The Phraselator is a handheld one-way translation device currently used by military personnel in the Middle East; the device is also being tested by U.S. law enforcement officials and corrections officers in 11 states and undergoing assessment in county health departments and hospital emergency rooms. The device, which was developed with seed funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), allows users to speak or choose from a screen of English phrases and match those phrases to their pre-recorded foreign-language counterparts, and then broadcasts the foreign-language MP3 file and records replies for translation later on. Phraselator voice modules are usually stored on secure 128 MB digital cards that can support as many as 12,000 phrases in four or five dialects, and a toolkit can be employed to download phrase modules from the Phraselator Web portal, which contains over 300,000 phrases. Phraselator software developer Jack Buchanan says the software can translate voice into text with more than 70 percent accuracy, but notes that it is technically challenging to convert text into another language prior to outputting the data vocally. He also says the Phraselator is being programmed to translate limited two-way conversation in which responses correlate to a specific domain of words such as dates, numbers, or colors, while next-generation-Phraselators will also incorporate images. Meanwhile, DARPA is funding the development of the multilingual automatic speech-to-speech translator (MASTOR) system, a bi-directional voice translator from IBM that can extract content from each sentence and match it to a comparable sentence in another language via algorithms.

Two divisions of the Department of Homeland Security have rejected the use of stun guns by law enforcement officials due to the potential risks associated with their use on suspects. The bans affect officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau and the Customs and Border Protection bureau. Officials note that they are concerned about the safety of the devices, which emit electrical charges. According to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, about 80 people have died after being shocked by stun guns since 1999, and autopsies have linked 11 deaths with stun guns, reported The Arizona Republic. Recent scrutiny has been stepped up by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other groups, while Taser International continues to defend their safety. However, Taser still faces litigation from officer Salvatore Dimiceli, who claims that the company failed to provide adequate information about the device and safety precautions. The National Institute of Justice has solicited proposals for additional studies of stun guns.

By JIM GOMEZ Associated Press Writer

Don't do it!

The easiest, healthiest and best way to increase your energy level is to chew peppermint gum.

According to the Smell & Taste Research Center in Chicago, just getting a whiff of peppermint can dramatically increase the brain's production of beta-waves.  Beta-waves are electrical impulses that help you feel alert.

However to really trigger your beta-waves you should chew peppermint gum, not just sniff it.  This is because 90% of it's odor will quicly rise to the back of your throat and in to your nose.  This raises your beta-wave production in less than a minute!

Give it a try!