http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

High school students laser-enable the disabled
The students on the Palo Alto High School InvenTeam arrived at the Stanford Cool Products Expo this year with a new system designed to allow quadriplegics to operate all kinds of gadgets and appliances. The user shakes his head to activate a glasses-mounted laser, which he can then point at sensors embedded in an array of custom triggers placed around the home. So far the team's nailed the basic on/off circuit needed for lights, fans, and a pet food dispenser (which is currently shelling out M&M's to Expo attendees), but the real noise is their plan to extend the system by building a small robot that will perform various tasks. According to the school, team captain Guy Davidson was only kidding a little when he said the team hoped "to have [the user] vacuuming in a few weeks." While this isn't the first time we've seen lasers used to assist the disabled, you gotta wonder what's going to happen to their altruisitic spirit when these kids realize they can also just headmount one of those crazy high-powered laser pointers











myGreenElectronics.org

What should you do when confronted with a gun-wielding madman?
Fight or flee, depending on the situation. Running away should be your first plan, when possible. At 20 feet from the gunman, you're still within a deadly range, but at 40 feet, you're a difficult shot. If he starts to shoot as you're making your escape, try to run in a zigzag or another unpredictable pattern. To escape through an upper-floor window, find a drain pipe or a ledge that can slow your descent or let you slide down part of the way. You'll likely hurt your ankles when you land, so be prepared to break the fall with a quick roll. Protect your body by rolling over one shoulder, diagonally across the back and onto the opposite hip.

Calorie Restriction, the Newest Eating Disorder
Scientists don't yet know much about the long-term consequences of calorie restriction for humans. As I explained yesterday, this makes it hard to distinguish between calorie restriction (i.e., "healthy" starving) and anorexia ("unhealthy" starving) on a purely physical level.

But the psychological aspects of anorexia and CR are easier to compare. I read archived e-mail exchanges of the Calorie Restriction Society and found five people to interview: Dean, a software engineer; Paul and Meredith, a couple who practice CR together; Al, a retired scientist; and Nerissa, a preoperative male-to-female transsexual. It was a limited survey but a revealing one.

Boris Yeltsin is dead at age 76 ...

Ethiopian Rebels Kill 70 at Chinese-Run Oil Field





Web Design 101: Positioning

Seven JavaScript Techniques You Should Be Using Today



Cross-Browser Scripting with importNode()



Combine Home Economics with Computer class through the Bernina Artista 730E sewing machine with Windows.





RSS Good Practices: Use Descriptive Auto-Discovery Titles RSS auto-discovery links

Panic has released Coda, a new web development app for OS X. Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser describes it thusly:

Paper Wallet

Video: RSS in Plain English

Summer ’07 Movie Mayhem!

The Office of Special Counsel will investigate U.S. attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove

How the Wii is creaming the competition

60 best CSS directories you would die to watch

How U.S. farm policy makes us fatter and sicker

"Bye, Bye Honey", says the Honeybees. Scientists are worried
Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why. "They're the heavy lifters of agriculture," Pettis said of honeybees. "And the reason they are is they're so mobile and we can rear them in large numbers and move them to a crop when it's blooming."

17 April 2007

Intel shows off ultraslim concept laptop at IDF







Can 5 Million E-Mails Just Disappear?How to erase a computer file, for good
Robert Johnson, who used to be the publisher of Newsday, was indicted on Tuesday for possessing child pornography and for attempting to destroy evidence. A pair of incriminating movies were found on Johnson's office computer, even though he had apparently used a program called "Evidence Eliminator" to wipe 12,000 files from its hard drive. Can you ever really erase a computer file?

How to get around while making less CO2

Now that new Macs will run Windows beautifully, people are considering Macs who haven't before (I've seen it myself around the office). They may install Windows, but I'm sure that once they play around in the Mac OS for a while, they won't all go back. Being Mac newbies, however, these users may not be aware of the Mac counterparts for some of their favorite Windows apps.
The good folks at Blather have compiled a nice list of popular Windows apps, and their Mac counterparts:
Outlook >Mail and iCal
HomeSite > TextMate
AppRocket > Quicksilver
FlashFXP > Transmit
SecureCRT > Terminal
SQL Manager > Navicat
Tortoise SVN > SVNX
OneNote > OmniOutliner
FastTrack Schedule 9 > OmniPlan
Visio > OmniGraffle
Internet Explorer 7 > Parallels
PHP Encoder > SourceGuardian





Logitech Noise Canceling Headphones $149.99 at Logitech.

California to Cut Welfare Safety Net for Parents
by Elaine Korry
All Things Considered, April 16, 2007 · California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to cut the welfare safety net for children whose parents aren't working, saying that the only alternative would force California to face federal penalties. But critics say the approach will not change things.



Lexmark X9350The Lexmark™ X9350 Wireless Office All-in-One with Duplex increases flexibility and productivity with wireless printing options.

Good Taste: Top 5 Foods to Prevent Bad Breath and Reality Check: Flossing

How to make a newspaper pot for starting seeds

Tellme brings voice-activated information to your phone


Video of two peacekeeping poultry breaking up a fight between two rabbits. Not animated.

Snoop Dogg recently explained the difference between the language used by old, white radio announcers and rappers:

It's a completely different scenario. [Rappers] are not talking about no
collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and
sports. We're talking about hos that's in the 'hood that ain't doing shit,
that's trying to get a nigga for his money. These are two separate things. First
of all, we ain't no old-ass white men that sit up on MSNBC going hard on black
girls. We are rappers that have these songs coming from our minds and our souls
that are relevant to what we feel. I will not let them muthafuckas say we in the
same league as him.

What Mr. Dogg is arguing here is that it's ok to refer to actual hos as hos in the service of artistic expression but it is not ok to refer to college basketball players as such for the purpose of demeaning people. As we're currently engaged in another go-round on the issue of speech, political correctness, and its potential enforcement, it's not hard to imagine that someday an argument like Snoop Dogg's will be deployed in a court of law. I wonder if anyone will buy it?



Review: AirPort Extreme 802.11n






Gorgeous Mac-like skin for Google Reader
Jon Hicks has created a gorgeous theme for Google Reader. Works in Safari/Firefox/Camino/Opera
Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality
How to Have a Business Conversation

contronyms

16 april 2007

Monday April 16, 2007
The Top 8 Techie Movies of the 1980s
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary over at PC Magazine, and pull together the best of the last two-and-a-half decades in technology, computing, and electronics innovations, it got me thinking that the '80s were not only a groundbreaking decade for personal technology. Like any great lifestyle shift, the dawn of PCs and video games, and the flood of home electronics, was reflected on the big screen. Scheming high school hackers, video game wizzes, and futuristic robots became staple characters and paved the way for countless tech-themed travesties (ahem, The Net) and cultural benchmarks (The Matrix) in the decade-and-a-half that have followed. So, fellow movie and techie geeks, I give you the Top 8 Techie Movies of the 1980s:
1. War Games (1983)
2. Tron (1982)
3. The Terminator (1984)
4. RoboCop (1987)
5. Weird Science (1985)
6. Superman III (1987)
7. The Wizard (1989)
8. Back to the Future (1985)

Clever title award:
Politico Lead Story Fails to Improve on 'Lorem Ipsum' Placeholder Text

Bill Watterson answers 15 reader questions

Why you should be using HTML 4.01 instead of XHTML
90% of People Believe Personal Finance Should a Required Part of School



http://almy.us/image/dungeon.jpg

101 Essential Freelancing Resources

MacGyver Tip: Clean the dishwasher with Kool-Aid
Forget fancy cleansers: Real Simple magazine says you can avoid dishwasher lime deposits and iron stains with a package of Kool-Aid:
Pour a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid (the only flavor that works) into the detergent cup and run the dishwasher while empty... The citric acid in the mix wipes out stains, so you don't have to.
Remember, lemonade only - the red stuff could be a disaster. — Gina Trapani


Obama Returns Donations After Discovering They Were From Lobbyist
Friday, April 13, 2007, 4:17:10 PM
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has returned more than $50,000 in political contributions after discovering the donors were lobbyists. Obama, who has pledged to change the ways of Washington, has repeatedly said he will not accept money from lobbyists or from special interests political action committees.

Top Conservatives Demand Bush Fire Gonzales
Today, April 16, 2007, 3 hours ago ADAM ZAGORIN
In what could prove an embarrassing new setback for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the eve of his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a group of influential conservatives and longtime Bush supporters has written a letter to the White House to call for his resignation.

Smoking and Caffeine May Protect Against Parkinson's Disease[Duke University]

Merrill Lynch: buy on Apple weakness
Friday, April 13, 2007, 10:45:00 AM
Research analyst Richard Farmer of Merrill Lynch is urging investors to purchase Apple shares while the price remains low as a result of yesterday's announcement that the Cupertino-based company would delay its release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard until October in order to devote more resources to its iPhone. "We recommend investors use the current sto...



Aluminium USB Casing (DIY)

Bookmark Bliss: 75 Free Font Resources


The Samsung and Intel PC design winner: the Egg

Q: Are there any societies where homosexuality is predominant?
A: Ah, this brings us to my favorite cultural sexual oddity, which occurs in Sambia, New Guinea. In the Sambia tribe, as early as age 7, young boys are expected to “suck the penis of a mature boy every night and swallow the sperm" (I'd make a joke if I wasn't terrified). Boys who refuse are forever treated as children within the context of their community, because “without regular ingestion of male seed, the Sambia believe, boys will never grow up into strong, mature men.” At the age of 15, the boys are considered mature enough to provide their own genitals for the younger boys to felicitate. Performing fellatio on a younger boy is strictly forbidden; as it is considered stealing his manhood because it results in a loss of semen from the growing boy (makes me wonder if they replace their “Got Milk?” ads with the tagline “Got cum?” No? Awww shucks). As soon as the boys marry, they cease to engage in homosexual contact, but often times, since they are so estranged from female sexuality and coitus, they ask their new brides to wear a bag over her head and fellate them on their wedding night. Interestingly, according to Loving Boys Vol. 1 (haha, cum again?), “After 10 to 15 years of exclusive homosexual activity carried on by 100 % of the Sambia population, the incidence of adult homosexual orientation is only 5 % - exactly the same as in Western society.” So...short answer, yes, long answer, no. Source: Brongersma E: Loving Boys Vol. 1. Elmhurst. New York.: Global Academic Publishers, 1986. Source: Crooks, Robert L. & Baur, Karla (2004) Our Sexuality 9th edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 276.

Al Jazeera English Hits YouTube

Tell us something we didn't already know: According to a new survey, the number of uninformed Americans remains the same despite ever increasing news sources, however, those who are informed "were likely to be viewers of" fake news shows like Jon Stewart's Daily Show, and Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report. Meanwhile, "those who knew the least watched network morning news programs, Fox News or local television news." We swear, we're not faking this stuff up. [NYT]
Stewart, Colbert Viewers Better Informed Than Fox News Viewers
Today, April 16, 2007, 4 hours ago
A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989.

In child-arrest case, the adults are the ones out of control






Global warming threatens U.S. security, report says

Are Mobile Phones Wiping Out Bees?

Thanks to Mailplane, Gmail can replace your desktop email client
Mailplane integrates your Gmail account with a handful of applications including iPhoto, Firefox, Safari, and Address Book among others acting as your default email solution. Rest at ease knowing that your desktop email client + POP3 account is no longer a requirement for enjoying a seamless email experience on OS X.

13 april 2007

Commencement Speech to the Havard Class of 2000
by Conan O'Brien

The Style & Design 100



Femurs are great for holding pens

email gremlins

Inside the Bush E-Mail Scandal

Four Years' Worth Of Rove E-Mail Missing
Today, April 13, 2007, 3 hours ago Michael Abramowitz
A lawyer for the Republican National Committee told congressional staff members yesterday that the RNC is missing at least four years' worth of e-mail from White House senior adviser Karl Rove that is being sought as part of investigations into the Bush administration, according to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
GOP officials took issue with Rep. Henry Waxman's account of the briefing and said they still hope to find the e-mail as they conduct forensic work on their computer equipment. But they acknowledged that they took action to prevent Rove -- and Rove alone among the two dozen or so White House officials with RNC accounts -- from deleting his e-mails from the RNC server. Waxman (D-Calif.) said he was told the RNC made that move in 2005.

Pat Leahy on missing RNC emails: “It’s like the famous 18 minute gap in the Nixon WH tapes”

Leahy: Missing RNC E-mails are like Nixon's 18-minute gap
The top Senate Democrat leading investigations into the dismissal of 8 U.S. Attorneys by the Justice Department is comparing e-mails lost by the Republican National Committee to President Richard Nixon's famous "18-minute" gap in White House tape recordings.

Froomkin:
Countless e-mails to and from many key White House staffers have been deleted — lost to history and placed out of reach of congressional subpoenas — due to a brazen violation of internal White House policy that was allowed to continue for more than six years, the White House acknowledged yesterday.
But when I asked Stanzel to read out loud the White House e-mail policy, it seemed clear enough to me: "Federal law requires the preservation of electronic communications sent or received by White House staff," says the handbook that all staffers are given and expected to read and comply with.
Stanzel refused to publicly release the relevant portions of the White House staff manual and denied my request to make public the transcript of the call, which lasted more than an hour but which — due to Stanzel's refusal or inability to provide straight answers on many issues — raised more questions than it answered….read on

White House Claims It Lost RNC Emails
“The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business.”
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel “could not say what had been lost, and said the White House is working to recover as many as they can. The White House has now shut off employees’ ability to delete e-mails on the separate accounts, and is briefing staffers on how to better make determinations about when — and when not — to use them, Stanzel said.”

UPDATE: The Politico has more details:
This is a big problem for the White House, and Waxman said it raised ’serious legal and security concerns’ about the e-mail related activities of Bush administration aides.
Waxman’s staff are supposed to meet with RNC officials on Thursday about the “rnchq” and “gwb.43″ e-mail accounts, which some White House officials, like Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, use for authorized political work. Waxman suspects that White House aides were using the accounts to evade presidential record-keeping requirements.
The Politico also reports that the White House held a private briefing on the situation for some reporters, who relayed the message, “it’s really bad for the White House.”

Washington Post
The White House acknowledged yesterday that e-mails dealing with official government business, possibly including missives related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys, may have been lost because they were improperly sent through private accounts intended to be used for political activities.
Administration officials said they could offer no estimate of how many e-mails were lost but indicated that some may involve messages from White House senior adviser Karl Rove, whose role in the firings has been under scrutiny by congressional Democrats.
Democrats have charged that Rove and other officials may have used the private accounts, set up through the Republican National Committee, in an effort to avoid normal review. Under federal law, the White House is required to maintain records, including e-mails, involving presidential decision-making and deliberations. White House aides' use of their political e-mail accounts to discuss the prosecutor firings has also fanned Democratic accusations that the actions were politically motivated.Read more…

USA Today
"This is entirely appropriate," Stanzel said of the Bush White House practice.

I think this deserves its own post…CREW:
Today, CREW issued a new report, WITHOUT A TRACE: The Missing White House Emails and Violations of the PRA, and made the shocking new disclosure that the Bush White House has lost over FIVE MILLION e-mails in a two year period. The report also details the legal issues behind the growing controversy over the White House e-mail scandal.

11APRIL2007

'Barbarella' back in action
'Royale' writers to revive character

What happens when you have a bunch of CDs or DVDs that need to be destroyed, for the data contained within is extremely sensitive in nature and could be catastrophic if it falls into the wrong hands? The DiscEraser has the answer, requiring you to just open it up, pop in the disc, close the lid, and drag the slider back and forth in order to create a whole bunch of scratches that renders the data on the disc unreadable. Technically, none of the data is erased, but the cuts made are definitely thicker and deeper than conventional methods (keys, razor blades). The DiscEraser retails for $12.99.

KnocKey laughs at keyholes
Yesterday, April 11, 2007, 11:27:55 AM
The KnocKey offers an alternative to the traditional locking methods use at home by doing away with the standard keyhole. Instead, all you need to do when you want to enter your home would be to punch in the correct code on the KnocKey's keypad and hold it up to the door. The code will be played back with a correct sequence resulting in an unlocked door. The only drawback would be forcing your brain to set some more space for yet another password sequence, something most of us can ill afford these days with the number of e-mail addresses, PIN codes, and user accounts we have.

Mac OS X kernel panic screensaver - let the pranks begin

Schwarzenegger Urges Environmentalists To Shed Past As "Serious Tree Huggers"
"For too long the environmental movement has been powered by guilt," Schwarzenegger said in a keynote speech Wednesday at a global warming conference at Georgetown University.

Monica Goodling resigns.


Senate Backs Embryonic Stem Cell Research
But still shy of votes needed to overrule Bush's promised veto.




Alzheimer's-Friendly Virtual Home





LBJ Ordered Assassination of JFK Says Hunt On Deathbed
E. Howard Hunt, the country's most notorious spook who later served time for his role as one of the plumbers in the bungled burglary that later toppled Richard Nixon, gave a near-deathbed confession to his long-estranged son, naming then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and a handful of CIA spooks as the cabal behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy, according to a story in Rolling Stone.

PC World revealed “The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time” with Netscape Navigator (1994) coming in at number one. Tetris = 10. Yay, Tetris!

for tre: games

Boot Camp beta to expire, support to cease
Users of Apple's Boot Camp beta software could find themselves lacking support and driver updates, once the product ships with the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard this spring. Boot Camp is special software developed by Apple that allows Intel-based Mac owners to create separate partitions on one or more hard drives to support Microsoft's Windows XP and Vista operating systems. The Boot Camp licensing terms however state that the software is only usable until the company releases a commercial version or until the September 30th deadline, whichever comes first. Apple has not revealed whether it will issue a final version of Boot Camp for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger users, according to News.com, but rumors abound that the company will provide standalone copies of Boot Camp for Tiger users when the final product ships.
Apple has also reassured Boot Camp users who have set up Windows partitions that their files will not instantly disappear should they choose not to purchase the final version, but admitted that support will be limited for those users who continue to use the beta.

It looks like China's not content to simply wait for over-eager gamers to find their way to a halfway house, with the government now taking some steps to curb the amount of online gaming kids partake in. It's not imposing a strict limit, however, instead forcing game makers to install so-called "anti-addiction software" in their games, which would ramp up in-game penalties if gamers play more than the government deems to be healthy. Apparently, gamers will only get half the normal amount points if they play more than three hours, with no points awarded at all after the five hour mark. At that point, they'll be presented with the ominous message: "You have entered unhealthy game time, please go offline immediately to rest." Exactly how that system will be applied to various games isn't clear, although it seems that any games that don't comply by July 16th will be shut down. What's more, in order to verify their age, all gamers will also be required to register for games using their real name and identity card number, which at least one analyst speculates could "scare away" adults and young users alike.[Via Slashdot]

09APR2007

TUAW Guide: Wireless Broadband on your Mac

$19 here and cheaper and siliconier here

The best -- and worst -- movie battle scenes