Cough into your cellphone and get diagnosed.

MOBILE PATH LAB
Cough into your cellphone and get diagnosed
Chidanand Rajghatta | TNN | November 11 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

Seattle: There may be a small change in etiquette a few months down the line. Cover your mouth with your cellphone , instead of your hand, when you cough; your mobile may be able to tell whether you have a cold, a flu, some other respiratory ailment, or if its just an irritated throat. 

A research company that proposes using acoustic vocalization analysis software to measure and interpret cough characteristic of pneumonia has won a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of 76 projects named by the Foundation in its third funding round of its Grand Challenges Explorations.
The proposal is just one of several emerging ideas that could turn the cellphone into a medical diagnosis tool, eventually replacing a stethoscope (which may not be around to celebrate its bicentennial in 2016) and even becoming a personal scanner.
STAR Analytical Services two-page application on Using Acoustic Analysis of Cough to Diagnosis Pneumonia was one of 3,000 proposals the Foundation recognized as falling outside current scientific paradigms and having the potential to lead to significant advances in global health , criteria for winning the prestigious grant.
In their application, Stars researchers Suzanne Smith and Joel MacAuslan said analyzing distinctive cough sounds with new software (based on a pre-recorded data base of thousands of coughs of all kind of ailments from people of both sexes, all ages, and other variables), could lead to dramatic improvements in the management of respiratory illness in the developing world and interrupt epidemics far more rapidly.
For instance, such a tool could enable a mother in the distant African outback or Indian village without immediate mode or means of transportation to transmit the sound of her childs cough by cellphone to a city hospital, where a doctor checks this vital sign and determines the course of action. 

 
Cough is one of the most common symptoms of illness and a common mode of disease spread, yet we dont use technology in any way to measure or understand what coughs mean, Smith said, adding that for acute infections, measuring cough could become as familiar as recording temperature .
If the proposal leads to successful software tools, cough measurement may become one more vital sign available by phone. Already, researchers have been toying with mobile phones to monitor vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and oxygen saturation readings. 

The cellphone is perfect because its like a wristwatch that you carry around, says Shankar Sastry, dean of engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, whose lab has dramatically advanced facial recognition algorithm. The obvious advantage with the cell phone he said was it can also can access and communicate information.
Eventually, experts are predicting that people will start to take control of health monitoring and maintenance , altering the dynamic of health care and changing the physician-patient relationship.

Virus can exploit your PC for child porn.

Virus can exploit your PC for child porn
Pranksters, Paedophiles Can Tap Comps Without Users Knowledge To Remotely Store Their Stash
November 10 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

Of all the sinister things that internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography .
Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, its your reputation thats stolen. Paedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear theyll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal websites.
 

Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as paedophiles after their coworkers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.
Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses a defense rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement.
One case involved Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts agency that oversees workers compensation . In 2007, Fiolas bosses became suspicious after the internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues . A technician found child porn in the PC folder.
Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography , which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats and he was shunned by friends. Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car. An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half. Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped 11 months after it was filed.

At any moment, about 20 million of the estimated 1 billion internet-connected PCs worldwide are infected with viruses that could give hackers full control , according to security software maker F-Secure Corp.
Paedophiles can tap viruses in several ways. The simplest is to force someone elses computer to surf child porn sites, collecting images along the way. Or a computer can be made into a warehouse for pictures and videos that can be viewed remotely when the PC is online.
But paedophiles need not be involved: Child porn can land on a computer in a sick prank or an attempt to frame the PCs owner. In the first publicly known cases of individuals being victimized, two men in the UK were cleared in 2003 after viruses were shown to have been responsible for the child porn on their PCs. AP

Virtual goods start bringing in real cash.

Virtual goods start bringing in real cash
Netizens Pay Hard Money To Get Ahead In Online Games Or To Give Friend A Gift
Claire Cain Miller & Brad Stone | November 8 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

San Francisco: Silicon Valley may have discovered the perfect business: charging real money for products that do not exist. These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume in the online game Sorority Life, are no more than a collection of pixels on a Web page. 

But it is quickly becoming commonplace for people to spend a few dollars on them to get ahead in an online game or to give a friend a gift on a social network. Analysts estimate that virtual goods could bring in a billion dollars in the US and around $5 billion worldwide this year all for things that, aside from perhaps a few hours of work by an artist and a programmer , cost nothing to produce.
Its a fantastic business, said Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners , a venture capital firm that has invested $10 million in several virtual goods companies. Because its digital, the marginal cost for every one you sell is zero, so you have 100 percent margins.

 
The companies that create and sell virtual goods, including Zynga, Playfish and Playdom, three online gaming startups in the San Francisco area, say they are recording significant revenue and profits, which have been elusive for many web companies.
Virtual goods have been popular in Asia for years. In the US though, only ardent video game fans spent money on them, mostly for swords and spells in virtual fantasy realms. That is rapidly changing, driven by the popularity of widely appealing games for social networks like Facebook and mobile phones like the iPhone.
The people playing these games on social networks dont define themselves as gamers they are just killing time, having fun, Liew said. 

In Restaurant City, a game by Playfish on Facebook, 18 million active users manage their own cafe and stock it with virtual casseroles and cakes. In Zyngas game FarmVille, 62 million agrarian dreamers cultivate a farm, plant squash seeds and harvest their crops with tractors . These games and many others have casual gamers reaching for their wallets , along with a few rationalizations, as they make the peculiar purchase of pixels on a computer screen. 

Its an experience, like going to the movies. Thats how I describe it, said Sara Merrill of Parsonfield, Maine, who plays Pet Society on Facebook with her two young sons five times a week.
Recently, the family used a credit card to buy $20 worth of the games currency , then bought items like a haunted mirror and a potion that helped their pet, Demon Baby, grow bat wings. Its still cheaper than taking the kids to Target where they will ask for a toy, she said.
Some game fans claim that in some cases, virtual goods can be better than the real thing. Jamie Kwong, a 13-yearold in Altadena, California, spends hours a week on a paper doll site called Stardoll, buying dresses and handbags. She created Juillet606, with brown eyes and hair to match her own. Unlike the actual paper dolls she used to play with, the tabs do not rip off. 

With Stardoll it all stays on there, my brother cant get on it, and everything is good, she said. NYT NEWS SERVICE 

Interesting:
> Analysts estimate that virtual goods could bring in a billion dollars in the US and around $5 billion worldwide this year all for things that, aside from a few hours of work by a programmer, cost nothing to produce 

> The companies that create and sell virtual goods, including Zynga , Playfish and Playdom, three online gaming start-ups , say they are recording significant revenue and profits, which have been elusive for many web companies

Tech isnt causing social isolation.

Tech isnt causing social isolation
November 7 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

 
Washington: Contrary to popular belief , technology is not leading to social isolation and Americans who use the internet and mobile phones have larger and more diverse social networks, according to a new study. All the evidence points in one direction , said Keith Hampton, lead author of the report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Peoples social worlds are enhanced by new communication technologies. 

The study found that 6% of Americans can be described as socially isolated lacking anyone to discuss important matters with. That figure has hardly changed since 1985, it said. The diversity of peoples core networks tends to be 25% larger for mobile users and 15% larger for basic internet users, and even larger for frequent Internet users. AFP

What happens to your inbox after you die.

WEB WORLD
What happens to your inbox after you die
November 5 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

 
Melbourne: Saving that parting email from your first love in your inbox Well, chances are, after you pass away, your spouse and the entire family will know about the long-held secret.
This is because web email services like Hotmail and Gmail do not let users specify what should happen to their messages when they die. 

In fact, email services owned by internet giants like Google and Microsoft have a policy of keeping your data after you die and letting your next of kin or the executor of your estate access it. These services can hold tens of thousands of messages.
Accounts with Gmail can hold up to 7GB or roughly 70,000 emails with a small to medium picture attached to each and they archive the messages youve written as well as received. When it comes to deleting the data, Microsofts Hotmail will remove an account if it is inactive for 270 days, while Gmail leaves the responsibility to the next of kin. Of the top three providers, only Yahoo refuses to supply emails to anyone after the user has died. The users next of kin can ask for the account to be closed, but cannot gain access to it.
A Yahoo spokesperson said the only exception to this rule would be if the user specified otherwise in their will. 

Meanwhile, social-networking site Facebook has recently publicised a feature called memorialisation that lets the family of deceased users keep their profile page online as a virtual tribute.
MySpace, on the other hand, says it addresses the issue of family access to sensitive data on a case by case basis . ANI

Green battery runs for years.

NON-STOP ENERGY
Green battery runs for years
November 2 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

 
Washington: Scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a new, environmentally friendly silicon-air battery capable of supplying non-stop power for thousands of hours without needing to be replaced.
 

Created from oxygen and silicon, such batteries would be lightweight, have an unlimited shelf life, and have a high tolerance for both humid and extremely dry conditions. 

Potential uses include medical applications (example, powering diabetic pumps), sensors and microelectronics structured from silicon. Silicon-air batteries will be used like the ones already in use today , said lead researcher Yair Ein-Eli . But by using silicon a safe, non-toxic , stable and more common material we can create batteries with infinite shelf life and high energy capacity, he added.
Silicon-air batteries would be able to provide savings in cost, weight as they lack the built-in cathode used in conventional batteries. ANI

Facebook wins $712m in damages.

Facebook wins $712m in damages: 

November 1 2009 | Times of India Bangalore

Facebook has won $712 million in damages after a California court ruled against a spammer for trying to get personal information from the users of the social networking website. The court ordered Sanford Wallace to pay Facebook the money after the company complained that he had used the site to induce members to click on messages that appeared legitimate but were actually designed to capture personal information.