The research is being driven by Professor Babak Parviz of the University of Washington and his pupils (sorry bad pun) in conjunction with scientists from the University of Aalto in Finland. Their research was recently published in the journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.

At present the researchers have successfully managed to create and test a single pixel contact lens on live rabbits eyes. The unit is powered wirelessly encompassing an antenna, radio circuit, transparent sapphire chip and micro light emitting diodes of which all are integrated onto a single contact lens.  This single pixel contact lens can be used to perform simple operations. Before we are able to read emails using this technology, hundreds of pixel resolutions need to be incorporated which may be many years away.

A number of challenges and obstacles faced the team in the development of the Android contact lenses. Some of these were finding ways to power the wireless device, making it biocompatible and integrating all of the components onto such a small surface. Tests so far have been limited to the eyes of live rabbits. At present the unit can be powered from a maximum distance of 1 metre away and only 2cm away when it is being worn.

The wearable technology created by the team demonstrates that Android contact lenses can be produced in the future to serve a number of purposes. Perhaps in the coming decades, many of us will be looking through android contact lenses much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies…Hasta La Vista Baby!

11th Second of the 11th Minute of the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month 2011: 11/11/11/11/11/11. Blink and you would have missed it, at eleven minutes past eleven on Friday morning digital clocks displays across the world read as a perfect single numbered palindrome.

Some predicted fire and brimstone, others the coming of the messiah, but for most it was likely to be just another ordinary day.

Some points worth pondering about this date:

• It is the last binary date (numbers made up of 0 and 1) for another 88 years. The next occurring on the 1st of January 2100
• It marks Remembrance Day, a time to remember fallen soldiers and also to commemorate the ending of hostilities for WW1 at the 11 month of the year 1918
• The next single digit date and time will not occur for another 100 years

For many, this date is important to them for entirely different reasons. Throughout the world there was a significant rise in the amount of marriages on this date and many pregnant couples opted to have a Caesarian section on this date. This is perhaps due to a perceived luckiness in the numbers? Or maybe because the date will be easy to remember for anniversaries and birthdays.

This link to Flight of the Conchords ‘the humans are dead’ is a fitting tune for those of us that believe the 11/11/11 to be the marking of the end of the world. I also love the binary solo.

Firstly I modify CakePHP’s Session helper so that I can get the layout I want for the php genereated flash messages. Create the file conduct_session.php in the /app/views/helpers directory of your Cake application and paste the following code into it.

[php]
class ConductSessionHelper extends SessionHelper {
function flash($key = ‘flash’) {
$out = false;
if($this->__active === true && $this->__start()) {
if(parent::check(‘Message.’ . $key)) {
$flash = parent::read(‘Message.’ . $key);
if(!empty($flash['element'])) {
if($flash['element'] == ‘default’)
if($key == ‘auth’) $class = ‘error’;
else $class = ‘info’;
else $class = $flash['element'];
} else {
if($key == ‘auth’) $class = ‘error’;
else $class = ‘info’;
}
$out = ‘

‘ . $flash['message'] . ‘

‘;

parent::delete(‘Message.’ . $key);
}
}
return $out;
}
}
[/php]

Inside app_controller.php make sure you include the ConductSession helper.

I like to have a main file for the site that contains an object with regularly used javascript functions.

[javascript]
var base = {
flash : function() {
var messages = $(‘div#messages’);
var timer;
var theClass;
if(arguments.length > 1) theClass = arguments[1];
else theClass = ‘info’;
if(arguments.length > 0) {
messages.hide()
messages.prepend(‘

‘ + arguments[0] + ‘

‘);
messages.fadeIn(200);
}
timer = setTimeout(function() {
messages.slideUp(500, function() { messages.find(‘p’).remove(); });
}, 8000); // You can modify this to display the message for different times

// Make the messages container clickable to hide the message before the timeout fires
messages.click(function() {
clearTimeout(timer);
messages.slideUp(500, function() { messages.find(‘p’).remove(); });
});
}
};
[/javascript]

Adding the following snippet will, if there is a Cake flash message to display, automatically hide it after a specific amount of time. It is also easy to modify the flash function so that messages container starts off hidden and then fades in if there is a message (for this example it will only do this for javascript generated messages).

[javascript]
$(function() {
if($(‘div#messages’).children().length > 0) { base.flash(); }
}
[/javascript]

Then in my CakePHP template files I include this file along with the rest of my css and jQuery. Somewhere in my templates or views I need to include the following snippet so that Cake can display it’s flash messages.

[php]

[/php]

You can style the div container and the messages themselves in a number of ways to achieve a notification that is fixed to the top of the screen, displayed in line below the header, or perhaps floating near the top left corner of the window. You can use the class to specify an icon and colour too.

From within your controllers you can now create session messages in much the same way now with the ability to easily add a class. In the example below we are setting a flash message as normal but with a class info attached as well.

[php]
$this->Session->setFlash(‘Welcome to my new and improved flash messages’, ‘info’);
[/php]

Will result in the following markup.

[html]

[/html]

Another benefit is that we get javascript generated notifications using the same javascript function.

[javascript]
base.flash(‘Welcome to my new and improved flash messages’, ‘info’);
[/javascript]

Will result in exactly the same markup as with the php generated flash messages.

Hope you find it useful

Conduct attended this years 2010 Internet Show which spanned over two days. All-in-all we were excited to see the large turn out especially from SEM business owners and marketing people. The highlights for us was the two talks by Google on Internet marketing and analytics – insightful and interesting. I also enjoyed the talk from Simon Goodrich from AIMIA discussing various social media implications.

It was also good to meet some of the people we deal with on a regular basis, especially PayPal and Net Registry. There were a host of other stands showcasing all sorts of products and services from enterprise CMS solutions, social media monitoring services, ecommerce engines, hosting infrastructure specialists and merchant banking products. I have to say that I was very impressed with the professionalism of the event and the quality of content delivered.

My only criticism for the organises and presenters was the clear lack of anything mobile or how the iPad might influence the digital landscape. I know here in the Conduct studio these topics are hottly dicussed and debated.

For anyone interested in the digital channel I strongly recommend attending next years 2011 conference – you never know Conduct may have a stand there covering Mobile, Online and Creative.

• Navigate to your event, group or page and click on “Invite People”.
• Copy and paste the javascript code below into address bar, then hit “Enter”.
• Give it a few seconds – then like magic it selects all of your friends!

[javascript]javascript:elms=document.getElementById(‘friends’).getElementsByTagName(‘li’);for(var fid in elms){if(typeof elms[fid] === ‘object’){fs.click(elms[fid]);}}[/javascript]

Currently locked in a major dispute over censorship in China, the US web giant said its primary concern with Australia’s proposal was “that the scope of content to be filtered is too wide”.

Google said Australia went “well beyond” filters being considered in countries such as Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which focus only on blocking material related to child sex abuse.

Such a sweeping mandatory regime risked damage to Australia’s reputation, it said, adding in a veiled reference to autocratic countries such as China that it could “confer legitimacy upon filtering by other governments”.

“Australia is rightly regarded as a liberal democracy that balances individual liberty with social responsibility,” Google said, in a submission to Australia’s government.

“The scope of content to be filtered is too wide.” Google

“The governments of many other countries may justify, by reference to Australia, their use of filtering, their lack of disclosure about what is being filtered, and their political direction of agencies administering filtering.”

Canberra in December announced an ambitious plan to block access to sites featuring material such as rape, drug use, bestiality and child sex abuse with an Internet-wide content filter administered by service providers.

Google said such a “massive undertaking” would limit network speeds, and that filtering material from popular sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter appeared to “not be technologically possible”.

Filtering could also give a false sense of security to parents and was easily circumvented, the company said.

We would love to here your thoughts on Australia’s filter plan.

Electronic Frontiers Australia is coordinating a petition against the Government’s mandatory Internet filtering policy that will be presented to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia. What are you waiting for? Help save the internet for all Australian.

I love this viral take on Apple’s iPad -- true classic. Keep an eye for the guys face in the multi taste interface shot…. priceless.