Gizmost wanted

Gizmost wanted

  10:08:00 AM    Science Lover

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Intelligent champagne bottles, ‘green’ USB sticks made of corn, an understanding alarm clock, and a robot on wheels led the parade of fun, futuristic gadgets at the world’s biggest technology fair, CeBIT, in Germany

As the high-tech sector tries to buck the global economic slump, inventors from Asia, the US and Europe vied to capture imaginations at CeBIT - the world’s biggest annual hi-tech fair – with ideas to ignite the market in the coming months and years.

The expo runs until Sunday.

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SMART LIVING

Researchers at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence, which works closely with several industries, was showing off a range of everyday objects rendered “smart”.

Its cutting-edge champagne bottles sound a bell when the bubbly has hit the perfect quaffing temperature, while an intelligent medicine cabinet lets you know when you last took your medication or need to get a prescription filled.

A so-called gentle alarm clock from Germany’s Simple Feature monitors sleep rhythms via a soft wristband fitted with sensors (pictured).

It then chooses a shallow sleep phase within 30 minutes of the desired wake-up time and goes off with a range of alarm tones including bird songs – encouraging what the firm says is a smoother start to a more productive day.

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EASY NAVIGATION

A new navigator developed by GPS device manufacturer Garmin can calculate not only the most direct route, or the one with the least traffic, but also the one that would use the least fuel. What’s more, it even adds up the money you will save on your journey!

“The EcoChallenge feature analyses the driver’s heavy or light-food pedal technique and braking as well as the car speed, and shows how well the driver is doing in the fuel-saving stakes,” the company said.

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LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU

Innovations in the world of entertainment also drew the crowds.

Taiwan’s Aiptek is offering movies-to-go to with its Pocketcinema portable projector, complete with 2GB of memory to store films.

Dutch firm Adapt Mobile, on the other hand, has a pocket projector that lets you share life-size photos.

Billed as the first Skype video telephone, the Eee by Germany’s Asus is a home phone that allows cheap international video calls in better quality than on a standard computer.

German premium sound specialist firm Blaupunkt unveiled prototypes of what they called the world’s first Internet car radio, promising access to “thousands of stations” via cellular phone networks.

And fashionistas needing a little more bling must look no further than the Asus EEE S121 notebook, wrapped in supple dark leather and studded with Swarovski crystals.

The company also showed off its EEE keyboard PC, which can wirelessly connect to any TV.

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GOING GREEN

In keeping with a “green” theme at this year’s event, USB sticks and photo cards by California-based ITP now come in biodegradable plastics made of corn.

And some of the proceeds will go to tree-planting projects.


Meanwhile, people plagued by the question “Did I leave the iron on?” can relax. Swiss firm digitalSTROM.org has developed a chip that can be installed in ordinary light switches. An “everything off” button switches every device hooked up to the system to “standby”, averting fires and cutting energy bills.

The fair is also showcasing a range of new ultra-thin, ultra-efficient netbooks that are easier on the wallet, including the first “zero-watt” laptop from Fujitsu-Siemens that uses no electricity when idle.

And then there was Japanese giant Toshiba, showing off televisions that use half the power of normal sets.

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MED-TECH

The CeBIT is spotlighting eHealth this year, featuring products that allow patients to receive better care from home, thanks to the Internet.

Bodytel of Germany has developed a blood sugar monitor for diabetics whose results can be beamed straight to the patient’s file at his doctor’s office via his mobile phone.

Similar devices keep watch on one’s blood pressure and heart rates.

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ROLLIN' ROBOT

In the Future Parc hall of CeBIT, all eyes have been on the Rollin’ Justin robot, developed by the German Aerospace Centre.

The robot has a humanoid upper body; but instead of legs, there’s a four-wheel omni-directional base that helps it “roll” around.

Justin is also capable of detecting and squeezing through tight areas such as doors, using smart technology to bring its “legs” together, or by lifting them using a spring mechanism, its inventors said.


Its appendages are robotic arms known as DLR-III, which have sensors that can calculate the weight and impact of any object they come in contact with.

This allows Justin to perform complex, delicate tasks such as preparing tea and “shaking a person’s hand without breaking it”, said one of its developers, Thomas Wimboeck.

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Twin black holes found doing a cosmic tango

Twin black holes found doing a cosmic tango

  7:41:00 AM    Science Lover

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Two colossal black holes appear to be orbiting one another in sort of a cosmic minuet at the center of a faraway galaxy formed when two separate galaxies collided, US astronomers said on Wednesday.

Image via Wikipedia

These two so-called supermassive black holes, which are celestial objects with enormous gravitational pull, are locked in orbit about 5 billion light years away from Earth, the scientists said. A light year is about 6 trillion miles, or the distance light travels in a year. Data from Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico provided the best evidence to date of two black holes orbiting each other, according to astronomer Todd Boroson of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. This is known as a binary system.

Scientists believe all or most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their center. For example, our Milky Way galaxy has a black hole at its center that is about 3 million times the mass of the sun.

When galaxies collide and merge, as they do relatively often, the black holes at their center may gravitate toward one another because of their great mass, entering into orbit as these two appear to be doing.

Boroson said orbiting black holes eventually may merge into an even larger single black hole. While scientists think binary black holes may be relatively common, they have been elusive. Boroson and fellow National Optical Astronomy Observatory astronomer Tod Lauer detected these two by spotting the radiation emitted by objects apparently being sucked into the black holes by their gravitational pull.

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Apple announces Safari 4

Apple announces Safari 4

  11:05:00 PM    Science Lover

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Apple announces the launch of the world’s fastest and most innovative browser – Safari 4

Apple announced the public beta of Safari 4, the world’s fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac and Windows PCs. The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3. Innovative new features that include top sites, for a stunning visual preview of frequently visited pages; full history search, to search through titles, etc, make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable. Mistake

“Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards that enables the next generation of interactive web applications.”

Safari 4 is built on the world’s most advanced browser technologies including the new Nitro JavaScript engine that executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.

Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection, and is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project’s Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.

Safari for Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPod touch are all built on Apple’s WebKit, the world’s fastest and most advanced browser engine. Apple developed WebKit as an open source project to create the world’s best browser engine and to advance the adoption of modern web standards. Recently, WebKit led the introduction of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards and is known for its fast, modern code-base. The industry’s newest browsers are based on WebKit including Google Chrome, the Google Android browser, the Nokia Series 60 browser and Palm webOS.

New features in Safari 4 include:

• Top Sites, a display of frequently visited pages in a stunning wall of previews so users can jump to their favorite sites with a single click;

• Full History Search, where users search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages to easily return to sites they’ve seen before;

• Cover Flow, to make searching web history or bookmarks as fun and easy as paging through album art in iTunes®;

• Tabs on Top, for better tabbed browsing with easy drag-and-drop tab management tools and an intuitive button for opening new ones;

• Smart Address Field, that automatically completes web addresses by displaying an easy-to-read list of suggestions from Top Sites, bookmarks and browsing history;

• Smart Search Field, where users fine-tune searches with recommendations from Google Suggest or a list of recent searches;

• Full Page Zoom, for a closer look at any website without degrading the quality of the site’s layout and text;

• built-in web developer tools to debug, tweak and optimize a website for peak performance and compatibility; and

• a new Windows-native look in Safari for Windows, that uses standard Windows font rendering and native title bar, borders and toolbars so Safari fits the look and feel of other Windows XP and Windows Vista applications.

Pricing and Availability

Safari 4 is a public beta for both Mac OS X and Windows and is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/safari.

Safari 4 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.6 and Security Update 2009-001 or Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.11, a minimum 256MB of memory, and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 4 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor. Full system requirements and more information on Safari 4 can be found at www.apple.com/safari

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A forest in a skyscraper!

A forest in a skyscraper!

  8:49:00 PM    Science Lover

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A US firm has conceptualised a self-powered skyscraper full of trees, to absorb and convert carbon dioxide

 

Nectar Design, a Californian-basedfirm, has created an unusual concept design aimed at provoking new ideas in the battle against industrial pollution and global warming.

This ambitious yet simple idea takes advantage of a “product” previously designed by Mother Nature herself – the tree.

The envisioned CO2 Scraper (pictured on top) would be a large-scale construction for holding between 200-400 large-sized trees that would potentially absorb dangerous pollutants and convert global warming-related carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen.

The creators understand that the Scraper would require a lot of refinement, research, and engineering to make the concept truly effective from an environmental standpoint.

“Right now this is a concept very much in the early idea stages,” said Nectar Senior Designer Yutaka Kazamaki, who has been spearheading the CO2 Scraper project.

“The issue of global warming is clearly among the greatest issues our planet is facing. The need to consider any and all possible solutions that address our environmental challenges have never been greater,” he said.

Designed to be placed near factories or other major sources of pollution, the CO2 Scraper would be a relatively simple concrete construction in which trees will be supplied with water and nutrients through a windmill-powered pump system.
Primarily, energy self-sustaining – the only outside power required in the current design would be electricity for an elevator to be used by maintenance personnel – the Scraper would absorb carbon dioxide and thereby increase the amount of life-giving oxygen in the atmosphere.

In addition, the structure would provide immediate benefits to people and animals in its vicinity, providing a significant amount of shade, while also cooling the air during the hot summer months via the temperature-lowering properties of hundreds of trees.                    

The structure may be relatively inexpensive to build – roughly equivalent in cost to building industrial smokestacks – while still helping local economies by creating a number of green jobs during both the initial construction and later maintenance phases.

This concept has drawn early praise from scientist and sustainability specialist Joep Meijer, who founded The Right Environment – a consultancy for environmental products.

“Though in its infancy, the CO2 Scraper is an outstanding example of the kind of ideas we need to look at now. In a final version, it would be a great investment in natural capital for existing industries,” Meijer said.

“It would show a strong commitment and awareness to the environment as an integral part of doing business, as it’d bring improvements to the actual site, neighbouring communities, and local ecologies,” he added.

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World's smallest periscopes

World's smallest periscopes

  2:05:00 AM    Science Lover

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A team of scientists has designed the world's tiniest version of the periscope to peer at cells and other micro-organisms from all the sides at once.

"With an off-the-shelf laboratory microscope you only see cells from one side, the top," said Chris Janetopoulos, assistant professor of biological sciences at the Vanderbilt University (VU) and member of the research team.

"Now not only can we see the tops of cells, we can view their sides as well - something biologists almost never see," he added.

The researchers dubbed their devices "mirrored pyramidal wells". They consist of pyramidal-shaped cavities moulded into silicon whose interior surfaces are coated with a reflective layer of gold or platinum.

They are about the width of a human hair and can be made in a range of sizes to view different-sized objects. When a cell is placed in such a well and viewed with a regular microscope, the researcher can see several sides simultaneously.

"This technology is exciting because these mirrored wells can be made at very low cost, unlike other, more complex methods for 3D microscopy," said VU assistant professor Kevin Seale.

"This could easily become as ubiquitous as the microscope slide and could replace more expensive methods currently used to position individual cells," said Ron Reiserer, lab manager at the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative Biosystems Research and Education (VIIBRE) who helped design the protocol used to make the micropyramids.

The Vanderbilt group is not the first to make microscopic pyramidal wells, but it is the first to apply them to make 3D images of microorganisms, said a Vanderbilt release.

These findings were published in the Journal of Microscopy.

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Work or play?

Work or play?

  10:19:00 PM    Science Lover

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With video games gaining popularity as effective teaching tools, computer giant IBM has now devised a free game called Innov8 meant for budding businessmen

A student controls her virtual
avatar in the new Innov8 game


Computing giant IBM recently announced Innov8 v.2 – a “serious game” that helps students and professionals hone their business and technology skills in a compelling, familiar video game format.

Serious games are at the cusp of widespread adoption within all sectors of business and government, from military flight simulators to corporate training. According to leading video game marketing consultancy The Apply Group, by 2012, between 100 and 135 of the Global Fortune 500 will have adopted gaming for learning.

Innov8 v.2, IBM says, will be available at no cost to businesses and academic institutions for simulations and training.

The game features puzzles and tasks that challenge players to tackle real-world challenges; complete with a global collaboration feature for players to work with virtual teammates in order to progress to the next level of the game.

“Business simulations allow companies to optimise costs, mitigate risks and remain agile in a rapidly changing environment,” said Sandy Carter, IBM vice president of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) and BPM (Business Process Management). “The features in this game provide a powerful tool for businesses to simulate challenges and explore the range of solutions…”

For example, Innov8 has incorporated scenarios that reflect a new level of intelligence required for future, high-value job opportunities:

•   ‘Green’ Supply Chain: Players evaluate a traditional supply chain model and are tasked with reducing a fictional company’s carbon footprint.

•   Efficient Traffic Flow: Players evaluate existing traffic patterns and re-route traffic based on sensors that alert the player to disruptions such as accidents and roadway congestion.

•   Call Centre Customer Service: Using a call centre environment, players can develop more efficient ways in which to respond to customers.

Learning Through Visualisation

“Most MBA programmess today are already heavily based on projects that reflect how individuals and teams need to interact in the real world,” Carter said. “Innov8 takes that a step further by actually allowing students to step into a dynamic business environment.”

At present, more than 100 universities – from Duquesne University and the University of Southern California in the USA, to Manchester Business School in the UK – have teamed with IBM to integrate Innov8 into their curricula.

“Until now, some of the most important skills such as leadership, project management, innovation and entrepreneurship could only be taught using standard case studies and inspirational quotes,” said Clark Aldrich, author of The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games…

“IBM’s game is one way that universities can help students to learn this by doing it through simulations, in conjunction with traditional teaching methods; thus building skills and retaining knowledge,” he said.

Innov8 v.2 will be available in May 2009. For details, visit www.ibm.com/Innov8.

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6 Promising tech start-up casualties

6 Promising tech start-up casualties

  1:31:00 AM    Science Lover

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The new start-up companies are the worst-hit in the current global economic turmoil. Here we give the low-down on some such young companies that have fallen flat

The global economic slowdown is not only gobbling up jobs, but also companies. And this the worst victims in carnage are start-ups. In the last few months many tech start-ups which were viewed as `trailblazers' and `sizzlers' till a year back have either closed down or have been sold for a song.

Lacking enough cash to cushion the deepening economic crisis these young companies have been forced to wind off operations. Here are six `promising' companies that have fallen fatally to the economic turmoil.

Attune Systems

California-based Attune Systems Inc wound up its operations in December as the slowdown pains started hurting the software maker. The 25-member team at Attune Systems developed network file management products aimed to reduce file management complexity for the enterprise, government, and education storage environments.

Attune's flagship product was Maestro File Manager FM5500 NAS virtualisation appliance. The Maestro appliance provides a global namespace, allowing administrators to combine multiple physical volumes into one virtual volume.

The application acceleration and file virtualisation vendor, F5 Networks, recently bought the intellectual property of the now-defunct Attune Systems

Reactrix Systems

Reactrix Systems, a company specialising in interactive projected advertisements in malls and movie theatres, folded despite $75 million in venture backing.

Founded in 2001, Redwood City, California company received $45 million fourth-round of funding in 2006. The company had strategic partnerships with National CineMedia and Samsung.

Experts believe that the company's crash came due to the depressed advertising market caused by the economic downturn. The company apparently lacked enough cash to cushion the blow. Also, some believe that its offerings were considered too futuristic and experimental for clients to gamble their shrinking advertising budgets.

Fuzz.com

Another tech start-up that fell to slowdown is online music start-up Fuzz.com.

In its farewell message to its registered users, the company wrote, "Sadly, we are contacting you to announce that Fuzz.com is shutting down on February 13, 2009. We have decided to shutdown because of increasing operating costs and flat revenues. It simply no longer makes sense for us to keep Fuzz.com running. Please note that once the site is shut down on February 13, 2009, the band and user accounts, and all other content on Fuzz.com, will no longer be accessible."

Founder and chief executive of San Francisco-based music start-up, Jeff Yasuda said "We couldn't drive enough visitor traffic on the site to make it a viable business."

It is being widely speculated that the company has decided to shut down in wake of dedicating their entire funds and resources to Blip.fm, a music station.

VuBotics

Tech startup VuBotics Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being in business for three years. The Atlanta-based software company marketed products to improve reading speed and comprehension on digital handheld devices.

According to media reports, VuBotics raised $2.3 million in a stock sale in August 2006 and about $2 million additional in angel capital in 2007. VuBotics had issued 56 million shares to 500 shareholders, according to its Chapter 11 filing.

In the month of October, VuBotics hired Jules Stine, a corporate reorganization expert as its new director and chief operating officer.

TZero Technologies

Another tech start-up that fell victim to the economic downturn was TZero Technologies, a Ultra-wideband (UWB) start-up. Less than a year after raising $18 million from OVP Venture Partners and others, TZero Technologies recently announced it is closing down.

The company joins a shakeout in UWB that has claimed WiQuest and Focus Enhancements. Founded in 2003, TZero's ultra wideband chips are used in HD video audio/video components.

What led to the possible shake-up of UWB is the high cost of UWB chips which never gained a foothold in the consumer market. Also, established technologies such as Wi-Fi, and new ones such as WirelessHD posed a great threat.

Also, UWB started with much fanfare as a way to get rid of wires between consumer devices and an easy way to move high-definition video around the home. However, the promised high-speed data transfer fell short of expectations.

Guava Technologies

Guava Technologies Inc is among the startups that sold themselves up for sums which experts term less than what their investors may have spent on them.

Millipore Corp acquired Guava Technologies, a developer of cell-analysis systems, for $22.6 million. California-based Guava made roughly $22 million in revenue last year.

(Courtesy: www.infotech.itimes.com)

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The rocket that thinks it’s a jet!

The rocket that thinks it’s a jet!

  8:27:00 PM    Science Lover

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A reusable spaceplane that can take off from a conventional aircraft runway, carry over twelve tonnes to orbit and then return to land on the same runway could be less than a decade away.

UK-based Reaction Engines Limited (REL) – the firm behind the ‘Sabre’ air-breathing rocket engine, which will power the Skylon spaceplane – is currently working on various tests and demonstrations that will bring this spacecraft one step closer to reality.

But what is Sabre?

The Sabre is a unique hybrid engine that can “breathe” air when in the atmosphere, like a jet engine, and become a rocket engine when in space.

In air-breathing mode, air is first cooled before being compressed and fed to the rocket engine, where it is burnt with hydrogen fuel.

When in rocket mode, the hydrogen is burnt with liquid oxygen.

“Traditional throw-away rockets – costing more than $100 million per launch – are a drag on the growth of this market,” said Alan Bond, Managing Director of REL.

“The Holy Grail to transform the economics of getting into space is a truly reusable spaceplane capable of taking off from an airport and climbing directly into space, delivering its payload and returning safely to Earth,” he explained.

Testing all systems

In tests, the spacecraft builders will look at three key areas in the engine.

The first area, conducted by REL, concerns a new pre-cooler that cools the incoming air as it enters the engine.

During the programme, a prototype pre-cooler will be constructed using the actual module design for the flight engines. This will be tested on the company’s B9 jet engine-powered experimental facility in the UK.

The second area is the cooling of the combustion chamber, where the propellants are mixed and burnt, producing water vapour at around 3,000 degrees Celsius.

The Sabre engine uses the air or liquid oxygen as the cooling fluid – a key and unusual design feature, as most rocket engines use the hydrogen fuel for cooling instead.

UK-based EADS Astrium, an aerospace subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company (EADS), will conduct this work along with DLR, Germany’s national research centre for aeronautics and space, using demonstration chambers fired at a DLR facility.

The third area, led by the University of Bristol, will explore advanced exhaust nozzles that can adapt to the ambient atmospheric pressure. Also, a new water-cooled chamber will be constructed and test fired.

“Years of research by REL on the Skylon vehicle and its unique Sabre engine mean that we have an inside track on realising our goal,” Bond said.

“Once the tests are complete, Skylon could reduce the cost of getting into space by a factor of ten and improve the reliability by a thousand,” he added.

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Fone-Tastic!

Fone-Tastic!

  12:39:00 AM    Science Lover

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The Mobile World Congress 2009 expo in Barcelona – being held from February 16 to 19 – has thrown up quite a few surprises: The beginnings of a war between different operating systems for cellphones; the world’s first phone that acts as a projector; and a stylish handset with a transparent keypad.

INTERFACE TIME

Rival developers are battling to create the dominant operating system (OS) for mobile phones, with Google’s open-source Android system competing against Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6.5,Nokia’s Symbian, a Linux-based project, and RIM’s Blackberry OS.

The biggest event on Tuesday was Taiwanese manufacturer HTC unveiling the Android-based ‘Magic’ – a slim, tablet-shaped device with a 3.2-inch touchscreen that bears a resemblance to the Apple iPhone.

Equipped with a 3-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, and other connectivity options, the gadget will be available exclusively through Vodafone in Britain, France, Germany and Italy; however, no plans were announced for an India release.

On Monday, Chinese manufacturer Huawei had revealed its first cellphone to run on Android, meaning there are at least three ‘Google’ phones now developed.

Australian firm Kogan had previously announced the ‘Agora’ handset in December, but its launch has been postponed indefinitely. LG and Samsung have also promised their versions this year.

“For a new, open-source platform, I am impressed with the momentum growing behind Android,” said Gavin Byrne, an analyst at telecom research group Informa.

He said that he still expected Nokia’s Symbian to remain dominant in the next five years, but that Android would soon establish itself as an alternative.

Also on Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the latest version of the company’s mobile OS,Windows Mobile 6.5,promising an improved touch-screen inter-face as well as a dashboard-like experience to items such as new emails, texts, missed calls, and calendar appointments.

“We’re going to work with the guys who build phones that are exciting... that are hot and tell the story of their Windows phone,” Ballmer said, announcing tie-ups with phone makers HTC, LG and Samsung.

Image via Wikipedia

TINY PHONE, BIG SCREEN

Meanwhile, Samsung – in association with US-based technology firm Texas Instruments – showed off a new mobile phone with a built-in projector that turns any surface into a screen.

Dubbed the ‘i7410’, the handset is fitted with the DLP Pico chipset, which lets users project images in excess of 50 inches, depending on the ambient light conditions, the company said.

“These Samsung mobile phones instantly turn any situation into a media-viewing opportunity,” said Frank Moizio, Manager, DLP Emerging Markets business.

Equipped with audio speakers, the i7410 is a touchscreen phone that comes with a 5-megapixel camera.

The projection feature can be used to share Powerpoint slides, view emails and pictures, watch videos, and even act as a flashlight.

The device will hit Korean markets this month, and international markets shortly thereafter.

Texas Instruments also showed off a newer iteration of the DLP Pico chipset, which boosts the current HVGA (480x320 pixels) resolution to a higher WVGA (800x480 pixels).

A SEE-THROUGH CELLPHONE!

The LG GD900 ‘Crystal’ see-through phone and the Android-powered HTC Magic (top) were launched at MWC

Adding oomph to the proceedings was LG’s GD900 ‘Crystal’ phone, which is billed as “the world’s first transparent design phone”.

When opened, its sliding, translucent keypad illuminates a cool glow that reflects the phone’s sleek and polished silver body.

“This crystal, glass-like phone proves that stylish design can be achieved not only with the use of vivid colours, but also by revealing the handset in its purest form,” the company said.

Packaged with a Bluetooth headset for music playback, the GD900 will be released internationally later this year.

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New surgery technique makes artificial arms easier to control

New surgery technique makes artificial arms easier to control

  12:24:00 AM    Science Lover

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Jesse Sullivan, 61, demonstrates the advanced, multi-degree control of the
prosthetic arm. He was the first person to receive the targeted muscle
reinnervation procedure, back in 2001

A new surgery technique could give amputees better control over their artificial arms, allowing them to point a finger, grasp a cricket bat or even give someone a pinch, US researchers said on Tuesday.

The findings represent the latest advances in a surgical technique to use nerves severed by amputation to control artificial limbs.

The technique involves reconnecting amputated nerve fibres to muscles in the chest and using electrical impulses from those nerves to operate a special motorised artificial arm.

“Now, instead of saying I want to close my hand, a patient can say, ‘I want to be in a finger-pointing mode and close my hand, or I want to have a fine pinch grasp, or a power grasp like you hold a cricket bat’,” said Dr Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, who reported his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Currently, most prosthetic arms are powered by body motion. Motion in the upper shoulder is transferred through a cable to operate the hand, wrist or elbow. But this method only allows people to use one joint at a time and takes a lot of training.

“It’s not too intuitive,” Kuiken said.

He said restoring nerve function offers a much more natural way to control the devices and allows people to move more than one joint at once.

“We’ve about 30 patients around the world who have gotten this procedure,” he added.

In his latest findings, Kuiken’s team has shown that the re-attached nerves can be used with a next-generation type of prosthetic device to perform complex elbow, wrist and hand movements, better mimicking the function of the lost limb.

The prosthetic devices have antennas that capture electrical impulses from the nerves. These signals are processed by a computer, which directs the arm to perform needed motion, Kuiken said.

“Now, a patient can think ‘I want to close my hands this way’, and with these complex hands, it will actually do it,” he said.

Kuiken said devices in the study were prototypes, and more work is needed before they will be widely available for patients.

Dr Gerald Loeb of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in a commentary that the work was “exciting and promising.”

“With increasing functional capabilities, patients with upper-extremity amputations may derive exceptional benefit from prosthetic arms, just as legions of patients with lower-extremity amputations now lead remarkably normal and even athletic lives.”

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