A Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Toronto research team debuted photo-deblurring technology at yesterday’s 33rd Annual Siggraph Conference in Boston, MA.

In a seminar entitled “Removing Camera Shake from a Single Photograph,�? the MIT – U of Toronto research team presented an algorithm to correct high-level blurs at the world’s largest electronic and computer graphics conference today, which hosts “the best and most senior minds in technological innovation,�? according to Siggraph spokesperson Brian Ban.

The anti-blurring mathematical model can only correct a particular type of blur caused by hand motion. As digital cameras and camera cell phones gradually shrink in size, the model can accommodate the recent phenomena of hand motion with lightweight cameras.

Source: Emerging Technology

Feel like watching a movie? Need an extra blanket or some food? For years, guests at hotels have gotten these amenities with a phone call or a few clicks of the TV remote.

Now this instant gratification is available to patients in hospitals across the nation through interactive television, high-speed Internet and other comfort-oriented perks designed to make them feel like hotel guests.

LodgeNet Entertainment Corp. has installed interactive TV systems in 10 hospitals in New Jersey, Missouri, Alabama, Washington state, Texas and South Dakota, and has contracts with twice that many, said Gary Kolbeck, the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company’s vice president of health care business development.

LodgeNet, whose customers include major hotel chains such as Hilton and Ritz Carlton, has been offering the hospital services for about a year and a half.

Kolbeck said the trend is driven in part by baby boomer patients with high expectations and the need to generate revenue in a competitive market.

Source: AP

Organized crime is winning the Internet security war, specialists warned at the world’s foremost gathering of computer hackers in Las Vegas.

The online peril is no longer brilliant young social outcasts penetrating networks for notoriety; it is international crime rings swiping billions of dollars with keystrokes and malicious computer codes, cyber cops agreed.

Source: AFP

Two teenagers were arrested Saturday in the theft of a laptop and hard drive containing sensitive data on up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, authorities said.

The equipment was stolen May 3 during a burglary at the Maryland home of a Veterans Affairs employee. The laptop and hard drive were turned into the FBI June 28 by an unidentified person in response to a $50,000 reward offer.

The equipment contained the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of veterans discharged since 1975, in what was the worst-ever breach of government data.

Jesus Alex Pineda, 19, and Christian Brian Montano, 19, both of Rockville, Md., were arrested early Saturday, Montgomery County police said.

Pineda was charged with first-degree burglary and theft over $500. Montano was charged with first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary, theft over $500, and conspiracy to commit theft over $500.

Police said charges were pending against a third male suspect who is a juvenile.

Authorities said the suspects did not specifically target the VA employee’s home in Aspen Hill, Md., and did not realize the hard drive contained veterans’ information until the case was publicized.

Source: AP

New York City is taking advantage of the popularity of iPods among its 130 million transit riders by introducing podcasts that provide information and tips about public transportation.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs New York City’s subways, commuter trains and buses, has introduced TransitTrax. The podcasts are presented in six sections: customer safety, building for the future, promotions, security, advisories and news. Some feature new technologies authorities are testing in subways and on buses.

A timely news podcast explains why most subway stations are hotter than the baking pavement above ground.

Source: Yahoo