61-year-old Israeli pediatrician Igal Kushnir and his company Deep Breeze has developed a new technology called Vibration Response Imaging (VRI). What it does is measure energy generated in the lungs, analyze it, and then display an image of the person's lungs in one go.

This new technology has been found to accurately diagnose lung conditions such as asthma, pneumonia, and lung tumors.
 
What makes this method so amazing is the fact that it uses no radiation. It works by analyzing acoustic vibrations resonating or sounds from a person's lungs, much like a stethoscope. The lung vibrations are then fed to a computer, where it's displayed as images.

Deep Breeze was given approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last July 23 to begin marketing a VRI device in the U.S. Other countries such as Israel, the European Union, and South Korea have also cleared the product for distribution.

While the technology is still expensive at an average price of US$ 40,000 to US$ 50,000 per unit. Deep Breeze is working to create cheaper versions of it which will go for as low as US$ 10,000 per machine. This is big news in the medical community as this device will undoubtedly save a lot of lives by removing a lot of the guesswork usually experienced in using the common stethoscope.

If you know your basic internet culture, you probably already know that the question on every other person's mind online is "what insanely innovative stiff will Google come up with next?" Today, we have the answer for you: Google-owned YouTube is coming to mobile phones soon.

The most popular video sharing site in the world has signed a deal with the fifth-largest mobile handset maker in the world today, LG Electronics of South Korea.

At the core of the agreement is the development of a mobile phone which can access the YouTube server and deliver streaming clips on the go. It's never been done or attempted before, but LG says a working design could be seen as early as this year. "LG Electronics will unveil a mobile handset that fully supports the YouTube service for the first time in Europe in the second half of this year," said the company in a statement.

Right now, YouTube has around 100 million users worldwide, driving up the demand to have it in every appropriate medium. It has some 70,000 user-created content which are readily accessible and are steadily on the rise.

A new image sensor chip that lets digital cameras capture vibrant images in dark locations without the need for a flash has been announced by South Korean government officials.

According to officials from the state-run Korea Electronics Technology Institute, they developed the chip -- called the single carrier modulation photo detector (SMPD) chip -- using nanotechnology.

Cameras equipped with the chip can take high-resolution photos or record video at 1 lux. That's as bright as a the lighting from a candle one meter away in a dark room.

The chip was developed over four years at a cost of about US$ 10.5 million. South Korea is expected to make a nice profit, though, with the country expected to earn about 2 trillion won (US$ 2 billion) annually once the chip starts being exported.

Calling several Evangelion scenarios to mind where Eva units guard the city from wayward Angels,  South Korea's Commerce Ministry unveiled an armed robot guard which may be one of those who will be patrolling the North and South Korean border soon. The robot's purpose is to block intruders who may attempt to infiltrate the border.

The robot's abilities include being able to fire a machine gun or rubber bullets (they didn't quite say exactly when and what the live bullets would be used for), can sound an alarm when it detects suspicious movement, and can distinguish moving people and vehicles from up to 1.2 miles away.

These new robots are expected to greatly improve the security of the border which will prevent any aggression or attacks from its communist neighbor. Also, the robots will be taking the place of real soldiers, thereby reducing the risk of injury or loss of life.

One question remains though: will these robots attack evacuees and immigrants from the North who wish to flee into the safety of South Korea?

No, it is not a virus. But it may spread just like one. And no, it is not a bomb. But it may well be, the next big explosive thing in the market! Featuring the newest MP3 player, dubbed as YP-K5.

This latest gadget is developed by South Korea's manufacturing giant Samsung. Very like other Samsung merchandises, this flash-based MP3 player comes in with a glossy black color scheme and Ogg Vorbis playback.

Unfortunately, it is only available over their side of the planet, at least for now. You might wonder why would we want this available just right over here? Well, because it comes with its own kick ass speaker! This integrated speaker slides out in order for it to pump up the volume for you and your friends. It comes in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB varieties.

And in case you're feeling a little, should we say, stand-offish, you can always plug in your old, good, reliable headphones.

LG may not be the leader in the portable audio category for now, but just because you ain't on top doesn't mean you can't come up with good-looking and sexy contraptions. So, here's LG's latest attempt in elevating its status in the hussle-bussle world of mp3 players - the LG MFFM20.

It looks cool - different from the usual mp3 players that have abound the planet. But features-wise, it couldn't get more simpler - There’s PlaysforSure support for stores such as Napster, an FM radio, two capacity options – 512MB and 1GB, and a 20-hour battery life. The only mystery surrounding this contraption is the "music therapy" feature. To keep things mysterious (mystery sells you know), LG hasn’t yet elaborated on this feature.

What we know so far is that they claim that it’ll help reduce stress levels. For now, its price tag isn't out in the open, but it will be on sale this November. Some are even speculating that this one will hit Europe first before it reaches U.S. soils, well at least it's not a South Korea only merchandise.

NEC seems to want to go head to head with its contemporaries in the world of electronics business. After Samsung has unveiled what they claim to be the most colorful LCD around, NEC has answered back with two new LCDs - the MultiSync LCD1990FX and LCD1990FXp displays. Unlike the Samsung variant whose main selling point is its colorful LCD, these two boasts the world's thinnest side bezel at just under 7-mm thick - 42% thinner than the company's current ultra-thin-bezels. Can't beat Samsung in color, beat them somewhere else.

Aside from being thin, both have 150-mm height-adjustable stands, pivot for either portrait or landscape mode, and contain ultra-thin borders around the screen to save space, it also claims to provide the widest viewing angle - 178 degrees - which you can use in audience-filled trading room floors and offices when multiple users are situated around one display.

They also claim to be energy advocates - both displays deliver Intelligent Power Management (IPM), which draws just 40 watts during use, and AmbiBright technology, which automatically adjusts the display backlight depending on the brightness of ambient lighting conditions. Too bad that they can't beat the enemy from South Korea in the price category.

The NEC MultiSync LCD1990FXp/ LCD1990FX / measures 392.2 (W) x 408.9 ~ 558.9 (H) x 247.3 (D) mm,weighs approximately 8.0kg with stand. Model LCD1990FXp is available from July31st for 102,900 Japanese Yen or roughly $880 - more than double the price of the Samsung SyncMaster CX930B which will go for $430.

Mountain climbing, rappeling, and trail hiking are some of the hardest physical activities ever invented and propagated by mankind. Take it from me, I sometimes have a hard time carrying my backpack full of canned goods while walking through bodies of water like streams and rivers and making sure that my buddies are doing good as well.

So if you want to amuse yourself (aside from the evil laugh you get while one of your buddies slip into the waters) in any way while engaging in extreme activities, then now, you can pump up the volume of your mp3 music with the Soundwalk Speaker Harness. This one is a body harness that holds two small amplified speakers at shoulder level to give you that hands-free ‘surround sound experience’ from your audio player.

You know, when you’re cycling, running, or otherwise hand-busy but still want to listen to some tracks sans the ear-ache from earbuds. Plus, there’s a space to store your mobile phone too. Now, just don't play it too loud you might anger that mountain lion or bear or something.

This will go for around $73.00 and comes in 7 colors. Now, if you can just find it in stores outside Korea, then you're all set. But unfortunately, this one could only be located in the gadget-ladened store shelves of South Korea. So what's new right?

Northrop Grumman has unveiled its laser-based air defense system called Skyguard. The laser-based system was developed to shield airports and other installations from rockets, ballistic missiles, mortar attacks, and other threats. Northrop believes that there is a potential "very large" market for the system in light of terrorist threats to national security.

Northrop has already pitched the Skyguard to Israel, which worked with the company and the Army to develop the laser-based system. Skyguard is capable of generating a protective shield five kilometers in radius to each of the Department of Homeland Security's armed services. It could extend to a 20-kilometer radius.

Mike McVey, vice president of directed energy systems at Northrop's Space Technology business unit, said that the cost of setting up the protective shield around an airport could range from $25 million to $30 million. He cited potential demand from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and "virtually any country facing a threat from a neighbor". For the US, the protective "bubble" could be ready in in 18 months for $150 million to $200 million.

Skyguard is derived from Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), which is designed to protect Israel's northern communities from Katyusha rockets and artillery shells.

Northrop would seek a US Government export license to market the Skyguard to Israel and other interested countries.

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of processed cellulose originally invented to prevent wine spills from staining table cloths. Although that didn't work out, cellophane did find its calling in the food packaging business. Now, looks like its destined to have a second career as flying robots!

Jaehwan Kim and his team at Inha University in South Korea discovered that ordinary cellulose is a piezoelectric and can flap when exposed to an electric field. To make a cellophane simulate the wing's flapping action, they placed a very thin layer of gold on each side. The layers were connected to a voltage and acted as electrodes, with one side of the paper positive and the other negative.

When electricity was applied on the gold on each side, the cellophane curves toward the positive side. Switching the voltage fast enough makes the cellophane simulate wing movements. Theoretically, this action is ideal to send lightweight robots with cameras, microphones or other surveillance sensors flying through the air.