Japanese medical researchers have successfully developed a working prototype of a small surgeon robot . The robot has been able to perform surgical procedures on animal subjects during its test runs.

The robot is a cylinder-shaped structure measuring 2 cm in width and 1 cm in height. It works in several ways. It can be swallowed to perform surgery in the digestive tract or can be inserted via a small incision made in the skin. The robot is capable of taking photographs and administering treatment to patients under the guidance of medical professionals.

The robot travels along the human body using magnets. The patient is placed in the confines of a magnetic field. The robot enters the body and its magnetic sensors are activated. The magnetic field serves as the invisible sphere under which the probe is piloted in, out and around the subject.

Professor Ritsumeikan of Showa Maki Research Institute says with this robot, large-scale operation do, it can remedy (sicknesses)."

- Source: [Gadgets ]

TheNameless from our forums has popped by today to inform us of a new update to his highly-popular PSP firmware browser modification known as FullScreen Browser which you'll be delighted to know works on all firmwares above 2.0. A homebrew-capable firmware is not needed to use this browser mod.

This application hasn't been updated in a while, though some modifications have been made to it since its initial release in January. TheNameless now brings us v1.3 which offers multiple tabs. Yes, this means you can have more than three tabs open at any one time! Here's the full changelog:

    * Scrolling improved: Scrolling is now easier, see the FAQ in the QJ forums for more information
    * Added FSBrowser Light: A resource saving version, click on L after the resolution for the light version.
    * Added Multiple Tabs: Now you can have more than 3 tabs open at any one time!

The maximum number of tabs has been set at five for the moment, but if you wish you can increase this manually. Just remember that the more you increase the tab limit the more memory usage and the more frequent the "out of memory" error will appear. Wee suggest you stick to the five-tab limit at this time. And don't forget to read the Readme.



- Source: [PSP Updates]

PSP NIKOS and PSP Viper have just dropped by, and you know that means, guys. Yup - wee are proud to announce the release of PSP Theme Pack 4: C Edition, which carries over even more goodies than its predecessor. Expect to find these new features when you download the pack:

    * New XMB 01-12 backgrounds [made by me]
    * New XMB 01-12 bmp merger/splitter with padding Flash Agent F4 [Use Dummy Files]
    * Cool ready made XMB waves including: Cool Ultimate Vista looking XMB [By Undertaxx], and Cool Blue XMB [By RaiderXXX]
    * 2.71 PRX pack including: Brightness mod, Screen Capture XMB, and Game MP3 Player
    * PSP game structure utility modifier
    * New TGA Wave Editor which allows you to modify Bootwaves
    * Loller Bootwaves Pack - Plasma v2 Battery mod [shows percentage in XMB]

The pair reminds everybody (as do wee) to view the corresponding READMEs available in the pack's various apps to prevent potential bricking incidents. As always, PSP Viper and PSP NIKOS would like to give their thanks to the PSP programmers and QJ.Net for making the project happen (you're welcome). Just remember to clear some space - the bundle is now at 39MB. Just clear up your previous versions (Keep Pack 3), and you should be fine.

The Mozilla Foundation has released some important security fixes for its free Firefox 2.0 browser. This update brings the version numbers to 2.0.0.2. This new security rollout updates address issues with AutoComplete and changes the way “Save

While the PSP homebrew scene prides itself on being a huge multi-cultured community of people from all over the globe, the big majority of people who own a PSP have never tried out homebrew. Funny as it may sound, it is a fact that the homebrew community is nothing more than a niche area which generally doesn't receive much mainstream coverage apart from dedicated PSP homebrew sites.

Because of that very reason, wee were pleasantly surprised to find a very nice article over at BBC covering the PSP homebrew scene. Now wee'll be frank here. Generally, when any mainstream site/news agency decides to cover the homebrew scene, wee tend to read it for entertainment purposes because reporters generally don't know what they're talking about. Either that, or they only have statements from the big corporations which means that their "research" is generally biased toward the bigwigs. This is precisely the reason why wee found this article a pleasant surprise.

Now rather than trying to describe the article itself, wee'll quote parts of it here:

Fanjita - real name David Court - is very different from the popular hacker stereotype of the socially inept teenaged geek working all night in his bedroom. A married man of 34, he is an accomplished professional programmer who writes server software for large telecommunications companies for a living. He spends an hour or two a night hacking PSP software in his Edinburgh home, and is also a martial arts enthusiast.

Dark Alex fits much more comfortably into the hacker mould. A student from Spain, his hacker moniker derives from his real name, Alejandro, and a liking for all things gothic, he says. His interests are Japanese Manga comics and cats, but PSP hacking is his main hobby.

The article is actually peppered around with statements from Fanjita and Dark_AleX, the two people who're the faces of the PSP homebrew scene right now. That reason alone is enough to force any homebrew lover to go over and check it out.

- Source: [PSP Updates]

This isn't really a homebrew application and doesn't do anything to your PSP at all; but it's PSP-related and wee have a feeling that you're going to like this one. It's a Windows screensaver made by agentorange that looks just like the PSP's XMB, and it really does look the part! The waves move across your screen just like the real thing and for those of you that like to add a little bit of PSP authenticity to your PC then this should add the final touch.

There are currently eight colors included with this screensaver and at the moment they cycle randomly, but this is an intial beta so if all goes well, agentorange might update this screensaver to include an option to choose which XMB color you would like to display.

Until then wee'll have to do with this release, and as the readme states, once you have extracted the files you can get a preview of the screensaver by double-clicking the file or you can install it by right clicking then selecting the 'install' menu option.

It's just like having your PSP on your PC...but without the icons.



- Source: [PSP Updates]

I'm all finished with my first homebrew game mod.  It's a Turrican MOD.  I've made a South Park Theme for it.
You play as Cartman.  I've made Timmy, Kenny, Mr. Hat, Mr. Hanky (The Christmas Poo), Terrence, & Phillip as enemies. :D

I drew all sprites by hand, except for a few background sprites ect, that came from either DJMNV's Halo MOD, or Arguru's original Turrican.  

It consists of 2 Levels.  Should Arguru ever release a level editor for Turrican, I will update this mod at that time.

THANKS to Arguru for developing the (awesome) Turrican Engine

Special thanks to: Everyone at Team DJMNV

And an extra special thanks to: VettaCossX for all his help and support. :)

This was a good 1st project.
Expect more mods from me soon... ;)

Microsoft has apologised for serving malware via its websites and Windows Live Messenger software.

“With Microsoft launching Vista along with their Defender software to protect users from viruses and spyware, it seems therefore to be an oxymoron that they have started to putting paid changing banner advertisements for malware, on the popular MSN groups servers.

“SystemDoctor2006 has made an appearance over the past few days, coming complete with pop-up windows to trap and then cause horrific damage to the computers of unaware users — causing them to then rush out to purchase Microsoft Defender?

SystemDoctor 2006 is described by many websites as being a “rogue antispyware/malware application installed by malware