The FTC said a massive 42 per cent of its 204,000 complaints for 2001 involved stolen identities, placing the problem at the top of the list.
The FTC said up to 750,000 other US citizens will have their identities stolen this year for the purposes of accessing credit card accounts, securing loans and cashing cheques.
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Wacky Technology of the Week Award – Robotic Slug Sucker
A team at the University of the West of England has created a slug-sucking robot, powered by methane.
“Slugbot” trundles around picking up slugs. The robot arm then dumps the creatures into an internal compartment.
“Further research is being continued by the team based on Slugbot’s self sustaining energy autonomy, this time using plant material rather than dead slugs.”
More Slugs Here
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Pub Finding Watch
Scientists have finally found a worthwhile use for technology and placed a pub-detecting global positioning system inside a wristwatch.
The watch provides the wearer with the location of the nearest four pubs and his/her distance from each one. Finally, a really good technology centered around beer.
More Beer Here
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Nano-Sized Chips
“A C-Net News story is reporting that HP has announced they have made breakthroughs that ‘help turn out powerful computers that fit on the head of a pin with room to spare.’ Also in the article, that the patent announced Wednesday, will produce no two chips that are the same. ‘Each one will be customized for a particular function,’ says Stanley Williams, the chemist on the team. The work was done by himself, Phil Kuekes, a computer architect, and James Heath, a UCLA professor. The chips use nanowires and the chips are said to be even less than the size of bacterium. Sounds cool enough. The biggest part of the breakthrough isn’t the chips themselves, but that HP plans to be able to ‘fix’ chips which come out with imperfections, thus saving money on an already cheap process.”
More Here
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People Watching Satellites
The first generation of people locators packs an impressive amount of technology into a three-ounce package. Wherify Wireless makes a watch-like GPS locator for parents to be able to track down their kids. More Here
Deep Paint 3D and Texture Weapons
Right Hemisphere is an Auckland, New Zealand company that recently won the Most Innovative Product Award for it’s Deep Paint 3D and Texture Weapons gaming technology. They also won PEI magazine’s Cool2 award as the “most desirable imaging products of the year.” And to think this all started with pong.
More Here
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Volkswagen’s New W-8 Engine
Volkswagen has been re-engineering the engine. The W-8 eight-cylinder engine “can best be described as two narrow-Vee (15 degree) four-cylinder engines side-by-side in one block, sharing a common crankshaft.” Smaller, lighter, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…… well, maybe two bounds. What exactly is a bound?
What will the next generation Internet be like?
Search engine Google is growing so fast that it has to add 30 servers per day to keep up with all the new material appearing on the web. The demand for broadband connections is increasing annually by over 15%. The Internet 2 in the US will connect with Europe’s Géant for the start of a super fast network. Will there be a need for Internet 3? More Here
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Unsung Heroes Survey
We always hear about the successful people in the history books. But there are a few people that we don’t know anything about. Here’s you chance to be heard. Please cast your vote in the unsung heroes survey.
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Industrial Sensor Market To Cross $6.7 Billion by 2006
Trend Watch – Faster, cheaper, smaller, more accurate, and more robust — these are the attributes driving innovation in the field of sensor technology. The current downturn in manufacturing has momentarily affected industrial sensor demand. But in the long run, this is an area where ongoing innovations will make this a prime industry to be in. More Here
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Total Home Automation
To get the most out of your home entertainment investment, you need more than a large screen picture and a pile of remotes. Crestron Home makes wireless touchpanel that can automatically dims the lights, draws the drapes, lowers the screen and projector from the ceiling, and even start the popcorn popping to complete the cinema experience. At the same time, the kids can surf the Internet in the den and program music videos from the DVD jukebox. Or you can watch the big game on satellite TV while checking the camera at the front door for late-arriving sports fans. Cool Stuff! More Here
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Retrofit Your Home – No Wires
Intel’s Anypoint allows you to connect your PCs with a wireless home network. Now everyone in your home can surf the Internet at the same time using only one Internet account. More Here
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