Sci-tech
Neanderthal's
Speech
A
UK based researcher has said that Neanderthals spoke in a
high-pitched, sing-song voice. Discovery News quoted Stephen
Mithen, a professor of archaeology at the University of Reading
as saying that Neanderthals had strong but high-pitched voices
they used for both singing and speaking. This theory throws
new light on the Neanderthals, who once roamed across Europe
from around 200,000 to 35,000 BC. Jeffrey Laitman, a professor
in New York, believes that since Neanderthals had distinctive
nasal, ear and sinus anatomical features specialised for respiration,
they had a 'nasal' voice. "My curiosity is peaked by
Mithen's theory that Neanderthals sang and had feminine-toned
voices. But I think these attributes would be difficult to
prove even with the recent Neanderthal reconstruction. No
Neanderthal larynx exists because the tissue does not fossilise.
We have to reconstruct it. The structure is comparable to
what we see in monkeys and apes today," the journal quoted
Laitman as saying.
Friendly
'bots'
Hitachi's
EMIEW (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate)
robot, called "Pal" (R), demonstrates his running
ability as another robot, "Chum" looks on during
their press preview at Hitachi's Tokyo headquarters. Hitachi
develop the EMIEW robots for upcoming Aichi Expo 2005 and
to perform in the exhibition from June 09.
Google
Sued by AFP
French
News agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has sued internet search
giant Google for $17.5 million in damages for copyright infringement.
The news agency says Google has been publishing photos, headlines
and news stories without its permission on Google News. AFP
has stated in news accounts that it sells its content to approximately
600 clients. AFP's argument, is that people would be able
to read the content for free from its web site promoted by
Google. In a suit filed in US District Court, AFP alleged
that Google's search engine crawler has been grabbing and
displaying their media content on Google News for free and
that Google simply ignored the request of the agency to stop
publication.
AFP
stories Deleted from Google
Google
says it has begun removing AFP's stories from its news aggregation
site following a legal complaint filed by the French news
agency. Google spokesman Langdon said that the company was
actively working on the removal of the content, as Google
didn't have a timetable for all AFP links. AFP sued Mountain
View, California-based Google in the U.S. District Court for
the District of Columbia. The news agency is seeking to recover
damages of $17.5 million from Google. AFP also asks the court
to forbid Google from including its content in Google News.
Mouse(ing)
Around
Researchers
at IBM have invented a computer mouse adapter that eliminates
cursor movement caused by hand tremors, thereby making computer
operations smoother. "Similar to the way camera image
stabilising systems work, the new adapter filters out the
shaking movements of the hand," IBM said in a statement.
The company said the mouse was designed to work with any PC
and operating system. No extra software is needed for the
adapter, which plugs in between the computer and the mouse.
According to the International Essential Tremor Foundation,
in the US alone nearly 10 million people are affected by essential
tremor, the most common form of hand tremors. Involuntary
movements of the hand while using a computer mouse make operating
a PC difficult and erratic movements of the cursor make it
almost impossible to open email or navigate the web, IBM said.
The adapter can be adjusted to the severity of tremors and
switched on as needed. It can also be set to filter out unintended
multiple clicking on the mouse caused by a shaking finger.
Women
may no longer have to try on clothes
If you hate trying out several pairs of jeans before you get
the perfect fit, now the Intellifit system can save your time
by selecting the right fit in just three minutes. The Intellifit
system, is a new electronic scanner that measures body size
and then suggests appropriate clothing matches. For many consumers,
that's already a small victory. "The average woman tries
on 15 pairs of jeans before buying," said Emily Hood
of Levi's. The Intellifit system is housed in a transparent
glass cylinder 10 feet high by 8 feet wide. A vertical wand
sweeps around the interior perimeter, measuring a shopper's
figure by bouncing radio waves off the body. The process takes
about 10 seconds as the system calculates measurements for
200 body parts, using what's called 200,000 data points and
quickly prints out a list of suggested jeans styles and measurements.
Cutlery
to reveal your date's emotions!
Want to know if the person you are dating is enjoying the
meal or not? Well, A new device invented by James Larsson
that wires up cutlery with electrodes that can pick up on
emotions might just be the answer. By attaching electrodes
to regular eating utensils, Larsson has created knives and
forks that analyse data from the cutlery to provide information
about how their dinner companion is feeling. The system relies
on electrodes to measure the skin's resistance to electric
charge. When people feel suddenly stressed, their skin's resistance
plummets, partly because any sweat released under these circumstances
facilitates the movement of charge. Lots of wires are currently
needed to connect the knife and fork to a computer monitor
and because dates must hold both utensils to allow the small,
stress-measuring current to run through their body, the device
does not work with when someone eats holding only a fork.
Larsson designed specialised software on the machine to which
the fork and knife relay information. The program selects
data from only those electrodes touching the hand at a given
time and ignores the ones without contact. He has also attached
strain gauges to the utensils. These run to the computer as
well, preventing the system from mistaking increased pressure
as heightened stress. The result is a computer that produces
graphs to show when the person eating felt uncomfortable and
when they were more relaxed.
Source:
Webindia123, AFP, Xinhua and Google
Compiled
by: Imran H. Khan
Copyright
(R) thedailystar.net 2005
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