Reading offers Brazilian prisoners quicker escape

BRASILIA: Brazil will offer inmates in its crowded federal penitentiary system a novel way to shorten their sentences: four days less for every book they read.

Inmates in four federal prisons holding some of Brazil's most notorious criminals will be able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced.

Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must "make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing," said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette.

A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed "Redemption through Reading".

"A person can leave prison more enlightened and with a enlarged vision of the world," said Sao Paulo lawyer Andre Kehdi, who heads a book donation project for prisons.

"Without doubt they will leave a better person," he said.(Reuters)

A man-made, floating 'island' -- yours for a few million

VIENNA: An Austrian firm has come up what it hopes is the next big thing for the mega-rich: a man-made, floating "island" with a list price of 5.2 million euros ($6.5 million), the company's founder said.

Measuring 20 by 37 metres (66 by 121 feet), the "Orsos Island" has no engine but can be anchored anywhere its owners choose and then towed to another location the other side of the world if they so wish, Hungarian-born Gabor Orsos said.

"The interest has been massive from all over the world, from Australia, China, the United States. We have already had the first pre-orders and we have some potential buyers coming from Australia next week," the entrepreneur said.

The island is environmentally friendly and fully self-sufficient, with solar panels and wind generators providing power. It can sleep 12 people plus crew and offers 1,000 square metres of living space.

The only problem is that no "islands" have been produced yet and that once manufacturing starts it will initially be in land-locked Slovakia.

But Orsos expects the first finished products to be ready in 18 months' to two years' time, and for the "islands" to be transported down the Danube river into the Black Sea -- and then to wherever the customer wants. (AFP)

George Washington's Constitution fetches record $9.8mln

NEW YORK: George Washington's personal copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights sold for $9.8 million at auction o n F riday, setting a record for any American book or historic document.

Bidders at Christie's New York salesroom and others on the telephone competed for the first US president's signed, gold-embossed volume dating to 1789, which had a pre-sale estimate of up to $3 million.

The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, which maintains the historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia that was Washington's home and is now open to the public, was the successful bidder.

"The unique book has been in the Mount Vernon library until 1876, and will soon be returned to that library," said Chris Coover, senior specialist of books and manuscripts at Christie's.

The bound volume was Washington's personal copy of the Acts of Congress and is noteworthy for his bold signature marking it as his own.

The Acts of Congress include the Constitution, whose preamble promises to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity," and the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, which establish such fundamental liberties as the right to free speech, press, assembly and religion.

Christie's described the book as being in near-pristine condition after 223 years. It was specially printed for Washington in 1789, his first year in office as president.

The margins include Washington's handwritten brackets and notations highlighting key passages concerning the president's responsibilities.

The Acts of Congress volume was sold from Washington's library at Mt. Vernon in 1876 and eventually bought at auction by collector Richard Dietrich in the 1960s. It was being sold by the family's estate.

Similar volumes created for Thomas Jefferson, the first Secretary of State and third US president, and Attorney General John Jay, are in Indiana's Lilly Library and a private collection, respectively.

Rare books and manuscripts have achieved impressive prices in recent years.

An autographed manuscript of Lincoln's 1864 election victory speech sold for $3.4 million in February 2009, which set a record for an American manuscript at the time. A 1787 letter written from Washington to his nephew on the subject of the ratification of the Constitution fetched $3.2 million in December 2009. (AFP)

iPhone app that helps decide whether or not to dump your boyfriend

A new iPhone app allows uncertain girlfriends to review their feelings towards their boyfriend from an objective point of view.

Chicago-based programmer Sarah Gray created the app 'Should I Break Up With My Boyfriend?' in her living room when working through a tumultuous relationship several years ago.

Gray said that she realised she was up and down on a daily basis and wanted to track her feelings about the relationship from an objective perspective.

The clever app requires girlfriends to rate how they feel about their significant other on a daily basis as well as recording their feelings.

It then analyses the data and reveals how the user's feelings fluctuated in comparison to their general outlook on life.

"Being able to see your relationship clearly and objectively is the first step on the path to a happy, healthy, love life - whether it's with him, with someone else, or on your own for a while," the Daily Mail quoted Gray as saying.

"Sometimes, we need an objective voice to help us appreciate a good thing or accept something painful. And this app helps us tap into the best voice of all - the one inside ourselves," she said.

The app warns that it cannot replace 'discussions with a licensed therapist, a best friend or a favourite pet', but it can certainly provide a fresh point of view.

Users can also share results with trusted friends via email or SMS.

To ensure that the conflicted dater's answers are not be influenced by their most recent feelings they are not able to look at their own results for a whole fortnight.

When viewed afterwards, developers MercuryApp hope the patterns will have more impact and help provide answers.

"We're quick to forget or dismiss past feelings that don't fi t in with our current mood, which is why seeing larger patterns can give you insight you might not have in the moment," Gray added.

Her own results showed that her mood was 'good' only 39 percent of the time and neutral for the rest.

In the end, Gray believes that this simple but scientific analysis helped her to end a rocky relationship and move forward for good.

Video games and movies become lifelike with AV Video glasses

This smashing technology will make even the biggest of high definition screens melt like ice in the hot sun. Yeah! That is possible. Also, you won’t be heading out to the cinema that often to catch the latest 3D flick. Your craze for this too will just fade away. This hot shot technology brings to your living room full sized images, which will be in action right next to you, alive and kicking.

The contraption that makes this unbelievable view possible is a humble pair of eye glasses. These sleek glasses have to be worn over the head and then a small screen will flap out covering your eyes. That’s just like the glasses you see in sci-fi flicks. Remember the shades that the old doc from Back to the Future wore. Coming back to the point, these glasses will flash a virtual screen in front of your eyes, which will have a whopping 36 inch display.

Put on these AV Videos glasses whenever you want to watch a movie or a video game. You won’t be a spectator anymore but instead a part of the happenings rolling onscreen. All characters are alive and breathing whether you are glued to the Xbox360, PS3, Wii or your DVD player. This doodad works with all AV devices.

Wear these light and comfortable glasses for as long as you want. Hours will pass by and you won’t feel a thing. Its advanced LCoS screen will not hurt your eyes. There is no software installation required and the setup process happens in a jiffy. You can swivel the goggles up and down smoothly. Moreover, the blast from its audio speakers creates quite a pitch.

Another piece of good news is that all this doesn’t come at an unreachable skyrocketing cost. The glasses will actually cost (about $215) less than a brand new television! Technology is surely getting larger than life. Duh! Don’t just stand there with your jaw agape. Go ahead and grab one right now. Via: Chinavasion

3D holographic chats will become a reality with the Telepod

Crystal balls and magic mirrors through which you can talk to others are simply mystical. Three dimensional tele communication has been on the mind of many people ever since they saw Princess Leia talk to Obi Wan Kenobi through a holographic image of herself in the smashing sci-fi hit Star Wars. But if research efforts of a team from Human Media Lab at the Canadian Queens University work out well, then you will be able to experience the thrill of holo chat in reality soon.

Dubbed as the telepod, this tubular cylinder will hold the image of the person you are taking to right in front of you. The life sized image will have sufficient depth and will look as good as real. You can view the person being telecast from all sides and even walk around them. Yeah, you got it right, this is a stark 3D image, and not the 2D shows with slight depth that you usually see.

People who know about 3D projection will surely ask how all this is possible with just six kinects. Well, of course, it is not possible. A total of 10 kinects have made this marvelous break through achievable. Additional four Kinects will be placed in the room where the 3D images will be cast. These extra sensors will make it possible to view the images from the side as well as the back.

So, this system can only be used in one room that has all the installation. Also, only one person will be able to see the 3D image at a time. The mechanism is not as breathtaking as the 3D holograms in Star Wars as yet but the fine tuning is going on. And when it rolls out, it will completely transform the transmission of teleconferences and 3D advertisements. Via: Queens University Media Lab

Eight-year-old 'Mugly' wins world's ugliest dog title

PETALUMA, California: A Chinese crested's short snout, beady eyes and white whiskers earned it the title of World's Ugliest Dog at the annual contest in Northern California on Friday.

Competing for fame, $1,000 and a year's worth of dog cookies, Mugly won the honor by beating out 28 other ugly dogs from around the world.

The 8-year-old rescue dog from the United Kingdom will also be invited for a photo shoot and will receive a VIP stay at the local Sheraton.

"I couldn't speak when they announced Mugly's name," said Bev Nicholson, the dog's owner. "I didn't know which way to look. I was shaking as much as the dog."

It's not the first time Mugly has been recognized for his unattractiveness. Nicholson said he was named Britain's ugliest dog in 2005.

The contest at the Marin-Sonoma Fairgrounds gets worldwide attention, with reporters and camera crews from around the world traveling to Petaluma, about 40 miles north of San Francisco.

Organizers say the competing dogs are judged for what they term their "natural ugliness in both pedigree and mutt classes."

Mugly's victory was the latest for a Chinese crested. Last year's winner, Yoda, was a Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix.

Disputed dinosaur skeleton may become US property

NEW YORK: US authorities said they expect this week to seize a 70-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton that was discovered in Mongolia more 65 years ago and now is stored in New York and at the center of an international legal dispute.

A federal judge in New York has signed a warrant that allows the US Department of Homeland Security to seize the skeleton of the Tyrannosaurus bataar - an Asian cousin of the North American Tyrannosaurus rex - from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

"We should have it by the end of the week," said Luis Martinez, a spokesman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The seizure will be a "major step forward" for the government of Mongolia, which is claiming sovereign ownership and seeking the skeleton's return, said Robert Painter, a Houston attorney who represents Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia.

The skeleton - 8 feet (2.4m) tall and 24 feet (7.3m) long - has been stored in crates in New York City since Heritage sold it at auction to an unidentified buyer for more than $1 million on May 20.

At the request of the Mongolian government, a US District judge in Dallas issued a restraining order preventing the skeleton from being moved or the ownership transferred while the dispute is pending.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara filed a lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of the nearly intact skeleton and its return to the Mongolian government.

In New York, US District Judge Kevin Castel later issued an order to seize the fossil, ruling there was probable cause it was subject to forfeiture under federal laws.

"From a legal standpoint, the US government's lawsuit shifts the burden of proof from Mongolia to Heritage and others who might make a claim to its ownership," Painter said.

Heritage officials have said they will continue to cooperate with authorities. They say the skeleton was legally obtained and brought to auction by a reputable consignor.

"We believe our consignor purchased fossils in good faith, then spent a year of his life and considerable expense identifying, restoring, mounting and preparing what had previously been a much less valuable matrix of unassembled, underlying bones and bone fragments," Jim Halperin, co-chairman of Heritage Auctions, said in a statement. "We sincerely hope there is a just and fair outcome for all parties."

Federal officials said smugglers made false statements about the skeleton when it was imported into the United States from Britain in 2010. The skeleton did not originate in Britain nor was its value only $15,000 as claimed, they said.

The skeleton was discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia's Omnogovi Province, Bharara said. Mongolia has had laws in place since 1924 prohibiting the export of dinosaur fossils that are considered national treasures and government property.

Heritage Auctions and the Mongolian government agreed in May to jointly investigate the ownership of the skeleton. Several paleontologists examined the skeleton several weeks ago and determined it was removed from the western Gobi Desert in Mongolia between 1995 and 2005. (Reuters)

E-book trend slow at US libraries: study

WASHINGTON: Even as e-book sales surge, Americans are slow to look to their public libraries to take advantage of the format, a study showed Friday.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project found just 12 percent of Americans ages 16 and older who read e-books say they have borrowed an e-book from a library in the past year.

The study found most Americans are not aware they can borrow e-books from libraries, even though three-quarters of US public libraries offer the service.

Some 62 percent of those surveyed said did not know if their library offered e-book lending. Just 22 percent said they knew their library lends out e-books, and 14 percent said their library does not lend electronic books.

Even among tablet computer owners, 53 percent said they were unaware of their local library's e-book efforts.

Top bookseller Amazon last year said it was selling more digital than print books, but even owners of the Amazon Kindle were not looking to their library, the survey found.

"It was a genuine surprise to see these data, especially after all of the attention that has been paid to the tension between libraries and major book publishers about whether many of the most popular books should be available for lending by libraries," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet Project.

"E-book borrowing is gaining a foothold in the library world and will likely grow much more in the future as more people become aware of it."

But the survey also found those who wanted to borrow e-books faced problems: 56 percent of e-book borrowers said that at one point they had tried to borrow a particular book and found that the library did not carry it.

And 52 percent of the group found a waiting list to borrow the book they wanted. (AFP)

Your Eye Color Can Tell You More Than You Think

An interesting new study has suggested that eye colour could have a lot to do with what skin problems you might experience later in life. Authors of the study have suggested that eye colour could have a significant implication on the risk factors for melanoma as well. Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer.

For example, results have shown that individuals with blue eyes are much less likely to develop vitiligo, while people with brown eyes are more likely to develop the affliction and its characteristic white patches of skin and hair.

Vitiligo and Your Immune System

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s immune system attacks normal pigment cells, causing irregular white patches of skin and hair. People with vitiligo are also at higher risk of developing other autoimmune diseases like autoimmune thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.

The study, which was published in Nature Genetics showed followed 450 people with and without the skin disease, taking into account their eye colour. The group was selected randomly out of a pool of 3,200 Americans of non-Hispanic European ancestry.

The analysis identified 13 new genes that predispose people to vitiligo, and the results showed a significantly lower percentage of people with blue or gray eyes and a higher percentage of people with brown eyes had vitiligo.

Results showed that among the people with vitiligo:

• 27% had blue or gray eyes (compared with over half of Americans of European descent without the condition)
• 43% had tan or brown eyes vs. 27%.
• 30% had green or hazel eyes vs. 22%.

What is likely most strange about this study, is that researchers say the abnormal immune response associated with vitiligo may have effects in lowering the risk of melanoma.

Some Interesting Facts on Vitiligo

Many people with vitiligo can feel depressed and start lacking confidence because of their white spots. Due to the intense mental stress felt among patients with vitiligo, there are a number of therapies available. The most proven techniques out of these are UV therapy and supplemental treatments.

There has been some success using light treatments. There are people who have used UVB lamps that have re-claimed pigmentation. There are also home lamps available that can eliminate the hassle of having to go to expensive UV light therapy sessions.  Source:http://www.belmarrahealth.com

Apple I computer fetches $374,500 at NY auction

NEW YORK: A rare, still-working Apple I Computer from 1976 sold at Sotheby's auction house on Friday for $374,500, or more than 500 times its original retail price.

The computer, one of only a handful in full working condition, had been estimated to sell for about $150,000 at the auctioneer's sale of books and manuscripts.

The Apple computer, built by the company's founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, included the original cassette interface, operating instructions and BASIC computer language user's manual. But like all Apple 1's, it did not come with a monitor or power supply.

Two bidders competed for the machine, the first compact computer to allow casual users to type on a keyboard and operate basic programs. An anonymous telephone bidder prevailed for a final cost of just under $375,000 including commission.

The Apple founders created the personal computer in 1976 and presented it at a Palo Alto computer club, but there were few takers at the time. Paul Terrell, owner of a retail chain called Byte Shop, placed an order for 50 of the machines and sold them for $666.66 retail - once Wozniak and Jobs agreed to assemble the circuit boards rather than offer them as kits, Sotheby's said.

The pair then produced 150 more and sold them to friends and other vendors. Sotheby's said fewer than 50 original Apple 1s are believed to survive, with only six known to be in working condition.

Other highlights of the sale, which took in a total of $2.67 million, included an unpublished F. Scott Fitzgerald story, "The I.O.U.", which sold to an unidentified US institution for $194,500, far above the $75,000 pre-sale estimate, and an autographed letter from Oscar Wilde calling his work, "The Ballad of Reading Gaol", his swan song. It fetched $134,500, or more than three times the estimate.

Another unpublished Fitzgerald story, "Nightmare", from the early 1930s, doubled its pre-sales estimate and sold for just over $80,000, while artist Andy Warhol's illustrated book from 1954, "25 Cats Named Sam and One Blue Pussy", also doubled its estimate, selling for just under $60,000. (AFP)

Wolves kill worker at Swedish wildlife park

STOCKHOLM: A pack of wolves attacked and killed a worker in their enclosure at one of Sweden's most popular wildlife parks on Sunday, said police, who did not know what had triggered the attack on the 30-year-old woman.

"She was so badly hurt in the attack that she died of her injuries," said a police spokesman for the Ostergotland district, where the Kolmarden park is located.

"We do not know why they attacked."

Police remained on the scene to investigate the incident at the biggest wildlife park in the Nordic region, located around 150 km (93 miles) south of Stockholm.

The woman's body was recovered after rescue workers and park staff entered the enclosure, forcing the animals back while an armed park official stood by to shoot the wolves in case they attacked again, the website of Norrkoping Newspaper, the local daily, quoted a rescue official as saying.

News agency TT quoted Kolmarden zoological chief Mats Hoggren as saying there were no eyewitnesses to the attack so it was not clear exactly what had happened.

Kolmarden, founded in 1965, is one of the most popular attractions in Sweden, with more than 500,000 visitors a year. (Reuters)

Amsterdam's oldest home discovered at 527 years

AMSTERDAM: A 527-year-old home that is believed to be the oldest in Amsterdam has been discovered in the city's famous red-light district, officials said Saturday.

"We have discovered what is believed (to be) Amsterdam's oldest home, dating back to 1485," Boudewijn Oranje, an alderman for the city centre, told AFP.

The wooden structure of the historic house, situated in the Old Side district, lay hidden behind a facade built in the 1800s.

Two years ago, a fire broke out in the building used as a bar, causing extensive damage, Oranje said.

"A council inspector afterwards noticed that there was something special to the heavy wooden structure, which was barely damaged. Samples were taken and sent for testing in Germany," he said.

The tests revealed the home dated back to the 15th century.

Until now, Amsterdam's oldest home was believed to have dated from 1530, situated about a kilometre away.

Called the "wallen", the Dutch word for the banks of the city's old canals, the red-light district has been around since the 1400s, with prostitutes doing business with visiting sailors and tourists ever since. (AFP)

iHOME iP76 LED Color Changing Speaker Tower takes you back to the disco era

When we first saw the iPhone ad, we all thought we’d never ever have to buy another product to enjoy our music. Boy! What an illusion that turned out to be! Just like almost every other product created by the big evil corporations who only want to make money by selling people products that require them to buy even more products from the same line to enjoy the first purchase, the iPhone too turned out to one such supposedly all-encompassing device that sadly fails to satisfy us just by itself.

Not only are there a gazillion other products/ apps that claim to make listening to music on the iPhone a better experience than the included headphones/ in-built speaker can give you, the iHOME iP76 LED Color Changing Speaker Tower too is one such creation that claims that it can enhance your iPhone/ some other smartphones/ music player’s functionality in a way that your expensive home theater unit cannot.

The iHOME iP76 LED Color Changing Speaker Tower is basically a three feet tall speaker running a quartet of Reson8 high performance speakers that supposedly sound better than the surround unit you already have. Thanks to Bluetooth connectivity, you can connect your music playing tower with almost any other player on your iPhone, smartphone, laptop, audio system and what have you. Integrated component video outputs make the tower compatible with your TV as well while its 16 multi-color LED clusters give you a modern take on the shiny disco ball effect right within the comfort of your home. The pulsing and sensational iHOME iP76 LED Color Changing Speaker Tower is set to make a debut in July this year at $199.99. Via: CNet/ Uber Gizmo

Diabetics can now keep an 'eye' on their blood sugar level with smart contact lenses

Constant monitoring is perhaps the only way that diabetics can ensure that their blood sugar remains within the desirable level. Now, an organic chemistry researcher University of Akron named Dr. Jun Hu has come up with a new kind of contact lens that would alert people about their friends’ rising blood sugar level by simply looking into their eyes. Dr. Hu has been working on the project since 1999 and has finally created not only a smart contact lens that can automatically monitor blood sugar levels of the wearer but is also working on developing a smartphone app that would allow users to simply look into their phone’s camera, take a picture of their eye and instantly get the blood sugar reading from the lens.

The blood sugar monitoring contact lens would change color by sensing the slightest change in the sugar level present in the tears and indicate a rise in blood glucose level by changing their color. This would allow pre-diabetic patients to better monitor their condition and eating habits as well as diabetic struggling to keep their blood sugar level in check through a busy day. The change in the color of the lens would not be detectable by the wearer who would have to rely on feedback from others or a mirror to see if the color of their lens has changed and when combined with the smartphone app, the creation would allow millions across the world to keep blood sugar levels in check without using the painful prick-and-tell monitor. Via: Dvice

Digital Head and Neck Massager uses modern technology for stress free life

In this stressful world, who minds a nice massage that undoubtedly helps relieve tension and soothes senses. Head and neck can feel sore and tired because of tension and a long day. Here to re-energize you and inject some doses of freshness in you after a tiring day is the Digital Head and Neck Massager, which will prove to be a blessing in this fast paced world.

The massager has fetched heavy inspiration from the famous Meridian treatment (an ancient Chinese therapy), which can be used just anywhere. The well thought design and compact size makes it portable, hence carrying it while traveling won’t pose a trouble. It will unfurl a holistic experience and leave you revitalized. The product will massage various parts of the neck as well as head with the presence of air sacs and acupuncture points that provide relief from stress as well as headaches. Digital Head and Neck Massager not only relieves pain or stress, but also encourages movement of brain cells as well as blood circulation.

Blood circulation is promoted by the presence of a heating function, which also creates a sense of warmth. This releases stress as well as helps kill fatigue. Recovery of brain cells as well as calming stress levels is further assisted by embedded comforting sounds. The massager fetches all the power from four AA batteries for its functioning and comes complete with a remote control. The easy to use design is quite stylish and has an adjustable size. Digital Head and Neck Massager will bring up your productivity level and also improve your sleep, keeping you calm and fresh. Via: Chinavasion

Wooden Golf Club iPhone Dock or how to destroy a valuable golf club and an iPhone

Words like ‘vintage’, ‘antique’, ‘heirloom’ and ‘collectible’ have no significance for the decadent iPhone paraphernalia makers who really only seem to care about being able to turn almost anything and everything into an iPhone dock as long as there is someone dumb enough to buy such a thing out there. Part of the Fore!Wood™ Collection from the Etsy shop that specializes in wood docking stations RockAppleWood, the impractical iPhone dock basically lets you seat your phone atop a golf club from the classical wooden headed golf club making era that lasted from the 1930s right up to the 1980s and this particular baby features a genuine 1930’s C.S. Butchart 4 Wood Deluxe golf club. Born in 1876 in Carnoustie, Scotland Cuthbert Stachan Butchart was a famous professional club maker that served the exclusive clientele at the Westchester N.Y.-based Biltmore Country Club.

The vintage club features a 4 plate brass bottom that has the words “Deluxe” indicating the genuine handiwork of Butchart. Though the modder who ruined the vintage and precious piece of golfing legend has not specified whether the club will stay put when stood on the head or if it will need to be leaned against a wall or a support structure, it has got to be one of the stupidest iPhone charging docks out there for sure.

What makes the dock even dumber is that it comes with a 6 feet ling USB cord that allows you to sync or charge your phone when you decide that the golf club charger is just not worth displaying outside and choose to stuff it in a closet! The Vintage Wooden Golf Club iPhone Dock is worth $100 when you buy it from the Etsy store. Via: Etsy

PressurePen stylus for iPad makes drawing on your tablet less bothersome

Drawing on your iPad, as many of us have sadly discovered, is not as easy as the TV commercials make it appear. Especially if you’ve worn out the screen a bit with usage and it needs to be calibrated every few days to keep it working smoothly. Most of have end up using rubber coated matchsticks or other homemade pointing devices to serve as styli for the must-have tablet though some of us do end up purchasing as-seen-on-TV products too that end up scratching our iPad screen beyond repair. For those us that aren’t blessed with the resources to keep buying these tablets every few months or replacing their screens with the help of tech wizardry, Charles Mangin, web developer extraordinaire and noted hardware "artiste," PressurePen is a cool new stylus made especially for the iPad that delivers you from all your stylus woes once and for all.

The unseemly looking PressurePen cones fitted with an audio-signal producing heart that lets your iPad’s screen discover how hard you’re pressing down on your stylus so your iPad can, via the audio jack of course, sense whether to draw a deeper or a lighter line. The PressurePen is designed to deliver over 1000 levels of pressure information to the iPad via the audio signal which makes it one of the finest drawing tools out there in the market today. For now, the PressurePen is available via the tinkerer’s Kickstarter projecting, pledging a fund to which will get you one of the first shipments of the product.

To get the PressurePen in a DIY kit form (where you can print your own 3D body shell and tinker with the open source software to customize the stylus to your own needs) you will need to pledge $30 towards the $10,000 fundraising goal before May 31st or pledge $60 to get a fully assembled, ready to run PressurePen whenever it is ready for production. Via: Technabob/ Kickstarter

Sound Hat for Girls

It's time to unveil something now that is exclusively designed for girls. These beanies, called the iLogic MP3 and iPod sound hats, have in-built speakers to which you can connect your MP3 player, iPod, mobile phone or any such portable media device and enjoy your favorite tunes. Available in colors of black, pink and white in 100 percent polyester with a linen of soft fleece, these hats not only help you keep warm but also add to your trendy look.

 These hats are great alternatives to those earphones that would often come out of your ears while you are jogging, running or dancing to the tunes.

 These hats stay well-seated on your head thus allowing you to go for jogging, dancing, leaping or bouncing without any fear of the speakers falling off. So enjoy your favorite activities while listening to your favorite music now, anytime and anywhere.

Night Vision glasses will brighten up your visiblity as the sun sets!

Most of the time, it becomes difficult for many of us to take a break from our working life and enjoy the beautiful environment of the night. But there are some that find some difficulty in night vision and believe it or not, they must be the real screwed ones to miss the peaceful exploration after the sunset. To overcome this issue, markets are already flooded with many promising products that guarantee to evade the vision problem in night. No wonder about such hopeful products, but Sanne – Marye Huijing, an Industrial design engineer, wants more exploration in such products. And so, she came up with some unique concept in the form of Night Vision glasses that will extend the horizons of sight in the dark. Night Vision glasses hold unique creativity of intellectual work by the designer.

This unique product holds its USP in its glasses and technique used for the development. The Night Vision glasses has Phosphorescent layered design that sends out the UV light, increasing the sight vision more accurately and clearly. As UV light has high intensity, it helps out to evade the invisibility to great extent. Moreover, it also has micro lens arrays that help in concentrating the light to the eye. The glass frame which is printed in ABS has a stylish appeal attached with durability. There are two small lithium batteries of 300mAh and 3.7 V at each of the frame’s side, lending power for the UV LED (3.3 V, 20mA) light. These LED lights are situated on both sides of the glasses beside the lenses. The lenses are formed in mold type structure and are made from PMMA and vacuum.

Thus, Night Vision is a set of compound engineering that makes possible to enlighten up your sight, giving you the freedom of visibility. Via  Night Vision glasses

Bikini made from junked computer parts depicts Women in Technology

When it comes to stereotyping women, nothing stands out more than their obsession with fashion and their discomfort with technology. Not only is the presumption sexist (all men are just as likely to be not as well versed with technology as a similar percentage of the female population), it actually discourages little girls from developing an interest in technology at an early age. Another equally sexist presumption about women is that they prize fashion above all else since men these days care about their grooming and clothing just as much as women. However, designers Jennifer Shannon and Andi Cheung thought it would be a good idea to depict these negative stereotypes about women through an art piece that uses a bikini (which promotes the idea of women as sex objects) covered in hardware from junked old computers.

Created for the Recurring Concepts in Art class taught by famous art historian and the Guggenheim Museum’s Education Manager for Adult Interpretive Programs, the piece is supposed to be a commentary on stereotype threat, women in technology and wearables where the students were required to repurpose their old projects without using the help of technology.

As far as the project being a response representative of gender stereotypes faced by women when technology is concerned, the piece does more to reinforce them rather than educating us otherwise. Bits of old computer parts on what appears to be a very prickly bikini isn’t very thought provoking or stereotype breaking or even functional by any stretch of the imagination is it? Via: Andi Cheung

Little Slide Dress, a modern rendition of the classic LBD

The little black dress or LBD, as it is fondly called, has been ruling the hearts of fashion conscious souls from decades at a stretch. What was made to exist as a versatile, sexy and elegant clothing item has gained immense popularity, making it the most coveted and essential piece of clothing one must own. Combining the essence of modern technology and the magic of films with the little black dress is designer Emily Steel, who has come up with the stunning Little Slide Dress.

The very modern dress has fetched heavy inspiration from classic movies, which resulted in a hip and happening rendition. It makes wearable technology a reality yet again and is nothing less than a piece of fine art. The sexy dress has been fashioned out of slide film images, which gives it the much required flavor of film images. But, the real magic unfolds when the lights are put out. The dress comes embedded with LEDs, which make it shimmer like a star and will definitely manage to make onlookers whiff wows.

The LEDs in the dress are not always on. Their functioning is decided by an Arduino Lilypad, which has been connected to the light sensor. This will control the intensity of light that will be produced by the LEDs as the sensor carefully assesses the presence of ambient light at a particular place. In full light, the dress will look like a black glossy creation. But, all the images on the dress surface, when the sensor determines the low brightness, makes the Little Slide Dress whimsical. Whether you feel like dressing up or dressing down, the Little Slide Dress will make you look like a superstar as you glow in the dark. Via  Little Slide Dress

Four eyes eyewear combines reading glasses with sunglasses

Anyone who has ever spent a good amount of time wearing prescription glasses would know how irritating it can be to fumble with multiple pairs of glasses. Bifocals promise to solve the problem but one still needs to keep a pair of glasses with photochromic lens to counter the harsh sunlight. Designer Giulio Iacchetti too had been struggling with sever near-sightedness since his pre-teens and after a few decades of struggling with many pairs of glasses and dealing with jeers he came up with a handy and practical solution. Dubbed 4occhi which literally translates as “four eyes”, the spectacular pair of spectacles comes with two pairs of glasses fitted into one simple reversible frame that lets users carry a couple of pairs of glasses right on their face!

Unlike classic bifocal lenses, the 40cchi glasses offer users the comfort of using the entirety of a lens for a single purpose without giving up the convenience of having two pairs in one. The design may invite some name calling and inquisitive stares from strangers when you walk down the street with a pair of inverted glass lenses stuck to the top of the one on your nose but at least you’ll never have to carry a spare set on your person.

The 4occhi glasses can be customized according to personal needs and you can have the separate pairs fitted with lenses for mid-distance use, eye relaxation, night use, tinted lenses, reading lenses and so on.

The 4occhi glass frame is constructed using a wood and cotton fiber derived material called Cadore which is essentially cellulose acetate, the plant-based plastic used in fashioning buttons and combs. Made entirely by hand in Italy, the 4oochi eyewear is available in a limited series run only with tortoise-shell, transparent, white and black being the only available colors.Via: Core 77/ Palomar Web

Action-based videogames get players on their feet

LOS ANGELES: New videogames mixing music with real-world action promise to get players off the couch, turning basketball dribblers into "true ballers" and helping new moms tighten their tummies.

"NBA Baller Beats" laid claim to being the first videogame to incorporate basketballs into the action, challenging players to dribble in time with high-energy music in order to score points.

The videogame taps into movement-sensing abilities of Kinect accessories for Xbox 360 controllers to challenge players to bounce balls in synch with on-screen cues and even do stunts like passing behind backs or between legs.

"Kinect knows everything you are doing so you can't fake it out," a spokesman for Majesco Entertainment said while demonstrating 'Baller Beats' at the E3 videogame industry extravaganza in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Copies of the game will be bundled with basketballs when they are released in September at a price of $60 each, according to Majesco.

"Even though the game comes with a full-size basketball you can use any rubber ball, even a swimming pool ball," Majesco's Liz Buckley told. "That may be a little less intimidating for moms in the living room."

The ball cannot be black because it would be too difficult to track properly, according to Buckley.

Majesco also showed off a "Zumba Fitness Core" videogame that combined the Columbian dance exercise craze with Kinect for Xbox.

"Core" will be released later this year as a new installment in a franchise that has sold more than seven million videogames since it was launched in November 2010.

"It's a dance fitness party," Buckley said. "Exercise in disguise."

"Core" features overall body workout routines with a special focus on chiseling abdominal muscles and firming sides.

A Majesco survey of 28,000 women revealed that 61 percent wanted to get their tummies in better shape, according to Buckley.

"Especially moms," she said. "You have kids and then you want your body back."

Styles of dance featured in the new version of the game include African, jive, disco, and ballet.

"Kinect is the most natural way to experience Zumba," Buckley said. "It is hands-free tracking, and if you go to Zumba in a gym it is all about using your body."

About 12 million people worldwide take Zumba classes, according to Majesco, which took advantage of Xbox online capabilities to let "Core" players find real-world sessions close to home and stream related news to consoles.

A version of "Core" will also be released for Nintendo Wii consoles with motion-sensing controllers. (AFP)

Sheep rain down on cars in Australia

MELBOURNE: Sheep plunged onto cars on a busy Australian highway after a truck carrying 400 livestock crashed while crossing an overpass, spilling its cargo into the path of terrified motorists below.

The dramatic accident late Thursday near Melbourne saw dead and injured sheep fall onto at least two moving cars and into the paths of others.

Police said one of the vehicles rolled numerous times but the occupants were not injured.

"The truck is hanging over the overpass just above the Princes Freeway," police said in a statement.

"A number of sheep have fallen to the road below, hitting two vehicles."

Motorists described chaotic scenes.

"There was nothing we could do. They were, like, literally on top of us," one woman whose car was hit told the Melbourne Age newspaper.

"We just ran straight into them. We all screamed. I slammed on the brakes and we are so lucky. My car is an absolute write-off but the sheep, I feel so bad for them. It's horrific, it really is."

Television footage showed the truck hanging precariously off the overpass with dead sheep in the wreck and littering the road below.

Police said the crashed truck had rolled over on a bend and there did not appear to be any other vehicles involved in causing the accident. (AFP)

Pot smoking mother drives off with baby on car roof

PHOENIX: A marijuana-smoking woman was arrested on Saturday in Phoenix after she accidentally drove away with her five-week-old son in a child safety seat on the roof of her vehicle, police said.

The baby fell off the car in the middle of an intersection and was found unharmed and strapped into the seat, said Phoenix police spokesman James Holmes.

The mother Catalina Clouser, 19, was booked into jail on child abuse and aggravated assault charges, he said. The infant was taken to a local hospital as a precaution and is in the custody of state Child Protective Services.

"It appears the suspect put the baby on the roof of the car and drove off, forgetting he was still on the roof," Holmes said in a written statement.

Police said Clouser and her boyfriend had been smoking marijuana in a park and left with the toddler to buy beer late on Friday night. Officers stopped the car and the boyfriend was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence while driving with the baby in the 2000 Ford Focus.

Police learned that Clouser was so upset about the arrest that she drove to a friend's home and "admittedly smoked one or two additional bowls of marijuana," Holmes said.

She left at about midnight with the baby asleep in the car seat, placing the child on top of the vehicle, he said. Clouser apparently did not realize that the baby was missing until she arrived home.

Holmes said witnesses who were friends of the mother advised officers that the child belonged to Clouser. The mother then arrived at the scene and "made admissions to what had occurred." Photo Credit:http://www.gadailynews.com

6-year old girl competes in National Spelling Bee

WASHINGTON: A 6-year-old girl became the youngest participant ever to compete in the preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday, getting off to a successful start by spelling "dirigible."

Lori Anne Madison, 6, of Woodbridge, Virginia, is the youngest contestant to qualify for the spelling bee, according to the Scripps website. She is among 278 competitors, including three finalists from last year.

Madison was given the word "dirigible" to spell and, after lowering the microphone to meet her height, asked for a definition. Once she got it, she promptly spelled the word and walked off with a smile.

Madison and the other contestants, aged up to 15, are competing to be one of 50 to go on to the spelling bee's semi-final round on Thursday.

They spell words on stage for an audience and live television at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, a few miles south of Washington, D.C.

The contestants correctly spelled words such as "philately," the study of postage stamps and postal history; "hafiz" a term for someone who has memorized the Koran; and "flibbertigibbet," to describe a flighty person. The competition began with "witticism."

Three of last year's finalists have returned, including Arvind Mahankali, 12, who goes to school in New York City, and tied for third place in last year's contest. He correctly spelled "garibaldi," a type of blouse.

Nabeel Rahman, 14, who attends school in East Amherst, New York and Samuel Estep, 14, of Berryville, Virginia, placed 10th and 13th in 2011, respectively. Estep is home-schooled.

Rahman spelled the musical term "coloratura" and Estep spelled "tahini," a paste made from sesame seeds.

The spellers employed a range of strategies from writing out words on the palms of their hand with their fingers to asking for alternate pronunciations. Some took long pauses to think while others spelled in a burst of letters and ran back to their seats.

Words that the contestants slipped up on included "ascetic," to describe austerity or self-denial; "blasé," to be apathetic to pleasure or excitement; and "gnathonic," to mean fawning.

The young contestants score three points for correct answers in two rounds of spelling on Wednesday.

Based on their scores as well as a computer test taken by all contenders, the top 50 will go on to compete in the semi-finals.

Contestants are eliminated once they misspell a word. The final round is on Thursday night.

The spelling bee champion wins a $30,000 cash prize from Scripps, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond from Merriam-Webster and a $5,000 scholarship from the Sigma Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation, among other prizes, according to the Scripps website.

The spelling bee is held by the media group E.W. Scripps Company and other sponsors and is being broadcast live by ESPN.

Last year's winner was 14-year-old Sukanya Roy from South Abington Township, Pennsylvania, who spelled "cymotrichous," used to describe having wavy hair. (Reuters)

MIT Media Lab creates new UI iPad app to make group work more intuitive

Back in the good old days, having a team collaborate on a group project translated into people huddling over a bunch of papers on the meeting desk where people would be free to provide inputs via doodles and gestures or silly drawings that served as rough drafts. In the computer era, all that translated to everyone sending out a lot of emails and PowerPoint presentation but people still pretty much huddled over hand drawn sketches to get the actual work done. We guess people working in graphics-intensive industries like animation, architecture and generally any company that deems drawing flowcharts as an essential part of their job were just waiting for someone to come up with an iPad app that would allow them to work together on group projects where virtual 3D doodles would replace the old pen and paper ones.

And while we’re hoping that these would also come paired with a holographic projector that could beam a 3D picture right on top of a table and anyone could touch and move it to provide their input, a team from MIT Media Lab thought it would be better if they came up with an app that let users interact on projects while working on their separate iPads. The experimental design is called T(ether) and was created by designers Ken Perlin, Hiroshi Ishii, Dávid Lakatosand and Matthew Blackshaw, who claim that the collaborative display interface would make spatial expression more intuitive than drawing exemplary doodles on a paper.

The app basically lets users use augmented reality and a special sensor-fitted glove to share virtual space and manipulate virtual 3D objects with their hand together. Users can zoom, pinch, expand and do a heck lot of other things to virtual designs with gestures alone and would also allow others to essentially manipulate objects in the shared space the same way making it a less time consuming affair to “work together.” The natural application is one step short of a team standing in front of an enormous touchscreen display wall and creating 3D virtual objects together but it’s a good start for creative people who just can’t seem to get any work done without bringing their iPads to work anymore! Via: Fastcodesign

Sprout Ambient Infant Monitor makes life easier for new parents

Being a new parent can be very grueling for first timers especially if they have a packed schedule to work around. Most new parents choose to opt for work from home options offered by their offices though that too requires one to chalk out a time frame and a space away from the sleeping baby. Being inexperienced, most new parents need help recognizing when their child’s health and safety are in danger and there are some situations that medical brochures and advice from mum just doesn’t prepare you with. The Sprout Ambient Infant Monitor System by David Kanegsberg is one such solution that allows new parents as well folks that need to work away from a nursery to keep a constant check on their infant’s safety even from afar.

Basically an intelligent infant monitor system, the Sprout Ambient Infant Monitor uses existing Wi-Fi to monitor and transmit data to multiple devices in and out of the home with a Touchless Monitoring system keeping a constant track of the baby’s breathing and temperature. Motion recognition technology and infrared are also used in the system to keep a good track of the baby's chest movement and vital signs.

This allows parents to keep track of baby’s breathing and temperature patterns from afar. Sprout transmits data to a computer through a router data is instantly processed and uploaded to a secure site on the internet and then trickles down into a live feed that can be downloaded to a 3G phone or a computer. Source: David Kanegsberg

The new motorized laptop brings a revolution to your personalized computer

With the Motorized Laptop, never again would you have to make manual adjustments to the screen. The whole concept has been devised by designer Tobias Toft, who designed this ingenious idea for his final project at CIID.

By fitting in a motorized device into the laptop, Toft has been able to control the angle of the lid, making it open and close automatically. This is not all, for he has even installed an Arduino board within the computer’s machinery, which has further been coupled up with a Servomotor letting the computer do wonders. The motherboard of the laptop and the motor make the contraption do wonders. This piece of machinery has been rigged in such a way that it brings about a revolution in the way technology has been modified to serve our needs.

The whole programming has been done on the Open Frameworks software and it allows the laptop to automatically figure out the position of the user. In turn, the webcam and the microphone of the computer move the lid around by judging the position of the user’s face. The touch sensor’s make the experience all the more lightheaded and interesting. The creativity of the designer reflects in every bit of the designing involved and makes everything stand out in the best of ways. Via: Portfolio

Remodeled Renault Alpine A 110-50 blends in the eminent brand's legacy

The Renault brand line looks quite monotonous compared to the posh wheels churned out by others nowadays. Given that the car’s design is in need of a complete overhaul, there definitely isn’t a better way to give the fleet a revamp, than to mimic the design of the much coveted Renault Alpine A110 with modern sensibilities. Outdoing designer Yann Jarsalle’s brutal plan to celebrate the brand’s legacy and 50th anniversary of Renault Alpine A110 will not be that easy. Don’t be surprised if the car races ahead of all the heavy competition in the market.

Hints of the old car will be maintained, but despite this, the remodeled speedster will look cutting edge. The new look is brought about by the de novo Renault design language created by Laurens van den Acker in collaboration with DeZir concept. This new fangled design style will be retained all across Renault’s future models. The speedster will be given a tubular carbon fiber exterior that looks somewhat like the chassis of the Mégane Trophy race car but has been hardened a bit. The look, without a doubt, reeks of the Renault heritage.

The hi-tech cockpit inside has literally been transported in here from a racing car. Matching with the speedy image outside are the car’s engine and motor works. The improvised engine performs better and is maneuvered using the paddles on the steering wheel. The inlet on the roof takes in air and routes it to the 3.5 liter engine. The 400 hp speedster zips around using its twin plate clutch and the semi automatic sequential unit transmission. Via: Diseno Art

Japanese Wrist-Mounted Finger Piano, "Keep music at your fingertips with wrist mounted piano"

God created stress so man created music and trying to make it more innovative Japanese created this musical instrument that could create music at fingertips. Termed as Wrist-Mounted Finger Piano, this musical instrument is fun to use. You just have to wear it on your wrist and slip your fingers into small finger thingies and get ready to rock the music.

This little instrument is quite easy to use. You just have to press your finger against some hard surface and each finger thingy produces a unique note. Three buttons at the top of the wrist unit are provided to add extra effect to the quality of the music. It comes with three volume levels and sound banks to pump full octave music. Sound bank adds diversity to music by making this instrument produce various effects like hum of Piano at sound level 1, jingle of bells at sound level 2 and the most unique and entertaining cat effect at sound level 3.

Polyphonic nature of this instrument enables you to play music in full scale and it is powered using three LR44 batteries. The diameter of the wrist unit is 2.5 inches with 10 inches strap length. Priced at $39.99, this three in one musical instrument is real fun to have and play. Via: Thinkgeek

France: Falcons out for Roland Garros pigeons

PARIS: With razor-sharp claws and a top swooping speed of 300km/h, eight falcons have been unleashed at Roland Garros to rid the French Open of its pigeon pest problem.

With pigeon droppings claimed to alter the trajectory of the ball on the courts and with other bird-scaring tactics, such as loudspeaker noise, having failed, the French Tennis Federation turned to falcons.

"We want to clear the pigeons off, not kill them", said falconer Ludwig Verschatse.

"When we arrived, there were about 30 settled pigeons who have since left. But we have to stay for the duration of the tournament, because pigeons are stupid. They don't transmit the information to their friends." (AFP)