Frozen Chip Operates at 500,000,000,000 Cycles/Second at Near Absolute Zero  SOMERS, New York, USA & ATLANTA - 20 Jun 2006:By comparison, 500 GHz is more than 250 times faster than today's cell phones, which typically operate at approximately 2 GHz. Computer simulations suggest that the silicon-germanium (SiGe) technology used in the chip could ultimately support even higher (near-TeraHertz – 1,000 GHz) operational frequencies even at room temperature.“For the first time, Georgia Tech and IBM have demonstrated that speeds of half a trillion cycles per second can be achieved in a commercial silicon-based technology, using large wafers and silicon-compatible low-cost manufacturing techniques,” said John D.

 Skype announced it will introduce Klonies in their offering.  It allows users to create an avatar, dress it, hairstyle it and change it to reflect their personality and apperance. If you're camera shy your Klonie will do the talk for you !Here is a link to Skype site on Klonies.com And the Press Release: Comverse, a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT), the world's leading supplier of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication and billing services, and Skype™, the global Internet communications company, today announced Skype Klonies™, an innovative avatar service that lets users personalize Skype with special characters that reflect their personalities, moods and interests.Using the Klonies Studio in the Skype website, users can create and frequently update their unique Klonie image — changing hairstyles, clothing and accessories, expressions, locations, animated activities and more.

Volvo has developed a self parking car in collaboration with Linköping University"In the project, four ultrasound sensors have been fitted on a Volvo S60, pointing in the directions indicated in the right figure above. When the driver initiates a parking space scan, the system fires and reads the sensors. A number of clever algorithms turn the measurement data into knowledge about the space position and size. When the space is identified and is determined to be large enough for the car, the system tells the driver that a pocket exists. The driver stops and reverses and the prototype electric power steering as well as braking is controlled by the parking computer so that the car is driven into the pocket safely, as shown in the left movie.

 Toy Manufacturer Brumm unveiled its Little Boy and Fat Man 1:43 scale model atom bombs, the ones used to kill over 500,000 civilians when the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War.Source: From The Box 

 Yahoo Music Unlimited is about to make online music distribution cheaper and more accessible. It offers lower cost than its competitors Songbird, Napster To Go and Rhapsody  for unlimited download from its library of about 1,000,000 tracks. If you are not the person for long term commitement, you can build your own disk at 79c per track. Yahoo! Music Unlimited is available either on a monthly basis for $6.99/month, or for an annual subscription of $59.88, billed annually (that's just $4.99 a month). The service is available currently to US citizens.  

Just in yesterday from reader Michael Hoffman. Below, the Ananova story: Stilton launch blue cheese perfume The makers of the famously pungent Stilton blue cheese have launched their own perfume [top]. And they have approached Cat Deeley (below) to be the face of Eau de Stilton. It claims to "recreate the earthy and fruity aroma" of the cheese "in an eminently wearable perfume". The perfume, blended by a Manchester-based aromatics company, features a "symphony of natural base notes including yarrow, angelica seed, clary sage and valerian". It was commissioned by the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association as part of a campaign to persuade more people to eat their product.

  Fossil fuel may no longer needed to run mankind. HHO gas produces stable, safe energy that is totally clean.  It can produce flame hotter than the sun surface. It can also run a modified car engine. HHO is produced from ... Water. It is so efficient that a car running on water can do 100 miles on 4 ounces of it.More in the video: 

    Wrigley, the famous chewing gum manufacturer and holder of top brands like Orbit, Juicy Fruit, Hubba Bubba and others, is investing in a scientific endeavor that will hopefully link Chewing gum to health benefits.The company plans to invest millions in "Wrigley Science Institute", consisting of an international advisory panel of scientists and research experts.The goal of the research is to provide proofs of benefits of chewing gum as well as to establish evidence on assumptions regarding chewing.According to Dave Carpenter (ASSOCIATED PRESS), The Chicago-based company emphasizes that the scientists remain independent and their work, which is being carried out at laboratories elsewhere and not at Wrigley's new research center, is to be published in peer-review journals.Current studies are looking into three areas of potential benefits, the company says:• Stress management: What's behind the common practice of chewing gum to relieve tension? Wrigley cites research showing that it stimulates certain areas of the brain, but wants to go further.

  Conventional advertising is becoming less efficient as potential customers are getting overwhelmed from abundance of ads all over the different mediums.In this atmosphere, advertisers are forced to be more creative and offer customers new attractions. Such an attraction is getting potential customers more involved  personally in the campeigns.  Writer KORTNEY STRINGER writes: "McDonald's wants to star some of its customers on bags and cups. (McDonald's)Companies want to make you a star -- in ads at least.You might have heard that some marketers are using ordinary people like you to make ads to get the word out about their products.

Scientists have developed a system that picks up the subtle cues of plant communicationGreen fingered amateur gardeners often talk to their plants; now the plants can talk back. Scientists have developed a system that picks up the subtle cues of plant communication helping plant growers to monitor the crop’s state of health and will result in optimal environmentally-friendly growing conditions.Funded under the European Commission’s FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) initiative of the IST programme, the PLANTS project sought to develop a unique system that linked plants, technology and people to continuously assess the state of crop health.