Rock On! iPods Won't Hurt Your Heart

Magnetic fields produced by Apple iPods and other such portable music devices don't interfere with cardiac pacemakers, an FDA study says

A Food and Drug Administration-led study refutes claims that the magnetic fields produced by Apple iPods and other such portable music devices interfere with cardiac pacemakers.

A report from the research team, which tested four iPod models, appears in BioMedical Engineering OnLine.

A report from a Michigan high school student -- who teamed with a couple of heart doctors -- is among earlier research that generated some buzz about whether iPods could muck up pacemakers and raised the idea of putting warning labels on portable music devices.

From a BioMed Central press release: "Using a 3-coil sensor, the team measured the magnetic field produced by the iPod at a distance of around 5 to 10 millimeters. They obtained readings for the magnetic field at various specific and small regions 10 mm from an iPod. The peak magnetic field strength was 0.2 millionths of a Tesla, a value hundreds of times lower than the levels capable of interfering with a pacemaker."

Howard Bassen, a researcher with the FDA, said in a statement: "Based on the observations of our in-vitro study we conclude that no interference effects can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested."

One company breathing a sigh of relief: Tonicum. Last year it released a portable music device for DJs named, yes, Pacemaker.

Meanwhile, iPods continue to enjoy great success, most recently highlighted by the spate of new iPod-related offerings at the recent big Consumer Electronics Show show in Las Vegas.

For more information about enterprise networking, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2007 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.

Ref:http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142113-c,mp3players/article.html

Mahindra RENAULT YENI - another budget car to compete TATA and FIAT500

RENAULT YENI in collaboration with Mahindra is launching a car in India only for Rs 1,30,000. This is another budget car to compete TATA and FIAT500!!

Google says Microsoft takeover of Yahoo 'threatens' internet

Google has launched an attack on Microsoft's attempt to acquire Yahoo, claiming it threatens the openness of the internet.

Google chief legal officer David Drummond said the $44.6 billion bid "raises troubling questions."

"Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC?" he asked in a post on the official Google blog. "Could the acquisition of Yahoo allow Microsoft – despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses – to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the internet?"

He said the while the internet rewarded innovation, Microsoft had "frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets."

He noted that Microsoft and Yahoo together hosted as the two most heavily-trafficked portals on the internet and enjoyed an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts.

"Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers."

"This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the internet: openness and innovation."

Meanwhile, Yahoo executives are considering closer ties with Google as a means of staving off the Microsoft bid, according to a Reuters report.

Yahoo management believe the bid price is too low and are mulling a plan to use Google as the search provider for its popular portal services, the report said.

Ref: http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/Daily+News/Google-says-Microsoft-takeover-of-Yahoo-threatens-/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/488806?contextCategoryId=1715

Move over Orkut & Facebook, here's Flockpod

Internet buffs, students and professionals involved in e-learning, bloggers and members of social networking portals such as Orkut or Facebook can now create their own interactive platform to discuss favourite subjects or register votes.

The software called Flockpod, developed by Herbinger Group, enables a user to express his or her opinion over information provided on a particular web page (his own or that of his friends).

FlockPod can be embedded in any web page you want and allows peer contribution on the page without affecting its original content. You don't have to leave the content page and go to another social networking site to discuss it with others.

It helps by making your page visit more visual, concise, and collaborative. It presents data that you are interested in, pulls in new relevant information and organises everything in a neat little widget that you can view in the web application.

FlockPod is a service to which individuals, organisations and groups can subscribe. It can be used in various ways. The service is free of cost for a group of five individuals. As the size of the group increases, one has to pay for using the same.

Harbinger Managing Director Vikas Joshi is optimistic that the new Web 2.0 concept of FlockPod will succeed with companies that run e-learning services.

One can join FlockPod through a simple registration process through www.flockpod.com. The website also provides demos and assistance to use the software. The software currently supports Internet Explorer and needs a Flash player to operate.

People who visit your (or your friend's) website will see an icon and click on it. This will bring up FlockPod. They will interact within FlockPod, and tuck it away when they don't need it anymore.

"FlockPod provides an informal e-learning platform along with a discussion forum. An individual handling an e-learning activity can interact with many others doing the same work globally through FlockPod. Members can initiate debates, obtain feedback on products, subjects, decisions, conduct polls and surveys of employees through this platform while performing the regular tasks," Joshi says.

While an individual is learning a process or a tool through an e-learning system, he or she can also use FlockPod to learn it through a lateral process.

"The trial version has been used by few individuals and we have now launched the commercial version. Pricewaterhouse Coopers has already subscribed to this service, and we are expecting few more corporations to take up this facility," he says.

The platform can also be used to hold training programmes of a multinational company where employees sitting in various countries can join.

The company plans to promote this software through social and personal networking portals such as orkut.com, facebook.com, bharatstudent.com and others.

Ref: http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/01social.htm