Research swayed back and forth on the health risks associated with e-cigarettes since their debut in the US about three years ago. The faux cigs, which are essentially nicotine inhalers intended to help smokers kick the actual smoking habit while still getting their dose of nicotine, the main addictive ingredient in tobacco. In the first truly comprehensive study of the somewhat controversial nicotine replacement method, researchers at Boston University's School of Public Health has found that not only are e-cigarettes much safer to "smoke" than normal ones, they may also aid in kicking the addictive habit altogether. According to the researchers, "few, if any" of the chemicals found in e-cigarettes pose serious health risks, and carcinogen levels in them are up to 1,000 times lower than in actual tobacco. This research, of course, disagrees with the FDA's findings that essentially, the chemicals found in e-cigarettes were risky and unknowable. The FDA has yet to evaluate e-cigarettes the way that they have done with all medications and other nicotine replacement products, so we can't be sure, but it's looking more and more possible that if you just need to smoke, an e-cigarette may be a safer route... for everything but your dignity, of course.

A few weeks back we caught our first glimpse of the open source, modular DARwIn-OP developed at Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, also known as RoMeLa. Well, there's more information available now about the upcoming little bot, so here's what we know. Korean company Robotis is making available the bot's open source software, schematics, CAD and fabrication manuals, in addition to selling the fully assembled robots. DARwin-OP was unveiled recently at the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, and is built on a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530-based FitPC2i which boasts a 4GB SSD, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 802.11n WiFi. Shipments of the 17.9-inch tall humanoid robots are being sent to universities first at a price of $9,600, and will run $12,000 at full retail. Hit up the source links for a far more detailed look at DARwin-OP's specs, and there's a video after the break.

It's still technically in beta, but Microsoft has just rolled out a fairly significant update to its Windows Phone 7 Connector software for Mac. Among other things, the software now has a new device setup process, support for manual file imports from the device, and the ability to sync content purchased on your phone back to your Mac -- not to mention a slew of bug fixes and other more minor tweaks. Hit up the source link below to start downloading, or just look for it in the Microsoft AutoUpdate app.