Communications Technology

Sony launches its PlayStation Plus subscription service in Australia tomorrow, and has released more information for curious PlayStation 3 owners. As revealed at the recent Electronic Entertainment Expo, online gaming on PS3 remains free.

PlayStation Plus is a subscription service that gives access to special content and special offers. Sony says it is an “evolving service” and new features will be added in future. The price for Australian gamers is $69.95 for a full-year subscription, or $20.95 for 90 days.

Sony says members will get access to at least four games per month - one PlayStation Network game as well as two Minis and one PSone game. Once downloaded, the games can be kept and played for as long as the user remains a member of PlayStation Plus. Suitable games can be transferred to PSP to play on the move.

Users will also be able to download two full games, try them out for an hour, then delete them or purchase them to continue playing from where they left off.

There will also be two dynamic themes, two premium avatars and premium add-ons to download. Many will be exclusive to members-only and can be kept forever.

Other benefits include:

* Invitations for early access to selected demos and beta trials
* Discounts from 20 to 50 per cent for selected PlayStation Store items
* Automatic downloads for game updates, system software updates or demos. The PS3 can be scheduled to wake up at any time of the day or night to perform the download.

Those that sign up before August 3 for a 12-month subscription will receive a downloadable copy of LittleBigPlanet.

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Rice University biomedical engineers and University of Texas cancer researchers report in PLoS that using a $400 Olympus E-330 digital camera this week that they are able to distinguish between healthy and cancerous cells with only a little tweaking.

“Consumer-grade cameras can serve as powerful platforms for diagnostic imaging,” says lead author and Rice professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum in the school’s news release. “Based on portability, performance, and cost, you could make a case for using them both to lower health care costs in developed countries and to provide services that simply aren’t available in resource-poor countries.”

The team captured images of cells using a small bundle of fiber-optic cables attached to the E-330. They then applied a fluorescent dye that makes the nuclei of cells glow brightly when lighted with the tip of the fiber-optic cables.

The nuclei of precancerous and cancerous cells are visibly distorted, so much so that the abnormal cells were visible even on the camera’s small LCD screen. The team used tissue samples from resected tumors and cancer cells grown in a lab and compared them to the healthy tissue samples from patients’ mouths.

“The dyes and visual techniques that we used are the same sort that pathologists have used for many years to distinguish healthy cells from cancerous cells in biopsied tissue,” says study co-author Mark Pierce, a Rice faculty fellow in bioengineering. “But the tip of the imaging cable is small and rests lightly against the inside of the cheek, so the procedure is considerably less painful than a biopsy and the results are available in seconds instead of days.”

Richards-Kortum, Rice’s Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering as well as professor of electrical and computer engineering, heads a lab that has developed fluorescent dyes and targeted nanoparticles that let doctors zero in on the molecular hallmarks of cancer.

She says software could be written that would allow medical professionals who are not pathologists to use the device to distinguish healthy from non-healthy cells. The device could then be used for routine cancer screening and to help oncologists track how well patients were responding to treatment.

While a Rice spokesman says it could still be a while before additional testing and approvals come through to bring this technology to market, he adds that Richards-Kortum has already used it on herself, in front of an audience, showing the healthy nuclei of the cells in her mouth.

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The Wall Street Journal reported Google is planning to launch an online music downloading service tied to its search engine, a move that would pit it against Apple and its popular iTunes site.

Google’s plans are still vague, but it has been “stepping up conversations” about offering music services online as well as over mobile phones that use its Android operating system, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the company’s talks with the music industry.

It was unclear whether Google had signed deals with record labels, the report said, adding that the launch of a music downloading store was still months away.

In a post today, mashable.com reports such a system has been touted for a while within Google.

“At Google I/O, Google showed off technology that would allow Android users to stream music off of their desktop computers right on to their phones. That’s very cool and offers a glimpse of what a cloud-based subscription service may offer. While Android can support direct over-the-air purchasing from the Amazon MP3 store, the overall music player and music experience still doesn’t quite have the finesse of iTunes and its integrated multi-device solution,” the post says.

Google and Apple have become competitors since the launch of Google’s Android operating system, a rival to Apple’s iPhone.

Google was not available for comment.

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