SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN

People tend to stress over any and everything, but we as humans forget that we easily take things for granted. I'm talking about our ability to move one or both of our legs and our ability to hold a cup to our lips to drink when we are thirsty, to lift ourselves from a sitting position or to embrace our loved ones in our arms. Some individuals lose their limbs in accidents, but a new technology is allowing them to experience life and it's giving them back what most of us take for granted.



The field of robotics is becoming more and more advanced. A very exciting application of robotics is in the field of medicine, more specifically in the development of robotic limb replacement. Limb replacement involves using some type of prosthetic to take the place of a part of the body that was amputated or lost due to injury or illness. With advances in technology and with a better understanding of how the brain controls movement, limb replacements are becoming more sophisticated and lifelike.
Significance
The goal of robotic limb replacement is to develop prosthetics that look, act and feel like the limb that they are replacing. It is no longer enough to just replace the limb, it must now function as a fully operational limb. This involves not only building very specialized artificial limbs but also in understanding how the brain controls movement. The challenge is how to connect the robotic limb so that the patient can control its movement, just as if it were a normal limb. Currently, most artificial limbs are controlled by muscular contractions initiated by the patient versus neuronal signals from the brain, as occurs in natural movement.
Function
Every movement that the body makes begins with a thought. As soon as a thought such as I need to take a step forward, or I need to pick up my coffee cup occurs, the brain triggers a series of complex reactions to make that movement happen. The brain must figure out what muscles to contract and relax along with how much force is needed to accomplish the task. With lightening speed, the brain sends signals through the spinal cord and along the nervous pathways to coordinate and recruit the necessary muscles. When there is a loss of a limb, there is also a loss of the nerves that connected that limb to the signals sent by the brain.
Types
Common prosthetics used today do not connect the artificial limb with the nervous system. The prosthesis is made up of the artificial limb and cables that connect to an area of the body where the muscles are functioning. For example a hand prosthesis would connect to the shoulder muscles. The patient must then contract the shoulder muscles in very precise ways in order to pull on the cables, which in turn makes the hand prosthesis move. There are also externally powered prosthetic limbs. In this case the limb is moved with a battery powered motor. In this case switches must be moved to make the limb move. Both require a lot of time and training on the part of the patient. Both also leave a lot to be desired when it comes to looking lifelike and in replicating natural movement. Hence the need for robotic limb replacement which will allow the brain and the artificial limb to interact directly with one another.
Considerations
To make robotic limbs work properly scientists must figure out how to get the signals sent by the brain to interact with the artificial limb. The goal is to develop computerized systems that can interpret the signals from the brain and then translate them to the robotic limb so it can respond accordingly. It is almost a case of developing an artificial nervous system. Science is getting closer with the development of utilizing computer chips which can be programmed to control a prosthesis. The prosthesis which contains the chip, monitors the patient as he or she moves. This information is then evaluated by an external computer program. Next, the prosthesis is programmed to mimic the patients natural movements. The chip acts as a brain and automatically reacts to changes in speed and direction. This information is then preprogrammed into the prosthesis, so the artificial limb is better matched with the patients unique way of moving through their daily life activities.
Potential
As exciting as programmable limbs are, they are still have their limitations. They only allow for a small number, usually ten, programmable modes. Since they operate on battery power they must be recharged. Efforts are currently being made to allow the battery to operate for up to fifty hours.
Here is where the science of robotic limb replacement offers promise. The goal is to somehow "wire" the artificial limb directly to the nervous system so the brain controls its every move naturally. First an electrode must be surgically placed in the brain. Then computers contained in the prosthesis would be programmed to interpret the signals sent by the brain to initiate movement. In addition the computer in the artificial limb needs to send information back to the brain as movement occurs, so adjustments can be made. Scientists are now experimenting with the best places to attach the electrodes and on improving the computerized signals between the prosthesis and the brain. While we are still a ways from making this a reality in humans, research in rats and monkeys has been successful. See the links below for more information.

Hackers Versus Cyber Criminals

Darren Kitchen, hacker and host of tech show Hak5, says why hacking isn’t the same thing as cyber crime. Jorge Ribas sits down with him to find out the difference.

Watch more YouTube videos on AOL Video

Cyber crime is on the rise. This past year alone, 40,000 viruses and trojan horses were sent out EVERY DAY to infiltrate Windows platforms. Like other kinds of crime, this one is organized. The criminals take advantage of social networking and mobile devices to steal your personal information or turn your computer into a semi-automatic SPAMMING weapon. We'll look at this crime, talk to some hackers and tell you how you can protect yourself online.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/hackers-versus-cyber-criminals/4183760280

Computer Chips Inspire New Water Purifier

WATCH VIDEO: What happens to everything you flush down the toilet? Jorge Ribas visits a new, high-tech wastewater tre the answer. atment plant to get

A new device the size of a postage stamp could save millions of lives in developing countries.

A new chip could cheaply desalinate and purify water.
The purifier is about the size of a postage stamp.
The technology could save millions of lives by reducing the number of water-borne diseases.
Water may kill a computer chip, but a new water purifier inspired by computer chip technology could save millions of lives.
Developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the new water purifier uses magnetic fields to separate harmful contaminants and produce clean water. Scaled up and mass produced, the new technology could save millions of lives in developing countries by preventing the transmission of water-borne diseases.
"This can remove bacteria and other particles from seawater and brackish water without suffering any clogging issues," said Jongyoon Han, a scientist at MIT and co-author of the Nature Nanotechnology article that describes the new purifier. "This won't be a big deal in the U.S. But in places like India, where the water is brackish and getting saltier, this could be important."
The new water purifier is small, about the size of a postage stamp. Borrowing computer chip fabrication techniques, the MIT scientists made the chip from soft silicone, rather than hard silicon.

Except for a handful of Y-shaped dark slashes, the new device is also clear. The dark slashes in the silicone are actually very small microchannels. Dirty water goes into one channel and quickly encounters a strong magnetic field. Any object that has a positive or negative charge, which includes everything from dissolved salt ions to entire bacteria, is pushed on way. Clean water, which does not have a charge to it, flows the other way.

During a recent test, the new purifier removed 99 percent of contaminants from a test mixture of North Atlantic seawater, blood, proteins and small plastic particles. Because contaminants are pushed away from the membrane, instead of being drawn through the membrane, the device will not clog.
The new technique can so far only purify tiny amounts of water; a single channel cannot produce practical amounts of potable water. During the next two years, the MIT scientists plan to scale up their device with 16,000 channels squeezed onto an eight-inch wafer. It would use about 60 watts of electricity from a solar panel and could purify water as quickly as a Brita pitcher.
That's enough water for a small family, but it doesn't come close to the levels that commercial reverse osmosis desalination plants can purify, said Han.
That's fine with the MIT researchers. They envision their new device, powered by a solar panel, purifying water in developing countries and reducing the number of deaths from water-borne diseases like cholera.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/computer-chips-water-purifier.html

Information on Ipad

If you are looking for more information about the Apple iPad, known by many as the Apple Tablet, you’ve come to the right place. You can find links to defining features about the iPad, hands on information and impressions, images of the Apple iPad and detailed specifications for the Apple Tablet.

Apple iPad Basic Info:

2 Versions: WiFi Only and WiFi+3G

Wifi Only – Ships in 60 days

•16GB – $499
•32 GB – $599
•64 GB- $699
Wifi and 3G – $130 added feature – Ships in 90 days

•16GB – $629
•32 GB – $729
•64 GB – $829
3G Apple iPad Data Pricing – No Contract Required:

•250 MB for $14.99
•Unlimited for $29.99
Apple iPad Software details:

Along with the iPad apple announced some new software applications and information that, for now are unique to the iPad.



Important items to note include:

•The introduction of the iBooks bookstore from Apple
•All iPhone apps will be compatible with the iPad (but without a camera some won’t be the same)
•The iPad runs a modified iPhone operating system (but still has no multitasking)
•Apple has the iWork software suit for productivity (which includes Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) as iPad applications (and will cost $10 a pop)
•Not just a big iPhone
•The Apple iPad has no Flash support
For the full details please read our Apple iPad Software Overview

Apple iPad Hands on and First Impressions:

Many reviewers were able to use the iPad for a short time after it was unveiled; not long enough for a full review but certainly good for first impressions and hands on observations.

We have compiled the top 10 iPad Hands On accounts to help you understand how the iPad feels and performs including.

•What it’s like to type on the iPad
•Gaming on the iPad
•Watching a Movie on the iPad
•How heavy is the iPad
•Is the iPad fast?
•How is it to read a book on the iPad
•Where the iPad fits in your home
•and much more!
For all the details read our Definitive Apple iPad Hands On and First Impressions Roundup

Apple iPad accessories:

Like all Apple products the Apple iPad has accessories, and will likely have an incredible amount of third party accessories by the time it arrives on the market in a few months.

For now the official Apple iPad accessories and prices are as follows:

•Apple iPad Keyboard dock – $69
•Apple iPad case – $39.
•Apple iPad camera connector – $29
•Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA – $29.
Why would you need an iPad camera connector?

Apple iPad Podcast:

For more insight on the Apple iPad and how the experts at Notebooks.com and GottaBeMobile.com feel about the device listen to the Gotta Be Mobile podcast: A Special Look at the iPad.

Contributions to this post by were made by Rajesh and Josh.

Apple iPad / tablet photo gallery:

Apple iPad Specification / Apple tablet specification:

Brand Apple
Model iPad
Height 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth 0.5 inches (13.4 mm)
Weight Wi-Fi Model: 0.5 pounds (0.68 kg)

Wi-Fi + 3G model: 1.6 pounds (.73 kg)

Display Size 9.7 inch (diagonal)
Display type LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch display with IPS technology

Support for display of multiple language and character simultaneously

Display resolution 1024 x 768 pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch
Finger-print Coating Fingerprint resistant olephobic coating
Wireless and cellular Wi-Fi Model:

Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n)

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Wi-Fi + 3G model

UMTS/HSDP A (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)

GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

Wi-FI (802.11 a/b/g/n)

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR technology

Location specific Support Digital Compass

Wi-Fi

Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Cellular (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Capacity / Storage 16GB, 32 GB, 64GB (flash based)
Processor 1GHz apple A4 custom designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
Sensors Accelerometer

Ambient light sensor

Frequency Response 20Hz to 20,000 Hz
Audio format supported AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes store), MP3 (16 to 320 kbps), Mp3 VBR, Audible (format 2, 3 and 4), apple lossless, AIFF and Wav
Volume limit User configurable maximum volume limit
TV and video Supports for 1024×768 with dock connector to VGA adapter

576p and 480p with apple component A/V cable

Video format supported H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 kbps

48KHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .move file, MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per seconds

Accessibility Support for playback of closed-captioned content

Voice over screen reader

Full screen zoom magnification

While on black

Mono Audio

Battery and power Built in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

Charging via power adapter or usb to computer system

Battery limit Up 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video or listening to music
Input and output Dock connector

3.5 mm stereo headphone jack

built in speakers

microphone

Sim Card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model only

Mac System Requirement Mac computer with USB 2.0 port

Mac OS X v10.5.8 or later

iTunes 9.0 or later

iTunes store account

Internet access

Window System requirement PC with usb 2.0 port

Window 7, window vista, window xp home or professional with service pack 3 or later

iTunes 9.0 or later

iTunes store account

Internet access

Environment Requirement Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)

Nonoperating temperature: 4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing

Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

Languages support English, French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russsian
Keyboard support Keyboard support for English (US & UK), French, German, Japanese, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Russian

•64 GB- $829
Tags: Apple iPad, Apple iPad Accessories, Apple Notebooks, Podcasts, software

Software and Technology for Smart Homes

Smart Home Software and Technology
Smart home technology was developed in 1975, when a company in Scotland developed X10. X10 allows compatible products to talk to each other over the already existing electrical wires of a home. All the appliances and devices are receivers, and the means of controlling the system, such as remote controls or keypads, are transmitters. If you want to turn off a lamp in another room, the transmitter will issue a message in numerical code that includes the following:

•An alert to the system that it's issuing a command,
•An identifying unit number for the device that should receive the command and
•A code that contains the actual command, such as "turn off."

All of this is designed to happen in less than a second, but X10 does have some limitations. Communicating over electrical lines is not always reliable because the lines get "noisy" from powering other devices. An X10 device could interpret electronic interference as a command and react, or it might not receive the command at all. While X10 devices are still around, other technologies have emerged to compete for your home networking dollar.

Instead of going through the power lines, some systems use radio waves to communicate, which is also how WiFi and cell phone signals operate. However, home automation networks don't need all the juice of a WiFi network because automation commands are short messages. The two most prominent radio networks in home automation are ZigBee and Z-Wave. Both of these technologies are mesh networks, meaning there's more than one way for the message to get to its destination.

Z-Wave uses a Source Routing Algorithm to determine the fastest route for messages. Each Z-Wave device is embedded with a code, and when the device is plugged into the system, the network controller recognizes the code, determines its location and adds it to the network. When a command comes through, the controller uses the algorithm to determine how the message should be sent. Because this routing can take up a lot of memory on a network, Z-Wave has developed a hierarchy between devices: Some controllers initiate messages, and some are "slaves," which means they can only carry and respond to messages.


ZigBee's name illustrates the mesh networking concept because messages from the transmitter zigzag like bees, looking for the best path to the receiver. While Z-Wave uses a proprietary technology for operating its system, ZigBee's platform is based on the standard set by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for wireless personal networks. This means any company can build a ZigBee-compatible product without paying licensing fees for the technology behind it, which may eventually give ZigBee an advantage in the marketplace. Like Z-Wave, ZigBee has fully functional devices (or those that route the message) and reduced function devices (or those that don't).


Using a wireless network provides more flexibility for placing devices, but like electrical lines, they might have interference. Insteon offers a way for your home network to communicate over both electrical wires and radio waves, making it a dual mesh network. If the message isn't getting through on one platform, it will try the other. Instead of routing the message, an Insteon device will broadcast the message, and all devices pick up the message and broadcast it until the command is performed. The devices act like peers, as opposed to one serving as an instigator and another as a receptor. This means that the more Insteon devices that are installed on a network, the stronger the message will be.


On the next page, we'll take a look at the products you'll need to get your smart home running.

LG 47LH50

If the Internet is the future of television, then LG's LH50 series hails from the day after tomorrow. This flat-panel LCD is the first to offer Netflix streaming, which allows instant, free-to-subscribers access to an all-you-can watch menu of thousands of movies and TV shows without having to connect another box. Sure, Sony has already announced the service for its own compatible TVs later this fall, and we expect Netflix to make its way to Yahoo Widget-equipped TVs from Samsung (and perhaps others) sometime later this year, but for now the LH50 holds exclusive claim to Netflix. Speaking of Yahoo Widgets, the LH50 delivers that feature too, and better than other TVs we've tested, and also includes its own YouTube client and network streaming to boot.

On the other hand, the LH50 costs a good couple hundred more than its non-Web-enabled cousin in the company's line--easily enough to buy an external Netflix device and then some. Its performance wasn't as good as some of the better LCDs we've tested, albeit still decent enough to pass most viewers' muster, especially in terms of color accuracy. For fans of Internet video who don't want one more box, those issues might be worth the sacrifice for the LG LH50, which for now is the most well-featured Interactive HDTV available.

Features
Interactive capability: At the time of this writing the LH50 LCD and PS80 plasma series by LG are the only TVs on the market with built-in Netflix streaming. Of course you can get the service on other external devices such as the Xbox 360, TiVo HD, Roku player and a few Blu-ray players, for example, but these LG sets build it right in.


The LH50's Netflix interface mirrors that of other Netflix streaming devices, with cover art arranged horizontally.
For the uninitiated, Netflix streaming, called "Watch Instantly" by the company, lets Netflix subscribers immediately watch free movies and TV shows from the service's catalog. The selection of titles is more restricted than the normal mail order service and generally excludes new, major name releases, but there are still thousands of titles. You must select titles to watch instantly using a PC; you can't browse and choose titles directly on the TV, although that restriction may be lifted in a future update.

In our testing, the Netflix streaming worked as well as it has in other such devices, and it was exceedingly easy to use, interfacing flawlessly with our Watch Instantly queue on the Netflix Web site. As usual, video quality depends a lot on your Internet connection. In the best-case scenario, with "full bars," the so-called HD videos looked a bit better than DVD, although the frame rate still seemed too slow, creating a stuttering effect in pans and other camera movement that dejudder didn't address (to be fair, all Netflix devices suffer from this artifact). The main difference, and it's a potentially big one for videophiles, is that LG's built-in Netflix service doesn't allow you to adjust any of the picture parameters beyond the presets for the various picture modes. You can choose from among the modes via the quick menu, but main menu access isn't available, so you can't tweak any of the modes. That said, you still get more control of the picture than you do on Yahoo Widgets' current video players, for example, and choosing from among eight modes will be plenty for most viewers. Our Roku review has more details on Netflix streaming.

Aside from Netflix, the LG offers its own YouTube client that's superior to the Yahoo Widget available on Samsung TVs, not to mention the proprietary clients developed by Sony and Panasonic, but basically offers the same functionality. You can sign into your YouTube account, brose most-recent, most-viewed, and top-rated videos, search via an onscreen virtual keyboard using the TV remote (autofill of popular search terms is supported, thankfully) and sort by date. Like on those other TV clients, YouTube.com's "HD" category is absent and video quality is significantly worse than it is on the Web site, even with higher-quality non-HD videos. No "continuous play" option is available to automatically move on to the next video in a category. Check out our look at YouTube on TV for more information.

The LG also includes Yahoo Widgets. At the time of testing, it offered fewer widgets than Samsung, but significantly more than Sony, although we expect those differences to even out in time (but naturally we don't expect LG to get the YouTube widget, for example, since the company built its own separate client). Check out Yahoo's official list of current LG widgets for details.

I had a blog that I posted earlier and it was entitled "Rent or Stream," I am placing a link to this blog.

http://katrinacaul.blogspot.com/2010/03/rent-or-stream.html

highest-radiation cell phones

Way back in 2000, I introduced CNET's Cell Phone Radiation Chart, which let readers know how their particular model rated in terms of SAR or specific absorption rate levels, measured by the FCC as part of its cell phone certification process. Today, the list is maintained by our intrepid mobile editors--Kent German, Bonnie Cha, and Nicole Lee--but in honor of the list's 10-year anniversary, we're giving it a little color and displaying the whole thing in pictures.

As we note in our intro to the list, for a phone to pass FCC certification and be sold in the United States, its maximum SAR level must be less than 1.6 watts per kilogram. In Europe, the level is capped at 2 watts per kilogram, whereas Canada allows a maximum of 1.6 watts per kilogram. The SAR level listed in our charts represents the highest SAR level measured with the phone next to the ear as tested by the FCC. It's possible for the SAR level to vary between different transmission bands (the same phone can use multiple bands during a call), and different testing bodies can obtain different results.


Photos of the phones can be found in the below link:

http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-6454_7-10002813.html?tag=mncol;txt