Robotic suit helps paralyzed walk

The invention, known as ReWalk, acts like a kind of exoskeleton. It consists of lightweight, motorized leg supports and an assortment of intricate motion sensors.

Users wear a backpack that holds a computerized control box which helps the medical device recognize when a step needs to be taken.

"Standing changes my whole environment. I don't have to look from the bottom up. Now I am eye to eye with everybody," Radi Kaiof, who has used the device, told CNN.

Kaiof, a former Israeli soldier, was paralyzed from the waist down 20 years ago. He doesn't have feeling in his legs but is still able to move with the use of the robotic suit.

With the assistance of crutches, which offer balance and support, people paralyzed from the waist down can walk, bend, sit and even climb stairs when they wear the suit.

The futuristic invention offers an alternative to using a wheelchair for those who have functioning upper bodies and are capable of standing with the use of supports.

It is the creation of Dr. Amit Goffer, an engineer and founder of Haifa, Israel-based high-tech firm Argo Medical Technologies. Goffer was inspired to create the device more than a decade ago after he became disabled in an accident.

The medical technology that could help paraplegics do what was once considered impossible isn't available for purchase yet. The device wasn't ready for testing until late 2007 and currently is in clinical trials in Tel Aviv.

More trials are planned for the United States and Europe, and if the product receives the necessary approvals, it could hit the market in 2010.

The price of the device hasn't been set yet, but is expected to be comparable with the typical average yearly expense of using a wheelchair.

The robotic suit improves the quality of life of people paralyzed from the waist down, according to Goffer, who wanted to give paraplegics an alternative to using a wheelchair. It also benefits their overall health since it keeps their bodies active all day long, he says.

But when it comes down to it, the invention is all about helping people regain respect. Dignity is "the No. 1 problem" for people who use wheelchairs, says Goffer. For Kaiof, the former soldier, the robotic suit has changed his life. Before he tried it on, his daughter had never seen him stand before.

Subdued Detroit auto show focuses on going green

The new General Motors BEAT is introduced to the media during the press preview for the Detroit International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, Michigan. With sales tanking and General Motors and Chrysler struggling for their very survival, the Detroit auto show opened Sunday as a subdued and tense affair as automakers launch new models to compete for an ever-dwindling number of customers.

Some 58 new models -- including 44 worldwide debuts -- will be introduced in the coming days as the manufacturers vie for the attention of nearly 7,000 journalists from over 60 countries at press previews.

Ford managed to snag the show's coveted truck of the year award with its newly launched F-150 while Hyundai won car of the year with its new luxury sedan, the Genesis, a first for a South Korean manufacturer.

Prominent among the new offerings are a host of ready-for-market hybrids and experimental electric vehicles which zipped around a tree-lined track set up in the basement of the Detroit convention center.

The testing track surrounds two ponds with waterfalls and will showcase zero-emission electric prototypes by GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi and Tesla.

Chrysler unveiled three plug-in gas-electric hybrid prototypes -- a sedan, a Jeep and an sports car -- which it said "clearly demonstrates that we are well on our way to bringing electric vehicles to our consumers' garages."

Ford will also be introducing two new production-ready hybrids which it says get better fuel economy than Toyota's popular Prius.

Refusing to be upstaged, Toyota said Saturday that it will launch a two-seater electric car by 2012 and introduced a new dedicated hybrid for its luxury Lexus brand. It will unveil a revamped version of its popular Prius hybrid on Monday.

China's BYD Auto will be showing the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid which went on sale last month in China and is slated to hit Europe in 2010.

Honda also entered the fray by unveiling its reintroduced dedicated hybrid, the Insight hatchback.

But in a sign of the troubled times, the Japanese automaker canceled a press conference for the Insight, which made its worldwide debut without fanfare in the Honda booth when the show opened.

And a number of automakers decided to skip the show altogether this year, including Nissan, Suzuki, Porsche, Ferrari, and Land Rover.

"Beyond the products and the lights and the glitz, everyone is in a holding pattern," said Karl Brauer, editor-in-chief of the automotive website Edmunds.com.

"Uncertainty is the underlying tension."

A financial crisis, credit crunch and deepening recession pushed 2008 US sales down 18 percent in the steepest decline in 29 years and to the lowest level since 1992.

This year is expected to be even worse, with US auto sales forecast to fall by another one or two million vehicles to around 11 to 12 million vehicles.

Sales have not been below 12 million since the recession of 1982 when the United States had 74 million fewer people than today.

While nearly every automaker posted significant losses and has announced major production cuts last year, Detroit's Big Three were the hardest hit and saw their combined US market share fall below 50 percent for the first time.

Their US market share topped 60 percent as recently as 2004 and was 71.2 percent just 10 years ago, according to Ward's Auto.

Despite years of painful restructuring which had the trio on the road to recovery, the US government was forced to extend billions in loans to cash-strapped GM and Chrysler last month after sales dropped off precipitously in September.

Analysts warn that the loans could simply serve to postpone a collapse if automakers can't lure more buyers into their showrooms.

The North American International Auto show opened in Detroit with a press preview Sunday, and some 700,000 people are expected to attend by the time it closes on January 25.

Touch-Screen Antagonists Hone Their Insults

Apple has claimed a number of innovations for the iPhone. Add this: the emergence of antagonists to the touch-screen display. At C.E.S., it was common to hear their refrain.

“I’m a power e-mail user,” goes the mantra. “I need a physical keyboard.”

In rough terms, these users are advocates of the BlackBerry and other devices that have a traditional Qwerty keypad. The “power user” mantra isn’t an overt attack, more of a passive-aggressive one with a slightly disparaging tone that tends to make it sound as though touch-screen users are lightweights who occasionally send an e-mail message or text to their mothers.

Now, it should be noted that this language appears to be promulgated by the makers of devices with Qwerty keyboards, who are trying to defend their use. (And to be sure, there are iPhone users out there who have their own view of the world that suggests that anyone using a device not made by Apple must have been dropped on the head as a child by Bill Gates.)

All that said, a spokeswoman for Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, did say to me without prompting at C.E.S. that the iPhone has been great for the overall market by propelling the idea that consumers — not just corporate users — want and need higher functioning devices.

One other note about emerging epithets. The mobile device industry has succeeded in popularizing the term “smartphone.” The spokeswoman for RIM noted also that the world is moving away from “dumbphones.” Expect to hear more of that one: the disparaging of phones that serve primarily as, well, phones. Oh, the shame.

Pogue rocks Macworld with “Where is Steve?”

David Pogue, New York Times tech columnist, creator of the Missing Manual series, and frustrated Broadway producer, led his Macworld Live! feature presentation in San Francisco Wednesday with a musical riff on Steve Jobs’ non-attendance.

Playing the electric piano and accompanied by former Cirque de Soleil bassist J.F. Brisette, he sang, to the tune of Oliver’s “Where is Love?”

“Where is Steve? Give us something to believe! Should we trust Apple’s press release — or are we all naive?”

The performance drew knowing laughter and applause from an audience of several thousand in the basement of Moscone Center’s North Hall. But the hit of 90-minute presentation were his three guests:

• Matt Harding, whose YouTube videos dancing at exotic locations around the world have been downloaded 17 million times. See, for example, Where the Hell is Matt?
• Matt Bledsoe and Tyler Hitch, creators of the You Suck at Photoshop series, downloaded 20 million times.
• Ge Wang, the creator of Ocarina, our favorite iPhone app, which not only turns the device into a 4-key musical instrument (downloaded nearly 500,000 times at 99-cents each) but lets you hear — in near real time — the music other Ocarina players are making all over the world.

Pogue, joined by Brissette on bass and Wang on iPhone Ocarina, closed the show with two more musical parodies:

• 
• A song about iTunes to the tune of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” (”We might prefer more compatibility but Steve likes to run the whole show!”)
• And a “Switcher’s Anthem” to the tune of Boz Scaggs’ “We’re All Alone.” (”Ditch your Windows, get a clue, a new cult waits for you.”)

Interviewed after the performance, Pogue said that he did not intend to make light of Jobs’ health problems. He believes that the real reason Apple’s CEO skipped the keynote was that Jobs reviewed Apple’s (AAPL) product line-up for Macworld — upgrades of iWork and iLife and a 17″ laptop — and decided it wasn’t worth his time. That, says Pogue, not failing health, is why Jobs had senior vice president Phil Schiller give the keynote in his stead.

Microsoft's Ballmer touts 'best version of Windows ever'

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday with an impassioned endorsement of PCs and a sneak peek at the company's future Windows 7 operating system.

As expected, Ballmer announced that Microsoft is releasing a beta version of Windows 7, which will be available for download beginning Friday. The news suggests the world's largest software maker may be giving up efforts to rehabilitate its often-maligned Vista operating system, which was released worldwide in January 2007.

"We are on track to deliver the best version of Windows ever," Ballmer told an audience of several thousand tech professionals and journalists inside a cavernous ballroom at the Venetian hotel. "We're working hard to get it right and get it ready."

Without mentioning the security and compatibility issues that have dogged Vista, Ballmer promised that Windows 7 will make PCs faster and easier to use. He didn't offer a timetable for its official release, although Windows Vista went on sale more than two years after it was issued in beta form.

Early reviews of Windows 7, which was leaked to the Internet in beta form in late December, have been positive.

The forthcoming operating system will have touch-screen capability, side-by-side windows for comparison shopping and a "Peek" feature that makes open windows transparent, allowing users to see the icons on their desktop.

"Windows 7 makes it easier to move between the things on your desktop," said Microsoft group project manager Charlotte Jones, who gave a brief demonstration of the system on the hall's giant display screens. Jones said the new system also makes it easier to send files back and forth between home computers.

Ballmer later yielded the stage to Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, who praised the explosive growth of the company's Xbox Live online gaming community. Bach also announced forthcoming releases of new versions of Microsoft's popular "Halo" game series: "Halo Wars," due Feb. 28, and "Halo 3: OSDT," which will ship in the fall.

Wednesday's address marked the energetic Ballmer's debut as CES keynote pitchman, a job that had been handled for the past decade by Microsoft chairman and industry pioneer Bill Gates. Ballmer's presentation came two days after a similar, high-profile keynote at the Macworld show in San Francisco by Apple, Microsoft's chief rival, and its vice president Philip Schiller, filling in for the ailing Steve Jobs.

Unlike Schiller, Ballmer tackled the struggling economy head-on in his remarks. He said that although the recession has created "a period of reduced expectations," the tech companies that push forward now with innovative research will fare better in the long-term than the companies that scale back.

Ballmer said the convergence of screens on computers, TVs and mobile phones is revolutionizing how people communicate with each other.

"Our digital lives will continue to get richer. There's really no turning back from the connected world," he said. "We're on the verge of the kind of technological transformation that only happens once every 10 or 15 years."

As if to prove his point, Ballmer also welcomed onstage program manager Janet Galore, who gave brief demos of some Microsoft product prototypes, including a tabletop-like touch screen and a flexible, wafer-thin digital screen you can roll up like a piece of paper.

In a gentle swipe at Apple, which has gained market share against Microsoft in recent years, Ballmer said the PC remains the best choice for consumers seeking "value and power" in a computer.

"That's why we say, 'I'm a PC and proud of it!" he bellowed -- a reference to a new Microsoft ad campaign that play off similar ads by Apple.

Ballmer also announced that Microsoft has formed a partnership with Verizon Wireless to add Live Search tools to all Verizon smart phones in the U.S.

He also announced a partnership with Dell, which will soon come loaded with Microsoft's Windows Live suite of software, and links between Windows Live and the social-networking site, Facebook.

Reaction to the 90-minute presentation, which also included a performance by Australian musical-comedy trio Tripod, was mixed. Attendees praised the lively pace of Ballmer's talk, but wished he had made more news.

"I really loved what I heard tonight. There's definitely a lot of things to look forward to," said Sebastian Mineau, a Montreal-based blogger with MSN Canada. "It [Windows 7] wasn't a big surprise. But it was still nice to get the confirmation straight from the lion's mouth."

"It was very disappointing," said Ben Sillis, a reporter with ElectricPig, a British tech site. "CES is supposed to be about new products, new stuff. And this had all already been leaked. There was nothing new."

Weapons technology: Top 10 articles from 2008

It's the stuff of science fiction: robots that can hunt down and kill humans, powerful lasers that can destroy targets without leaving a trace, and a weapon that can supposedly knock you down without even touching you - all of these, and more, came one step closer to reality in 2008.

The developers of these technologies say that they will help to ensure that modern warfare is as efficient and humane as possible. Their critics say the weapons are just the latest in a long line of lethal inventions that have increased man's brutality to man - successors to the Maxim automatic machine gun, the flame thrower, and mustard gas. Whichever view you take, they introduce new ethical and practical questions.

In this review, we have gathered the 10 most important stories that New Scientist published on this subject this year, so you can make up your own mind.

Airborne Laser lets rip on first target

Laser dogfights in the sky may not be such a long way off, after a megawatt laser weapon was fired from an aircraft for the first time. The plan is to target "rogue" missiles - but it could also be used against other planes or targets on the ground.

US boasts of laser weapon's 'plausible deniability'

The US military is developing a "long-range blowtorch" that could allow it to incinerate targets silently, invisibly, and without leaving any trace - allowing its users to deny involvement.

Pentagon wants laser attack warnings for satellites

Are spy satellites being "blinded" by ground-based lasers? No-one knows for sure, but the Pentagon wants to develop sensors that could detect such attacks.

US considers nuclear-powered assault ships

The Bush administration is pressing ahead with a plan - first revealed here - to make assault ships nuclear so they will not have to pull into hostile ports for fuel. But putting nuclear reactors into craft that will be in the line of fire is crazy, say critics.

Anti-landmine campaigners turn sights on war robots

Should robots be allowed to make their own decisions about killing people? No, says a major pressure group, which thinks that autonomous offensive weapons should be banned under treaties like those against landmines and cluster weapons.

Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans

Another item on the Pentagon's wish list is a "multi-robot pursuit system" that will let packs of robots search for and detect a non-cooperative human - a vision that prompted one of the most spirited comment threads of the year.

'Pre-crime' detector shows promise

Technology developed to monitor soldiers' vital signs on the battlefield is being reworked to detect people who might be harbouring hostile thoughts. But will it really help to prevent terrorist attacks, or is it just "security theatre" that invades travellers' privacy?

Planned cluster bomb hunts targets down

A smart weapon being developed by the US would feature bomblets that could pursue targets for kilometres - but how good will they be at telling friend from foe?

Flickering light could replace rubber bullets

US security forces are backing the development of a new breed of non-lethal weapon that will knock you flat with flickering light. But will it work? And how should it be used if it does?

Fifty years of DARPA: Hits, misses and ones to watch

And finally... it pioneered the internet and driverless cars, but DARPA's spectacular successes have been matched by some equally spectacular failures during the course of its 50-year history.

Dell launches its 19-inch UltraSharp 1909W LCD

Dell launches its 19-inch UltraSharp 1909W LCD display. The UltraSharp 1909W is based on Twisted Nematic (TN) panel and features 1440×900 resolution, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 300cd/m2 brightness, 5ms response time and 160-degree viewing angle.
The Dell UltraSharp 1909W serves also as a 4 port USB hub. It has DVI-D with HDCP and VGA inputs. The Dell UltraSharp 1909W is priced at $239.