It's virtual meditation

Too busy to breathe? Too frazzled for fun? Meditainment's for you. The strange thing is, writes GAYLE MACDONALD, it actually works

'Imagine you are the navigator of a canoe, gliding down a river on a warm sunny day," says a honeyed voice. "You are looking forward to arriving at a destination that is all your own. There is no need for any haste. This place is always here for you."

Ah. Forget virtual reality. This is virtual relaxation. I am not actually in a cedar-strip canoe, floating down a river. Instead, I'm sitting at my computer, headphones on, eyes clamped shut. The chirps of birds and the sound of water lapping against my boat is all, literally, in my head, the brainchild of a British Web designer named Richard Latham.(more...)

Workers 'stressed out' by e-mails

More than a third of workers say they feel "stressed out" by the number of e-mails they receive in the office and the pressure to respond promptly.

Scottish research found some workers are viewing their inbox up to 40 times each hour, leaving them tired and frustrated - as well as unproductive.
"E-mail is the thing that now causes the most problems in our working lives," said lead researcher Karen Renaud, a computer scientist.

"It's an amazing tool but it's got out of hand."
Experts suggest a simple stress-beating strategy: check your e-mail less often.
The advice is to set aside two or three dedicated e-mail reading times each day.

'$100 laptop' production begins

Five years after the concept was first proposed, the so-called $100 laptop is poised to go into mass production.

Hardware suppliers have been given the green light to ramp-up production of all of the components needed to build millions of the low-cost machines.

Getting the $100 laptop to this stage has been a turbulent journey for the organisation and its founder Nicholas Negroponte.Since the idea was first put forward in 2002, the low-cost laptop has been both lauded and ridiculed.

Intel chairman Craig Barret famously described it as a "$100 gadget" whilst Microsoft founder Bill Gates questioned its design, particularly the lack of hard drive and its "tiny screen".

Professor Negroponte's response has always been the same: "It's an education project, not a laptop project."

The view was shared by Kofi Annan, ex-secretary General of the UN. In 2005, he described the laptop as an "expression of global solidarity" that would "open up new fronts" for children's education.And as time passed, even some of the critics have changed their stance. Earlier this month, Intel, which manufactures what was considered a rival machine, the Classmate PC, joined forces with OLPC.(more...)

Statue of Christ Redeemer among new seven wonders of the world

Lisbon, Portugal: The Great Wall of China, Jordan's Petra, Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer, Peru's Machu Picchu, Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid, the Colosseum in Rome and India's Taj Mahal were named the new seven wonders of the world on Saturday.

They were chosen according to a tally of around 100 million votes cast by people around the world over the Internet and by cellphone text messages, the non-profit organisation that conducted the poll said.People from every country in the world voted by internet or by phone message for the world's top architectural marvels, according to New7Wonders, the nonprofit organisation conducting the balloting.

The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, India's Taj Mahal and Petra have been among the leaders since January.

The Acropolis and the Statue of Christ Redeemer recently received a surge in votes.