Bhutan Government Bans Laptops For Politicians Over Gaming Fears

Bhutan. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/babasteve/

TheBhutan Government has imposed a laptop ban for its national assemblybecause of fears that lawmakers are spending too much of their timeplaying computer games.

After decades of monarchy, only recently Bhutaninstalled a new democratic system. Democratic elections were held forthe first time in March 2008. The government wants to move forward in apositive manner and has imposed this laptop ban for lawmakers.

Nima Tshering, the speaker of the Bhutan assembly told Reuters:

The members can be distracted playing games and viewing pictures.

Not all are happy with this decision, some lawmakers arecomplaining that laptops are more convenient than carrying aroundbundles of papers.

The Bhutan National Assembly also has imposed bans on electronic gadgets, eating and smoking.

In 2006, Bhutan was rated the happiest country in Asia and the eighthhappiest country in the world despite being the least developed nationaccording to Business Week.

Will their "happiness" status become worse or for the better after this laptop ban, only time will tell.

Church of Sweden offers drive-in weddings

Drive-By Wedding in Las Vegas. Photo: Alittlewhitechapel.com

Swedes can now have their weddings “Las Vegas” style by having drive-in weddings with gospel choir and Elvis soundtrack.

The Church of Sweden wants to go with the modern ways and will offerthis drive-in-weddings option at a car rally next month to makemarriages easy for couples.

The Swedes are unfazed with the rising fuel prices, nearly 36couples have applied to get wedding this way at the upcoming rally inVasteras in central Sweden according to the priest Jerker Asterlund.

Mr. Asterlund created this novel drive-in weddings idea. But unfortunately, he won't get any medals from the Vatican.

Mr. Asterlund told Reuters.

"Weddings are getting more and more commercialized and thatis not something we have any interest in. We would like to make thingssimpler and more down to earth when people take the plunge and getmarried,"

"This is not just for fun, but also a way for the Church ofSweden to show we can take part in celebration and happiness and notjust in crisis and catastrophes,"

The wedding will be carried out by 10 priests and the ceremony willlast for seven minutes. It will also have a gospel choir and a priestsinging Elvis tunes according to Mr. Asterlund.

They could have at least kept the music local by having Abba music at the weddings.

The wedding event at the rally will boast a huge red, neon signjust like the Las Vegas Casinos to make it convenient for couples tofind it at the large rally.

The article doesn’t say whether the Church of Sweden will run thisdrive-in wedding ceremony after the rally event. I hope they keep it aone-time event.

Vogue cover model dies in an apparent suicide

A Vogue cover model fell from her Manhattan apartment building Saturday in an apparent suicide according to the New York City (NYC) Police.

Ruslana Korshunova, 20, died in a fall from a building on Water Street in Manhattan's Financial District according to The New York Post.

The NYC police are investigating the fall and will report their findings later.

Korshunova is originally from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. She has appeared in the Vogue Cover and in many advertisements and on runways for designers like Marc Jacobs, Nina Ricci and DKNY.

British Vogue, which had her on cover once praised her as "a face to be excited about" in 2005.

Modeling booker Debbie Jones noted her first when she was browsing an in-flight magazine article about Korshunova's hometown of Almaty according to Vogue.

Jones told Vogue:

"She looked like something out of a fairytale!...We had to find her and we searched high and low until we did!"

Korshunova's New York agency did not return telephone messages regarding this report.

It is sad her friends or family didn't see this coming, suicides doesn't happen overnight.

Boyle: 'I got married thanks to Google'

One Google user, David Boyle talks about how he got married with his partner Bergin Boyle with the help of Google applications.

Google Blog received this wedding story from the Boyles. They are very happy that Google properties helped their wedding planning and arrangement in different ways.

The Boyles used initially the Google Calendar to pick up a wedding data suitable for both of them. They then created RSVP and to-do lists with the help of Google Docs and shared them with their relatives and friends, so they can have an idea who will be attending their wedding.

Google Docs has an easy share feature and you can share any documents, PDF, spread sheets, presentation with anyone. To access this facility click the "Share" button in the document page.

Google Docs helps wedding arrangement.

Infoclarity.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Once the Boyles knew who are all coming to the wedding they then created a site with the help of Google Pages containing the details for their guests and provided them with a personalized Google Maps featuring their wedding site Stonington, Connecticut. Since many also would like to visit the surrounding area, the Boyles created places of interest as shown in the picture below:

Google Maps places of interest near wedding area.

Infoclarity.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)
They used "Forms Feature" in Google Docs to create a music list for their wedding and asked their friends and relatives for their input.

Once the wedding was over, they know they will be busy for the next few days but wanted to make an announce their wedding to those who didn't attend and to their blog readers by posting a special blog and make Google post at a future date with the help of Blogger's "future-dated posts" feature.

You can read their full story here.

Google can start a special site, Google Wedding to have all of these distinct applications in one site for other couples to organize their wedding. But even without it, Google Docs, Gmail, GTalk (chat), Google Pages (create websites), Youtube (videos), Picasa (photos) and other Google tools provide great opportunities to organize weddings. You don't need a "Wedding Planner" when you have Google.

Great Summer Drink - Root Beer Float

Root Beer Float. Photo: Stevegurufi.comhttp://stevegarufi.com/rootbeer6.jpg.

I tried this Root Beer Float today, it is a great drink to have during hot summer days. I found out that it is easy to make and requires only a few ingredients.


The recipe for Root Beer Float is as follows from Kroger's.





Ingredients:

• 4 Scoops of Super-Premium Vanilla Ice Cream


• 16 oz Bottle Root Beer

Directions:



Keep 4 drinking mugs for some time in the freezer until they are ice cold. Then pour 1/4 cup of Root Beer into each mug and add a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream and stir thoroughly. Add Root Beer to this mixture until about 3/4 of Glass Mug is full. Then carefully add one more scoop of
Vanilla Ice Cream into each glass. Fill the gas with more root beer. Now the glasses will overflow but don't worry it will be fun to watch and drink. That's it.


When you start taking this Root Beer Float, start with the cold frozen foam, then scoop the ice cream with root beer with your spoon and drink the remaining creamy caramel colored mixture in the end. It will cure any hot day woes. One of the best drinks I ever had.



If you have had this drink before, please add your comments.

California tells drivers 'drop the cell phone, dude'

 

The state of California will impose a state wide ban on using cell phones while driving. Only hands-free phones are allowed and a total ban on drivers under age 18.

Connecticut, New Jersey and New York are the few states that have passed laws that prohibit drivers from using hand-held cell phones. Also, dozen countries around the world have passed similar laws. Now, California will be joining them from next week.

The Hollywood stars, Silicon Valley millionaires, soccer moms and students from a number of prestigious colleges in California will hate this law. Some of them have their own office in cars as they are stuck in the heavily trafficked highways, without a cell phone it will make it extremely difficult for them. But on the other hand, many accidents have been reported after drivers get distracted with phone calls or sending text messages.

The disgruntled drivers can still use the cell phone in the form of hands-free phones (and have Bluetooth headsets like Jawbone), but for drivers under age 18 the use of cell phones is entirely banned.

Some are already complaining about the law and want the law makers instead to focus on building more freeways or public transportation to remove the gridlock in highways. Besides they say hands-free cell phones may pose dangers also.

KFI-AM radio talk-show host told Reuters:

"I can't believe that (Californians) will put up with all these nanny, nit-picking laws...It's stupid because we've gone over about seven different studies and each one of them says it's the conversation that distracts you, not holding the phone,"

But you don't need studies to confirm this, common sense will do, multi-tasking during driving doesn't help anyone.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, who authored the bill, doesn't agree with the studies and said keeping hands on the wheel is much safer. He hopes the law will save hundreds of lives.

Simitian told Reuters:

"There are more and more people out there on the highway and the CHP (California Highway Patrol) has collected data every year showing that cell phones are the number one cause of distracted drivers,"

From next week, those who get caught using cell phones will be fined $20 plus fees for the first offense and $50 plus fees for repeat offenders.

Simitian started preparing this law in 2001 and didn't add text messaging to it at that time, now he is planning to ban them totally when driving.

There are mixed reactions to this new law, but in the long run it will be benefit everyone. If you still want to make a phone call just pull to the shoulders of the highway and make a call otherwise it can wait when compared to the loss of life or lives because of distracted driving.

NASA will utilize solar power to sail in Space

 

Solar panels have been used in the past by NASA for spaceships but not entirely, NASA will launch a NanoSail-D fully powered by Sun's energy. It has the potential to cross the solar system in 10 years compared to 30 years travel by Voyager.

NASA is experimenting with its new space vehicle NanoSail-D and if successfully implemented it can go beyond the solar system and come back even by means of solar power.

NASA is collaborating with the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Ames Research Center to create this revolutionary product. The solar sail, NanoSail-D is made of aluminum and space-age plastic and will be able to harness the solar radiation to power its movement.

The sails can potentially accelerate forever because there is no friction in outer space. Thus, they can travel much faster and much farther than a rocket running on fuel. They can also return back to earth by turning the sail in the opposite direction.

The Planetary Society was the first on to launch a similar solar sail spacecraft, Cosmos 1, however the flight was not successful after it entered the orbit.

If NanoSail-D successfully makes into orbit and unfurls its solar sail, the vehicle can then use solar means to control its altitude and orbital maneuvering according to Sandy Montgomery of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

NASA hopes big things from NanoSail-D. They can use NanoSail-D for longer missions and use rockets for shorter mission. The sails won't be able to generate enough power to carry passengers in space but they can be used to carry on-board instruments. Montgomery added a number of interesting scientific missions are possible with NanoSail-D.

To know more about the NanoSail, visit its main page.

The NanoSail-D will travel to space onboard the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, launching from the Pacific Ocean as early as July 29. It will be brought on board in a 10-pound suitcase, and if successfully unfurled, it will measure at 100 square feet.

Dazed and Confused

Ref: Thomas Kinkade - Heading Home

I am a soldier, this is my third mission to Iraq, which is getting bloodier and bloodier. When I came the first time in 2003, the Iraqis showered us with praises and said many thanks, now in my third mission, they are saying “Go”. Once we go, instead of one Saddam there will be thousands of mini-Saddams and they will cry for help again. Should we come back then?

I just came back from my daily patrol. The heat here is oppressive, the roads are littered with parts and debris, the air smells not of fragrant palms but rather fine mists of sand. I chuck my bag of weapons and kit in the corner of my canvas tent. I fall on my makeshift bed with tired arms and legs with my shoes still on.

On the corner of my eyes, I see a smiling face of my lover. Only wish it wasn’t just a photo but be near me instead. To have that happen it is going to take months. While I swelter in Baghdad, at least I am glad she is in a better place in the blue mountains of Carolina.

To her I write this poem:

Dazed and Confused

“Her eyelashes form a smooth contour,

Like an array of trees decked at horizon in a rolling hills,

Her smile bewitches and inspiring,

Is an armor for you against sadness,

Her lips conjoin and shine lustrous in plum red,

Whoever comes in contact with it will reach heaven in a hurry,

Her hair is a treasure bounty,

You can gather a handful and get lost in ‘em,

Her words are poetic, fluid in nature,

You can listen with glee all day like an avid story,

Her games are a fun frolic one,

Even when you lose, there is a joy and victory,

Her cheeks flush with pinkish red,

Which invites you to kiss a thousand times as thanks,

Her absence makes this all the more unsettling,

Till I see her again and see clarity,

I am dazed and confused in this desert.”

- Chris Veerabadran.

NASA: 'You can grow asparagus in Mars really well'

 

NASA scientists speculate that Phoenix Mars Lander has found enough nutrients in the Martian soil to support life especially asparagus plant.

Phoenix Mars Lander is analyzing the soil ingredients with its on board instruments. Preliminary information reveals that the soil may contain sufficient nutrients to support plant life. NASA scientists think the soil may be alkaline in nature, which may help grow asparagus in Mars. However other plants like strawberries may not be able to thrive on the alkaline soil.



Phoenix Mars Lander scooped the soil from 2.5 cm (one inch) below Mar's surface with its robotic arm and then the soil ingredients were tested using the "wet chemistry" technique, which involves combining the soil with water (taken from Earth and stored in Lander). The mixture was then heated in one of the Lander's eight ovens. The full results will be announced soon.



Even the preliminary information surprises the scientists, who are thrilled with its discovery that Mars be favorable to life in the future.



Sam Kounaves, the project's lead chemist, from the University of Arizona told BBC:

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life, whether past, present or future...It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard - you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well."

Kounaves however said further testing is necessary to confirm this finding. He said the Martian soil seems to be very friendly in nature. There is no toxicity found in the soil.



The Martian soil also was found to contain traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements.



Previously, Phoenix camera captured images that showed melting of ice on the surface. And now the nutrients in the soil are being discovered. According to the scientists, only thing missing in Mars is the organic carbon, the building block of life.



Mars is becoming more and more habitable and probably will become an extension of Earth in the near future. We might even import vegetables from Mars in the future.

Comes Back With Love

Sweetheart Cottage III by Thomas Kinkade.


"Keep loving someone, they will come back to you soon,

Keep hating someone, they will never come back ever."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Google Tests a New iGoogle Interface

Google is testing out a new look for its iGoogle, a startup page for the users. The new interface has a slew of new features.

Google’s iGoogle site is one of the frequently visited properties of Google. The iGoogle is a great startup page, where you can have 100s of gadgets and get all the latest updates in one page.

The new iGoogle places the tabs on the left-hand side of the page for easy access and has the main gadgets in the right-side in columns. Google has added a chat feature, so as you browse the various gadgets, you can also chat with your friends and share information.

Another important feature is you can view the stories shared by your contacts in Google Reader, see the latest activity of your friends (about their new blog, new video and other information, like you see in Friendfeed.com), check the latest photos uploaded to Picasa Web Albums and more.

New iGoogle Interface

Googlesystem.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

To get the new version, just fill up a Google sandbox application (it requires just the basic information), you can immediately see the new iGoogle interface.

To see the various gadgets click “add stuff” and to have different themes click “Get artist themes” at the top of the iGoogle page.

It also has a “Canvas” view, instead of rows and columns you see in the picture above, you will see only rows of gadgets like the Google Reader.

In the future Google plans to convert iGoogle as a social site via OpenSocial, and then you can check all of the social activities of your friends at one site.

Check out iGoogle, you can get the latest weather reports, stock quotes, read your e-mail, and do 100s of things in one place.

Google Finance gets more real-time stock quotes

Google Finance got more real time stocks quotes added with updates from New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Early this month, Google Finance added real-time quotes from NASDAQ.

Now you can get real-time stock quotes from two major U.S. stock exchanges NYSE and NASDAQ. The launch early this month with real-time stock quotes from NASDAQ was quite a success. Users were able to see real-time updates in the web and in mobiles, whereas before these quotes were available at limited sites only and for a fee. Google Finance is free for all users.

To see the live quotes you can either visit the Google Finance page or use iGoogle and add Google Finance portfolio gadget and monitor all your favorite stocks up to the minute through out the day.

Google Finance Gadget for iGoogle

Google Blog. (Creative Commons - Attribution)

To access the Google Finance in mobiles, click Google Mobile (http://www.google.com/m) and click Finance, a basic search of a stock will provide the following:

Google Finance in Mobile Phones

Google Blog (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Now you can track any stocks in the U.S. anywhere in real-time. I am sure Google will also add real-time data other stock exchanges in the world.

Baby crocodiles start chatting with siblings and mothers before they hatch

A baby crocodile. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/drewm
Creative Commons - Attribution

French researchers have found baby crocodiles start to chat even before they hatch. They make these sounds to make their siblings hatch together and get protection from their mothers as they hatch.

Amelie Vergne and Nicolas Mathevon of Universite Jean Monnet in Saint-Etienne, France analyzed 10 crocodiles and their eggs at a zoo in France.

The researchers found that little crocodiles inside the eggs make an "umph! umph! umph!" sound right before they hatch. When the siblings and mothers hear this, the siblings also make these sounds and try to break free from the eggs and the mothers approach the eggs to take care of the new born.

The researchers recorded the sounds and played back these sounds and other sounds to see what the reaction was. They found that the baby crocodiles and the mothers respond well to the "umph!" sounds.

You can listen to the audio recording (mp3) here.

Vergne and Mathevon wrote in the journal Current Biology:

"Crocodile mothers react strongly to playback of pre-hatching calls, most of them by digging the sand,"

In another experiment, they removed the eggs from the nest and played back the sounds, the mother crocodile continue to guard the nest in anticipation.

Eight of the mother crocodiles who were played recordings of the correct "umph" calls tried to dig up their nest, while mothers who heard random sounds did not react to the sounds.

Mathevon explained the reason for the sounds made by the baby crocodile. As soon as they hatch, they become a prey to predators. As a defensive mechanism, the crocodiles make the sounds and try to hatch together at the same time and make their mother to stay near by to protect them.

In a statement, Mathevon said:

"In this sense, it is important for all embryos in the nest to be ready for hatching at the same time so that they all receive adult care and protection,"

The babies get smart even before they hatch. I hope they don't get too smart when they grow up.

Australian schools with 1.3 million students dump Outlook for Gmail

The New South Wales (NSW) education department has decided to drop Outlook/Exchange services and use Google services instead for its 1.5 million students. The switchover will save nearly AU$23 million ($22 million).

Google will partner with Australia’s SMS Management and Technology and supply Gmail services to the NSW Department of Education for its 1.5 million students according to NSW Minister for Education and Training John Hatzistergos.

Hatzistergos told Australian IT:

"This commitment is a further demonstration of the NSW Labor Government's commitment to equip teachers and students with the best possible means to compete successfully in the constantly evolving world of information technology,"

SMS has won the bid and will finalize the contract with NSW education department very soon. The contract is worth AU$9.5 million for three years of Google services. SMS will partner with Google and telecommunications provider Telstra.

According to Australian IT, this is the largest private deployments of Gmail in the world.

Google also won another victory in the academic sector recently, when it signed with Australia's Macquarie University last year.

NSW education department chief information officer Stephen Wilson said the contract will be only for Gmail services and they haven’t decided about the switchover to Google Docs from Microsoft Office, but may decide it soon in the future.

The advantage with Gmail over Outlook is the students can access Gmail anytime, anyplace and anywhere.

The only concern the schools are having is that Gmail is hosted offshore and are concerned with high bandwidth bills retrieving messages. If Google hosts some of their servers in Australia, like it does in other parts of the world, it may solve the problem.

The students at the NSW schools will also have increased mail storage by 170 times from 35MB with Outlook to 6GB or more with Google.

SMS chief executive Tom Stianos told Australian IT that Google is planning to have a hosted solution within Australia to solve the education department’s bandwidth costs and may host a server center in Australia for Gmail services.

Slowly Google is gaining on Microsoft’s territory. For businesses and school, Gmail and Google Apps are the best solution in my opinion to manage 100s or 1,000s of people.

Harris Poll: Google has the best reputation in corporate America

A Harris Interactive Poll of 60 companies showed Google has the best reputation in corporate America. It replaces Microsoft, which dropped to 10th place in the list.

The Harris Interactive Poll selected 60 companies and asked 7,105 Americans last July and August to name two corporations that they consider have either very positive or very negative reputations. Then Harris asked 20,477 respondents to rate the 60 companies on 20 attributes including emotional appeal, the quality of their products and social responsibility.

The results for the Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient poll showed Google had the highest scores and the best reputation in the business world of America. Also, Google was ranked No. 1 Best Place to Work in America early this year and is famous for its many perks for Googlers (Google Employees). We can see the correlation between the two, reputation with customers and the best place to work.

Robert Fronk, senior vice president at Rochester, New York-based Harris told Forbes.com about Google:

"The ratings they get focus on how they treat their employees, their workplace environment...They absolutely get tremendous credit for the social responsibility, which for them is also linked with their vision and leadership."

While Google was No. 1, its rival Microsoft, the previous No. 1 fell to 10th place this year.

The U.S. airline industry also suffered big and had the lowest reputation scores. Main reasons were the airlines industry has cut employee pay, raising ticket prices and adding fees for free services such as meals, packed bags. Fronk added the airlines industry treated both the public and employees unfairly and that led to poor scores.

The top ten in this Harris Interactive Poll are:

1. Google
2. Johnson & Johnson
3. Intel Corp
4. General Mills Inc
5. Kraft Foods Inc
6. Berkshire Hathaway Inc
7. 3M
8. Coca-Cola Co
9. Honda Motor Co.
10. Microsoft

On the negative side, companies with the worst reputations were Halliburton Co., Venezuala's Citgo, Northwest Airlines, Exxon Mobil Corp. and cable company Comcast.

The survey also found that 51 percent of respondents believed corporate America's reputation is deteriorating.

You can see the full results of the Harris study here.

Google now offers off-line support for Google Docs

Google Docs had one complaint before that it didn't offer offline capabilities, now they offer that feature. Now you can edit or view documents, presentations, spreadsheets, anytime, anyplace and anywhere.

Google is promoting this new offline feature in Google Docs in its main search page. You can read or edit Google Docs when you are not connected to the internet and also use it as a back up for your online documents.

You will need Google Gears, which is an open source browser extension that adds offline functionality directly to the browser and helps synchronizes the documents between your computer and online account. This offline feature works both in Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer.

The Google Docs provides this editing facility in Documents, but for presentation and spreadsheets it offers only view option (editing option will be available later).

With Google Docs offline feature, you can do the following:

* Edit your documents and view your presentations and spreadsheets – all from your browser.
* Changes are saved offline and sync automatically when you're back online. You don't have to do a thing.
* Add a Google Docs shortcut to your desktop to quickly access your documents.

If your internet connection is broken or when you are not near an internet connection, you can still see your documents and edit them.

Google Docs works offline. Googlesystem.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

To get Google Docs, click here.

If you have any questions let me know.

Scientists develop 'Social Viagra' drug to overcome shyness

Scientists want to overcome shyness and social awkwardness by means of a “social Viagra” drug. The drug is based on a natural hormone that bonds the anxious newborn babies with the mothers and allays any fear.

Scientists from the California’s Claremont Graduate University have developed this “social Viagra”. Others are also working on this concept to commercialize this drug in the market.

The scientists found that oxytocin, a natural hormone found in mothers assists the childbirth and helps mothers bond with the newborn babies. It also helps reduce anxiety and calm phobias in babies.

The scientists want to use this oxytocin and try to cure shyness. They also think this drug might help people with autism.

Paul Zak, a professor of neuroscience at California's Claremont Graduate University, has tested the hormone on hundreds of patients and has found satisfactory results so far. He told Telegraph:

"Tests have shown that oxytocin reduces anxiety levels in users. It is a hormone that facilitates social contact between people. What's more, it is a very safe product that does not have any side effects and is not addictive."

This research has been independently verified by studies in other countries.

In one study in Switzerland, researchers were able to reduce symptoms of extreme shyness in 120 patients by giving oxytocin hormone treatment. The treatment was given to them half hour before they encountered an awkward situation.

Another study at the University of New South Wales proved by spraying the hormone in the air and claimed the method worked successfully.

According to Telegraph, millions of people in the UK suffer from shyness and one-in-10 say it seriously affects their social life. Most resort to drugs or alcohol to overcome their shyness.

Oxytocin is also connected to the people’s generosity. The more it is present, the more the people donate to charities and are friendly to strangers. And another study showed that it increases monogamy in rodents, so there is a possibility that oxytocin may work for errant husbands and wives.

Oxytocin could also help new mothers who have trouble bonding with their babies. It can also help orphan children get closer with their new adoptive parents.

There are obviously many benefits of oxytocin with apparent no side affects, only hope they don’t over do it and abuse it.

Ignorance Obstacle

Aphrodite's Rock (Petra tou Romiou), Cyprus. Photo Sacred Destinations.

"One can surmount any obstacles, but,

To surmount other's ignorance is the most difficult of all."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Watch movies free of charge at Hulu.com

Usual Suspects

Ice Age

Hulu is becoming more like an online TV channel, thanks to the backing of Hollywood and TV Shows producers, it is bringing full features films online.

Hulu.com, the online video site boasts a large TV shows catalog and now it is adding movies to its library. The movies had been there for some time but only now they are adding more top movies such as “The Usual Suspects”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Ice Age”, “Sideways”, “Lost in Translation”, “Bring It On”, “Planet of the Apes” and many more.

Here I have added “The Usual Suspects” and “Ice Age”.

According to Cnet, Hulu.com carries about 100 movie titles and more will be added in the future.

The movies have plenty of commercial interruption (about 30 seconds) and there is no way to fast forward and some cases the same advertising repeats, so you need more than patience to watch the full movie. Hulu has to pay for the movies, which we understand but at least they can show a different ad.

The quality of the movie is excellent and it is like watching on High Definition TV.

If you are tired of TV channels, Hulu.com is a better alternative. If the media had partnered with Youtube, they could have made this media available anywhere, any device, any location. But for now it is available only on the web with a PC or laptop and only in the U.S.

Cure Myopia, Astigmatism, Cataract with Pinhole Glass?

Are you tired of wearing and replacing prescription glasses that doesn't solve your eye problems? I am definitely one of them. It only maintains what you have. The contact lenses are the same, applying the solution and lenses every day, it is a chore. Other alternative is Laser surgery but not everyone can afford nor it is a 100% solution, I have heard some side affects problems and some require a corrective surgery after.

If somebody offers you a mechanical device that cures your eye problems, won't you take it? I did, when I got a free offer for Pinhole Glasses. According to the manufacturer, the pinhole glasses offered real benefit such as myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (long-sightedness), cataract, astigmatism and problems related to computer use. If we try to get regular concave glasses for these problems, we have to end up buying one for each problem, whereas the same pinhole eyeglasses solves all the problems according to the manufacturer. So, I was very eager to try it out and see how it will solve my myopia problem.

I received the glass soon after and tested it and am still testing it. The glass is shown in the picture above, it looks like a cooling glass but with fine precision holes made by a laser.

I tried it by removing both lenses and my glasses and wore the pinhole glass. It fits like a regular eye glass or the cool shades. Initially there is a slight discomfort but you can see the benefits right away. In my case, without glasses I can't see any objects clearly, whereas with pinhole glass, I could see objects much better, I could see even my eyes instead of a fuzzy object.

How does a pinhole glasses work?

Pinhole Glasses work by feeding the pupil with direct rays as far as possible. Light rays coming at extreme angles require a large amount of refraction by your lens to form the correct image. Wearing pinhole glasses prevent these rays from entering your eyes. This checks them from distorting the image and consequently you see a better image. This image is of better definition, clarity and brightness.

In other words, the regular concave lens we wear causes undue strain in our eyes when the objects are at extreme angles, whereas the pinhole eyeglasses prevent those rays and makes us focus on the main object. It improves vision and eyesight. By wearing it regularly, we provide an exercise to our eyes.

I didn't have a chance to wear it for longer periods of time, but I am planning to wear them at least two to three hours during the day to exercise the eyes and improve my vision. Hopefully I want to reduce the power in my eyes, which doesn't seem to reduce.

The advantages of pinhole glasses are:

• Completely Natural
• Scientific
• Really Effective
• Durable
• Affordable

Another clear advantage is the price, it costs only $14.95 per pair with free shipping. You can purchase pinhole eyeglasses here.

You can see for yourself by wearing the glasses when you read or watch the TV or computer. But don't use it when driving because it blocks the peripheral vision, you can practice however at home.

Check the feedback in the pinhole glasses link.

If you have had an experience before with pinhole eyeglasses, please share it in the comments.

You can check the disclosure policy about my blog posts here.

GOOG-411 available in Canada and speaks Canadian

Now GOOG-411, a free 411 service for mobile phones is available in Canada. It is custom made for Canada and offers all the features available in the U.S.

GOOG-411 for Canada was available on a limited basis few months ago and now it is available nationwide in English version (French version will be available soon). Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 in Canada from any phone for free and get information about any businesses in Canada.

In the US you will be prompted to give your city and state, whereas in Canada you will be prompted “city and province”.

The GOOG-411 is also tailored to suit Canadian English speakers; the talking bot (or the computerized operator) used in its program will understand “eh”, “Traw-na”, “Cal-gry” or “aboot” according to Google Mobile Blog.

The voice also has been enhanced with a voice closer to the “HAL 9000” character in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 instead of the “Microsoft Sam” voice it had before according to Josh Lowensohn from Webware.com.

The GOOG-411 for Canada service offers the same features that are available for the U.S. users such as free call, free connection (between you and the business you are searching for), free SMS information about the business, iPhone “Map-It” integration feature and many more.

To find the various features of GOOG-411 and how to use it, click here.

Regarding the GOOG-411 service for French Canadians, Google Mobile Blog said the following:

For now, the service supports only English queries, but we're working hard to make it disponible en Français dans un proche avenir.

Hopefully at the same time, we may see a French edition of Digital Journal.

I use both GOOG-411 and Google Maps for Mobile, they help find and locate businesses very easily.

If you live in Canada, please use this GOOG-411 feature and let us or Google know how it works.

Basics of GOOG-411 Video.

NASA Phoenix Mars Lander's Images Confirms Frozen Water

NASA Scientists are getting closer and closer to find the presence of ice in Mars, visual observation of images show there may be ice on the surface. One recent image shows ice may have evaporated from one of the sites dugg by the Lander.

Last week, the Phoenix Mars Lander was analyzing the dirt by testing them with its onboard equipment. There has been some glitch in the analyzing process, while that will be corrected very soon; the scientists had a chance to compare the images of the surface that was dugg by the Lander.

Initially, a portion of the surface were exposed and they found a white colored substance, NASA scientists speculated it as ice but were not sure. But when they compared the images that were taken few days apart, they could some of the white clumps disappeared from the surface leading some to believe that it really may be ice after all.

Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson told reporters in a news conference Friday:

"It is with great pride and a lot of joy that I announce today that we have found proof that this hard bright material is really water ice and not some other substance,"

Ice evaporates from the surface

These color images were acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on the 21st and 25th days of the mission, or Sols 20 and 24 (June 15 and 19, 2008). These images show sublimation of ice in the trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" over the course of four days. In the lower left corner of the left image, a group of lumps is visible. In the right image, the lumps have disappeared, similar to the process of evaporation.

Nasa.gov (Creative Commons - Attribution

Smith said ice is not the only thing they are interested in; they want to find minerals, organic materials, chemicals etc., along with it.

The Lander carries enough instruments to analyze the soil and to find whether microbial life existed once in Mars. Besides water, they can find any organic compounds present, which will provide chemical building blocks and energy for life.

Scientists relishing confirmation of water ice near the surface beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander anticipate even bigger discoveries from the robotic mission in the weeks ahead.

Doug McCuistion at NASA Headquarters, Washington, director of the space agency's Mars Program said in a press release statement:

"This specific discovery is the result of an outstanding team working with a robust spacecraft that has allowed them to work ahead of their original science schedule."

Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera, was one of the scientists who analyzed the two images, one taken in June 15 and the other taken in June 19. He said the disappearing small chunks in the images clearly shows the evidence of water ice and not any other substance like carbon-dioxide ice because the latter is very unstable at the local temperatures present in Mars.

This discovery will lead them to carry out other experiments to find evidence of life in Mars.

For more about Phoenix Mars Lander’s mission and images, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

Amazing Iran - a Photo Slideshow

Beautiful pictures of Iran. Enjoy.

| View | Upload your own

Also check out more pictures in the video below

AFP launches mobile channel for news and multimedia

AFP Mobile Journal Site.

Agence France-Presse has launched a mobile channel called “AFP Mobile Journal” for news, images and videos. This mobile site will have the latest news formatted for mobile phones.

The Agence France-Presse announced this news today and will be available in French and English versions at the following site Afpmobile.com, for English version click the link at the top of the page “EN”or “FR” for French version. To test drive AFP Mobile Journal, English version, click the link here or visit in your mobile at http://www.afpmobile.com.

The default language for this mobile site is French language.

The Mobile Journal will provide the entire catalog of AFP news that are available in major newspapers and online news sites and will be updated 24/7. The content is specifically designed for mobile screens and will have shorter headlines, limited texts and low file size photos. AFP also provides SMS and MSS news alerts for subscribers.

To see the pictures and videos of AFP, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see the photos, videos and news section. You can also access by region, the country where you live in.

It is a good site to have in cell phones, smartphones or iPhones. AFP Mobile Journal has rich multimedia content other sites lack.

Good Choice

Picasso's 'Sylvette" model. Photo: Fotos.org


"When to choose between two good things,
Choose the better of the two,

When to choose between two bad things,
Choose neither."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Polaroid PoGo: A battery powered printer that fits in your pocket

Polaroid introduces a battery powered printer that you can carry it in your pockets and print from cell phone or digital camera from any place.

Polaroid will stop producing their famous instant films and they are diversifying into new areas and one of them is the Polaroid PoGo portable printer.

The PoGo printer will print 2 x 3 inch color photos directly from the cell phone (via Bluetooth signals) or from the digital camera (via USB cable). It will cost $149 and will be available next month.

The photos are durable, doesn’t tear, will stick to any surfaces and detach easily.

The photo paper has billions of dye crystals embedded in it. The heat is able to generate various colors selectively and there will be no need to use any ink, toner or chemicals. The photos also doesn’t require any drying, it dries up as quickly as it prints.

The paper comes in packs of 10 ($3.99 per unit or $9.99 for three units).

Polaroid claims the photo will last 15 years in normal indoor lighting conditions, so we are better off storing images online or in our computers as backups. But for quick sharing, PoGo will do its job.

PoGo may not work with all cell phones, to see a compatibility chart, click here.

All digital cameras should work fine since they use an USB cable to transfer images to PoGo.

iTunes Sells Over Five Billion Songs and 50,000 Movies Per Day

Apple announced today that it has sold more than five billion songs in iTunes Store. And customers are either purchasing or renting at a rate of 50,000 movies per day.

Hollywood and media moguls used to be very apprehensive about Apple’s capabilities for selling their products, now they should be happy with these figures.

Apple has made it simpler and easy to distribute media via iTunes. Apple’s iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008 according to NPD Group’s MusicWatch more than Wal-Mart and other stores.

iTunes has one of the largest music catalog with over eight million songs. Besides songs, it is also selling TV shows and movies (both rentals and downloads) and customers are buying them in large numbers nearly 50,000 movies every day. Altogether it has eight million songs, over 20,000 TV episodes and over 2,000 films.

iTunes store carries movies from all of the major movie studies such as 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.

iTunes also provides flexibility in watching movies, customers can either watch them in iPods, iPhones, media players, Mac, PC and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. Customers can now purchase movie releases from film studios on the same day as their DVD release.

It is a very impressive growth for iTunes in just five years.

Raita Recipe - Sweet and Simple

Cucumber Raita. Photo. Bigoven.com

Here is one of my favorite recipes, Raita is a must have with Indian dishes especially the cuisine from the North. You can try Raita with curries or when you have meat or poultry items.

To make Raita:

Combine in a small bowl 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 small clove garlic, minced, 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Raita is very simple to make and good for your stomach.

Microsoft's IE Team Sends Mozilla a New Cake for Firefox 3

A Special Cake for Mozilla team from IE. Photo: Arcanology.com

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team sent a special cake to congratulate Mozilla’s team for their new Firefox 3 browser version.

Internet Explorer still dominates Firefox by nearly 7 times (83% vs. 13%), while Internet Explorer is a closed browser, Firefox is an open browser. So there is a friendly competition but also mutual admiration between the two competitors. To congratulate the introduction of the new Firefox 3 browser yesterday by Mozilla, IE team sent a special cake as shown in the picture.

Sean from Microsoft bought this cake to Rob in Mozilla’s office. Mozilla was not surprised because they also received a cake from IE when Mozilla introduced their Firefox 2. Apparently Microsoft wants to maintain a tradition. Will they keep the tradition once Firefox exceeds them in market share? Only time will tell.

We are just seeing a gentler side of Microsoft, it is not all evil.

Also, in the news Firefox 3 was downloaded by a record 8.5 million users and counting in just over 24 hours. Even though Mozilla called it a Guinness World Record, there are no previous records but this can be considered one of the top records if not the biggest.

You can download the new Firefox 3 version here.

Be Your Own Judge

Snow-Dusted Peaks, Yosemite National Park, California, 1985. Photo National Geographic.


"Don't judge one by what others say,
Judge for yourself."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Toshiba unveils Portégé R500-S5007V 'world's lightest' laptop

Toshiba Portégé R500-S5007V Laptop. Photo: Boingboing.net

Toshiba unveiled on Tuesday a new ultraportable laptop and claims it is the “World’s Lightest” laptop in the world. It weighs only 2.4 pounds (1.08 kilograms).

Toshiba wants to go head to head against Apple MacBook Air and its new Portégé R500-S5007V laptop is lighter than MacBook Air. The Portégé R500-S5007V weighs only 2.4 pounds compared to MacBook Air, which weighs 3 pounds and Lenovo’s Thinkpad X300, which weighs 2.93 pounds.

The laptop also measures 0.77 inches at the thinnest point according to Toshiba.

The Portégé R500-S5007V laptop also will be the first to have a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD). Previously Lenovo and MacBook had only 64GB SSD option.

SSD consumes less power than a conventional hard drive. Toshiba claims the laptop can run 8 hours straight with a single battery charge. Another power saving option in the Toshiba laptop is its transreflective 12.1 inch screen, which consumes less power by shutting of LED backlighting during bright sunlight.

The main features of the Portégé R500-S5007V are:

1.) Pricing starts at $2,999
2.) Powered by Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 processor at 1.33 GHz
3.) 2MB Cache memory, 2GB RAM
4.) Windows Vista OS (users can downgrade it to Windows XP also)
5.) Super-Multi Optical Drive (read and writes DVD and CD Media)
6.) Wired and Wireless 802.11 a/g/n networking options
7.) Bluetooth
8.) 128GB SSD

The laptop will start shipping in the third quarter this year, according to the company.

Success Has No Excuses

Pavilion Lake in Marble Canyon, British Columbia. Photo: DailyGalaxy.com.

"If you give excuses to your ambitions,

Success gives excuses to you as well*."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

* - And failure becomes a loyal friend.

Incredible Tornado Picture Captured on Camera

A tornado touches down in Iowa.

Townnews.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

There was heavy rain, winds and flooding in Iowa last week and one of the residents took this incredible picture of the tornado just moments before it hit her home and the surroundings.

This picture was taken in Orchard in Mitchell County, Iowa last Tuesday night. There was heavy rain along with golf-ball size hail and lasted for about 10 minutes. Immediately thereafter there was severe thunderstorm with heavy lightening.

At 9:04 pm a tornado was approaching Orchard, Lori Mehmen was able to capture this heavy tornado funnel just before she took cover. The twister briefly hit the ground and took off into the air.

There were extensive tree and crop damage, but luckily no deaths or injuries were reported.

Lori is a brave individual to take this incredible picture. Like Gizmodo says it is better to keep the camera handy, we will never know when moments like this come.

Firefox is aiming for a Guinness World Record today

Firefox wants to become a part of history in the web by becoming the most downloaded software within a day worldwide on June 17th and achieve a Guinness World Record.

Already more than a million users worldwide have pledged to download the current version of Firefox 3.

A few months ago, Mozilla launched a beta version of Firefox 3 and after 1000s of updates it is fully launching it to the public today.

I have been using it for the past few months, the new Firefox 3 shows significant improvements from Firefox 2 version. It is the fastest browser in the market and occupies less memory than previous versions and IE browsers.

Currently Firefox has 15% of the browser market share, Internet Explorer is still leading but mostly because it comes as a default browser in the computer, but once the user gets a chance to use Firefox they will know how good it is compared to IE and other browsers.

WEB BROWSER STATS

Internet Explorer - 83.27%
Firefox - 13.76%
Apple Safari - 2.18%
Opera - 0.55%
Netscape - 0.14%
Source: OneStat

To become a part of history, you can pledge to download the Firefox 3 at the special site here. It also provides a map where the users are located and you can see quite a distribution across the world.

Paul Kim, head of marketing at Mozilla told BBC:

"It's a global effort to make history…There is actually no record for the greatest amount of software downloaded in one day, so for 24 hours from the moment we push the bits live, that's when the countdown starts,"

Kim has no specific target numbers, but they hope to get five million downloads if possible.

When Firefox 2.0 was launched, Mozilla registered 1.6 million downloads on the first day. Nearly 1.4 million have pledged to download it today. You can see the launch time for each of the region in the world in the picture below:

Firefox Launch Time Across The World

Labnol.org (Creative Commons - Attribution)

There are tons of new features in Firefox 3 but the most important being is protection against Phishing attacks (it will warn you if you visit malicious sites), a “Smart Location Bar” (based on your visiting habits it will guess what site even before you fully type the site name), great set of Firefox extensions (Google Toolbar, HyperWords, Del.icio.us and more), and tons of other features.

Firefox 3 works in all platforms, Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

Become a part of history and download Firefox 3 today from here.

Lost In Translation - Full Movie

Enjoy the full video of  the movie "Lost in Translation", it is one of my favorites. Bill Murray gave one of the finest performance in this movie along with Scarlett Johansson. 

We Are All On Death Row

Excerpts from the Iconoclasts Show from Sundance Channel.


I heard this wonderful philosophy from the show "Iconoclasts" starring Deepak Chopra and Mike Myers. How two diverse personalities have similar noble ambitions. It was an inspiring show, Mike Myers might look goofy and funny on the outside but he does have some strong points in him and Deepak Chopra points that.

They were discussing about the "death" topic. I couldn't find the exact clip from the show, otherwise I would have pasted it here, but this is what he said.

Deepak Chopra said how humans are the only species that worry about death. We are always on the constant look out for death approaching us. Then he gave this great comment about it:

"We are all on death row, and the only uncertainty is the method of execution and the length of reprieve"

How true. Instead of fearing death, he advised us we should celebrate and enjoy life and Mike Myers agreed because his father also gave him a similar advice.

92 percent of developers ignoring Microsoft Vista OS

An Evans Data report shows fewer than one in 10 (8%) software developers are writing software programs for Windows Vista this year, while 49% of developers are writing applications for Windows XP.

Microsoft is trying to get rid of Windows XP and wants everyone to switch to Vista but instead it seems it will be better off if Microsoft keeps Windows XP. Evans Data statistics shows only 8 percent of developers writing applications for Vista compared to 49 percent of developers writing applications for Windows XP even after Microsoft wanted to pull away the support for XP.

How Microsoft’s rivals fare? Nearly 13 percent of developers are writing applications for Linux this year and 15.5 percent for next year. Mac OS on the other hand has seen phenomenal growth and has increased by 380 percent this year.

The numbers improve for Vista next year about 24 percent but still lags behind the numbers compared to XP (29 percent). But still, if it can’t get developers to write more for Vista, then it will be better for Microsoft to focus on the next OS or try to build on XP.

News.com cites the following reason for the declining numbers in Vista, which is making it very difficult for developers to build applications:

Unfortunately, that improved security posture makes it more difficult for developers to write applications for Vista (read: no more kernel-level access and UAC to worry about), and it also causes compatibility problems with older applications. Ironically, the wave of attacks targeting operating system vulnerabilities has largely passed, and today hackers have moved on to target applications. At the same time, Microsoft has provided iterative improvements in Windows XP security, bolstering its status as "good enough" and further eating into Vista's pie.

News.com advices Microsoft.com to have a better developer support otherwise it will lose even more OS share to Mac and Linux.

Another advice for Microsoft would be to concentrate on the OS fully instead of trying to become "Jack of All Trades" by trying to buy Yahoo.com.

Gore Vidal: US needs 100 years to recover from Bush

Gore Vidal. Photo: El-Mundo.net.

Writer Gore Vidal said in an interview with a Spanish newspaper that it will take the United States nearly a century to recover from the damages caused by President George W. Bush.

Gore Vidal, a well known novelist, play writer and essayist, gave an interview with the El Mundo newspaper in Spain. He spoke about the politics in the U.S. now and in the years past.

You can read the full interview is in Spanish here and a Google translated version in English here.

He told El Mundo how an impeachment proceeding against Clinton was started quickly by the Republicans, but how now we lack the courage to start impeachment proceedings against Bush for systematically violating the U.S. Constitution.

Vivimos en un país que da miedo. Hemos dejado atrás la república y hemos renunciado a la Carta Magna. Vamos a tardar 100 años en reparar todo el mal.

We live in a country that frightens. We have gone beyond the Republic and have renounced the Magna Carta. We will take 100 years to repair all evil.

He said that we are living in a dictatorship, a fascist government, which controls the media.

He is a vocal critic against the Iraq war. He talked about 9/11 and said it was launched by Osama bin Laden and probably few more of his associates but the Bush Government made it look like he had an army of millions of radical Islamists. And surely 9/11 wasn’t influenced by Saddam Hussein.

He favored Dennis Kucinich in the Democratic presidential primaries because the policies resembled his views. Since Kucinich lost, Vidal hasn’t declared whom he will vote for in the next elections but said Barack Obama is smart, intelligent and will make a fine president. He said compared to what we have had these seven years, Obama would be a real novelty in the White House.

Hay que reconocer que es inteligente, y un presidente inteligente –después del que hemos tenido estos siete años- sería una auténtica novedad en la Casa Blanca.

The reporter asked Vidal what he thinks of Senator John McCain. Vidal replied that it reminds him of Bush. And if the war continues under McCain, he would be an extension of the military junta, the Latin American style, we have had the past five years.

He was asked what advice he would give for the next president. He told El Mundo:

To review the history and remember the words of President Washington: "The nations should not have passions in favor or against other nations, because the passions enslave you ... Remember that the U.S. has only interests, not passions."

U.S. is a very resilient country unlike others, I am not saying it because I live in this country, I have seen it many times recover in recent years from various disasters, both man-made and natural. There are too many intelligent people like Gates, Jobs, Brin, and Nobel Prize winners, who will make sure that U.S. will recover strongly. I don't fully support Vidal's views, but surely it is going to take a long time to recover from the mess we are in. The next elections are crucial and will decide whether it will take 100 years or more to recover or fewer years to recover.

Possible Dream, Possible

Mother Theresa. Photo: Scriptoriumdaily.com

"What is possible to dream, is possible to achieve

What is impossible to achieve, is impossible to dream."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Either Do Good Marketing or Don't

An ad from a restaurant in NY. Photo Seth Godin.

For those who can't read the fine print, the ad says the following:

"IN A New York STATE

(Steak)

OF MIND!

A Tender and Flavorful, 12 0z New York Sirloin Steak with Baked
Potato and Vegetables, including a Traditional Cheesecake
infused with Godiva Chocolate and a complementary Glass of our
House Wine."

Seth Godin saw this ad display in a restaurant and points out how bad the ad is. First it has a bad pun "Steak of Mind", random capitalization (instead of following consistent and uniform lettering), a fuzzy photo with improperly arranged dining materials and food entrees including a salt and pepper spray.

Godin said instead of a bad presentation it is better to do nothing at all. He says the professional marketers will do the same. They will either try to present well or do nothing.

He concludes:

The pros are better at being quiet.
Even if there's room left on the page, or in the display window or in the blog post...

The title seems like a text message.

Tips to Store Foods Properly

Proper Storage of Foods. Photo: Baltimoresun.com

We use lot of foods for our cooking ranging from spices, nuts, breads, and more. Out of which some we use properly and some we don’t. Some of the foods gets fully used, while others remain in the shelves for a long time way past their expiration date such as the spices. There are so many questions, very few answers only moms know. To learn on our own requires a lot of kitchen experience.

Thanks to online, we are able to get some answers. Here are some basic tips I learned how to store foods properly from ShopSmart, hope they are useful to you.

BREAD. It can go stale or get moldy left out on a counter or stored in the fridge. If you’re not going to eat it fast, you can keep bread in the freezer for up to three months. To refresh thawed baguettes, rolls, and other breads, unwrap and heat them in the microwave for a few seconds.

BROWN SUGAR. It can get as hard as a rock because of moisture loss during storage. Storing it in an airtight container will help keep moisture in. If you’ve already got hardened sugar, heat it in a 250° F oven until it’s soft and use it right away or it will turn rock-solid again, fast.

BUTTER. All fats are fragile and can go rancid. To preserve freshness, wrap and freeze what you don’t use; unsalted butter will last about four to five months, salted butter, about six to nine. I keep my butter in the freezer it remains fresh for a long time and still taste the same.

CHEESE. When it comes to storing cheese, ShopSmart found conflicting advice. Fancy cheese shops advise storing it in a porous wrap like wax paper so the cheese can breathe. The dairy and packaging pros said to take a tip from how supermarket cheeses are packaged and keep cheese as airtight as possible, which will prevent mold. ShopSmart’s advice: Wrap it first in wax paper, then wrap it tightly in plastic.

COOKING OIL. Buy oil in opaque or dark containers if possible and store it in a cool, dark place to protect it from damaging light. Buy only what you can use within three to six months—or one month for very fragile walnut and other nut oils. Like all fats, oil can go rancid, giving recipes an off flavor. If you’re not using it fast enough, keep the oil in the fridge. Since oil congeals when it gets cold, bring it to room temperature before using. If you are not using too much oil, buy oil in small bottles or containers. I remember in childhood, my mom used to make frequent trips to the groceries but she buys only in portions and I seldom see her throw things.

CRACKERS. Crackers and chips can get soggy fast if they’re not sufficiently protected in a humid environment. So be sure to wrap the package in an airtight container or use a plastic clip or Quick Seals. I store them in refrigerators with a plastic clip, it keeps the contents fresher than storing in dry places.

WHOLE-WHEAT FLOUR. Unlike white flour, whole-wheat flour (also wheat germ, brown rice, and other whole-grain foods) contains higher levels of fat that gives it a brief one- to three-month shelf life. If you use whole grain ingredients only occasionally, they’ll keep about six months in the fridge and 12 months in the freezer.

GROUND MEAT. It’ll keep one to two days in the fridge. After that, put it in the freezer. For the best flavor and texture, use frozen ground meat within three months. If you buy a lot of ground meat, but only use portions, divide the meats at the beginning and plastic wrap the portions. Just open what you need for your cooking.

ICE CREAM. To prevent ice crystals from forming, keep the surface of ice cream level and cover it with plastic wrap before putting the lid back on.

NUTS AND SEEDS. To protect them from going rancid, store them in the fridge; they’ll last up to six months. In the freezer they’ll last up to 12 months. Keep them in airtight, snack- or recipe-size portions so you can thaw only what you want to use. Toasting refrigerated or thawed nuts in a skillet or the oven for a few minutes will bring out the flavor.

POWDERED SUGAR. Because it can absorb odors from spices, and any strong flavored foods around it, keep it in an airtight container. I keep it in the fridge stays fresh longer.

SPICES. Ground spices typically have a two-to-three-year shelf life, but light, heat, and moisture can cause them to lose their oomph much faster. Keep them airtight in a dark place, away from sunlight, the heat of the stove, and heat generating lighting—and not near the sink. Properly stored, whole spices will last longer than ground. They usually have an expiration date, check them frequently, and if they expire don’t try to be too stingy, bad spices will hurt your stomach.

TEA. If stored next to spices and other strong-flavored foods, tea can absorb these flavors, which can affect its taste. So store tea in air-tight containers, away from smelly foods.

Please share your tips if you have any.

Report: 'Every one of you is an alien'

Murchison Meteorite. Photo: Meteorites.com.au

British scientists claim that life on our planet originated elsewhere not on Earth. They confirm an important part of genetic material found in meteorite is of extraterrestrial origin.

Zita Martins, a research associate at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering of the Imperial College has come forward with this theory. According to Martins, the parts of raw material necessary to create the first molecules of DNA and RNA may be of extraterrestrial origin.

The earth is at least 4.5 billion years old and scientists believe there were primitive simple creatures formed soon after. But no one is certain when exactly the first life was exactly formed.

But Martin and her colleagues believe the first life was made possible with the help of meteorites. They discovered uracil and xanthine, precursors to the molecules that make up DNA and RNA in the meteorites. The researchers found the nucleobases (uracil and xanthine) in rock fragments of the Murchison meteorite, which crashed in Australia in 1969.

Martins explained in her research paper published in the current issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters:

“early life may have adopted nucleobases from meteoritic fragments for use in genetic coding which enabled them to pass on their successful features to subsequent generations."

Martins and her team successfully proved that the nucleobases came with the meteorite and are present in the meteorite not because of contamination.


Micro Fossil in Murchison Meteorite. Photo: Panspermia.org

Martins claims there were plentiful meteor showers during the early years of Earth between 3.8 and 4.5 billion years ago. She said large number of rocks similar to the Murchison meteorite rained down on Earth as primitive life was slowly forming. She added the heavy bombardment of meteorites could have dropped large amount of genetic material on the Earth’s surface and also on other planets like Mars.

Mark Sephton, Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering praised this research and said in a press statement:

"Because meteorites represent left over materials from the formation of the solar system, the key components for life - including nucleobases - could be widespread in the cosmos…As more and more of life's raw materials are discovered in objects from space, the possibility of life springing forth wherever the right chemistry is present becomes more likely."

If the report is true and before the aliens do further damage to the Earth, will they go back where they come from? Or the Earth is like the concept “Finders Keepers”?

With Goal in Mind

"A composed mind takes you miles towards your goal,

An agitated mind takes you miles away from your goal."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Venture With Care

"Never put your foot where you cannot see the ground."

- Charles Dickens in Bleak House.

Google Adds PDF Support in Google Docs

Google Docs adds support for PDF files besides its Documents (Word), Presentations (PowerPoint) and Spread Sheets (Excel) applications. Users can now view and share PDFs with others online.

Earlier this week there was rumors about the PDF support and it came true today. Now users can upload PDF documents to their Google Docs account. Previously the PDF support online were only available in Scribd, Docstoc and Acrobat.com.

Google Docs is free for Google and non-Google accounts. You can use your own e-mail address to view the documents it is not compulsory to have a Google account.

With this new PDF support, you can upload, preview and share PDF’s. It retains the PDF format online. Google Docs has not added editing feature, but hopefully they may add it in the future besides a PDF creation tool online like Acrobat.com .

When you share the PDF documents, others can either see the document online or download it to their computers. Currently the “share” link in Google Docs doesn’t work, but it should be available later on and you can enter the e-mail addresses you want to share it with.

To access the PDF feature in Google Docs, follow these steps:

1. Log on to Google Docs (with either Google or Non-Google accounts)
2. Click “Upload” and click “Browse” to get the PDF file from your computer.
3. The PDF document is updated, you can view it or share it with others.

With Gmail you can see any documents, presentations and spreadsheets online with Google Docs, and soon they will add the PDF support to view through Google Docs also.


A Sample PDF Document in Google Docs.

PDF support in Google Docs is a great tool to use online. Hopefully they will add more features such as editing or creating PDFs online and embedding the PDF documents like Scribd.com (Google Docs embeds Presentations but not the PDF). Google Docs however allows you to copy the contents in the PDF and paste it elsewhere for editing purposes.

This PDF was another user request feature and Google provides it for their customers.

Don't Use, Utilize

"If you use someone, you use yourself,
If you utilize someone, you utilize them and yourself."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Britain’s rarest spider 'Ladybird Spider' eats its mother

Ladybird Spider eats its mother spider. Photo: Mzephotos.com

In the early nineties, the rare ladybird spider was nearly wiped out because of loss of habitat, but now they are coming back in full force. They are known however to eat its own mother.

Forestry Commission wildlife experts were worried in the early nineties about the ladybird spiders becoming extinct, but luckily the spiders are rebounding and thriving after a conservation program was set in place for them.

In 1993, there were only 50 ladybird spiders in Britain. Then the Forestry Commission went into action cleared the rhodendron and pines in order to give more breeding room from one of the main sites where 30 ladybird spiders were seen. The population of ladybird spiders then began to rise in numbers.

Forester Laurence Degoul told AFP:

"Now we are looking for completely new habitats into which spiders from the site can be relocated. Thanks to our extensive heath land restoration work in the county there are a lot of places to choose from. But it is crucial that we pick a spot where the conditions are absolutely perfect."

Degoul said initially they had planned to import spiders from Denmark and populate it countrywide, but once they saw the local population thriving, the wildlife experts decided to stick with them and spread them instead.

The creatures get their curious name from the four ladybird-like black spots the half-inch-long males have on their bright red backs. The spiders' webs form a funnel, which provides a home at one end and a deadly trap for prey at the other where the silken threads spread out.

The ladybird spiders have a unique lifestyle. When the male is mature, it leaves the burrow in search of a female. After mating takes place, the male dies and the female produces an egg sac and moves it to the top of her burrow during the day and brings it to the bottom at night. This is done to regulate the temperature of the eggs.

Both the father and mother sacrifice to protect the young ones, and what do the young ones do in return? The spiderlings hatch and stay in the burrow with their mother until she dies. The spiderlings then feed on their dead mother before they leave the burrow to build on their own.

To know more facts about these protected ladybird spiders, click here.

iGoogle: Great Startup Page for Mobiles

Google has made the mobile search faster than ever with their new cache procedure.

When you navigate to google.com in your browser, we cache the homepage on your phone. If you bookmark this homepage, then returning to Google using the bookmark is almost instantaneous. Whether you come to Google by browser or through our new search plug-in, starting your search is now quicker and simpler than ever before.

Google also added an iGoogle link to its mobile homepage. Instead of having a generic page, with iGoogle.com you can have a number of information all at one page as shown in the pic below:

Search Page and iGoogle in Mobile. Photo TechCrunch.com.

The iGoogle you see in mobiles will not be the same as the one you see in desktop view but nevertheless you can have many sections in mobile view.

You can adjust the gadgets (or items) in the startup page in desktop, where they have a mobile section also and make your adjustments there. You can drag and drop and customize the various gadgets.

TechCrunch talked about this feature:

This should make iGoogle a much more viable mobile start page. And, arguably, you need a start page with shortcuts to your favorite content on your mobile browser more than you do on your desktop. It’s just faster that way.

The World is My Body

My friend Cassie sent me this, it is a neat one everyone should follow. Without nature, we are nothing. I am not sure from which book this is quoted but it could be Deepak Chopra's Perfect Health.

The world is my body.

The mountains are my bones;

the forests are my skin;

the rivers are my blood;

the air is my breath;

the sun is my sight.

In my love for the earth,

I balance all life.

This affirmation is about the unseen role of a being. In its detachment the soul performs no actions. Yet it has entered everything. The physical matter of the cosmos has been expressing spirit at every instant since the Big Bang. Behind random motion of swirling superheated gases, a hidden purpose was playing itself out. Being was upholding life. In the swirling gases was enclosed the creation of DNA, of all plants and animals, of the entire complex design we call evolution. As the choreographer, being didn't step onstage. It guided the dance from without. Once you see yourself as this same being, you have the joy of guiding the dance from within. In the expansion of your own awareness, you radiate the same life-enhancing influence as spirit itself.

-Deepak Chopra


Update: This poem is from his "Deeper Wound" book.

Stay Grounded

Burj Dubai.


"Pride is like a tall building,
You may build it as high as you like,
But, when it falls, it crashes with a big thud."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Google Offers You to Get Rid of Flash Animation with 'Skip Intro' Feature

Google introduced another great feature by unveiling a “Skip Intro” button next to the search results. This will prevent us from visiting the dreaded Flash or 3D animation introduction page found on some websites.

Many of us wouldn’t mind seeing animation on websites but when we are in a rush and trying to find the results quickly, we don’t want the animation to last forever. Although many Flash-based animation programs have the skip button, in some cases it is hard to find it. Google wants to help us avoid this introduction page with the “Skip Intro” feature.

For example, when we search for a specific item in Google, it gives us the main page of the company. But when we click the main link there will be this dreaded 3D animation video on some sites. Google, besides giving the main links and OneBox results (with related links under the main link), now provides us with another button “Skip Intro”. When we click this “Skip Intro” button, Google will skip that page and take it to the next one.

Here is one example: if you search for Yuasa France in Google, you will get an animation as the main page. To skip this and to go directly to the next page, click the “Skip Intro” link (shown in the picture next to the search results), and you will be led to http://www.yuasa.fr/index.htm.

BMW Builds GINA a Shape-Shifting Concept Car

BMW has designed a concept car that changes shapes with cloths covering a movable metal frame structure. The cloth structure used is flexible, durable and water resistant.

The car nicknamed “GINA”, an acronym for Geometry and functions In 'N' Adaptions was unveiled today by the BMW. The BMW research group built this car more than six years ago but revealed it only today.



Instead of a rigid metal structure, the researchers at the BMW wanted a car that will change its shapes according to the will of the driver. They achieved it with a body of seamless fabric covering a movable metal frame. With the switch controls, the driver can change the shape of the car as shown in the video.



Chris Bangle, head of design for BMW told Motor Trend that GINA allowed his team to "challenge existing principles and conventional processes."

Though GINA looks radical unfortunately it won’t be available for the public, it will be moved to the BMW Museum in Munich. The main purpose for BMW in showcasing this GINA is to spur creativity and research into new directions.



GINA is built on a Z8 chassis and has a 4.4 liter V8 and six-speed automatic transmission. The clothing used is polyurethane coated Lycra, which is resilient, durable and water resistant.

The fabric covers the entire aluminum frame and by means of electric and hydraulic actuators positioned in the vehicle, the driver can change the body shape. BMW says the body can be changed without stretching or damaging the fabric.

GINA has just four panels - the front hood, two sides and the rear deck. The doors open in jack-knife fashion and are completely smooth when closed; access to the engine is through a slit in the hood.

Regarding safety of the car, BMW says GINA is built on a space frame and meets the safety standards of conventional cars.

You can see more pictures and videos at the BMW channel here.

The 3G iPhone: Strengths and Weaknesses

Walt Mossberg of Wall Street Journal gives the strengths and weaknesses of the new iPhone 3G unveiled yesterday by Steve Jobs in WWDC 2008 conference.

The new iPhone 3G still not available to the public, but some were given access to it like Walt Mossberg of Wall Street Journal. He said he will give a detailed review very soon but gave the following first impressions about the new iPhone 3G.





Plusses:

1.) Speed: The previous iPhone version had a slower network (Edge), whereas the new phone has a faster 3G network with speeds nearly 4 times faster than the previous one. Instead of using the Wi-Fi network to get faster access, users can now use the 3G network to surf the web.

2.) Price: When the original iPhones were introduced last year in June, the price was $599 and then it dropped to $399 for an 8GB model. Now the prices for the new iPhones will be $199 for an 8GB version and $299 for a 16GB version.

3.) Third party applications: Users will now have a wide variety of applications custom built for iPhones instead of just the standard applications. This will make iPhones more advanced than other smartphones available in the market such as the Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Palm phones.

Besides the above ones, the new iPhones have a better battery life, comes in two colors (black and white) for 16GB version and black color only in 8GB version, with MobileMe service will make synching data a piece of cake and more.



The Minuses:

1.) Restricted to one carrier: Apple will again release the new iPhones through AT&T only in the U.S. This will make it frustrating for users having preference for other carriers. Also, AT&T doesn’t have full national coverage, if you buy the new iPhone and don’t have the coverage, you will be caught in a dead end. Also, many don’t like to have AT&T as their communication provider. I hope Steve Jobs changes his mind in the future and make it available for every carrier.

2.) Still missing some features: There is no “cut and paste” option or to save edited “files”. There is no MMS capability to send media files over the phone, is possible only through e-mails. Also, no instant messaging programs available, but likely third party programs may become available in the future.

3.) Wimpy Camera: Walt Mossberg says the camera is not properly integrated with the computer photo software, he says it could be better. The new phone has a 5 Megapixel camera. Also, the camera could have been placed in the front to make the video communication possible in the future.

But overall I think the new iPhone is a good one for beginners and the price is a bargain. Other Smartphone companies have a lot of work to do if they want their products to be considered the best. If they are just happy with second and third place, they will make a profit but won’t see big sales.

Stewart and Colbert shows added to Hulu

Stephen Colbert's "The Colbert Report".

Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show".

Hulu is slowly becoming a central network for TV Shows online and it adds two popular Comedy Central shows to its already large collection.

Video site Hulu is trying to become a premier online site like YouTube, it may not reach Youtube status but it certainly won’t lag far behind. Hulu is backed by premiere TV broadcasting companies such as NBC and News Corp, so it is able to get all the big TV shows from them. The other broadcasting companies have not joined yet but they are releasing videos like Viacom, which released the Comedy Central shows to Hulu.

Hulu announced that it added Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report”. I checked Hulu and found “The Daily Show” has more than 15 full episodes from this season along with popular clips. Same thing with “The Colbert Report”. And hopefully Hulu will add more in the future.

These two shows are already available in their parent site ComedyCentral.com, but don’t have embeddable videos, ratings and comments features like Hulu.com. The shows are available in Joost.com but with Hulu, it will get a broad exposure.

Hulu also plans to add popular shows from PBS such as Nova, Carrier, Scientific American Frontiers, Wired Science and more.

Altogether Hulu offers nearly 70 TV shows most of them with full episodes with ads. The revenue will be shared equally between the producers of the show and Hulu.

Rewards Are Closer To Good Than Evil

Chinstrap Penguin, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica, 2006. Photograph by Paul Nicklen


"When your good deeds are far away from you,
Your rewards are also far away from you."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Apple's MobileMe: Your data goes wherever you go

Apple's New MobileMe Service. Photo Apple.com/Mobileme

Apple announced their new MobileMe service along with the new iPhone 3G release. Users can sync their mail, contacts, calendar data wherever they go and it will update automatically in their computers and iPhone.

Apple’s new MobileMe service is offered via Me.com for $99/year and 20GB online storage. Users can see their latest e-mails, contacts and calendar data all in the cloud and will be synced back to their new iPhone via wireless.

It will work with Mac’s Mail application, iCal, iDisk, Gallery and Address book in Mac OS and will sync the Outlook data in XP and Vista OS. It will also work with the new applications built in the new iPhone.

MobileMe is Ajax based, so you can access them from any of the web browser and Engadget says it will have a desktop like feel in the browser. You can also sync your photos seamlessly between the devices connected to MobileMe service.

MobileMe replaces the .Mac service. No need to sync them separately, MobileMe will sync all the connected devices and will stay synced and up to date.

Apple's MobileMe Cloud Service

Apple.com/mobileme (Creative Commons - Attribution)

MobileMe stores all your email, contacts, and calendars on a secure online server — or “cloud” — and pushes them down to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. When you make a change on one device, the cloud updates the others. Push happens automatically, instantly, and continuously. You don’t have to wait for it or remember to do anything — such as docking your iPhone and syncing manually — to stay up to date.

When the user checks their account at Me.com, they can find all the data there and store & share data easily. There will be no ads in the new MobileMe service.

Stolen camera "phones home" to nab thieves

Stolen computers sends back home images of thieves and now digital camera does the same sends pictures of thieves back to home by phoning the owners.

Alison DeLauzon lost her digital camera which contained precious photos and videos of her infant son. She thought she lost it forever but then she received photos from the camera through the memory card with wireless capabilities. The photos contained her son and the thieves, who took the camera and the bag after she left it at the restaurant.

This was made possible by means of “Eye-Fi” wireless card that was reported early January here.

DeLauzon told Reuters:

"I opened up the Eye-Fi manager on the computer and, lo and behold, there are the guys that stole our cameras…Not only is it the guy who stole our camera ... but the guy took a picture of (his accomplice) holding our other camera."

One of her relatives gave her a holiday gift, an Eye-Fi, 2GB Secure Digital memory card for her Canon Camera. The Eye-Fi costs $100 but unlike other memory card technologies has the capacity to send captured photos to the computer by means of built-in Wi-Fi option. It can also send photos directly to websites like Flickr and other photo websites.

The culprits luckily were not aware about this Eye-Fi technology. When they passed through an unsecured network, the Eye-Fi card automatically sent the photos to DeLauzon’s home computer.

Similar technologies are being used by other devices. Recently, a built-in camera in a stolen Mac computer sent the photos of the culprits back to the owner, who then reported it to the police.

Also, a Japanese man set up a hidden camera inside his home to catch the thief after food was disappearing from his fridge. A woman was hiding in his closet and she has been living there for almost a year.

GadgetTrak, of Beaverton, Oregon, sells a software that can be loaded onto any of those devices. If a BlackBerry, for example, falls into the wrong hands, the software grabs information from the new user's SIM data card and e-mails it to the rightful owner.

There is also a stolen laptop tracking program that provides the whereabouts of the computer in Google Maps.

With an Apple Mac computer, the software instructs the built-in camera to take video of the thief and sends to the owner, along information about nearby wireless networks.

DeLauzon didn’t press charges against the employees who stole her camera, she was just happy to receive back the photos of her baby. But the restaurant fired them both.

"When we finally got it back, my husband and I spent the night just sitting and watching the videos -- stupid videos, like him feeding himself for the first time or him pulling himself up in his crib for the first time. We sat down one night and just relished it."

My Journey

My Journey:

"The bird says,
Nest is my destination
For my journey of flight,

The scientist says,
Knowledge is my haven
For my journey of learning,

The flower says,
A woman's heart is my home
For my journey of bloom,

The Earth says,
Sun is my center
For my journey of orbit,

The seafarer says,
Land is my end
For my journey of voyage,

I say,
Love, you are my road
For my journey of life."

- Chris Veerabadran in MilGracias (A Thousand Thanks)

Washing Machine Uses a Cup of Water And Requires No Dryer

British scientists have developed a washing machine technology that uses as little as a cup of water for each washing cycle and requires no dryer.

This technology was originally developed by the University of Leeds and is licensed by the Xeros Ltd., which will commercially produce these new washing machines.

According to Xeros, the new machines use less than 2 percent of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine. A normal washing machine uses water nearly 35 times the weight of clothes used for washing and uses more energy to heat the water and drying the clothes. So, the new machines will save considerable water and energy costs.

The machines use plastic chips to remove dirt and stain from clothes and leaves them dry saving energy consumption for drying process.

Another unique benefit of these new machines, the price is expected to be the same as the original washing machines, so others can switch to these machines easily once the claims are verified.
Recently Xeros received additional funding from IP Group Plc to kick start the manufacturing process.

Washing machine usage has risen by 23 percent in the past 15 years. The average UK household uses almost 21 liters of water daily on clothes washing, 13 percent of daily household water consumption, according to Waterwise, a non-government organization focused on decreasing water wastage in Britain.

There are more than two million washing machines sold in Britain annually, with a value of about 1 billion pounds, Xeros said.

The advantages of Xeros washing machines are as follows:

• Less water usage;
• Less energy consumption;
• Less chemical use;
• Less drying time;
• Less processing times and costs
• Same prices as the original washing machines

Enjoy Euro 2008 with Google Tools and Gadgets

Special Google Logo for Euro 2008.

Google is providing special coverage for the ongoing Euro 2008, the European Football Championship. You can follow your team with simple search and gadget tools.

Do you want to know the latest scores in Euro 2008? Then just do a simple search for “Euro 2008” in Google, you will see the latest scores and schedules for the day. Google provides these results in the form of “OneBox” so you can get most of the important data on the search results itself.

A search on “Euro 2008 Portugal” gives the following OneBox result.

Euro 2008 results for Portugal. Googlesystem.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

But if you want more details such as the players in the team, standings, schedule and the latest tournament news then you should try the iGoogle Gadget.

iGoogle Gadget for Euro 2008. Photo: Googlesystem.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

To use this iGoogle gadget, you need to have a personal page in Google, which is free and you can get it here with your Google account.

To see a list of stadiums, teams, bars, and photos, Google has created a special page called 23 days. You can access the map here. It is very useful for tourists.

Enjoy Euro 2008.

Apple yields to subsidies for iPhones

Possible New iPhone 3G Model. Photo CrunchGear.com.

Apple always demands a premium for its product but in case of iPhones it will yield to subsidy requests from the phone companies.

Apple seldom gives discounts when it launches new products and doesn’t offer any rebates or drop in the value unless it wants to clear its inventories. The previous iPhone remained $399, but now the companies are demanding Apple to give them subsidies so they can lure more customers. And Apple seems to have relented and will confirm it coming Monday.

Mobile companies offers phones at low initial prices and make up the difference with monthly data plans, they want to do the same for the new iPhone 3G, which will be launched this month in more than 50 countries.

The phone companies in partnership with Apple will most likely sell the iPhone at $200 in the US and in European countries.

Apple so far has reported that it sold 1.7 million iPhones and with this low price it can reach the goal of selling 10 million iPhones by 2008.

Apple also has agreed to forego a portion of the monthly revenue from the data plans to boost the sales and meet the initial costs for the phone companies. According to inside sources of Financial Times, Apple has agreed this arrangement with the following partners: AT&T, O2 (in UK), France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.

If Apple sells the new iPhones for $200, I am sure it will be a bigger success for Apple this time compared to last year’s iPhone introduction.

Next Generation LED Lamp has 16 Million Colors

Philips' Living Colors LED Lamp. Photo: Philips.

The new L.E.D (Light Emitting Diode) lamp from Philips has 16 million colors options. It will soon replace Edison’s Incandescent lamp.

Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulbs have ruled the households for 100 years and it is time for a change. The new L.E.D.’s are more energy efficient and safe to use with no mercury content.

L.E.D.’s are not widely used like the Compact Fluorescent Lamps (which is slowly supplanting the incandescent lamps) because of its high cost. An L.E.D. replacement bulb for an incandescent bulb or a CFL bulb will cost about $90, but prices are expected to climb down with improvements in technology and mass production.

CFL will also be replaced soon once L.E.D.’s are mass produced. CFL are energy efficient compared with the incandescent bulb, but are limited in color and dimming options. It also has mercury content so it needs careful handling.

L.E.D.’s on the other hand are slimmer, energy efficient, more colors and dimming options and last longer than CFL bulbs. One such L.E.D. lamp was introduced by Philips, the Dutch electronics company, called the “Living Colors”. The $199 “Living Colors” lamp is extremely popular in Europe and will soon be released in the U.S. later this year.

“Living Colors” is an electronic lava lamp and uses four L.E.D.’s to project colors against a wall. The user can change the setting and create 16 million colors with it. The lamp can be operated with a remote control or with an iPod-like color wheel. We can also adjust the brightness of the colors by pushing the buttons.

The price might be a hindrance initially, but the energy savings and color options will make it an attractive one. In the U.S., Philips will offer a low cost version lamp with a $79 price tag but will have fewer color options with no remote control.

Eric A. Taub of New York Times wrote in his blog about this “Living Colors” lamp:

I’ve been playing with one for several weeks, and after some initial resistance to its corniness, I’ve taken a liking to it. Every night, I set the color of one wall of our bedroom to a different hue, hopefully matching our moods. It’s a nice change from standard yellow light and gives some added dimension to the space. Philips points out that you can set up a chain of Living Color units around a room and control them all with a single remote.

There are many companies working on this L.E.D. technology, so very soon we will see many L.E.D. varieties with lower prices.

Phoenix Lander digs up Martian dirt and delivers to its laboratory

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander digs and scoops up the first dirt from the Martian soil and delivers the soil to its instruments for analysis.

Phoenix Lander scooped up the soil on the mission’s 11th Martian day or sol and will analyze the sample in the laboratory on the lander deck.

The sample contains brown dirt with white matter, which the NASA scientists speculate could be salt left by evaporated water or ice.


Soil is being delivered to TEGA. Nasa.gov (Creative Commons - Attribution)
This image was taken by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 11 (June 5, 2008), the eleventh day after landing. It shows the Robotic Arm scoop containing a soil sample poised over the partially open door of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer's number four cell, or oven.

Martian Soil Delivery to Analytical Instrument

Nasa.gov (Creative Commons - Attribution)

The Robotic Arm of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander released a sample of Martian soil onto a screened opening of the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) during the 12th Martian day, or sol, since landing (June 6, 2008).


The sample soil was deposited into the craft’s Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) and its contents will be analyzed next week.

Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith told AFP:

"This is a really important occasion for us…We are very curious whether the ice we think is just under the surface has melted and modified the soil."

The analysis will try to find the water content in the soil and type of minerals in the dirt.

The Famous Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man' Story

Documentary about the legendary tank man and surrounding events of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Google adds thirteen new Gmail features

Gmail added 13 new features today with more on the way. You can access these new features in your Gmail setting page under the “Labs” section.

Google gets tons of suggestions for new features every day and they do their best they can to add it to Gmail. Most of the features we see in Gmail now are user suggestions (delete button, vacation responder, and IMAP and others) and implemented by Gmail engineers. Now with Gmail Labs, Google wants to add more features and based on their popularity with the users, the future Gmail will have them as standard features.

The 13 new features may not look impressive at first but it is a great start and some of the features take e-mail browsing in the web to a different level.

The new features are:

• Quick Links – You can save all the search queries made in Gmail and refer them in future via Quick links.
• Superstars - Additional star icons that you can use.
• Pictures in chat - You can see your friends’ profile pictures when you are chatting with them. With Gmail, chat feature is embedded so you can chat with Google and AIM friends.
• Fixed width font - View messages with a fixed width font.
• Custom keyboard shortcuts - Customize Gmail shortcuts so they are easier to remember for you.
• Mouse gestures - Handy app that adds mouse gestures to Gmail. (this one is probably the best of the whole list)
• Signature tweaks - Moves the signature to before the quoted text.
• Random signature - Generates a random signature quote for each mail sent to your contacts, instead of standard signature.
• Custom date formats - Probably also one of the more useful labs extensions.
• Muzzle - Hides your friends’ status message in the chat box.
• Old Snakey - Play the classic “snake” game in Gmail.
• Email Addict - Forces you to take a 15 minute break from Gmail.
• Hide Unread Counts - Removes the number of unread messages for “inbox”, “labels” etc.

Among these features I like Superstars, Fixed width font, Random signature (from brainyquotes.com) and custom date formats. There is a feedback link in every feature, you can send in your thoughts about it. The more customers like it and use, these new features will automatically be included in the new version.

To enable any or all of the features do the following:

Go to your Gmail account --> Click “Settings” or Click “Labs” icon (appears as a test tube) --> Click “Labs” --> You will see a list of features, choose “enable” or “disable” option --> Click “Save”.

But since these features are in a testing phase, there might be an occasional crash or crashes. To access the previous version, just visit http://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=0 and Labs will be temporarily disabled.

Get Public Transit Directions in Mobile Phones with Google Maps

Google Maps for Mobile has added a new feature in which customers can get public transit directions directly on their mobile in maps.

Google Maps for Mobile is a handy tool to find directions and also to show others the actual map view instead of just giving them verbal directions. It gives a full satellite view and directions in text also. Now Google Maps has added another feature, which provides transit directions in about 10 countries besides the US.

You can see the complete list of cities and countries that offers this new feature here. Google Map for Mobile will be available in Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, France, UK and Australia.

To access this feature, you should either have a Blackberry phone or Java enabled phone and visit the website:

Click the “transit” tap and enter the "to" and "from" address, Google will provide the transit directions.

Google Mobile blog says about this new feature: "This version of Google Maps for mobile even has a few tricks not yet available on the desktop version of Google Maps. For instance, you can find the last transit trips of the day (to figure out how late you can stay at the party) and more easily browse through earlier or later trips,"

You can download the latest version of the mobile Google Maps for Blackberry and Java-enabled phones by visiting www.google.com/gmm on your mobile phone.

Zappos Pays $1,000 for New Employees to Quit

A company trains its employees rigorously and before the training is complete, it offers the new employees a cash payment of $1,000 if they are willing to quit including their salary paid.

When we hear the first time that a company wants to pay you to quit, we wonder logically “is the company insane”. But Zappos, a successful shoe company is doing this for a long time and are highly successful.

Bill Taylor from Harvard Business Publishing interviewed Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh and his colleagues and found out the reason why Zappos offers this cash incentive called “The Offer” to its new employees.

Zappos is an online store that sells shoes primarily but also sells other items such as electronics, handbags, apparel and more. They generate sales more than $1 billion last year up from $70 million about five years ago.

The main reason for their success is they offer a wide variety of shoes and have an excellent customer service even better than Amazon.com. It carries nearly four million pairs of shoes in a Kentucky warehouse and ships shoes nationwide. It also has an online store in Canada. It offers free shipping and free returns if customers are not satisfied with the item (the costs include free return shipping).

Bill Taylor points out that Zappos does an incredible shipping job, Zappos promises four day delivery but in many cases customers get the items within a few days or in some case the next day. Unlike other internet companies which hides its customer service phone number, Zappos prominently displays its number all across the site. And it has great customer support to back that service.

In order to make their employees do a great customer service job, all the new employees are trained for a four week period and trains them how to respond to customers, to reflect the company’s strategy and culture. All the new employees are paid in full despite not doing any real work during this training period.

After a week or two training is over, Zappos then provides “The Offer” and tells the new trainees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.”

So, one would think many employees will accept it and take the money and run, but surprisingly only a few take “The Offer” because they know that remaining in the company will give them more benefits than a mere “$1,000”.

Zappos uses this method to see whether they have a committed employee in the long run. According to Taylor, Zappos wants to learn if there’s a bad fit between them and the employee and is willing to pay for this cost in advance than having them for a year or two and only to lose more money later.

Explore Walt Disney World Resort in Google Earth 3D

Walt Disney World in Google Earth. Photo Blogoscoped.com.

Google Earth adds a new layer to its application, now users can explore Walt Disney World Resort in 3D. You can see theme parks and resorts in 3D images and navigate around in Disney World.

Before you and your family decide to go to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, you can now check the resort in 3D in Google Earth. It will feature 3D models of four Orlando theme parks and more than 20 of Disney’s Resort hotels. In total it has more than 1,500 3D models of parks, hotels and other structures that represents Walt Disney World.

To search for the Walt Disney world, first download Google Earth here and type “Disney World” in search area, you will see the link, “Walt Disney World Resort in 3D”. Double click this link, and then you can explore it by zooming in or out and navigating the resort area.

Google blog claims Walt Disney World Resort in 3D is the most detailed 3D rendering undertaken on Google Earth to date.

From the summit of Space Mountain® to the watery confines of the Pirates of the Caribbean®, we invite you to explore the Walt Disney World Resort in Google Earth. It’s the next best thing to being there.

This will be the future trend in Google Earth and other similar applications, you can check out the visiting area in 3D and then find the important areas to visit and plan your trip accordingly.

Apple's new iPhone ready for world domination?

Next Monday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will unveil the new iPhone at the Worldwide Developers’ Conference in San Francisco. Apple will then release the new iPhone in 50 countries.

The iPhones are no longer available in the US and UK because of this new iPhone that will be unveiled next week. The first iPhones were a phenomenal success for Apple and experts think the new one will be even bigger and will surpass even Apple’s target to sell at least 10 million iPhones by 2008.

The new iPhone will overcome some of the limitations of the first iPhone and is rumored to have 3G, GPS, video conferencing, more memory, Live TV, faster processor, colors, a slimmer version, better camera (2 Megapixels or more) and improved batteries.

The first version was launched only in the US and in five other European countries, but this new version will be released in at least 50 new countries.

And recently, Apple added Japan to this list by partnering with Japan’s Softbank Mobile, third largest mobile operator. Also, Australia will have this iPhone later this month and distributed via Optus and Vodafone networks. Hong Kong and Macau will get the new iPhone through its Hutchison Telecommunications’ 3 mobile.

After Jobs unveils the new iPhone, it will likely be sold by end of this month. It released the first iPhone in June 29, 2007, so Apple may release the new iPhone on the same date this year according to Sydney Morning Herald. Jobs will also announce the introduction of third party applications, which will make it more appealing for the business users, who use Blackberry at the moment.

With all these figures, Apple will likely reach the 10 million iPhones figure. Another reason it may reach the target easily is the price, Apple will release a low end iPhone also with a price tag of $200, which will make it affordable for many.

YouTube adds annotations and links within the video

YouTube has added a novel feature called “annotations”, where we can use them to add background information about the video, add explanations or link to related YouTube videos or channels.

You can see a sample “annotations” in the video posted here. You are given a choice to choose one of the three and it will take you to another video. Similarly you can add annotations to describe more about the video or add hyperlinks to add to the main video.

With this new feature “annotations” you can do the following:

• Add background information about the video.
• Create stories with multiple possibilities (viewers click to choose the next scene)
• Link to related YouTube videos, channels, or search results from within a video
• All of the above!

You will be able to add annotations anywhere in the video and how long the message will display.



To add annotations to your uploaded videos follow the simple procedure:

1.) Click “My Videos” link in your Youtube account.
2.) Click “Edit Annotations”
3.) Add your message, specify the duration (Youtube will mark the interval in the video) and link (only Youtube links for now) information.
4.) Then click “Publish” as shown below, your new annotated video becomes live.



This new feature will be very useful for tutorials in Youtube and they can add annotations as reference links or can add more information to the main video. I tried this new feature, it takes only a few seconds to add annotations and is simple to use.

Starbucks and AT&T Officially Offer Free Wi-Fi With Conditions

Starbucks announced free Wi-Fi offer early this year in partnership with AT&T and now they are officially available at more than 7,000 stores across the country.

Starbucks initially used to offer Wi-Fi services through T-Mobile and now it has replaced it with AT&T. And now customers can enjoy two free hours of Wi-Fi connections in any of the 7,000 stores. They introduced this promotion so as to boost sales in Starbucks.

Though it says free, customers have to buy a Starbucks Card with a minimum of $5 stored in the account and register it at their online site. The customers can then enjoy two hours of uninterrupted internet access. Those who register for the first time will get a free cup of coffee drink.

But there are too many conditions that might drive potential customers away. These are the terms customers should follow:

1.) Customers can only use 2 hours in a day
2.) Customers can only use it once without any interruption, they cannot use some of it early in the day and some of it later.
3.) To maintain eligibility customers should use it at least once a month.
4.) Customers buy a $5 minimum Starbucks Card.
5.) Register online at Starbucks Rewards Program with e-mail and mailing addresses.

But Starbucks hopes customers will agree with the above offer. Starbuck’s vice president of customer relations told Mashable.com that more than $1 billion was loaded into pre-paid cards in 2007 and nearly 14% of all sales at Starbucks is made via Starbucks Card.

If you do not like the conditions set by Starbucks and AT&T, then you should try other coffee locations, which you can find in the web. You can try Jwire.com which provides a list of free Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide. McDonald’s, Breugger’s and many more businesses offer free Wi-Fi services without any conditions.

Too many conditions in my opinion. What do you think?

Scientist: Humans can see into the future

A cognitive scientist says humans have the ability to peer into the future one-tenth of a second and predict before they occur.

We may not be able to predict like Nostradamus, but we can see a glimpse of the future according to researcher Mark Changizi, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

When the light of the object falls on the retina, it has to be processed by the brain to make sense of the light. It takes about one-tenth of a second before the brain translates the signal so we can understand it. But yet eyes are able to react much earlier than this by peering into the future.

Scientists knew about this one-tenth of a second lag, but were not sure how it was done until now.
Changizi claims our visual system has evolved to compensate for neural delays, which is critical because otherwise we will have a tough time understanding the movements around us in real time (especially when driving cars). The visual system has evolved and generates images of what will occur one-tenth of a second into the future. Thus we are able to predict when we walk through the crowd or when we catch a ball thrown up in the sky.

He has detailed his work in the May/June issue of the journal Cognitive Science.

Changizi found that this seer ability explains well the range of optical illusions we see.

"Illusions occur when our brains attempt to perceive the future, and those perceptions don't match reality,"

The visual system is able to explain the geometric illusion called “Hering illusion” better. Hering illusion looks like bike spokes around a central point, with vertical lines on either side of this central, so-called vanishing point. The illusion tricks us into thinking we are moving forward, and thus, switches on our future-seeing abilities. Since we aren't actually moving and the figure is static, we misperceive the straight lines as curved ones.

Changizi stated in his research paper:

"Evolution has seen to it that geometric drawings like this elicit in us premonitions of the near future…The converging lines toward a vanishing point (the spokes) are cues that trick our brains into thinking we are moving forward — as we would in the real world, where the door frame (a pair of vertical lines) seems to bow out as we move through it — and we try to perceive what that world will look like in the next instant."

Changizi says the visual system can explain not only “Hering illusion” but also 50 different types of illusions. Unlike other theories, his theory, which he calls it as a “grand unified theory” works for many different classes of illusions.

Though we would rather prefer to see more than one-tenth of a second of our future, we should be glad to have even this capability.

UK university offers lectures for free in iTunes

Access lessons and lectures via iTunes U. Photo Apple.com

University College London becomes the first European university to offer free lessons through iTunes. It will offer video and audio lectures from leading academics.

Currently Apple in collaboration with major U.S. universities like UC Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Stanford and others, offer free lessons via podcasts and videos in iTunes. You can access them by clicking the categories tab “iTunes U” in iTunes. It is free for the students and for the public.

Starting today, University College London will distribute lectures free through iTunes U. They will offer both audio and video materials and students can download it directly to their iPods or any music/video player. If you don’t have any music player then you can listen in at the iTunes player itself.

It will include lectures from leading academics. To begin with, they will offer lectures on neuroscience, the university’s “Lunch time lectures” and an audio news round-up.

Professor Peter Mobbs at University College London told BBC:

"Our students will be able to revisit materials presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime,"

University College London will become the first European university to make its content free in iTunes. Previously they provided free podcasts of lectures for their students, but now they make it available for everyone.

A spokesperson for University College London said that the service would appeal to "techno-literate students" and "reach new audiences around the world".

You can find a wide variety of of topics in iTunes U such as business, engineering, health and medicine, fine arts, history, humanities, science, social science, language, literature, mathematics, teaching and education and more. More than 60 universities are participating so you will find a wealth of knowledge there.

To see how iTunes U works, click the demo here.

Google Finance gets real-time Nasdaq stock quotes

Google, CNBC and Wall Street Journal used to post NASDAQ stock prices with 15 minute delay from the real-time quotes. Now they will show real-time NASDAQ quotes.

When you visit finance sites like Google Finance, CNBC, WSJ, Yahoo Finance and others, the stock prices you see are not the real-time NASDAQ quotes, they are delayed by at least 15 minutes. From today, all the sites will be able to show real-time stock quotes.

Adena Friedman, executive vice president of the NASDAQ OMX group said in a press statement:

"With universal access to the Internet and the real-time nature of the Web, investors need real-time data, and now they don't have to pay for it,"

I saw the new feature at Google Finance, they now show real-time data in their main page. Prices updates automatically, you can see the change in prices and the percentages almost once per second according to Google Finance’s product manager Katie Jacobs Stanton.

Google, however doesn’t show real-time data for New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) but may offer it in the future.

Before real-time market data were available only to brokerage firms and the customers had to pay fees to access those quotes. Now Google is making it free for everyone.

Marissa Mayer, Google’s Vice President of Search Products and User Experience said in a press release:

Providing real-time market data on Google Finance is an important step forward in delivering useful information to our users that will help them make more informed and timely financial decisions,"

It is a smart move by Nasdaq, I hope NYSE does the same in the near future.

Adobe Launches Online Office Suite

The new Acrobat.com will enable users to stash their work, edit documents, and collaborate with each other (Credit: Adobe Systems)

Adobe launches an online office platform where users can edit documents, have an online meeting, store files and share it with others in a flash based platform.

Adobe launched Buzzword some months ago in beta stage, where users can edit documents but now it is opening it for everyone. They are now available at Acrobat.com beta and it will include the following:

1.) Buzzword: word processor
2.) ConnectNow: web conferencing (limit three participants, audio and video camera option available). It is useful business tool to have to share it with clients and employees.
3.) Create PDF: Create pdf documents online, just upload the document and Adobe will convert it to PDF.
4.) Share: file sharing and embed PDF and other media files anywhere.
5.) My Files: Store up to 5GB files online and access them at any place.

This is similar to Google Docs and Zoho, free for anyone.

I have used Buzzword before, it is not very user friendly and the new one looks the same. The only advantage is it is free and available online and you can access them anywhere all at one place.

Finding each of the above five different things is however not that easy. Google Docs on the other hand is easier to use and access them all at one place. Hopefully Adobe will do the same with their Acrobat.com. Adobe however has the web conferencing and file sharing (any type) features, which separates it from Google and Zoho.

Adobe's ConnectNow Online Conference Tool

Adobe's Share tool.

Adobe's file storage tool

Adobe's Create PDF Tool

Emotion is an Enigma

A sail boat in a serene ocean. Photo Mikul.

"The sea, when will it be calm or tumultuous, no one can tell for certain,
So is human nature*."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.


* We can never expect others to show same emotions, expect unpredictability. Only rocks have fixed emotions.

Phoenix Makes An Impression On Mars Soil

Phoenix leaves a hand print on Mars Soil. Photo Nasa.gov.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has stretched out its robotic arm and touched the Martian soil. Phoenix has made an impression on the planet similar to footprints left on one of Earth's sea shores.

NASA scientists are trying to find the best candidate areas to find evidence of ice on Mars. As a trial experiment, Phoenix extended its robotic arm and touched the nearby Martian soil and left a handprint.

The impression was left in a target zone dubbed “Yeti” in the “King of Hearts” area.

The images captured so far by the Phoenix’s Stereo Surface Imager show an icy patterned ground, and scientists believe Phoenix could be sitting on top of a hard icy substrate. Scientists expect to see the same conditions when the robotic arm will begin dig in some of these areas.

One of the images appeared to be ice underneath one of the Lander’s footpads in a site called “Snow Queen”. Ray Ardvison of Washington University thinks it may be the exposed ice by the thrusters during Phoenix descent to Mars.

NASA is naming these areas based on fairy tales and mythological characters.

More trials will be done to fully evaluate the robotic arm so that it can dig and evaluate samples accurately.

The Phoenix Mars Lander will explore for a minimum of three months and will give answers to questions about life being present now or in the past on Mars. It will also record weather conditions and chemical compositions.

Be Good Often

Tulips. Photo courtesy Eric in SF.



"To stop bad things happening often,

Do as many good things often*."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.



* Even bad things will take a pause and admire you when you do good things.

Possibly Ice Uncovered Under the Mars Lander

Hard Icy Substrate Uncovered Under the Lander. Photo: Phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

The Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm peers under the vehicle and sees a hard icy substrate exposed by the thrusters during the landing.

The Phoenix Mars Lander is working fine now after initial hiccups of circuit problems. The first pictures of the Phoenix Lander showed an icy patterned ground and the latest picture from it shows a harder icy substrate underneath it.

The vehicle’s thrusters during the descent dispersed the thin layer of soil covering the icy ground and it exposed a hard substrate that may be ice according to the mission's scientists.

The image was received Friday night from the spacecraft’s Robotic Arm Camera and showed patches of smooth and level surfaces beneath the thrusters.

Horst Uwe Keller of Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany and the lead scientist for the Robotic Arm Camera said in a press release:

"This suggests we have an ice table under a thin layer of loose soil,"

Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, principal investigator for Phoenix said in the same press release:

"We were expecting to find ice within two to six inches of the surface…The thrusters have excavated two to six inches and, sure enough, we see something that looks like ice. It's not impossible that it's something else, but our leading interpretation is ice."

This area might be one of the likely spots the Phoenix Lander's arm might dig to search for ice.

You can also follow the Phoenix Lander’s latest moves in Twitter, where the NASA mission control gives us daily updates of the Phoenix Lander in Mars.

Home Tip # 3: Surprising Household Cleaners From Common Use Items

Kool-Aid cleaner. Photo Monica Buck, RealSimple.com..

Clean Leather Shoes with Vegetable Oil

Original Use: Used to fry potatoes, vegetables and meat.
Alternate Use:Can be used to shine leather shoes. Use a damp cloth to wipe away the dirt first. Then apply a small drop of oil to a soft cotton cloth and rub the surface to shine and remove any scuff marks.
Reward: Nice Polished Shoes.


Clean Your Dishwasher with Lemonade Kool-Aid

Original Use: A nice thirst quenching drink.
Alternate Use: Helps clean lime deposits and iron stains inside the dishwasher. Pour a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid (don't use other flavors) into the dishwasher detergent cup and run the dishwasher empty.
Reward: The citric acid in the mix wipes out stains nicely.

Mesh Veggie Bag as Pot Scrubber

Original Use: Used to pack onions, potatoes and tomatoes.
Alternate Use: Helps scrub tough cooking pots and pans. Just add soap and water and use this mesh veggie bag to scrub pans. This acts just like steel wool pads.
Reward: Instead of throwing away into trash you can use it to scrub pans and then throw it away.

Dust Lamp with Lint Roller

Original Use: Keeps your cloths lint free.
Alternate Use: You can use it to for dusting a lamp shade. Run the roller up and down the outside to get rid of dirt, hair, lint.
Reward: It will still be good to keep your cloths fuzz free.

Remove Food Stains with Lemon

Original Use: Cooking.
Alternate Use: Remove tough stains from wood or plastic cutting boards. Squeeze the lemon, cut it into two half and squeeze the juice on the soiled surface and rub on the stained areas. Let it remain for 20 minutes and then rinse it with water.
Reward: Stains are removed and you have a good smell in the kitchen.
Other Use: Washing up after eating or cooking fish. Rub lemon on your hands and rinse.

Clean Up Spilled Egg with Salt

Original Use: For cooking and for taste.
Alternate Use: When there is an egg spill, put a handful of salt on the mess, leave it for two minutes and then wipe up with a paper towel.
Reward: The egg sticks to one paper towel instead of using five or six paper towels and prevents less mess with salt.

Deodorize Shoes with Dryer Sheets

Original Use: Softening clothes and reducing static cling.
Alternate Use: Put half a scented Bounce sheet (or any other dryer sheets) in each shoe. Reward: Shoes smell better.

Remove Adhesive with Cooking Oil

Original Use: Frying.
Alternate Use: Remove label adhesives from glass. Apply cooking oil to the sticker using a paper towel or a soft cloth, rub firmly, then rinse it with warm, soapy water. If it doesn't work, add some toothpaste along with the oil and try again.
Reward: The annoying labels at the back of the glass are gone.

Car Wax as Fixture Polish

Original Use: Shines up the cars and trucks.
Alternate Use:Helps polish faucets sinks, tile, shower door and more. Turtle Wax leaves behind a protective barrier against water and soap buildup and keep it look cleaner and shinier for some time.
Reward: A shining bathroom to keep your spouse and guests happy all week long. If you don't like Car Wax, you can also use baby oil to shine up the faucets and sinks after cleaning.

Deodorize Food Containers with Newspaper

Original Use: Reading Sports and News.
Alternate Use: It is a Food-container deodorizer. Just ball up a piece of newspaper and put in a plastic container and seal it and let it sit overnight.
Reward: The paper by next morning absorbs any lingering food smells.

Reference: RealSimple.com.

For other household tips click here.