The “3G watch phone” model has a touch-screen dialling system with a camera and a speaker built in to enable users to make video calls over a high speed internet connection, LG Electronic said in a statement.

It also recognises voices, transforms text to speech, has a Bluetooth function and plays MP3 music.

The product has a 3.63-centimetre (1.43-inch) screen and is 13.9 millimetres (0.56 inches) thick. It will be on display at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 8 to 11.

LG Electronics said it plans to launch the handset in European markets sometime next year.

© 2008 AFP

Click HERE to visit Engadget and learn more.

Click HERE to read this opinion piece published in the International Herald Tribune (The Global Edition of the New York Times). Here is an excerpt:

Normal life, unlike sports competitions, they argue, isn’t a zero-sum game, where one person’s doped advantage necessarily brings another’s disadvantage. A surgeon whose mind is extra-sharp, a pilot who’s extra alert, a medical researcher whose memory is fine-tuned to make extraordinary connections, is able to work not just to his or her own benefit, but for that of countless numbers of people. “Cognitive enhancement,” they write, “unlike enhancement for sports competitions, could lead to substantive improvements in the world.” more>>>

MIT Technology Review:

Electronic pills have been used for diagnostic applications such as imaging, but the iPill from Philips Research, designed to treat gastrointestinal disorders, goes a step further, dispensing medication at a location and rate programmed by a physician. The disposable capsule, which is about the same size as an ordinary pill, contains a tiny computer, a wireless transmitter, and a series of sensors; it passes naturally through the digestive system after being swallowed with food or water. Although the iPill is still a prototype, Philips is about to begin testing it in animals and is working with pharmaceutical companies to evaluate what drugs might work best with it. more>>>

Of course, you all know this already because you read Blogging the Singularity…

The way we control and interact with computers is set to change rapidly in the next five years, according to a leading computer scientist who will give this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.

Prof Chris Bishop, who is chief research scientist at Microsoft Research in Cambridge and professor of computer science at the University of Edinburgh, will tell his audience that just like Tom Cruise’s character in the film Minority Report, more of us will be manipulating and combining digital information by gesturing in thin air and flinging our hands over touchscreen devices.

He also predicts that 3D displays will replace the traditional flat screen for some applications. more>>>

Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.

The new analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a “virginity pledge,” but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers. more>>>

SEE ALSO THIS ARTICLE FROM THE ONION (funny!):

That Teen-Abstinence Rally Totally Rocked!

Wow, what a weekend! They say that part of being a teenager is knowing how to cut loose, and there’s nothing quite like getting together with a big group of your peers and just “letting it rip.” That teen-abstinence rally totally rocked!

We’d been looking forward to the rally for weeks, so when the big day finally arrived, we could scarcely contain ourselves. Chaperoned by our Christian Outreach adult supervisor, me and a bunch of my pals drove all the way down to Hendersonville in the Springdale Youth Ministry van. (A two-hour drive! We sang songs the whole way!) People came from all over the mid-state area, so you can imagine how pumped everyone was to get the rally started. And when Pastor Bob finally stepped to that podium and yelled, “Is everybody here excited about JEEEEEEEEEEE-SUS?” the place went totally nuts! more>>>

In a major breakthrough, Spanish scientists have discovered the blood group and two other genes of the early humans who lived 43,000 ago.

After analysing the fossil bones found in a cave in north-west Spain, the experts concluded they had human blood group “O” and were genetically more likely to be fair skinned, perhaps even with freckles, have red or ginger hair and could talk.

The investigating team from Spain’s government scientific institute, CSIC, used the very latest forensic techniques to remove the bones for analysis to prevent them getting contaminated with modern DNA. more>>>

I’d like to inform everyone of the Technology Blog over at Ashworth college. They are big fans of BTS and I’d like to tell them to keep up the good work!

You can read the other questions of this interview if you click on QUESTION #1
and QUESTION #2

CHRIS WILLIAMSON:
What features will the new Humanity+ website have?

JAMES HUGHES
The design won’t have a lot bells and whistles to begin with. We’re
going for a simpler, more straightforward presentation than the
text-heavy website we’ve been using.

We’ll probably be adapting the existing FAQ into an additional Wiki
version so that we can keep it more up-to-date and complete than our
once-every-five-years revision.

____________
The new website will soon be found at: humanityplus.org

Click here for the top 10 articles.

Click here to watch a Thoughtware.TV video featuring a presentation by Yoky Matsuoka. Last year she received a MacArthur “Genius” Award and was named one of Popular Science’s “Brilliant 10.” This educational video is well worth the time spent. Be sure to read the brief background information located under the video.

Click here for 10 Information Technology predictions for the next 10 years. Yes, the Singularity is mentioned.

Click here for this ABC News top 10 list.

Virus known for its photo ops makes its movie screen debut

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – High-resolution snapshots of a virus attacking its host – which have culminated in a movie of the process – could reveal secrets of viral infection and improve gene therapy techniques, according to a Purdue University research group.

“Instead of a still photo of the baseplate, we now have a movie of it opening,” said Rossmann, who is Henley Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences in Purdue’s School of Science. “A better understanding of the infection process is a step forward for fundamental science, but it also could allow scientists to alter the baseplate so that the virus could infect cells other than E. coli. T4 might then be used to deliver beneficial genes to damaged or infected human tissue.”watch this great animation>>>