Arizona and Colorado have just been added to the list of states with confirmed cases. Wisconsin has 40, the largest number of reported cases. It also has the only fatality so far. The next largest number of cases is reported in Utah, with 16, followed by Ohio with 15.

In the meantime, New Mexico's public health laboratory announced it had pinned the E. coli O157 bacteria to an opened package of spinach. The package came from the refrigerator of a patient who ate some of the vegetable before falling ill.

The New Mexico laboratory completed "DNA fingerprinting" tests on Tuesday night, concluding that the "DNA fingerprint" matched that of the outbreak strain.

"We now have a confirmed positive sample that was obtained from one of the patients in New Mexico," Dr David Acheson, chief medical officer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said during a news conference on Wednesday night.

He said the source was Natural Selection Foods, the California food producer that has been the focus of the investigation.

It is the first solid evidence amid almost a week of public health warnings not to eat any fresh spinach products, massive recalls by major California spinach producers and state-by-state reports of growing numbers of sick people.

Dr Acheson also reported that health officials might have narrowed down the search for suspect plants. The search is centered on the greater Salinas valley in California, where almost 75 percent of the country's spinach crop is planted.

The regions that interest investigators are Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties.

The CDC currently advises consumers not to eat any fresh spinach or salad blends containing fresh spinach that are consumed raw.

E. coli O157:H7 in spinach can be killed by cooking at 160 Fahrenheit (about 71 centigrade) for 15 seconds. If spinach is cooked in a frying pan, and not all parts reach the temperature, bacteria may still exist.

E. coli O157:H7 causes diarrhea, often with bloody stools. Although most healthy adults can recover completely within a week, some people can develop a form of kidney failure called HUS. HUS is most likely to occur in young children and the elderly, which can lead to serious kidney damage and even death.

With a new term just about to start, the University of Westminster has given its Intermission Bar an overhaul. Students who fancy getting a post-lecture pint in will be treated to six new tables, where pop-up screens let the thirsty academics place an order directly from their seats. You can see them in action here.

Using the screens, students can scroll through the list of beverages and choose what they fancy. Orders are transmitted to the bar using ethernet over powerline, with the drinks brought directly to their tables. The system has prompted the Intermission Bar to employ two sets of staff - one lot to deliver the drinks ordered from the high-tech tables and another set to work the bar as normal.

The tables enable students to chat with other tables using an IM-like system. This even comes pre-programmed with a list of cheesy chat-up lines.

Even paying for a round has gone upmarket at Westminster. Those using the system can buy their snakebite-and-black using RFID chipped cards, with both a pre-pay and billing option. And, with student debt not getting any smaller, if the cards are lost or stolen, credit can be frozen and retrieved by the out-of-pocket drinker.

The tables are all completely waterproof so while they can't guard against 'who spilt my pint?' scuffles, they can at least keep the electrics safe.

Not only will the new system cut waiting times for drinkers, it will apparently boost profits too - 40 per cent more orders are placed by drinkers at the tables than others in the bar as those using the screens to order become more experimental in their choices and speed up their ordering when not confronted by the prospect of a long wait to be served.

More expensive drinks, such as spirits and cocktails, are ordered more frequently. The system doesn't track who's had a bit too much though - that's left to the lucky bar staff.

Rayhan Rafiq Omar, VP of comms at the students' union, told silicon.com: "For us it's about providing an extra service. Some students are used to bars that are nine people deep but we cater for mature students and they expect a lot more."

As well as sparing beleaguered drinkers from a crowded bar, the new system may even improve their love life. The tables enable students to chat with other tables using an IM-like system. This even comes pre-programmed with a list of cheesy chat-up lines - such as 'that's a nice shirt, it would go well on my floor' and 'I'm not actually this tall, I'm sitting on my wallet' - for the romantically challenged.

For Romeos who need to step it up a level, there's also the option of sending credit to fellow tables - the virtual equivalent of buying someone a drink.

And there's SMS and games for those who don't find being in a bar stimulating enough, while a taxi-booking service is also scheduled to go live shortly.

Omar told silicon.com the student body is also working on tying in some new functionality for the tables including a request system for the student radio station, streaming football matches directly to the tables and a video jukebox.

The system is a collaboration between Compuware and Escapism media, which built the touchscreens (which are called 'escape pods') using Compuware's Optimal J development tool to create the application the pods run on.

The touchscreen tabletops, which can rotate 360 degrees and tilt up to 45 degrees, can also be found in the Ministry of Sound clubs in both Harrogate and London.

"I regained full consciousness within an hour," Koretsky said. "But if I had not, I could have gone into a coma."

If the VeriChip Corporation has its way, Koretsky's story will become the norm. It's targeting hospitals in Washington, D.C. and other metro areas, providing free scanners for the chip and hoping that soon, many Americans will decide to be implanted.

The simple procedure inserts a tiny chip under the arm, with no visible scar.

Dr. Bob Rothstein of Bethesda, Maryland's Suburban Hospital said, "It's the patient who chooses to have the chip implanted, who chooses to have the information they want on the Internet, and who chooses who they want to access that information."

Rothstein prefers face-to-face contact with patients, especially when learning their medical history. But Rothstein thinks the VeriChip makes sense. It can provide crucial information in an emergency for patients who are flustered--or simply unable to think or speak.

"Pull it out, initialize it and it's ready to search," said Rothstein.

Rothstein showed us how simple it is to use the chip. He pretended to scan my arm, which, if I was chipped, would reveal a 16-digit code. He then would enter his password and my code in VeriChip's website to locate my medical records.

Suburban hospital is ready to scan. But the question is: are its patients? So far, only one person with a chip has come in.

You might not realize it, but the science behind the VeriChip is already big business. VeriChip uses radio frequency identification, or RFID technology. Last year, vendors shipped 500 million RFID chips to the U.S. military and companies like Wal -Mart for use in inventory tracking.

Your pet may be one of the more than 6 million animals chipped since 1991. Highway toll systems use it to automatically charge you. And the latest U.S. passports sport RFID chips.

RFID tracking has become a part of our everyday world. And that may pave the way for more implants, even mandatory ones.

Dr. Albrecht said, "I think the real concern that most people have is that at some point the government would line up and say 'get your chip."

In fact, in just the last few weeks, the VeriChip Corporation has confirmed talks with the Pentagon about chipping soldiers. VeriChip says the military is interested in obtaining easy access to its members' medical records.

Perhaps in the nick of time, Wisconsin passed legislation this summer banning mandatory chipping. And Ohio is following suit, after a Cincinnati company told workers they'd have to be implanted to access a data center.

Dr. Katherine Albrecht is a consumer advocate who follows the RFID world closely. Her book Spychips chronicles the industry's growth.

Albrecht says many people have deep philosophical objections to the idea of an implanted chip.

"Those range from Christians who have prophetic reasons, to those from a humanistic perspective who just think it's wrong to have a microchip interacting with a human body."

Even the most prominent VeriChip supporter, former Health And Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, seems hesitant. Thompson, a VeriChip board member, is not chipped, despite promising to do so last year.

And Dr. Rothstein admitted that he's still debating whether to get the chip himself.

Albrecht says the chip is not a good idea for patients wanting help in an emergency.

That's because VeriChip itself admits that "the patient information database may not function properly" if a third-party system fails or a natural disaster strikes.

And if you're considering the implant for security reasons or to make payments, consider this: hackers showed just this summer that the chip is cloneable.

Albrecht said, "Someone can come within a foot or so of that implant in a restaurant, in an elevator, when you're looking the other way, wave a device near you, capture that 16-digit number, and within minutes begin emitting that same number themselves."

For Sergeant Koretsky, specific medical concerns made the decision to implant easy.

"I've told all my friends to do it," Koretsky said. "There's no reason not to have it."

It's telling that none of his friends have chosen the implant so far -- perhaps showing that, for most people, the time of human implants has not yet come.

The shooting occurred Monday night as about 75 adults and children made their way to the parking lot at a baseball field nicknamed Field of Dreams in Dandridge, a lakeside community overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains about 30 miles east of Knoxville.

Three members of the boy's family were killed.

District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn told The Associated Press that the boy's father, Jerry B. "Brent" Shands and at least two other men ran over to try and stop his former father-in-law, Samuel L. Noe. They wrestled for the gun "and at some point during the struggle the gun went off at least one time, maybe twice," wounding Shands and killing Noe, the prosecutor said.

Asked if there was anyone to charge, Dunn said, "It doesn't appear to be."

Ten-year-old Austin Shands was uninjured but dazed, witnesses said. No one else was hurt. The child was being taken care of by friends, said his uncle, Bobby Shands.

Fraternal grandfather Jerry D. Shands, 63, and Noe, 61, died instantly. Fraternal grandmother Ellen E. "Sue" Shands, 62, was dead on arrival at a local hospital. The boy's father was flown to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, where his family said he was in serious condition. All were from the Jefferson City area.

Family members have said the dispute stemmed from the bitter divorce of Austin's parents and their court fight over the boy's custody.

The boy's mother, Diane Shands Robbins, was arrested in a drug raid in April 2005. On Sept. 13, she pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to distribute marijuana. She was remanded to the federal prison system while awaiting sentencing Dec. 1, court records show.

Her mother, Patricia Noe, who also attended the game, may have sparked the confrontation when she said something to Jerry Shands and pointed an umbrella at him, the district attorney said.

"Then, of course, he says, 'Get that blankety-blank thing out of my face.' ... And the next thing you hear is pop, pop, pop (from Samuel Noe's gun)."