Keep Your Mind Fit

Increasingly it’s recognized that keeping yourself mentally fit is as essential as staying physically fit.

“It’s important to cross-train your brain by doing regular ‘mental aerobics’ to improve memory skills and stimulate the brain,” explained Gary Small, M.D., chief of the UCLA Memory and Aging Research Center. “By keeping our minds sharp, we are more inclined to stay physically fit and lead the type of healthy lifestyle that will slow down the aging process.”

Dr. Small recently partnered with Radica to manufacture and sell an electronic device called “Brain Games.” This handheld device is loaded with five different “brain aerobics” based on Dr. Small’s research. Brain Games becomes available in January 2007 and features a free play mode and training mode, and includes the games Sequence, Flash Card, Thinkfast, Word Hunt and Recall. A scoring system allows players to track their brain-training progress. For more information on Dr. Small and his work, click to www.drgarysmall.com.

Fastest Growing Video Search Destination

PureVideo Search (www.purevideo.com) has attracted more than one million users in the first 30 days of its public beta period. PureVideo Search combines multiple partner media indices with its own proprietary index and ranking technology to provide a video search experience that balances keyword search with browsing and serendipitous discovery. The site provides users with 35-plus categorized charts that display the most popular videos from leading sites.

View & Navigate All Open Windows at Once

Xilokit has released Deskloops 2.0 (www.deskloops.com), free desktop software that enables users to easily view and navigate all open windows at once — without overlap or clutter. The company’s patented Loop Environment Technology (LET) adds a dynamic visual layer to a display on which all open windows are organized into a virtual loop for easy navigation, file recall and file sharing.

Unlike anything existing today, Deskloops enables users to dump the limitations of the PC interface, where windows are stacked and difficult to maneuver. Originally, the PC was designed to manage administrative functions much like a virtual filing cabinet, with folders containing files. This was adequate as long as PCs were merely document and spreadsheet processors. However, while the computer has evolved into a “digital lifestyle” command center, the user interface still represents the way paperwork was managed before computers even existed.

Deskloops transforms the desktop by aligning open windows side by side in a scrollable loop and enabling navigation of that loop in unlimited virtual space. Deskloops makes the desktop more intuitive with a concept known as “Natural Mapping.” This means a map of all files and documents are placed in front of the user, allowing him to see and access the one he wants with a simple and direct click, opening that file instantly.

First New Polymer in 20 Years

GE Plastics has launched Extem thermoplastic polyimide (TPI) resins, the first truly new polymer technology in two decades. Extem resins provide exceptional high-performance, while eliminating the environmental hazards of other materials, delivering a powerful combination of part manufacturing ease — using any of several plastics processing techniques — with ultra-high thermal, chemical and mechanical properties.

Where many competitive materials are often opaque, GE’s Extem resins can be transparent for greater design flexibility. The GE products also remain stiff and stable under loads at elevated temperatures. They do not require curing to eliminate brittleness and enhance physical properties like other products do and they offer true thermoplastic melt processability to provide more cost effective, ultra-high performance. To learn more about the Extem resin family, click to: http://www.geplastics.com/gep/Plastics/en/ProductsAndServices/ ProductLine/extem.html.