Paralyzed Patients in the Deep Sea

There is a new medical study that is seeking to determine whether a zero gravity undersea environment has therapeutic value for improving paralyzed patients' physical or mental health. The positive results showed improved spasticity and reduced enema. 

For the full article, visit:
http://news.nurse.com/article/20120326/TODAYINOT010302/103260042/0/NY02#.UNve378B8Xx.twitter …

2013 Technology Advances to Watch

James Temple, a Chronicle Columnist, recently published an article outlining what are the five areas of technology he will be looking for this upcoming year. We have listed them and summarized why their advances are so important.What is so fascinating about all of these innovations is how revolutionary they are. As an organization that uses technology to help people with disabilities, these new advances, like artificial intelligence and gesture control, are sure to help us in our mission to empower the disabled.

Personal Robotics:
With successful robotic lifeguards and Google's robotic cars that have logged more than 300,000 miles on the road, personal robotics is an area that will constantly be improving, and it is only a matter of time before personal robots are a regular presence in our lives.

Context-Aware Computing:
Millions of people regularly use services like Apple's Siri and Google Now, services that represent sophisticated artificial intelligence, so an update in these soft-wares are sure to occur in the near future.

Electric Vehicles:
Electric vehicles have made extreme progress and continue to develop "new cheaper, and smaller options." Electric vehicles like the Hiriko can go up to 75 miles on a single charge, an appeal that is sure to stimulate more developments. 

3-D Printing:
Artificial limbs, drones, and homes have all been successfully built by 3-D Printers. The 3-D Printers "spit out layers of metals, plastics, and other materials to form just about anything."

Gesture Control:
The company, Leap Motion, is set to begin shipping its much anticipated gesture control product early this year. The product will allow user to control a computer using mid-air hand movements. 

To view the full article, visit:

http://www.sfgate.com/technology/dotcommentary/article/2013-technology-advances-to-watch-4158790.php?cmpid=twitter%20…#page-2

Augmentative Communicator

There have been vast improvements in augmentative communication devices. For post-operative patients, speech impaired individuals, or anyone requiring a voice generation device, these new devices are revolutionary. One of the newest improvements comes from Chester Creek Technologies. They have developed the TextSpeak TS Series Talking Keyboard. Individuals with special needs will like this keyboard because it is the easiest augmentative communication keyboard device that is available today. The device can speak in both English and Spanish and has an unlimited vocabulary for both languages. It also can act as with a speaker telephone for calls going outbound.

For more information on the new TextSpeak, please visit:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebtalking_keyboard/computer_keyboard/prweb10268299

For an assistive technology assessment, please visit:
http://empowertech.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=86