Mountain Surfing

These days television technology seems to be focusing on the extremely large with the recent introductions of Plasma TV's over one hundred inches across. With prices falling on LCD and Plasma screen technology and LCD's getting bigger, consumers seem to be driven to get the largest TV they possibly can.

Though it's not getting as much attention, there's also a trend in the other direction. Small television screens are getting smaller. Or rather bigger home entertainment center functions are being stuffed into increasingly small devices. The Video iPod is the device that probably gets the most hype and this is largely due to the fact that it's made by Apple which has also established the online store, iTunes.

Apple has closely coincided the release of a new version of the Video iPod to the announcement that iTunes will have video in the form of movies and television shows available for download for a small fee. The new iPod has truly impressive capabilities. It's now available in with a 80 gigabyte hard drive, which can store up to 20,000 songs in 128- Kbps AAC Format, up to 25,000 digital photos and a huge 100 hours of video. It can play up to twenty hours of music on a fully charged battery or six and a half hours of video. At 2.5 inches it's screen is somewhat smaller than other models.

Dish Network is also a contender in this market with their PocketDish line. The largest model, the AV700E is the one closest to being comparable to the Video iPod. It has a forty gigabyte hard drive which can store up to one hundred and sixty hours of video, twenty thousand songs, and four hundred thousand photos (probably really small or low res photos). It will play video for up to four hours on a charged battery and audio for up to twelve hours. Besides total video capacity the AV700E has the Video iPod beat in terms of display size: it's screen is a whopping seven inches across.

Toshiba also offers a portable video device called the Toshiba gigabeat S Series Portable Media Center. It has a 60 gigabyte hard drive, a 2.4 inch screen. With a fully charged battery it can play up to 2.5 hours of video which can be downloaded from a Windows Media Center PC or a TiVo Series2 digital video recorder. It's unique features include Windows Mobile software and a built in FM radio tuner.

On the really small end of the spectrum is the Meizu Mini Player. The Meizu Mini Player packs a 2.4 inch display into a case that's only 1.9 inches by 0.4 inches by 3.1 inches. It's specs don't show exactly how much content it's four gigabyte hard drive is supposed to hold, but it would be reasonable to guess that you could watch two full length feature films on it. It does handle audio, video, and photos. Two exceptional features about the Meizu Mini Player, in addition to it's small size, is the fact that it can play audio or video for up to 20 hours on a single charge and that it's compatible with Linux computers along with Windows and Mac.

For anyone who likes to carry around A LOT of media on their portable device, there's the Archos 504 which has a huge 160 gigabyte hard drive. It has a 4.3 inch screen and can play standard audio and video formats.

With these portable AV units on the market, there's a lot of competition to create the latest device to pack the biggest punch in the smallest package.

J. Hall writes articles for consumers who want to find the best new technology currently available. She has written for many major publications about the latest television deals and promotions and how buyers can find the best discounts.

AP - Neither a bloody face nor a deputy's plea could stop a tow-truck driver from doing what he's paid to do. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said a Wilsonville woman fled her apartment Monday night after getting assaulted by her boyfriend. With blood running down her face, she got in her car and sped across the parking lot to her grandmother's place, where she called 911.

If you are in need of cardiothoracic surgery there are places using the latest in technology that help speed up your recover and improve your chances of less trauma to your body. The name of this technology is the da Vinci robot and it is one of the latest developments in surgical technology. This robot does not operate on you like R2D2 could. It doesn't have any computing power with which to think on its own. It is more of an extension of the surgeon's arms and allows the surgeon to be very precise. Surgeons are very good at what they do and many have extremely fine motor skills but it is hard to be as precise as a robot can be. The robot doesn't move unless you move it. It doesn't shake unless there is an earthquake and it doesn't have any second doubts. With this precision comes a few benefits.

One is the size of the incision. A smaller incision results in less blood loss and less trauma to the operation site on the body. This often results in a quicker recovery time and less scarring. These incisions can also save the patient from the pain and trauma of sternotomy and rib spreading and allows the incisions to be made on the side of the body. This type of robotic heart surgery also may result in less risk of infection, less blood loss and need for blood transfusions, a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, considerably less pain and scarring and a quicker return to normal activities. The long term survival rate may also be improved. Some forms of robotic surgery also have other advantages.

One common use of the da Vinci robot is to repair the mitral valve as an alternative to open heart surgery. This operation allows the surgeon to use very small incisions and have unparalleled precision to repair the valve while possibly increasing the likelihood of success without using artificial valves. There is a great deal of information on this topic that is available for those who may be candidates for this type of surgery. Repair to the valve is preferable in many cases and may provide you with many significant advantages as compared to having the valve replaced with and artificial valve. Some of these advantages may include not having to take life-long blood thinners, less need for a reoperation, reduced risk of some surgical complications, improved heart function and a higher probably of a long term survival rate. Some studies show that the da Vince robotic operating system may allow surgeons to complete as much as fifty percent more repairs to the valve than they could using an open surgical approach. As with any surgery these benefits cannot be guaranteed even though using the da Vinci robot is considered safe and effective, it may not be appropriate for every individual.

If you are a potential candidate for cardiothoracic surgery then you may want to consider checking with your doctor to see if using the da Vinci robot is an alternative for you. Robotic heart surgery may be an incredible advantage in some surgeries both today and in the future.

AP - A "nagging" wife who pushed her husband to buy a lottery ticket helped scoop the $4.2 million ($7.7 million New Zealand dollar) first prize - with only minutes to spare. The man from New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, bought his ticket just two minutes before ticket sales closed Saturday night.