Light Start – Medical VR, a gold iPhone 7, Facebook Feed tweaks, and The Witcher 3 GOTY

Some paraplegic patients are improving thanks to exo-suits and virtual reality

Is virtual reality just going to be used for entertainment, like movies and video games, or various ‘other’ purposes (which we’re not going to mention here)? Er… no. Virtual reality, in conjunction with a selection of other technology, is helping paralysed people to walk again. Some of them, at least. A new study claims that a group of eight paraplegic subjects, working with brain-machine interfaces, virtual reality, and exo-skeleton suits, have seen improvement in their movement abilities thanks to the series of tests. Half of these subjects have been reclassified as a result, from completely to incompletely paralysed. Study author, Miguel Nicolelis from Duke University, said “Nobody ever imagined that one day we would be talking about the possibility of using brain-machine interfaces to induce partial neurological recovery in patients who have been diagnosed as having a complete spinal cord injury.” There’s still a lot of ground to cover but if you’d like to see how researchers and patients have made progress so far, hit the link below.

Source: via Ars Technica

Yes, you could have a gold iPhone 7 if you wanted to

The question really is… why would you want to? We’re sure you have your reasons – perhaps you need to impress someone with your complete… lack… of taste? Either way, when Apple’s iPhone 7 is announced then Goldgenie will be there for people with way too much money to get a Gold, Rose Gold or Platinum finish. And not just brushed metal, the actual material could be used to encase your handset in precious metal. The thing is… you still need to provide your own iPhone 7, which has to be sent to Goldgenie for modification. There are a few options available, besides just encasing your Apple device in gold. Laser etching, diamond encrusting, and plating are available in addition to having a solid gold insurance nightmare in your pocket. We’re not prepared to even speculate on what this is going to cost users (okay, it starts at around R83,000 with half payable up-front).

Source: Goldgenie

Facebook’s fiddling with your Feed even further

Facebook’s making things ‘better’ again. There was a time when the company’s alterations used to annoy us but no more. They’ve gone after ad-blockers and clickbait and now they’re promising “…to do a better job of showing people stories that they find informative”. How they’re going to do that is combining data from their Feed Quality Program with the relationships you have on Facebook (with people or brands) as well as interest, geographical, and other data to decide what will be prioritised on your news feed. It’s kind of like the Minority Report, but without the prospect of going to jail because Facebook’s tweaked algorithm decided you were going to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia. You go Facebook. You go.

Source: Facebook

Be a complete Witcher come 30 August

You might be one of the few  who didn’t get around to playing The Witcher 3. Who knows, maybe you were sick for most of 2015 or something more important was going on (it happens). What’s more likely is that you were waiting for the full Game of the Year edition before venturing into this fantasy world capable of sucking entire weekends dry like some sort of social interactive vampire. Well your vampire is here – The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Game of the Year Edition has been announced and dated. We’re going to see it here on 30 August, complete with the Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine content (as well as all of the free extras that have been released since launch.