Shhhh! The red light is on....

Babies need their rest. Everyone knows that. Frankly, napping is really the only thing that newborns are somewhat decent at. Well, that and being incredibly cute. But what happens when their precious sleep is disturbed? They cry. And cry. And cry. For babies born premature, however, not getting enough quality sleep can lead to more than just a parent’s headache. It can actually slow their development.

This is a growing concern in neonatal intensive care units where there can often be too much noise and light for the infant to get real sleep.

A new monitoring system that measures audio and light levels in NCIUs called Sonicu is now being used in several hospitals in Indiana.

The latest version of this device streams sound and light data to a base computer which is connected to cone-shaped lights. When the room gets too loud, the lights go from green (quiet) to yellow (a bit noisy) to red (loud), to let parents and doctors know that they need to keep it down. It’s kind of like an electronic librarian, only just for babies.

Keeping it quiet is extremely important when it comes to letting the little ones sleep.

"The sounds ... come from all different directions and all different sources, and they're often associated with unpleasant sensations for the baby," Dr. Bob White, a neonatologist at South Bend's Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis said.

For preemies and even sick babies, noise just louder than a normal conversation can cause heart beats that are either too fast or too slow. Because they were born too soon, their ears are not developed enough to filter sound without the protection of the mother’s womb.

Sonicu’s inventor Chris Smith was inspired to make this device after watching how his own premature son was affected by harsh lighting and sounds.

"There's no good way for the nurses or doctors to walk up to a parent, tap them on the shoulder and say, 'You're being too loud,'" Smith said. "That's confrontational."

One thing is for sure, this new monitoring system is one way to keep the annoying adults-talking-as-babies thing down to a minimum. Or at least down to a decibel that is bearable for the rest of the world.

Taking Your Work to the Family Room

In announcement made Monday, Quanta Computer, Inc., and ooVoo plan to take HD video conferencing into family rooms around the world with a new device that plugs into HD TVs and connects to the internet. People who choose to use this device called Quanta Video Messenger will soon be able to chat it up face-to-face (kinda) with people anywhere in the world who are also using the device, as well as anyone using the software on their PC.

Quanta ans ooVoo are also in talks with U.S. phone and cable companies about building the videoconferencing capabilities into their set-top boxes.

The prototype was originally shown at the company's New York headquarters earlier this year. Described as being about the size of a pocket dictionary, the device has plugs for high-definition audio and visual capabilities. In fact, the Quanta Video Messenger can support 1280 X 720 pixel resolution at 30 frames per second. Not bad for a device that allows you to do your job and be a couch potato....at the same time.

According to ooVoo Chief Executive Phillipee Schwarz, the newest in videoconferencing will be avalable sometime later this year with a price that's "affordable for customers," whatever that means...

Robots have feelings too

Anyone who has ever seen "The Matrix" or I, Robot knows that it is completely justified in saying that artificial intelligence in robots is a bit like Spiderman: with great power comes great responsibility. In Japan , however, engineering students are harnessing that power not for world domination but rather for expressing themselves...sort of. At a university lab in the surrounding suburbs of Tokyo, students are working to perfect the robot Kansei or "sensibility." This robot is wired to simulate six separate emotions on its robotic face: anger, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise and disgust. Kansei is able to achieve this task through a database of word associations. For example, when the robot hears "war," it responds with what looks like fear and disgust. And when it hears "love," its pink (yes, pink) lips smile.

"To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks," said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. "Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.

While Japan and the rest of the world is nowhere near simulating the emotional complexity of humans (think sci-fi channel), this new trend is just another advancement in the robotics revolution thats been happening for many years. In fact, robots are so present in far eastern industry, they are often a staple in Japanese factories, with even some welcomed on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies. In fact, according to a recent report by Macquerie, there are 32 robots for every 1,000 human workers in Japanese factories

"The cost of machinery is going down, while labor costs are rising," said Eimei Onaga, CEO of Innovation Matrix Inc., a company that distributes Japanese robotics technology in the U.S. "Soon, robots could even replace low-cost workers at small firms, greatly boosting productivity."

With that in mind, the rest of the world's blue-collar workers better watch out; a femme-bot may be taking your job.