March 15, 2007, 6:29 PM CT

Video Games Improve Vision

According to a new study from the University of Rochester, playing action video games sharpens vision. In tests of visual acuity that assess the ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space, game players scored higher than their non-playing peers.

"Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," says Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "After just 30 hours of training, people who normally don't play video games showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see small, closely packed letters more clearly".

Most of the factors that affect a normal person's ability to read an eye-chart are optical (size of the eye, the shape/thickness of the cornea and lens) and video games will not change those factors. However, there are some types of visual deficits that aren't optical in nature but are instead neural. "It is our hope that video game training can help these people," says Bavelier.

Only certain games create this effect; first-person action games. Shooting games, such as Unreal Tournament, improved vision. More sedate games, such as the puzzle game Tetris, showed no effect. "When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing," says Bavelier. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it. That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life"......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 03:48:00 GMT

Teclast C280 MP3 Player - 2GB For A Cheap Price

In an effort to come up with something special in the mp3 players market, the Chinese company Teclast has decided to come up with a cheap player with plenty of storage capacity - 2GB. This recent addition to their line of products is called Teclast C280 and will only cost $65, which I consider to be a bargain.

Other features of the C280 include what all the other mp3 players also have, like a small 2.4-inches screen + FM tuner + MP3 and WMA for audio support + AVI for video support + a MicrsoSD slot to expand the storage thanks to the memory cards.

Now it is only a matter of time to see if the Chinese population will receive this player in a good manner, while looking at the price and specifications I can say it is money well spent.

Via DigitalDrops and DAPReview Posted by: tiago      Read more     Source

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:03:12 GMT

Kingston Combines Flash Memory and Card Reader

That image you see there is a picture of the Kingston DataTraveler Reader, unleashed on the world along with its 1 GB and 2 GB siblings on March 8 (although the 4 GB version won't hit the streets until next quarter). As you can guess from the name, the DataTraveler Reader combines a USB drive with a memory card reader, allowing you to carry around two forms of data storage in your pocket. When you plug the DataTraveler into a computer, two different drives appear, giving you access to both pieces of media at once.

While the drive is pretty cheap (MSRP for the 2 GB version is $34.99), adding a card reader does seem a little gimmicky. If you do a lot of data transfer from something like a cell phone or a camera via memory card instead of using a cable and need a USB drive it seems like a good idea, but otherwise, the newest DataTraveler sounds like it's using a neat trick to get your attention.

Via eHomeUpgrade Posted by: Eric Hanson      Read more     Source

March 6, 2007, 4:49 AM CT

LED name badge

Because a handwritten "Hi, my name is. " nametag is so last century. The Infrared LED Name Badge lets you program up to 8 different messages, each with its own customisable appearance like scrolling direction or font size. You can have your name flashing in lights or, if it's used in a work environment, maybe some kind of message of the day.

The badge comes packaged with its own message input software, so adding or updating new messages (via a USB cable) is straightforward enough. And there's even a handy magnetic clip so it can be stuck onto a fridge or anywhere you'd like to leave your own flashing LED message.

Available for $39 from Gadget.brando.com.hk. Via Technabob........ Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 01:10:14 GMT

Vibrating Pillow For a Happier Morning

Do you need a little help to wake up in the morning? Does your bedmate complains about your noisy, aggressive, raise-the-dead alarm clock? Would you like to have a softer wake up call?

If so, this is for you! The Vibrating Pillow is the answer to all your prayers!

"Simply place the Vibrating Pillow under your pillow at night. In the morning a soft vibration will only wake you - and your partner will continue to sleep peacefully."

This is cool because it's always better to start your day without somebody yelling at you, isn't it? I don't know about you, but I hate to be waken up by any loud noise - alarm clock, cranky partner, dog barking.... it ruins my morning. And my mood.

It also works as a regular alarm clock.

Found here: Vibrating pillow: it's an alarm clock, pervs

Product site: Vibrating Pillow

Posted by: Michael      Read more     Source

February 26, 2007, 6:54 PM CT

A Zero-emissions Snowmobile

Snowmobiles long ago replaced dogsleds for hauling people and cargo in the polar regions, particularly in remote research stations and field camps such as those on the Greenland Ice Sheet and in Antarctica.

But for all their utility, snowmobiles are not very environmentally friendly.

So, on March 19, 2007, four National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported teams will compete in the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge in Houghton, Mich., to produce a zero-emissions snow vehicle. The challenge attracts teams of undergraduate engineering students from across North America with the goal of designing a snowmobile with lower environmental impact, less noise, fewer emissions and a lighter footprint--all without sacrificing the performance snowmobile enthusiasts love.

The NSF-funded projects are coordinated by VECO Polar Resources, NSF's logistics contractor for Arctic research. The agency awarded the group $10,000 to support the four teams.

The competition grew from the demand for cleaner snowmobiles in national and state parks and forests. One alternative to restricting or banning snowmobiles on public lands is to find appropriate technological solutions to noise and pollution problems.

Now in its fifth year, the challenge is a competition for college and university student members of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to encourage young engineers to design quieter machines that produce low emissions, but still "smoke" in the performance department. The students are given the opportunity to apply their engineering skills to a difficult problem, working in teams to develop real-world solutions......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

February 22, 2007, 9:55 PM CT

CES: Atlantic waterproof iPod case

I hate baths. You're either a bath or a shower person, I reckon. It's a secret rivalry. Lying in your own filth while waiting for a potential spider appearance isn't my idea of fun. CES exhibitors, Atlantic, are bath people. They've created a great waterproof iPod case and speaker system named EGO. Atlantic showed me the case floating around a small pool of water, blaring out tunes with a very slight aqua theme, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, a couple of Beach Boys songs; I'm sure they could have thought of better. They still sounded good though, and I suppose if I were forced to have a bath, I would like one of these cases with me. Not to put my iPod in, I have to add, just to catch any spiders that decide to scare the life out of me.

The Atlantic site doesn't currently stock the case, but should do very soon......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

February 21, 2007, 9:40 PM CT

Solving Cellular Mating Puzzle

Using a biochemical version of a computer chip, a team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has solved a long-standing mystery related to the mating habits of yeast cells.

The findings, described in the Feb. 18 Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature, shed new light on the way cells send and receive signals from one another and from the environment through a process called signal transduction. That process, when impaired, can lead to cancer or other illnesses.

"Yeast is a very simple single-celled organism, but in many respects it operates much like a human cell," said Andre Levchenko, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins and supervisor of the research team. "Thats why its been studied for many years -- because what we find out in yeast often holds true for humans as well. In this study, we looked at how yeast cells signal one another when they want to merge, engaging in a type of mating behavior. Human cells talk to one another in a similar way, and its important to understand this process".

Yeast cells mate by sending out pheromone designed to catch the attention of nearby cells of the opposite mating type. When a prospective partner picks up this "scent," it alters its shape and sends a projection toward the source of the pheromone, leading to a cellular merger. This mating process is regulated by proteins inside the cell called mitogen-activated protein kinases, or MAPKs, through a chain of chemical reactions......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

February 21, 2007, 8:58 PM CT

Superbot progress

Wei-Min Shen of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute recently reported to NASA significant progress in developing "SuperBot," identical modular units that plug into each other to create robots that can stand, crawl, wiggle and even roll. He illustrated his comments with striking video of the system in action, video now posted on line.

Shen's presentation took place at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum 2007 (STAIF) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For the report, he first offered a description of the SuperBot work:

"Superbot consists of Lego-like but autonomous robotic modules that can reconfigure into different systems for different tasks. Examples of configurable systems include rolling tracks or wheels (for efficient travel), spiders or centipedes (for climbing), snakes (for burrowing in ground), long arms (for inspection and repair in space), and devices that can fly in micro-gravity environment.

"Each module is a complete robotic system and has a power supply, micro- controllers, sensors, communication, three degrees of freedom, and six connecting faces (front, back, left, right, up and down) to dynamically connect to other modules.

"This design allows flexible bending, docking, and continuous rotation. A single module can move forward, back, left, right, flip-over, and rotate as a wheel. Modules can communication with each other for totally distributed control and can support arbitrary module reshuffling during their operation......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source

February 19, 2007, 8:09 PM CT

New analog circuits could impact consumer electronics

Advances in digital electronic circuits have prompted the boost in functions and ever- smaller size of such popular consumer goods as digital cameras, MP3 players and digital televisions. But the same cannot be said of the older analog circuits in the same devices, which process natural sights and sounds in the real world. Because analog circuits haven't enjoyed a similar rate of progress, they are draining power and causing other bottlenecks in improved consumer electronic devices.

Now MIT engineers have devised new analog circuits they hope will change that. Their work was discussed at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco Feb. 11-15.

"During the past several decades engineers have focused on allowing signals to be processed and stored in digital forms," said Hae-Seung Lee, a professor in MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL) and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). "But most real-world signals are analog signals, so analog circuits are an essential part of most electronic systems."

Analog circuits are used to amplify, process and filter analog signals and convert them to digital signals, or vice versa, so the real world and electronic devices can talk to each other. Analog signals are continuous and they vary in size, whereas digital signals have specific or discrete values......... Posted by: Ryan      Read more         Source