iPod shuffle. The beat goes on in new colors.

Buy Now

Test Drive: Honda's No Emissions Car

Description:
The Associated Press test drives the Honda Clarity FCX. It's a fuel cell powered car that releases no pollutants. (Oct. 17)

Hi-Tech Keeping In Touch

Description:
CNET Senior Editor Natali Del Conte showed Harry Smith great hi-tech ways families can stay close with various webcams video phone services.

Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk

TSUKUBA, Japan -- A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting Friday - an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly.

HAL - short for "hybrid assistive limb" - is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

The 22-pound battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.

Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.

A demonstration video also showed a partially paralyzed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.

"We are ready to present this to the world," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, a University of Tsukuba professor who designed HAL.

Sankai, who has worked on robot suits since 1992 and is also Cyberdyne's chief executive, said a full device that covers the entire body is also being designed, though it is unclear when it will be available commercially.

HAL comes in three sizes - small, medium and large - and also has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen, or $1,500, monthly rental fee.

Noel Sharkey is a robotics expert not affiliated with the technology. The professor at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. said HAL will have wide-ranging benefits for the elderly others with movement disabilities.

"HAL can only lead to extending the abilities of the elderly and keep them out of care for longer," Sharkey said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Cyberdyne said its policy is not to reveal how much it costs to manufacture the device. It is unclear when HAL will go on sale to the public or what the price tag will be.

Robotics technology is common in manufacturing sectors, but product liability concerns restrict its widespread use in everyday life. Sankai said the HAL technology is devoted to social welfare purposes only, adding he has refused requests from military officials to share it.

Some European nations have already expressed interest and HAL may soon be on the market there, but U.S. sales are still undecided, Sankai said.

The University of California, Berkeley, and other researchers around the world are working on similar robotic suits that increase mobility.

Introducing the all-new MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Introducing the all-new MacBook and MacBook Pro. New design. New features. New technologies. All engineered to standards that don’t even exist yet.

Precision aluminum unibody enclosure.
Machined from solid aluminum, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are thinner, greener, and more stunning than ever.

Ultrathin LED-backlit display.
With seamless glass and instant full screen brightness, everything you see is flat-out spectacular.

Advanced NVIDIA graphics processing.
NVIDIA delivers faster, more powerful graphics performance to the new MacBook and MacBook Pro.

All-new, smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad.
The spacious new Multi-Touch trackpad gives you even more room for clicking and for Multi-Touch gestures.

UNDRCRWN X MUSIC SKINS

Today Undrcrwn and Music Skins released our first collaborative project using their skin technology for gadget such as iPods, iPhones, Blackberries, laptops, Sidekicks, PSP, Nintendo DS and all other kinds of stuff.

Nintendo announces the new updated DSi

At Nintendo of Japan's Fall Press Conference, the big N confirmed the rumors of a new DS that emerged earlier in the week. Kotaku reports that the new upgrade, named the DSi, features a 640 x 480 resolution camera, an SD card slot for storing pictures and other downloadable content, "audio enhancements," larger 3.25-inch screens, and a slimmer body.

In addition to the hardware upgrades, the new DSi adds connectivity to a "DSi Shop," where users can use Nintendo points to purchase downloadable content via Wi-Fi, similar to the Wii console. Expect to see a free Web browser and a constantly growing library "DSiWare" games.

Those of you with a GameBoy Advance collection of games, there's one problem: The new DSi removes the second game slot, thus removing compatibility to the older generation of games. This is the only missing feature when compared to the DS lite and the original DS.

The DSi will hit store shelves in Japan on November 1 for ¥18,900, or about $180. Initial colors will be black and white, and will hit other worldwide markets sometime "next year."

Need one before the holidays? Expect to go through an import shop and pay a pretty hefty premium. Or, you could always use a vacation to Japan.

So, are you going to upgrade?

Kotaku - Nintendo Announce New DS: The Nintendo DSi

Nintendo of Japan - Nintendo DSi (Japanese)

VIA: Yahoo!

Wii 2 on tap for 2011?

It's a big week for Nintendo rumors. First talk of a Nintendo DS with MP3 player and camera starts to make the rounds. Now comes an even bigger rumor: Nintendo will release a follow-up to the Wii in 2011.

The news comes from What They Play, an online video game guide for parents. In its story, the site describes the neew Wii console as a "true 'next generation' Nintendo" and "far more than a simple refresh of the current hardware." Currently dubbed "Wii HD" (a name that's no worse than "Wii" to begin with, I guess), it is said to revolve around the same kind of gameplay while upping the ante in the performance department. That would likely mean graphics that finally crawl out of the 1990s as well as real internal storage like a hard drive.

What's the proof of all of this? What They Play cites the usual "multiple sources" in the game industry but also notes that Nintendo is now spending $370 million on R&D in a year vs. just $34 million in 2003. You don't spend that kind of money without something in the pipeline.

And, of course, a new console makes nothing but sense. The Wii has captured the imagination of the world... because that's what you have to use to fill in the gaps where the Wii's graphics aren't up to snuff. Casual gamers are totally sold on the Wii, but hardcore gamers—the ones that spend all their disposable income on this stuff—are still playing their Xbox 360 and PS3. Can a next-gen Wii offer the best of both worlds: Innovative gameplay combined with an immersive audio-video experience? 2011 is barely two years away...

VIA: Yahoo!

Hollywood aims to block RealNetworks' DVD software

By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer


Hollywood's six major movie studios on Tuesday sued RealNetworks Inc. to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to "rent, rip and return" movies or even copy friends' DVD collections outright.

The studios stand to lose key revenue from the sale of DVDs, estimated by Adams Media Research at $15 billion in the U.S. this year, if consumers stop buying DVDs and instead copy rental discs from outlets like Netflix and Blockbuster.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleges RealNetworks' RealDVD program, which launched Tuesday, illegally bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs.

"The incentive for the consumer is obvious and all but overwhelming," the studios said in a request for a temporary restraining order. "'Why,' he or she may ask, 'should I pay $18.50 to purchase a DVD when I can rent it for $3.25 and make a permanent copy?'"

For $30, consumers can buy RealDVD and use it to copy DVDs to computers or portable hard drives, though the program prevents them from transferring the files to other users. The maker calls RealDVD "100 percent legal" on its Web site.

"This is not a product that enables Internet piracy," said Bob Kimball, general counsel for RealNetworks.

Real has said the software enables DVDs to be copied onto up to five computers — with the purchase of up to four extra program licenses for $20 each — and does not alter the discs' encryption technology meant to prevent wide-scale piracy.

The software locks the copy to the hard drive where it is copied and to the program it was copied with, Kimball said, and he asserted that copying one's personal collection of DVDs amounts to "fair use" allowed by law.

Kimball said the company discourages using the program to rip rental DVDs, but he acknowledged there's nothing to prevent consumers from doing that.

"We are very open to coming up with solutions to that problem that will require industry participation," he said.

The studios had asked the company not to launch the product last week.

The studios argued that the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to circumvent technology that prevents copying without the express permission of the copyright holders.

In a motion for a restraining order, the studios argued that a ruling by a California state court last year in favor of a company that sells entertainment centers that allow DVD copying is irrelevant to their case.

The plaintiffs in the suit against RealNetworks include Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, General Electric Co.'s Universal, The Walt Disney Co.'s Disney studio, and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros.




Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.