For many years, there's been talk about the mobile advertising opportunity, with some advertisers practically drooling over the possibility of sending ads directly to users' mobile phones. It wasn't that long ago that the standard example used at many conferences and trade shows was how you'd be walking by a coffee shop and it would send you a text messaging offering you 20% off on a cup of coffee or a free bagel or something. Of course, that ignored the fact that probably 99% of the people hit with that message would consider it intrusive spam, especially if they were on the go. Luckily, though, some early complaints about such services (and the general anger towards spam, popup ads and other intrusive ads) has made it so many mobile advertisers have realized the focus needs to be on pull, rather than push. That is, as people are using mobile phones more and more for local information, there's tremendous value in putting advertisements that might be relevant to users as their searching -- rather than simply bombarding them at random. The article does note some experiments with more intrusive push advertising, but set up in a way where the end users have a lot more control and say over the conditions under which they actually receive ads, in an attempt to keep them relevant. For once, it's good to hear of some restraint in the ad industry. Hopefully, it remains.

Olympus today announced the FE-270 - a no-frills entry level digital camera aimed at providing an higher quality alternative to cellphone cameras. That's right, it seems the manufacturers are finally admitting that these devices are cutting into their market. That said the FE-270 should comfortably exceed the performance of even the fanciest phonecam with its 3x zoom lens and - crucially larger - 7.1 Megapixel sensor.

Next up we have the 8 Megapixel FE-280 which ups the 'bling factor' with a stainless casing available in four colors for those who simply can't abide plain old silver. The technology is here too with Face-Detection and - wait for it - smile detection (we predict this to be the next must-have feature now that just about every camera can track faces). Also making it's debut appearance is a new TruePic III processor to make the most of all those pixels.

Wider is better with the Olympus FE-290. Bringing a 28-112mm (35mm equiv.) lens within reach of the masses, it also sports a generous 3" LCD and 7.1 Megapixel sensor. Concentrating on usability and versatility, we can only hope that cameras like the FE-290 will set a trend towards more practical lens specifications at the lower end of the market.

Well here we go with the big pixel counts. The FE-300 packs 12 miliion of them and ISO settings up to 6400 - albeit with the assistance of pixel-binning so you won't be gettng the sensor's full resolution, ISO 1600 is the limit at 12 MP. The rest of the specs are pretty standard with a 2.5" LCD, 3x zoom starting at 35mm equivalent and the Face-Detection with added Smile Shot mode.

Olympus is known for its robust SW line of ruggedized digital cameras and has today added the 7.1 Megapixel Stylus 790 SW - known as the µ [mju:] 790 SW outside the US. According to Olympus this tough little digicam will withstand falls of 1.5m and a dip in the water down to 3m so it should survive even the most exciting night out. ISO 1600, A 3x zoom and Face-Detection round out the headline features and an LED Macro Illuminator could come in handy for close-ups.

The Olympus Stylus 820 squeezes 8.0 Megapixels, a healthy 5x 36-180mm equivalent zoom lens and a 2.7" LCD into it's sleek, weatherproof* frame. We have Face Detection with Smile Shot to trip the shutter only after your subject cracks a grin and Shadow Adjustment Technology to pull a little more detail from murky areas.

Next we have the Stylus 830 which shares most of it's features with the 820 but adds Dual Image Stabilization - a combination of optical stabilization and ISO boost. Available in silver or black, the casing is weatherproofed as a Stylus (or mju as they are known outside the US) should be.

The Stylus 1200 tops off that particular range - known as mju in markets beyond the US. Combining 12 Megapixels with the latest and greatest innovations including Face-Detection, Shadow Adjustment Technology and the new TruePic III image processor. The 3x 35-105mm equivalent zoom is a little tame but you can't deny it's one cool-looking little digicam.

Olympus today announced its SP-560 UZ - successor to the SP-550 UZ which caused quite a stir on announcement with its unprecedented 18x zoom. It's still here but the move to a slightly larger sensor has shifted the range toward the wide. The specs now read 27- 486 mm rather than topping out on the far side of 500 mm. Olympus has fitted this camera out with all it's latest technology so let's hope the slightly disappointing image quality we encountered with the 550 is a thing of the past.

Nikon has today announced three new super telephoto lenses to coincide nicely with their first full-frame DSLR, the D3. They are the AF-S 400 mm F2.8G ED VR, the AF-S 500 mm F4G ED VR and the AF-S 600 mm F4G ED VR. These fast aperture 'big reach' lenses are perfectly suited to the types of photography the D3 is aimed at; sports and news. All three lenses feature 'Nano Crystal Coat' which cuts down internal reflections as well as Nikon's Vibration Reduction II optical stabilization system which claims to enable up to four stops slow shutter speeds. Weight wise obviously these are big lenses, in order; 4.9 KG, 3.9 KG and 5.1 KG. Available this November, no pricing yet.

Nikon has announced a pair of new professional AF-S lenses, first comes the AF-S 14-24 mm F2.8G ED which promises to offer a huge field of view on the new FX format D3 digital SLR. The lens is made up of fourteen elements in eleven groups, two of which are ED glass, three aspherical. There's also a "Nano Crystal Coat" which features in all the lenses announced today, it's designed to cut down internal reflection within the lens which can be a particular problem with the reflective surface of a digital SLR sensor. Next is the AF-S 24-70 mm F2.8G ED a new slimline (by F2.8 lens standards) lens which will provide wide to just beyond standard field of view on the D3. Both lenses will be available this November, no pricing yet.

It's here, after perhaps the longest period of speculation ever Nikon has today lifted the covers on their first full-frame digital SLR, the new 12.1 megapixel D3. The D3 is all about speed and sensitivity, twelve megapixels on a big CMOS chip means large photosites (8.45 µm pitch to be precise) and that adds up to base sensitivity of ISO 200 to 6400 with an additional two stop boost over that (up to ISO 25600). The other side of the speed story (apart from blistering AF and shutter lag) is that the D3 can shoot at nine frames per second with AF tracking or eleven frames per second without. Other headline features are a newly branded EXPEED image processor, a new 51-point AF sensor, color AF tracking, dual CF compartments (with UDMA support), an amazing 3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor with Live View (including contrast detect auto-focus), HDMI video output and even a virtual horizon function which can tell you when you're holding the camera perfectly level. There's too much to fit here so we crammed as much as we can into a preview. The D3 will be available in November, at around US$5000.

In addition to the FX format (Full-frame) D3 Nikon has also announced the new DX format D300 which also features a 12 megapixel CMOS sensor, 14-bit A/D conversion, EXPEED image processor, sensitivity up to ISO 6400 (with boost), the new CAM3500DX AF sensor (51 point), HDMI video output, UDMA CF support and last but not least the super-impressive 3.0" 922,000 pixel LCD monitor with Live View. No ordinary Live View either as this one supports Auto Focus in two ways; using the current 'normal' mirror-drop / mirror-raise but also contrast detect in the same way as a compact camera (although slower). The D300 will be available in November, at around US$1800.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Researchers at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) have built the world's first mode-locked silicon evanescent laser. But what is an 'evanescent' laser? It is a step toward 'combining lasers and other key optical components with the existing electronic capabilities in silicon.' In other words, this research work will provide a way to integrate optical and electronic functions on a single chip. As these evanescent lasers can produce stable short pulses of laser light, they will be useful for many optical applications, such as high-speed data transmission or highly accurate optical clocks."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

David Pescovitz: Duke University researchers have genetically engineered mice that exhibit symptoms similar to those associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and then successfully reversed the behaviors using antidepressants and gene therapy. At first, the study had nothing to do with OCD. The scientists had switched off a particular gene, Sapap3, involved in neuronal communication to better understand its mechanism. To their surprise, the rodents began to exhibit signs of anxiety and compulsively groomed themselves to the point of injury. Like many humans with OCD, the mice's symptoms subsided after treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, in this case Prozac. Next, the researchers injected baby mice from the same engineered breed with a trigger to switch the Sapap3 gene back on. That therapy prevented those mice from developing the OCD-like symptoms. The scientists published their research in this week's issue of the journal Nature. From News@Nature:

"What's most exciting for us is that you can put this gene back in a very small area and rescue the normal behaviour," (lead author Guoping) Feng says...

Feng admits that it is hard, if not impossible, to come up with a perfect animal model for a human psychiatric condition, as no one knows what the animals are thinking. But the team still hopes that studying these mice can help develop better drugs for treating OCD in humans.

Feng's team is now studying human families where OCD is common to see if mutations in the Sapap3 gene are linked to OCD in humans as well as mice.

Link to News@Nature, Link to Nature Editor's Summary, Link to NINDS press release

Previously on BB:
• Shrooms to treat OCD Link

Lucas123 writes "After three players broke their arms while wrestling with a Japanese arcade machine, the manufacturer promised to remove all 150 of the mechanized appendages. Said game maker Atlus' spokeswoman: "The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it.""

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Earlier this month came the surprising news that little-known search engine Accoona had filed to do an IPO, hoping to emulate the public market success of Google. Of course Accoona is nothing like Google, as its search engine is not widely used, with most of the company's revenue coming from dodgy e-commerce sites that it has acquired. Well, it looks like the company may have to wait another day for its invitation to the dance, as the planned underwriter, Maxim Group, has pulled out of the deal. Considering the company's shaky financials as well as the checkered past of its founder (in the past he was a penny stock promoter), it seems highly unlikely that any reputable investment bank will get behind the deal. So unless Accoona actually starts drawing users to its search engine (highly unlikely), the company wouldn't appear to be going anywhere soon.

Ellis D. Tripp writes "Researchers have developed a technique for determining what illicit drugs people might be consuming in a given area, by testing a sample from the local sewage treatment plant. As little as a teaspoonful of untreated wastewater can reveal drug use patterns in a given community. Obviously, any drugs found can't be tied to any specific user, but how much longer until the drug warriors want to deploy automatic sampling units farther upstream of the sewage treatment plant?" From the article: "one fairly affluent community scored low for illicit drugs except for cocaine. Cocaine and ecstasy tended to peak on weekends and drop on weekdays, she said, while methamphetamine and prescription drugs were steady throughout the week."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.