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     Volume 4 Issue 8 | August 13, 2004 |


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Sci-Tech

Bring your own PC to the World Cyber Games next year!
The World Cyber Games to be held in Singapore next year might just see something that has never happened before- a Bring Your Own Computer - event. According to Straits Times, in such a scenario, gamers will hook up with about 800 others to play computer games within the Local Area Network (LAN). The high-speed network will support them round the clock for the five days of the games. International Cyber Marketing (ICM), which is organising the games, is holding this year's meet in San Francisco in October, the first time the grand final is staged outside South Korea. According to ICM President and Chief Executive Hank Jeong, "It's a new concept that's popular in Europe. We had to push and push for it in the US because the officials there were concerned about security." He said that the World Cyber Games' aim is to educate young and old people about the positive aspects of gaming, which tends to be associated with excessive violence and addiction. 'This means breaking such barriers as culture, language, gender and race, to create harmony and enjoyment for people,' he added.

The world's most expensive gizmos revealed!
Want to know how much you would have to shell out if you wanted to own the most expensive car in the world, i.e. a car that can reach a speed of 400 km/h, after which it starts lifting off the ground? 660,000 pounds is what the most expensive car or the Bugatti Veyron costs. According to The Straits Times, a report prepared by the technology magazine 'Stuff', has listed some of the most expensive technological breakthroughs. The report has revealed that the most expensive bike in the world is the MTT Turbine Superbike, which costs 101,000 pounds. The bike, a model of which is owned by TV show host Jay Leno, boasts of a Rolls-Royce gas turbine normally used for helicopters. If you are a television freak, you had better start saving because the most expensive television, Orion Vision's PM-8401 plasma TV costs 27,000 pounds. The television could cover your wall with a length of 2.1m and has four screens joined together. The most expensive watch is the Ulysse Nardin 'Genghis Khan' Westminster Tourbillon, which could set you back by 400,000 pounds. The watch has tiny, movable, hand-carved Genghis Khan figures on a black onyx dial and a four-gong timing mechanism.

Phones with happy faces that let the deaf chat!
Researchers have developed a new software that creates an animated face to match someone talking on the other end of a phone line, that can help people with hearing difficulties converse, reports New Scientist. The system was developed at Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, Sweden, University College London, UK as well as Dutch software company Viataal and Belgian voice analysis firm Babletech. The animated face provides a realistic impersonation of a person speaking, enabling lip-readers to follow the conversation visually as well as audibly. The prototype system called SimFace takes around 200 milliseconds - one fifth of a second - to generate the animated annunciations. It runs on an ordinary laptop and can be connected to any type of phone, including a cell phone. The technology is not meant to assist people who are profoundly deaf, but rather those who have some hearing difficulties. According to Neil Thomas, head of product development at the RNID, "The accuracy still needs to be improved. There are a lot of people who struggle with using the telephone. It really gives them an added level of confidence."

World's smallest submarine developed!
The Australian National University (ANU) scientists have developed the world's smallest, self-governing submarine. According to News.com, the 40cm long submarine, titled Serafina, would embark a novel approach towards oceanic discovery with its varied functionalities. The submarine is reportedly has a variety of applications ranging from shipwreck recovery to mineral exploration and search-and-rescue missions. Uwe Zimmer, the head scientist has said that Serafina has five propellers and a plastic hull crammed with rechargeable batteries and circuitry and is capable of travelling faster at an underwater speed of one metre per second, equivalent to walking pace. It could also hover, tilt and right itself if overturned. "Small and versatile submersibles, such as Serafina, are an important leap towards making underwater exploration affordable and effective," Uwe was quoted by the report as saying. "Underwater exploration and travel is usually extremely expensive and therefore limited either to the military or to specialised missions. Now that we have developed the world's smallest autonomous underwater vehicle at a reasonable cost, it provides a promising platform to develop a fleet, or swarm, of underwater Serafinas, which could provide valuable new data about our seas and what lies beneath them," he added.

Source: Webindia123.com / Google

 

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