Nissan to offer new collision safety devices

Combines radar sensors, computer system to judge dangers

YOKOSUKA, Japan - Some Nissan cars will soon come with a gas pedal that lifts to warn of possible collisions, while the cars will automatically stop if drivers take their foot off the accelerator in response to the warning.

The technology combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car’s speed and the distance to a vehicle in front, Nissan Motor Co. said Monday. Cars with the new safety features will be available this year in Japan, and next year in the U.S.

The idea was to make a car that judges dangers on its own, like a friendly animal, so machine and driver can work together, said Nissan Senior Manager Yousuke Akatsu.

“It is almost like riding a horse, the way the rider can have a dialogue with the horse,” he said.

As soon as drivers lift their foot off the gas pedal, the brakes kick in automatically to bring the car to a stop, Akatsu said. The car will keep going if the driver continues to step on the gas pedal.

Nissan also showed an experimental system that measures alcohol levels in a driver’s sweat from sensors in the gearshift. The system stops short of locking the ignition but issues a warning in an electronic voice.

Nissan said drunken driving caused 611 fatal accidents in Japan last year.

The car also recognizes if a driver is drifting between lanes, and comes with a computerized camera that monitors blinking to check if a driver is drunk or drowsy.

Nissan officials said people probably wouldn’t buy such an intrusive car, but the technology may have commercial uses such as in delivery trucks and taxi cabs.

More practical is the lane departure prevention technology, which swivels a car back into its lane if it swerves off. The lane technology is being offered later this year in the U.S. on the Infiniti EX luxury model.

Nissan also showed a dummy crash test to demonstrate bumper sensors that release a hinge to lift the engine hood slightly and soften the impact if a pedestrian is hit.

People hit by sporty models can be more hurt more seriously and easily, because the cars are lower to the ground and have lean designs with little space between the hood and engine. Raising the hood on impact helps absorb the shock and reduces the potential injury to a pedestrian.

The pop-up hood will be offered in Japan this year, Nissan said. Jaguar, owned by Ford Motor Co., and Honda Motor Co. already offer the feature.

That’s half the number of a decade ago, but 10 percent of fatal accidents.

Apple reveals slimmer new iMacs

With displays from 20 to 24 inches, their price ranges from $1,199 to $1,799

CUPERTINO, California - Apple Inc. unveiled a line of slimmer desktop computers on Tuesday in a long-expected update of its iMac brand, positioning it for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

The new iMacs, which will sport thinner aluminum casings, have displays measuring 20 inches and 24 inches and will cost $1,199 to $1,799, depending on their configurations, said Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs at a media event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The cost of the 24-inch iMac has been dropped by $200, and Apple has eliminated the 17-inch iMac computer, Jobs said.

The last update to the iMac line was in September 2006, when Apple introduced a model with a 24-inch screen — its largest — and said the entire model line would be powered by Intel chips instead of ones from International Business Machines Corp.

"Apple has grown two to three times the market for the past several quarters," said analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research. "This product launch should position them well for the back-to-school and holiday seasons."

Apple recently launched the iPhone mobile device in a bid to build a third major product line alongside its Macintosh computers and iPod media players, but desktop and laptop sales still account for the bulk of its revenue.
In its third quarter, Apple sold 634,000 desktops for revenue of $956 million, accounting for about 18 percent of total revenue.

"The iMac has been really successful for us and we'd like to make it even better," Jobs said. "We've managed to make it even thinner than before."

Apple laptop sales totaled $1.58 billion in its most recently reported quarter. The MacBook laptop line was not affected by Tuesday's announcement.

Sales of Macintosh computers have grown faster than the overall PC market, but Apple's share of the market by unit sales is estimated to be less than 5 percent.

Apple has also used the iPod and, now, the iPhone as "halo" products to draw customers into stores and get them interested in its computers.

Jobs also said that the company was adding a software "button" to the iPhone that allows users to upload photos taken with the built-in camera on the iPhone to Apple's . Mac online data and Web-hosting service.

Apple shares rose $1.30 to $136.55 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq. The stock has risen 59 percent so far this year, largely on anticipation of strong demand for the iPhone and that enthusiasm for the device will translate into stronger sales of other Apple products.

Four-galaxy collision could form übergalaxy

Scientists say it could make one of the largest in the universe

A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known, scientists say.

Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky way, and each is home to billions of stars.

The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.

"When this merger is complete, this will be one of the biggest galaxies in the universe," said study team member Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, gives scientists their first real glimpse into a galaxy merger involving multiple big galaxies.

"Most of the galaxy mergers we already knew about are like compact cars crashing together," Rines said. "What we have here is like four sand trucks smashing together, flinging sand everywhere."

Galaxy collisions are a common occurrencee in the universe. Our own Milky Way is fated to collide and merge with its neighbor, Andromeda, in about 5 billion years.

Astronomers have observed several clashes involving one big galaxy and several larger ones, and they have also witnessed more major mergers among pairs of big galaxies. But the new findings mark the first time major mergers between multiple hefty galaxies have ever been seen.

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope serendipitously spotted the quadruple merger during a routine survey of a distant galaxy cluster, called CL0958+4702, located nearly 5 billion light years away. Spitzer's infrared eyes observed an unusually large fan-shaped plume of light emerging from a gathering of four blob-shaped elliptical galaxies. Three of the galaxies are about the size of the Milky Way, while the fourth is three times as large.

The plume turned out to be billions of elderly stars ejected and abandoned during the clash. About half of the stars in the plume will later fall back into the galaxies.

Spitzer observations also show that, unlike most known mergers, the galaxies involved in the quadruple collision are bereft of gas, the source material that fuels star birth. As a result, astronomers predict that relatively few new stars will be born in the new, combined galaxy.

IT companies move in on Romania

• Story Highlights
  
• Romania is known for strong computing and language skills and cheap labor
  
• Electronic Arts has a mobile phone branch in Bucharest
  
• Microsoft opened a technical support center in Bucharest in February

In the mobile phone version of the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" video game, the torches hanging along the dark walls of Hogwarts glow in an eerily realistic fashion.

"We invented the technology, it's called 'dynamic lighting'," said Mihai Pohontu, general manager of Romania's mobile phone branch of Electronic Arts Inc, the world's biggest video game publisher.

Romanian programmers, such as Pohontu's team, are among the most sought-after in the world as large international IT companies turn to the east European country to take advantage of strong computing and language skills coupled with cheap labor.

Its computer literacy is not without its dark side -- the country has an unenviable reputation as a hotbed for computer fraud and a large community of hackers.

But legitimate IT is one of Romania's fastest growing export sectors with turnover of about 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion).

Roughly 90 percent of some 1,000 IT companies in Romania are foreign-owned and the government hopes exports will reach 1 billion euros in the next couple of years.

In February, Bill Gates opened a Microsoft Corp. technical support center in Bucharest. The investment followed, among others, the launch of a development center by Amazon.com Inc in the university town of Iasi in 2005.

That is the online retailer's only software development hub in Europe besides one in Scotland's Edinburgh. Other centers are located in India, the United States and South Africa.

"Romanian programmers are exceptionally creative. And in games, you need to explore," said Pohontu.

Prospects for large cash inflows from the European Union after Romania joined the bloc this January, cut-rate taxes and low wages add to Romania's appeal.

"In Eastern Europe, Romania is appreciated as having the biggest growth potential together with Turkey and Russia," said Stefan Cojanu, head of Oracle Corp in Romania.

The software maker, which has a support and software development center in Romania, has doubled its local staff to 1,000 over the last year since opening a tower office in central Bucharest. It plans to hire an additional 500 employees.

"The geographical distance, the similar time zone and business mentality argue for us to develop our activities in a country where costs are also lower," Cojanu said.

Romania's low wages of around $600 a month compare with $1,050 in Poland and $950 in the Czech Republic. Both countries also attract hefty investment in the IT sector.

However, some see a risk the sector is overheating. Double-digit wage growth and a shortage of skilled labor is dampening the enthusiasm of some investors and Romania is struggling with emigration as workers leave for better pay.

"The battle for specialists is very intense," said Ana Ber, head of human resources firm Dr.Pendl & Dr.Piswanger.

"There aren't enough of them, especially as many emigrated."

Industry observers say this state of affairs has prompted companies to focus on building support or software development centers, which need cheaper and lower skilled labor, rather than hiring high-end programmers.

"Romania remains good for outsourcing but not for first-class software authors," said Dragos Stanescu, sales and marketing manager at GECAD, a Romanian company that sold RAV Antivirus technology to Microsoft in 2003.

"The brains are already with companies that have good salaries and it is costly to buy them. A good senior programmer can earn 2,000 euros gross a month. Plus a 30 percent raise to buy him, and you have a salary of a good programmer in Germany."

FBI data show Romania may be the biggest single source of online auction fraud in the world, a multi-million dollar industry that scams people using Web sites like eBay.

"It's highly organized. They create fake accounts to trick people into thinking they are insured," said Gary Dickson, FBI representative in Romania.
"If Romanians were stopped, the amount of online fraud would drop significantly."
Experts say some 70 percent of software used in Romania is pirated, and salesmen still visit office buildings in central Bucharest to sell pirated CDs and DVDs.

Some hackers hope their skills will help secure employment, although breaking into other people's networks for fame or as part of a job CV has its dangers.

"The Romanian hacking community is quite large. They see the computer as a ticket out of the country. It is the easiest way to get a better-paid job abroad," said Victor Faur.

He faces a potential 54-year jail term if convicted on charges of hacking into U.S. government computers, including NASA. He was indicted in 2006. in an eerily realistic fashion.

Nokia E65

Where style meets substance

Key Features

Get more out of your workday with a range of business features: conference calling, voice recording, notepad, integrated handsfree speaker, talking ringtones, and Nokia Team Suite
Send messages using an extensive range of options: SMS, MMS with distribution lists, instant messages, and email
Access business functions quickly and easily: One Touch keys for conference calls, mute/unmute, and contacts
Talk around the world with quad-band coverage on up to five continents
Show your sense of style with the slim, stylish slide design
Work hard, play hard – listen to your favorite tunes or watch video clips with the music and media players
Take snapshots with the 2 megapixel camera

Size

Volume: 74 cc
Weight: 115 g
Dimensions: 105 x 49 x 15.5 mm