News Briefs

DVD format breakthrough

New Medium Enterprises (NME), based in Britain, has developed a new next generation DVD that can support both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats on a single DVD.

A disk with multiple formats in separate layers is not a new idea. NME has developed a production process that lets them produce the DVDs for about nine cents per disk. Current manufacturing techniques for multilayer disks can cost from three to five times the six cents it costs to make single layer disks.



Jackson signs for Halo game

Peter Jackson recently joined with Microsoft to launch a new game development studio named Wingnut Interactive. The studio, along with Jackson, will provide collaboration on a new Halo game.

The studio will also work with Microsoft to create an original game that will focus on attracting people who don’t traditionally play video games. Jackson’s collaboration with the company will also extend to their new HD-DVD peripheral. When the peripheral is released in the fall, it will come with an HD-DVD version of Jackson’s King Kong.



Zero-G surgery

French surgeons recently carried out the first ever zero-gravity surgery. They performed it on a plane specially outfitted to simulate the zero gravity conditions. The surgery to remove a benign tumor from the forearm of a 46-year-old volunteer took approximately three hours. The surgeons kept their instruments in place by using magnets.

After the surgery was completed, the scientists were overjoyed when they found out their instruments were capable of being used on the International Space Station. The forearm surgery was deliberately chosen because of the lack of large-scale bleeding associated with it. The next phase of experimentation is expected to involve the use of robots.