In the first of its kind, an 83 year old woman who was suffering from a serious jaw infection has had her entire lower mandible replaced with a 3D printed model. The surgery was carried out by a team of medical researchers from Belgium and the Netherlands.

Due to the patient’s age and other factors, it was decided that traditional re-constructive surgery wasn’t ideal. The team researches decided to team up with Xilloc, a company that specialises in custom made implants, and LayerWise, a metal additive manufacturer to create the titanium implant. Powdered titanium was used for the 3D printing process with a high-precision laser to heat the metal powder particles and fuse them together.

The implant was designed using your typical 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. Once the printing of the implant was complete, it was sprayed with bone substitute compound to prevent the patient’s body from rejecting it, before being surgically implanted.

Just a day after surgery, the patient was able to speak and swallow normally. Which wouldn’t have been the case with the more intrusive, yet traditional re-constructive surgery. This bodes well for the future of medicine as we can expect more instances of this method being used.

Below is a video showing still images of the implant and the surgery.

[Xiloc, LayerWise| via Forbes, The Verge]

The latest version of Skype, version 5.8, has been released for Windows users with some nice new features.

The update allows users to now make calls in full 1080p HD, providing they have a webcam that supports it. You can now also make calls to your Facebook friends that don’t have Skype installed. Skype Premium users now have the feature of sharing screens with all conference chat members.

The other features include push to talk, Bing Bar integration and being able to hide offline Facebook contacts. Head over to the Skype Blog to download the latest version.

[Skype Blog]

Kinect for Windows and version 1.0 of the Software Development Kit that accompanies it has been taken out of beta by Microsoft.

The Windows specific Kinect supports up to 4 Kinect sensors on 1 PC and a ‘near mode’ functionality which allows it to see objects as close as 40cm to the sensor.

Kinect for Windows costs $249.99 (about £158) and can be purchased from the Microsoft Store or Amazon. Although the Microsoft Store is currently listing the sensors as ‘out of stock’ and Amazon could take up to 4 weeks for shipping.

Microsoft plans on releasing “updates to our SDK and runtime 2-3 times per year.”

[Microsoft | Kinect for Windows Blog | via Microsoft News]

Images of a new BlackBerry 10 device, codenamed ‘London’, has been leaked to the internet via Crackberry.

Previous leaks of a BlackBerry 10 (back when it was still BBX) showed a Blackberry London device that looked similar to the BlackBerry Porsche P’9981. It should come as no surprise that the BlackBerry London has been slated for a UK release with two other codenamed devices, ‘Laguna’ and ‘Lisbon’ set for a US release.

And what about the processing power? So far, it seems RIM is contemplating TI and Qualcomm 1.5GHz dual-core processors. BlackBerry 10 devices are expected to be released later on this year.

[Crackberry]

There have been some interesting updates for those interested in news on Microsoft‘s next gaming console.

A report on IGN tells us the next Xbox’s graphics processing power to be 6 times more than the Xbox 360′s. This new power will be as a result of the graphics card provided by AMD similar to the the Radeon HD 6670.

Kotaku quotes “sources” as stating that Microsoft will be replacing the DVD drives that it ships with Xbox 360s with Blu-Ray drives for the next release of the Xbox.

The disc drive update will mean Xbox games will hold 25GB data as opposed to the 9GB data that DVDs can hold.

Kotaku further goes on to claim from a “reliable industry source”  that “Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720.”
It isn’t clear at the moment how Microsoft plans on achieving this. It could be a case of a game being tied to an Xbox Live account, but an easy workaround for this will be to avoid Xbox Live altogether.

Another source talks about a new version of Kinect that will be released with the new console. Perhaps there is some truth to the Kinect rumours after all. Another source also claims Microsoft is interested in making a smaller controller for the new console.

True to form, Microsoft refused to comment on the rumours:

“As an innovator we’re always thinking about what is next and how we can push the boundaries of technology like we did with Kinect. We believe the key to extending the lifespan of a console is not just about the console hardware, but about the games and entertainment experiences being delivered to consumers. Beyond that we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”

[Kotaku | IGN]

I’m sure by now a lot of you have seen some of your Facebook friends with a different layout than yours. Facebook has announced that the new page layout dubbed ‘Timeline,’ will now be available to all.

The mandatory update is rolling out now and should be available to all in a few weeks or by clicking on the ‘Get Timeline’ button at the bottom of Timeline Page. Once you receive your Timeline view, you’ll have 7 days to preview what your profile will look like to others before it goes live.

If you’re unsure what the ‘Timeline’ is all about, see the introductory video below.

[Facebook Blog]

One of the popular file sites, Megaupload.com, has been shut down after having 7 (including founder, Kim Dotcom) of its members accused with violating piracy laws and “conspiracy to commit racketeering.”

Their indictment states the company made more than $175 million while causing $500 million worth of damages. Users who now visit the site are greeted with the a message from the FBI [above image].

In retaliation, the “Hacktivist” group, Anonymous, targeted some FBI and US Department of Justice sites. Out of the sites targeted, the Recording Industry Association of America’s website (RIAA) is the only one at the time of writing not back up yet.

[via Mashable]

During the downtime, users will be unable to access the following services:

• PlayStation Store on PS3, PSP, and Media Go.
• PlayStation Network Account Management.
• PlayStation Network Account Registration.
• PlayStation Home
• Music Unlimited & Video Unlimited services

Users already signed in on PSN before maintenance starts will still be able to continue gaming online although access to the features listed above will be restricted. Users already signed in before maintenance starts will have any unlocked Trophies updated unto their profiles once the scheduled maintenance is over.

[Playstation Blog]

Google is enabling a new feature on its social networking site, Google+ that I’m sure a lot of internet users will love.

The new feature is a photo editing tool which allows users to add large white text with black borders unto their photos, essentially, creating a meme.

To do this, drop a photo into your Google+ sharebox, then click the “add text” button and add your “funny” phrase. The feature will be “rolling out over the next few days” so still some time to dream up that killer meme before the feature rolls out.

[Google+ | via Mashable]

Skype’s Vice President of Products, Rick Osterioh, has said in an interview at CES (see bottom of post) in which he announces that Microsoft’s Skype division is “working on a Windows Phone product that will be coming out soon.” However, he gave no details of how “soon” Windows Phone users can expect the app.

Osterioh also mentions in the video that deeper Skype integration with Windows Phone is being worked on. Although, the initial release of the Skype app will not feature this deep integration.

[via WMPowerUser]