Francis Crick, Co-Discoverer of DNA, Dies at 88: "Francis H. C. Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, the genetic blueprint for life, and the leading molecular biologist of his age, died on Wednesday night in a hospital in San Diego. He was 88.

He died after a long battle with colon cancer, said Andrew Porterfield, a spokesman for the Salk Institute, where he worked."

posted by Farookh at 8:10 PM Comment (0)

<>Machinima and Red vs Blue

an article in Austin Chronicles about the creators of Red vs Blue, series of short films made using Halo.
Machinima involves creating films using game editors.

Amit C.



posted by Amit at 7:01 PM Comment (1)

Stem cells promise stroke therapy: "Stem cells could potentially be used to repair the damage to brain tissue caused by a stroke, say scientists."

"A team from Stanford University injected foetal stem cells into stroke-damaged rats' brains.

They found the cells could migrate to the damaged areas, and turn into the right type of brain cell. Whether they actually aid recovery is still unknown. "

posted by Farookh at 2:04 PM Comment (0)

Hawking cracks black hole paradox

After nearly 30 years of arguing that a black hole destroys everything that falls into it, Stephen Hawking is saying he was wrong. It seems that black holes may after all allow information within them to escape. 


posted by Anonymous at 4:44 PM Comment (2)

Does your computer randomly play classical music?  If it does, you might want to check out http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261186
 
:)


posted by Farookh at 4:30 PM Comment (0)

RIP phone line
Replaced my land line with VOIP from AT&T last night. It feels weird in a nice way. I remember struggling 8 years back on a 64kbps link to the Internet and something like VOIP would've been a pipe dream. And now here it is getting into the hands of consumers. Yeah, I know I am probably a little late to the bandwagon and VOIP from Vonage etc. have been here for some time now. Anyways...so, now I have one cable through which I get standard TV, HDTV, 3Mbps connectivity and my telephony. Neat!

It is over a D-Link VOIP gateway that uses H.323 (same like Netmeeting) and SIP. I was a little bummed that I can't run it behind my NAT/firewall; it has to sit between my cable modem and the NAT for two reasons - H.323 doesn't use fixed ports which basically requires me to open all the ports for inbound traffic or filter by protocol (expensive). Second, the gateway does QoS to ensure that I get 90kbps (KBps?) up and down (to the extent they can) and they won't be able to do that if it is on my LAN while I am playing Xbox Live. So, I have to live with an extra hop (still looking for ways to eliminate that).

Good features - voicemail over the web, vmail fwding over email, routing of calls, etc. and good rates. Free domestic and 17c to India. Voice quality is like landline with no discernible lag - a slight hush in the background once in a while though. More on the quality later.

Vonage offers some interesting features like virtual phone numbers. So, if I have family in Boston who calls me often then I get a Boston number for a small fee and my family calling me dials local. Interesting things one can do over an IP network. They support some international numbers as well. And they also support calling from your PC via the SoftPhone. Kaushik, you guys should probably hook up with some of these VOIP guys.

posted by Farookh at 11:22 AM Comment (0)

Google's IM powered by Mundu?: "An Indian company could power internet giant Google's next killer application. Geodesic Information Systems, a Mumbai-based company listed on the BSE, is believed to be running a pilot project for what could some day be the Google Instant Messenger. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that the company got the go-ahead to develop the prototype after meeting Google's founders in Mountain View, California."

posted by Farookh at 11:12 PM Comment (0)

Gates and Jobs, Together at Last: "Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have been celebrated in books, magazines, newspapers, even a television movie. Now comes musical theater."

"The musical explores the lives of Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs, a founder of Apple, from their teenage years to the present, and includes supporting characters like Apple's other founder, Steve Wozniak, and fictional female love interests."

posted by Farookh at 11:30 AM Comment (0)

Microsoft's new patent: Method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1254911,00.html

Amit with a C


posted by Amit at 3:26 PM Comment (0)

Lifestyle Blamed for Rise in Myopia in East Asia: "A rise in myopia, or nearsightedness, in east Asia is due to lifestyle changes and not genetics, a science magazine said on Wednesday."

"The magazine said the rate of myopia in India is about 10 percent but that 70 percent of 18-year-old men of Indian origin in Singapore have myopia."

Too much reading is bad. :)

posted by Farookh at 12:15 AM Comment (0)

GMail helps Hormel Foods Stock Gain 230% in 6 weeks!: "Analysts are dumbfounded by the staggering performance of Hormel Foods Corporation, as stocks continue to trade at phenomenal rates."

:)

posted by Farookh at 12:50 PM Comment (0)

In name dispute, it's Googles vs. Google: "Internet search giant Google is the target of a trademark complaint filed by the owners of children's Web site Googles.com. "

Maybe Google should buy Googles and create a nice childrens search engine, mail, etc.

posted by Farookh at 12:48 PM Comment (0)

U.N. Aims to Bring Spam 'Epidemic' to End: "The United Nations is aiming to bring a 'modern day epidemic' of junk e-mail under control within two years by standardizing legislation to make it easier to prosecute offenders, a leading expert said Tuesday. "

posted by Farookh at 12:38 PM Comment (0)

Golfing Mongolia: A 2.3-Million-Yard Par 11,880: "This summer, Mr. Tolme, a civil engineer from New Hampshire, is golfing across Mongolia. Treating this enormous Central Asian nation as his private course, he has divided Mongolia into 18 holes. The total fairway distance is 2,322,000 yards. Par is 11,880 strokes."

His website: http://www.golfmongolia.com

posted by Farookh at 11:10 AM Comment (0)

Intel Research - Proactive Health

I thought it was interesting that Intel was doing this.

"Intel's Proactive Health Research is exploring the ways in which ubiquitous computing can support the daily health and wellness needs of people in their homes and everyday lives."

posted by Farookh at 1:01 PM Comment (0)