Now, a ‘Smart Cane’ that can help the blind navigate better

October 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A blind South African man has earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records by driving a car at 200 miles per hour. South Africa's News24 reports that Durbanville native, Hein Wagner, piloted a high performance Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series to the amazing speed on a closed runway at Upington International Airport.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A 21-year-old American student has opened up about her rape ordeal seven years ago when she was kidnapped by a man and held captive as one of his wives. Elizabeth Smart, who was 14-year-old at the time, was kidnapped by suspect Brian David Mitchell from her Utah home and raped repeatedly during nine months of her captivity.

September 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Just as you plug in your computers and smart phones to communicate, electric fish too communicate by quickly plugging special channels into their cells to generate electrical impulses. The fish generate electric fields to navigate, fight and attract mates in murky streams and rivers throughout Central and South America.

September 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration- two of the leading causes of blindness. The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

September 20th, 2009 LONDON - A revolutionary device, costing less than 60 pounds, has been launched which allows blind people to attach and read audio labels on everyday objects. Developed by a UK firm together with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the PenFriend uses minute barcodes which - when scanned by a digital pen - trigger MP3 files recorded on the unit, reports The BBC.

August 24th, 2009 LONDON - A new study has suggested that tuna dive fast and deep twice a day, namely around dawn and dusk, because they use an internal compass to navigate. It has long been known that tuna dive around dawn and dusk but no one has been quite sure why.

August 8th, 2009 LONDON - In a new technological breakthrough, a portable device has been developed to enable deaf-blind people to have face-to-face conversations. The DeafBlind Communicator (DBC) consists of a Braille note-taker linked by Bluetooth to a mobile phone, and it allows the user to make phone calls using a text relay service and to communicate by SMS.

July 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible -- the opportunity to drive. A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy, designed by them, uses laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host of other innovative, cutting-edge technology to guide blind drivers as they steer, brake, and accelerate.

June 25th, 2009 BANGALORE - Karnataka's transport department turned tech savvy Thursday by launching 16-kb microchip embedded 'smart cards' to replace driving licenses and vehicle registration booklets. Driving license holders and vehicle owners will have to change over to the smart cards within two years.

June 5th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Infosys Technologies chief executive Kris Gopalakrishnan Friday asked the Kerala government to take quick steps to solve the hurdles that stand in the way of the Rs.1,500-crore ($316 million) Smart City IT project, to come up in Kochi. His statement comes days after Smart City Dubai, the developer of the project, gave an ultimatum to the state government to sort out the land dispute surrounding it before the end of the year.

June 1st, 2009 KOCHI - Smart City Dubai, the developer of a Rs.1,500-crore ($316 million) IT project here, Monday said the project cannot be delayed any further and urged the Kerala government to take quick action to sort out the free-hold land issue. Smart City Dubai chief executive Fareed Abdul Rehman told reporters here that the company wanted assurance from the government regarding the free-hold rights on 12 percent of land meant for the project.

April 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Ultra-thin ferro-electric materials used in smart cards will soon make computers more efficient by enabling them to switch on instantly. Smart cards rely on ferro-electric materials to instantly reveal and update stored information.

March 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Security analysts have warned that US President Barrack Obama's plans to accelerate the development of an electrical "smart grid" could leave America's power supply dangerously vulnerable to attacks by computer hackers. According to a report by Fox News, the "smart grid" is projected to be a nationwide system of automated meters and advanced sensors that integrates new alternative-energy sources with traditional power plants.

March 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Tel Aviv University have designed a network of tiny sensors as small as dewdrops called "Smart Dew", which can provide homes with effective protection against trespassers and intruders. Scattered outdoors on rocks, fence posts and doorways, or indoors on the floor of a bank, the dewdrops are a completely new and cost-effective system for safeguarding and securing wide swathes of property.

December 25th, 2008 WASHINGTON - Researchers have demonstrated that people can successfully navigate an obstacle course even after the loss of their vision. The findings reveal the importance of alternative routes in the brain, active in those who have suffered severe brain damage to the visual cortex as well as in all of our everyday lives.