cam to shine a light on society
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• Bionic eye cam to shine a light on society
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• Canadian filmmaker Rob Spence damaged his right eye in a childhood accident and was later given a prosthetic replacement. Like any other false eye, it was designed to be purely an aesthetic replacement, but he realised that the vacant bit of face real estate could be put to better use in his art
• Now Spence is attempting to build a wireless video camera into his synthetic eye, turning himself into a self-proclaimed "Eyeborg".
• The camera will record anything and anyone that enters Spence's field of vision and relay the footage back to a computer. That video will provide a unique perspective on the way video surveillance is becoming more popular in western societies, he told New Scientist.
• This week, Spence and engineer Kosta Grammatis have succeeded in placing a working red LED in Spence's eye (see image, above right), giving him a look not dissimilar from Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg in The Terminator.
• Although this is a diversion from the main goal, it is the first time the team has fitted a working electronic device, complete with power source, into the eye socket, says Spence.
• An LED may even be fitted alongside the camera in the final Eyeborg prosthetic if the battery can spare enough power, he adds. Apart from the aesthetic value, it could provide lighting in dark conditions.

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• Ten sci-fi devices nearing reality
• 1. Super-vision
  
   The briefcase-sized Prism 200 from UK firm Cambridge Consultants can detect people through brick walls by firing off pulses of ultra-wideband radar and listening for returning echoes.
  
  According to the company, these pulses can pass through building materials over 40 centimetres thick, and spot activity over a range of up to 15 metres.
  
  The device could be used to track people in hostage situations, the company suggests, but it has a crucial weakness. To avoid being blinded by walls and other fixed structures, it is designed to only register objects that generate rapidly varying echoes. In other words, it can only detect people when they move.
  
  (Image: Cambridge Consultants)