A San Francisco teenager has invented a gadget that turns iPods into miniature radio stations, broadcasting beats to nearby devices. The system, called NoeStringsAttached, uses FM radio waves to transmit music from a portable music player to any other specially equipped player within 15 feet.
Source: Rachel Ross, Technology Review, March 26, 2007
iPods help docs improve stethoscope skills
After demonstrating last year that medical students greatly improved their stethoscope skills by listening repeatedly to heart sounds on their iPods, lead investigator Michael Barrett, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and cardiologist at Temple University School of Medicine and Hospital, set out to test the technique on practicing physicians.
Source: Eryn Jelesiewicz, Temple University, Pennsylvania, March 14, 2007
A £1.1m, two-year research project aims to develop technologies to allow divers and machines to communicate wirelessly underwater. The Department of Trade and Industry has part-funded a Scottish consortium to the tune of £560,000 to develop equipment that can transmit data wirelessly underwater and enable divers to talk to each other without having to resort to hand signals.
Source: Julian Goldsmith, silicon.com, March 26, 2007
IPv6 to power the ‘city of the future’
The city of Harrisonburg, Virginia, will experience a wide variety of new Internet-based services, such as mobile-phone commerce and clear Internet video, with the rollout of citywide IPv6, people working with the city said Wednesday. Harrisonburg, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southwest of Washington, D.C., will become the first U.S. city to have a citywide IPv6 network in the third quarter of the year
Source: Grant Gross, IDG News Service, March 28, 2007
With desktop camera, your face can be your password
A Canadian company on Wednesday announced a new camera that functions as both a Webcam and a security system that scans a face in three dimensions. Toronto-based Bioscrypt claims an industry first with its 3D DeskCam. The 3-inch tall, half-inch wide camera uses infrared along with a lens to scan a face in three dimensions and authenticate users accessing computers, the company said.
Source: Joris Evers, CNET News.com, March 28, 2007
French Politics in 3-D on Fantasy Web Site
All four major candidates in France’s presidential election have opened virtual headquarters in Second Life, an interactive forum that allows inhabitants — called avatars — to engage in debates, attend political rallies and take part in protests in a multidimensional world that makes traditional campaign Web sites seem quaint and antiquated. “The emergence of political headquarters represents the next generation of Internet-based political campaigning,” said Wagner James Au, a Second Life blogger.
Source: Molly Moore, Washington Post, March 30, 2007
Thames becomes giant Wi-Fi hot spot
The River Thames in London has been turned into a giant Wi-Fi hot spot that can be used by anyone with a wireless device on the river or along its banks. The wireless broadband Internet access stretches for 22 kilometers along the Thames, from the Millennium Dome out in Greenwich up to Millbank by the Houses of Parliament, and it will be extended further over the next two months.
Source: Andy McCue, CNET News.com, March 29, 2007
IBM developing wiki how-to tool
IBM’s Almaden Research Lab is developing a Wikipedia-like tool for how-to knowledge that would help people automate repetitive tasks performed on the Web, such as filling out forms or paying bills. Tessa Lau, a developer at the San Jose, Calif.-based lab, demonstrated the technology called Koala at ETech, a four-day conference on emerging technology running here this week. IBM’s been developing Koala, a Firefox Web browser plug-in, over the last year. The lab has yet to release it widely to the public.
Source: Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com, March 29, 2007
