Many web companies like Google, Twitter, Yahoo and others are celebrating Halloween by decorating their logos and background with Halloween designs.
Google always celebrates every major holiday festival with special logos in their start page. This time is no different, they put a new design in their logo. Click the link here to see the logo and mouse over the page to see who created the design.
Twitter has added a number of Halloween figures here. By typing a few characters in Twitter, you can surprise your friends or family with Halloween scare figures like the following:
Twitter goes Halloween. Photo: Techcrunch.com
Ask.com’s Halloween design looks the best and it has turned its whole starter page into a big Halloween theme.
Ask.com Halloween Theme
Yahoo has an animated Halloween logo, same as last year according to Mashable.com.
The election is only five days away, about 12 million have voted already but many are yet to vote. Google has added a simple voting locator tool helps mobile users find the nearest polling station in the U.S.
Previously, Google added a voting locator tool in Google Maps to help the voters find their nearest polling station, now Google has added a similar tool for the mobile phones.
To find the nearest polling station visit http://m.google.com/elections in your mobile phone (with internet connections) and enter your location as shown below:
Google Voting Locator Tool for Mobiles. Ref: Googlemobile.blogspot.
After you enter the location click the button “Go”.
You will see the nearest voting location and map location. To find directions click the “View in Google Maps” as shown below. They also provide useful links to find where to register in your state, where to vote, whom to call etc.
Google Voting Locator Tool for Mobiles. Ref: Googlemobile.blogspot.com
You can also use this tool to others if you are a volunteer or if you are trying to help someone go to the nearest polling booth.
It is a very useful tool to have in your mobile, just add the bookmark http://m.google.com/elections either for this election or for future elections.
Printing 3D objects has always been a costly affair, as the printer alone would set you back five figures at least. But now, Desktop Factory is releasing a $5,000 printer for homes, universities and offices.
When the first desktop laser printers hit the market in 1985, they cost about $6,995. Apple sold its Laser Writer model for $6,995 and it weighed 77 lb (35 kg).
Now, 23 years later, Desktop Factory has come up with a desktop 3D printer that will sell for just under $5,000. Their model, the 125ci 3D printer, weighs 90 lb (40 kg) and measures 25 x 20 x 20 inches.
The maximum sample size volume of the initial product will be 5 x 5 x 5 inches. The thickness of each layer is 0.010 inch.
The brochure explains the product as follows:
The Desktop Factory 3D printer is designed to meet the needs of small design/engineering firms, departments within large companies, and schools. It can be plugged into standard wall outlets, is fully network compatible, and requires no special ventilation.
You can build an array of products with this 3D printer as shown below:
Print 3D models cheaply. Ref: Desktopfactory.com
No doubt this will be a great tool for product designers, university researchers and engineers.
Google introduced a new feature today by adding the “Gadget” feature for Gmail. Users now can see Google Calendar and Google Docs within Gmail.
This gadget feature is already available in Google Personal pages, but for those who like to check their calendar tasks and documents within Gmail, this “Gadget” feature will be of immense use.
This “Gadget” feature is available in your “Settings” page under “Labs” section. To activate Google Calendar and Google Docs gadgets, click the enable button and click save. You can also enable the “Navbar drag and drop”, which will help you to move these two added gadgets in Gmail up or down in the left sidebar. Also, enable Right-side chat and Right-side labels to make them appear on the right sidebar for less clutter on the left sidebar. With these options, you can have all these various features in your Gmail account.
Once enabled, you can add calendar tasks, check the overdue tasks, and open a new document or existing document all from your Gmail account.
Google will be adding more gadgets for Gmail and it also offers an option to add custom gadgets via open source with “Add any gadget by URL” as shown below.
Gmail adds 'Gadget'
Google’s Dan Pupius explained the introduction of these gadgets as follows:
We realize this isn't very user friendly right now; it's a sandbox mainly aimed at developers who want to play around with gadgets in Gmail. We're not tied to the left-nav as a primary way to extend Gmail -- in fact we think it is relatively limited and doesn't offer scalable real estate. There are also some downsides to the iframe-style Gadgets we're using today -- they can sometimes slow down the page. We're fanatical about speed, so we'll be keeping a close eye on performance.
Instead of opening three different applications in different tabs or browsers, we can see all three in one tab.
Google has introduced one of the best applications for iPhone, the Google Earth for iPhone and iPod Touch. You can watch high resolution imagery of Earth directly on the iPhone.
Google Earth for iPhone will surely impress the iPhone users. It has a slew of features that fully utilizes all the features in the iPhone.
You can tilt the phone to see the 3-D view of the mountains. You can use the “My Location” feature to go directly and search the area for information about the local places and businesses.
Google Earth for iPhone adds two more features to the place you are visiting, the geo-located photos via Panoramio and Wikipedia information about the locations to provide additional information.
Google Earth Photo in iPhone.
Google Earth application works seamlessly with iPhone and uses Safari browser to visit the various websites it points in the Earth layer. If you look for a business and when you click the address link, Safari takes you to Google Maps for iPhone to get additional directions.
The application is free and is available in 18 languages and in 22 countries. You can download the application here.
It is a terrific application for iPhones, for other phone users Google will introduce it via Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Palm OS very soon.
Google has finally added the full emoticon menu for its Gmail and Gtalk services. Previously, Google only offered a small number of emoticons in the menu.
An emoticon is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional expression in message form. Gmail and Gtalk previously only had a small number of emoticons compared to Yahoo and Hotmail Messenger. Even adding an emoticon is work because you have to copy the emoticons and paste it in the messages.
Now Google has finally released more emoticons after repeated requests from its users to add more emoticons in both Gmail and Gtalk.
To use this feature, compose a new message and click the smiley icon, and you will see a number of emoticons that are both animated and static.
Gtalk also has this feature but it has less emoticons compared to Gmail.
Now you can write like a pro and write the following message in Gmail easily with this new and improved smiley feature.
Oprah Winfrey calls Amazon Kindle eBook reader her favorite new gadget. Amazon hopes her support will boost Kindle and eBook sales.
Oprah has named Kindle has favorite gadget and will be talking about more about it on her show today. There were rumors earlier that Oprah might endorse Kindle and that Amazon will post her review on their site to spur more Kindle sales. It has become true now.
The show might provide a big boost for Kindle, which Amazon needs all the help it can get. The Kindle was very popular at the beginning but the sales have remained steady. Also, there were reports that there was not a marked increase in eBook sales at Amazon because of Kindle.
So, this Oprah’s endorsement might provide a good boost for Amazon and its Kindle eBook reader.
Amazon is also using this occasion by offering a $50 discount for its Kindle reader by using the coupon code “OPRAHWINFREY” during checkout. With this discount the price of the Kindle reader will become $309. The coupon is valid for a short period of time until November 1st, 2008.
Oprah promotes books at her show frequently, her “Oprah’s Book Club” has made many authors become more popular and successful. Amazon hopes this Oprah’s endorsement might help its Kindle as well.
Barack Obama spoke to a crowd of 12,900 in Richmond, Virginia and gave a riveting political speech to encourage voters to support either Republicans or Democrats.
There are just 12 more days left before the presidential elections and both parties are campaigning vigorously. Barack Obama visited Virginia yesterday and gave an inspiring speech in a rally in Richmond, Virginia.
He started off saying that he doesn’t want to do what others do by playing “slash and burn” type of politics; instead he wants to focus on the present and the future and how to avert the crisis the country faces. He said all the negative politics only divides the country by race, religion, politics, and sex orientation instead of working together and solving the problems together.
Some excerpts from his speech.
There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this nation – we all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from. Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, native Americans, old, young, rich, poor, gay, straight, city dwellers, farm dwellers. It doesn’t matter, we are all together.
There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq and patriots who opposed it; patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies.
The men and women from Virginia and all across America who serve on our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America – they have served the United States of America.
He said the country is facing a severe crisis and is being tested in a way that we haven’t seen nearly in a century. He said what we do now will impact the future, so it's imperative everyone works together to solve this problem.
Will they say that this was a time when America lost its way and its purpose? When we allowed the same divisions and fear tactics and our own petty differences to plunge this country into a dark and painful recession?
Or will they say that this was another one of those moments when America overcame? When we battled back from adversity by recognizing that common stake that we have in each other's success?
Even though we are all going through a downturn, he said believe in yourself, in each other and build a future together. He said others gave us opportunity so we could shine, some grandparents and parents couldn’t go to college but they fought so that you can go to college, they couldn’t start a business, but they helped you to start a business. They couldn’t vote but they fought for you to vote. They sacrificed so that you can run for the Senate, run for the presidency of the United States.
He closed his speech and said that this is what this election is all about, and that is what we are fighting for. He said together we can change Virginia, change the country and change the world.
Watch the video -- this is one of the great speeches you will ever hear from a modern leader. Even if you don’t vote for him, you will find it inspiring.
He gave an astounding $46.1 billion from 2002 to 2006. World’s third richest man, Microsoft’s Bill Gates was ranked second in generosity.
Google Inc., co-founders Larry Page was ranked 28th in generosity and Sergey Brin was ranked 31st. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was ranked 34th in generosity.
The full list will be published in the upcoming Portfolio's November issue.
Buffett in 2006 announced a plan to give away about 85% of his wealth to five foundations and mostly to the charity foundation of his friend Bill Gates’ Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett regularly advises Obama about the economy.
Dr. Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of the Google Foundation talks about building a global system that detects each new disease or disaster as it emerges or occurs.
Google.org is the philanthropic company for Google, Inc. They donated 14 million dollars to predict and prevent the next pandemic disease.
Google launched Google.org in 2005 to do more than technology development to help the poor and combat diseases. It invested about a $1 billion to kick start various charity projects.
On Monday, Google.org announced that they are donating 14 million in various grants to partners in Southeast Asia and Africa to help them predict and prevent the next pandemic before it happens. In early January they introduced “Predict and Prevent” initiative to combat the next pandemic and get the local population better prepared to face the outbreak and avoid the crisis from spreading.
The “Predict and Prevent” initiative tries to look for outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, detecting those outbreaks through digital and genetic approaches and providing early warning and quick response. Their partners will monitor for any virus outbreak and report it in a timely manner so others could be prepared. And if they have a solution for it will communicate with others by means of data management, data sharing and collaboration platforms to combat the pandemic.
One of the projects Google.org is supporting is trying to detect avian flu outbreak in Cameroon before it attacks humans.
The link shows a list of organizations Google.org is supporting with this donation.
Douglas Prasher, a shuttle driver should have received the Nobel Prize for chemistry award for his pioneering work but sadly he gave the work to two others after his government funding ran out. Those two received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year.
Douglas Prasher can be seen driving a shuttle bus for an Alabama car dealer and has a doctorate degree. He makes $8 an hour for his driving job.
Dr. Prasher made a pioneering discovery in 1992 when he isolated the gene that makes jellyfish glow in the dark. He believed that his work can be transferred to studying mankind’s most debilitating diseases. But unfortunately he couldn’t continue the work because of lack of funding from American Cancer Society.
Usually researchers don’t share their secrets with others, but Dr. Prasher instead of letting his work go as waste gave the ideas and samples away to Roger Tsien at the University of California and Martin Chalfie at Columbia University.
Prasher told Daily Mail why he gave his project away:
"It was more important to me to hand over the tool to other scientists with the funding than to have individual glory,"
Tsien and Chalfie worked on it since then and eventually became the 2008 Nobel Prize winners for chemistry category.
After Prasher’s funding ran out, he joined NASA and was involved in their shuttle program. But because of limited funding, there were job cuts in NASA and Prasher lost his job. Prasher was unable to find another scientific position any where else. Since Prasher has a family of three children to support and a large mortgage to pay, he started working for the auto dealer.
Professor Chalfie has acknowledged Dr Prasher’s work was ‘critical and essential’ to the research that won him the Nobel Prize, while Professor Tsien admits he was handed the gene in a ‘lucky’ break. Tsien sent him an email and apologized according to Dr. Prasher.
Dr. Prasher jokingly said:
‘If Marty and Roger want to show me some gratitude, they can always send some cash.’
The Nobel committee should have given him the award also along with Tsien and Chalfie.
Ohio State University researchers have created an innovative solar material that can boost the solar efficiency tremendously by capturing the light from the entire range of solar spectrum and also produce more electricity for the same light frequencies.
Currently the solar technology is limited in capturing only a small range of light frequencies and therefore can produce only a tiny fraction of sun’s energy. The new invention on the other hand can capture every color of the rainbow in other words absorb all the energy contained in the sunlight.
Prof. Malcolm Chisolm from Ohio State University and the team leader of this project said there are similar solar projects already but their is more advantageous because of the materials used, which can cover the entire range of the solar spectrum.
They combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create this new hybrid solar material.
Another advantage with this product is they are able to trap the electrons longer providing more electricity than other methods. In normal solar methods, light energizes the atoms of the materials and some of the electrons are knocked loose. These electrons flow out of the device as electrical current. But in most solar methods these electrons remain only for a short period and most of the time they sink bank into the atoms from which they came. With the new method the electron floats for a longer time and they are able to convert this into electricity with the use of new materials.
The team will be able to create a new generation of hyper-efficient solar cells and be able to produce them commercially hopefully within the next decade. Ohio State University has allocated a big part of its $100 million research budget for this project for the next five years.
Cars give poor gas mileage in winters because it remains in idle for a long time, takes too much time to warm up the engine, the traffic is slow and more. How to improve the gas mileage?
Tree Hugger provides some easy tips to follow to improve the gas mileage for cars and trucks.
1.) Check Your Alternator/Battery: During winters, a poor alternator or battery will cause lots of problems for the car to start and waste unnecessary fuel. The cold weather also makes the alternator and the battery to work harder to give the same charge in the electrical system. Most of the automotive stores and dealers check the battery for free, so check it before the cold season starts.
2.) Added Weight: Some use sand bags to add weight to cars in frigid conditions to give them better traction. But in good weather conditions, those bags are not needed. Also, under heavy snowy conditions, snow piles on top of cars and in truck beds. These add weight to cars, so they should be removed as much as possible. Also unnecessary things in cars such as books, equipment in the trunk should be removed when they are not used. Extra weight in cars gives poor gas mileage.
3.) Aerodynamics: Those who love skiing live their skis on top of their roof racks. It is fine when you are going to ski, but is not fine when you are not skiing, should be removed from the roof racks. Otherwise the ski’s reduces the car’s aerodynamics. In cold weather conditions the air is thicker and harder to break through, so there will be a drag.
4.) Check Tire Pressure: Studies have found out that for ever 5 degree Celsius drop in temperature, tire pressure drops by one pound per square foot. Fuel efficiency drops where the tire pressure drops off. During winter time, check your tires periodically to make sure they have ideal air pressure.
5.) Gasoline Blends: If you are using ethanol gasoline blends for your cars, then use Ethanol E10, which gives 1.5% lower mileage compared to other blends E20 and E30. Denatured E10 blend gives increased mileage of 1.7%.
6.) Accidents: Winter accidents are common and usually lead to traffic jams. Consult traffic channels and see whether your route is affected so you can take alternate routes. Google Maps provides traffic reports in some major cities, you can use that sometimes.
7.) Winter Tires: Use of winter tires helps ride well but affects gas mileage, but is necessary some times. Check Garden Seal report to find the best winter tire.
8.) Car Idling: For older cars, there is excessive idling because it takes too much time for the engine to warm up. For newer cars, they don’t require idling, they can be driven right away and warm up as you drive.
Besides these tips, also use hypermiling techniques to boost the car mileage in winter.
When you try to send an empty message with just the "Subject" message, Gmail will prompt you with a following message:
Gmail will issue a pop-up warning if you try to send a blank message.
To avoid this prompt message sign, just type a small text in the subject line and add "EOM", which means "End of Message". Instead of writing long emails, this will be small and succinct.
No prompt message sign from Gmail.
If you have a "signature" in Gmail, however there won't be any prompt.
Gmail should rather add a Twitter like message option in it, so we can send small messages to our friends without adding "EOM" at the end of subject line.
A study by an environmental advocacy group found that bottled water contains as many contaminants -- if not more -- as tap water.
The main advertising point for the bottled water companies is that it's purer than tap water, but this study says otherwise. Though the presence of contaminants falls within federal health standards, it is not totally pure like they claim.
The study tested 10 brands of bottled water and found 38 chemicals including bacteria, caffeine, acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making and the radioactive element strontium. Many of these can be traced to their tap water origins but some leaches out of plastic bottles. Two of the brands violated California state standard.
Jane Houlihan, an environmental engineer who co-authored the study states in the report:
In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better.
Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association, disagrees with this study and calls their findings “alarmist”. He said all bottled water meets the federal health standards.
The study was conducted by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, founded by scientists advocating stricter regulation for water. They purchased bottled water from nine states and Washington, D.C.
Among the ten brands, two were found to have more contaminants. These two brands are Sam’s Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets. These two brands, as well as others, mostly use tap water as their initial source and filter it and package it into bottled water.
The study found a high concentration of chlorine byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, reaching over 35 parts per billion. California has a legal limit of 10 parts per billion or less and the industry’s International Bottled Water Association also has 10 parts as their limit. The federal limit however allows up to 80 parts per billion.
The advocacy group wants Wal-Mart to add this warning in their bottled water. The chlorine based contaminant has been connected with cancer.
In the Wal-Mart and Giant Food bottled water, the highest concentration of chlorine byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, was over 35 parts per billion. California's limit is 10 parts per billion or less, and the industry's International Bottled Water Association makes 10 its voluntary guideline. The federal limit is 80.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Shannon Fredrick is puzzled by this report and she said the company will do further testing and bring them to safety limits.
The group advises if people are worried about water contaminants then they can drink tap water with a carbon filter.
There is also a new filtration method called “Zero Water” that helps remove contaminants as well as medicinal residues in water.
You can make your own filtered water in homes instead of paying 1,900 times more.
U.S. doctors report that Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive song provides an ideal beat to follow while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a heart attack victim.
CPR is a lifesaving technique that needs to be performed properly, it involves either chest compressions or mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing. The former is either done alone or together with the latter.
The doctors from University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria have found Bee Gees ‘Stayin Alive’ is a perfect song to follow while performing the CPR techniques on a heart attack victim. The American Heart Association recommends that chest compression be given at a rate of 100 per minute in CPR. The doctors have found “Stayin’ Alive” song perfectly matches that requirement with 103 beats per minute.
Without a defibrillator nearby, CPR is very useful in saving lives especially in emergencies such as cardiac arrest or heartbeat has stopped in the victim. But an incorrect CPR does the opposite that is why it is necessary to follow the right procedures.
Dr. David Matlock of the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine at Peoria helped 15 doctors and medical students to perform the CPR in a correct manner while listening to the song “Stayin’ Alive”. He made them repeat several times over five weeks and then he asked the group to perform CPR again without the song. According to Matlock they performed well.
In a telephone interview, Dr. Matlock told Reuters:
"The theme 'Stayin' Alive' is very appropriate for the situation...Everybody's heard it at some point in their life. People know the song and can keep it in their head."
Dr. Matlock will present his findings at a meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians in Chicago later this month.
CPR and Heimlich Maneuver are two important things one should learn, it will come in handy during emergencies.
The baby’s brother is suffering from a rare hereditary disease and has only few more years to live. The Spanish baby’s parents underwent a special genetic treatment to conceive the baby and to cure the baby’s brother.
Little Javier was born this past Sunday free from his family’s hereditary disease called Beta Thalassaemia major, which his brother Andres, 6, is affected. It was made possible after Javier’s parents underwent a genetic pre-implant diagnosis treatment so that Javier will be free from that hereditary disease and also to cure his elder brother Andres.
After Andres was born, he was diagnosed with Beta Thalassaemia major disease, which causes the body to fail to produce oxygen-carrying red blood cells. His parents tried different medical treatments, but none were able to cure his condition. Without a cure, Andres was expected to live only about ten years unless he gets the life saving bone-marrow transplant.
Andres’ parents were worried how to solve his problem. They consulted with doctors and realized a birth of new disease-free baby can solve it. Thanks to Spain’s National Commission for Assisted Reproduction, the parents chose genetic pre-implant diagnosis, which verifies whether the embryo is healthy from a genetic point of view before it is transferred to the mother’s uterus. The embryo was obtained by “in-vitro fertilization” to make sure it does not carry any diseases including Beta Thalassaemia major.
After Javier was born, he was found to be an ideal immunological match for his brother. The blood in Javier’s umbilical cord will be used for a bone marrow transplant for his brother Anders very soon. The doctors are confident that Andres will be healed after the transplant operation.
Genetic engineering is a controversy field but in cases like this we can see how it saves precious lives.
NASA's STEREO (Ahead) spacecraft observed this visually stunning prominence eruption on Sept. 29, 2008 in the 304 wavelength of extreme UV light. It rose up and cascaded to the right over several hours, appearing something like a flag unfurling, as it broke apart and headed into space. The material observed is actually ionized Helium at about 60,000 degrees. Prominences are relatively cool clouds of gas suspended above the Sun and controlled by magnetic forces. (NASA/STEREO)
NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and other worldwide telescopes have captured unique images of the sun. The observatory studied the massive star for two years.
NASA, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), launched The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on Dec. 2, 1995, to study the sun for two years. It is churning out incredible images of the sun.
The sun is in its quietest phase of its 11-year activity cycle called the solar minimum; no sunspots have been observed in more than 200 days. Also, the solar wind has dropped to its lowest levels in 50 years. During this phase, the SOHO and other telescopes and satellites were able to capture the sun’s various moods at various wavelengths.
Here are some pictures from SOHO and other telescopes:
A sweeping prominence, a huge cloud of relatively cool dense plasma is seen suspended in the Sun's hot, thin corona. At times, promineces can erupt, escaping the Sun's atmosphere. Emission in this spectral line shows the upper chromosphere at a temperature of about 60,000 degrees K (over 100,000 degrees F). Every feature in the image traces magnetic field structure. The hottest areas appear almost white, while the darker red areas indicate cooler temperatures. (Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium)
The image shows the corona for a moderately active Sun, with some (red) hot active regions in both hemispheres, surrounded by the (blue/green) cooler plasma of the quiet-Sun corona. Notice also the north polar-crown filament, the trans-equatorial loops, and the coronal hole in the south-east (lower-right) corner of the image and the smaller one over the north pole
A view of an irregular-shaped sunspot and granules on the Sun's surface, seen on August 22, 2003. (Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) operated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Oddbjorn Engvold, Jun Elin Wiik, Luc Rouppe van der Voort, Oslo)
This LASCO C2 image, taken 8 January 2002, shows a widely spreading coronal mass ejection (CME) as it blasts more than a billion tons of matter out into space at millions of kilometers per hour. The C2 image was turned 90 degrees so that the blast seems to be pointing down. An EIT 304 Angstrom image from a different day was enlarged and superimposed on the C2 image so that it filled the occulting disk for effect (Courtesy of SOHO/LASCO consortium)
The planet Venus is seen by NASA's TRACE satellite, at the start of its transit across the sun on June 8, 2004. (NASA/TRACE)
An animation of the sun, seen by NASA's Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) over the course of 6 days, starting June 27, 2005. (Courtesy of SOHO/EIT consortium)
A study finds excess drinking leads to smaller brains compared to non-drinkers. Drinking more than 14 drinks a week leads to a gradual decrease in brain size.
The brain shrinks with age and drinking more alcohol just hastens that process according to a study published in the Archives of Neurology.
The long term study was conducted by researchers from Wellesley College, Massachusetts, Boston University, the Framingham Heart Study and the University of California, Davis. They studied more than 1,839 adults since 1971 as part of Framingham Offspring Study.
The participants were asked about drinking habits and classified them into four groups, abstainers, former drinkers or low drinkers (they drank one to seven drinks per week), moderate consumers (eight to 14 drinks per week) or high consumers (more than 14 drinks per week).
The participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a health examination. The results showed that participants in the lowest drinking group had brain volumes of 78 percent of their total cranial volume, compared with 78.7 percent in the group of abstainers. Heavy drinkers had brain volumes of 77.3 percent.
The researchers found that that increasing alcohol consumption was associated with decreasing total cerebral brain volume, which remained significant after adjustment for head circumference, age, sex, education, body mass index, and Framingham Stroke Risk Profile score.
They also found that this association was more pronounced in women because their typically smaller body sizes make them more vulnerable to alcohol. Women also absorb alcohol more rapidly and have less blood to dilute alcohol on average.
The brain volume decreases with age at an estimated rate of 1.9 percent per decade. Alcohol abuse hastens this process. Previously studies have found that drinking and smoking are two of the most important risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. They found that drinking and smoking damages the brain health.
Some studies have found that drinking two glasses a day is beneficial to health but this study clearly showed even drinking moderate amounts doesn’t help the brain health.
The researchers concluded:
“The public health effect of this study gives a clear message about the possible dangers of drinking alcohol,”
The new OLED technology will make home lamps, office lamps, bedside lamps, wall lamps etc., and make household lamps a thing of the past. The only thing is it is not a lamp at all, it is a sheet.
The lights are made by a special printing process. The machine coats an 8-inch wide plastic film with chemicals, and then seals it with a layer of metal foil. When an electric current is applied to this sheet, it lights up with a blue-white glow.
The sheet can then be attached to a wall or wrapped around a pillar or hanged to the window blinds. All it needs an electrical outlet and it doesn’t require an outlet like conventional lamps.
Unlike other lamps, these new lights don’t have any mercury, hence the name organic in the OLED. OLEDs are slowly being introduced into the market in TVs, cell phone displays and it involves major companies like Siemens and Philips.
The video shows how widely OLEDs can be used in various environments and also show how flexible they can be made to fit any work or home places. The lights can be dimmed to various shades easily.
GE in partnership with German lighting designer Ingo Maurer will soon start selling this OLED lamp on a limited edition basis.
The cost of manufacturing these lights are very high at the moment, but GE hopes to cut down prices so they can sell for the commercial market by 2010. They also need to make OLED long-lasting and power-efficient, which is currently better than incandescent but not better than fluorescent. When exposed to air, oxygen seeps through plastic and can destroy it quickly, so GE needs to fix that as well.
But OLEDs hold lots of promise for the future. We will be hearing more about them in the coming days.
A Chimp takes care off two newly born white tiger cubs. Photo: Funtim.com.
The two tiger cubs were separated from their mother after their sanctuary flooded, when a hurricane hit. Now the cubs are attended by a chimpanzee, which emulates her caregiver.
The chimpanzee, Anjana, is a two-year-old is helping her keeper China York care for the 21-day-old cubs at The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (TIGERS) in South Carolina. The TIGERS is a wildlife education organization promotes global conservation efforts via education and interactive programs.
The tiger cubs, named “Mitra” and “Shiva” were born during the Hurricane Hannah storm. The mother got stressed by the situation, the sanctuary area was flooded as a result the cubs had to be separated from the mother according to Dr. Bhagvan, founder of TIGERS.
The keeper China York tends to the cubs and Anjana seeing the keeper in action also helps her out. The cubs are almost inseparable from China and Anjana. There are pictures of them at the main article link and here, shows how much love they have for the cubs.
'China's role means that she is care giver to hundreds of animals when they are born. Anjana has been with China, side by side, ever since she was born and has joined her in caring and raising baby animals. So she helped her and acted as a surrogate mother to these animals and she has done these same with these baby white tigers.
Anjana gives the cubs’ milk bottles and feeds them, lies with them and acts like a surrogate mother according to Dr. Bhagvan.
China also takes care of leopards, lions and orangutans in the sanctuary. After seeing China care for the animals, Anjana imitates her actions.
Dr. Bhagvan has high praises for China:
'She has just finished raising four lions and they were inseparable. She is a great assistant.'
Dr. Bhagvan can hire Anjana too as an assistant. It is great to see compassion among different animals.
Once back on its feet, the elephant curiously examined its new satellite collar, but did not seem bothered by it. The collar will relay data to AWF researchers who can then design conservation measures. Photo: AWF.org.
Yes, elephants send text messages in Kenya to warn owners about its whereabouts. Wildlife service officials have installed SIM cards on elephants’ collars to beam messages whenever they approach a “geofence” global positioning location.
In Kenya and other parts of Africa, wild elephants cause immense destruction in farming areas and raid villagers’ crops especially during the harvest period. In some cases they destroy six months of farmers’ income at a time. So, wildlife service officials wanted to tackle this problem with the help of GPS technology.
The officials installed a mobile phone SIM card in one of the elephants, Kimani that raided the local farms. They then installed a virtual “geofence” using a global positioning system to mark the boundaries of the areas to be protected. Whenever Kimani approaches this geofence, his electronic collar sends a text message to the rangers, who then drive away Kimani and his group of elephants.
So far with this experiment, they were able to intercept Kimani 15 times successfully. He used to frequently raid the crops on a nightly basis, now he has not appeared for almost four months.
This method also is used to protect the elephants, as their population numbers are dwindling. Without the electronic collar experiment, the Kenya Wildlife Service had to kill the frequently raiding elephants reluctantly. With electronic collars they can avoid killing the elephants, thanks to the efforts of “The Save the Elephants” and "Olpejeta Conservancy" groups.
Thus it helps to protect the elephants and the livelihood of farmers, who rely entirely on these crops for their survival. Previously, Basila Mwasu, 31-year-old mother of two, and her neighbors used drum with the help of pots and pans and set fires to drive the elephants away, now they can farm and live peacefully.
The GPS tracking uses Google Earth software and the officials are able to track the elephant’s routes and sometimes use them to assign guards to protect the elephants from poaching.
Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of Save the Elephants, said it is a long way to go for this project to be successful but they have high hopes for it. They have set up two geofences so far in Kenya, but they are having problems with collar batteries, which wear out every few years. Placing collars on elephants are also expensive but the group is doing their best.
Iain told AP this system helps not only control the main elephant but also its group. Usually the elephants learn from their leader and other members in the group. If one of them stops raiding the crops, then others follow as well.
"We can live together...Elephants have the right to live, and we have the right to live too."
YouTube has posted full length TV shows like the original Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90210. You can watch in full theater view.
CBS TV network has joined forces with YouTube and is rolling out old TV shows in their YouTube channel.
You can catch some of your favorite TV episodes at the following links: Star Trek, MacGyver and Beverly Hills 90210. More shows will be added later.
The full length shows will be just like watching it on TV, it will have ads at the beginning, middle and in the end. These full length videos will have a “Film Strip” symbol indicating they are of fuller length and has ads in the video.
The parallel lines indicate the timing for the ads in the video. You can watch the video in Theater View.
These added TV Shows you can watch in the new Theater View format and provides a good experience for watching full length videos in YouTube.
Unfortunately, the new TV shows in YouTube are available only for the U.S. viewers. They may or may not be available in other countries because of existing distributors arrangement with CBS and other TV networks in those countries.
The annual British Technology Awards has tallied its votes in UK and has named the “iPhone 3G” as the “Gadget of the Year”.
British Technology Awards showcases the new technology products in Great Britain as an annual event. The British public voted for their favorite gadgets in a number of categories and the results showed Apple’s iPhone a big winner.
The iPhone was chosen as the “Gadget of the Year” and also was chosen in the following categories: Best Mobile Technology, Most Stylish Technology and Technological Innovation of the year award. Apple’s iTunes also won the “Best Music Technology” award.
Other winners of the British Technology Awards 2008 are:
Best Gaming Technology: Nintendo Wii
Best Home Entertainment Technology: BBC iPlayer
Best Kids Technology: Nintendo DS
Best Online Technology: BBC iPlayer
Business Technology of the Year: Asus Eee PC
Greenest Technology: Toyota Prius
Most Indispensable Technology: Google Maps
Retailer of the Year: Amazon
Even without these announcements, iPhone has become hugely popular and they have exceeded 10 million phones in total sales this year. Despite the good news, Apple’s stock took a beating is currently selling for under $100, whereas few months ago they were selling for more than $200 a share.
According to reports, hackers are now sending fake YouTube links via email to make users download programs that contain viruses. The sites having YouTube videos look genuine, but carry software that can harm your computer.
The email you receive looks harmless, but once you click the link you are directed to a site containing YouTube videos. The site looks like YouTube, but it's not.
As soon as you visit the site, it tells you the videos are unplayable until you download the program. If you install the program, it installs a virus in your computer. Once you restart the program, it is smart enough to take you to the main YouTube site make it look like every thing is fine with your computer. The virus is hidden. Similar viruses can occur when a user installs fake programs for site like PayPal, eBay, Amazon, financial banks and others.
Jamz Yaneza, threat research manager for security software company Trend Micro Inc., told Physorg.com:
"It's spot-on accurate, and that is scary...If I were watching YouTube videos all day I would probably click on this one."
To avoid such complications, check the address bar and make sure it has an address like the following: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDJv-QKKBOY and not one with a long web address (URL) that doesn’t start with YouTube.com.
Use can also use browsers like Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome and they alert you when you visit malicious sites. Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) is improving, but Microsoft doesn't fix vulnerabilities in a timely fashion and most hackers target IE specifically because Microsoft controls the bulk of the browser market. Mozilla's Firefox shows the logos of big sites so you can tell whether it is a legitimate site or not, such as the example below: Firefox displays logos of site in address bar.
You will see the YouTube logo at the left side of the address bar, and the right side will show the YouTube.com at the start.
Next time, if you receive an email that says “check the cool video," make sure it is a real site.
Entertainment magazine Esquire has chosen 42-year-old Halle Berry as the “sexiest woman alive” this year. Berry said she wants to share the honor with every woman.
Halle Berry, 42, recently gave birth to her daughter, Nahla, in March and now she has been chosen as the “sexiest woman alive” by Esquire.
Berry appears in the cover of Esquire’s November issue. She was excited to be chosen by the magazine. She told Associated Press: I don’t know exactly what it means, but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I’ll take it...Sexiness is a state of mind — a comfortable state of being...It’s about loving yourself in your most unlovable moments. Berry is humble about this honor and wants to share it with every woman. “I share this title with every woman, because every woman is a nominee for it at any moment.”For more details and pictures, click the Esquire magazine article here.
Google wants to help when you are drunk and stop you from sending an embarrassing email to your friends or family.
With the “Mail Googles” Labs feature in Gmail, you can protect yourself. When you are drunk, you might end up sending an inappropriate email late in the night to your friend or to your family and regret it later. Gmail wants to protect you from that embarrassment with the “Mail Googles” feature.
To enable this feature, you must enable the “Labs” feature in “Settings” in your Gmail account. When you click the “enable” button in Mail Goggles in Labs, it will check your mental aptitude, whether you are sober enough to answer basic math questions in a short time frame. You can choose your difficulty level accordingly from 1 to 5 scale.
Gmail will ask you a question like the one below:
If you don't answer the questions correctly, you can't send an email. Photo: Gmailblog.blogspot.com
Once you answer it correctly, Gmail will allow you to send the email, otherwise, you have to try the next day.
Mail Googles by default is active only late night on the weekend. If you want other days to be activated, then click the main “Settings” tab and choose the days you want the Mail Goggles to be enabled. If you drink daily then you should click all the days as shown below.
Enable Mail Goggles Feature in Gmail. Photo: Gmailblog.blogspot.com
For other Gmail Labs features check the articles here and here.
YouTube has added two new features to its videos, “theater view” and “lights off”. These two features are available only for selected videos.
The “Theater View” option lets the user to watch the video in an enlarged format within the browser window. This theater view helps center the video in the page and gives a theater like presentation, hence the name. There is a “lights off” option, when you click it blackens the rest of the page like the theater.
When you hit the two buttons shown at the top left of the screen, it brings back the video to the original format.
YouTube video in 'Theater View'
These two options are not available for all videos, but hopefully YouTube will roll out these features. For now it appears they are available only for videos posted by Universities.
You cannot see these two options for videos embedded at non-YouTube sites, so you can only watch at the main site.
Sony Music Entertainment offers DRM-free MP3 songs for only $0.66 per download, well below $0.99 per song in Apple’s iTunes.
The reasoning of music industry is getting bizarre, on the one hand they want Apple to raise their prices so that they can get more profits and on the other hand they let Sony Music Entertainment to sell songs for only $0.66 per song.
Dada.net, owned by Dada USA and Sony Music Entertainment (formerly Sony BMG) have started selling the songs for an incredible price of $0.66 per song ($10 for 15 songs). Universal Music Group offered its full catalog of songs along with Sony’s catalogs. Dada.net will also add songs from other labels in the near future.
If you join Dada.net now, you get 10 more songs free on top of 15 songs for the first month.
Customers pay $10 a month and can download up to 15 DRM-free songs. They can transfer to any mobile phone and digital music players. They will provide over-the-air MP3 downloads to mobile devices very soon as well. Customers have a chance to download 15 songs within the month but cannot transfer it to the next month. So, if you download at least 10 or more songs then Dada.net will be a good choice to have.
According to Dada.net, users can cancel the music service at any time.
Emusic.com also offers a similar subscription, but they don’t have songs from the major music labels.
Now, there are various options for the users, we can download songs from iTunes, Amazon.com, MySpace Music, Emusic, Real Rhapsody and Dada.net. There are plenty of choices but confusing pricing methods and music distribution.
Nakheel Tower will become World's Tallest Building
The world’s tallest building is nearing completion in Dubai. However, leaders in Dubai already have plans to supplant it with taller builting that will be three times taller than New York’s Chrysler Building.
The Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) is the world’s tallest building, soaring 2,200 feet built by Emaar Properties. However, it may not hold its record title for long; competing builder Nakheel plans to build one taller than that, standing more than 3,000 feet tall, or the length of 10 American football fields.
Chief Executive Chris O'Donnell told AP during a press briefing: "This is unbelievably groundbreaking design...This still takes my breath away."
The tower will be built within the next decade in the rapidly growing “New Dubai” area near the main city. It will be located between two of the city’s artificial palm-shaped islands, which Nakheel is already building. In addition to the tower, Nakheel will build 40 additional towers up to 90 floors high and a man-made inland harbor.
The main Nakheel Tower will have 150 elevators to carry residents and workers to more than 200 floors. The building will boast four separate towers joined at various levels and will form an open atrium.
The tower is inspired from sites such as the Alhambra in Spain and the harbor of Alexandria in Egypt.
Nakheel has helped grow Dubai into a modern city with an array of new buildings, malls, and apartment buildings. This new tower will be a feather in their cap.
Despite worldwide credit problems and a declining economy, Dubai seems to be thriving. The nation is also clearly moving toward an oil-independent future before its reserves run dry.
Mary Menth with the letter from the American today
A woman moving to Norway was in a precarious situation recently: she needed emergency funds to pay for her suitcases at Miami International Airport and a stranger saved her trip.
Mary Menth Anderson, 31, was newly married to Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was moving from the States to Norway to live with her husband in 1988. Everything went smoothly until she had to pay $103 for her overweight suitcases at the Miami airport.
She didn’t have enough money or enough time to call her relatives for the additional funds. She pleaded with the airport and customs staff, but they didn’t budge. She was helpless and didn’t know what to do, until a total stranger came to her and said that he will pay for the additional costs.
Mary was extremely thankful and promised that she will pay back the funds once she reached Norway. She took his name and address and it read “Barack Obama, Kansas”, who was a community organizer and was about to attend Harvard University for his law degree.
The original story was posted in the newspaper, VG in Norwegian language and its English translation is here: Mary spoke to the VG recently and recalled this incident. She was extremely happy that stranger is now running for the President of the United States. Mary’s parents sent a thank you note in the spring of 2006 to the Senator Obama for helping her daughter in 1988. Obama responded with the following letter:
‘I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes.
Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States Senator’
Mary told VG:
I sincerely hope the Americans will see reason and understand that Obama means change.
Kiva.org is a great charity organization, I have given some loans to them so far, all of them were repaid within a few months. Kiva helps the poor with these micro-loans and help them become self-sufficient all over the world.
Please vote for them so American Express can choose them as the top charity organization.
You want to have some fun when you travel on the road and would rather spend it on the hotel room, then Marriott hotels offers Nintendo Wii video game systems in some rooms.
Five Marriott hotels have started to offer Nintendo Wii video game systems as an option in some rooms. If you want some diversions from long road trips for yourself or for your family with children, then this is a great choice to have.
Marriott offers more than 20 games such as Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy and others to suit a variety of players’ needs and offers Wii Fit as well. Instead of going to hotel gyms, you can exercise in the room itself. WSJ reports that Marriott will be adding more games as they become available.
The hotel charges a slight premium over the normal hotel expenses. They are offered at the following Marriott locations in the U.S:
NY Marriott Marquis, Renaissance NY, Boston Marriott Cambridge, Annapolis Marriott and Bethesda Marriott Suites.
To get a Wii Fit, you must book in advance by visiting Marriott.com and selecting your preferred hotel and clicking the “Deals at this Hotel” link or insert promotional code XY0 (zero). Customers have the option to book Wii room packages with unlimited Wii access for their entire stay at the hotel.
The Australian boy was caught in the act when he fed 13 rare reptiles in the zoo to a crocodile. He killed a few of them before he fed it.
The security cameras at the Alice Springs Reptile Center in Northern Territory captured the grizzly images, when the 7-year-old boy fed the 13 rare reptiles to a crocodile. The killed reptiles were a turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and a 20-year-old Goanna.
The boy reportedly had smiled while he did this damage and bludgeoned to death some of the reptiles. He killed the 13 reptiles in about 30 minutes and as a final act wanted to climb over the security fence into the enclosure of “Terry”, the 11 foot (3.3m) saltwater crocodile.
The boy had attacked the zoo on a Wednesday morning by jumping over the security fence and evaded the sensor alarms. He killed some of the reptiles before throwing them over the crocodile enclosure.
Zoo officials are very upset with the boy’s actions and are planning to sue the parents for damages, since the boy is too young to be prosecuted.
Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and it will be very difficult to find a replacement for them.
Neindorf told Reuters:
"The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable,"
Wordlock™ luggage lock is an innovative lock uses words instead of numbers as codes, so you can easily remember the lock combination.
Wordlock is the world's first word-powered combination lock. With words as codes, you can easily remember the secret combination and there is an added benefit no keys necessary.
This new lock is airport security and customs approved (TSA approved), so you can carry wherever you travel.
The price is $10.50 + shipping and comes in green, red, pink and silver colors. It will make a good gift also.
Lamborghini's hybrid car 'Estoque'. Photo: Wired.com.
Lamborghini will unveil a prototype of its hybrid car at the Paris Motor Show (October 4 to October 18). The luxury car maker is launching it to meet the tightening emission rules in Europe.
Last spring Lamborghini was worried that it will be tough for them to meet Europe’s new emission rules, but now they seem to have a plan to meet the same rules.
Audi owned Lamborghini will unveil this new hybrid car “Estoque” at the Paris Motor Show. The company is ecstatic to make this announcement and said it “is not just a new Lamborghini, It’s a whole new world.” The company said it is a concept car but will launch it in 2010.
They call “Estoque” an everyday sports car and will have a $200,000 price tag. Stephen Winkelmann, President of Lamborghini division told AutoWeek:
"With our existing cars, there is day-to-day usability, but they are not used every day...Most of them are used for less than 5,000 kilometers a year. This car is something different. It's for every day use."
The name Estoque refers to the sword matadors use to kill bulls. Estoque will combine the performance of Lamborghini’s Gallardo luxury car with the convenience and comfort of a sedan.
The car will have either a 520-horsepower V10 engine from the Gallardo or a twin-turbo V8 engine. It will have an all-wheel-drive and have a 50-50 weight distribution in the car with the engine just behind the front axle. Estoque will compete against the Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide and Audi A7.
Winkelmann added they are planning to sell 2,000 to 3,000 hybrids in 2010 that is more than twice the number of cars it sells currently.
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