If recent research at Vanderbilt University bears fruit, we might not need light bulbs anymore.
Vanderbilt chemists have discovered a way to create white light with extremely tiny crystals. They say those "nanocrystals" could be used with light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, the devices often used to illuminate your alarm clock's digital display, your cell phone or your car's brake lights with what's known as solid-state lighting.

Vanderbilt discovery could spark a revolution in lighting...

Although head-mounted displays have come a long way recently, even the sleekest models can still make you look pretty geeky. Well Japanese manufacturer Coccolo’s eyeglasses-mounted QVGA Vcam CVC-4 probably won’t win you any beauty contests either, but with a semi-unobtrusive profile (except for the thick dangling cable) and an expected price of $250, it could turn out to be a great deal. Unlike previous attempts that we’ve seen, the CVC-4 doesn’t make you look like that dude from Star Trek TNG, although we won’t get to see one up close anytime soon, as the scheduled April 2006 release is for Japan only. For a total geek-out, we’re gonna try to use one of these in conjunction with the DoubleVision Pro head-mounted surveillance cam, so we can enjoy instant replays of staring at a computer monitor 15 hours a day.

Coccolo’s $250 Vcam CVC-4 head-mounted display...

Cingular Wireless stores today will start selling a small, brightly colored cell phone called the Firefly, becoming the first national carrier to offer a mobile phone tailor-made for children 12 years old and younger.

Cingular to Offer Phones For the 12-and-Under Set

When Blu-ray Disc debuts next Spring, long-time supporter HP may not be among the companies heralding the launch because the format ships without a technology the PC vendor wants included.
This week, the Blu-ray Ray Disc Association (BDA) said the next-generation optical disc format's copy-protection system would allow users to make personal copies to allow the content to be displayed on multiple machines connected on a home network.
That was arguably always part of the plan, since it's part of the AACS copy-protection system already adopted by the BDA - and, indeed, the DVD Forum for HD DVD.
According to a Reuters report HP told the BDA last month that this so-called 'mandatory managed copy' (MMC) must be in the BD-ROM specification if the format was to retain the PC vendor's backing. This despite the fact that HP itself told the world in September that MMC was part of Blu-ray. It made the comment in response to claims from Microsoft and Intel - both HD DVD backers - that Blu-ray lacked MMC.
HP is also supposed to have told the BDA it wants the format to support Microsoft's iHD interactivity technology, due to ship with Windows Vista. Supporting iHD will ensure full compatibility with all major operating systems, HP believes.

Blu-ray backer HP threatens to back HD DVD too

Apple Computer may blink after all on its dogged determination to keep its price per download for iTunes songs at an across-the-board $0.99.

The company that created the portable digital device sensation, the iPod, and the iTunes Music Store that drives it, may be about to give in to pressure from music publishers such as Warner Music Group and EMI Music.

In a story in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Alain Levy, chief executive of EMI, is quoted as saying that he discussed the issue with Apple CEO Steve Jobs and he believes that Apple plans to change its one-price policy. Apple wouldn't comment to RedHerring.com about the report.

According to the paper, Mr. Levy said the issue is not really whether Apple will introduce flexible pricing, but when it will do it.

Apple to Raise iTunes Prices?

The Sony BMG anti-piracy story just refuses to go away.
And maybe it shouldn't: Security researchers -- the same ones who earlier this week found serious security holes in a patch Sony issued to remove the scariest components of its anti-piracy program -- today bring us evidence of similarly frightening security holes associated with another digital rights management (DRM) program the recording label uses on some CDs, a product called SunnComm MediaMax.
Edward Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton University, said that while SunnComm and Sony BMG offer a tool that allows users to completely uninstall the program, the uninstaller also opens the computer up to extremely serious security problems, much like the uninstaller for First4Internet's infamous copy-protection program.
From Felten's post: "When you visit the SunnComm uninstaller web page, you are prompted to accept a small software component -- an ActiveX control called AxWebRemoveCtrl created by SunnComm. This control has a design flaw that allows any Web site to cause it to download and execute code from an arbitrary URL.

Researchers See Risk From Another Sony DRM

In the mid-1960s, it was not uncommon for Captain Kirk's banter with the crew of the Starship Enterprise to be interrupted by a request to give his approval signature on a tablet. That's about as far as the show's writers took the idea but, as any visiting UPS delivery driver can show you, it proved prescient.
The greater promise of tablets as a replacement to mobile computers -- and even as a new kind of mobile information and communications device -- is starting to be realized in education and business.

Schools Tap Tablet's Flexibility

Research from VeriSign (Quote, Chart)and Info-Tech Research Group said security risks surrounding increasingly-popular Internet phone software could put networks at risk and should be addressed.
Ross Armstrong, senior research analyst at Info-Tech, is also urging businesses to ban the use of free Voice over IP software provider Skype in the workplace -- especially if they already have similar policies regarding the use of peer-to-peer technologies.
Skype usage in the enterprise, he said, is in many ways similar to the steady growth of public instant messaging (IM) services the past couple years. The real danger, he said, is if Skype is downloaded and used in an enterprise as an unsanctioned software application.
While Armstrong said he has not seen any Skype vulnerability exploits in the wild, he pointed to vulnerabilities that have been patched in Skype. Last month, the company reported two high-risk security bugs.

Researchers: Skype, VoIP Are Hot And Risky

Once you've been in the MRI field for any length of time, you start hearing all of the various horror stories about things that have flown into a scanner. Often, newcomers don't take the real danger of flying objects seriously until they witness an oxygen tank or gurney flying into a magnet themselves. This page will contain a collection of pictures and stories of metalic projectiles.

Flying Objects!

Headphone amplifiers are standard equipment for the average music loving audiophile. The problem with this is that most quality headphone amplifiers capable of delivering enough juice to power your big bad Cans can become costly. So then comes along some genius named Chu Moy ( www.headwize.com ). Chu created a monster quite some time ago by openly publishing his schematic and circuit diagrams for what became known as the "cMoy" amp. These cMoys spread like fire through the audiophile and audio-tweaker community and with good reason. Chu's creation is based on a simple OP AMP (operational amplifier, the actual chip that drives our creation), they need few other components (a few resistors, switches, pots and caps) and they run happily for a long time on a single 9V battery, not to mention that, assuming its put together correctly, they sound incredible.

.: Modfatha.com :.