Phoenix Lander Confirms Water On Mars

Phoenix Lander Spacecraft in Mars. Photo: NASA.

The Phoenix Lander spacecraft confirmed the presence of water with its onboard instruments after testing the material it scooped previously.

The NASA Scientists and others knew there was water in Mars but didn’t have any confirming evidence except for pictures of icy like material on the Martian surface. NASA scientists have final proof from the Phoenix Lander.

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

The Phoenix Lander scooped some brown and white material from the surrounding area, where it landed successfully last May 25th. The arm dropped the material into special ovens on-board the spacecraft.

William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA told the Press:

"We have water...We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

The chemical testing confirmed the presence of ice near the Martian north polar region.

The Lander will be on a three month digging mission, it will explore more areas and scoop more material and analyze them further. NASA also announced it will extend the mission by another two months.

JK Rowling's 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' Available in Amazon Pre-Order

Glimpse of the Handwritten Copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

JK Rowling talks about her new book.

Last December, J.K. Rowling’s “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” was sold to Amazon.com for a record price of 1.95 million pounds ($3.86 million). The book was not available for sale to the public but now a charity will make it so.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard'' is a book of five wizardry fairy tales mentioned in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''. Only seven copies were made available at that time, one of them went to Amazon and the rest to private contacts of JK Rowling’s.

The Children’s High Level Group, a charity co-founded by Rowling along with Emma Nicholson, a member of the U.K. House of Lords, released this news in a statement. They said the book will be available (pre-order sale) in Standard ($7.59) and Collected Edition ($100) at Amazon.com as well as in Amazon.co.uk. In UK, they will be available at a price of 6.99 pounds and 50 pounds respectively.

The book will also be released through publishers Bloomsbury Plc and Scholastic Corp.

The proceeds from the book sales will aid more than one million European children and teenagers growing up in residential institutions.

The statement from the Children’s High Level Group said the following:

The Bloomsbury and Scholastic editions, priced at 6.99 pounds and $12.99, respectively, will include an introduction by Rowling and commentary on each fairy tale from Albus Dumbledore, the beloved headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Amazon will try to mimic the original handcrafted book and make the book available for sale on December 4.

Amazon plans to produce as many as 100,000 copies of a collector's edition that will mimic the look and feel of the handwritten original, the release said. It will be priced at 50 pounds and $100. All editions go on sale on Dec. 4.

JK Rowling said in the same statement:

The new edition will include the Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive,''

Good news for the Harry Potter fans, most likely the collected editions will sell more.

The World's First Billion-Dollar Home Built in India

Mukesh Ambani's $2 Billion Home.

 

Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fifth richest man in the world has built the world’s first billion dollar home in India. It has 27-story (floor) and will resemble a French chateau.

Mukesh Ambani is the head of the petrochemical giant Reliance Industries in India, one of the top industries in the country. He is also the fifth richest man in the world (worth $43 billion).

Mukesh and his wife Nita wanted to build a custom home in downtown Mumbai, so they built a home that cost $2 billion dollars. The building was designed by the U.S. architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates, the designers behind the Mandarin Oriental. It may be the world's expensive but clearly lacks looks.

Compared to this $2 billion dollar home, the next one is the $70 million triplex penthouse at the Pierre Hotel in New York.

Ambani’s home named Antilla will be 550 feet high and have 400,000 square feet of interior space according to the Hirsch Bedner Associates.

The reason for the high costs is that no two floors are alike, each has a distinct flavor and architectural elements. The building encompasses Vaastu, an Indian tradition similar to Feng Shui. The first six stories are parking lots, then they have lobby with nine elevators to take them to different parts of the building.

Plus it has numerous enhancements, crystal chandeliers, dual stairways with silver covered railings, indoor/outdoor bar, green rooms, powder rooms, big LCD screens, a garden overlooking a swimming pool and more. The top floors of entertaining space, where Ambani plans to host business guests offers panoramic views of the Arabian Sea.

Ambani’s father, Dhirubai Ambani rise to success is a “rags to riches” story. Dhirubai started off importing polyester yarn and selling spices and made it grow into a big, dynamic business empire. The late father would be happy to see the success of his son no doubt, but I am not sure whether he will be too happy with the extravagance. Mukesh has a younger brother Anil, who is also a multi-billionaire, but both are not in speaking terms. Anil might build a home to rival his brother.

World of One

Gondawana - Earth 200 Million Years Ago

World of One:

I like to live in a world of happiness,
Where there is no disrespect,
Where there is no suppression,
Where there is no misery,
But only lasting happiness.

I like to live in a world of love,
Where there is no hatred,
Where there is no bias,
Where there is no racism,
But only pure love.

I like to live in a world of peace,
Where there is no war,
Where there is no violence,
Where there is no abuse,
But only universal peace.

I like to live in a world of knowledge,
Where there is no ignorance,
Where there is no illiteracy,
Where there is no deception,
But only sacred knowledge.

I like to live in a world of health,
Where there is no unnatural habits,
Where there is no contamination,
Where there is no neglect,
But only good health.

I like to live in a world of one,
Where there is lasting happiness,
Where there is pure love,
Where there is universal peace,
Where there is sacred knowledge,
Where there is good health,
Isn't it called Planet Earth?,
If not, tell me where?

- Chris Veerabadran in "Life No Random"

Women Outnumber Men in Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and other social networks

An online study of 49.3 million people mostly in the U.S. showed women clearly outnumber men in many social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and others.

Online reputation company Rapleaf did this study last month and gathered the data from the social networks where the users provide age and sex and analyzed nearly 49 million people mostly in the U.S.

The study found women in the age group 18-24 outnumber men from the same age group in a number of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo and Hi5.

In Facebook, there is almost 2 to 1 ratio (1.72 times) with 1,685,029 women in the age group 18-24 compared to 977,753 men.

In MySpace, the numbers are higher, there are 7,091,214 women and 5,226,788 men in the same age group.

Only in LinkedIn and Perfspot social networks, men dominate women.

The main article has detailed tables about the various age groups, in most of them there are more women than men.

The study proves the social networks have to cater more to the women users, they can’t no longer ignore them like before. Having women in the social network sites’ management team will help considerably to create a more balanced network, it can’t be all male that is for sure.

Time Independent Truth

The Oval Temple at Coba, Yucatán, Mexico. Photo by J.F. Grossen


"Falsehood is always wrong at the beginning, middle, and at the end,
Truth is always correct at any time."

- Chris Veerabadran in All Are One.

Stunning Picture of the Milky Way Over Ontario by NASA

Milky Way Galaxy appears over Ontario

Credit & Copyright: Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn (Weather and Sky Photography)

Nasa.gov (Creative Commons - Attribution)

A beautiful picture of the Milky Way galaxy is posted at the NASA website today. The photo was taken over Ontario, Canada earlier this month.

If one lives in the city we seldom see such a fine sky view, thanks to NASA and astronomers, who are able to bring them to us. This is one of them take over Ontario, Canada.

It is not just one image, it is a series of images taken with time-consecutive exposures superimposed into one. That is why you won’t see the same view of the sky in the reflection of the lake. NASA explains about the image:

The reason for this is because the above image is actually a digital composite of time-consecutive exposures from the same camera. In the first set of exposures, sky images were co-added with slight rotations to keep the stars in one

You can see the planet Jupiter, a bright spot appearing on the upper left of the image and the Milky Way galaxy appears next to it in the form of disk.

The lights in the horizon shows a nearby city from the lake.

More Milky Way galaxy pictures from Flickr.com:

Photo: Flickr.com/photos/jpstanley/

Photo: Flickr.com/photos/pchee/

Photo: Flickr.com/photos/eag/

XM and Sirius satellite radio complete merger in U.S.

XM/Sirius Satellite Radios. Photo: DigitalJournal.com

XM and Sirius Satellite Radio completed their merger today. The new company will be called Sirius XM Radio, comprised of 18.5 million subscribers.

XM Satellite Radio has wanted to merge with Sirius Satellite Radio for quite some time now, but regulation and approvals from U.S. officials held up the merger.

Finally, the companies received federal approval and merged today, according to AP.

The combined company plans to use the name Sirius XM Radio, Inc., and its stock will continue to be traded on NASDAQ under Sirius' previous stock symbol SIRI.

Under the agreement, XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius stock for every share of XM they own.

As AP reports:

It expects cost savings of about $400 million in 2009 and to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of more than $300 million. It also plans to achieve positive cash flow, before satellite capital expenditures, in 2009.

The new company will have 18.5 million subscribers.

The new corporate headquarters will be located in New York but the satellite radio station will remain headquartered in XM’s Washington D.C. location.

In my opinion, this is great news for sports fans, because not all sports channels were available on both satellite radio stations in the past. In some cases, customers had to subscribe to both stations to get all the different sports.

Now, consumers can subscribe to just one service and listen to their favorite sports teams. Some are now concerned about the potential for a monopoly this merger creates, as there is no competition for Sirius XM.

New Search Engine 'Cuil' Launched

Cuil Search Engine.

Anna Patterson, a former Google employee, and her husband have started a new search engine called Cuil. They plan to top Google by indexing more Web pages.

Cuil is pronounced as “cool” and the company is based in Menlo Park, California. It's led by Anna Patterson, a former leader in Google’s search index business, and her husband, Tom Costello. Costello has researched and developed search engines at Stanford University and IBM.

With so much experience behind them, the two have started Cuil and they plan to unseat Google as the top search leader. So far, they have indexed 120 billion Web pages. In order to surpass Google they have to index more than 1 trillion Web pages and counting.

Another former Google employee is also assisting the husband and wife team; Russell Power, the third co-founder of the group, worked at Google on search indexing, Web rankings and spam detection.

The main points for Cuil are:

1. It has a good interface with results neatly arranged, but it needs to give the top results first if the interface is to look meaningful.

2. It offers privacy to users; Cuil won’t save or log data for future use.

3. It has a good suggestion feature; before you type a word, it offers various options for the word, saving time for users.

4. It has no advertising but the company may add some later.

A search for the movie "Dark Knight" gives the following results:

Cuil Search Results For Dark Knight

Cuil.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington compared Cuil with Google and stated that it has a long way to go but it's a good start.

Cuil’s ranking isn’t as good as Google’s based on the pure results returned from both queries. Where Cuil excels is with the related categories, which return results that are extremely relevant…And I want to reemphasize that Cuil is only an hour old at this point, Google has had a decade to perfect their search engine.

I tested Cuil briefly and it appears to work well. But with Google, I am used to getting the best result at the top and Google has so many other search options such as images, maps, videos, Wikipedia, IMDB, products, documents, news, blogs etc. -- it will take some time before people switch over to another engine, I would guess.

In my opinion, Cuil will most likely end up in the hands of either Microsoft or Yahoo, as I doubt Cuil can manage on their own in the long run.

Cuil means knowledge in Irish language.

Green Hard Drive made with Bamboo and Recyclable Aluminum

SimpleTech [re]drive from Fabrik. Photo: SimpleTech.com.

The hard drive is encased with bamboo and aluminum raw materials and provides 90% power savings over conventional hard drives.

Fabrik launched its “World’s Most Eco Friendly External Drive” today by releasing the SimpleTech [re]drive. It is made with green materials and consumes less electricity.

It has a thin bamboo casing and the remainder is made with aluminum, which is recyclable. The hard drive doesn’t have a fan to cool it, so there is significant savings. Just the open construction keeps the hard drive cool. The sides of the drive has curtain like strips allowing air to cool the drive.

Introducing SimpleTech [re]drive, the energy-efficient, resource-conscious external hard drive made with renewable, naturally grown bamboo and recyclable aluminum, the most recycled metal on the planet. These durable materials come together to create a unique design that looks and stays cool, without noisy fans. Add to that a low-power hard drive and Energy Star power adapter, and you’ve got a storage and backup solution that keeps your grid demands to a minimum.

SimpleTech comes in 500GB configuration with a Turbo USB 2.0 connection for both PC and Mac.

SimpleTech External Hard Drive

Simpletech.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Fabrik claims SimpleTech [re]drive saves up to 90% in electricity consumption compared to conventional external drives. Or in carbon terms it reduces approximately 475 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the drive.

It comes in a friendly packaging, the backup drive software and manuals are stored in the drive itself. The quick set up guide is printed in the inside of the box.

The product also is offered with a free 2GB online storage option or a unlimited storage/transfer option for $5 a month. The 500GB SimpleTech [re]drive sells at $160.

Computer language can think and analyze on its own to study complex protein molecules

Protein Network in Humans. Photo: Wired.com

The computer language “Little b“ is unlike other software program, it can create its own code on the fly and analyze the data with the new codes.

Harvard medical researcher Dr. Aneil Mallavarapu created and wrote this program called “Little b”. This program is currently being used by the Harvard Medical School’s Department of Systems Biology to analyze the complex protein molecules and their association with other proteins.

If analyzing DNA codes are complex, analyzing the proteins codes are even more complex according to Jeremy Gunawardena, director of the Virtual Cell Program in Harvard.

The protein does much of the work in the human body and carries a massive wealth of genomic information compared to the simpler DNA.

To analyze the complex protein information a simple language wouldn’t be sufficient, hence the need for innovative language like the “Little b”.

Dr. Gunawardena told Eureka Alert:

"Through incorporating principles of engineering, we've developed a language that can describe biology in the same way a biologist would…The potential here is enormous. This opens the door to actually performing discovery science, to look at things like drug interactions, right on the computer."

“Little b” is a computer program based on the LISP program, a language commonly used in the artificial intelligence research. Unlike other computer programs, “Little b” can create its own code based on the environment and write its own code to study it.

Gunawardena added:

"LISP isn't like typical programs, it's more like a conversation…When we input data into Little b, Little b responds to it and reasons over the data."

Gunawardena hopes to use “Little b” to analyze “kinases”, also known as phosphotransferase, an enzyme that transfers phosphate groups from molecules to molecules:

"Your whole relationship with the computer becomes a different one. You've ceded some control to the machine. The machine is drawing inferences on your behalf and constructing things for you."

The Harvard Medical Researchers are planning to make this “Little b” more user friendly so others can use the system without having to learn the complex computer program.

Harnessing 0.3% Saharan sunlight could power entire Europe

Sahara Desert. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/realnisroc/

Instead of the current energy sources, a tiny rectangular solar paneled area in Sahara desert that captures 0.3% of falling sunlight could power the entire needs of Europe.

Arnulf Jaeger-Waldau of the European commission made this announcement at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona, how solar farms can replace the polluting coal and nuclear power plants in Europe.

The European scientists are planning to have a series of huge solar farms producing electricity either via photovoltaic cells or by concentrating the sun’s heat in a solar collector to boil water and drive turbines.

The electricity can then be transferred across Europe with a new super grid using high voltage direct current (DC) cables. The same grid system will also transfer electricity produced in various countries like UK and Denmark which have plenty of wind turbines and geothermal power in Iceland.

Scientists says electricity transmission loss in DC lines are far less than AC ones.

This grid proposal is backed by Nicholas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown.

If the wind or geothermal power is weak, the solar farms will back up the grid system and vice versa.

European scientists believe harnessing the electricity from Saharan desert will be more effective because the sunlight is more intense in the area. Solar farms in Sahara could generate three times more electricity compared to a similar farm in Europe.

Installing the solar farm won’t cost as much as building the new super grid across Europe according to Jaeger-Waldau.

Scientists hope to generate 100 GW by 2050 with an investment of €450bn ($705 billion)

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK's chief scientist told Guardian:

"Assuming it's cost-effective, a large scale renewable energy grid is just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change."

While the Europeans plan to harness 0.3% of sunlight, maybe they can harness a little more and power Africa as well. It is an ambitious plan but it deserves full support from Europeans.

Moon Full

Christmas Moonlight Painting by Thomas Kinkade.

Moon Full:

"Oh! Moon,
Even when I see you a little,
Or only a crescent,
Or a lot,
Or nothing at all,
I will always love you full,
If not more."

Chris Veerabadran in Mil Gracias (A Thousand Thanks)

Browse safely with the new Google feature in Gmail

Google added a safety feature in Gmail that will let you browse safely on the Web. The security feature is available in the “settings” link.When you browse on the Web in a place like a coffee shop, even when no one is using your computer, there is software that will be able to sniff the downloaded data from another computer easily in the same network. 

It is better to use the secure version (https://mail.google.com) instead of the regular version (http://mail.google.com) of Gmail. Also, other free web mail services uses unsecured version. 

Today, Gmail has announced a new security feature. To make this feature default, just log on to your Gmail account and click the “settings” link at the top of the page. And change the settings as shown in the picture below: 

security to Gmail.

Gmailblog.blogspot.com 

The reason Google didn’t provide this earlier is because the secure version takes a longer time to download to send the encrypted data. So you may see the Web pages download slowly initially. 

Google Apps business users also can use the security feature for all of their users. 

Another great potential benefit with this security feature is how it will make all the Google products secure. When you log on to Gmail, you will see a number of related Google links at the top. When you click any one of them, like “Documents”, then you will get a secure “Documents” version. 

I use "Customized Google" Firefox extension for some time now; they make the Gmail secure by default.

Google searches 1 trillion unique web links all at once

The first Google index had 26 million pages in 1998. In 2000 it reached 1 billion. Now when you search a keyword, Google will search 1 trillion unique URL's on the Web at once to get the best results.

Google's staggering index count shows how big the Web has become and how fast it is growing. To keep pace with the astounding growth, Google indexes all the unique links and sites on the Web and keeps it in its database. The number of sites Google has indexed has reached 1 trillion(1,000,000,000,000) unique links. 

When we type a word or words in Google, it searches those terms from the database stored in Google servers located around the world. 

According to Google, it searches the trillion links as follows: 

We start at a set of well-connected initial pages and follow each of their links to new pages. Then we follow the links on those new pages to even more pages and so on, until we have a huge list of links.

Actual records showed that Google found more than 1 trillion individual links, but most of them were exact copies under different website names. Google eliminates all the duplicate content and keeps only the unique URL link. 

Google said the links are growing at an incredible pace, several billion pages per day. So, the next trillion links will reach faster. 

Google's main goals remains the same: to index the entire world's data and have the most comprehensive index of any search engine. 

Compared to its earlier days in 1998, the indexing by Google has become complex as well. 

Back then, we did everything in batches: one workstation could compute the PageRank graph on 26 million pages in a couple of hours, and that set of pages would be used as Google's index for a fixed period of time. Today, Google downloads the web continuously, collecting updated page information and re-processing the entire web-link graph several times per day. This graph of one trillion URLs is similar to a map made up of one trillion intersections. So multiple times every day, we do the computational equivalent of fully exploring every intersection of every road in the United States. Except it'd be a map about 50,000 times as big as the U.S., with 50,000 times as many roads and intersections. 

All this effort is just to get us the best result at the top of the page. It is no wonder that Google has a 70 per cent share in the search market.

Source: We knew the web was big...

How To Detect Counterfeit Money

The public has a role in maintaining the integrity of U.S. currency. You can help guard against the threat from counterfeiters by becoming more familiar with United States currency.

Look at the money you receive. Compare a suspect note with a genuine note of the same denomination and series, paying attention to the quality of printing and paper characteristics. Look for differences, not similarities.

Portrait

The genuine portrait appears lifelike and stands out distinctly from the background. The counterfeit portrait is usually lifeless and flat. Details merge into the background which is often too dark or mottled.

Federal Reserve and Treasury Seals

On a genuine bill, the saw-tooth points of the Federal Reserve and Treasury seals are clear, distinct, and sharp. The counterfeit seals may have uneven, blunt, or broken saw-tooth points.

Border

The fine lines in the border of a genuine bill are clear and unbroken. On the counterfeit, the lines in the outer margin and scrollwork may be blurred and indistinct.

Serial Numbers

Genuine serial numbers have a distinctive style and are evenly spaced. The serial numbers are printed in the same ink color as the Treasury Seal. On a counterfeit, the serial numbers may differ in color or shade of ink from the Treasury seal. The numbers may not be uniformly spaced or aligned.

Paper

Genuine currency paper has tiny red and blue fibers embedded throughout. Often counterfeiters try to simulate these fibers by printing tiny red and blue lines on their paper. Close inspection reveals, however, that on the counterfeit note the lines are printed on the surface, not embedded in the paper. It is illegal to reproduce the distinctive paper used in the manufacturing of United States currency.

Pursue Passions

The Great Buddha of Kamakura in Kotokuin. Photo by Greg Moore.


"Pursue your passions, there is nothing but sheer joy in it*."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.


* - Even in failures, there is a golden lesson to learn. In not trying it, one neither learns from the attempt nor by failing to experience the outcome.

Don't Name Your Child 'Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii'

Hula Dance in Hawaii. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/moralesdirect/

New Zealand Judge Rob Murfitt ruled in favor of the girl who opposed being named by her parents “Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii”. The judge ordered her name to be changed immediately.

The 9-year-old girl complained to the courts about her unusual name, "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii“. The judge in the city of New Plymouth on the North Island agreed and made her ward of the court so that she could change her name effective immediately.

Judge Rob Murfitt said the name will embarrass the kid and will expose her to teasing in school. He also advised other parents not to resort to bizarre naming.

The New Zealand officials have earlier blocked names like Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit but the same officials have also allowed unusual names like the following: Violence; Number 16 Bus Shelter; Midnight Chardonnay; Benson and Hedges (twins).

What other names were blocked? Yeah Detroit; Stallion; Twisty Poi; Keenan Got Lucy; Sex Fruit; Fat Boy; Cinderella Beauty Blossom; Fish and Chips (twins).

New Zealand has special laws that prevent parents from naming their children with monikers longer than 100 characters.

The girl refused to tell her friends her real name and went simply by the letter “K”. She didn’t directly go to court but the name issue surface during a custody hearing for the young girl.

Judge Murfitt wrote in his ruling: "The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name…It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."

UK Police post 999 calls on YouTube to deter unnecessary emergency calls

 999 Emergency in UK. Photo: Staffsmoorlands.gov.uk

British
police receive unnecessary 999 emergency calls (911 used in the US), so
they post a YouTube video of the calls to deter people from making
unnecessary calls.

The Police officials at the Avon and Somerset Constabulary want to use
the latest technologies to teach the public according to the Daily Telegraph.





The video is shown here in the article. You can hear in one of the
calls a woman calling the emergency to locate her glasses so she can
prepare lunch. Another call from a man complains to the 999 emergency
staff that his wife didn’t leave him a proper meal.




The police through out the calls are very polite in answering them and don’t get frustrated. We have to commend them for that.





Because of the unnecessary calls, the government has enacted laws and
fines them as much as $10,000 and face a possible prison sentence of
six months.




Chief Superintendent Dave Hayler told Daily Telegraph:

"Wasting the time of the emergency services could cost
lives because the emergency services might not be available to respond
to real emergencies if they are attending hoax calls,"

Though the calls are funny, these calls unnecessary prevent calls that
requires real help quickly. And most of the emergency centers are under
staffed to get these calls. Unless an emergency, please use Google or
some other places to get help.

999 Emergency Calls in UK

Play The Game

Roger Bannister breaks the 4-minute Barrier.


Play the Game:

A game is like a toss of a coin,
You might win a few of it with heads,
You might lose others with tails,
or vice versa,
If you can't handle this,
Don't play the game.

A game is like a day and night,
You might see victory in the day,
You might see defeat in the night,
or vice versa,
If you can't handle this,
Don't play the game.

A game is like a birth of a child,
You might get your wish for a girl (a sad wish any way),
You might not get your wish for a boy (is pretty both ways),
or vice versa,
If you can't handle this,
Don't play the game.

A game is like a book,
You learn from a victory and excel,
You learn from a defeat and excel,
In both,
If you can handle this,
Play the game.

- Chris Veerabadran in "Life No Random"

Free ebooks available from Tor.com for a limited time

Tor Books is offering free e-books in PDF or HTML format for a limited time. You can read the books through your readers, laptop, computer, mobiles and smartphones, including the iPhone.

Tor.com is a site for news and discussion on science fiction, fantasy topics and is a joint effort of Tor Books and Macmillan group of publishers.

For a limited time, Tor.com offers 24 free e-books from major authors and artists in PDF and HTML formats including high resolution cover arts and you can download it at this link.

You can read this book in any devices such as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, laptops, computers and mobiles.

You can also get a free e-book once every week, if you join their mail subscription. I have one of those, but I am not sure whether they are still offering it now. I will double check and add that link here later.

Cnet.com said that Tor.com is still in beta stage and they may provide more free e-books in the near future.

You can also check out Baen Books for more free e-books.

Also e-books are available for free in other topics in sites such as Project Gutenberg, Cmadras.com.

Happiness in Love and Lust

The majestic Sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park. Photo Cardyunn

"The happiness in love stands firm like a Sequoia tree,
The happiness in lust flees quickly like a rabbit."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Silence is Golden

Lake Irwin. Photos: Jstech.com.


"Silence is a true friend who never betrays."

- Confucius.

Google Maps Launches 'Walking Directions' Feature

Google Maps launches 'Walking Directions' Feature
Photo: Blogoscoped.com

Google Maps launched "walking directions" option few months ago on a trial basis, now it offers for everyone. You can get walking directions from Point A to Point B, which may or may not be the same as the driving directions.

Google Maps introduced this feature early this month for selected users and locations, now it is launching it live for all users according to Search Engine Roundtable.

You can check this feature with this "walking directions search in New York".

I checked my area, I am able to see this new feature also. One interesting thing is, the walking directions and the driving directions may or may not be the same.

For example in my search, I have the following driving directions and walking directions, both have different routes.

Google Maps Driving Directions

Cgullworld.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Google Maps Walking Directions for the Same Route

Cgullworld.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

To see this feature go to Google Maps, click the directions link under the search tab and you will see the "Walking" link and "By Car" link. You can choose either of the two to get directions.

Google Maps however warns us to take precaution when walking in unfamiliar areas. We can't follow it blindly and end up into trouble. Thanks Google.

Ultrasonic frogs with ears like 'radio tuner' discovered in China

'Odorrana tormota' frog has ears like radio tuner

(Credit: Albert S. Feng, University of Illinois)

Researchers from the University of Illinois and the University of California, Los Angeles have discovered that a frog in central China has an ear like a radio tuner and can shift to different sound frequencies in a noisy environment.

In a broad research study by the University of Illinois, University of California, Los Angeles, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School have discovered this unique characteristic in a frog in central part of China.

The frog known as "Odorrana tormota" lives in a noisy environment on the edge of streams in the Huangshan Hot Springs in central China. The waterfall and the rushing water creates a loud environment, hence the frog has to adjust to this noisy surroundings.

Albert S. Feng, one of the researchers in this study, a professor of molecular and integrative physiology at University of Illinois spoke with Cnet and said "Odorrana tormota" is the only know animal in the wild kingdom that actively chooses what frequencies to hear.

Feng said they found that these frogs have an inherent ability to tune to specific frequencies as the sounds in the surroundings change. When the low frequency background noise is difficult for them to hear, they switch to higher frequency signal and listen to the calls of their potential mates or rivals.

In an earlier study, Feng and his colleagues after analyzing the mechanics of frog hearing they designed an "intelligent hearing aid" that boosts sound signals. Similarly, this research may lead to other applications.

The research findings appear this week in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences".

For more information listen to the audio interview of Cnet with Albert S. Feng.

Batman star arrested for assaulting his mother and sister

British detectives arrested Batman star Christian Bale for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister and remains in custody.
London Metropolitan Police spokesman told the press that they arrested Christian Bale, 34 for assault against his family members. Bale is believed to have lashed out at his mother and sister in his suite at London's Dorchester Hotel on Sunday.

The spokesman told BBC:

"A 34-year-old man attended a police station in central London by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault - he currently remains in custody,"

Before his arrest, Bale attended the European premiere of The Dark Knight last night in London's Leicester Square. He is supposed to meet journalists at the Dorchester today to promote the film. This arrest may postpone that meeting.

According to the spokesman, the assault allegation was filed at a police station in Hampshire and the arrest was made soon after.

Christian Bale's current movie "The Dark Knight" has reaped record profits and rave reviews from both critics and audience.

The producers will be hoping this news doesn't cause any major distraction to their Batman movie.

Christian Bale, unlike other actors has stayed out of trouble so far, hopefully this will be a minor family squabble.

Lego Mindstorm Robot Solves Rubik’s Cube in Minutes

Hans Anderson has developed a Lego Mindstorm robot named "Tilted Twister" that solves Rubik's cube in minutes. With built-in sensors and chip processor the robot solves the puzzle within 60 moves.

This is another great leap forward in the Robotics industry. Hans Anderson has developed this "Tilted Twister" that solves the Rubik's Cube puzzle in minutes. It has an ultrasonic sensor scans the Rubik's Cube faces and reads the colors of the cube faces using a built-in light sensor. The robot is able to turn the faces, so the sensor reads all the color points.

Then an on-board computer like processor calculates the solution and moves the faces by turning, tilting and twisting the cube by means of three servo motors and four sensors (touch, light, ultrasonic and sound). The robot was built solely using a Lego Mindstorm NXT Retail-kit, which retails for about $240 in Amazon and other sites.


Tilted Twister robot solves Rubik's Cube in minutes. Photo TiltedTwister.com

If you want a build a Tilted Twister on your own, he has outlined his methods at this link here.

He said the colors in the Rubik's cube caused confusion for the light sensors, but he modified the color slightly so they can recognize it well. He has found a suitable color sensor that can detect the existing colors without any problems, but if you don't have the HiTechnic color sensor, then you can adjust the colors manually.

The article provides information how he used special algorithms and made it easy for the on-board NXT's processor to solve the puzzle within 60 moves.

The typical sequence of solving the Rubik’s Cube is as follows:

• Scanning the cube: 1 minute
• Calculating a solution: 20 - 40 seconds
• Executing the moves: 1 - 5 minutes. Average 4.5 minutes (60 face turns)
• Average total time: 6 minutes

This is simply amazing, great effort by Anderson.

Univ. of Alberta: Volcanic eruptions wiped out marine life 93 million years ago

University of Alberta scientists claim the mass extinction of animals and plants was due to the undersea volcanic eruptions, which altered the chemistry of the sea as well as the atmosphere.

Scientists have previously reported that mass extinctions occurred in the past mainly due to asteroids hitting the earth wiping out plants and animals, but never was attributed to forces within the earth until now.

Steven Turgeon, the researcher from the University of Alberta Earth and Atmospheric Science Department, claims mass extinctions occurred 93 million years ago was primarily due to the high volcanic activities in the depths of the ocean.

Turgeon and fellow researcher Robert Creaser said massive lave eruptions altered the chemistry of the sea and blanked the sea floor with thick layers of organic matter, which later became a major source of oil. The eruptions may have also caused disturbances in the atmosphere.

Turgeon told Physorg:

"It certainly caused an extinction of several species in the marine environment...It wasn't as big as what killed off the dinosaurs, but it was what we call an extreme event in the Earth's history, something that doesn't happen very often."

Turgeon and Creaser found evidence of high levels of the element osmium, which is an indicator of volcanism in seawater. They found it in black shale-rocks drilled off the coast of South America and in the mountains of central Italy.

Turgeon added:

"Because the climate was so warm back than, the oceanic current was very sluggish and it initially buffered this magmatic pulse, but eventually it all went haywire...The oxygen was driven from the ocean and all the organic matter accumulated on the bottom of the sea bed, and now we have these nice, big, black shale deposits worldwide, source rocks for the petroleum we have today."

The researchers said the eruptions occurred within 23 thousand years of mass extinction at that time. Initially because of the eruptions, nutrients were released which helped the plants and animals immensely, but once the organisms died they blanked the sea depleting the oxygen in the sea. This caused the release of carbon dioxide into the oceans and into the atmosphere as a result the oxygen in earth were depleted causing mass extinctions.

Scientist call them as "anoxic event" where oxygen is deprived, but luckily these anoxic events are very rare in nature. They occur only when there are elevated levels of carbon dioxide and a very warm climate over extended periods.

The anoxic event however had an odd-side effect, it helped the climate to cool down and helped drop the carbon dioxide levels.

"Organic matter that's decaying returns components like carbon and CO2 to the atmosphere...But this event locked them up at the bottom of the ocean, turning them into oil, drawing down the CO2 levels of the ocean and the atmosphere."

After 10,000-50,000 years later, the carbon dioxide levels rose again leading to further global warming and extinction.

Turgeon and Creaser hope their study will help better understand global warming theory.

The research paper will appear this Thursday in the weekly science journal Nature.

60-year-old Saudi man wins a 10-yr-old girl in a bet with her dad

A 60-year-old man was set to marry a 10-year-old girl after he won a bet with her dad, but thanks to protests from human rights group in Saudi Arabia, the marriage was stopped for now.

The father of the girl dared the 60-year-old man to marry for the second time and that he was too afraid to marry because of his current wife. The man accepted the challenge and asked the father of the girl to marry his daughter according to the Saudi newspaper Al-Madina.

The father was unable to take back his challenge and agreed to the marriage and asked the man to give him 100,000 riyal ($26,852) as dowry. In Saudi customs, the bridegroom offers money to the parents of the bride after mutual agreement about the payment.

According to Al-Madina, both even finalized the marriage procedures and the couple underwent pre-marital tests. The lab staff that tested them both were shocked seeing the 10-year-old girl with the 60-year-old man.

But thanks to the human rights group in Saudi Arabia, the marriage has been stopped for now. The Saudi National Human Rights Association sent a letter to the Emir of the northwestern city Hail, who governs the city, pleading with him to stop the marriage. They also asked the local court to stop the marriage.

The association invoked the international treaty rules, which gives protection to children from early marriages and Saudi Arabia is one of the signatories.

Also, the residents in Hail urged the Association to seek intervention and prevent this marriage.

According to the article, the Association stopped the marriage of a 12-year-old boy and his 11-year-old cousin in the southwestern province of Jizan.

Saudi sociologist Abdullah Al-Harbi, who is fighting to stop such marriages explained that it is the fathers who initiate such marriages and demand huge sums of money from the groom-to-be. Most of them marry the young girls only to satisfy their sexual appetite. It is good to see not all in Saudi Arabia support such marriages.

Al-Harbi told Al-Madina:

"These marriages usually end up in failure, and the girl usually goes through trauma due to living with a man who is much older,"

Saudi Arabia has tough laws for crimes, but they should have even tougher laws for such child-marriages.

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Check out the World's cutest envelope opener. :)

Research shows 'your lifestyle behavior can alter the children’s DNA'

Researchers have pointed out that personal lifestyle has a profound effect on the family traits and has either a better or worse outcome in future generations.

Most think that personal lifestyle habits like drinking, smoking, bad food will seldom affect their offspring or future generations, but studies by US and British researchers show that DNA modifies or alters based on parents’ and grandparents’ habits.

According to the new science field “Epigenetics”, our ancestor’s diet, smoking habits, exposure to pollutants and levels of obesity will be affecting us today. And whatever our current lifestyle affects the future generation as well.

Scientists are trying to find answers to some of the basic questions we have:

• What effect, for example, will nights spent in wine bars have on their descendants?
• Will cigarettes smoked today compromise the health of grandchildren?
• If they become obese is that their right, or does it impose a burden of ill-health on generations yet unborn?

The scientists want to get practical answers to these questions and others. The researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas published their findings last week. They found that overweight mothers either during the pregnancy or before that produces even heavier babies and showed the connection of obesity across the generations.

Robert Waterland, a professor of pediatrics, who led the study told Times:

Some of the answers may be emerging. There is, for example, evidence that the recent surge in diseases such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease is partly linked to the lifestyles of past generations.

“There is a worldwide obesity epidemic…Why is everyone getting heavier and heavier? One hypothesis is that maternal obesity before and during pregnancy causes epigenetic changes in the ways genes are expressed.”

Another study by Marcus Pembrey of the Institute of Child Health at University College London connected smoking behaviors of fathers with elevated risk of obesity in their offspring’s. He and his team identified 166 fathers who admitted smoking before they were 11 years old and their overweight sons.

In another study Pembrey and colleagues analyzed a small Swedish community. The men living in the community lived longer and they found that their grandfathers had experienced food shortages when they were children. This helped the men in the community to live longer. In this case the DNA alterations of grandfathers benefitted them.

Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel have demonstrated some of these connections but at that time the DNA and its role were not known at that time. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck showed that characteristics acquired during an organism’s lifetime could be passed to its offspring.

With Epigenetics, Scientists hope to unravel the mysteries of DNA and their connections to the future generations. They hope to find the complex connections of diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes that run in families.

Stephan Beck, professor of medical genomics at the Cancer Institute, University College London told Times:

“The technologies for epigenetics arose from the human genome project and have only become widely available within the last few years…That is what makes it so exciting.”

The scientists behind Epigenetics want to pass the main fact that we are not the owners of genes but their guardian. The habits such as drinking heavily, taking drugs, getting fat and eating improperly not only affects us but also the future generations.

Hundreds of Baby Penguins Wash Ashore in Brazil

Baby Penguin. Photo: TheCuteProject.

More than 400 penguins with most of them babies have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro over the last few months. Some environment experts believe pollution maybe the main cause for the deaths.

The dead penguins are supposed to have been swept to the Brazilian beaches from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia regions.

Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio told Discovery Channel that most of the dead ones are babies and have seen a spike in the penguin deaths this year.

Some penguins both dead and alive are swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, but this year there is a rapid increase in the penguin deaths.

Usually Brazil ships the recovered penguins back to their original homes either in Antarctica or Patagonia.

The experts are trying to find the exact cause for this increase in the deaths and are divided over the possible causes.

Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo believes “overfishing” might be the main reason. Overfishing has caused the penguins to swim further from the shores to find fishes to eat and leaves them vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents.

He also cites pollution for the penguin deaths. Muniz’s zoo already has rescued more than 100 penguins this year and is giving them treatment and many of them are drenched in petroleum. The offshore Campos oil field supplies most of Brazil’s oil; it might be causing this pollution.

Muniz told AP that they didn’t see other pollutants affecting penguins they have treated so far.

Eduardo Pimenta also blames pollution. He told AP:

"Aside from the oil in the Campos basin, the pollution is lowering the animals' immunity, leaving them vulnerable to funguses and bacteria that attack their lungs.”

But Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University blames weather patterns instead.

He told AP:

"I don't think the levels of pollution are high enough to affect the birds so quickly. I think instead we're seeing more young and sick penguins because of global warming, which affects ocean currents and creates more cyclones, making the seas rougher,"

Costa said that is the reason we are seeing more baby penguins washing ashore, when they try to search for food.

Whether the pollution or the weather pattern is the culprit, I hope the scientists find a solution soon. The beaches in Brazil are beautiful but it won't look beautiful with dead penguins strewn all over the place.

Dalai Lama: Bush Has 'Lack of Understanding About Reality'

The Dalai Lama in a lecture said Bush's intentions may be good but his methods are unrealistic because he lacks an understanding about reality.

The Dalai Lama told an audience of 2,000 in Philadelphia on Thursday talked about how to bring about world peace and how one should react in a crisis situation. The lecture was sponsored by the Mongolian Kalmyk Buddhist order.

He said when facing a problem and one thinks they have a solution in place, but it may not turn out exactly as they had planned.

Things are not black and white. Things are relative. Things are interdependent. When we look at a situation we have to consider all the factors.

Many world disasters, including war, including the Iraq war, are due to lack of this holistic nature (looking at all the factors). Like Saddam Hussein -- ending things for him. Reality is not that simple.

Bush thought by removing Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi problem could be solved in days. He even declared victory immediately after invasion but the reality is the administration is mired in the Iraqi war and may stay that way for a long time if McCain replaces Bush. McCain said in a town hall meeting that staying in Iraq for another 100 years is fine with him.

Dalai Lama said Bush has good intentions but his methods are unrealistic because of lack of understanding about reality.

"You cannot look in one direction. In order to see reality, (you) have to see in three or four or seven dimensions" and that this applies in the economical field, political field and international relations."

The Dalai Lama said to bring world peace we must give up outer disarmament as well as inner disarmament. If you want nations to disarm, you must first inwardly disarm and show compassion not only with friends but also with enemies.

Is Dalai Lama wrong in his assessment?

Zimbabwe introduces 100-billion-dollar note

The Zimbabwe Central Bank introduces a new 100-billion-dollar bill to tackle cash shortages. The highest dollar currency they had in January was 10-million-dollar note, since then they have issued so many higher currency notes leading to this.

Zimbabwe is setting records no other country will achieve it for a long time, first there was news that they had a record 2.2 million percent inflation rate in a recent article reported by Vinay Chand and now the release of the 100-billion-dollar note.

The Zimbabweans won't mind if the currency has a large value to buy goods but one US Dollar value is equivalent to 27,215 Zimbabwe Dollars.

The new 100-billion-dollar note will be in circulation next Monday according to the Zimbabwe Central Bank authorities.

The past six months, the Central Bank has been issuing higher denomination notes from as low as 10-million-dollar note to the current 100-billion-dollar note. In January, the bank issued a 10-million-dollar note, and then in April they issued a 50-million-dollar note. In May, few more currencies were issued for 100 million and 250 million dollars. Then in rapid succession the bank issued five billion, 25 billion and 50 billion notes.

The economy got worse because of the recent election crisis in Zimbabwe and Mugabe was elected again with no opposition running against him. The inflation shot up from 165,000 percent in February to 2.2 million in June.

According to Reuters, nearly 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and there is massive shortage of basic goods in shops.

Early this month, it cost 50 billion dollars to buy a burger in Zimbabwe, if the price had remained the same, they can buy two burgers now.

I hope UN or the African Union instead of turning a blind eye towards this, they do something to alleviate the sufferings of Zimbabweans. The problem is not in the currency, the problem is with the Mugabe administration in my opinion.

Scientists: 'Women aged 100 can give birth within the next 30 years'

Scientists forecast that with improved medical techniques, infertility can be eradicated within the next 30 years, allowing any woman to give birth at any age.

Louise Brown, the first test tube baby, was born 30 years ago. To mark this special anniversary, leading scientists were asked to write a report on what advances they expect in the medical field over the next 30 years.

In the journal Nature, scientists predict that within the next three decades, medical techniques will be perfected and infertility will be eradicated. The new techniques will enable any woman to give birth, even women who are 100 years old.

The techniques are not yet developed, but scientists believe they can create sperm and eggs from skin cells and combine them to form hundreds of embryos. Parents can then choose a "designer" baby and have specific characteristics such as hair color, height, intelligence and disease free genes.

Davor Solter, of the Institute of Biology in Singapore told The Telegraph:

It means every person regardless of age will be able to have children. Newborn children could have children and 100-year-olds could have children. It could easily happen in the next 30 years.

Scientists also predict gestation can take place in an artificial womb and the cost of In vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment is expected to fall.

My question is: Why would scientists want a 100-year-old woman to have a baby? The mother will only die soon afterward and deprive the child of a parent. I love science, but sometimes science can get scary.

California alone uses as much gasoline as China

Some critics blame the Chinese for the rise in gasoline prices, but a California Energy Commission report shows that California consumes as much gasoline as the entire country of China and more than Russia, India or Germany.

The report was posted by California Energy Commission's State Alternative Fuels Plan last year during Christmas season but was missed by the media and others. The report showed California alone uses more gasoline than any country in the world except U.S. of course.

California uses 20 billion gallon of gasoline and diesel which is greater than China for now, but China will exceed them later this year.

China has a population of 1.3 billion, while California has 37 million in total.

Also, California has seen a 50% increase in oil consumption in 2007 compared to 1988.

China will soon surpass California with its growing economy in the next few years.

You can read the full report 107 pages PDF document at this link.

Instead of blaming one another, the countries should find a way to use more green energy and rely less on fossil fuels.

Mood Dimension and Time

Jasmine Flowers. Photo Lars Hammar.


"In happiness, time moves at a speed of a hare's*,
In sadness, time moves at a speed of a turtle's."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.


* Or at the speed of light.

Lionsgate Entertainment signs revenue-sharing deal with Youtube

Lions Gate Entertainment (or Lionsgate) has signed a revenue-sharing deal with Google's Youtube according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Apparently not everyone in Hollywood hates Google.

Lions Gate Entertainment, the Hollywood studio that released movies like Dirty Dancing, American Psycho, Lost, Hotel Rwanda and others, plus the recent TV show hits like Weeds, wants to partner with Youtube in a revenue-sharing deal.

Eric Schmidt made this announcement at the Madison & Vine conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday according to the Hollywood reporter and confirmed by Lionsgate.

Lionsgate will create a separate channel on Youtube and post its TV and film content with ads.

Cnet.com believes if this partnership is successful other Hollywood Studios may partner with Youtube except for Viacom, who has an ongoing lawsuit against Youtube.

It is a blow for YouTube’s rival Hulu. But unlike Hulu, Youtube has a massive global audience and it can be watched almost everywhere in the computer, mobile and Smartphone devices. Lionsgate will be able to reach more with Youtube.

Youtube is still trying to find ways to generate ad revenue but its main focus is to give a better user experience. This partnership will help them both and the Youtube viewers.

Google Docs Adds Templates Options

A Preview of Templates in Google Docs

Googlesystem.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Do you want to create a business card or an invoice or resume or an invitation in a document? Then you should try Google Docs, which has introduced a template section with 100s of new template designs.

If we try to create the timesheets, resumes, invoices etc in a document, it will take forever, but instead we can start off with a pre-designed template and build it from there. Google Docs has introduced this option and it has more than 300 templates most of them are Google designed as well as user submitted templates.

• Create wedding albums, photo albums and prepare slides with presentation templates.
• Create invoices, timesheets, business cards and labels with spreadsheet templates.
• Create project reports, resumes, business plan, and more with documents templates.

Since users participate a lot in Google, we can expect more templates added soon.

All the templates are easily accessible in the form of tabs. You can find all the templates at this link here.

The templates are grouped under the following categories:

• Albums & Flipbooks
• Business
• Calculators
• Calendars & Schedules
• Cards & Certificates
• Labels & Business Cards
• Letters & Faxes
• Miscellaneous
• Personal Finance
• Presentation Designs
• Resumes & Cover Letters
• Statistics
• Students & Teachers

You can find the template from Google Docs, when you click the button "New" --> click "From Template" --> then choose the template you like to start with and start editing the content.

With Google Docs you can then easily share it with friends and family by clicking the "Share" button or make it public for everyone. Google Docs is free for everyone.

Google starts 'Digg-like' search results experiment

Google has set up an experiment that will make the users vote the best search results and make them appear at the top of the page. Users can comment and review the search results also. Google plans to apply the findings later.

Google started this experiment last year but allowed the users only to move them top or down the results page, this time they have added an option to comment about the results. It is like a Wikipedia recommendation and Digg voting features added to Google search results page, so users can find the best results for their query by their peers.

The Google FAQ page said this "Edit search" feature allows you to influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again while you are logged in to your Google account, you'll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you've made.

Note: This is an experimental feature served to a random selection of participants and may be available for only a few weeks.

The experiments can move the results to the top or move it down in the hierarchy or remove the search results link, suggest better links than what Google had suggested and make a comment about that search result.

Here is a sample picture from this experiment:



Screenshot licensed as Creative Commons by quasarkitten.

TechCrunch video shows a demonstration of this Google "Edit search" feature.

Google already gives a better search experience but with this experiment it wants to enhance it even further. I think it is a great idea. This will help us get better search results than manipulated ones by websites, who try to use different tricks (SEO) to make their sites appear at the top of the page.

Mt. Everest: World’s Highest Garbage Dump?

Mt. Everest is the highest mountain in the world and soon it might be getting another title "World's Highest Garbage Dump". According to estimates there are nearly 120 tons of litter and 120 dead bodies on Mt. Everest.

The climbers either after conquering Mt. Everest or making an attempt to conquer it leave behind their high tech climbing equipment, plastics, food, tins, oxygen tanks, aluminum cans, clothes, glass, papers, tents especially along the Southeast Ridge, the most popular route to the summit.

The route consists of a base camp at 17,600 feet and four more camps closer to the summit. Nearly 50 tons of trash can be found at these five camps since the first successful expedition by Hillary and Tenzing. Others estimate even a higher amount about 120 tons of waste.

Most of them are so much concerned about their health, trash is the least of the climbers' worries.

Besides the trash that gets accumulated, nearly 120 dead bodies of climbers are strewn across the trail and "frozen in time". There are no means to bring them back to the base either for burial or for funeral pyre rites.

China is trying to do something about it to clean up Mt. Everest by limiting the climbers from its side of the highest mountain.

Zhang Yongze, director of the Tibet told Xinhua in an interview

"We need to limit the number of people who want to climb Mt Qomonlangma (Mt Everest) who exert a negative impact on the environment,"

However the Chinese route to the summit is not the most favored route for the climbers, who prefer the Nepalese side. But since the restrictions are less from the Nepalese government, more litter can be found in that route.

Unless something is done real soon, Mt. Everest will get the dubious title as well. I don't think either the late Sir Edmund Hillary or Tenzing Norgay will feel proud about it.

New Radiohead 'House of Cards' 3D Video Made With Google Code

The Making of the Video.

Radiohead created a new video for the song “House of Cards” from its music album “In Rainbows”. The video is made totally with Google Code -- no cameras or lights were used to produce it.

Radiohead is revolutionizing the music industry; a few months ago, they gave one of their albums for free and now they are trying to make videos in a radical way.

Radiohead made their new video “House of Cards” in 3D with the help of Google Code. Neither cameras nor any lights were used to create this video -- only with the help of 3D plotting technologies from Google.

Mashable.com explains it was created through complex data visualization from Google Codes seen here, which you can manipulate yourself and share it with Radiohead's group on Youtube. The link shows some of the user-generated videos with similar techniques.

This Radiohead album is available at Amazon.com and at iTunes.

To see how they made this video and the tools check out this link here.

Never Done Before

The Immaculate Jesse Owens. Photo: A Bench Press Blog


"Don't do like what one has done before,
Do like what one has never done before."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Study: 'Bees lose their buzz when sick'

Bumble Bee. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/dr_television/

British researchers show that sick bees have memory problems which adversely affect its work behavior patterns. They regain fully only when they get healthy.

Eamonn Mallon from University of Leicester is one of the researchers in the study analyzed the bumblebees and a odd human-like behavior.

Mallon told Reuters that bees rely on their memory. When they get ill, it affects their memory significantly and they have a tough time doing their daily tasks like humans until they recover fully.

Mallon said:

This is an animal that lives on its memory…If even a minor infection hurts its memory that is a major cost.

Mallon and his team divided bumblebees into two groups and injected half with a substance that stimulated their immune system, which helps them recover from illness. They offered the two groups a choice of blue and yellow flowers but only one color contained sugar water.

All the bees responded correctly to the right flower but the sick bees took a longer time to reach the flower indicating a memory loss when ill.

Britain, like the U.S., is losing bees in large numbers. They once had more than 25 native species of bumble bee but three varieties have been lost in the past 50 years and more is getting lost. Scientists speculate farming methods and disease may be affecting the bees adversely.

Mallon told Reuters in a phone interview:

This means we maybe have to take into account that disease is more important than we thought originally…There is concern about both the decline in wild bumblebee species and the effects of disease on the honeybee industry.

Mallon hopes this study will help recover the dwindling bee populations. Mallon and his team have reported their findings in the Royal Society’s journal, Biology Letters.

Microsoft will stream 10,000 Netflix movies on Xbox Live

In the coming fall, Xbox 360 owners can stream movies directly from Netflix. Users need an Xbox Live and Netflix account and can watch more than 10,000 movie titles.

Microsoft announced a price cut recently for Xbox and now it has added another wrinkle with the Netflix partnership. Xbox users can see high definition movies from Netflix directly on their TV.

There will be a software upgrade soon this fall for Xbox. Once upgraded, users with Xbox Live Gold membership (costs $50 a year) and with a Netflix account can watch movies on demand besides the DVDs that are mailed directly from Netflix.

There are currently 12 million Xbox Live members and 8 million Netflix subscribers, so both sides will gain significantly from this partnership.

Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan told MSNBC.com:

Netflix helps Xbox because there are 8 million of Netflix subscribers, and three-quarters of them are the right age demographic to buy a console…This gives them one more reason.”

The Xbox users will be able to see 10,000 movie titles, though Netflix carries more than 100,000 movies. Netflix and Microsoft may add more movie titles in the future with increased subscription fees.

Still, from a strategic standpoint, the deal helps reinforce Microsoft’s message that the Xbox 360 is a mainstream machine, says.

Shane Kim, Microsoft corporate vice-president told MSNBC.com:

“The Netflix partnership is very consistent with our overall strategy that the Xbox 360 is not just about gaming, it’s also about music and it’s also about video…We’re trying to make it clear that Xbox 360 has fun and entertainment for everyone.”

There is also a rumor that Xbox users can share their movies with their friends by inviting them while they watch. If it turns out true, users can share favorite clips or whole movies with friends.

This just adds another layer of competitiveness between the three major gaming companies, the Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PS3 and Nintendo’s Wii. Gamers have great choices to choose from.

Dutch teen sets a new Rubik's Cube world record

A teenager from Netherlands set a new world record by solving the Rubik’s Cube in just 7.08 seconds, beating the previous record by nearly two seconds.

Erik Akkersdijk, 18, solved the Rubik’s Cube with a record time of 7.08 at the Czech Open during the weekend for “speedcubing” enthusiasts.

Akkersdijk also held one of the previous world record in 2007, when he solved the Rubik’s Cube in 9.77 seconds (shown in the video). Later that record was beaten by Edouard Chambon with a time of 9.18 seconds at the Murcia Open in 2008. Erik at the Czech Open beat the record of Yu Nakajima from Japan, who solved the Rubik’s Cube in 8.72 seconds at the Kashiwa Open 2008.

Australia’s top Rubik’s Cube solver Jasmine Lee told News.com that this record is very impressive and it is a large margin for others to break it.

At the Czech Open, each Rubik’s Cube is rotated by the officials into a random configuration and given to the contestants to solve it.

Only 13 people have ever solved the Cube in less than 10 seconds. All world records have been set the last two years, according to News.com.

5-Year-Old Blind Girl From Korea Plays Any Piano Song After Listening Once

Yoo Ye-eun in Star King Show.

Yoo Ye-eun with Connie Talbot "Britain's Got Talent" star.


She is only five-year-old and already has become a super star in South Korea as well in the Youtube world. Add to that she is blind and an orphan child. Thanks to her foster parents, who nurtured her musical talents, she has become an expert piano player.

Yoo Ye-eun was born blind and adopted in 2002. At the age of three she started to play piano despite that neither of her parents have a musical background. She listens to the song just one time and plays that in the piano. Besides her exceptional playing talents, she is an incredible singer as well.



Yoo Ye-eun attended the "Star King", a Korean talent show similar to "Britian's Got Talent" and "America Got Talent" shows. She vowed the audience as well as the judges and made them cry in the end with her god-given talent.

The Youtube clip showing Ye-eun's performance has been watched more than two million times.

Ye-eun's adoptive mother, Park Jung Soon, told to the judges:

'She has perfect pitch even though she has never learnt to play. We never taught her.'

She took part in the national celebrations for Korea day and also as recently as last week performed in front of the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

After her performance in the "Star King" show, she has received many offers and her parents are trying to do what is best for their child. She also received an offer from one of the doctors, who tried to restore her sight but failed.

According to her mother, Ye-eun practices every day and has ambition to become a "great pianist". Sky is the limit for Ye-eun.

Yahoo Rejects New Deal From Microsoft And Carl Icahn

Yahoo released a statement today about the partial offer from Microsoft and Carl Icahn and rejected it totally and told Microsoft to buy it entirely at a price of $33 per share.

Yahoo is being attacked from two sides, one from Microsoft, who wants to buy it and Carl Icahn, the Yahoo shareholder, whose only aim is to make a profit. Now Microsoft and Icahn are working together to make this happen.

Microsoft initially offered to buy Yahoo at a price of $33 per share months ago, but Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang rejected the offer. Now Microsoft has come up with another offer with interest to buy only the Yahoo search engine, which Icahn want to buy the rest and sell it to the highest bidders. This was the offer given to Yahoo on Friday and was given a 24-hour deadline for Yahoo to respond.

Today, Yahoo rejected the offer and told Microsoft to buy it entirely for $33 per share instead of splitting the company to pieces. But Microsoft has no intentions to go back to that offer and now it just wants the Yahoo search engine.

Previously, even Icahn complained about this offer from Microsoft according to Yahoo. He said this offer will eliminate Microsoft’s need to buy the whole thing. But Icahn has changed positions; he feels he can make more money by selling other properties of Yahoo like Flickr.com, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Del.ici.ous, Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo News etc.

Yahoo had no other choice but to reject this new offer from Microsoft and Icahn. The statement said the current deal it has with Google is far more superior to this offer, which doesn’t provide adequate value for Yahoo shareholders. The statement also calls the offer “absurd and irresponsible” that Microsoft and Icahn would have plans for the future of the company without working with Yahoo management.

Yahoo did the right thing. Microsoft and Icahn say they are helping Yahoo, but in reality they just want to break it into pieces and share the spoils. Which company would allow it to be broken into pieces and sold to different buyers and still think it is good for the company? After Gates exit from Microsoft, Steve Ballmer is trying to act tough in my opinion. Icahn has no plans to help Yahoo in the future, he is interested only in profits. I hope the Yahoo shareholders sees that.

QR Codes: Click Links From Pictures And Share Text With Coded Images

What is QR Code?

Funny Ad about QR Codes in Japan

QR Codes allows you to send information to friends with encrypted images or helps advertisers to communicate their website links to their customers.

QR Codes is a novel way to communicate text, links and other information inside coded images. The user can send an URL, Text, Phone Number or SMS in a coded black and white image to their friends. The black and white images doesn’t make any sense to the naked eye, but QR program can convert them back to text or link from which these images are derived.

The user with a suitable QR code decoder program built in their phone or computer will then convert this coded image back to the main message (URL or text or any information). The same program recognizes the link and launches the mobile browser in the QR Codes.

There is another iPhone application QR Code Decoder from Italy based iMatric can open web links via Safari, add contact in the address book, add event in the Calendar, add a new note to Notes and initiate a new e-mail or phone call from the QR Codes.

Unlike a bar code which can store only in one direction, the QR code can be stored in X & Y directions and thus have more storage capacity per unit area.

QR Code vs Barcode

Labnol.org (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Here is a sample code and message.

QR Code Decodes Messages

Labnol.org (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Denso Wave, introduced this QR Codes concept, said the QR codes are readable from any direction and data stored inside QR Codes can be restored even if the image is partially damaged.

The QR Codes are becoming popular in Japan as shown in one of the video, how easily it is to get a link of the business from the advertisement billboard. This system is also being tested in the U.S.

To generate QR Codes, use this simple application from Kawya, a web based QR Code generator. For decoding the images, we need to download a Java app for desktop or a Java reader for the mobiles.

If you like to make your own QR Codes, go to Kawya - a web based QR code image generator. Now to decode these QR images, download a small Java app for desktop or get this reader if you have a Java enabled mobile phone like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, etc.

And finally there is a Firefox add-on that helps you convert web pages to QR images.

Search Made Easy In iPhone With Google Mobile App

The new iPhone 3G is here, there are some complaints about activating. I think it will be fine, can't imagine anyone could do a great job of handling hundreds of thousands new customers in one day.

There are 100s of applications custom made for iPhone, in the following days we will hear more new applications that will pull iPhone apart from others massively. I saw many applications that users will find it very useful right away, one of them is this Google Mobile App for iPhone.

The video shows how nicely Google is able to suggest as you type your search query either guessing directly or from previous history. It is very unique and is able to combine with other applications like phone, Google Maps, etc. I wish the Google Mobile application for my Palm Centro could do that, but it doesn't. So, iPhone users just enjoy what you have and don't complain initially, it will take some time to adjust.


Google Mobile App for iPhone.

Google Mobile App also has another great feature for iPhone, it uses the My Location feature to detect your current location and shows nearby businesses on a map.

And also you can go to other Google products by clicking the "Explore More" button in Google Mobile App for iPhone.

I think this is a great free tool to have in iPhone, I doubt any other search engine could do these.

You can find Google Mobile App at the App Store icon in your iPhone or in iTunes and search for "Google Mobile". It needs iPhone 2.0 version to see the App Store in iPhone.

Google Mobile App is available only for the U.S. for now, but will soon be available at all other locations.

Ref: Searching on an iPhone can be fun

Cat gets shipped in a box across Germany

The tomcat pet sneaked into a neighbor’s shipping boxes and the package was shipped 717 kilometers (445 miles) from its home. The German postal authorities found it and safely returned the cat.

Janosc, the tomcat used to run away from home frequently but usually returned within a day or two. So the owner Gitti Rauch, 44, didn’t pay much attention until she received a call from her neighbor.

Manuela Lueginger told her that she sent Janosch in the post to her eBay buyer in Dorsten, a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which is 717 kilometers (445 miles) from the Bavarian village near the Austrian border.

Janosch apparently was looking for a place to sleep. When he found the box, he slipped right into it. Lueginger had shipped a child seat to her buyer. The child seat and the cat were then shipped together and neither Lueginger nor the postal workers noticed or heard any sounds from the cat.

The postal workers at Dorsten, however, noticed something moving inside the box and were surprised to see a live tomcat. Luckily Janosch endured the 24-hour journey without any problems.

Rauch, a waitress, said she wasn’t surprised about Janosch surviving the journey. She told Miesbacher Merkur newspaper:

He likes to ride in cars, he likes boxes and he never complains.

The Dorsten postal office first contacted Lueginger, the shipper, and then transferred Janosch to a nearby animal shelter before reuniting the feline with its owner.

Rauch had to pay €280 ($440) in train tickets and fees to the animal shelter to get her cat back. But she said it is worth it and is happy that Janosch is back.

Luxury Skiing Holidays in Europe

Chalet Evergreen, Meribel, France

U.S. and Canada have some fine ski resorts but Europe boasts even finer ski resorts in my opinion.

My friend in France told me about Meribel and said she and her family had the best skiing holidays. The picturesque village of Meribel sits in the heart of 3 Valleys Courchevel, Val Thorens and Meribel, so you can stay in Luxury ski chalets and enjoy your Skiing holidays. It is favored by British skiers because Meribel has the perfect combination of fun on and off the slope and also boasts the snow record and has plenty of sunshine as well.

To know more about France Meribel visit Super Travel site, see what Meribel chalet has to offer for your holidays. Super Travel will help you get the best Ski holidays packages. They will help you arrange low cost flights to executive jets, coach transfers, private taxis and helicopter shuttles and leave the travel hassle and enjoy your winter break.

Besides Meribel, check out Courchevel, France St Anton and Austria for great Luxury Skiing holidays.

To contact Super Travel and arrange for your ski holiday trip in one of their luxury chalets or hotels, call them on 020-7295-1650. If you want to make a ski trip and really have a fun time with your partner, Europe is the place to go.

Use "Lock Cup" To Prevent Your Co-Workers From Using The Coffee Cup

Lock Cup. Photo: DesignBoom.

I like product designs that have innovative features and would love to talk about it and share with others. I have seen some nice designs in the coffee industry. Then I see this photo, all I can say "What in the World".

This cup called "Lock Cup" is specially made for office workers, who don't want to share their coffee mugs with others.

When the cup is not in use, we have to unscrew the plug, which will make a hole in the cup. So others cannot use the cup now.

This Lock Cup won the honorable mention at the Beck's Design 2004 contest. The contestants were asked to design a product that works with or as a key.

The Lock Cup is promoted by Gommeh.com and is awaiting production.

Brilliant idea or Stupid idea? What do you think?

Steve Jobs: App Store will launch with 500 iPhone applications, 25% fre

The new App Store for iPhone users is here and Steve Jobs is very excited about its launch. He said there will be more than 500 applications by today.

The App Store is available via iTunes now so users can buy applications and sync it with their old iPhone as well as the new iPhone 3G that will be launched tomorrow. Steve Jobs has introduced so many new products during the last few decades but he says this App Store is the biggest launch of his career.

Jobs told USA Today that were will be more than 500 applications by Thursday night just in time for the new iPhone 3G buyers tomorrow. He said nearly 25 percent of them are available free and the remaining is sold from $0.99 to $9.99 per application.

Analyst Tim Bajarin at Creative Strategies expects that iPhone sales will sky rocket after the introduction of this new App Store. He told New York Times:

When IBM introduced the PC, it was good, but it didn't take off until people started discovering the software."

Bajarin added the App Store will dramatically differentiate the iPhones from Treos and BlackBerrys.

I checked the iTunes store, it has a remarkable initial collection and would love to use them if I had an iPhone. The downloads work seamlessly just like regular music and movie downloads.

You can check photos in your Smugmug or Photobucket account, check your bank account with a Bank of America application, browse your favorite social network Facebook, play Cross word puzzle and Mah Jong games, use PayPal to receive or send money from iPhone and read books also. It just seems sky is the limit for iPhones and Apple.

Apple launches iPhone App Store has 28 Pages of Applications

Apple has launched its iPhone App store and has 100s of games, productivity applications and eBooks. iPhone users can download the applications but will require iPhone 2.0 software, which is available tomorrow.

Apple will launch iPhone 3G tomorrow and has launched their new App Store today so iPhone buyers can see what applications they may need.

You can download the new iTunes 7.7 version here and check out the App Store.

Previous owners can download to their old iPhones but they will need the iPhone 2.0 software to make these applications run, which will be available tomorrow along with the iPhone 3G. Till then customers can have a preview of the App Store.

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington reported that there are nearly 27 pages of applications in the App Store. I was unable to see it but I will try again to see them later.

Here are some snapshots from the App Store.

New App Store for iPhones in iTunes.

Techcrunch.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

I see many applications with prices $0.99 only. Arrington also found plenty of books listed under applications category and most of them were available for $0.99. Soon eBooks at Apple Store will rival Palm and Amazon Kindle eBooks.

With so many applications available already and there will be even more very soon, it makes Apple iPhone 3G a giant in the Smartphone industry. Others like Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm have a lot of catching up to do and may even spell doom for some.

Smile Cure

La velata, or La donna velata ("The woman with the veil") by Raphael. Photo: Squidoo.com.

Smile Cure:

"Love,
You bear all the pain,
With just a divine smile,
What a powerful medicine you carry,
That can cure many ills of this world."

- Chris Veerabadran in Mil Gracias (A Thousand Thanks).

Japanese women calms down a thief with a cup of tea and a chat

Japanese Tea Ceremony. Photo: Flickr.com/photos/ameotoko

A Japanese mother and her six-month-old baby escaped unhurt from the thief after the mother calmed him with a cup of tea and a sympathetic chat conversation.

The man brandishing a knife confronted the 30-year-old mother and her baby as she was walking along a corridor in her apartment building in Tokyo. The man demanded money and when she said she had none, the thief barged into her apartment.

Without showing any fear or panic outside, she tried to calm the thief and prepared him a cup of tea. When she offered the tea, the thief put the knife away and began to chat with her for nearly 20 minutes about his life.

The woman gave the man 10,000 Yen ($93.15) and the man fled the scene. She reported this incident to the police, who are trying to arrest him.

Better To Be Unique

Tiger Woods in Tag Heuer Ad. Photo Tag Hauer.


"Go then and take a part, but I will not. "Why?" Because you consider yourself to be only one thread of those which are in the tunic. Well then it was fitting for you to take care how you should be like the rest of men, just as the thread has no design to be anything superior to the other threads. But I wish to be purple, that small part which is bright, and makes all the rest appear graceful and beautiful."

- Epictetus in THE DISCOURSES

Man charged with French student murders

A 33-year-old man has been charged with the brutal murders of two French students, who were stabbed numerous times and set on fire.

Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, both 23, visiting from France for a three month study at Imperial College. They were found murdered at Ferez's apartment on June 29th, 2008. Both had more than 240 stab founds, were found bound and gagged and set on fire. Police released an E-FIT profile of the suspect last Sunday. Whether that led to this arrest is not sure, but Nigel Edwards Farmer, 33, was charged with murder, arson and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Farmer apparently had turned himself at the Lewisham police station with severely burn injuries to his hands and arms. The took him to the hospital for treatment. Whether he injured during the murders are not stated in the article, but it appears he is one of the main culprits who did this heinous crime. In the Daily Mail article, he informed the police that he murdered the two French students, but the police didn't believe him until a few hours later. They made him sit in the visitor's area instead. Luckily for the police, he didn't run away. Farmer will appear at Greenwich Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

University of Toronto plans to kick out the first man to discover a black hole

Charles Thomas Bolton at the door steps of David Dunlap Observatory. Photo: National Post.

Charles Thomas Bolton has spent 37 years in David Dunlap Observatory and is credited for being the first man to discover the black hole in Space. The University of Toronto wants him out of the Observatory in 10 days.

In 1972, Charles Thomas Bolton was the first astronomer to provide valid evidence about the existence of a black hole. He discovered the "Cygnus X-1" black hole, which lies at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. To know more about how he discovered this for the first time click here.

In the main article, you can see Bolton sitting at the steps of the David Dunlap Observatory dejectedly. Why he is crying because of the University of Toronto's actions.

Instead of making Bolton as a national treasure, the University of Toronto administration has given him a stern notice to leave the David Dunlap Observatory in 10 days and is planning to close the observatory and demolish it and sell the property.

The university sent Bolton the following e-mail:

"In November, the university voted to close the observatory and sell it to the highest bidder, and redirect the money from the sale back into the school’s astronomy program. Yesterday it confirmed it has a “firm agreement” with a buyer and it’s looking to close the deal by month-end. It did not disclose the buyer or the price."

The university claims the observatory is no longer useful because of light pollution but Bolton and the staff, who operate the telescope disagree.

Bolton was dismayed with this e-mail. He told National Post:

"You probably can't print what I think...The nicest way I could put it is 'disappointed.' "

Bolton said if the University of Toronto administration didn't cut funds the observatory could still be productive. Even with limited resources it can provide more information about the stars, which is ever changing in nature.

Bolton added:

With a modest investment, the university could have returned the observatory to the “showcase” status it had 20 years ago, before “they started running it into the ground by systematically starving us for replacement faculty.”

On Wednesday, the University of Toronto also laid off staff at the observatory, including telescope operators Heide DeBond and Toomas Karmo.

DeBond said if the telescopes are left unattended it will take many hours to bring it back to normalcy.

DeBond told National Post:

“This is a real loss for Canadian science and Canadian history.”

If the University does sell the land and the observatory, the telescope will remain with the anonymous buyer.

Change is necessary sometimes but you can't ignore a legend like Bolton.

Google Shows Who Has Access to Your Gmail Account

Google has added a great security feature to Gmail, now you can observe in Gmail what places you are logged in, whether anyone has access to your e-mail illegally and you can sign yourself off remotely.

Gmail can be accessed anywhere and because of this sometimes we may log in from different places but forget to log ourselves out. Google has added a great privacy tool for Gmail, by which you can monitor what are all the places you are logged in and if you want to sign off from those locations you can easily do it remotely.

This feature doesn't appear in Gmail yet, but it will be available to everyone shortly. When it is available, the feature will show just below your Gmail account page:

Gmail adds Security Feature

Gmailblog.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

If you are logged in more than one locations, then it will show that your Gmail account is open in so many locations. To make sure those locations are yours just click the "Details" and you will see the IP (Internet Protocol) address. Every computer has a unique IP address so you will know whether it is yours or someone else. If it is someone else you can easily disable that location as shown below:

Gmail shows various logged in sessions

Gmailblog.blogspot.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

The table under "Concurrent session information" will show all your open Gmail sessions, along with IP address and "access type" (whether Gmail is open in iGoogle, POP3, mobile phone etc.). The table under "Recent activity" will show the recent history along with times of access. You can also view your current IP address at the bottom of the window.

All these information will help you to see that you are the only one using all these different Gmail sessions, if not you can protect yourself easily by logging them off. And if you feel that you are hacked, the best thing to do is change the password immediately.

This is a must have feature in Gmail or any e-mail account and hopefully Google will roll out this feature for everyone.

Apple sanctions Rogers for iPhone rates?

iPhone 3G. Photo: Apple.com.

A blogger claims from his confirmed sources including a senior Rogers representative that Apple is punishing Rogers with fewer shipments for its outrageous data plans.

Daniel Smith, a blogger claims that he has multiple sources who have confirmed to him that Apple will be shipping fewer iPhone 3G units to the Canadian provider Rogers Wireless. Smith says that Apple is upset with Rogers' expensive rate plans for the new iPhone 3G compared to AT&T, which has more minutes and unlimited data at cheaper rates.

Initially Rogers had hired more staff to meet the increased demand for iPhones in Canada, but because of the fewer shipments, it is rumored they have fired some of their hires.

If Smith's sources are correct, Rogers will be getting just 10 to 20 iPhones for each of their stores in Canada. Apple also has told Rogers not to expect too much stock in the near future. Apple has diverted most of the Canadian stock to Europe.

One of the customers unhappy with Rogers phone rate plan has started a website called RuinediPhone.com and has signed more than 48,000 so far, who wants to boycott Rogers Wireless.

Rogers Wireless Communication Director, Liz Hamilton responded to Christophe Hogg with the following statement:

Phone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the ONLY price plans available to our customers, they are the high value plans that allow our customers to use this device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today. As always, our customers have many choices, they can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish, including for example, selecting from our new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and undoubtedly they would want to add a voice plan that suits their own needs, or they can choose a voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs. Customers do not need to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.

With respect to existing customers, all customers’ accounts are unique. If desired, customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs. They will need to check their upgrade eligibility but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 for example, can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other pricing may be available depending on the customer’s individual information.

Rogers in other words has yielded only slightly and doesn't offer much benefits to many of their core customers or new customers who want to switch to them.

The iPhone 3G will be released this Friday in Canada, we will know by then whether this rumor is true or not. But Apple has done similar sanctioning with their Swedish carrier TeliaSonera and forced them to offer unlimited data option for the same price instead of just 1GB of data per month.

Rashid tells SPIEGEL: 'Afghanistan is a bigger problem than it was in 2001'

Author Ahmed Rashid in an interview with German newspaper SPIEGEL said the regional war in Afghanistan is spreading to Pakistan also and the problems have compounded since 2001.

Ahmed Rashid, 59, is a leading journalist from Pakistan and expert on the Taliban and al- Qaeda. In his recent book "Descent into Chaos" he describes how the Afghanistan war is spreading into neighboring areas like Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian countries. He gave an interview about his book with Susanne Koelbl, SPIEGEL.

Rashid said a part of Pakistan's army and intelligence service are working with the Taliban in Afghanistan and helping them. The Taliban is gaining in strength in northwestern Pakistan and in Islamabad and in Kabul, Afghanistan by exploiting the weaknesses of the politicians and army officials. He warns that there is a double crisis in Pakistan and in Afghanistan.

He said the Taliban in both countries are on the offensive and inflicting heavy damages to the coalition troops.

Rashid told SPIEGEL:

This is a strategic decision by the Taliban who see a lame duck American president and also know that it will take until next spring before a new US administration can become effective. They also see a weak and divided Pakistani government and a weak and ineffectual Afghan government.

According to Rashid, Taliban either wants to take over a town or city and announcing an alternative government or force one of the coalition partners to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan. By creating chaos it is extending the battle. Taliban also plans to conquer more territory in the North-West Frontier Province, where the Pashtuns a major group in Pakistan lives.

Pashtuns have repeatedly helped both Al-Qaeda and Taliban and have been handsomely rewarded for their assistance, so they keep helping them more causing problems for both NATO troops and Pakistan's Army.

Rashid gave the following reasons for the Taliban's significant influence in the North-West Frontier Province:

The real fault lies in the Americans' lack of interest in the Taliban after 2001. They insisted again and again that the only enemy was al-Qaeda. This allowed Pakistan to accept the retreating Taliban and give them refuge.

Rashid added the current political situation in Pakistan is not of much help despite the democratic elections that were held recently. Musharraf has still imposed a martial law and the elected civil government has no controls with the foreign policy, only the military has full control. The rising of oil prices and corresponding high inflation is creating further unrest in the area and it can only benefit Taliban more.

He said the only way to stop Taliban from spreading is to remove them from Pakistan totally and stop giving them further refuge status in Pakistan.

Koelbl asked Rashid what mistakes have the Western governments made in Pakistan and Afghanistan?

Rashid replied:

The original sin was made when the US abandoned Afghanistan in early 2002 in order to prepare for the war in Iraq. We did not see major reconstruction of the country until 2004 and the window of opportunity for winning over the Afghan people and truly undermining Taliban influence was lost.

Rashid has still hopes that Afghanistan can be saved with a regional diplomatic approach with the local tribes. But he warned the problem is getting worse as the conflict has spread to neighboring areas such as Pakistan, Central Asia and Iran.

Koelbl asked him whether the Taliban will be able to get hold of the nuclear arsenal and pose a danger to the world. Rashid said the Pakistan military is very strong and hierarchical and it will never give away the nuclear arsenal to Taliban. But if the cracks keeps spreading with time and falls into Taliban hands it will be deadly.

If Rashid's assertions are correct then the amount of money spent in Afghanistan and financial aid to Pakistan will spiral even further and more human lives will be lost.

Customer gets a £31,000 broadband bill for downloading a single episode

Vodafone Home Page. Photo: Flickr.com.

A British mobile broadband user received a huge bill of £31,000 ($61,476) after he downloaded music and a single TV episode during his trip to Portugal.

Iayn Dobsyn, 34, knew that he will be getting a huge bill but in the range of hundreds of pounds, but when he received the full bill from 'Yes Telecom'', a Vodafone company, he was flabbergasted.

Dobsyn downloaded the files through a mobile broadband card for his laptop during his recent holiday trip to Portugal. He downloaded some music and one full episode of "Prison Break" TV series.

After he came back from Portugal, he received the monthly bill from 'Yes Telecom' with the outstanding amount of £31,000 ($61,476).

Dobsyn told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"The figures looked like they had come down from the moon. I just laughed. There had to be some mistake. I knew I had used a lot of data while abroad, but not to the tune of £31,000. The figures just didn't make sense."

Dobsyn decided then to seek legal advice to resolve this situation, but luckily for him Vodafone agreed to reduce the bill to £229 ($453). His average monthly bill is £150 ($298).

He said he was unaware of the high downloading costs outside the network.

Dobsyn lawyer, Ms. Danielle Mestraud successfully negotiated with "Yes Telecom" and agreed to allow the broadband customer to switch to a lower tariff. Thus, Dobsyn was able to get a lower bill payment from "Yes Telecom".

Vodafone spokeswoman said in a statement:

"Yes Telecom has always been committed to removing the uncertainty of charges when abroad by helping customers to choose the right price plan."

Vodafone did a great job by not insisting Dobsyn to pay the full amount, if it were Verizon or AT&T he would have ended up paying the full amount. Every customer should read the fine print from their broadband company otherwise, we will end up getting a huge bill like this

Apple will launch iPhone App Store this week

 The New App Store for iPhones

Apple
has asked the game developers for the new iPhone 3G to submit their
games by tonight so as to include them for the launch of the new App
Store this week.

Apple made this announcement today and the new App Store will go live
this Friday when the iPhone 3G will be released simultaneously
worldwide. They have asked the game developers to submit their games by
tonight so customers can order them as the iPhone 3G is available.




Apple said in a statement:

“Have your application be among the first available when the App
Store goes live. To ensure your application can be considered for the
exciting launch of the App Store, submit your application by 12 PM PDT,
on July 7, 2008. We will continue to accept applications after this
time, however your application may not be available until after the
launch of the App Store. Conduct final testing of your application with
iPhone OS beta eight and submit your app today.”

Apple will accept games from developers after the deadline also but it
may not be included right away with the App Store, there might be some
delays. If the game developers want their software to get more
publicity then they should have them ready and submit it today.




Most probably the new App Store will be available in iTunes along with the music, movies, rentals and podcasts.




TechCrunch expects that App Store might be launched a few days earlier.




This App Store will really set the iPhone apart from its
competitors. Palm and Symbian Smartphones have a big application
database but iPhones will catch them soon.




At its site, Apple
has said there will be applications in many areas such as gaming,
chatting, social networking, news, sports, traveling, finance or
business. Apple said it will have something (applications) for
everyone. Some of the applications may be available free also.

Can't Bear

"Love can't bear see you cry,

Hate can't bear see you smile."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Study: More than 10,000 laptops go missing at US airports each week

According to the Ponemon Institute's survey, nearly 10,000 laptops are lost at the U.S. airports each week, 65 percent of them are never recovered.

The statistics are mind boggling but is happening at record rates in the country's airports. The Ponemon survey was commissioned by Dell Computers and showed that a record amount of 637,000 laptops were lost last year. It averages to 10,000 laptops each week for the largest airports, out of which 65 percent are lost forever. For the medium sized airports, the losses were less but still considerable, about 2,000 laptops are lost.

The survey found most of the laptops were lost at the security points.

Most of the respondents surveyed (77 percent) don't believe that they will ever get the lost laptop back at the airports and 16 percent said they won't even make an effort to recover it when lost.

The Federal Trade Commission has reported that airports, hotels and parked cars are places where laptops can be easily stolen. Also, the security checkpoints baffling procedures makes it easy for the travelers to lose track of their laptops and makes it a "fertile ground for theft". But aren't we supposed to feel safe at the security points?

It is better to protect laptops with GPS laptop tracking services from Absolute Computrace or using Front Door's Retriever software (which locates laptop using Google Maps). Apple also has a "Back to My Mac" and helps retrieve stolen Mac laptops.

Be safe with your laptop, have suitable password protection and use a laptop recovery service, a small investment that pays in the long run.

Times Square Billboard Goes Solar

Ricoh's Times Square Solar and Wind Powered Billboard.

A
Times Square advertiser want to go green and be eco-friendly by having
a billboard powered entirely by the sun and the wind. The first
billboard will go up this December.

When this new billboard is raised in Times Square, it will be the first
of its kind in the New York city, but will be the second in the U.S.
and the third in the world according to Ricoh Americas Corporation's spokesman Russell Marchetta.




The billboard will show advertising about Ricoh Company Ltd. of Tokyo,
the parent company for Ricoh Americas Corp. Ricoh sells office
automation equipment products and supplies electronics parts. The
billboard will measure 47 feet (14 meters) high by 126 feet (38 meters)
long. The lights will be powered on-site by four wind turbines and 45
solar panels.




The new billboard will help reduce carbon dioxide usage by 18 tons a year according to Marchetta.




Ricoh already has a billboard in Japan powered entirely by solar and wind.




The new billboard will located at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street in New York.




Marchetta said when there is poor sunlight or lack of winds, the
billboard will not be lighted, though passersby can read the billboard
without the lights during the day.




The first solar-powered billboard in the United States came last
year when Pacific Gas and Electric erected one in San Francisco.




If other billboards in New York and Las Vegas does the same, then it will be good for the environment.

Secrets of Stradivarius Violins Revealed

 Stradivarius Violin. Photo: Wikimedia.org.

 

The difference between the sounds of Stradivarius violins and other wood violins is vast, Scientists have found out why.

Previously others thought the sound quality in Stradivarius violins
were due to the varnishes present in the violin, the boiling and
submersion of the woods in ponds etc. But Scientists have discovered the secrets of Stradivarius violins by analyzing it in a CT scanner.





The study was published yesterday in Public Library of Science ONE,
Dutch scientists analyzed five of the violins made in the early 18th
century by Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari with the help of a CT Scanner.





The three dimensional X-ray images revealed that wood used in the
Stradivari’s violins had an exceptional uniform density packing, with
hardly any variation in growth rings added to the tree it was made from
each year.




In normal wood, there is more summertime growth than wintertime
growth and results in broad rings of wood and alternates with the
growth of narrow, dense winter bands. Whereas with Stradivarius
violins, the woods had uniform growth both in the summer and winter,
hence the quality of the sounds in these violins are exceptional and
often high priced.





Stradivari lived during the Little Ice Age,
the trees, where he got the wood from had only a little more growth in
summer than in winter. Thus he was able to get uniformly denser wood
for his violins. And this has solved the long mystery why Stradivarius
violins have great sounds.





To find out more about the study click the link here from journal PloS ONE.

Explore the Tour de France with Google Maps Street View

How to use Google Maps Street View

View Larger Map

The Arc de Triomphe, at the western end of the Champs Elysee. If you zoom in, you can look at the detailed sculputres on the frieze

Google Maps has added Tour de France checkpoints and routes with “Street View”, so sports fans can follow and enjoy their favorite race.

Thanks to this addition, you can now follow every twists, turns and steep climbs in Google Maps for the upcoming 2008 Tour de France cycling race. Users by clicking the map as shown below, they can navigate through the streets the cyclists will be taking in this race and watch the mountains, cities and towns.

To see the street view of all the 21 stages, click this link here and click the camera icon to see the actual route.

Google Earth also has a special link for the 2008 Tour de France.

Only thing you can’t watch with Google Maps is live action, but that is taken care of by Google with a special Youtube page for Tour de France.

With this Tour de France route, Google Maps launches the Street View imagery in Europe for the first time. To include privacy concerns, they have face blurring feature and also protect sensitive information like the car license plates.

If you don’t like Tour de France, you can still see Street View images of national parks and recreational areas in Google Maps.

Report: Body Makes Cannabinoids Similar To THC in Marijuana and Good For skin

Scientists have discovered that our body makes chemical compounds similar to the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) and also plays a vital part in the health of the skin.

Researchers from Hungary, Germany and the U.K. have discovered “endocannabinoids” in the human body that is similar to the active ingredient found in marijuana. The scientists are planning to create new drugs with endocannabinoids and treat skin conditions from acne to dry skin and skin-related tumors.

Tamás Biró, MD, PhD, a senior scientist involved in the research and his team treated cell cultures from human sebaceous glands that make the oil on our skin with various concentrations of endocannabinoids.

The researchers measured the production of lipids (fat cells in skin oil), cell survival and death, and changes in gene expression. They compared this data with the untreated control group and found that endocannabinoids helps maintain a healthy skin.

Gerald Weissmann, MD told ScienceDaily.com:

"This research shows that we may have something in common with the marijuana plant...Just as THC is believed to protect the marijuana plants from pathogens, our own cannabinoids may be necessary for us to maintain healthy skin and to protect us from pathogens."

Tamás Biró and his team plan to use the endocannabinoids for management of skin disorders next and may also use them as a skin cream.

This finding on endocannabinoids is available online via Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Quick Judgment is Seldom Good

Happy 4th of July.


"The one who decides he or she is good very quickly,

Will decide he or she is bad very quickly as well*."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.


* Be wary with their praises, it will turn into criticisms very quickly because of their fickle nature.

Volkswagen 'One-Liter' Concept Car Gets 282 Miles Per Gallon

VW One-Liter Concept Car. Photo Wired.com.

Volkswagen has come with a novel “One-Liter” car concept vehicle, a two seater that gets an amazing 282 miles per gallon.

With $4 per gallon gas price and a possible $8 per gallon in the next few years, customers would love to have a car like this. Volkswagen produced this concept car six years ago but because of high raw material prices, they shelved it until now.

Volkswagen (VW) calls it “One-Liter” car because that is the fuel the car requires one liter to go 100 kilometers (282 miles per gallon). According to my calculation it comes to 235 miles per U.S. gallon, still it is a very high figure. Wired.com calculated this using U.K. gallon.

From WikiAnswers: A British (imperial) gallon contains four imperial quarts of 40 ounce each for a total of 160 ounces, and a US gallon contains four US quarts of 32 ounces each, for a total of 128 ounces.

The car is a bullet shaped microcar and made of carbon fiber to minimize weight (and thus increase the fuel efficiency). The car weight only 660 pounds (300 kilograms).

The initial price of a carbon monocoque (a single shell) has dropped in prices from 35,000 Euros ($55,000) to 5,000 Euros ($8,000), so Volkswagen decided to produce these single concept cars ahead of schedule. According to Britain’s Car magazine, VW has approved a plan to build 1,000 cars per year in 2010 and plans to produce more after.

Main features of this “One-liter” concept car according to Canadian Driver:

• It uses magnesium, titanium and aluminum to reduce the car’s weight by one third the weight of Toyota Echo.
• Front suspension assembly weighs 18 pounds.
• Six-speed transmission has a magnesium case, titanium bolts and hollow gears, weighs 50 pounds.
• The 16 inch wheels are made of carbon fiber.
• The steering wheel is made of magnesium and weighs a pound.
• The car is 11.4 feet long, 4.1 feet wide and 3.3 feet tall.
• It has one cylinder engine with 8.5 horsepower and 13.5 foot pounds of torque.
• The engine turns off at stop lights to save fuel, and then automatically restarts when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal.
• The car meets safety standards.
• It has anti-lock brakes, stability control and airbags.
• Sticker price varies from 20,000 to 30,000 Euros ($31,750 to $47,622).

If it turns successful, VW can modify this car to suit family needs.

Lyc-O-Mato: An Ingestible Sunscreen Based on Tomatoes

Lyc-O-Mato an ingestible sunscreen product.

The chemicals in sunscreens protect the skin but hurt the environment, the corals and the fishes in the sea. LycoRed has produced a green product based on tomatoes that help protect the skin without a sunscreen.

The dangers of chemicals in sunscreen products are well documented. It has been shown causing bleaching in corals and altering sex in fish.LycoRed Company wants to provide a green solution for sunscreens andprotect you from the sun’s harmful UV radiation. It has developed an extract from the tomato and uses them to protect the skin. It is calledLyc-O-Mato and is available in Europe through Inneov, a joint venture of L’Oreal, Nestle and the French based Oenobiol. It will be available in the U.S. soon.The company also develops a natural red food coloring additive.The oleoresin, belonging to the carotenoid family is extracted from theLycoRed’s special breed of tomatoes. Scientists have found in their studies that this extract can shield the skin from the sunburn and the free radicals that lead to premature aging.Zohar Nir, LycoRed's VP of Scientific Affairs and VP of new product development told Israel21c.org:

The carotenoid that LycoRed has extracted is made up of several elements: lycopene, phytoene, phytofluene and tocopherols(vitamin E). These natural phytochemicals from the tomato work in harmony to protect the skin from damaging UV radiation

Zohar Nir said though Lyc-O-Mato is not intended to be a sunscreen replacement, but it can be a part of the person’s diet regimen to help them maintain their skin health.



LycoRed will sell these products either as a food supplement or in a beverage.While other sunscreen products protect you from outside, Lyc-O-Mato protects you from inside. If it works then it could be a potential replacement for sunscreen products and most important of all available in nature in plenty.

Wal-Mart broke Minnesota labor law 2 million times over six years

 

A Minnesota District Judge ruled that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. broke the labor laws of Minnesota more than 2 million times and made employees to work through lunch and rest breaks non-stop.

The lawsuit was filed in 2001 but the ruling was given only this week. The jury will decide how much penalty to assign for each violation, which may run up to $1,000 per violation. The second phase of the trial is expected to begin October 20th.

Nancy Braun, 53, one of four named plaintiffs on the suit told the courts how she was treated during her 14 months of work in Wal-mart. She was the sole cook and waitress at the store’s grill. They didn’t give her any replacement when she had to take lunch or have bathroom breaks. They made her work through out the day non-stop repeatedly.

She told Star Tribune that many times there was no replacement for her to go to the bathroom:

"I would end up soiling myself…Sometimes I'd have other clothes with me in my locker, or they would say to me, 'We have clothes in the store you can buy.'"

Braun said she complained several times to the management but no help came.

The District Judge Robert King in a ruling Monday in Hastings cited Braun’s treatment and another episode with a menstruating employee and called it “dehumanizing and reprehensible” acts.

Wal-Mart is planning to appeal according to Daphne Moore, company spokeswoman. They are pleased with the court’s ruling on many points but on others they don’t agree with it and plan to appeal.

For more about Wal-Mart labor practices watch this mini documentary in this article and for the full movie click this Google video.

Judge orders Google to Hand Over All of YouTube User Data

Thejudge in the case of Viacom vs. Google wants Google to turn over allthe user data including their names, IP addresses, and their videoviewing history to Viacom.

Viacom filed a lawsuit against Google in March 2007 and sought morethan $1.5 billion in damages for allowing users to upload copyrightedclips of Viacom. Google defended by saying that the law provide safeharbor for online sites as long as they complied with copyrighttakedown requests. The case has been dragging for a long time now without a finaldecision, now the judge has made it even more complicated by allowingViacom’s request to get all the user data from Youtube. You can see thefull text of judge’s ruling in the pdf document. Google arguedthat if turns over the data to Viacom it will invade its user’s privacyrights, but the judge described the argument as “speculative” andordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte harddrives. Google should turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users including their names and IP addresses to Viacom. Viacom wants to use this data to prove that videos with infringed materials are more popular than user-created videos. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is very upset with this judge’s rulings and has called it a “violation of the Video Privacy Protection act” and the ruling threatens to expose deeply private information of the users. Viacom also sought YouTube’s source code, the code Google uses toidentify copyrighted videos, but the Judge dismissed their request. I hope Google puts up a big fight and says no toViacom.

Firefox 3 Sets A New Guinness World Record

As
expected, Mozilla achieved a new Guinness World Record, when users
downloaded its Firefox 3 a record 8 million times in just 24 hours.

Mozilla initially achieved to get 5 million downloads for its new
browser version, Firefox 3, but it was downloaded a record 8,002,530
times on June 17th.




Mozilla announced this news as follows:

The Firefox community is the proud new owner of a Guinness
World Record — each and every one of you! Mozilla today received
confirmation from Guinness World Records that we've officially achieved
the record for the "largest number of software downloads in 24 hours."
From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008,
8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3!

Computerworld.com
reports that Firefox has reached a 19% share in the internet browser
category in June, mostly thanks to this record download of Firefox 3.
Internet Explorer still leads by a record 73% but mostly due to the
pre-installed IE browser in the computer. Safari and Opera also saw an
increased share in June, Safari has 6.3% share and Opera has 0.7%
share.




If you downloaded Firefox 3 on June, you can get a personalized certificate like the one below:

Firefox Guinness World Record Certificate

Mozilla.com (Creative Commons - Attribution)

Firefox 3 is so far working great for me and most of the extensions
like FoxClocks, Del.ici.ous, Google Toolbar, Stumble, IE Tab, Remember
the Milk, PicLens and HyperWords all work with the new browser.





If you haven’t downloaded it, you can download it at this link and get a better, safer and smarter browsing experience in the internet.

50 billion Zimbabwe dollars for a burger

The economy is getting worse in Zimbabwe and the recent one-sided election hasn’t helped a bit. The country’s bank only issues billion-dollar Zimbabwean currency notes but they are hardly worth one U.S. dollar.

Newsweek reports that Zimbabwe residents are going through severe hardships yet surviving it with humor. The reporter found a fast-food joint was selling burgers and fried chicken, and a double cheeseburger cost 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars. And if you order a full meal with fries and a Coke, it cost 80 billion Zimbabwean dollars.

The Zimbabwean dollar is taking a nose dive day by day. The current value of a 25 billion Zimbabwean dollar note is worth only one US dollar. Zimbabwe only has two bank notes in circulation: 25 billion dollar bills and 50 billion dollar bills.

Residents are only allowed to withdraw 25 billion Zimbabwean dollars per day from their bank accounts. And with that limit, it makes it extremely difficult to buy food and other items, which also sell at a very high price.

While the country is in turmoil, Mugabe is currently in Sharm el-Sheikh and attending the African Union (AU) summit with other African countries. The AU wants Mugabe and Moran Tsvangirai, opposition candidate for the president, to negotiate further to improve the political climate in Zimbabwe. The leaders in AU have no real influence in this because most of them are dictators themselves.

Morgan Tsvangirai left his self-imposed refuge at the Dutch embassy and returned to his home in Harare today. But he will have minimal impact with the country’s economy as long as Mugabe is in power.

If Mugabe still rules for another few years, we can expect a trillion dollar burger soon.

New Gallon Milk Jug Cuts Fuel, Labor and Carbon Costs

Big retailers are welcoming the new gallon milk jugs because it helps them save fuel, packaging and labor costs and pass the savings to customers. But customers are not happy with the new design.

The current gallon jug doesn’t allow other jugs to be stacked over themselves directly, instead requiring crates. The shipper has to make more trips from the dairy farm to the markets and requires frequent cleaning of the crates with lots of water, which adds to the costs.

Superior Dairy has come up with a new design through its Creative Edge company that overcomes these problems.

The new gallon milk jugs are square shaped which allows them to stack on top of one another. They don’t require a crate. All they need is a cardboard and shrink-wrap, both of which are recyclable.

They require fewer trips to the marketplace, which helps save fuel and carbon costs. Also, fresh milk is possible with these new gallon jugs.

Sam's Club is one of the companies that are using these new jugs. The company estimates that it has cut its labor in half and water use by 60 to 70 percent. Also, more gallons of milk fit in a truck and no empty crates are needed to be picked by the trucks. Sam’s Club told New York Times that it can store up to 224 gallons of milk in its coolers with the newer jugs, compared to the 80 gallons of milk from its old jugs.

But the customers are not happy with the new jugs because they lack a real spout like the old ones. They say it is difficult to pour, and it is hard for the children to use these new jugs.

Sam’s Club is setting up stalls and demonstrating how to use these jugs.

Machine gets gallons of water out of thin air

Klimatec AirWater Machine. Photo: Dvice.com.

Klimatec Company claims it has built a machine that can extract water straight out of the air and make 5 gallons of water in 24 hours.

There are number of water purifiers and water filters that offers fresh water but Klimatec wants to do the same without any water as a starting point. It’s Klimatec Base 1 AirWater Machine extracts water molecules from the air directly and purifies it to make potable water.

The machine operates as follows:

Airwater uses refrigeration techniques to condense this humidity from air. Air driven by blowers is sucked into the system through an electro static filter. Cooled coils located in the path of air provide a temperature differential between the air and the coil surface resulting in condensation which is funneled into a holding tank which has a level switch controlling the water making cycle. Water is then passed through an active carbon filter to remove solids, oxygenates and to remove any odor.

The machine is capable of extracting five gallons of fresh water every 24 hours. The extracted water passes through an active carbon filter and then it is run through an ultraviolet light chamber to kill any bacteria. Plus it has an option to provide either hot or cold water and has a mini-fridge to keep the food and drinks cold.

It sounds promising but the pricing is not clear yet. Dvice.com is waiting for additional details from Klimatec.

According to Dvice, the AirWater machine might require considerable amount of power, requires 480 Watts to operate. Apparently Klimatec has solved that problem with a built in solar power option.

I hope the scientists do a cost analysis and see whether it is cheaper to produce water with Klimatec and compare it with the current water filtering systems like the Pur and Brita (or other industrial water filtering systems). Klimatec could be useful for Mars provided it has enough water molecules in its atmosphere.

Adobe helps Google, Yahoo find 'invisible' Flash Web content

AdobeSystems is sharing its Flash Player technology with Google and Yahoo tohelp find the invisible and dynamic flash content in web searches.

Previously, the flash file format (Shockwave Flash, SWF) wasunsearchable, so any dynamic content posted by developers didn’t appearin web searches. Search engines were able to index only static text andlinks within SWF files.

Adobe wants to change that by giving their Adobe Flash Player technologyto Google and Yahoo so it can help them better index dynamic webcontent and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) such as SWF Flash files.

Googlewith the help of this Adobe Flash Player technology has developed a newalgorithm to index textual content in Flash files of all kinds such asFlash menus, buttons and banners and even from total Flash websites.Yahoo will be doing the same very soon.

Now, the web designers will be very happy to designs sites in Flashand still get indexed by search engines. Previously they had to addmore text links besides the Flash files. With this new technology, theycan design simpler sites and get improved visibility from Google andothers. To know more about the searchable SWF integration visitGoogle’s Webmaster Central blog.

For the users this is great news, they can get quality results that will search all formats including Flash files.

Ref: Google learns to crawl Flash

Open an Account With Real Rhapsody and Get 10 MP3 Songs Free

The New Real Rhapsody Store Promo. Photo: Real.com

Real
has started a new MP3 Store, where they sell DRM-Free MP3 songs for
$0.99 per song. The first 100,000 accounts (new or old) get $10 credit
discount.

Real is selling music for a number of years now much longer than
Apple’s iTunes, but they previously offered only licensed music
downloads. After Amazon, iTunes and others started selling MP3 songs,
Real wanted to be a part in it as well, so they have started a new MP3
Store today.




To kick start their store, Real is offering $10 credit
to purchase either a full album or 10 songs. However, this offer is
available only for the first 100,000 customers (99,999, I already
downloaded mine) and the deadline for this is July 4, 2008.



If you’re one of the first 100,000 to create an account by
Independence Day, we’ll automatically apply a $10 credit to your first
album purchase. The credit must be used by midnight Pacific time, July
4, 2008 – so sign up and start shopping today. Limit one per household.
*Full-length song plays are limited to 25 per month for non-Rhapsody
members.




The store is available online here. The Rhapsody store tries to
differentiate itself from others by letting you listen to the entire
song before you buy them, provides recommendations and provides a
high-quality MP3 downloads. You can download the songs to your iPod (or
any other MP3 player), unlike its previous store, the DRM music was not
compatible with iPod.




If you hurry, you can get this credit right away, no downloads are
necessary but you can also download the songs via their Rhapsody
download player.