Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx stalks PC and Mac converts

Ubuntu's Lucid Lynx stalks PC and Mac converts

By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco •

Posted in Operating Systems, 27th April 2010 23:27 GMT

Canonical says that with the latest release schedule this Thursday, it will win your love for Ubuntu. If not immediately, give it a year - but Canonical will get you.

And by 'you', Canonical means Mac and Windows users.

Chief operating officer and blogger Matt Asay told The Reg that changes in the consumer-oriented Ubuntu 10.04 LTS edition will cause Apple fanbois to reconsider their love for Steve Jobs, while milk-fed Windows users will be less inclined to run screaming to their retailer to return their Ubuntu PC.

"I guarantee you will be impressed with Lucid if you look at it today," Asay told us in a recent interview. "We may not get you today, but we will get you six months later or a year."

The painful experiences that people had with Ubuntu in the past? When they got home, unpacked their new PC, found it wasn't running Windows but some brown piece of software crap, and returned it to the very public delight of Asay's rival Kevin Turner at Microsoft? Those will fade, says Asay.

Linux netbooks had four times the rate of return on machines loaded with Windows, according to one manufacturer in 2008. But Asay sees a brighter future. "The LTS release is a significantly better operating system than Windows," he said. "We may not win over the Mac users tomorrow, but we will impress the Mac users and we will win over the Windows users."

Ubuntu 10.04 packs a number of changes in the look-and-feel, the online services, and performance that target in particular those looking for a second machine - the netbook market. That machine will run a browser, email, IM, and music player.

Let's take the music player. Ubuntu One will be the first Linux distro to offer an out-of-the box online music store and player similar to Apple's iTunes, which works on Mac and Windows. Called Ubuntu One, the service spans millions of songs that can be searched, purchased, and played - minus DRM. The music is actually delivered by partner 7Digital, 50 per cent owned by EMI and whose customers include Adidas, Nokia, CocaCola and Sony.

Social network meets OS

Canonical has also done something neither Apple's Mac, iPhone or iPad or Windows on the PC offers but that's finding a foothold in mobile operating systems: integration of social network services with the actual operating system. This means logging in and posting is seamless and combined, and you don't need to fire up yet another application.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS uses microblogging client Gwibber to combine streams from Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StatusNet, and such services through a Me Menu.

Performance has been improved specifically to help Ubuntu on netbooks. Canonical claimed boot up times on a standard SSD laptop are now less than 17 seconds. Chris Kenyon, director of business development who leads Canonical's OEM team, told The Reg that where Canonical has worked with PC makers on specific machines to fine-tune Ubuntu start-up, times will be even faster.

"OEMs shipping Ubuntu pre-installed can achieve even faster [results] than that. If we are pre-installing, we can further cut that down. Most users on Ubuntu will notice a really significant speed increase," Kenyon said. "For those users having a really fast boot environment is important."

Osaka University, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Dept. of Systems Innovation Intelligent

A Perceptual Information Infrastructure monitors and recognizes real environment through sensor networks. The sensor network tracks people in real-time and recognizes human behaviors which provide rich information for understanding real world events and helps peoples and robots working in the real world.

An Interigent Robot Infrastructure is an interaction-based infrastructure. By interacting with robots, people can establish nonverbal communications with the artifical systems. That is, the purpose of a robot is to exist as a partner and to have valuable interactions with people.

Our objective is to develop technologies for the new generation information infrastructures based on Computer Vision, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

Introduction of intelligent robotics laboratory （PDF 450KB）

http://www.is.sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp/index.en.html

Maido-kun humanoid robot to the moon in 2015

In an ambitious new project unveiled on April 27, an Osaka-area business group has vowed to put a humanoid robot on the moon by 2015.

The business group, known as SOHLA (Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association), made headlines in January 2009 after their Maido-1 lightning observation microsatellite was launched into orbit. Their new project is to develop a bipedal humanoid robot — named “Maido-kun” — which can function in the harsh lunar environment. If all goes as planned, Maido-kun will be ready to travel to the moon in 2015.

SOHLA admits there are a number of obstacles to overcome — most notably the astronomical development costs (now estimated at 1 billion yen, or $9.5 million) — but they are optimistic about their pursuit and believe it can help stimulate the local economy by getting small and medium sized manufacturers involved in the development of space technology. At present, SOHLA consists of six local enterprises working in partnership with government-affiliated organizations such as the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

In 2005, JAXA announced bold plans to send bipedal humanoid robots to the moon. However, after recognizing the numerous difficulties that the lunar landscape poses for two-legged humanoids, they decided it would be more feasible to send wheeled robots instead.

Wheels may be more practical than legs, but SOHLA board member Noriyuki Yoshida sees an advantage in robots that look like people. “Humanoid robots are glamorous, and they tend to get people fired up,” he says. “We hope to develop a charming robot to fulfill the dream of going to space.”

JAXA plans to send their first robot rover to the moon in or around 2015, and SOHLA hopes their Maido-kun humanoid will be able to hitch a ride on the same mission.

http://pinktentacle.com/

Stylish Fraunhofer Lab-in-a-Wristwatch Warns of Impending Medical Emergencies Before They Strikes

Plastic chips monitor body functions. (Credit: Image copyright. Fraunhofer IZM)

According to Megadeth there are 99 ways to die, but many of those — blood clots, dehydration, heart attacks — can be hard to detect except with a thorough medical examination. But since we can’t spend all of our time under doctor’s observation, a team of European researchers, including Fraunhofer Institute scientists, is developing a lab-on-a-chip wristwatch that monitors various bio-indicators of bodily disaster, warning wearers of impending doom before problems become life-threatening.

Inconveniently, this prototype wristwatch doesn’t tell the time, but it will tell an athlete if his or her perspiration shows signs of dehydration, or whether a person wearing a pacemaker is wandering too close to a dangerous electromagnetic field. It can help an elderly person ensure his or her body temperature doesn’t climb too high, and someday might even help diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels around the clock.

The watch itself is actually a mash-up of several lab-on-a-chip technologies, and could be customized for patients based on those conditions for which they are most at risk. Technologically speaking, new ultra-small biomarker sensors emerge all the time, like saliva tests that can instantly diagnose a heart attack, or single-drop, disposable blood tests that can rapidly scan the blood for indicators of impending thromboses. By stacking them in a single sensory device, the research team hopes to provide a means of catching potentially fatal medical incidents before they get into full swing.

Some of these systems are in their infancy and not necessarily suited for integration into a wristwatch device. The blood clot test, for instance, requires a prick with a needle and is generally only necessary in certain situations wherein the risk of blood clots is elevated, like when a patient is traveling by air (it’s also designed for one-time use).

But advances in both polymer electronics and conventional sensors have made these lab-on-a-chip biosensors increasingly small and affordable, meaning in the very near future patients at risk for a battery of illness could wear a diagnostic watch at all times, providing them with a constant stream of biofeedback. And who knows, maybe they’ll even integrate a clock into it. — Clay Dillow

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/04/stylish-fraunhofer-lab-in-a-wristwatch-warns-of-impending-medical-emergencies-before-they-strikes/

Life On MARS? - New Scientific Evidence

Life On MARS? - New Scientific Evidence

From: UFOTVstudios | November 25, 2006 | 1,272,370 views

Scientists announce the discovery of startling artificial Megalithic structures found among recently released NASA / JPL photos taken by the Mars Global Surveyor and that these artificial structures are stunning proof that Mars was once inhabited by an intelligent civilization. Includes a spectacular collection of new photographs presented by Dr. Tom Van Flandern, former Chief Astronomer for the United States Naval Observatory. See remarkable monuments, "T" shaped craters, gigantic glass tube systems, ancient forest remains and grand edifices that will leave you speechless.

For more information on this topic we recommend the film #U648 Life On Mars? - New Scientific Evidence now available on DVD at www.UFOTV.com.

UFOTV, all rights reserved.

... (more info)

http://www.youtube.com/user/UFOTVstudios#p/a/u/1/5u-20g7Bwdw

France to Release UFO Reports

Monday February 26, 2007

Those of us who are studying the UFO mystery are always calling for our governments to release information that they are hiding from us common everyday citizens. We know that they are not going to do this in the United States, but thankfully, that attitude is not prevalent everywhere. There are some countries who are more open minded about UFO information. Even some military institutions from other countries are not afraid to release information to the public.

Some of the more open minded countries have been Mexico, who was very forthcoming about the Mexico military UFO video of 2004, Belgium, which released information about the Belgium wave of 1989, and the United Kingdom, which finally gave us some of the documents relating to the Rendlesham Forest incident. Another one is France, who previously released the "Cometa" report in 1999, which was related to UFOs and national defense, and also the GEPAN/SEPRA report, which was about UFO sighting reports. Now France has announced they will release at least 1,600 different reports on UFOs to the world at large as early as March of 2007. Hopefully, there will be information that will enhance the case files of some of the best known French sightings, as well as open some new ones. Now, if the United States would just join this group... See more information on France to Release UFO Reports

http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/5871-the-plain-truth-of-the-matter.php

How To: Enable Or Disable Hibernate Option In Windows 7

In Windows XP enabling Hibernate option was a very easy task, but we have to follow a different approach to do the same job in Vista and Windows 7.

If you are not aware of Hibernate feature, Hibernation is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk and then turns off your computer. Of all the power-saving states in Windows, hibernation uses the least amount of power. On a laptop, use hibernation when you know that you won’t use your laptop for an extended period and won’t have an opportunity to charge the battery during that time.

So if you are really going to use this feature then you need to enable it by doing a simple procedure as mentioned below:

1. Open Command Prompt with Administrator rights. To open Command Prompt, type CMD in Start menu and then hit Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Command Prompt with Admin rights.

2. Next, type the below command and hit enter:

powercfg /hibernate on

3. Type exit and hit enter to close the Command Prompt.

4. If you can’t see the Hibernate option in Start menu then do the following tasks:

A. Type Power Options in Start menu and hit enter.

B. In the left pane, open the link labeled “Change when the computer sleeps” and then open the link “Change advanced power settings”.

C. Under the Advanced Sleep options, expand the Sleep tree and turn off Hybrid Sleep.

D. Now go back to Start menu to see the new Hibernate entry.

Former astronaut: Man not alone in universe

(CNN) -- Earth Day may fall later this week, but as far as former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell and other UFO enthusiasts are concerned, the real story is happening elsewhere.

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, shown after his Apollo mission in 1971, claims there "is no doubt we are being visited."

Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, asserted Monday that extraterrestrial life exists, and that the truth is being concealed by the U.S. and other governments.

He delivered his remarks during an appearance at the National Press Club following the conclusion of the fifth annual X-Conference, a meeting of UFO activists and researchers studying the possibility of alien life forms.

Mankind has long wondered if we're "alone in the universe. [But] only in our period do we really have evidence. No, we're not alone," Mitchell said.

"Our destiny, in my opinion, and we might as well get started with it, is [to] become a part of the planetary community. ... We should be ready to reach out beyond our planet and beyond our solar system to find out what is really going on out there."

Mitchell grew up in Roswell, New Mexico, which some UFO believers maintain was the site of a UFO crash in 1947. He said residents of his hometown "had been hushed and told not to talk about their experience by military authorities." They had been warned of "dire consequences" if they did so.

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• Dog walker 'met man from another planet'
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But, he claimed, they "didn't want to go to the grave with their story. They wanted to tell somebody reliable. And being a local boy and having been to the moon, they considered me reliable enough to whisper in my ear their particular story."

Roughly 10 years ago, Mitchell claimed, he was finally given an appointment at Pentagon to discuss what he had been told.

An unnamed admiral working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff promised to uncover the truth behind the Roswell story, Mitchell said. The stories of a UFO crash "were confirmed," but the admiral was then denied access when he "tried to get into the inner workings of that process."

The same admiral, Mitchell claimed, now denies the story.

"I urge those who are doubtful: Read the books, read the lore, start to understand what has really been going on. Because there really is no doubt we are being visited," he said.

"The universe that we live in is much more wondrous, exciting, complex and far-reaching than we were ever able to know up to this point in time."

A NASA spokesman denied any cover-up.

"NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover-up about alien life on this planet or anywhere else -- period," Michael Cabbage said Monday.

Debates have continued about what happened at Roswell. The U.S. Air Force said in 1994 that wreckage recovered there in 1947 was most likely from a balloon-launched classified government project.

Stephen Bassett, head of the Paradigm Research Group (PRG), which hosted the X-Conference, said that the truth about extraterrestrial life is being suppressed because it is politically explosive.

"There is a third rail [in American politics], and that is the UFO question. It is many magnitudes more radioactive than Social Security ever dreamed to be," Bassett said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/20/ufo.conference/index.html

UFO Conference

UFO Conference – The National Press Club held a UFO Close Encounters press conference today on UFOs, outlining the need for new UFO joint investigations among the top aviation countries.

The National Press Club UFO Conference was open only to credentialed media and Congressional staff, but included testimony from top officials of government, aviation, and military groups who have investigated UFO encounters.

The group is calling for new investigations into highly publicized incident which the FAA and US Government have refused to even consider.

http://hitsusa.com/blog/310/ufo-conference/

To view the conference : go to http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=KmVj7mjCTfE&feature=related

Aliens are out there, but they're unlikely to be friendly, says Stephen Hawking

• Alien life hopes "perfectly rational"
• Roaming universe in giant ships
• Likely to "conquer, colonise"

BRITISH astrophysicist Stephen Hawking says aliens are out there, but it could be too dangerous for humans to interact with extraterrestrial life.

Professor Hawking claims in a new documentary that intelligent alien lifeforms almost certainly exist, but warns that communicating with them could be "too risky".

With the universe made up of some 100 billion galaxies each containing hundreds of millions of stars, it was unlikely the Earth was the only place where life has evolved.

"To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational," he said.

"The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

The 68-year-old scientist says a visit by extraterrestrials to Earth would be like Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas, "which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans".

"We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet," he said.

Prof Hawking - who has spent much of his life in a wheelchair suffering from motor neurone disease and talking via a speech synthesiser - said he imagined the aliens were most likely roaming space in giant ships, having exhausted their planets of their resources.

He speculates most extraterrestrial life will be similar to microbes, or small animals, then added that advanced lifeforms may be "nomads, looking to conquer and colonise".

The Discovery Channel will broadcast Stephen Hawking's Universe in Britain next month.

Newly released UFO files from the UK government

Files released in February 2010

The files contain a wide range of UFO-related documents covering the years 1994-2000.
Find out more about close encounters, strange illnesses, flying ‘Toblerones’ and unidentified objects tracked on radar.

Start by reading our highlights guide (PDF, 254kb) to help you navigate your way
through the files.

Due to the large size of some of these files, we recommend you save them to your PC before opening them. Please right click on the links and select the ‘save’ option.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos/

New 'iPod Touch with camera' makes brief appearance on eBay

What looks to be the new iPod Touch has turned up on eBay - and it has a camera / www.news.com.au Source: news.com.au

• New iPods turn up on eBay
• Claim to come "w/camera"
• Pulled from eBay immediately

ANOTHER week, another leak for Apple.

This time it's the new iPod, following hot on the heels of the iPhone 4G that found its way out of Apple's development HQ at Cupertino and into a bar last week.

While it is now obvious the loss of the iPhone 4G caused Apple genuine concern, the surfacing of the iPod Touch on Ebay on Friday has more than a hint of PR about it.

Mainly because it was taken down almost immediately, but not before several keen Apple-hunters had snapped a load of screenshots.

What is interesting is that despite Steve Jobs claiming the iPod was too thin for a camera, the mystery seller claims both models in their possession came with "w/cameras".

The original design for the new iPod was rumoured to include a camera, but the latest update claimed Apple had ditched the idea.

So are the eBay iPods the real deal?

Both models carry the "DVT" (design verification test) tags that graced Gray Powell's iPhone 4G, and both carry bar codes which look to have the Apple Development Team's signature.

Further confirmation that the iPods are indeed the third-generation models came in the form of screenshots showing the devices running Switchboard - the firmware Apple uses to test whether the thing actually works.

If it is a deliberate leak from Apple, the signs are good that the third-generation iPod could be released in the US spring (autumn) as rumoured, rather than the long wait for September, which is the window Apple usually reserves for major product upgrades.

Why Yin Yang Symbol Yin Yang looks like this way?

Where does the Yin Yang Symbol come from?

is a well-known Chinese Yin Yang symbol. Sometimes it's called Tai-Chi symbol. The Tai-Chi is from I-Ching. The I-Ching is the greatest foundation of Chinese philosophy. It’s development is from the natural phenomena of our universe. Because I-Ching comes from nature, it should be easy.

The Chinese characters of I-Ching are . The second character means a book, a profound book. The first character means ease or change. Since I-Ching is easy, some people call it as "The Book of Ease" or "The Book of Changes". The original Chinese character of is , which is a symbol combining the sun (top) and moon (bottom). It's easy for people to understand the philosophy by talking about the sun (Yang), moon (Yin) and universe. After observing the universe, ancient Chinese found that the universe is changing every day. Although it changes easily every day, it also has seasonal and annual cycles. From these cycles the unchanging rules are created. However, it's not easy to use the method to find the unchanging rules from the universe and apply on human activities. That's why some people think I-Ching is easy and some don't.

The Dipper at night

By observing the sky, recording the Dipper's positions and watching the shadow of the Sun from an 8-foot (Chinese measurement) pole, ancient Chinese determined the four directions. The direction of sunrise is the East; the direction of sunset is the West; the direction of the shortest shadow is the South and the direction of the longest shadow is the North. At night, the direction of the Polaris star is the North. They noticed the seasonal changes. When the Dipper points to the East, it's spring; when the Dipper points to the South, it's summer; when the Dipper points to the West, it's fall; when the Dipper points to the North, it's winter.

When observing the cycle of the Sun, ancient Chinese simply used a pole about 8 feet long, posted at right angles to the ground and recorded positions of the shadow. Then they found the length of a year is around 365.25 days. They even divided the year's cycle into 24 Segments, including the Vernal Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice, using the sunrise and Dipper positions.

They used six concentric circles, marked the 24-Segment points, divided the circles into 24 sectors and recorded the length of shadow every day. The shortest shadow is found on the day of Summer Solstice. The longest shadow is found on the day of Winter Solstice. After connecting each lines and dimming Yin Part from Summer Solstice to Winter Solstice, the Sun chart looks like below. The ecliptic angle 23 26' 19'' of the Earth can be seen in this chart.

The Ecliptic is the Sun's apparent path around the Earth. It's tilted relative to the Earth's equator. The value of obliquity of the Ecliptic is around 23 26' 19'' in year 2000.

By rotating the Sun chart and positioning the Winter Solstice at the bottom, it will look like this . The light color area which indicates more sunlight is called Yang (Sun). The dark color area has less sunlight (more moonlight) and is called Yin (Moon). Yang is like man. Yin is like woman. Yang wouldn't grow without Yin. Yin couldn't give birth without Yang. Yin is born (begins) at Summer Solstice and Yang is born (begins) at Winter Solstice. Therefore one little circle Yin is marked on the Summer Solstice position. Another little circle Yang is marked on the Winter Solstice position. These two little circles look like two fish eyes.

In general, the Yin Yang symbol is a Chinese representation of the entire celestial phenomenon. It contains the cycle of Sun, four seasons, 24-Segment Chi, the foundation of the I-Ching and the Chinese calendar.

© Copyright 1999-110 Allen Tsai

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/yinyang.htm

Sell or Buy property in Malaysia?

TOPHILLS REALTY is a full time real estate firm registered under the Board of Value’s, Appraisers & Real Estate Agents to provide wide varieties of agency services. We are providing top quality service and translating information technology to benefit Consumers. As one of the aggressive estate agency firm, we are fully align with the vision of Iskandar Malaysia.

http://www.tophills.com.my

Or just a search and simple property selling / renting / buying site.

http://thinkproperty.com.my

Watch Volcano live in webcam

Hawaiian Volcanoes
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov

Alaskan Volcanoes
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

MT. ST. HELENS
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams

http://news.discovery.com/videos/discovery-news-volcano-planet/

Newtonian Rock shop leaks iPad prices

Newtonian Rock shop leaks iPad prices

Neither welcome nor believable

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 20th April 2010 19:08 GMT

Free whitepaper – Taking control of your data demons: Dealing with unstructured content

Apple has announced that it will reveal international pricing for the iPad on May 10, but that hasn't stopped one Gibraltar-based mart from jumping the gun.

If that outfit, Newton Systems, is anywhere near correct, and if its pricing parallels that of more-northerly UK outfits, picking up a 'Pad in Blighty may be a pricey proposition, indeed.

That said, we would advise prospective iPad purchasers not to worry too much - Newton Systems' projected iPad pricing is, not to put too fine a point on it, bizarre.

The entry-level Wi-Fi-only iPad, weighing in at 16GB, is listed for £599 ($920) - that's a hefty 84 per cent premium over the $499 (£325) for which you can bag that model in the States. But from a Gibraltarian perspective, that premium drops significantly as you work your way up the pricing ladder.

The 32GB Wi-Fi+3G model is listed at £679 ($1,040) - the US price is $729 (£475) - and the good folks at Newton Systems will sell you a top-of-the-line 64GB Wi-Fi+3G iPad for at £749 ($1,150), which you can pick up in the States for $829 (£540). The premiums for those two 3G iPads are 43 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively.

Of course, the US pricing doesn't include the shipping costs to that far-flung outpost of the empire.

But an 84 per cent premium for the low-end that drops to a 28 per cent premium at the top end? Something smells fishy here - and we're not referring to low tide at Europa Point. ®

Bootnote

The Reg is duly amused by the name of the Gibraltar retailer, seeing as how the iPad is Cupertino's second attempt at a tablet. That first attempt didn't end happily.

-----------------------------------

Apple's 3G iPad will go on sale on Friday, 30 April, the company has just said.

This will, of course, come as no relief to UK buyers, who won't get their mitts on the thing - or on the Wi-Fi only model - until the end of May.

Punters Stateside will have to wait until 5pm on the big day before they can get one across the counter, though folk who have already ordered on should receive it earlier that day, Apple said.

Apple will announce UK pricing for all six iPad models on 10 May, and begin taking advance orders on the same day. ®

Why Can’t Planes Fly Through Volcanic Ash? NASA Found Out the Hard Way

If you’ve been anywhere near a television or Web enabled device in the last week (and you must have been), you know that a volcanic eruption in Iceland has grounded airline flights across Europe and even halted a few flights into the northeastern-most areas of Canada. What you probably don’t know is how to pronounce the name of the volcano (Eyjafjallajökull) or why an eruption in Iceland is grounding flights in London, Madrid and Berlin.

After all, planes fly through lightning storms, heavy fog and the occasional flock of geese and come out fine on the other side with amazing consistency. But a volcanic ash cloud presents it’s own unique set of problems, particularly to an aircraft engine’s working parts. A group of Finnish F-16s are currently circling the area to see just how bad the air quality is for jet engines, and some airlines are conducting their own tests to see just what kind of damage this ash cloud might exact on their hardware.

Luckily for us, NASA already performed an ash cloud test on an airliner a full decade ago, albeit unintentionally. In February of 2000, a NASA DC-8 bound for Sweden flew right through an ash plume produced by Icelandic volcano Mt. Hekla. The flight crew couldn’t see the plume, and in a stroke of good fortune they landed their plane at their destination without incident. In fact, no visible damage was detected upon arrival, but a closer inspection turned up some harrowing clues to just how devastating volcanic ash can be on an airplane in flight.

The fan blades where deeply gouged (see below), the critical cooling components were clogged with a sooty gunk, and the engine’s innards were coated with a glassy, silicate material (see above). The in-flight data showed that the engine hit nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius, enough to melt silicate rocks. That’s lava in your jet engine, not ideal for longevity.

Interestingly – and quite fortunately for the crew on board – the relatively low dose of hot ash the DC-8 received temporarily turbocharged the engine by polishing the engine parts and letting air move more freely through the components. But make no mistake; too much more of that kind of performance enhancing would have led to engine failure, and at 9,000 metres all engine failure is a serious issue.

Of course, this is all in addition to the fact that hot ash plumes can degrade aircraft windows to the point of failure ro compromise the integrity of an aircraft’s skin. But the fact that these plumes can be hard to detect from the flight deck explains why no one is leaving the ground in Europe; there’s no flying under or around the ash cloud because in some cases pilots can’t distinguish exactly what they’re trying to avoid.

Oh, and for the record, it’s “AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh.” And if you want to know how you get that pronunciation from Eyjafjallajökull, you’ll have to ask elsewhere.

[NASA via Discovery News]

openframeworks

About the apps
These are designed to show of different aspects of openframeworks (apps new to 0.02 in bold). They demonstrate font loading, graphics, audio input and output, sound file playback and fft analysis, video grabbing, quicktime movie playing, image loading and saving, event handling and serial communication.

http://www.openframeworks.cc/download

ofxiphone

http://code.google.com/p/ofxiphone/

ofxiPhone is an addon for openFrameworks 006+ to allow it to run on iPhone and iPod Touch. You do not need a modified version of openFrameworks, just the latest version (minimum 006+) from http://www.openframeworks.cc/(make sure you download the iphone package. Even though the openFrameworks core is identical on all platforms, they require different libraries on different platforms).

Space, population: 1 robot

NASA is preparing to send the first human-like robot to space later this year, the US agency announced last week.

Robonaut 2, constructed as a joint project between NASA and General Motors, is set to become a permanent resident of Destiny lab, part of the International Space Station. The robot is intended to provide assistance to astronauts, and with human-like physical features and manual dexterity, will be able to use the same tools and instruments as its flesh companions.

While currently destined for outer space, Robonaut’s cousins could soon be headed for a neighbourhood closer to home. General Motors is hoping to develop similar bots that could be put to work at their many manufacturing plants on Earth.

Image caption: NASA’s Robonaut 2 can lift up to ten kilograms with each arm. — Rhiannon Elston

http://robonaut.jsc.nasa.gov/

Apple's iPhone 4G 'found on bar floor'

TOP-SECRET photos of Apple's new iPhone have been leaked on the internet by technology news website Engadget.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/apples-iphone-4g-found-on-bar-floor/story-e6frfro0-1225855322237

Gizmodo Grabs Early Hands On Photos and Video of Apple’s Next iPhone

In an unprecedented breach for a notoriously secrecy-obsessed company, what appears to be a late-stage prototype of a next-generation iPhone has surfaced in the wild
In an unprecedented lapse for one of the world’s most secretive companies, Apple has lost control of what appears to be a late-stage prototype of the next version of the iPhone. And unluckily for them, the lost bird found its way into Gizmodo’s hands. They’ve splayed it open for all to see, similar to how Steve Jobs is now hoping to splay open whomever lost his top-secret phone.

Photos of the phone, found by a third party “lost in a bar in Redwood City,” popped up on Engadget over the weekend. Gizmodo claims to have had what is most certainly the same phone “for about a week” and has posted videos and photos of their own today.

What we see is nice: a new, less rounded case with a flat back housing a new front-facing camera, an improved main camera with flash, dedicated buttons for volume on the side and, supposedly, a higher-resolution display, even though no photos are present of the device turned on–Apple has apparently remotely wiped the phone’s memory. Upon taking it apart, Apple-branded components and an exceptionally finished feel seem to verify that it’s not an Asian counterfeit, as was initially speculated upon the first photos’ release.

It will be incredibly interesting to see what happens next. It is likely that the phone was paid for; Gizmodo’s owner Nick Denton has made no secret of offering such ransoms in the past (Gawker, a sister site, publicly offered $100,000 for hands-on time with Apple’s then-rumored tablet). It is also likely, as others have pointed out, that Apple views this as paying for stolen goods, and not as an accident. Having never been confronted with such a thorough and tangible breach, it’s not clear how Apple will react. Will they alter the finished phone in some way in the context of the leak? Will they/have they already murdered the employee responsible and his family? Will the early reveal put a damper on Apple’s uniquely powerful new-product hype storm? Will Gizmodo still be Steve Jobs’s favorite gadget blog?

Whatever happens, I’m glad I’m not sitting down the hall from Steve Jobs today.

[Gizmodo]

Buying YSL online?

Quote from someone :

The international shipping varies on these sites but what I have done for my online US orders is set up a lifetime US forwarding address through a mail and parcel forwarding company.
The company that I use is http://www.bongous.com. They ship using discounted DHL rates and have free consolidation of all items purchased.

Here is the link for shipping information to Singapore through Bongo:
http://www.bongous.com/country-informati…

Source(s):

http://www.bongous.com
http://www.yslbeautyus.com
http://shop.nordstrom.com
http://www.sephora.com

What are RC helicopter channels?

Each channel on the transmitter controls one action on the RC helicopter. The number of channels determines how many independent functions can be controlled.

Fewer channels allow easy flying for beginning pilots. More channels allow more complete control, maneuverability, and realism.

Some functions that channels can control include:

Throttle (how fast the main rotor blades spin)
Yaw (turning to face left/right)
Elevator (tilting the main rotors to move the helicopter forwards/backwards)
Aileron (tilting the main rotors to move the helicopter left/right)
Collective (tilt of the main rotor blades in collective pitch helicopters)
Adjustments such as gyro stability
More!

All helicopters have one channel to control the throttle. What the other channels control depends on the number of channels and type of helicopter that you are flying.

Beginner– 2 channel helicopters
2 channel helicopters are very easy to fly and make great gifts for first-time and younger pilots. They are fixed pitch and sometimes have two counter-rotating blades for improved stability. For most 2 channel helicopters the functions are:

Throttle
Turning (Yaw)
The yaw allows the helicopter to make level turns to either left or right. The yaw can be controlled via tail rotor speed, such as in the MAW HAWK helicopter. Or, it is sometimes controlled by the relative speed of the two counter-rotating main blades in dual-blade coaxial helicopters.

Two channel helicopters are usually set up to always fly forward. Combined with the yaw control, this allows a pilot to fly forward in straight lines and nice curving paths.

Beginner– 3 channel helicopters
3 channel helicopters are also great for beginners and are fixed pitch. Common functions are:

Throttle
Turning (Yaw)
Forward/backward movement (Elevator)
The forward/backward movement can be controlled by a small rotor in the tail that is parallel to the main rotors.
Because CH 3 controls forward and backward movement, 3 channel helicopters can often hover in place.

Intermediate– 4 channel helicopters
4 channel helicopters are ideal for intermediate pilots who have had some training on either a beginner helicopter or a simulator. 4 channel helicopters can be either fixed pitch or collective pitch. 4 channel helicopters have:

Throttle
Turning (Yaw)
Forward/backward movement (Elevator)
Left/right movement (Aileron)
These functions give a pilot full maneuverability of strafing side to side and all the abilities of a three channel helicopter including hovering. A good 4-channel helicopter for beginners is the Hughes 300, which also comes with a free flight simulator cable.

Intermediate/Advanced– 6 channel helicopters
6 channel helicopters are perfect for intermediate and advanced pilots who have training well on lower-channel helicopters or simulators and are ready for more! A 6 channel helicopter is often collective pitch. Common functions include:

Throttle
Turning (Yaw)
Forward/backward movement (Elevator)
Left/right movement (Aileron)
Collective pitch (tilt of main rotor blades)
Turning the gyro or other adjustments
A fixed-pitch 6 channel helicopter is a 4 channel helicopter plus two channels of possible adjustments.
A collective-pitch 6 channel helicopter is capable of full-3D flight including inverted flying and other advanced aerobatics such as diving, climbing, rolls, and loops. These maneuvers are the most challenging to learn, but also the most exciting to perform and watch!

Advanced– 7+ channel helicopters
Helicopters with 7 or more channels have the same movement functions as 6 channel helicopter. The additional channels allow for even more adjustments on the fly.

No matter what level, all helicopters take practice and patience to master. Check out the beginner’s guide to RC helicopters (coming soon!) once you decide on what helicopter is right for you.

Reference : http://www.rcdiscuss.com/index.php?topic=1670.0

CERN Large Hadron Collider LHC Explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T745HXduHY&feature=related

'Biodegradable' Doesn't Always Mean Earth-Friendly

Without proper composting facilities, throwing away biodegradable
materials may actually be worse for the environment.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/garbage-biodegradable-earth-month.html

THE GIST:

* Technology is now available to make a diverse collection of
biodegradable products.
* The missing link is composting facilities that can process the waste.
* With such facilities, we could recover 300 times more of the
waste that now ends up in dumps.

In an effort to ease the Earth's pain in a sea of single-serve
containers, a growing number of companies are turning to biodegradable
packaging in everything from yogurt containers to junk mail to plastic
bags and more.

If we're going to keep throwing things away, the thinking goes: Why
not make waste that either disintegrates into nothing or turns into
something useful, like fertilizer?

These days, you can get biodegradable garbage bags, packing peanuts,
forks and spoons, water bottles and clothing. Just this year, SunChips
introduced compostable snack bags.

But even as the technology improves and new products arrive on store
shelves, biodegradable packaging is not a cure-all for our waste
problems, experts say. Biodegradable packaging that ends up in a
landfill instead of a composting facility, for example, can be worse
for the environment than ordinary plastic.

"The public looks at biodegradable as something magical," even though
the term is mostly meaningless, said Ramani Narayan, a chemical
engineer at Michigan State University in East Lansing, and science
consultant to the Biodegradable Plastics Institute. "This is the most
used and abused and misused word in our dictionary right now."
planet green logo

Jaymi Heimbuch "Biodegradable" is a tricky term, and when it comes to
calling products green, it can be downright deceiving, providing a
false sense to consumers that they're making smarter choices. How do
you crack the code? When it comes to a "biodegradable" product, the
three things to keep in mind are: How long it will take to biodegrade;
under what conditions it will break down; and how what's left behind
will interact with the environment. Biodegradable products are
definitely a part of our vision for a better future, but many aren't
quite perfect just yet.

- Jaymi Heimbuch, Tech and Transport

"Simply calling something biodegradable and not defining in what
environment it is going to be biodegradable and in what time period it
is going to degrade is very misleading and deceptive," he added.

Every year, Americans throw away 250 million tons of waste, according
to the Environmental Protection Agency. Two-thirds of that material
ends up in landfills.

And the trash piles keep growing: The United States consumed 57
percent more stuff in 2000 than we did in 1957. In the past 50 years,
our species has consumed more resources than in all of history before
that.

No doubt, packaging is important. It keeps food from spoiling and
protects products from damage during shipping. Given that packaging is
here to stay, biodegradable versions are appealing, and the technology
has made major advances in recent years.

One of the biggest players in the business is Cargill's NatureWorks,
which uses corn to produce a biodegradable plastic building block
called PLA. Another power player is BASF's Ecoflex, which is a
synthetic material derived from petroleum. Plenty of other companies
use sugarcane and other starches to make PLA and similar materials.

Web sites for these bioplastics tout their wonders. NatureWorks, for
example, has calculated that manufacturing its PLA brand, called
Ingeo, produces 43 percent fewer greenhouse gases and uses 48 percent
less non-renewable energy than traditional plastic polymers, including
PET and PVC.

But biodegradable plastics are not an easy fix for our environmental
woes. In order to break down completely, a 100 percent biodegradable
product needs to end up in a community-scale composting facility,
which keeps proper temperature and moisture levels for long enough
periods of time. Backyard bins just won't cut it.

In a landfill, a biodegradable container will probably sit there just
as long as other plastics do. If it does disintegrate, one concern is
that the plastic might release methane gas, a more powerful greenhouse
gas than carbon dioxide.

In an environment like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Narayan added,
partially degradable plastics that are mixed with other additives are
more likely to leach toxins that can enter the food chain.

"One has to be careful," Narayan said. "If it's only partially
degradable, it's worse. Partial biodegradability is not an acceptable
option."

The good news is that a growing number of communities now have
composting facilities that can completely break down true bioplastics,
said Eric Lombardi, executive director of Eco-cycle, the nation's
largest community recycler in Boulder, Colo. The next step, he said,
is to develop more of these facilities, and to convince people to
separate their waste correctly into three bins: recycling, composting,
and trash.

"America is currently recovering only 30 percent of our discards, but
we can do 90 percent, and we should," Lombardi said. "The technology
is there for the most part. The missing piece now is infrastructure.
This country needs to stop building landfills and begin building
compost fills."

If there is a composting facility in your community, Narayan suggests
looking on biodegradable packaging for a stamp that says ASTM D6400.
That code means that the Biodegradable Products Institute has
certified the product as fully compostable.

For consumers who have neither a composting facility in their
neighborhood nor a worm-filled bucket in their backyards, buying
biodegradable products isn't going to make much of a difference --
except as a statement that the concept is important to them.
Pressuring your local government to motivate and compost, Lombardi
said, might be a better strategy.

"People are waking up to the fact that every town needs a composting
facility," he said. "It's one of the good news stories out there."