Jimi Hendrix and MJ to play live again

Hollywood technology, which has been pioneered by 'Avatar' director James Cameron, will not only resurrect all the dead music icons including Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, but do so in the very near future. Fans at last weekend's Coachella Festival in Indio, California, watched in awe as late rapper Tupac Shakur performed "live" with Snoop Dogg. More sophisticated than the sort of hologram used in Disney theme parks, the computer generated image of Tupac, who was killed in Las Vegas 16 years ago, seemed to move and harmonise in perfect synchronicity. "The level of sophistication was mind-blowing," the Daily Express quoted one concert-goer as saying. "Does this mean we can bring any star back from the grave?" the concert goer said. As long as their images were captured on film when they were alive, the answer is yes. So stand by for what one expert describes as a "coming explosion of digital resurrection events" that will change the live performance landscape forever. Digital Domain, a Los Angeles company founded by Cameron, masterminded Tupac's rise from the grave. "To create a completely synthetic human being is the most complicated thing that can be done," Ed Ulbrich, the company's chief creative officer, said. "This is not archive footage. This is an illusion that looks completely real but isn't," Ulbrich said. Behind the scenes, Digital Domain and other pioneers have been working on digital resurrection for some time. Two-and-a-half years ago, Ulbrich and his team raised Frank Sinatra from the dead to perform 'Pennies From Heaven' at Simon Cowell's 50th birthday party. Ulbrich is cagey about the price of bringing CGI to live audiences, admitting only that the event cost more than 60,000 pounds. Yet that is considerably less expensive than hiring a living star and considerably more interesting to fans who long to see their late heroes on stage again. Jackie Jackson, who watched the show, was so impressed he is now in talks with Digital Domain about bringing back his brother Michael to join the first Jackson Five reunion tour for 20 years.

Tiny super computer of 1 atom thickness developed

A physicist from Sydney has created a tiny computer of 300 atoms hovering in space that has the potential to provide insights into how materials behave at the quantum level that none of today's conventional computers would be capable of calculating. When fully operational, its performance could only be matched by an impossibly large machine, said Michael Biercuk, a Sydney physicist and member of the international team that built and tested it. "The system we have developed has the potential to perform calculations that would require a supercomputer larger than the size of the known universe. And it does it all in a diameter of less than a millimetre," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Biercuk from the University of Sydney as saying. The device, known as a quantum simulator, is just one atom thick. Its 300 charged beryllium atoms are trapped in suspension by magnetic and electric fields, and their interactions can be controlled by lasers. Biercuk said the tiny device's role was like that of a scale model of an aircraft wing, which engineers might test in a wind tunnel to try to design a better plane. "Tremendous insights about complex quantum systems can be gleaned using a quantum scale model," he said. For example, scientists want to design new materials, such as high-temperature superconductors, whose properties depend on the collective quantum behaviour of billions of atoms. The traditional approach to design would be to run computer models that mimic how all the particles in a material interact to try to predict its overall properties. But this is extremely difficult with quantum systems, because particles can behave weirdly at the quantum level, such as being in two distinct states at the same time - a characteristic known as superposition. "Beyond about 30 to 40 particles interacting, there is no computer in the world that can simultaneously represent all the different possibilities of how those particles interact," Biercuk said. The team's quantum simulator was designed to study quantum magnetism, with the outer electrons of the beryllium ions acting as tiny quantum magnets. Built by a team led by Joseph Britton of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, the device has broken the record for the number of interacting elements in a programmable quantum simulator. The results of the study have been published in the journal Nature.

Nikita' lawsuit meritless: Elton John

The representatives of singer Elton John have rubbished allegations that he has stolen the lyrics for his song "Nikita", insisting the lawsuit is completely meritless. Guy Hobbs, a photo-journalist and lyricist, has filed a lawsuit at federal court in Illinois, stating that he wrote a song called "Natasha", about his affair with a Russian cruise ship waitress, back in 1982, reports nypost.com. He alleges that Elton's 1985 song penned by his long-term collaborator Bernie Taupin bears significant similarities to his own track, which was copyrighted and distributed to multiple publishing companies, including Big Pig which handles the singer's songs, several years earlier. "Sir Elton and Mr. Taupin do not know the plaintiff, nor did they make use of any song lyrics he claims to have written when they wrote 'Nikita'," Elton's representatives said in a statement. "In short, the suit is completely meritless. The fact that Hobbs has chosen to wait more than 26 years after the release of 'Nikita' to bring this lawsuit calls his motives into question. Sir Elton John and Mr. Taupin fully expect to prevail against this baseless claim," the statement further said. Hobbs is suing for copyright infringement and demanding unspecified damages. He said it has taken him over two decades to take legal action because he moved to Africa in 1984.

Feel-good music 'aids psychological counselling

From rock to world beat, pop to blues, music has the power to do much beyond causing the toe to tap. It can inspire, transport, educate, entertain - and in the right hands, it can even bring about healing. For Concordia University's Sandra Curtis, a professor in the Department of Creative Arts Therapies, music is akin to medicine. She uses music as the tool with which to enter into a deep psychological dialogue with individuals ranging from abused children to palliative care patients; female survivors of domestic violence to individuals struggling with workplace woes. No matter the audience, music has the power delve deeper than words by speaking to patients on the fundamental level of rhythm and sound. Although it has yet to fully reach a mainstream clientele, music therapy is something Curtis has been involved with for over three decades. Having practiced in locations as diverse as Cleveland and Georgia, and having taken inspiration from preschoolers and Raging Grannies alike, she recounts her own journey as a music therapist in the enlightening article. By tracing her own evolution as a professional practitioner of music therapy, Curtis looks at music as a rallying cry that unites individuals seeking social justice. Within this context, she goes deeper into the practice to examine feminist music therapy. "This type of therapy often presents work with an explicit focus on social justice for women, children and other marginalized people but it can also expand to address such global issues as war and the environment with a feminist understanding of their impact on marginalized people worldwide," Curtis explained.

Lost Beatles video found after 48 years

A rare video footage of the Beatles' first full concert in the US has finally been found after being untraceable for 48 years. The 12-song concert -- filmed at the Washington Coliseum in 1964 -- was the band's first full US gig, and features performances of "She Loves You" and "Twist And Shout", BBC reported. It was originally broadcast to two million American cinema-goers in March 1964, a month after it was recorded. The footage then disappeared. The lost video will now be included in a 92-minute documentary titled "The Beatles: The Lost Concert". Screenvision, who are behind the new movie, say the original master tapes have been restored and remastered. The film would premiere in New York May 6. It will later be screened in theatres across America. The first part of the film focuses on the rise of Beatlemania in the US. It contains commentary from Chuck Berry, Mark Ronson, Aerosmith pair Steven Tyler and Joe Perry and Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi from The Strokes. It is followed by the 12-song set.

Dick Clark

Richard Wagstaff Clark OCCUPATION: Television Personality BIRTH DATE: November 30, 1929 DEATH DATE: April 18, 2012 EDUCATION: Syracuse University PLACE OF BIRTH: Mount Vernon, New York PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California. MORE ABOUT DICK! Dick Clark is a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand, $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, among others. Dick Clark’s American Bandstand began in 1957 and continued until 1989. The program's mix of lip-synched performances and its "Rate-a-Record" segment captivated teenagers, propelling Clark to fame. Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the long-running special that broadcasts on December 31 each year, began in 1972, and he has created numerous other shows over the years. Early Life Television personality. Richard Wagstaff Clark was born on November 30, 1929, in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of Julia Fuller and Richard Augustus Clark. The couple had another son, Bradley, who was killed in World War II. Dick Clark began his career in show business in 1945 working in the mailroom of radio station WRUN, which was owned by his uncle and managed by his father in Utica, New York. The young Clark was soon promoted to weatherman and news announcer. Clark graduated from Syracuse University in New York in 1951, where he majored in business administration and landed a part-time job as a disc jockey at the student-radio station at Syracuse University. He also worked at radio and television stations in Syracuse and Utica before moving to WFIL radio in Philadelphia in 1952. American Bandstand WFIL had an affiliated television station (now WPVI) which began broadcasting a show called Bob Horn's Bandstand in 1952. Clark was a regular substitute host on the popular afternoon program, which had teenagers dancing to popular music. When Horn left the show, Clark became the full-time host on July 9, 1956. Largely through Clark's initiative, Bandstand was picked up by ABC as American Bandstand for nationwide distribution, beginning on August 5, 1957. The program's mix of lip-synched performances, interviews, and its famous "Rate-a-Record" segment captivated teenagers. Overnight, Clark became one of pop music's most important tastemakers. His exposure on American Bandstand, and his prime-time program, The Dick Clark Show, generated countless hits. Clark required a formal dress code of dresses or skirts for girls and coats and ties for boys that helped establish the show's wholesome appearance. The move was an early indication of Clark's innate ability to read the public's mindset, and mute potential criticism. When African-Americans were introduced among the white teenage dancers in a groundbreaking move of integration on national television, Clark was able to use his influence to stifle divisive talk amongst viewers. Payola Scandal During the 1950s, Dick Clark also began investing in the music publishing and recording business. His business interests grew to include record companies, song publishing houses, and artist management groups. When the record industry's "payola" scandal (involving payment in return for airplay) broke in 1959, Clark told a congressional committee he was unaware performers in whom he had interests had received disproportionate play on his programs. He sold his shares back to the corporation, upon ABC's suggestion that his participation might be considered a conflict of interest. Clark emerged from the investigation largely unscathed, as did American Bandstand. The program grew to be a major success, running daily Monday through Friday until 1963. It was then moved to Saturdays, and was broadcast from Hollywood until 1989. TV Personality The move to Los Angeles, the center of the entertainment industry, allowed Clark to diversify his involvement in television production. Dick Clark Productions began presenting variety programs and game shows, most successfully The $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes. Among the many awards programs the company produced was the American Music Awards, which Clark created as a rival to the Grammy Awards. The special has often surpassed viewership of the Grammys, presumably because it presents performers more closely attuned to younger audiences' tastes. Dick Clark's production company also produced a number of movies and made-for-TV movies including Elvis, The Birth of the Beatles, Elvis and the Colonel, Wild in the Streets and The Savage Seven. In 1972, Dick Clark produced and hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, the long-running special that continues to broadcast on December 31 of each year. The program consists of live segments which feature Clark, his co-hosts, and different entertainment acts in and around New York City's Times Square. The performances continue until the clock counts down to midnight, at which time New York's traditional New Year's Eve ball drops, signaling the new year. The program is aired live in the Eastern Time Zone, and then tape-delayed for the other time zones so that viewers can bring in the New Year with Clark when midnight strikes in their area. For more than three decades, the show has become an annual cultural tradition in the United States for the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day holiday. In 2004, Clark was unable to appear in program due to a stroke, which left him partially paralyzed and caused difficulty of speech. That year, talk-show presenter Regis Philbin substituted as host. The following year, Clark returned to the show, with radio and TV personality Ryan Seacrest serving as the primary host. Legacy Clark has been married three times. He married high school sweetheart Barbara Mallery in 1952, and the couple had one son, Richard, before their divorce in 1961. He then married his former secretary, Loretta Martin, in 1962. The couple had two children, Duane and Cindy. They divorced in 1971. Since July 7, 1977, Clark was married to another of his former secretaries, dancer Kari Wigton. While Clark's behind-the-scenes business acumen has much to do with the fortune he amassed, he is better remembered for the charming on-air personality and ageless looks that allowed him to remain one of television's most popular hosts and pitchmen, even after American Bandstand went off the air in 1989. Five decades after he began shaping the viewing and listening habits of music fans with American Bandstand, Dick Clark was a staple in the marriage of television and rock 'n' roll. Dick Clark suffered a massive heart attack and died on April.

MJ's bodyguard in court battle to prove he is Blanket's real father

Michael Jackson's British bodyguard has launched a legal bid to prove that he is the biological father of the late singer's youngest son. Martial arts master Matt Fiddes, who became pals with the singer after guarding him on dozens of UK visits, is heading to the US to demand the right to see 10-year-old Blanket. And he has vowed to provide officials with a DNA sample so they can confirm his claims that he is the youngster's real dad. The 32-year-old claims he gave Jacko a sperm donation in a London hotel just a year before the lad, whose real name is Prince Michael II, was born in 2002. He also says the King of Pop even once admitted to him that Blanket is his biological son. Now Matt wants to get to know the boy, but he claims Jackson's family has refused to speak to him or answer his letters since the megastar's 2009 death at 50. So the fighter is heading to Los Angeles to lodge court papers. "I am going to lodge my DNA and formally ask the Jacksons for access. I want visitation rights," the Daily Star quoted him as saying. "Michael is their father and I do not want that to change, but I want the children back in my life. The only way that's going to happen is through legal action. I think Blanket is mine but I want final proof," he said. Matt revealed Jacko once admitted he was the dad, and the paternity was also confirmed by the singer's Brit actor pal Mark Lester, best known for playing the lead in 60s musical flick Oliver! Matt, who has three other kids, flew out to comfort a dazed Jacko in November 2002, after he famously dangled then nine-month-old Blanket over a hotel balcony in Berlin. "I sat there and asked the question: 'Is Blanket my child?' He said: 'He's my child, Matt, but I used your sperm to produce him," he said. But Matt says Jacko's mum Katherine, 81, has done her best to block his desperate pleas to see the child, believing he is after money. "Katherine's worried we will come after the estate and will tell the kids the truth. But to me the truth is the big issue, and that's why I want to take it further. I'm a self-made man, I don't want or need their money," said Matt, of Shirwell, north Devon. "'All I want is access if he's my child, to take him out, and spend some time together. My mum is dying of cancer. I want her to see Blanket more than anything," he added.

Expert who discovered Titanic wreck pleads to stop plundering ship

The oceanographer who discovered Titanic has said that enthusiasts must stop plundering the wrecked ship. Robert Ballard, who found the ship nearly 27 years ago, has said new measures should be introduced for anyone visiting the site, to prevent them pillaging for souvenirs. In a public lecture, he told visitors to the Titanic visitor centre in Belfast that parts of the crows nest and a light fixture had already been removed. "You don't stick your finger in the Mona Lisa when you go to the Louvre," the Telegraph quoted him as saying. According to the Independent, Ballard also showed photographs of rust on the ship, which had been affected by the increasing number of robotic submarines visiting it. The ship, which lies at a depth of 3,800m on the bottom of the ocean, is now subject to a Unesco convention as a site of cultural heritage, which aims to stop the illegal pillaging. The convention, which has come into force after the 100th anniversary of the sinking, "puts teeth" into the protection of the wreck, Ballard said. The 69-year-old oceanographer said he believed technology could now be used to help guard the site, with deep-sea robots making it "easy" for educational images to be beamed across the world. "The question is do you do through the museums of the deep to appreciate the museum or to plunder? "I am interested in protecting human history in the ocean that is at peril. We can put cops and sentries on the Titanic," he said. Thousands of objects have already been taken from Titanic to the surface legally, as well as by those taking unauthorised trips and seeking to plunder it. Just two years after the wreck was discovered in international waters, 340 nautical miles from Canada, a company claimed salvage rights.

Zimmerman charged with Trayvon's murder

JACKSONVILLE - A neighbourhood watch volunteer has been charged with second-degree murder for the fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, a case that has caused outrage across the US. Florida state prosecutor Angela Corey said that George Zimmerman, 28, was charged over the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon. Zimmerman, who turned himself in to the authorities, has been placed in police custody at an undisclosed location in Sanford, the Florida town where Martin was killed Feb 26. Corey told reporters that prosecutors did not come to the decision "lightly". Under US law, second-degree murder is defined as an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned. Corey said they would hold a news conference later this week to discuss "new information" about the case. The shooting sparked widespread protests across the US as it emerged that Trayvon was unarmed when Zimmerman shot him dead. The killing of the teen triggered a debate about race and the laws of self-defence and even President Barack Obama had remarked: "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon." Trayvon's parents said the charge against Zimmerman was a first step towards justice but there was "a long way to go". Zimmerman was initially not arrested as police said he was protected by a controversial state law that allows people to use lethal force to defend themselves if they feel threatened. He told police Trayvon had attacked him, and banged his head against the pavement, after Zimmerman chased him for "looking suspicious". Zimmerman, who is white and of Hispanic heritage, claimed he had acted in self-defence. However, the Martin family claims he acted in cold blood and because of Trayvon's race and dress. Lawyers for Trayvon 's family say he was walking to a corner shop to buy sweets when he was killed.

Titanic explorer to deploy deep water robots to save "decaying" wreck

The ocean explorer who led the team that discovered the remains of the Titanic is afraid that the shipwreck is disintegrating and is seeking to dispatch deep-water robots to the ocean floor to conserve it. Maritime officials and experts have warned the vessel, which hit an iceberg in April 1912, is rusting away at the bottom of the ocean. The US Coast Guard recently wrote to the International Maritime Organisation asking for a ban on ships dropping rubbish or releasing sewage within 10 nautical miles of the site. Robert Ballard, a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, said last week that he will apply for a permit from US authorities to conduct an ambitious operation nearly 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface. He has seen significant decay in the wreck that he found in 1985 as bacteria colonies, possibly fed by human waste and rubbish, have eaten away at the steel hull. Small submarines carrying high-paying tourists are also accused of accelerating the damage by landing on the wreck - a claim strongly denied by expedition operators. Underwater robots that would clean the ship's hull and coat it with protective anti-fouling paint have already been used to treat the hulls of oil tankers. "When I first came to the ship in 1985, I saw original anti-fouling paint on the bottom and no corrosion there," the Telegraph quoted Ballard as telling the National Geographic News. "It works, but obviously they didn't think they'd need to paint the whole ship with anti-fouling paint," he said. He added the technique was needed "so the hull doesn't splay open and expose the highly preserved interior with its precious contents". Ballard also proposes robot be used as "sentries" to monitor the visits by tourist submersibles that he is convinced have damaged the wreck. The Titanic is "being killed by love", he said last week. Describing the wreck as "under siege" by natural forces, careless visitors and rogue salvage operators, he outlines his fears that it will not survive another 100 years in 'Save the Titanic', a documentary to be broadcast on the National Geographic cable channel this week.

Legendary '60 Minutes' CBS newsman Mike Wallace dies at 93

Mike Wallace, the '60 Minutes' pit-bull CBS reporter whose probing and brazen style made his name synonymous with a tough interview, died on Saturday. He was 93. The reporter passed peacefully surrounded by family members at Waveny Care Center in New Canaan, Conn., where he spent the past few years. "All of us at CBS News and particularly at '60 Minutes' owe so much to Mike. Without him and his iconic style, there probably wouldn't be a '60 Minutes'," CBS News quoted Jeff Fager, chairman CBS News and executive producer of '60 Minutes' as saying. As the journalism world reacted to the iconic newsman's passing, the AP's David Bauder noted the '60 Minutes' journalist's reputation as a pitiless inquisitor was so fearsome that the words "Mike Wallace is here to see you" were the most dreaded words in the English language, capable of reducing an interview subject to a shaking, sweating mess. "Wallace didn't just interview people," Bauder said. "He interrogated them. He cross-examined them. Sometimes he eviscerated them. His weapons were many: thorough research, a cocked eyebrow, a skeptical "Come on" and a question so direct sometimes it took your breath away," he added. Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO, CBS Corporation, also expressed his grief on the legend's death. "It is with tremendous sadness that we mark the passing of Mike Wallace. His extraordinary contribution as a broadcaster is immeasurable and he has been a force within the television industry throughout its existence. His loss will be felt by all of us at CBS," Moonves said. Wallace made '60 Minutes' compulsively watchable, television's first newsmagazine that became appointment viewing on Sunday nights. His last interview, in January 2008, was with Roger Clemens on his alleged steroid use. Slowed by a triple bypass later that month and the ravages of time, he retired from public life. During the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, he asked Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini - then a feared figure - what he thought about being called "a lunatic" by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Khomeini answered by predicting Sadat's assassination. Late in his career, he interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin, and even challenged him. "This isn't a real democracy, come on!" he had said.

World's quietest room' drives you crazy!

An 'anechoic chamber' in the US, named by Guinness World Records as the world's quietest place, is so silent it can actually give people hallucinations. The longest that anyone has survived in the room at Orfield Laboratories in South Minneapolis is just 45 minutes. It's 99.99 per cent sound absorbent and achieves the ultra quietness by virtue of its 3.3-foot-thick fibreglass acoustic wedges, double walls of insulated steel and foot-thick concrete. "We challenge people to sit in the chamber in the dark - one reporter stayed in there for 45 minutes," company founder and president, Steven Orfield, told the Daily Mail. "When it's quiet, ears will adapt. The quieter the room, the more things you hear. You'll hear your heart beating, sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. "In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound," he said. Orfield explained that the experience is so disconcerting that sitting down is a must. "How you orient yourself is through sounds you hear when you walk. In the anechoic chamber, you don't have any cues. You take away the perceptual cues that allow you to balance and manoeuvre. If you're in there for half an hour, you have to be in a chair," he added. The chamber was given its "world's quietest" distinction in 2004 and still holds the record. It is used by a number of manufacturers to test how loud their products are. "It's used for formal product testing, for research into the sound of different things - heart valves, the sound of the display of a cell phone, the sound of a switch on a car dashboard," Orfield said.

Google unveils futuristic Web-based glasses

SAN FRANCISCO - Google has unveiled its newest innovation - a pair of thin wraparound futuristic shades that will bring the internet literally to your face. The experimental "augmented reality" glasses can take photos, initiate videochats and display directions at the sound of a user's voice. The prototype digital glasses were unveiled on the company's Google social network Wednesday. They are still being tested and are not available in stores yet. "We're sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input," Google said in a post on a Google page devoted to Project Glass. The page has a short video in which the wearer is seen taking pictures, checking the weather, getting directions, and placing a video call, - which are controlled using voice activated icons that appear in the user's field of vision. The shades are believed to be powered by Android software, enabling similar features to its smartphone and tablets. Among the gadget's features are a 3G or 4G data connection, motion sensors and GPS navigation. The Google post has asked people to give their suggestions on what they would like to see in the glasses. Google, the world's No. 1 search engine, is known for letting its employees work on ambitious projects. Though Google CEO Larry Page has cut down on many projects since he took over the reins a year ago, he has defended Google's commitment to working on "speculative" projects that could one day turn into "billion-dollar businesses", according to Reuters.

2,300-yr-old world's earliest stringed instrument found in cave

The remains of what is believed to be the earliest stringed instrument in western Europe have been uncovered in Scotland. A small burnt and broken piece of carved wood was found during an excavation in a cave on Skye. According to archaeologists, it is part of the bridge of a lyre, a stringed instrument used in Greek classical era. It is believed to be 2,300 years old. Music archaeologist Graeme Lawson told the BBC the discovery pushed the history of complex music back more than a thousand years. The remains, which were unveiled in Edinburgh, were found in High Pasture Cave, where Bronze and Iron Age finds have been made previously. Cultural historian Purser said the find was exciting because it confirmed the continuity of a love of music amongst the Western Celts. The small wooden fragment thought to be from a 2,300-year-old lyre was found at an excavation site in High Pasture Cave on the Isle of Skye He said stringed instruments, which were usually made of wood, rarely survived in the archaeological record, but they were referred to in the very earliest literature. Steven Birch, an archaeologist involved in the excavation, said deeper sections of the cave were reached using a flight of stone steps. "Descending the steep and narrow steps, the transition from light to dark transports you out of one world into a completely different realm, where the human senses are accentuated," the Daily Mail quoted Birch as saying. "Within the cave, sound forms a major component of this transformation, the noise of the underground stream in particular producing a calming environment," he said. AOC Archaeology in Edinburgh worked on conserving the bridge. It was among several artefacts recovered from the cave in a project supported Highland Council, Historic Scotland and National Museums of Scotland.