ByteDance Unveils New AI Voice Assistant for ZTE Smartphones 
TSMC Accuses Former Executive of Leaking Trade Secrets as Taiwan Prosecutors Launch Investigation 
Apple Alerts EU Regulators That Apple Ads and Maps Meet DMA Gatekeeper Thresholds 
Taiwan Opposition Criticizes Plan to Block Chinese App Rednote Over Security Concerns 
Trump Administration to Secure Equity Stake in Pat Gelsinger’s XLight Startup 
Hikvision Challenges FCC Rule Tightening Restrictions on Chinese Telecom Equipment 
Morgan Stanley Boosts Nvidia and Broadcom Targets as AI Demand Surges 
Baidu Cuts Jobs as AI Competition and Ad Revenue Slump Intensify 
Senate Sets December 8 Vote on Trump’s NASA Nominee Jared Isaacman 
Intel Boosts Malaysia Operations with Additional RM860 Million Investment 
Apple Appoints Amar Subramanya as New Vice President of AI Amid Push to Accelerate Innovation 
Sam Altman Reportedly Explored Funding for Rocket Venture in Potential Challenge to SpaceX 
AI-Guided Drones Transform Ukraine’s Battlefield Strategy 
YouTube Agrees to Follow Australia’s New Under-16 Social Media Ban 
Apple Leads Singles’ Day Smartphone Sales as iPhone 17 Demand Surges 
Quantum Systems Projects Revenue Surge as It Eyes IPO or Private Sale 
Nexperia Urges China Division to Resume Chip Production as Supply Risks Mount 
Blindness is an unfortunate impairment that affects millions around the world, but advanced medical technology offers hope. 10 patients who suffer from a form of blindness called Retinitis pigmentosa will be given the chance to have their sight restored via the installation of bionic eyes. This is the next frontier of medical science where science fiction finally becomes scientific fact.
The project will be conducted using the Argus® II Retinal Prosthesis System, which is a tandem of computer relay and camera sensors installed on a pair of glasses. As the system’s website explains, it basically works by having two electronic setups communicate with each other in order to restore vision for the patients.
“A miniature video camera housed in the patient's glasses captures a scene,” the website’s bionic eye section reads. “The video is sent to a small patient-worn computer (i.e., the video processing unit – VPU) where it is processed and transformed into instructions that are sent back to the glasses via a cable. These instructions are transmitted wirelessly to an antenna in the retinal implant. The signals are then sent to the electrode array, which emits small pulses of electricity. These pulses bypass the damaged photoreceptors and stimulate the retina's remaining cells, which transmit the visual information along the optic nerve to the brain, creating the perception of patterns of light.”
Before the Argus II program, patients who suffered from Retinitis pigmentosa had no hope for treatment, which effectively doomed them to a state of blindness forever, Futurism reports. Treatment will be delivered in groups, with five of the patients going to Manchester Royal Eye Hospital and the other five going to Moorfields Eye Hospital.
Their treatment will start in 2017 and if proven successful, the treatment could be made available to the estimated 16,000 patients who suffer from the impairment in the UK alone. Global delivery will likely take some time as well.
