Fusion: Just need the BMW

7/31/2004

JUST NEED THE BMW

Connect with music like never before behind the wheel of your BMW. With the installation of an integrated adapter developed by Apple and BMW, you can now control your iPod or iPod mini through the existing audio system and multi-function steering wheel. The BMW iPod adapter can be installed in 2002 or later 3 Series, X3 and X5 SAVs, and Z4 Roadsters. The 20GB iPod goes for $299. Add the 325i Sedan for $28,100.

http://www.apple.com/ipod/bmw/

RANDOM ACTS

The Gallery of Random Art (gs2.sp.cs.cmu.edu/art/random) uses a computer program to generate random abstract images that viewers can rate. Createbands.com lets you select a group of virtual musicians and mix their loops to make your own wall of sound. The worldwide Freecycle Network (freecycle.org) helps people and organizations swap goods and give things away.

COOKING THE BOOKS

Russian hackers have cost British bookmakers $70 million in lost business by overwhelming their sites with false requests and then demanding money for stopping the attacks, officials say. Valery Syzrantsev, chief investigator for the Russian Interior Ministry, said hackers attacked each of nine betting companies three to five times and demanded payments of up to $50,000 to stop. Online bookmakers were the most convenient prey because the attacks could be timed to major sporting events, Syzrantsev said. British and Russian cyber-detectives traced the attacks to several Russian cities and Russian police arrested two suspects last week and seized computers and software.

BETTER BRAILLE

Pulse Data s new BrailleNote PK, measures 6.8 by 3.6 by 1.3 inches, small enough to fit in a coat pocket, and boasts a 400-megahertz Intel Xscale processor. But the device s best feature is its wireless capability; it is equipped with both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The PK, with 30 hours of battery power, will be available in October and can be synchronized with a PC through the Microsoft Outlook program. The BrailleNote PK ($4,995) does basic word processing and can translate text into embossed Braille for printing. It can play MP3 files, send and receive e-mail with attachments, and browse the Web. Users can even read e-books and periodicals and download text from the Web site www .bookshare.org, which provides reading materials for the blind.

www.pulsedata.com

BUDDY SLEUTH

A new site, IMWatching (www.imwatching.net), lets you enter the screen-names of up to 40 people whose activity on AOL Instant Messenger you want to track. The site, which is not affiliated with AOL, collects what it calls presence data, or information on when those users sign on, sign off, go idle or flag themselves as being away. In just a few weeks, more than 1,000 users have entered 6,000 screen names.

HEALTHLY CHIPS

MedicAlert bracelets have helped save lives, but the Med-InfoChip is a keychain-size USBdrive that comes with its own software to create a complete medical profile on the drive. The Med-InfoChip ($70) uses its own customized FileMaker database to store the information. After plugging in the drive and starting the program, you are presented with a series of electronic forms to fill in with medical data. Medical professionals can easily view the files by plugging the drive into a computer and browsing the patient s records. Digital copies of photographs, birth certificates, X-rays, and EKG results can also be stored and continually updated.

www .medinfochip.com

YOUR ODDS

Don t guess. Count down your days at Your Disease Risk (www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu), which is a new offering from the Harvard Center for Cancer Protection; www.amihealthy.com, sponsored by a company that creates and licenses health-care measurement tools; and realage.com.

TOLEDOBLADE.COM

Web editor Kevin Cesarz (Wednesday) and country music writer Brian Dugger (Friday) will produce columns this week only on toledoblade.com.

www.toledoblade.com/cesarz

www.toledoblade.com/dugger

FROM THE BLADE S WIRE SERVICES AND STAFF.

CONTACT FUSION AT KCESARZ@THEBLADE.COM