U.S. Researchers informed an American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans about the possible interference that MP3 player headphones might post to cardiac equipment. Pacemakers and implantable defibrillators’ normal operation can be changed when in close proximity to headphones used with MP3 player equipment. Previously it has been found that MP3 players themselves don’t interfere with cardiac equipment.
The reason the headphones have been found to cause disturbance with the equipment is the strong little magnets inside. When placed within 1.2 inches of the cardiac equipment, it was found to cause interference in about a quarter of tested patents. Fourteen out of sixty experienced problems when tested, with interference being twice as likely with defibrillators than pacemakers.
A pacemaker changes the speed of cardiac rhythm using electric impulses. The headphones in close proximity however could make it deliver a signal no matter what the heart rate is, possibly leading to palpitations or arrhythmia. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator signals the heart to normalize a rhythm whenever it gets fast or slow. The magnetic disturbance could make it ignore an abnormal heart rhythm.
“The main message here is: it’s fine for patients to use their headphones normally, meaning they can listen to music and keep the headphones in their ears. But what they should not do is put the headphones near their device,” Dr. William Maisel, who led the research, said. So in other words, keep the headphones away from your shirt or coat pocket, don’t let them hang over your chest when not in use and don’t let anyone else listening to an MP3 player lie against your chest - if you have the heart equipment that is.
Result for: interference
In an effort to get back at the US for its interference with the small country’s internet gambling operations, Antigua is threatening to make US movie and music piracy legal, unless its grievances are “properly addressed and losses compensated for.”
In 2003, Antigua initially claimed that the US “unlawfully prevented its online gambling operators from accessing American markets although the US allowed domestic online bets for sporting events like horse racing.” At the time the country claimed $3.4 billion USD in losses and made a case with the World Trade Organization. It won the case but was only awarded $21 million USD.
Out of retaliation, Antigua is now threatening to allow (make legal)“virtually everything from pharmaceuticals to music, anything with IP protection that can be duplicated,” added Mark E. Mendel, who represents Antigua in the affair.
“It is not our preferred option to punish the MPAA or others for the U.S. government’s intransigence, but the U.S. has refused to negotiate fairly,” he said.
Mendel added that Antigua has been trying to work out a deal that would allow online gambling between the nations but that the US is being unreasonable and “using every possible appeal, counterattack and side attack it could think of. We’ve been through five separate full-blown WTO proceedings on this and have won every step of the way.”
In December 2007, the WTO ruled that “Antigua could exact damages by ignoring IP agreements with the U.S. should a negotiated settlement fail.” The US has yet to respond to the dispute.
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Result for: interference
Denon has announced the upcoming launch of it’s DVD-3800BD high-end Blu-ray player, one that promises “reference-standard” playback.
The player, according to Pocketlint,is “the first Blu-ray player to use the 10-bit Silicon Optix sxT2 HQV Realta chipset to provide the player with highest resolution HD video currently offered via an HDMI 1.3a connection with 36-bit deep color support. To ensure high-quality sound reproduction, Denon used a DDSC-HD audio output along with dual 32-bit floating-point Burr Brown DSPs and its AL24 processors and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoders.”
The player will also have a noise reducing design as well a design set to reduce other signal-degrading interference. The design includes a “drive mechanism with dual-layer top and triple-layer bottom shields, a Suppress Vibration Hybrid loader for smooth disc handling and operation as well as separate video and power circuits.”
Also included in the player is an easily accessible SD card slot on the front panel to allow for playback of digital photos.
The new Denon player will cost about 1600 pounds in the UK when it releases in December.
