Gunman opens fire at Virginia Tech, killing 32

A gunman opened fire in Virginia Tech campus on Monday morning. The shooting rampage was registered in the dormitory and in the academic building. According to the preliminary reports, 33 people were killed, including the gunman, and 28 were injured, REGNUM-KNews reported.

Investigators gave no motive for the attack. The gunman's name was not immediately released. It is known that was a young man of Asian appearance having a lot of ammunition with him. Law enforcement officials told ABC News they believed there was a single gunman who fired at least two 9mm semi-automatic pistols. They said he might have been wearing a bulletproof vest, and that he killed himself on the back of his head after opening fire on his victims.

The law enforcement officials undertaking the investigation are to establish why the university's heads did not close the area down and handle the emergency after the first burst of gunfire. The gunman first shot down two students in the dormitory and two hours later opened fire outside in the other part of the campus, which led to a real tragedy, and the toll rose greatly.

U. S. officials called Monday tragedy in Virginia the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. U. S. senators and the House of Representatives stopped their sessions to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy in a minute's silence, Ekho Moskvy radio reported.

President Bush said from the White House the Americans were "shocked and indeed horrified" with Virginia tragedy and offered to render assistance of the presidential executive office to all the injured. "Schools should be places of safety and sanctuary in learning," the U. S. president said. "When that sanctuary is violated, the impact is felt in every American classroom and every American community."

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Flexible, roll-up displays not far away?

Six months is a lifetime in technology, but computer-maker Hewlett-Packard is taking a punt on what computing will look like five to 10 years out.

Flexible displays that can be rolled up like paper feature prominently on HP's long-term roadmap.

"It's the Holy Grail for notebook design," said Phil Devlin, the Singapore-based manager of product marketing for HP's mobile business unit.

"The entire layout of notebooks is determined by how the LCD panel is laid out."

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Light-based notebook keyboards will also remove the need to punch individual keys, laser projectors will eliminate costly bulbs from projectors and reduce their size dramatically.

And, at the heart of future personal electronics, as HP sees it, is a wristwatch that acts as phone and networking device, communicating with other gadgets in the home.

"You carry your gateway with you. Some would argue the mobile phone is already one," said Devlin.

The products, designs of which were on display in Auckland this week, are the work of HP Labs, the company's R&D division that boasts 600 engineers with PhDs, design centres all over the world and an annual budget that equates to about 5 per cent of revenue. That's several billion dollars to work with each year.

The wristwatch would be capable of ultra wide-band (UWB) communication, which takes place in the radio spectrum above 500MHz and is efficient for short-range personal communications. A type of pulse radio technology, it allows for the fast and efficient use of radio spectrum and is being developed as a standard by electronics makers.

"Bluetooth has allowed less obtrusive near-field communications. UWB is Bluetooth on steroids," said Devlin, who sees UWB replacing existing wireless networking technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and infra-red.

With one UWB antenna in a device taking care of all communications, it could then be built smaller and boast longer battery life.

In fact, if HP's gadgets of the future have anything in common, it is their lack of bulky batteries. The bane of today's notebook-toting traveller is the need to recharge with regularity.

Laptop computer batteries allow anything from one to four hours of power, depending on how power-hungry the applications are. Devlin is expecting major advances in extending the battery life of devices but doesn't see emerging technologies such as fuel cells removing the need for constant recharging any time soon.

"Fuel-cell technology always gets the walk around. It can happily power low-wattage devices but uses flammable liquids you can't take on to planes. They're quite noisy because they require a fan."

Instead, more power-efficient chip sets from the likes of Intel and AMD and improvements to lithium-ion batteries would get the power usage of batteries down from their present range of 15-40 watts to nine-12 watts, extending battery life.

The use of inductive charging base stations in the homes of the future could certainly make recharging portable devices easier, as they would remove the need to plug into the mains power.

Inductive charging employs an inductive coil across a base station to create an electromagnetic field from which power can be drawn.

"It will be a major liberating thing, having a device that doesn't need to be plugged into the wall," said Devlin.

Tablet PCs, which have had a tepid reception from consumers and business users alike, live on in HP's future roadmap, but in a different form. Future tablets will be ultra-thin, see-through panels that blend into their surroundings and let people collaborate digitally on one device.

HP is revamping its business notebook range and, in the process, borrowing design ideas from digital camera and music-player makers.

"New models will include more laminated materials, stamped metal, etched alloy to make them look more appealing.

"We'd like to get up there with the Apples of this world," said Devlin, speaking of a forthcoming HP model that will be particularly style-orientated.

"It'll maybe make people wonder whether it was actually made by HP."

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Coke goes after the real, real thing - alcohol

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola plans to sell an alcoholic range of drinks in New Zealand.

The announcement is worrying alcohol watchdogs, particularly when Coke already has such a huge appeal for the youth market. Coca-Cola Amatil announced yesterday it wanted to broaden its range into the profitable alcoholic beverages market. It has big ideas, having set its sights on being the third biggest beer maker in Australia in the next five years. Spirits and alcoholic "ready-to-drinks" were also tipped as probable additions to the range.

The market is currently dominated by Lion Nathan, DB Breweries and Independent Liquor, the "alcopop" specialist founded by the late Michael Erceg that sold for $1.26 billion in December. The sector is highly lucrative, with take-home liquor market worth more than $1 billion. Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams said any Coke branding on the alcohol range would be a huge concern. She said the company had marketing clout and proved it could build a massive following.

"If there is any link at the consumer end with a brand or a logo that would raise concerns because Coca-Cola is a very popular brand and a popular drink among young people." Advertisement Advertisement She said the company's entry into the market could increase competition and cause liquor companies to increase their promotion. Coca-Cola Amatil group

managing director Terry Davis spoke of the plans at its 2007 Strategic Review. "CCA will take a fundamental change in the direction for the Australian and New Zealand businesses, shifting from aiming to provide our customers and consumers with a non-alcoholic beverage for every occasion to a beverage for every occasion," he said.

The company began expanding its business into food and non-carbonated drink six years ago. Revenue from non-carbonated drinks has grown from 5 per cent to 32 per cent. Mr Davis said the Australian beer market was worth more than $1.13 billion a year, making it one of the most profitable in the world. "We are aiming to become the clear number three player in the Australian beer market by the end of 2012."
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What are you, David?

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Sometimes it is hard to locate a friend who had moved to overseas or settle down in some far away places. I have invested some time to leave my digital trails on the internet (cost me nothing as all I did all my submission or blog and the feeds).

I used www.google.co.nz to search for myself here in Auckland. I enter this "David Lim, Auckland". The search result yield is a rather frutiful. Out of 175,000 possible result, I ranked from No. 1 to No. 11; followed by more links on the second page of search. Click on picture to see larger view.