Loading ...Well in interesting news, Jeff might be able to give up insulin shots if this research in Canada progresses nicely.
Apparently, the reason I have asthma is because I have over aggressive natural killer cells, according to this research being done by people at Harvard.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/03.16/01-asthma.html
According to the folks over at the San Jose Mercury News, Microsoft is attempting to make a iPod/PSP/DS portable system competitor. They say that J Allard from the XBOX division is heading up the project. Not sure what I think of this, Microsoft does have some great people working for them but I wonder if the project will suffer from trying to be too many things to too many people at once. Mayhaps this will turn into a portable Xbox, who knows.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2006/03/microsofts_plan.html
At this years Intel Developer Forum, Intel showed a self-contained water cooling unit for PCs that should cost around $50. From the looks of the design it would appear to be stupidly easy to install and should not leak due to its construction materials. The guys from Hardwaresecrets.com has an in-depth look at the device here.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/295
Now in a matter that is of more personal interest to myself with some of the writing and reporting I do on the side we have this report from the SF Weekly. Apparently, David Pouge who write for the New York Times and a few other establishments accepted $2,700 worth in free services from the guys over at DriveSavers.com for a disk recovery that he then proceeded to write up favorably. Incidentally, I do recommend DriveSavers myself if you have a dead or damaged hard drive that has data on it you absolutely can’t loose. The problem of course is that in the computer/IT space very often companies will send up products to review and never ask for them back. Part of it is bad management, and part of it is because the PR firms for these companies change more often then some people change hairstyles in a year. Reviewing services is something that doesnt always come up often in our line of work, but when we do it usually is comped in some way I find and we try to say to others that “You might not get this level of service” because when we have problems we can go through different lines of communication to find out just what the hell is going on really. In any case, this is worth reading.
http://www.sfweekly.com/Issues/2006-03-08/news/smith_full.html
“Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.”
The statement above is protected under a patent issued by the USPTO and my repeating it above is breaking the law. That and other insights about just how broken and messed up our patent system is found in Michael Crichton’s eassy in the New York Times found here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/opinion/19crichton.html?_r=3&oref=
slogin&pagewanted=print
Apparently the folks over at the Church of Scientology have their panties in a bind over the sesaon 9 South Park episode where Stan becomes the church’s newest prophet to lead them and the head of the church tells Stan to just start making shit up. If you havent seen the episode I highly recommend you find it online. Well apparently, making fun of Christianity, Judiasm, Islam was fine and dandy for Scientologist (yeah I didnt know that either until recently) Issac Hayes, who plays the voice of “Chef” on the show
. But as soon as the show turns its brand of humor on Scientology Hayes left the show in a huff about “respecting religion” or some such nonsense.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/18/entertainment/main1419348.shtml
For those of you who might not have been around on the net long enough to remember the Web Pages That Suck website or phenomenon there is actually a case being made in favor of ugly websites that I think you will find interesting. The basics of the argument is that ugly websites performs a certain function or function well enough to overcome the asthetics.
Last but not least I have a few reminders for people!
The LayerOne 2006 security confrence is coming up on April 15-16 at the Pasadena Hilton hotel. You can pre-register for $60 until April 2nd, after which you will have to register at the con when you show up. I plan on going to this years to see what they got cooking.
Also of interest to some of you is DEFCON 14! DEFCON 14 this year is at the Riviera Hotel on the Strip now! Entry into the con is $100 now, but hotel room rates are $92 a night which is better then what it was at the Alexis Park. However most important of all, there is finally enough goddamn parking! No more headhunting for parking spots. DEFCON 14 is August 4-6th this year.
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-14/dc-14-index.html
Most important of all however is WORLDCON 2006. WORLDCON is the largest science fiction/fantasy convention of its kind. Period. This years Worldcon is being held in our backyard here in southern California at the Anahiem Convention Center complex just next door to Disneyland. It will be from August 23 till the 27th. I plan on making it to Worldcon as this will be my first Worldcon ever! Get your Worldcon memberships ASAP! Prices go up as we get closer to the convention, right now a full membership is $175 until July 1st.
http://www.laconiv.org/2006/main/top.htm
That is all for now! Back to finals for me.
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