Be the Beat, the American Heart Association's new online cardiac arrest awareness campaign, teaches teens fun ways to learn the basics of CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator or AED. Through the use of video games,interactive quizzes and songs, teens and tweens learn what to do if someone collapses in sudden cardiac arrest.

“Be the Beat is helping to create the next generation of lifesavers by empowering teens and tweens to act when they see someone suddenly collapse,” said Michael Sayre, M.D., chair of the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee. “Sadly, far too many people are dying from cardiac arrest – we want this campaign to inspire people to help save lives.”

The Be the Beat website teaches teens through:

1. Instructional videos that demonstrate conventional CPR with breaths, Hands-Only CPR and how to use an AED.
2. Virtual tour through a 3-D animated version of the heart. Teens earn points by playing video games and taking quizzes.
3. Teens create avatars, track and compare their scores in the Heart Track Experience and veiw profiles of other participants.
4. A downloadable playlist of 100 beat-per-minute songs
5. Free printable stickers, T-shirt decals, stationary, downloadable widgets and wallpapers.

There is also a teachers and administrators section of the website to implement a CPR/AED education program in their schools. Be the Beat is funded by a one million dollar grant from the Medtronic Foundation. By increasing the number of people who know CPR/AED and can properly respond to sudden cardiac arrest, Be the Beat will help to give more cardiac arrest victims a better chance at life.

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As consumers are becoming aware of the many advantages of e-book readers, their sales are steadily growing. While the Amazon Kindle is the most purchased and most widely known e-reader, the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony e-readers are also very competitive in this market. When the Apple iPad goes on sale, who knows what will happen. Will it take sales away from the other e-readers or will it create a whole new market?

Did you know that there are many other e-book readers on the market? Do they have a chance of being found in this relatively new market? Will e-readers become like mp-3 players in which one player almost completely dominates the market, or will they be more like laptops, in which there is much more variety?

Here are 8 lesser known e-book readers that are currently on the market:

1. Bookeen Cybook OPUS - Using Electronic Ink Display, the screen acts like a paper page and is viewable under a wide range of lighting conditions and can be viewed from nearly any angle. Long battery life, power is only used when images are changed. $215 - $450

2. Ectaco jetBook - Supports more file formats than any other e-reader, including TXT, PDF and Doc to read items from the Internet. It can also display books in a number of the world's most popular languages. The jetbook stores mp3 files so that you can to music through a headset. $179.95.

3. COOL-ER ereader - Uses the E-Ink technology for a paper like screen. Sold in eight different colors for a cool looking e-reader. Over a million books in the COOLER-EBOOKS estore. $249.

4. PocketBook 360 - PocketBook has many e-readers, the 360 is their newest one, coming out in March. Stay connected with Wi-Ri, Bluetooth, miniUSB and USB host. Connect a keyboard or a light to the device. Touchscreen E-Ink display. Read all formats - news, calendar, notes, games, mp3 and more. $239.99 - $259.99.

5. Copia - The first social eReading experience - discover, connect and share. Social functionality built in, this reader holds not only up to 3,000 books, but your conversations, notes and friends. Connect to your existing social networks. Great for students to form study groups and share notes. Touchscreen or QWERTY soft keypad. $199 - $299

6. Astak 5-inch pocket pro - Includes Adobe Digital Editions firmware to enable users to purchase and read copyrighted eBook in PKF format from major eBook stores. Supports more than 20 DRM-free formats to enable any non-copyrighted ebook form the Internet to be read. Has a text-to-speech function that reads documents outloud. Available in six different cool colors. $229 - $279.

7. IREX iLiad - Read books, newspapers and documents. You can make notes and annotate existing documents and then transfer them to a PC or anther iLiad. Friends can add remarks or edit your notes and return them to you. Anything that you can print from a PC can be read on the iLiad. $549 - $599 EUR.

8. Bebook Neo - Available in 6" or a 5" mini and uses the e-ink technology. WiFi, with access to eBook stores worldwide. Has a touchscreen and allows notetaking which can be added, saved and erased. $299 or the 6" neo and $199 for the mini.

With the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble e-Readers selling for $259 and the Sony selling three models ranging from $199 - $399, the only one of these lesser known readers that might get sells due to lower pricing is the Ectaco jetbook. If you were in the market to puchases an e-book reader right now, would you consider any of the above, or would you go right to the top three? Or, are you waiting for the Apple iPad to come out and use it as your eBook reader?

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Do your electronic devices ever need to be charged while you are on the run? You no longer have to wait until you get home to plug them into a wall socket. With the help of iGo Charge Anywhere or the Dexim P-Flip Foldable Power Dock, you can charge your electronic devices while they sit in your handbag or briefcase.

iGo Charge Anywhere
The more versatile of the two chargers, the iGo Charge Anywhere is compatible with almost every mobile and gaming electronic device on the market. This wall charger has an internal battery that allows it to charge other devices without an outlet. Even better, two electronic devices can be plugged into it and charged at the same time. When fully charged, the iGo can provide up to three full charges to most mobile devices. Not only does it work with mobile phones, but it also charges MP3 players, digital cameras and gaming devices.

P-Flip Foldable Power Dock

This power dock from Dexim works on the same principles as the iGo charger. The differences are:

The pros of the iGo over the P-Flip are:

• The P-Flip only works with the iPhone/iTouch and Blackberry devices (the Blackberry charger is called the P-Flip Foldable Power Pack).
• The P-Flip can only charge one item at a time.
• The iGo sells for $49.95 as compared to the P-Flip at $59.95.

The benefits of the P-Flip over the iGo charger is:

• The P-Flip is much lighter and more compact than the iGo.
• The P-Flip is also a stand.

Whichever you choose, the iGo Charge Anywhere of the P-Flip Foldable Power Dock or Pack, you will love being able to charge your electronic or mobile devices wherever you are.

Full Disclosure: I received both of these devices from these companies for free to review. 

See also: 10 Cool New Gadgets from Consumer Electronic Show NY Press Preview

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The Pepsi Refresh Project will award more than $20 million this year to fund great ideas that refresh the world. Launched on January 13th, the project lets the public choose where grant money is given.

The Pepsi Refresh Project allows anyone to submit an idea for a grant. The project has already exceeded expectations by receiving the monthly limit of 1,000 submissions in less than seven days with at least one from each state in the U.S.  

Joining this effort are actors Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon, who have generated their own ideas for Pepsi Refresh and are competing for support in the Pepsi Refresh Celebrity Challenge. "The Pepsi Refresh Project puts the financial resources in the hands of those who are passionate about creating a better world.  I am very pleased to be a part of this creative initiative to refresh our world," said Demi Moore.

Listen to Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon talk about their charitable ideas:

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

You don't have to submit an idea to have your voice heard. Each week you can vote for up to 10 ideas every day. Grants will be given in $5,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $250,000 denominations. Ideas for grants can belong to any one of a number of categories - health, arts & culture, food & shelter, the planet, neighborhoods or education. So go to the Pepsi Refresh Project and make your voice heard. Vote for the charitable choices you would like to see win.

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Damon and Carlton did deliver the mind-blowing episode of Lost that they promised. Wow! Alternate Realities. Alternate Universes. Crazy and great!

Whatever you call it, we are now seeing two different scenarios of how the Oceanic 816 passengers lives play out. The bomb did work, as Miles heard Juliet say from the grave, but instead of rebooting everything, a different reality was created. So we have the survivors continuing their lives on the Island, and in another dimension, they landed in LAX. Instead of flashbacks or flash fowards, we now have flash sideways.

The highlight of Lost season 6, episode 1 "LA X" are:

The new reality in which flight 815 lands at LAX:

1. The bomb caused the Island to sink.

2. Desmond is now on the plane. Since the Island was completely flooded and underwater from the bomb, Desmond never landed on it and somehow wound up on flight 815. When Jack says he looks familiar, it is not from the Island, it is from the time they met running, when Jack was operating on Sarah.

3. Hurley owns Mr. Clucks Chicken and he says that he is the luckiest guy alive. It seems that the numbers aren't jinxed in this new reality.

4. Everybody else seems to be pretty much the same as they were when Lost first began. Does that mean that Hurley's life was the only one affected by the Island?

5. Was there a reason that Jack's father's coffin was lost? 

6. It likes like Sawyer, who is still a con man, is eyeing lottery winner Hurley for his next con.

7. When Jack saves Charlie's life, Charlie replies that he was supposed to die (shades of Desmond's predictions).

8. While on the run, Kate jumps into the same taxi as Claire. Will history repeat itself and will she wind up helping deliver Claire's baby and raise it?

9. All the people that died on the island are now alive on the plane. We saw Charlie, Boone and Neil (Frogurt). No sign of the Tailies.

10. Is Desmond with Penny in this reality?

11. Will Jack operate on Locke and fix him so that he can walk again?

The reality where the 815 survivors are still on the Island:

1. Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Jin, Sayid, Hurley and Miles have traveled back to 2007, but they don't seem to realize it yet (although Jin suspects it).

2. Juliet is definitely dead. It seems that right before she died she saw a glimpse of the other reality. This is evident by Miles seeing that Juliet said "it worked".

3. We now know that it is definitely the Man in Black inhabiting Locke's body and he is also the smoke monster. He had the 2 best lines of the night. Right after the smoke monster turned back to fake Locke, he said "I'm sorry you had to see me like that". When Ben called him a monster, Flocke replied "Let's not resort to name calling now".

4. Sayid is now dead. Interesting that he asks Hurley what he thinks will happen to him when he dies. Does this foreshadow what happens to his body (see no. 5 below).

5. Jacob is now inhabiting Sayid's body. That is probably why Jacob told Hurley to bring Sayid to the temple.

6. Who are these other others that we never saw before. It seems that the people they kidnapped from flight 815 are living there in the temple with this group of others.

7. Why does Fake Locke hate Richard? Was Richard a slave on the Black Rock, since Flocke said the last time he saw him he was in chains.

8. Being inside a circle of ash seems to protect you from the smoke monster. That is why there was a circle of ash around Jacob's cabin and Bram tried to make one around him before the smoke monster got him. The others at the temple were making a circle around it.

9. When will the 815 survivors at the temple meet up with Sun, Lapidus and the others?

10. We learned much more about Jacob and The Man in Black, but still don't know exactly what they are and how long they have been on the Island.

11. What does Flocke mean when he says he wants to go home? Where is home for him?

12. What did the paper written by Jacob that was in the Ankh in Hurley's guitar case really say?

13. We now see how Ben was saved when he was shot by Sayid. It was the pool in the temple. Ironic that Sayid then needed it himself.

Will we see the two different realities throughout the entire season, or will they merge or will one win out and the other end? Will the survivors ever find out about the alternate reality and their lives off the island? I can't wait until next week's Lost to find out more. Please add your comments about the season premiere of Lost season 6.

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