No Hands Video

Now, a St. Louis-area teenage boy and a computer game have gone hands-off, thanks to a unique experiment conducted by a team of neurosurgeons, neurologists, and engineers at Washington University in St. Louis.

The boy, a 14-year-old who suffers from epilepsy, is the first teenager to play a two-dimensional video game, Space Invaders, using only the signals from his brain to make movements.

Getting subjects to move objects using only their brains has implications toward someday building biomedical devices that can control artificial limbs, for instance, enabling the disabled to move a prosthetic arm or leg by thinking about it.

A number of gamers think fondly of Atari's Space Invaders, one of the most popular breakthrough video games of the late '70s. The player controls the motions of a movable laser cannon that moves back and forth across the bottom of the video screen. Row upon row of video aliens march back and forth across the screen, slowly coming down from the top to the bottom of the screen. The objective is to prevent any one of the aliens from landing on the bottom of the screen, which ends the game. The player has an unlimited ammunition supply.

The aliens can shoot back at the player, who has to evade, moving left and right. There are lots of levels of play, reflecting the speed at which the aliens descend. The Washington University subject mastered the first two levels of play, using just his imagination.........

Posted by: TURAB AWAN Permalink Source

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Solio Universal Hybrid Charger

Solio, the Universal "Hybrid" Charger , can charge all of your handheld electronic products, even if you've been relocated to Antarctica. It works by absorbing power from the sun and storing the energy within the Solio's own internal battery (charging Solio's internal battery takes 8-10 hours of direct sunlight). If your igloo comes with a wall socket, you can also plug it in to charge it.

Not only can it charge your cell phone, but also your PDA, digital camera, and game player.

(It includes seven tips and cables, so it's compatibile with most devices.) To give you an idea, one hour of sun will give you enough juice to play your iPod for about an hour. When fully charged it can charge your cell phone twice over.

At the Clinton Global Initiative (which brings together a community of global leaders to 'devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges') soiree in NY, they gave Solio as one of the gifts for its 1,500 participating members. Movers and shakers such as Richard Branson, Tony Blair, The King of Jordan, Bill Gates, George Bush and many more received their own energy sources.........

Posted by: TURAB AWAN Permalink Source

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Software To Calculate Heart Attack Risk

Pioneering computer software is helping doctors to decide how best to treat patients admitted to hospital with suspected heart attacks.

An international consortium of researchers, led by the University of Edinburgh, has developed a programme that enables doctors to swiftly assess the severity of a patient's condition. The new 'risk calculator' is already being used in British hospitals.

Doctors using the new system take key data from patients at their bedside, and input it into the specially-devised programme. Key facts - such as a patient's age, medical history and blood pressure - are recorded by doctors, as well as information derived from on-the-spot blood samples and kidney tests.

The new patient's statistical profile is then input into a computer and matched with data derived from thousands of other coronary cases. Using the outcomes of these prior cases as a guide, the computer will not only give an accurate assessment of the new patient's conditions, but also recommend possible therapy. Significantly, it will be able to predict the likelihood the patient suffering a heart attack, and even their chances of dying in the next months.

Chest pain accounts for more than a quarter of all emergency medical admissions in the United Kingdom. Spotting high risk heart patients quickly can be difficult, but Professor Keith Fox, of the University of Edinburgh, says the new tool will help: "Identifying those with threatened heart attack from the very a number of patients with chest pain is a real clinical challenge, but critically important in guiding emergency and subsequent patient care. Higher risk patients need more intensive medical and interventional therapy".........

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Automated System Installs Pavement Markers

GTRI researcher Colin Usher uses a touch-screen monitor mounted in the cab of the truck.
Credit: Photo by Gary Mee

On rainy nights in Georgia and across the nation, drivers greatly benefit from small, reflective markers that make roadway lanes more visible. A new automated system for installing the markers is expected to improve safety for workers and drivers.

There are more than three million of these safety devices, called raised pavement markers (RPMs), in service on Georgia highways. They are installed and then need to be replaced about every two years by road crews who consider the task one of the riskiest they face. Workers typically ride on a seat cantilevered off the side of a trailer just inches from highway traffic.

Manual RPM placement is not only risky for personnel, but it is also expensive and time-consuming. A typical RPM placement operation includes four vehicles and a six-person crew. All the vehicles must stop at each marker location, so there is tremendous wear on the equipment and increased fuel use.

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) believed there was a better way to do it and funded the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to develop a first-of-its-kind system capable of automatically placing RPMs along the lane stripes while in motion. After almost three years of research and development, GTRI expects to deliver a prototype system early this year. Because of widespread interest in the system, researchers will present a report on their project on Jan. 23 at the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.........

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Developing Ultrathin Digital Camera

Engineers at UC San Diego have built a powerful yet ultrathin digital camera by folding up the telephoto lens. This technology may yield lightweight, ultrathin, high resolution miniature cameras for unmanned surveillance aircraft, cell phones and infrared night vision applications.

"Our imager is about seven times more powerful than a conventional lens of the same depth," said Eric Tremblay, the first author on an Applied Optics paper published February 1, 2007, and an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. candidate at UCSD's Jacobs School of Engineering. Eric is working with Joseph Ford, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Jacobs School who leads the camera project within UCSD's Photonic Systems Integration Lab. Ford is also affiliated with the UCSD division of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Calit2.

"This type of miniature camera is very promising for applications where you want high resolution images and a short exposure time. This describes what cell phone cameras want to be when they grow up," said Ford. "Today's cell phone cameras are pretty good for wide angle shots, but because space constraints require short focal length lenses, when you zoom them in, they're terrible. They're blurry, dark, and low contrast".........

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Hydrogen-Powered Lawnmowers?

Princeton student Claire Woo, a recipient of the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates award, at work in the laboratory of Jay Benziger.
Credit: Princeton University

In a breakthrough that could make fuel cells practical for such small machines as lawnmowers and chainsaws, scientists have developed a new mechanism to efficiently control hydrogen fuel cell power.

A number of standard fuel cell designs use electronics to control power output, but such designs require complex systems to manage humidity and fuel recovery and recycling systems to achieve acceptable efficiency.

The new process controls the hydrogen feed to match the mandatory power output, just as one controls the feed of gasoline into an internal combustion engine. The system functions as a closed system that uses the waste water to regulate the size of the reaction chamber, the site where the gasses combine to form water, heat and electricity.

National Science Foundation (NSF) awardee Jay Benziger of Princeton University developed the new technique with his student Claire Woo, a recipient of an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates award and now a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. Woo and Benziger published their findings in the February 2007 Chemical Engineering Science, now available online.

The scientists believe the first applications for their technology will be in smaller engines. Fuel cells are currently inefficient on such scales due to the need for fuel recycling and excess hydrogen in standard designs. The researchers' new design is closed, so 100 percent of the fuel is used and there is no need for a costly fuel recycling system.........

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Top Gear Looking For Viewer Feedback

Jeremy Clarkson is looking for your input. And by "your", I mean of course, you who's out there surfing YouTube's vast array of video clips for all episodes Top Gear. For those rest of you who don't know, Top Gear is the world's best automotive TV program that airs in the UK and online.

Mr. Clarkson has again put into question the BBC's promise that Top Gear will appear for a tenth season. "Not unless someone from the Greenwich Observatory suddenly decides that we need a new month between May and June," JC said.

But right now Top Gear is looking for suggestions on what content viewers want to see in its next season - if and when that next season arrives.

Throw in your twclicking here.

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UK Inflation Unexpectedly Hits 3.1%

The UK inflation rate surged unexpectedly to 3.1 percent in March, according to official figures. The unexpected acceleration of inflation has pushed the pound to $2 for the first time since September 1992 on increasing speculation interest rates will keep rising. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the official measure of inflation, shot up to 3.1 percent last month, more than 1 percent above the Government’s desired level for inflation. The cost of living has increased at its fastest rate for at least 10 years, compelling the Governor of the Bank of England to write a letter of explanation to the Chancellor for the first time.

This has also marked the first time in the history of the Monetary Policy Committee, the Bank’s rate-setting body created Gordon Brown 10 years back, that inflation has been more than 1 percent either ahead or behind the official target. However, according to the MPC rules, it means Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England has to write to Brown, to explain that why the inflation rate is so far removed from the Bank’s target and what actions are being taken to resolve it.

The inflation hike though it has been unexpectedly high but it has been remain on cards amid considerable expansion in London’s financial-services industry, surging house prices and consumer spending that have encouraged growth in the UK economy, Europe’s second-largest. The Bank of England had earlier indicated in February that it may have to raise rates once more this year to bring inflation back to target and now it becoming increasingly imminent that there could upward revision of interest rates in coming may.

According to the statistics office, an increase in the cost of food, non-alcoholic beverages and furniture and household goods pushed up inflation in March. Interestingly, eight of the nine categories which determine the index contributed to the higher rate, with the single downward contribution came from housing and household services.

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The iPod Touch is Actually a PDA

Apple's marketing machine may be bunching in the new iPod touch with the other iPods, but the fact is that Apple's new iPhone-without-the-phone is a PDA.

Aside from the built-in Calendar, Contact, and Calculator apps, the iPod touch has WiFi, a decent web browser. It's also not a stretch to think that the third party apps that work on the iPhone could work here too. And 8GB and 16GB is a lot room for data, a lot more than your typical smartphone or PDA.

It's also thin. Thanks to the few standalone PDAs on the market, this will be the first time I'll use the term PDA anorexia (compared to the many many times I've used that for smartphones).

Granted, the iPod touch has no built-in camera. And adding in Bluetooth would've been nice. But once again, the genius of Apple's presentation wins the day. By categorizing this PDA as a portable media player, Apple's managed the expectations of its buyers. "A PDA that can play music" doesn't sound as good as "A music player that can surf the web, supports third party apps, and has basic organizer functions."

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Control Your Seasonal Lighting with a Remote

Tired of climbing behind the Christmas Tree, or walking from outlet to outlet to turn on your seasonal lighting. Don't climb around any more, you need the INSTEON Wireless Remote.


The remote comes in a kit with several controllers each of which fit into an outlet. To turn lighting on simply use the remote to control all outlets from one location. The remote can still control an outlet from 150' away.

Or if you want, you can use the remote to automate lights to turn on and off as required. Use the remote to review the power patterns and see a panel indicating when certain outlets are to be powered off or on.

The INSTEON Wireless Remote starter kit is available from Amazon for $129 which provides a saving of up to $75 should you have purchased these items separately.

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Tiny refrigerator taking shape to cool future computers

Miniature refrigeration system

Researchers at Purdue University are developing a miniature refrigeration system small enough to fit inside laptops and personal computers, a cooling technology that would boost performance while shrinking the size of computers.

Unlike conventional cooling systems, which use a fan to circulate air through finned devices called heat sinks attached to computer chips, miniature refrigeration would dramatically increase how much heat could be removed, said Suresh Garimella, the R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

The Purdue research focuses on learning how to design miniature components called compressors and evaporators, which are critical for refrigeration systems. The researchers developed an analytical model for designing tiny compressors that pump refrigerants using penny-size diaphragms and validated the model with experimental data. The elastic membranes are made of ultra-thin sheets of a plastic called polyimide and coated with an electrically conducting metallic layer. The metal layer allows the diaphragm to be moved back and forth to produce a pumping action using electrical charges, or "electrostatic diaphragm compression".

In related research, the engineers are among the first to precisely measure how a refrigerant boils and vaporizes inside tiny "microchannels" in an evaporator and determine how to vary this boiling rate for maximum chip cooling.........

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China's Dangerous Web Domains

A recent report by antivirus software vendor McAfee Inc. has found that some of the most dangerous domains on the Internet are in China. That may not be good for companies setting up Internet-based business there.

In an article on the report, Associated Press Technology Writer Jordan Robertson this:McAfee found the most dangerous domains to navigate to are ".hk" (Hong Kong), ".cn" (China) and ".info" (information).

Of all ".hk" sites McAfee tested, it flagged 19.2 percent as dangerous or potentially dangerous to visitors; it flagged 11.8 percent of ".cn" sites and 11.7 percent of ".info" sites that way.While the "cn" and "hk" domains get registered in China, the servers using them can be anywhere.

The "ro" (Romania) and "ru" (Russia) domains were also rated as high risk.

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Mobile microwave for your car

I had to think for a few minutes to imagine a reason to own this mobile microwave, even though I''ve often thought that a car refrigerator would be handy for cold drinks on the road. I suppose a microwave in the car could be useful if you''re someone who regularly takes long road trips and would rather heat up your own homemade lasagna than eat rest stop fare. Or if you''re a huge picnic fanatic who has to have food served really, really hot, which can''t be achieved with silly little thermoses. Or you want to make your own hot, organic popcorn for the movie theatre minutes before you go in.

You power it through your 12V cigarette lighter socket (produces 175W of power) or directly from your car battery (produces 660W). This little novelty appliance is now on sale at UK store Maplin for 80GBP, (about $149).

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Google Android SDK 0.9 released

The launch of the first ever Google Android phone came one step closer with the release of the new Google Android SDK version 0.9, approval of HTC Dream by FCC and confirmation of the launch of HTC Dream by T-Mobile.

Google has recently released the version 0.9 of its Android SDK and also published the Developer Roadmap for rest of this year. This certainly means that things are gearing up for the release of the final version of the Android SDK and the launch of first ever Android device (HTC Dream) by the end of this year. The new version 0.9 comes with a number of bug fixes, a number of new API's, an improved UI and some new features including a widget based home screen, a pull up applications tab, a camera and a media player. Please click here for a detailed screenshot gallery of the new SDK. Here is the video of the new SDK that is brought to you courtesy of viddler.com

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First beam for Large Hadron Collider

An international collaboration of researchers today sent the first beam of protons zooming at nearly the speed of light around the 17-mile-long underground circular path of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most powerful particle accelerator, located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland.

The researchers also accelerated a second beam of protons through the path in the opposite direction, the goal being head-on collisions of protons that can offer clues to the origin of mass and new forces and particles in the universe. The second beam made one turn around the LHC.

Celebrations across the United States and around the world mark the LHC's first circulating beams, an occasion more than 15 years in the making. An estimated 10,000 people from 60 countries have helped design and build the accelerator and its massive particle detectors, including more than 1,700 scientists, engineers, students and technicians from 94 U.S. universities and laboratories supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Science Foundation.

UCR faculty Robert Clare, John Ellison, J. William Gary, Gail Hanson and Stephen Wimpenny, along with postdoctoral researchers and graduate students are involved in the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, a large particle-capturing detector whose discoveries are expected to help answer questions such as: Are there undiscovered principles of nature? What is the origin of mass? Do extra dimensions exist? What is dark matter? How can we solve the mystery of dark energy? And how did the universe come to be?........

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TrekStor Matches Two of My Passions - Data and Beer

I am all for multi-function devices. I have a printer / scanner / copier, I carry a Swiss-Army knife, and own an iPhone. If I am going to plop money down for a gadget or gizmo, it better do more than one thing. TrekStor has heard my demands and answered with a combination bottle-opener / USB flash drive.

The TrekStor USB stick CO comes in a rugged (I hope) brushed aluminum casing and features a sturdy Guiness beverage opener. It features high-speed USB 2.0 data transfer rates, it is bootable, and it is pre-formated and ready for use. It should be both Mac and Windows friendly, and it will support Linux (Kernel 2.6 or later).

The bottle opener is one-size-fits-all, but the USB flash capacity comes in 1GB, 2,GB, 4GB, and 8GB, and 16GB. They will range from $10 to $71 depending on size, and will be available in late October. Cheers!

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Good looking camera carry-all from Acme Made

Good looking camera carry-all from Acme Made

So this retro, bowling bag-style camera bag from Acme Made caught my eye at once. It''s designed for digital SLR users (although old-school non-digital SLRs will fit in just fine), and features a quilted satin lining and pockets for memory cards or other accessories. It''s made from high-quality polyurethane and the red version shown above will be available in November, with navy and black bags out by Christmas. They''re expected to cost just $40 each.

Via Boing Boing Gadgets.

Image: Acme Made

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LG KP500- Yet another Affordable and Shiny Smartphone

LG has recently announced an affordable yet stylish touch screen Smartphone known as the LG KP500. It is meant for people who wish to have a Smartphone but can't afford or don't prefer to pay heavy bucks to buy one.

Not much is known about the device but the LG KP500 will come with a 3 inch display, a 3 megapixel camera, motion sensor and it will be operated via a stylus. It will come in black, brown, silver and gold colors and it will be launched initially in Europe and then globally. More coming on this soon.....

Source: Engadget Mobile

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Fujitsu ST6012 Tablet PC

I am a tablet user. In classrooms and in lectures I use tablets for both information delivery and capture. In fact, hone of my biggest problems being an Apple Fanboy is that (for now) there is no MacBook tablet. If there were, I would be in heaven. The Fujictsu ST6012 might just be the piece of equipment that wins me back to the PC world. It is a serious machine.

The Fujitsu ST6012 is a large and beautiful 12 inch tablet PC that has the muscles necessary to get some heavy lifting done. Under the hood, there is an Ultra-low Voltage SU9400 Intel Core 2 Duo processor, integrated webcam, active digitizer, and 1GB DDR3 RAM, 80GB hard drive. The specs may not stand out, but the device is staggeringly beautiful. It is both sturdy and sleek - exactly what you are looking for in a tablet.

Fujitsu is prepared to charge you $1999 for the base configuration, but if you move up to a SSD hard drive, and 4GB of RAM, be prepared to spend up to $2580. The ST6012 is out now.

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Functional Notebooks

Omg, I’ve got it!!!! They are amazing! Many thanks to Arwey design team, and especially to my mate Burak for this beautiful present. Design You Trust official!

“Arwey will be your new accessory that you don"t want to leave. At Arwey, where our international design team that not only masters all global developments and trends but also likes to create one of those, works with a great enthusiasm, concepts at stage-base, through deep researches and sketches, come into being as designs. All the stages of the recent technologies, professional craftsmanship"s and the materials from the most qualified producers of the world are brought together and designed diligently within the concept of Arwey. Besides its unique design, the collection, with its motto "Functional Notebooks", also embodies the feature of being the most functional notebook thanks to its special information"s included and its different ease of uses. Arwey, with its design and functionality, will be your most beloved partner for your daily use, your office works and your travels.”

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I-O Data Fills DVD Burner Hole In Netbooks

Netbooks are all the rage, and who can blame them. They are cheap, light, small, and ultra-portable. They do lack certain amenities such as DVD/CD drives and burners. It does make sense then that drive manufacturers would rush to try and fill the holes dug by netbooks, and that is exactly what I-O data is trying to do with their new Slim DVD-Burner. The DVRP-U8XLE2 is a slim, well-designed, and light DVD burner that can handle all of your media needs when you need your netbook to do a bit more.

The I-O Data DVRP-U8XLE2 connects to your device through a high-speed USB 2.0 connection and can burn DVDs with speeds up to 8X and CDRs up to 24X. The whole drive only weighs 28 ounces, and it is small enough to fit in what ever bag or sleeve you might be carrying your mini laptop in.

The drive runs $95, which might be too expensive considering you can find netbooks for a little more than twice that nowadays. None-the-less, if data burning is your need, then This I-O data drive might be your best bet.

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PNG compressor makes your images teeny

PNG Gauntlet is a .NET freeware program that optimises the size of PNG image files. Actually it’s a front end for the PNGOUT command line program, but the end result is the same – your images get made smaller. Oh and most importantly, it does this impressive feat without losing image quality. If you have a lot of images and file size and disk space is important to you, then you’ll probably want to take a look at this.

PNGGauntlet is a .NET program that uses Ken Silverman’s PNGOUT to optimize PNG files. Many PNG files output by popular graphics software packages like Photoshop or even Fireworks are not as small as they could be - PNGGauntlet squeezes the last bit of size out of them. Furthermore, no information is lost during this process - the only thing that changes is the file size. Just select the files you want to optimize (or drag them onto the window), select where you want them to go, and click the button. PNGauntlet can also be used to convert JPG, GIF, TGA, PCX, and BMP files to PNG.

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Washable Keyboard - join the scrub-a-dub club

The Washable Keyboard has got to be awesomeness incarnate. No more digging dead McNuggets out from under the spacebar, or wiping old rancid Mountain Dew stains from the numpad, just drop the whole dang thing into the sink and give it a good scrubbing. Lovely. It’s also dishwasher safe, and anti-bacterial, which puts it one step ahead of Windows Vista, eh? £39.95.

As well as being fully washable, this sparkling peripheral features Silver Seal™ Antimicrobial Protection to resist microbial growth and combat the spread of whiff-causing bacteria. We’re not entirely sure how this works but boffins tell us it’s got something to do with the silver ions embedded in the keyboard’s plastic. And that’s just as well because most keyboards contain nearly 400 times as many yucky microbes as the average toilet. Blurgh!

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10 Awesome Flash-Animated Interactive Websites

Ever wanted to draw a song or discover more about how the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead? How about learning about cocaine from Pablo the pooch, who just happens to be a talking doggy drug mule? No? Then what about connecting up the stars to create your own constellation then see it wrap around your screen in 3D?

There must be something you will like from this selection of flash based websites.

(via Robert-John)

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