Article: 3D audio system developed by MP3 pioneer| New Scientist

"A sound system that creates immersive, three-dimensional audio for everyone in a room has been developed by one of the creators of the MP3 audio format.

Existing surround-sound technology only works if a listener is positioned correctly between a handful of speakers, in the so-called 'sweet spot'. For those outside this area the effect is lessened or does not work at all.

The new technology uses a principle known as 'wave field synthesis' to create complex audio illusions for everyone within a defined space. Computers are used to predict the way multiple sound waves will interact with each other within a space. Then, a multitude of small speakers - as many as 400 positioned around a large space - are used to mimic this interaction."

WOWOWOW! I dream of a day when I can have a 'listening room' in my home with this technology on!

Article: Early fish hit land to be better predators| New Scientist

"Our distant fishy ancestors first hauled themselves on to land in order to warm up in the Sun. So claims a team that says basking would have provided an energy boost that made the fish more agile in the water, improving their chances of snaring prey. It was also an evolutionary milestone that heralded the rise of all land vertebrates, including us."

And even now, we like to hang out on the beach, get wet and end up being more energized. It is true: What goes around, comes around.

Correlation of Movie Ratings With Content

"Parents and physicians should be aware that movies with the same rating can differ significantly in the amount and types of potentially objectionable content. Age-based ratings alone do not provide good information about the depiction of violence, sex, profanity, and other content, and the criteria for rating movies became less stringent over the last decade. The MPAA rating reasons provide important information about content, but they do not identify all types of content found in films and they may particularly miss the depiction of substances."

Melanoma vaccine enters clinical trials

"A vaccine that could help patients recover from a common form of skin cancer is to undergo large-scale trials in Australia and Britain."

Movie tests Asimov's moral code for robots

"The possibility of developing truly intelligent machines, and their potential to be friend or foe to humanity, gets the Hollywood treatment in a new blockbuster film I, Robot, which opens in the US on Friday."

Now they are saying the Three Laws of Robotics can never be implemented. I'm stung!

New Scientist : Yawning is contagious?

"Why humans do it is still controversial, although one suggestion is that it may have evolved as a social cue to synchronise sleep amongst a group."

Some sort of explanation why I slept through most of my med-school classes!

NEJM -- Case 22-2004 - A 30-Year-Old Woman with a Pericardial Effusion

Presentation of Case

A 30-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of fever, cough, shortness of breath, and a pericardial effusion.

Approximately one month earlier, the woman had noticed an increased heart rate and fluttering in her neck when she bent over; both were relieved when she stood upright. During these episodes, her heart rate was 100 to 120 beats per minute. One week later, she noticed shortness of breath after walking up one flight of stairs. Since the age of 19 years, she had had intermittent atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, with heart rates of up to 180 beats per minute, and . . .

Dennis and Neeraja at the reception at Residency Towers, Tirvandrum on the 16th of July, 2004. 

Party at the reception - Aneesh, Chakku, Raghu, Jeevesh, Anoop 

Party at the reception - Jeevesh, Deepak and KKM 

Party a the reception - Anoop, Socru, Shanavas and Jeevesh 

Party at the Reception - Jeevesh, Maya and Anoop 

Party at the reception - Aneesh, Chakku, KKV, Jeevesh, Anoop 

On the swing 

Kashi Yatra 

Mingling after the wedding 

Reception1 

Muhurtham 

Reception 

PCWorld.com - Sony's Walkman Ready to Rival the IPod

PCWorld.com - Sony's Walkman Ready to Rival the IPod: "Sony's Walkman Ready to Rival the IPod Portable music player celebrates its 25th birthday by adding a 20GB hard drive. Martyn Williams, IDG News Service Thursday, July 01, 2004 Sony has unveiled its first hard drive-based digital music player to bear the Walkman name. The device was launched this week as the Walkman brand marked its 25th anniversary. The NW-HD1 features a 20GB hard drive and is, according to the company, the smallest music player at this capacity. It measures 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches by .5 inches and weighs 3.9 ounces."

Slurp!!!

Let software catches games for you

New Scientist: "Let software catch the game for you 19:00 30 June 04 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. Software that can identify the significant events in live TV sports broadcasts will soon be able to compile programmes of highlights without any help from people. The technology will save broadcasters millions in editing costs - and should eventually lead to new generations of video recorders that will let people customise their own sports highlights packages. But developing software that understands sport is no easy task..."

Whew, things sure are getting techier by the day...