Humanoid robots
A humanoid robot is an autonomous robot because it can adapt to changes in its environment or itself and continue to reach its goal. This is the main difference between humanoids and other kinds of robots. In this context, some of the capacities of a humanoid robot may include, among others:
>self maintenance (recharge itself)
>autonomous learning (learn or gain new capabilities without outside assistance, >adjust strategies based on the surroundings and adapt to new situations)
>avoiding harmful situations to people, property and itself
>safe interacting with human beings and the environment
Like other mechanical robots, humanoids refer to the following basic components too: Sensing, Actuating and Planning and Control. Since they try to simulate the human structure and behaviour and they are autonomous systems, most of the times humanoid robots are more complex than other kinds of robots.
This complexity affects all robotic scales (mechanical, spatial, time, power density, system and computational complexity), but it is more noticeable on power density and system complexity scales. In the first place, current humanoids aren’t strong enough even to jump and this happens because the ratio power/weight is not as good as in the human body. On the other hand, there are very good algorithms for the several areas of humanoid construction, but it’s very difficult to merge all of them into one efficient system (the system complexity is very high). Nowadays, these are the main difficulties that humanoid robots development has to deal with.
Humanoid robots are created to imitate some of the same physical and mental tasks that humans undergo daily. Scientists and specialists from many different fields including engineering, cognitive science, and linguistics combine their efforts to create a robot as human-like as possible. Their creators' goal for the robot is that one day it will be able to both understand human intelligence, reason and act like humans. If humanoids are able to do so, they could eventually work alongside humans. Another important benefit of developing androids is to understand the human body's biological and mental processes, from the seemingly simple act of walking to the concepts of consciousness and spirituality.
Albert HUBO, the latest humanoid version of the HUBO robots, can make expressive gestures with its 5 separate fingers, produced in South Korea.There are currently two essential ways to model a humanoid robot. The first one models the robot like a set of rigid links, which are connected with joints. This kind of structure is similar to the one that can be found on industrial robots. Although this approach is used for most of the humanoid robots, a new one is emerging in some research works that use the knowledge acquired on biomechanics. In this one, the humanoid robot’s bottom line is a resemblance of the human skeleton.
Purpose
Humanoid robots are used as a research tool in several scientific areas.
Researchers need to understand the human body structure and behaviour (biomechanics) to build and study humanoid robots. On the other side, the attempt to simulate the human body leads to a better understanding of it.
Human cognition is a field of study which is focused on how humans learn from sensory information in order to acquire perceptual and motor skills. This knowledge is used to develop computational models of human behaviour and it has been improving over time.
It has been suggested that very advanced robotics will facilitate the enhancement of ordinary humans. See transhumanism.
U.S. Army conceptual mock-up of an exoskeleton-equipped soldier.Although the initial aim of humanoid research was to build better orthosis and prosthesis for human beings, knowledge has been transferred between both disciplines. A few examples are: powered leg prosthesis for neuromuscularly impaired, ankle-foot orthosis, biological realistic leg prosthesis and forearm prosthesis.
Besides the research, humanoid robots are being developed to perform human tasks like personal assistance, where they should be able to assist the sick and elderly, and dirty or dangerous jobs. Regular jobs like being a receptionist or a worker of an automotive manufacturing line are also suitable for humanoids. In essence, since they can use tools and operate equipment and vehicles designed for the human form, humanoids could theoretically perform any task a human being can, so long as they have the proper software. However, the complexity of doing so is deceptively great.
They are becoming increasingly popular for providing entertainment too. For example, Ursula, a female robot, sings, dances, and speaks to her audiences at Universal Studios. Several Disney attractions employ the use of animatrons, robots that look, move, and speak much like human beings, in some of their theme park shows. These animatrons look so realistic that it can be hard to decipher from a distance whether or not they are actually human. Although they have a realistic look, they have no cognition or physical autonomy.
Sensors
A sensor is a device that measures some attribute of the world. Being one of the three primitives of robotics (besides planning and control), sensing plays an important role in robotic paradigms.
Sensors can be classified according to the physical process with which they work or according to the type of measurement information that they give as output. In this case, the second approach was used.
Proprioceptive Sensors
Proprioceptive sensors sense the position, the orientation and the speed of the humanoid’s body and joints.
In human beings inner ears are used to maintain balance and orientation. Humanoid robots use accelerometers to measure the acceleration, from which velocity can be calculated by integration; tilt sensors to measure inclination; force sensors placed in robot’s hands and feet to measure contact force with environment; position sensors, that indicate the actual position of the robot (from which the velocity can be calculated by derivation) or even speed sensors.
Exteroceptive Sensors
Exteroceptive sensors give the robot information about the surrounding environment allowing the robot to interact with the world. The exteroceptive sensors are classified according to their functionality.
Proximity sensors are used to measure the relative distance (range) between the sensor and objects in the environment. They perform the same task that vision and tactile senses do in human beings. To sense proximity, humanoid robots can use sonars and infrared sensors, or tactile sensors like bump sensors, whiskers (or feelers), capacitive and piezoresistive sensors. Tactile sensors also provide information about forces and torques transferred between the robot and other objects. There are other kinds of proximity measurements, like laser ranging, the usage of stereo cameras, or the projection of a colored line, grid or pattern of dots to observe how the pattern is distorted by the environment.
Vision refers to processing data from any modality which uses the electromagnetic spectrum to produce an image. In humanoid robots it is used to recognize objects and determine their properties. Vision sensors work most similarly to the eyes of human beings. Most humanoid robots use CCD cameras as vision sensors.
Sound sensors allow humanoid robots to hear speech and environmental sounds, and perform as the ears of the human being. Microphones are usually used for this task.
Actuators
Actuators are the motors responsible for motion in the robot.
Humanoid robots are constructed in such a way that they mimic the human body, so they use actuators that perform like muscles and joints, though with a different structure. To achieve the same effect as human motion, humanoid robots use mainly rotary actuators. They can be either electric, pneumatic, hydraulic, piezoelectric or ultrasonic.
Hydraulic and electric actuators have a very rigid behaviour and can only be made to act in a compliant manner through the use of relatively complex feedback control strategies . While electric coreless motor actuators are better suited for high speed and low load applications, hydraulic ones operate well at low speed and high load applications.
Piezoelectric actuators generate a small movement with a high force capability when voltage is applied. They can be used for ultra-precise positioning and for generating and handling high forces or pressures in static or dynamic situations.
Ultrasonic actuators are designed to produce movements in a micrometer order at ultrasonic frequencies (over 20 kHz). They are useful for controlling vibration, positioning applications and quick switching.
Pneumatic actuators operate on the basis of gas compressibility. As they are inflated, they expand along the axis, and as they deflate, they contract. If one end is fixed, the other will move in a linear trajectory. These actuators are intended for low speed and low/medium load applications. Between pneumatic actuators there are: cylinders, bellows, pneumatic engines, pneumatic stepper motors and pneumatic artificial muscles.
Looks-wise, the Type 02 isn't the kind of robot you'd wanna bump into in a dark alley. Yet despite its black, Grim Reaper-like profile, the Type 02 isn't a Terminator in disguise.
No, this baby was created for the Tamanoi Vinegar Corporation to give presentations on, yep, vinegar. The robot stands 6 feet tall, and is 220 pounds. It's first job will be to entertain guests at Tamanoi's "Cyber Trip" amusement theater, which sits in the company's offices.
Wii are the champions?
The anticipated battle between Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 for videogame console supremacy has become a sideshow to the unexpected rise of Nintendo's Wii as the new-generation game console of choice.
Once a dark-horse contender, the Wii has outsold both its competitors in recent months. According to sales data from the NPD Group, the Wii sold 335,000 units in February to the Xbox 360's 228,000 and the PS3's 127,000.
Of the three new-generation game consoles, the Xbox 360 has sold the most at 5 million units in the United States alone, but that's mainly due to the fact that it was released a full year earlier than either the Wii or the PS3. Since they first hit shelves last November, the PS3 has sold 1.1 million units while the Wii has tallied 1.86 million.
What's interesting is that the Wii achieved this feat not by offering a lot of multimedia bells and whistles like its competitors do, but by simply focusing on games.
"We've seen Nintendo expand the marketplace and grow it beyond the traditional gamer," says Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research. "They really redefined the videogame experience by creating something new and different."
That innovation is the Wii controller, a motion-sensitive wand that allows gamers to control the action onscreen by waving the device about rather than jostling a joystick and pushing buttons.
That controller and the games developed for it have captured the imagination of both the core gamer demographic and their parents, wives and other family members.
So what does that say about Sony and Microsoft, which also are hoping to attract nongamers to their respective new-generation consoles by positioning them as home entertainment hubs?
Both consoles contain hard drives to store content and allow users to stream music and video content from their home computers. The PS3 features a Blu-ray DVD player and is developing a Second Life-style virtual world called PS3 Home, while the Xbox Live Marketplace offers downloadable movies and TV shows.
"Microsoft and Sony clearly have larger aspirations for the game console in the living room as a portal for some of the other services they're trying to sell," Gartenberg says. "The hardcore gamer may be the one purchasing the console, but other family members may use the other features. Nintendo's approach has been to get nongamers playing games."
According to NPD Group spokesman David Riley, the Wii's "gaming first" message is much easier for nongamers to grasp than Microsoft and Sony's more complicated home entertainment message.
"While they have that capability, it's not that easy to use," he says. "It's going to be a ways off before that capability becomes mainstream."
Yet that's not to say the effort is in vain. Microsoft is showing signs of early success with its decision to add TV and movie downloads to the Xbox Live Marketplace. Since first making such content available last November, the company says it has seen a 400% increase in downloads. Microsoft did not reveal exactly how many downloads that figure represented.
"All of these strategies are viable," Gartenberg says. "It's not a question of one over the other. Nintendo has demonstrated that there are multiple ways to get into the hearts and minds of other family members."
Other factors also play a role in the Wii's early success. At $250, the Wii is the cheapest option on the shelves, with the Xbox 360 carrying a $400 tab and the PS3 a whopping $600. Additionally, the PS3 was hampered early on with severe product shortages and a dearth of blockbuster games that show off the system's capabilities.
But it's far too early to pick the ultimate winner. Gaming industry press and analysts still feel the PS3 has the chops to dominate in the end. Reviews at videogame site GameSpot say that "the PS3 has all the processor, graphics and communications power necessary to win this generation," while Electronic Arts departing CEO Larry Probst told a Web conference audience that he believed the PS3 will prove the ultimate winner.
Meanwhile, the Xbox 360 is taking strong lead in the number of games sold. The Xbox 360 has six titles in the top 10 for February -- including the No. 1 title -- while Wii has three and PS3 none (PS2 title "Guitar Hero" took the final spot). Additionally, Xbox 360 owners buy far more games than the owners of other consoles at a rate of 5.4 games per 360 owner. That rate falls to 2.3 for the PS3 and 2.8 for the Wii.
That leaves the Wii, for now, with everything to lose.
Grab the perfect picture thanks to the utterly brilliant gorilla pod - give all your photo opportunities and memories a boost.
Gorillapod firmly secures your camera to just about anything - anywhere and everywhere. Unlike traditional tripods, the gorillapod doesn't require an flat surface for you to take the perfect shot.
Gorillapod is malleable - each of the three legs bends, twists and grips - allowing you to attach your camera to almost anything and grab a picture from an interesting angle. It's also perfect for distant zoom and night time shots when a steady hand is not sufficient to stop an image from blurring.
Your camera attaches to the gorillapod using a slimline quick-fitting attachment that you can leave connected to your camera for nearly instant setup - just slide it into the connector on the gorillapod.
The flexible joints bend and rotate 360 degrees to form the perfect shape.
The ring and foot grips provide a strong grip to grapple wherever you go.
The Original (Compact) Gorillapod is ideal for point-and-shoot compact digital cameras weighing up to 275 grammes.
The Gorillapod SLR is intended to support more featured cameras and light SLRs (without zoom lenses), and compact video camcorders weighing up to 800 grammes.
New computer virus A disgruntled hacker with a personal grudge against Symantec, which provides anti-virus software to leading Fortune 500 companies, could be behind a new, crippling computer virus that's already hit a division of at least one big U.S. corporation on Thursday.
If it spreads, technology experts warn the latest strains of the insidious RINBOT computer virus could hijack network systems of businesses worldwide.
New strains
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant with Boston-based IT security firm Sophos, said his company has been aware of "a number" of new versions of the RINBOT or DELBOT virus produced since Feb. 15.
"We believe this latest strain is the 7th version of RINBOT which first emerged in March 2005," Cluley said.
According to Cluley, this version is designed to exploit security vulnerabilities embedded in anti-virus software.
"Traditionally hackers always went after Microsoft's anti-virus programs. But now they're increasingly targeting other commonly used programs such as Symantec programs and others," he said.
Cluley said this strain appears to be hitting MS SQL servers. It looks for networks that run the Microsoft (Charts) Windows operating system, including Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows XP. It then spreads through the network by manipulating "weak" spots such as simple passwords.
Getting hijacked
Once it's in, Cluley said the virus quickly spreads and takes over many computers with the intention of turning the network into a botnet, or a "zombie" network.
"Without you knowing it, hackers will use your computer for a variety of purposes like sending out spam, or distributing denial of service attacks, or even blackmailing other Web sites. There was a case where hackers blackmailed a gambling site and said they would bring down the site for a few days unless they were paid thousands of dollars" Cluley said.
Cluley warned that the virus is not geographically limited. "It's very stealthy and insidious and works without you knowing it," he said.
Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner (Charts) and parent of CNN and CNNMoney.com, confirmed that its systems were hit by a virus Thursday.
"A virus has affected the network and we are actively working to rectify the situation," said company spokeswoman Shirley Powell.
Thomas Parsons, an IT specialist with Symantec (Charts), confirmed to CNNMoney.com that the most recent variants of RINBOT have targeted Symantec's anti-virus programs.
"We're not sure what the motivation is, but we are aware of a hacker that has been adding his own commands into the strain," Parsons said. Using those codes, Parsons said the hacker let it be known that he wasn't happy that Symantec was calling the virus RINBOT
Be Afraid: Powder-Sized RFID Chips Everyone's so paranoid about the RFID chips that are already in place in so many parts of our lives, so here's an item to make us even more scared of Big Brother (or little-Brother-ID thief). RFID chips are tiny microchips that use radio waves to do everything from conduct credit card transactions (as on those little key-fob-Paypass MasterCard thingies) and pay for tolls (EZ Pass and its ilk) to keeping track of your devices and travel (U.S. passports).
Hitachi plans to start marketing these new chips—seriously no bigger than a speck of dust at 0.05 x 0.05 mm—in two to three years. The company says this super-tiny chip can be used in paper, currency, gift certificates, and the like, but as some sites have pointed out, today's chips are already small enough for those uses. So, as Engadget cracked, does this mean we should be watching what we eat in case of some James-Bond-style pepper-shaker swap?
Maybe, but is the terror around RFID over-hyped? According to most proponents of the technology, and my own experiences paying with PayPass at my local drug store, you really need to physically tap the RFID chip to something for the transaction to go through. And yet, when I go through a toll booth, my RFID-enabled EZ Pass box is only about ten feet away from the sensor. So maybe it is time to watch what you eat, lest Big Brother starts to track you wirelessly (or you spill some RFID powder from which evil ID thieves can extract your vital stats!)
What do you think? Is RFID worth the convenience or is it setting up some dangerous privacy-invasion precedents?
Are you worried somebody might be spying on you? Then you need this SpyCam Detector. The PP-SpyCamDetector uses technology developed by the military for locating hidden wired and wireless cameras. Now you can have this same technology in a convenient and portable gadget which can be used anywhere. This baby does not rely on RF signals like other bug and camera detectors do. It uses an array of ultra bright LEDs which create a strong reflection from the hidden camera’s lens which the SpyCam Detector can easily pick up. Using the SpyCam Detector is very easy. Simply hold up to your eye and press the button to activate the bright LEDs. Then you scan the room for hidden cameras.
Have you ever wished you could hear like Superman? Now you can using this high tech listening device. The Orbitor allows you to hear sounds and voices from 300 feet away! That is an entire football field. Just think of the possibilities. Hear what those people are talking about across the street or even across the block. Take it along on your next advantage into to great outdoors and hear all those animals which you could never get close enough to hear before. The Orbitor works great indoors as well. At concerts, sporting events, or at the office to tap in to what the boss is saying across the hall. This device not only amplifies your hearing but your site as well. It has a built-in 10X viewfinder to see exactly what you are listening to. It also always you to record 120 seconds of digital audio. This is a high quality surveillance device built for years of use.
Product Details:
Measures 11" x 7"
Weighs 1.9 Lbs
Requires 1 9V battery (not included)
Includes padded full-size high-quality headphones
Your world just got a whole lot bigger with the smallest functional Media Player in the universe. The powerful sounds of MP3 music and the color rich images from your last vacation are in the palm of your hand with the Ultra Portable Personal Media Player & Recorder. Watch full motion video on the surprisingly large 1.5” TFT LCD screen. Or read an eBook. Or view photos from your last vacation or your loved ones. The possibilities are endless with the Ultra Portable Personal Media Player & Recorder.The Ultra Portable Personal Media Player & Recorder is small in size and light in weight but HUGE in features. The device comes with 256MB of built-in memory. However, there is a built-in SD/MMC card slot, which makes your entertainment possibilities limitless. The USB connector allows you to easily connect the device to your PC or laptop without drivers and charge the built-in long-life battery at the same time. It will simply detect as a new mass storage device on your home or office computer. The built-in speaker allows you to share your entertainment with your friends or traveling partners. Strap your entertainment center to your wrist, read a book, or keep your conversations in integrity with the most state of the art tiny media player on the market. Expand your world with the biggest tiny device you can find for under $100. Pick up the Ultra Portable Personal Media Player today and discover a world of limitless possibilities. Supported file formats: SMV, MP3, WMA, JPG, eBook
Acu-Point Pen
One size fits allYou know what they say about good things and small packages. But when something 1.62 inches long and about half an ounce holds up to 240 songs, “good” and “small” don’t quite cut it. Especially when you can listen to your music for up to 12 continuous hours.(2) In fact, iPod shuffle just may be the biggest thing in small.Ready to wearClip it to your coin pocket. Clip it to your bag. No matter where you clip your skip-free iPod shuffle, you’ll have instant access to music. And iPod shuffle’s anodized aluminum enclosure goes with absolutely everything. Put it on, turn it up, and turn some heads.Sync to fit
The first step to wearing 240 songs on your iPod shuffle is downloading iTunes — free. Then you can download 99¢ songs from the iTunes Store or import music from your CDs. When it’s time to sync, plug the included dock into your Mac or PC’s USB port and transfer your music from iTunes just by docking iPod shuffle.
As much as we hate to admit it, we grew up watching Flipper reruns on the old tube, so our jaw dropped to the floor when we came upon this. The bionic dolphin is part speed boat, part submarine. It seats two people and is powered by a 425-horsepower Corvette engine. It can stand upright (just like Flipper), cruise at 55mph, and is constructed of Kevlar. Its creator, Thomas Rowe, is still awaiting approval before he can start cranking them out, but expect to pay up to $350,000 clams for this aquatic beast. We think it'll be worth every penny
'British spy rock'
Russia's intelligence agency, the FSB, has accused British agents of storing and exchanging classified information using a fake rock on a Russian street.
It says the hi-tech stone is "absolutely new spy technology". The UK has not commented on the rock allegation.
Q: What kinds of devices could be used for this?
A: Any gadget that can swap data wirelessly would be able to work with the rock but the most likely candidates would be mobile phones and handheld computers - known as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). These are used very widely and it has become easy to use them to move data - be it a text message or an image or video clip - over short and long distances.
To avoid looking suspicious, those involved in the alleged data theft might have turned to a widely available gadget because the basic data transfer capabilities would have been built in and it would need minimal tweaking to get working. Many phone and PDA users regularly swap data, such as contact details or images, via Bluetooth short-range radio or via infra-red.
Q: What capacity do such devices have?
A: The latest devices can use wi-fi or even newer technologies to move data around faster. All can transfer many thousands of bytes of data per second. One byte is equal to one character and one million characters is roughly equivalent to the amount of data in a large paperback book.
Q: How would it work?
A: Without more details it is hard to be precise about how a rock and phone/PDA combination might work.
However, from what we know it appears that those who allegedly stole the confidential information walked close to the rock and then uploaded data to the device beneath it. Later, others came and downloaded the data and walked off with it.
It is most likely that radio of some kind was used to pass data back and forth. Infra-red demands a line of sight between the devices swapping data and would not penetrate the fake surface of the rock.
Many investigation firms use custom-built devices when trying to spot insurance fraud. Some have made "smart bricks" with cameras concealed in them which they toss into a suspect's garden. Typically these use short range radio to send images back to a van close by.
Q: What are the potential problems with this sort of thing?
A: The main problem is likely to be the battery life for the device beneath the rock that stores the data. Sending data via short-range radio is a notorious gobbler of battery power. If lots of data were being passed back and forth the useful life of the rock could be very short.
Q: Are there any other problems, more specific to this situation?
A: Yes. One is the speed at which data can be uploaded or downloaded. While standing in the street tapping on a phone or PDA does not raise much comment any more, it would if you had to stay in the same place for hours. But using faster speeds tends to be even more battery hungry.
Another problem is ensuring that only the right people upload and download data. Unprotected wi-fi networks are notoriously easy to find and log on to. It might prove hard to find ways to continually update the alleged spies on regularly changing passwords, encryption keys and the like.
The final problem is the clumsiness of this method for passing data. If a PDA has a wireless link there are likely to be lots of public places that would allow that data be sent more anonymously. For instance, many tech-savvy criminal gangs use hijacked servers to store stolen data.
Leica annouces update plan for buggy M8 digicams
For Leica enthusiasts and digicam freaks alike, we're sure the day that uber-expensive M8 landed on your doorstep was one of pure elation -- or maybe not so much, depending on your luck. Turns out the nearly $6,000 piece of kit wasn't as refined and ready to shoot as the lofty pricetag may lead you to believe, but Lieca is apparently aiming to please those deep pocketed customers by offering up some quick fixes and a few bonus filters to boot. Folks suffering from "banding issues, mirror / ghosting effects, and IR sensitivity quirks" can register on the company's website by December 6th in order to have Leica contact you to set up a return. Unfortunately, this means your finicky M8 will be out of your palms for a few days (or weeks), but at least it'll come back with a "firmware upgrade" to eliminate the banding / ghosting problems, as well as "a basic kit of two UV / IR filters with diameters of your choice" to counteract the "faulty color rendering." While we aren't sure how long the gurus in Solms will hold your precious M8 captive, we do know the additional filters won't ship until February of next year, and if you're worried about picking up a buggy M8 as of now, Leica has assured us that all units shipping after November 27th will sport the internal upgrades right out of the box.
College student creates paper-based storage system
24-year-old Sainul Abideen thinks he's come up with an alternative to CDs and other data storage options that'll allow for greater storage capacities and be cheaper and biodegradable to boot, using a fancy printing technique he's devised to cram loads of data onto a plain old sheet of paper. The trick is to first convert the data into a so-called "Rainbow Format," which is made up of various geometric shapes that can be densely printed onto a sheet of paper; that can then be read by a computer or other device using a Rainbow Card Reader. From the sound of it, the system appears to be somewhat similar to QR Codes and other newfangled bar code-type technologies currently in use in parts of the world other than here, but Abideen's "Rainbow Versitile Disc" can apparently store far more amounts of data than those -- between 90 and 450GB, according to The Arab News. Demonstrations of the technology, however, seem to have only shown much smaller amounts of data being Rainbowfied, including a 45 second video clip and 432 pages of "foolscrap" being stored on a four-inch square piece of paper. Still pretty darn impressive if you ask us, and it sure looks a heckuva lot better hanging on a wall than a CD.
Hand-built fortune telling robot
every sunday there is a guy with fortune telling robot on the place opposite of the main entrance of russell market in Bangalore. Apparently (the guy does not really speak english) the robot is about 5 years old, was built by someone from ‘down south’ who also supplies the tapes with the fortunes on them. against a small contribution the robot will tell fortunes in one of four 4 different languages through headphones that are attached to its body.
We could not find out more about the function of the clock that is attached to the body of the robot. the owner just told Us that it is a clock and ‘tells the time’ which makes it a truly multi purpose robot: telling both fortune and time)
Humanoid robots capable of performing somersaults and complex martial arts moves were demonstrated at Asia's largest electronics and computing fair in Tokyo on Saturday.
Visitors to CEATEC 2003 (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) met Morph3, a human-like robot about 30-centimetres tall developed by researchers at the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan. It can perform back flips and karate moves thanks to 138 pressure sensors, 30 different onboard motors and 14 computer processors.
Another miniature humanoid robot on display was Fujitsu's HOAP-2. This droid has been programmed to perform moves from the Chinese martial art taijiquan, as well as Japanese Sumo wrestling stances.
HOAP-2 is designed as an aid to robotics research and therefore runs on open source, Linux-based software. Fujitsu believes it will sell between 20 and 30 of the robots to universities and companies in 2004.
But impressive as these high-kicking robots are, Frederic Kaplan, at Sony's robotics laboratory in France, says making more agile robots is not the biggest challenge facing robotics researchers at the moment.
"There are challenges in terms of mechanics still, but the biggest gap would be in intelligence," he told New Scientist. "One of the key things we are looking at now is developmental robotics, where a robot learns."
The Mona Lisa studied in 3D
Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said Tuesday.
The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to peer through hitherto impenetrable paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris.
Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil. "This type of gauze dress ... was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that had never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine," he told a news conference.
"We can now say that this painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted to commemorate the birth of the second son of the Mona Lisa, which helps us to date it more precisely to around 1503."
The young woman with the ambiguous half smile has been identified as Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco de Giocondo. She had five children.
Mottin also said that, contrary to popular belief, the subject had not let her hair hang freely but in fact wore a bonnet from which only a few curls managed to escape.
"People always wrote that the Mona Lisa had allowed her hair to hang freely over her shoulders. This greatly surprised historians because letting your hair hang freely during the Renaissance was typical of young girls and women of poor virtue," he said.
The experts from Canada's National Research Council said the painting was in fragile condition but should not suffer too much damage if taken care of properly.
"The wood panel on which the Mona Lisa is painted is sensitive to temperature and climate variations. However, if its current storage conditions are maintained, there is no risk of degradation," the NRC said in a statement.
"The 12 cm (3-1/2 inch) split on the top half of the painting, which was probably due to the removal of the original frame and repaired between the middle of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century, appears to be stable and has not worsened over time."
The council had hoped to discover more details about Leonardo's "sfumato" technique of subtly blending one tone into another, which the artist used to create a hazy effect. But scientist John Taylor said the team had been frustrated by the lack of brush stroke detail on the painting.
"It's extremely thinly painted and extremely flat, and yet the details of the curls of hair, for example are extremely distinct. So the technique is unlike anything we've ever seen before. Leonardo was in a league of his own," he said.
Close examination of the craquelure -- the fine pattern of cracks formed on old paintings -- showed the paint layers were still firmly attached to the poplar wood panel on which Leonardo created his masterpiece.
"We didn't see any sign of paint lifting. So for a 500-year-old painting it's very good news. And if they continue to keep it the way they have in an environment-controlled chamber, it could remain like that for a very long time," Taylor said.
New Battery Technology Helps Stimulate Nerves
The University of Wisconsin-Madison reports that its researchers have developed a novel organosilicon compound technology that can provide an electrical current for implanted devices for up to 12 years:
Designed to be extraordinarily reliable and work continuously for years, the tiny batteries that power implantables are indispensable in everything from pacemakers to the electronic stimulators that help restore function in the brains of Parkinson's patients.
But lithium batteries don't last forever. New surgery is often required to maintain many devices seeded into the body, or to replace batteries and devices at the end of their lives. Moreover, a new generation of tiny electrical devices to stimulate the nervous system, treat incontinence and overcome muscular impairment is coming on line as scientists and engineers continue to shrink the components that make up the devices.
Central to that ability, according to UW-Madison Professor Emeritus of chemistry Robert West, is new lithium battery technology, technology capable of making batteries smaller, last longer and, soon, accept a charge from outside the body without the need for surgery...
The new organosilicon compounds developed by the Wisconsin chemists, says West, have numerous advantages over traditional lithium battery chemistry.
"They're very flexible. They don't solidify. They're stable, nonflammable, non-toxic and they pose no threat to the environment," says West, an international authority on silicon chemistry. Silicon, the stuff computer chips are made of, is one of the Earth's most abundant elements. Organosilicons are compounds composed of silicon and other natural materials.
In the context of the lithium battery, West's group has been making and testing "designer silicons" that are specially formulated to conduct electricity in a very compact environment. In the lithium battery, charge is maintained as lithium ions flow between the battery's positive and negative electrodes.
"The battery requires something the ions can go through easily. We had to tweak the (organosilicon) molecules to get higher conductivity and stability," says West
Walking Robot Vehicle This has got to be the craziest transportation we’ve reported on at PJ Technology , a ride-able robot. It might be 3 years old but it still looks like a robot from the future.
The robot named R7 was invented by a Korean company who invent and manufacture robots purely for fun, which must be a great company to work for. You can buy the robot walker for $5,250 but don’t be surprised if you got a few strange looks if you take it (or it takes you) to the shops. If you understand Korean you can find more info
here
VisionStation
I soooo need to get one of these for work :) It is called a VisionStation from a company called elumens. It would go nicely alongside my 2x 19“, 1x 23” and 15“ laptop LCD screens. We have a much larger version called FOCAL at work that uses 6 polarised projectors on a large 4m concave screen that looks pretty good but these VisionStations look much more practical to have around the place as FOCAL requires special hardware and a whole room. Imagine using these as video conference facilities or attached to a robot on the other end, the possibilities are endless.
$100 laptops
to debut with kids
The ambitious project to provide low-cost laptop computers to poor children around the world is about to take a small step forward.
More than 500 children in Thailand are expected to receive the machines in October and November for quality testing and debugging.
The One Laptop Per Child program, which began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab and now is a separate nonprofit organization, hopes to deploy 5 million to 7 million machines in Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina in 2007.
Thailand's government is expected to buy 1 million in the first year.
But Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced in a nationwide radio broadcast that "if this project is completed" it would reach all Thai elementary students. He said each student would get a free computer "instead of books, because books will be found and can be read on computers."
The creator of the laptop program, Nicholas Negroponte, has set a goal of making the laptops for about $100 each, though he expects the initial figure to be slightly higher and the long-term cost slightly lower.
The machines will use the free Linux operating system, include flash memory instead of a hard drive and run on electricity created by a hand or foot pump.
China and Egypt have also expressed interest, but at least one country initially expected to take part, India, has decided not to be in the first round.
Walter Bender, a Media Lab founder who serves as One Laptop Per Child's president of software and content, said the organization still is talking with Indian officials and non-governmental agencies.
"While India will not be part of the year-one launch, with 25 percent of the world's children, it is within our mission to work with India down the road," Bender said in an e-mail this week.
MySpace links
up with Google
News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media said Monday it selected Google Inc. as MySpace.com's search system in a multiyear search and advertising deal that also covers some of Fox's other properties.
The deal ends months of speculation about which big search company would serve MySpace's popular online teen hangout.
Shares of both News Corp. and Google rose about 1 percent in after-hours trading.
As part of the deal, Google is expected to pay Fox at least $900 million in revenue share payments based on certain traffic and other commitments promised by Fox. These payments are expected to be made from the first quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2010.
One media analyst applauded the deal.
"It's a small amount of revenue in News Corp. over the last nine months," said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Capital. "However, the organic growth in MySpace, combined with today's deal, sets MySpace up to be an important driver for earnings growth for [the] next several years."
Peter Chernin, chief operating officer of News Corp., said in a statement: "Our partnership with Google underscores News Corp.'s continued evolution to become a powerful force in the digital media marketplace."
"MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world's information universally accessible and useful," Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said in a statement.
Chinese domain name sells for $160,000A sale of Chinese Internet domain names netted more than $160,000 on Friday in what organizers said was the biggest such auction yet in the computer-crazy country.
A pair of sites named for ultra-mobile personal computing (umpc.cn and umpc.com.cn), one of the hottest technologies around, fetched an eye-popping 390,000 yuan ($49,000).
Generic domain names including art.com.cn and book.com.cn sold well above their reserve prices, while caipiao.com -- "caipiao" means lottery ticket in Chinese -- fetched 37,000 yuan.
"I think today was a definite step forward in this market," said Ranger Wang, who organized the auction in a Beijing hotel and was the seller of the "umpc" names.
The prices fetched were far from the giddy sums that change hands in the West. Five of the 12 names up for auction failed to attract a bid. But Wang said the sale total of 1.3 million yuan was, as far as he knew, a record for China.
"Before this, domain name auctions were very small affairs and were never really successful," Wang told Reuters after the auction, beads of sweat still on his brow.
"I haven't had a chance to really do the maths, but I think today's result was quite satisfying," he said.
Not entirely satisfying. "I take it the technology is a bit outdated now?" the auctioneer quipped as his pleas for a bid for dvd.com.cn fell on deaf ears.
Cell phones
won't keep your secrets
The married man's girlfriend sent a text message to his cell phone: His wife was getting suspicious. Perhaps they should cool it for a few days.
"So," she wrote, "I'll talk to u next week."
"You want a break from me? Then fine," he wrote back.
Later, the married man bought a new phone. He sold his old one on eBay, at Internet auction, for $290.
The guys who bought it now know his secret.
The married man had followed the directions in his phone's manual to erase all his information, including lurid exchanges with his lover. But it wasn't enough.
Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information pile up inside our cell phones, and deleting it may be more difficult than you think.
A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet.
A company, Trust Digital of McLean, Virginia, bought 10 different phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for businesses. The phones all were fairly sophisticated models capable of working with corporate e-mail systems.
Curious software experts at Trust Digital resurrected information on nearly all the used phones, including the racy exchanges between guarded lovers.
The other phones contained:
One company's plans to win a multimillion-dollar federal transportation contract.
E-mails about another firm's $50,000 payment for a software license.
Bank accounts and passwords.
Details of prescriptions and receipts for one worker's utility payments.
The recovered information was equal to 27,000 pages -- a stack of printouts 8 feet high.
"We found just a mountain of personal and corporate data," said Nick Magliato, Trust Digital's chief executive.
Many of the phones were owned personally by the sellers but crammed with sensitive corporate information, underscoring the blurring of work and home. "They don't come with a warning label that says, 'Be careful.' The data on these phones is very important," Magliato said.
One phone surrendered the secrets of a chief executive at a small technology company in Silicon Valley. It included details of a pending deal with Adobe Systems Inc., and e-mail proposals from a potential Japanese partner:
"If we want to be exclusive distributor in Japan, what kind of business terms you want?" asked the executive in Japan.
Trust Digital surmised that the U.S. chief executive gave his old phone to a former roommate, who used it briefly then sold it for $400 on eBay. Researchers found e-mails covering different periods for both men, who used the same address until recently.
Experts said giving away an old phone is commonplace. Consumers upgrade their cell phones on average about every 18 months.
"Most people toss their phones after they're done; a lot of them give their old phones to family members or friends," said Miro Kazakoff, a researcher at Compete Inc. of Boston who follows mobile phone sales and trends. He said selling a used phone -- which sometimes can fetch hundreds of dollars -- is increasingly popular.
The 10 phones Trust Digital studied represented popular models from leading manufacturers. All the phones stored information on "flash" memory chips, the same technology found in digital cameras and some music players.
Flash memory is inexpensive and durable. But it is slow to erase information in ways that make it impossible to recover. So manufacturers compensate with methods that erase data less completely but don't make a phone seem sluggish.
Phone manufacturers usually provide instructions for safely deleting a customer's information, but it's not always convenient or easy to find. Research in Motion Ltd. has built into newer Blackberry phones an easy-to-use wipe program.
Palm Inc., which makes the popular Treo phones, puts directions deep within its Web site for what it calls a "zero out reset." It involves holding down three buttons simultaneously while pressing a fourth tiny button on the back of the phone.
But it's so awkward to do that even Palm says it may take two people. A Palm executive, Joe Fabris, said the company made the process deliberately clumsy because it doesn't want customers accidentally erasing their information.
Trust Digital resurrected erased e-mails and other information from a used Treo phone provided by The Associated Press for a demonstration after it was reset and appeared empty. Once the phone was reset using Palm's awkward "zero-out" technique, no information could be recovered. The AP already used that technique to protect data on its reporters' phones.
"The tools are out there" for hackers and thieves to rummage through deleted data on used phones, Trust Digital's chief technology officer, Norm Laudermilch, said. "It definitely does not take a Ph.D."
Fabris, Palm's director of wireless solutions, said the company may warn customers in an upcoming newsletter about the risks of selling their used phones after AP's inquiries. "It might behoove us to raise this issue," Fabris said.
Dean Olmstead of Fresno, California, sold his Treo phone on eBay after using it six months. He didn't know about Palm's instructions to safely delete all his personal information. Now, he's worried.
"I probably should have done that," Olmstead said. "Folks need to know this. I'm hoping my phone goes to a nice person."
Guy Martin of Albuquerque, New Mexico, wasn't as concerned someone will snoop on his secrets. He also sold his Treo phone on eBay and didn't delete his information completely.
"I'm not that kind of valuable person, so I'm not really worried," said Martin, who runs the www.imusteat.com Web site. "I guarantee that three-quarters of the people who buy these phones don't think about this."
Trust Digital found no evidence thieves or corporate spies are routinely buying used phones to mine them for secrets, Magliato said. "I don't think the bad guys have figured this out yet."
President Bush's former cybersecurity adviser, Howard Schmidt, carried up to four phones and e-mail devices -- and said he was always careful with them. To sanitize his older Blackberry devices, Schmidt would deliberately type his password incorrectly 11 times, which caused data on them to self-destruct.
"People are just not aware how much they're exposing themselves," Schmidt said. "This is more than something you pick up and talk on. This is your identity. There are people really looking to exploit this."
Executives at Trust Digital agreed to review with AP the information extracted from the used phones on the condition AP would not identify the sellers or their employers. They also showed AP receipts from the Internet auctions in which they bought the 10 phones over the summer for prices between $192 and $400 each.
Trust Digital said it intends to return all the phones to their original owners, and said it kept the recovered personal information on a single computer under lock and disconnected from its corporate network at its headquarters in northern Virginia.
Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a respected computer security expert, said phone owners should decide whether to auction their used equipment for a few hundred dollars -- and risk revealing their secrets -- or effectively toss their old phones under a large truck to dispose of them.
The U.S. patent system
could be inching closer
to an overhaul long desired by the
technology industry.
Just before departing for their summer recess on Thursday, Utah Republican Orrin Hatch and Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who serve as chairmen of the U.S. Senate's intellectual-property panel, introduced a 45-page bill that proposes a number of changes to the way American patents are awarded and challenged.
"This legislation is not an option, but a necessity," Leahy said.
Called the Patent Reform Act of 2006, the measure followed two years of hearings, meetings and debate, the senators said. It bears a number of similarities to a bill offered last summer by Texas Republican Lamar Smith in the House of Representatives.
Specifically, it would shift to a "first to file" method of awarding patents, which is already used in most foreign countries, instead of the existing "first to invent" standard, which has been criticized as complicated to prove. Such a change has already earned backing from Jon Dudas, chief of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The bill would also establish a "postgrant opposition" system that would allow outsiders to dispute the validity of a patent before a board of administrative judges within the Patent Office, rather than in the traditional court system. The idea behind such a proceeding, also endorsed by the Patent Office, is to stave off excessive litigation.
The Senate version appears to give broader leeway for such challenges, offering up to 12 months--as opposed to the House's nine-month window--after the patent is awarded for challengers to file a "petition for cancellation." That time period could then be widened even further, with a second window available if the petitioner "establishes a substantial reason to believe that the continued existence of the challenged claim causes or is likely to cause the petitioner significant economic harm." Challengers would be limited, however, in the issues they could raise after that first year expires.
In addition, the Hatch-Leahy bill would place new restrictions on the courts where patent cases could be filed--an attempt at rooting out "forum shopping" for districts known for favorable judges. It would also curb the amount of damages for winners of infringement suits. Perhaps most notably, and in a departure from the House version, courts would have to calculate the royalties owed by infringers based solely on the economic value of the "novel and nonobvious features" covered by the disputed patent, not on the value of the product as a whole.
Technology companies have been lobbying hard for putting such a requirement into law, complaining that it's unfair to require massive payouts based on lost profits for an entire product that can contain hundreds of thousands of patented components if only one or two are infringed. Such a system, some argue, has contributed to the rise of "patent trolls"--that is, companies that exist primarily to make money from patent litigation and are using the system to force lucrative settlements.
The Senate's approach won immediate praise from a recently formed group of mostly technology-oriented companies and trade associations, the Coalition for Patent Fairness. Its members include the Business Software Alliance, the Information Technology Industry Council, Apple Computer, Comcast, Dell, Intel, Time Warner, Visa and Microsoft.
The Leahy-Hatch bill "will fix a major problem that is draining our economy," coalition representative Mark Isakowitz said in a statement sent to CNET News.com. Microsoft Vice President Marshall Phelps said the proposal would be critical in "promoting improvements in patent quality, discouraging litigation abuse and bringing U.S. law into accord with established international norms."
The Professional Inventors Alliance, a group representing independent American inventors, blasted the proposal, saying it amounts to a "wish list" for "antipatent, washed-up tech companies" and would water down protections for individual inventors.
Ron Riley, the alliance's president, said in an e-mail interview that "the bill would reward those who can afford to file quickly and often...will tilt the balance of power in favor of well-heeled patent pirates and would greatly lower the ability of inventors to get fair compensation when they are forced to sue disreputable companies."
If the responses to its House counterpart are any indicator, the Senate bill could ruffle feathers because of competing priorities among the technology, drug, biotechnology and other patent-heavy industries. Both Hatch and Leahy emphasized that the bill represents just a first effort.
"I am sure that further refinements will be made to this bill during the legislative process," Hatch said, "so I would encourage those who are either pleased or displeased by any of the aspects of the bill to continue working with us to resolve any outstanding issues."
I.B.M. to Buy Maker of Software That Monitors Equipment I.B.M announced yesterday that it planned to buy MRO Software for $740 million, a move that underlines the increasing importance of software to the company’s big services business.
MRO, based in Bedford, Mass., makes software that companies use to monitor the location and operation of all kinds of equipment, including airplanes, train cars, trucks, automobiles and power plants.
I.B.M. is pursuing a strategy of trying to apply more scientific engineering and technology to its $47 billion-a-year global services group. That means helping to automate services tasks with software to gain efficiency, while improving profits and quality.
“We want a more repeatable, assembly-line approach to delivering services to our customers,” said Kristof Kloeckner, a vice president for strategy and technology in I.B.M.’s software unit.
The MRO purchase, analysts said, represents a step toward that goal.
“This is a needed cornerstone for the success of I.B.M.’s services strategy,” said Rich Ptak, a partner at Ptak, Noel & Associates, a consulting firm.
In recent years, information technology has more and more been built into industrial equipment, which is now often linked to computer networks using Internet standards, sensors and radio frequency identification, or RFID.
As a result, commercial equipment and buildings can be tracked and managed using tools similar to those used to manage computer networks in data centers.
I.B.M.’s services group does run data centers. But increasingly, the group has moved into a higher-profit consulting business like helping corporate customers streamline purchasing, customer service and other operations.
Its consultants and scientists also work with companies to make the best use of their assets, like scheduling for a national fleet of trucks or orchestrating the flow of goods through factories worldwide.
Success in these new businesses requires not only having skilled experts to design new service offerings, but also being able to automate as much work as possible. “You assemble these service solutions with pieces that can be put together, and pieces that embed knowledge — that’s software,” Mr. Kloeckner explained.
Besides helping the services business, the I.B.M. software group will also sell MRO’s asset management software separately to corporate customers. Chip Drapeau, the chief executive of MRO, said that joining I.B.M. would make his company part of “a complete asset management solution on a global scale.” In the fiscal year ended last September, MRO reported a profit of $13.6 million on sales of $199 million.
I.B.M.’s software business, with revenue of $15.8 billion last year, trails only Microsoft in size. The MRO purchase, if approved by shareholders, would be the 37th software company I.B.M. has acquired since 2001. Nearly all the acquisitions have been to push I.B.M.’s software business beyond its traditional strength in mainframe programs.
On Wednesday, I.B.M. bought a small private software company, Webify Solutions, whose technology enables different corporate software applications to communicate and share data.
I.B.M. is offering $25.80 a share in cash for MRO. After the bid, MRO’s stock price rose nearly 18 percent, to $25.46 a share, up $3.86 for the day.
I.B.M. shares added 1 cent, to close at $76.33 a share.
C o m i n g s o o n !!mind-reading computersLONDON, England (Reuters) -- A raised eyebrow, quizzical look or a nod of the head are just a few of the facial expressions computers could soon be using to read people's minds.
An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent underlying feelings.
"The system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone," said Professor Peter Robinson of Cambridge University in England.
He and his collaborators believe the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods.
"Imagine a computer that could pick the right emotional moment to try to sell you something, a future where mobile phones, cars and Web sites could read our mind and react to our moods," he added.
The technology is already programmed to recognize 24 facial expressions generated by actors. Robinson hopes to get more data from the public to determine whether someone is bored, interested, confused, or agrees or disagrees when it is unveiled at a science exhibition in London on Monday, July 3.
People visiting the four-day exhibition organized by the Royal Society, Britain's academy of leading scientists, will be invited to take part in a study to hone the program's abilities.
The scientists, who are developing the technology in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, also hope to get it to accept other inputs such as posture and gesture.
"Our research could enable Web sites to tailor advertising or products to your mood," Robinson told Reuters. "For example, a Webcam linked with our software could process your image, encode the correct emotional state and transmit information to a Web site."
It could also be useful in online teaching to show whether someone understands what is being explained and in improving road safety by determining whether a driver is confused, bored or tired.
"We are working with a big car company and they envision this being employed in cars within five years," Robinson said, adding that a camera could be built into the dashboard.
Anyone who does not want to give away too much information about what they are feeling, he said, can just cover up the camera.
Seeing is believing --
device helps the blind readDALLAS, Texas (AP) -- A whole new world opened up for Tommy Craig as he tested a new handheld device for the blind that converts print to audio.
Craig was able to "read" everything from menus to cooking directions by positioning the reader over print and taking a picture. In seconds, the device's synthetic voice read the printed message to him.
"The reader provides access to materials that a lot of times you just didn't read," said Craig, 51, of Austin, Texas, who was one of about 500 blind people who tested the device over the past few months. "It certainly makes you more independent."
The National Federation of the Blind plans to put the device on sale Saturday, when its annual meeting gets under way in Dallas.
"It's not quite like having a pair of eyes that work, but it's headed in that direction," said James Gashel, executive director for strategic initiatives at the Maryland-based National Federation of the Blind.
The device, combining a personal digital assistant and a digital camera, was developed by inventor Ray Kurzweil and the membership organization of more than 50,000 blind people. It's been dubbed the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader.
"This is really the hottest new technology to be developed for blind people in the last 30 years," said Gashel, who calls it "the camera that talks."
About three decades ago, Kurzweil invented the first device that could convert text into audio. It was about the size of a washing machine. That gave way to software that could be used by a computer and scanner to perform the same function. The latest device, about the size of a paperback book, introduces portability.
"It's always been considered desirable to have a reading machine that a blind person could carry along with them," Kurzweil said. "We're getting phenomenal feedback."
There are about 10 million blind and visually impaired people nationwide, and that number is expected to double in the next 30 years as baby boomers age.
The device also can be useful for those who have limited vision, said Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind.
The federation expects that the reader, which costs about $3,500, will be a big hit among the 3,000 participants at the annual meeting. It will be sold though Massachusetts-based Kurzweil Education Systems Inc. and will be available on the Internet and in stores.
People who have tested the reader said they enjoy being able to read text they couldn't before.
Maurer also points out another advantage: "Sometimes you get something that you want to read that you don't want anyone else to read
China steps up controls on blogsBEIJING, China (AP) -- China is tightening controls on blogs and search engines to block material deemed subversive or immoral, the government said Friday.
The announcement comes amid a media crackdown by President Hu Jintao's government, with Web sites being shut down and journalists jailed.
"As more and more illegal and unhealthy information spreads through the blog and search engine, we will take effective measures to put the BBS, blog and search engine under control," said Cai Wu, director of the Information Office of China's Cabinet, quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency.
China encourages Internet use for business and education, but tries to block access to material deemed obscene or politically dangerous.
It has the world's second-biggest Internet user population after the United States, with 111 million people online.
China launched a campaign in February to "purify the environment" of the Internet and mobile communications, Xinhua said.
The government will step up research on monitoring technology and issue "admittance standards" for blogs, the report said, without giving details.
China has 37 million Web logs, or blogs, Xinhua said, citing a study by Beijing's Tsinghua University.
It said that was expected to nearly double this year to 60 million.
The government tries to block Internet users from foreign Web sites of human rights groups and political activists, but many have found ways to evade the controls.
Authorities also have launched repeated crackdowns on Web sites that with sexual material, shutting down hundreds of sites and arresting scores of people.
Activists have criticized foreign Internet firms including Yahoo! Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for cooperating with China's censorship efforts.
The companies say they are obliged to comply with Chinese law if they operate in the country.
In December, Microsoft's U.S.-based Web log-hosting service shut down a Chinese customer's blog at Beijing's request after it discussed politically sensitive issues.
Break Notepad for Fun!!Here’s a really funny way to break Notepad that a coworker showed me this morning. I bet this is one of those jokes that’s been around for ages, but this was the first I ever heard of it, so it’s new to me.
This actually works. It will not crash your computer, it just breaks Notepad in that it causes it to display very oddly. No perm damage comes of the following steps.Here’s how to do it:1. Open up Notepad (not Wordpad, not Word or any other word processor)2. Type in this sentence exactly (without quotes): “this app can break”3. Save the file to your hard drive.4. Close Notepad5. Open the saved file by double clicking it.Instead of seeing your sentence, you should see a series of squares. For whatever reason, Notepad can’t figure out what to do with that series of characters and breaks
Again, it doesn’t crash the app or anything, it’s just a funny little twise of fate/unintended feature
VA laptop recoveredFBI says data not accessedWASHINGTON (AP) -- The government has recovered a stolen laptop computer and hard drive with sensitive data on up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel.
The FBI said Thursday there is no evidence that anyone accessed Social Security numbers and other data on the equipment.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, in announcing the recovery of the computer, said there have been no reports of identity theft stemming from the May 3 burglary at a VA employee's Maryland home.
The FBI, in a statement from its Baltimore field office, said a preliminary review of the equipment by its computer forensic teams "has determined that the data base remains intact and has not been accessed since it was stolen." More tests were planned, however.
Nicholson said the laptop and hard drive were turned in to the FBI. No suspects were in custody.
"This has brought to the light of day some real deficiencies in the manner we handled personal data," Nicholson said. "If there's a redeeming part of this, I think we can turn this around," he said.
An unidentified person turned the laptop in Wednesday to FBI agents in Baltimore, according Michelle Crnkovich, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore FBI field office.
Agents there conducted the initial forensic examination and were sending the laptop to the FBI in Washington for further tests, Crnkovich said.
Crnkovich said the tipster who turned in the laptop has not been charged and likely was not the thief. She said the FBI still believes the laptop was taken in a routine burglary and that the VA data was not the target. She did not know if the tipster was eligible for the $50,000 reward offered for information on the laptop's whereabouts.
Nicholson urged veterans to keep watch over their financial records until more tests are completed in the coming days. The VA's offer of free credit monitoring for a year is still in effect until subsequent tests are completed, he said.
Newly discovered documents show that the VA analyst blamed for losing the laptop had received permission to work from home with data that included millions of Social Security numbers and other personal information on veterans and military personnel.
Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Indiana, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, which was investigating the breach, said he was pleased that veterans may now be able to "breathe a sigh of relief."
"However, this will not diminish our oversight," he said. "We will hold the VA responsible and accountable."
Orange launches mobile e-mail serviceOrange, the mobile operator owned by France Telecom, unveiled on Friday a mobile e-mail service that it hopes will win over the small and midsized business market. The push e-mail system, called Orange Mail Enterprise Service, will be based on France Telecom's proprietary technology and will go on sale across Orange's European networks starting Friday. Poland, Spain and the U.K. will be the last to get the service in early 2007.
Some analysts were surprised that the U.K. is among the last group.
"Arguably, outside of the U.S., solutions like the BlackBerry have been most successful in the U.K. I would have expected them to be a bit more even-handed," Rob Bamford, an analyst at Quocirca.
An Orange representative said the operator is only considering the countries that need the service the most.
"The Orange Mail solution has been developed to suit a range of diverse markets, and this is a phased rollout schedule based on local markets where the need is greatest," the representative said.
Orange already sells mobile e-mail products from Microsoft and Research In Motion.
According to Orange, only about 10 percent of small and midsized businesses already have mobile e-mail.
Microsoft said Friday that a federal judge has thrown out an antitrust suit brought against the company by the founder of the now defunct pen-computing firm Go Computing. In an opinion filed Thursday, Maryland District Court Judge J. Frederick Motz granted Microsoft's motion to dismiss Go founder S. Jerrold Kaplan's suit, which was filed in June 2005. Motz did allow Kaplan the option of filing a new suit based on any damages that may have occurred within four years prior to the filing of such a suit.
In a statement, Microsoft deputy general counsel Tom Burt praised the court's decision, noting that Kaplan's claims date back nearly 20 years.
"This case should never have been brought against Microsoft, and we're pleased it has been dismissed by the court at this early stage," Burt said.
Kaplan's suit claimed that Microsoft violated antitrust laws by trying to thwart Go's attempt to enter the PC operating system market. The lawsuit also claimed that Microsoft stole Go technology, that software giant threatened Intel, which had invested in Go, and that it used "incentives and threats" to coerce Compaq Computer, Fujitsu, Toshiba and other computer makers not to use Go's operating system.
A California state claim by Go remains, though Microsoft said Friday it plans to file a similar motion for dismissal in that case sometime in the near future.
Microsoft, which has settled antitrust complaints with a host of competitors, said the Go matter is one of only two competitor class-action cases still pending. The other case is with Novell regarding claims related to WordPerfect.
New technology probes ancient manuscript ATHENS, Greece - The burnt remains of a 2,400-year-old scroll buried with an ancient Greek nobleman may help unlock the secrets of early monotheistic religion — using new digital technology.
A team of U.S., British and Greek experts is working on a new reading of the enigmatic Derveni papyrus, a philosophical treatise on ancient faith that is Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.
More than four decades after the papyrus was found in a grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text from the blackened fragments left after the scroll was burned on its owner's funeral pyre.
Large sections of the mid-4th century B.C. document — a philosophical treatise on religion written in ancient Greek — were read by scholars years ago.
But now, archaeologist Polyxeni Veleni believes U.S. imaging and scanning techniques used to decipher the Judas Gospel — which portrays Judas not as a sinister betrayer but as Jesus' confidant — will considerably expand and clarify that text.
"I believe some 10-20 percent of new text will be added, which however will be of crucial importance," said Veleni, director of the Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum, where the manuscript is kept.
"This will fill in many gaps. We will get a better understanding of the sequence and the existing text will become more complete," Veleni told The Associated Press.
The scroll, originally several yards of papyrus rolled around two wooden runners, was found in 1962. It dates to around 340 B.C., during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great.
"It is the oldest surviving book, if you can use that word for a scroll, in Western tradition," Veleni said. "This was a unique find, of exceptional importance."
Greek philosophy expert Apostolos Pierris said the text may be a century older.
"It was probably written by somebody from the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras, in the second half of the 5th century B.C.," he said.
Anaxagoras, who lived in ancient Athens, is thought to have been the teacher of Socrates and was accused by his contemporaries of atheism.
Last month, experts from Brigham Young University in Utah used multi-spectral digital analysis to create enhanced pictures of the text, which will be studied by Oxford University papyrologist Dirk Obbink and Pierris, and published by the end of 2007.
A separate, Greek team is also working to produce a new edition by the end of 2006.
"We were now able to read even the most carbonized sections, as there were pieces that were completely blackened and nobody could make out whether there were letters on them," Veleni said.
The manuscript was thrown onto the funeral pyre that consumed its owner, and laid with his ashes in the grave.
"The fire actually saved it, as the papyrus would have been rotted away by damp if not burned," Greek papyrologist expert George Karamanolis said.
The book contains a philosophical treatise on a lost poem describing the birth of the gods and other beliefs focusing on Orpheus, the mythical musician who visited the underworld to reclaim his dead love and enjoyed a strong cult following in the ancient world.
Ancient legends tell how Orpheus, who could charm wild beasts with his lyre, met a brutal end at the hands of an outraged band of Thracian women who resented his fidelity to his lost sweetheart, Eurydice, and tore him to shreds and threw the remains into a river.
The Orpheus cult revolved around the soul's fate after death. It raised the notion of a single creator god — as opposed to the multitude of deities the ancient Greeks believed in — and influenced later monotheistic faiths.
"In a way, it was a precursor of Christianity," Pierris said. "Orphism believed that man's salvation depended on his knowledge of the truth."
Veleni said the manuscript "will help show the influence of Orphism on later monotheistic religions."
The scroll's remains — about 200 charred scraps — are currently kept in the museum's storerooms, sandwiched between glass panels.
The Derveni grave, about five miles northwest of Thessaloniki, was part of a rich cemetery belonging to the ancient city of Lete.
"It belonged to a very rich man, a Macedonian nobleman, warrior and athlete who had a lot of very important and valuable artifacts in his grave," Veleni said. Finds included metal vases, a gold wreath and weapons.
Can TV's and PC's Live Together Happily Ever After? HOLY Grails, swirling myths and big lies seem to be in the air these days — and we're not just talking about a certain heavily publicized movie opening this week that is based on a certain megaselling novel. Rather, consider the much-ballyhooed convergence between television and personal computers (a k a the grail), which seems to edge ever closer with every week.
Slowly but surely, it seems that TV programs and movies are finding their way onto the Internet through a growing array of distribution outlets.
Just in the last few weeks, for example, Warner Brothers announced it would make hundreds of its hit films and shows available this summer for paid download via the file-sharing site BitTorrent; Fox Entertainment has joined the other major networks on iTunes with downloadable episodes of "24" and "Prison Break"; TiVo announced a deal with the Web video outfit Brightcove that intends to give people with TiVo boxes access to Internet fare on their TV sets; and ABC and CBS have begun streaming replays of some of their most popular shows on their Web sites, offering a new advertising-supported way to tune in.
Even though no one seems to be making much money yet on these ventures and there are still chewy legal and rights issues to sort out, there is palpable excitement — a sense that the TV and movie industries are going to head off the pirates and file-sharing teens by making their products widely available online in legal ways.
In doing so, it seems the ultimate no-brainer that anyone with a fancy TV monitor and a broadband Internet connection will next be able to pluck their favorite TV programs and movies off the Web (and eventually choose to disconnect their cable or satellite provider, or, as I've written previously, at least force the cable operators to offer smaller and more appealing packages of channels).
Now, this is the kind of convergence that people could really get behind — it makes a whole lot more sense than some of the "benefits" promised earlier, like surfing Web sites on a 60-inch plasma screen or answering e-mail messages while sitting in the La-Z-Boy. All the elements are falling into place: sales of high-definition TV's that can also be used as computer monitors are soaring — they are already in 19 percent of American homes — and, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, sales of digital sets will surpass the sale of analog sets this year for the first time. Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of households in the United States have signed up for high-speed connections, and the number continues to rise.
The consumer electronics industry and technology giants like Microsoft and Intel are working double-time to concoct the next generation of gadgets that will bridge the gap between computers and televisions. Some companies, among them Apple, Hewlett-Packard and Cisc Systems, already have products that make watching Web video on TV possible, though they are cumbersome to use.
Sharp announced last month that it would soon introduce an LCD-screen TV for the Japanese market that will let viewers watch high-definition television, use the remote control to surf the Internet, and store data and TV programs on a built-in hard drive. (One studio executive said he expected these machines would be the rage by this time next year, and that Apple is believed to have the most promising version in development.)
But here is the swirling myth — or is it The Big Lie? — about convergence: It's not as close as all of that activity suggests. For various reasons, watching TV programs delivered by the Internet on regular TV looks like it will remain tantalizingly out of reach for all but the most enthusiastic gadget junkies for some time.
The point of all these new video-content deals being struck by networks and studios is, of course, to avoid making the mistakes of the music industry, which focused too much on rear-guard actions like lawsuits and not enough on figuring out new ways to give the fans what they wanted.
The music analogy only goes so far, however. The way music is promoted and sold and listened to bears scant resemblance to TV and video products. Ventures like the one announced by Warner and the big networks are not really an alternative way of receiving conventional TV, but rather an alternative to buying or renting DVD's coupled with an intriguing new market opportunity to reach viewers on their desktop or mobile devices.
David G. Sanderson, who heads the media consulting practice at Bain & Company, offers four reasons most people won't be downloading their favorite shows onto their TV's any time soon: limitations in broadband infrastructure, the degree of readiness among electronics makers to provide a product with mass appeal, the behavior of consumers and the agenda of the players in the TV ecosystem.
"If you started from scratch, you'd do it differently," Mr. Sanderson said of the fitful process of making television shows available on the Internet. "But we have an entrenched structure in how programming is brought to consumers."
Mr. Sanderson's first two points — basically whether the Internet-based network and devices are ready for prime-time — are where most of the action is and where things could change if businesses keep investing and innovating. Still, for now, there are logjams associated with delivering large quantities of video over the Web and the unresolved "net neutrality" debate over whether heavy users should pay more to telecommunications carriers for the large amount of bandwidth they use.
His second two points — about consumer behavior and the entrenched players — are actually more complex. The consumer question boils down to whether enough people want to give up access to the dozens or hundreds of channels they pay for through their cable providers to buy programs over the Internet. And that is closely related to his point about the industry structure, which is a function of the willingness of cable networks to risk giving up their guaranteed monthly subscription fees in favor of a free-wheeling Internet alternative.
"The reality is that I don't think you're going to see the current cable offering — hundreds of linear channels — replicated on the Internet," Glenn A. Britt, the chief executive of Time Warner Cable, told me recently. "One reason is the Internet isn't physically capable of handling that volume, but obviously, with a lot of money and time, that can be alleviated. But the second thing is that we actually provide a very important economic function in the TV distribution chain."
CABLE networks are not about to jeopardize the millions they receive from guaranteed subscription fees each month — and it is probably no coincidence that the versions of TV programs sold through iTunes or Google Video are inferior in picture quality to what is offered by cable companies (while the growing popularity of high-definition TV shows that viewers want higher quality). Even Sharp's new Japanese TV, the Internet Aquos, only accesses online video material from a closed-circuit service, and displays it at inferior quality.
Mr. Britt said his industry was not ignoring the enormous amount of effort being poured into providing alternative ways to get video material delivered to the TV set. But, as he put it, "it's very complicated to set up unless you have a 13-year-old son."
Those seeking true convergence may have to keep the faith for a while yet. On the other hand, those seeking grails don't tend to give up easily.
Sprint to Sell the Treo 700p By End of May Sprint plans to start selling Palm's newly announced Treo 700p--the first Palm OS-based Treo to run on fast EvDO networks--by the end of the month, along with data service plans for the device's use as an Internet-connected handheld, a high-speed wireless modem, or both.
While the nominal price for Palm's first EvDO-enabled cell phone/personal digital assistant hybrid based on the Palm operating system is $650, Sprint will offer it for $550 with a one-year service plan or $500 with a two-year plan. (However, those who purchase a two-year plan will also receive a service credit for $100 at the time of activation.)
Similar discounts are available for current customers who are eligible for phone upgrades, Sprint spokesperson Amy Schiska-Lombard says.
(Verizon Wireless will also sell the Treo 700p within "the next few weeks," according to a spokesperson, but pricing and data plan details were not available.)Support for Power Vision Apps
Schiska-Lombard says that to use the Treo 700p for EvDO data access, customers must purchase one of Sprint's Power Vision plans, which start at $15 a month (on top of a voice plan) for unlimited Web and data access, plus limited TV and Sirius radio service.
The monthly charge rises to $20 with unlimited Picture Mail and additional TV channels, and $25 with the addition of even more premium TV channels. Text messaging is not included.
Sprint also lets you use the 700p as a wireless modem that connects to a laptop or other PC via either Bluetooth or a USB cable, but to do this you must get a Sprint phone-as-modem plan. These are priced at either $40 a month for up to 40MB of data (sent or received) or $50 a month for unlimited data access; however, Sprint is currently offering unlimited data access for $40 a month if you commit to a two-year contract and have a PCS voice plan.
Note that Sprint has a similar promotional offer for unlimited data access via an EvDO PC Card: $60 a month with a two-year contract. However, you don't have to get a voice plan with a PC Card.GoodLink Bundles Offered
For business customers, Sprint will also offer data packages for Good Technology's GoodLink, a popular service that allows BlackBerry-like access on handhelds to Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, or other corporate mail systems.
These GoodLink bundles, available for $40 a month for up to 5MB of data and $50 for unlimited data, also include phone-as-modem service (for the amount of data in the bundle) and Web access. And as with the phone-as-modem plans, Sprint has a promotional offer in effect: unlimited data access for $40 a month with a two-year contract and a PCS voice plan.
However, the text messaging and Power Vision applications such as TV and Picture Mail are not included in the GoodLink bundles and must be purchased separately.
Sony to Unveil First Blu-Ray Laptop Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). will release the first laptop capable of playing, editing and recording next-generation, high-definition videos in the Blu-ray DVD format.
Sony, which led the development of the Blu-ray format, said Tuesday the new VAIO AR Premium model will be available this summer for $3,500. Besides the Blu-ray DVD drive, the entertainment-oriented notebook computer features a 17-inch display, an integrated TV tuner, and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center Edition operating system.
Blu-ray is one of two competing high-definition DVD formats that displays video in 1080p — the sharpest in high-definition quality.
The other next-generation format is HD DVD. Toshiba Corp., one of the HD DVD format's main developers, last week introduced the first laptop to play HD DVD discs. But unlike the Sony laptop, the $3,000 Toshiba laptop's HD DVD drive cannot record or edit in high-definition.
Sony's new laptop will be among a number of other Blu-ray compatible products Sony plans to begin selling later this year.
Adding to a growing crop of ultracompact notebooks in the computer industry, Sony also will introduce Tuesday a laptop that weighs 1.2 pounds and is roughly the size of a 4x6 photo print but is 1.5-inch thick.
The VAIO UX Micro PC features the Windows XP operating system, a 4.5-inch screen, a slide-out keyboard, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technologies, and built-in cameras. It will be available in July at $1,800, Sony said.
New .tel Domain Is Approved LONDON-- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved a new top-level domain with the suffix.tel, awarding a contract to Telnic Ltd., an Internet communications company based in London.
ICANN's board of directors made the decision last Tuesday, said Andrew Robertson, spokesperson for ICANN in London, but the decision received little notice at the time because of the clamor over ICANN's rejection at the same meeting of the.xxx domain name.
The.tel top-level domain will probably go into effect in 2007, according to Benjamin Blumenthal, Telnic marketing director. Telnic will announce registration details in the coming weeks on its Web site.
A "sunrise" period will allow public bodies and business trademark holders with prior rights to register their domains; this will be followed by a "land rush" period during which registration is open to all, Blumenthal said.
Telnic has a ten-year contract with ICANN, Blumenthal said. The fee paid by Telnic to ICANN will depend on the number of.tel registrations and on the wholesale registration price, he said.Fee Not Revealed
The.tel domain name will be available through registrars and resellers, Blumenthal said. Telnic did not specify the fee on Monday, though Blumenthal said that it would be competitive with the market.
Telnic, which applied for the domain in October 2000, says that it envisions creating a universal text and navigation system for contact information over the Internet. Mobile device users could communicate and access the services of organizations or individuals with.tel domain names.
In its application to ICANN, Telnic said the traditional numbering system has reached a threshold, and the new domain will aid migration to a communications network based on IP (Internet Protocol). The.tel domain will serve as a unified location for finding contact information and for fostering converged fixed-line and wireless services, Telnic said.
Another applicant for the new domain, NetNumber Inc., of Lowell, Massachusetts, withdrew its application from ICANN.
On its Web site, Telnic offered the example of how the new domain could aid someone trying to reach the Hertz car rental service. A user would type Hertz.tel on a mobile phone and be connected to a customer service representative for the local area.
Private individuals could list contact information such as their VoIP (Voice over IP) dialing details or their instant messaging name, Telnic said.
Yahoo Inc. to Overhaul Home Page Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news)'s Web site is unveiling a new look Tuesday as the Internet powerhouse strives to remain the world's most popular online destination and strengthen its advertising appeal.
The overhaul marks the first facelift to Yahoo's home page since September 2004.
The redesigned page, initially available in the United States and Europe at http://www.yahoo.com/preview, includes more interactive features that reduce the need to click through to other pages to review the weather, check e-mail, listen to music or monitor local traffic conditions.
Another addition, called "Yahoo Pulse," offers recommendations and insights about cultural trends culled from the Web site's 402 million users worldwide.
Yahoo is making the upgrade as it battles for traffic with longtime rivals MSN, AOL and Google Inc. while also trying to fend off an intensifying threat posed by the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace.com.
"Our goal is to have the best page on the Internet," said Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's chief operating officer. "We feel like this (redesign) does something great for everybody."
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo regards the latest changes as the most dramatic renovations made to its front page since the site's 1994 debut as a bare-bones directory developed by Stanford University students Jerry Yang and David Filo.
The new look is long overdue, said Jupiter Research analyst David Card. "The site was getting pretty long in the tooth and looking pretty old fashioned," he said. "Now, it looks clean, crisp and modern."
Even so, Card believes Yahoo's upgrades won't impress younger, cutting-edge Web surfers who are spending an increasing amount of time hanging out at MySpace.com. "They didn't really push the envelope very hard."
The most notable changes will allow Yahoo users to pull down interactive menus giving them snapshots of weather, traffic and movie information as well as providing instant access to the site's popular e-mail, instant messaging and music services.
Like other widely visited Web sites, Yahoo must balance its desire to keep pace with the Internet's constantly shifting trends with the recognition that changing things too dramatically might alienate a large number of users comfortable with the status quo.
Yahoo settled on the final redesign, code-named "Spirit," after months of testing with selected users. As another precaution, the new look won't show up as the default page of Yahoo.com for several more months.
"Any time you touch the most visited page on the Internet, it's going to feel like a big change and we think this is a really big change," Rosensweig said.
Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, the two most visited Web sites after Yahoo, also have tweaked their looks during the past year.
Although Google still provides a page featuring little else than its Internet-leading search engine, it also offers an option that enables users to customize the home page to suit their personal tastes.
In April, Yahoo led the pack with 105.4 million unique U.S. visitors, an 11 percent increase from last year, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. MSN ranked second with 92.8 million visitors, a 6 percent increase from last year, followed closed by Google, whose traffic surged 27 percent during the past year to 92.1 million. AOL's traffic remained flat at 70.4 million, Nielsen/NetRatings said.
Meanwhile, MySpace's traffic — consisting mostly of teens and young adults — has more than quadrupled during the past year to 38.4 million U.S. visitors. What's more, MySpace's visitors viewed a total of 19 billion pages on the site in April, surpassing Google (11.9 billion pages), MSN (11.5 billion pages) and AOL (6.8 billion pages).
Yahoo remains the Web's most viewed site, serving up 31.2 billion pages in April, but some analysts believe MySpace's rapid growth foreshadows a changing of the guard.
"The bar keeps getting raised," said Gartner Inc. analyst Mike McGuire. "I think you are going to see constant tweaking because of sites like MySpace."
Remaining the most trafficked and viewed Web site is important to Yahoo because those measures are critical to the advertisers that provide the company with most of its profits.
As it is, Yahoo's earnings haven't been growing rapidly as Google's — a factor that has weighed on Yahoo's stock price, which has dropped by 21 percent so far this year. Meanwhile, Google's stock price has declined by 9 percent.
Yahoo's shares gained 22 cents to close Monday at $31.03 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, where Google's shares rose $2.07 to finish at $376.20.
PlayStation 3 rethinks card games Sony is re-imagining the way we play old-fashioned card games with one title for the forthcoming PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console.
Called The Eye of Judgement, the game uses real cards which, thanks to a camera on the console, come to life as mythical creatures on screen.
Sony demonstrated the game at last week's E3 games expo in Los Angeles.
The game forms part of the line-up of titles for the new console which is due to go on sale in November.
Strategic decisions
The Eye of Judgement takes the idea of top trumps into the world of augmented reality.
It uses physical cards which are placed in turn by players on a three-by-three grid.
A camera attached to the PS3 reads a hidden code on the cards to produce a character or monster on screen, each one of which has its own special powers.
The aim of the game is to take control of the board, using the monsters to win over an enemy square.
"In traditional card games, this battle took place in a player's mind. It was not very visual," said Kazuhito Miyaki, executive producer of the game.
"With this card game, what used to take place in a player's mind is visualised."
Each of the entities on the cards has special offensive or defensive powers, forcing players to think strategically about which one they use.
"It has very simple rules," said Mr Miyaki. "By using different cards, the game itself is very deep."
Players will be able to play against the computer or against each other over the internet.
Work in progress
The prototype of the game was unveiled at E3, where Sony presented a raft of games for its forthcoming PS3.
The console is due out in November, costing $499 (499 euros) for the basic model and $599 (599 euros) for a fully featured system.
The team at Sony's Japan Studios are still working out details of the game, such as how the online element will work and how to stop players cheating.
The Eye of Judgement was one of the more unusual titles for the PS3 on show at E3, but some are unsure about whether it will appeal to gamers.
"The question is whether it will translate well to the home," said Margaret Robertson, editor of games magazine Edge.
"I am not sure about a strategy game based on a three-by-three grid."
Fake chip research shocks China A top Chinese academic has been fired after it emerged he faked research into computer chips that aimed at ending the nation's reliance on foreign suppliers.
Chinese officials would not say if Chen Jin, the former head of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Microelectronics School, will face criminal charges.
The scandal comes as China tries to boost its home-grown technologies.
According to reports, Mr Chen used chips made by another firm to fool university and government inspectors.
Fixing the figures
China's Xinhua state news agency said that the Hanxin digital signal processing chips were not based on research carried out by Mr Chen.
Nor could the chips carry out the functions, such as reading fingerprints or playing MP3 files, that they were supposed to, it reported.
Mr Chen would now have to pay back state funding, Xinhua quoted the Science and Technology Ministry, and the State Development and Reform Commission as saying.
The Financial Times estimated that Mr Chen and his team had received funding worth some 114m yuan (£7.5m).
China has increased investment in research because it wants to produce its own commercial technologies rather than buy them in from abroad.
It has laid out long-term plans to boost spending in a number of areas including genetics, nuclear power and agriculture.
Wait and see
Mr Chen's work on chips was seen as a shining example of what could be possible when academia mixed with business. He also was general manager of Hanxin Sci-Tec, the company that produced the computer chips.
However, an investigation was launched after authorities received a letter questioning the validity of Mr Chen's work.
Mr Chen has now been banned from conducting further state-funded research.
"If there is a criminal investigation we will announce it," a spokesman from the Shanghai city government's news office told the Agence France Presse news agency. "But as of now, there's no such information."
Humanoid robots
