Move to 6.1 or 7.1 surround sound justified?

From the article:
Why bug people with a choice that most would rather not make? The expansion of the 5.1-channel standard was born in the moviehouse, where it's easier to cover a large space with surround effects if you add a back channel served by speakers in the back of the house.

In film exhibition, 6.1- and 7.1-channel systems make sense. At home, however, 5.1 channels are quite enough. It's easy to generate a solid soundfield in a small space with three speakers in front and two on the rear of the side walls. To me it's self-evidently nonsensical to have four surround speakers outnumbering the three in front.

http://news.designtechnica.com/talkback103.html

Exercising the body can benefit the mind

New research suggests that physical exercise encourages healthy brains to function at their optimum levels. Fitness prompts nerve cells to multiply, strengthens their connections, and protects them from harm. Benefits seem to extend to brains and nerves that are diseased or damaged. These findings could suggest new treatments for people with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injuries.


http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060225/bob10.asp

Suit may prevent maternal deaths during childbirth

A re-usable, lightweight suit could help save the lives of thousands of women in poor countries who die each year during childbirth, researchers said on Monday.

The garment, which resembles the bottom half of a wetsuit, restores blood flow to vital organs in women in shock and suffering from obstetrical haemorrhaging, or bleeding, during the birth.

In a pilot study of 364 women in Egypt, the non-pneumatic, anti-shock garment, or NASG, reduced death and severe illness by 69 percent, according to the researchers.

Visual passwords - Cool new way to key-in password

New way to login. You click an image at 5 random places you choose and that becomes your password for login. To login you click the same locations and the same sequence. Since you cannot accurately click the same spot/pixel, they give you a 7px margin error. Seems to cool. May be this is login of future, who knows?

http://labs.mininova.org/passclicks/

Easy way to make your own custom PCB?

Max William has written a document using which you can make your own custom PCB with just a laser printer for printing the circuits. Pretty neat trick.

http://max8888.orcon.net.nz/pcbs.htm

If you dont want to go through this and wants someone do it, you can try http://www.expresspcb.com/index.htm These guys let you design your PCB and they will make it and mail it to you. Ofcourse for a charge :)

Cornell Research into Dragonfly Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV)

From houseflies to honeybees, insects inspire us with flight skills just beyond the grasp of our technology. Z. Jane Wang, a professor at Cornell University, is working to close this gap between inspiration and implementation. Wang’s recent work is on dragonflies, and here she has found some peculiarities.

For example, "an airfoil uses aerodynamic lift to carry its weight. But the dragonfly uses a lot of aerodynamic drag to carry its weight. That is weird, because with airplanes you always think about minimizing drag. You never think about using drag."

Implementing a dragonfly MAV is still an elusive goal, hopefully made somewhat nearer by Wang’s research. The research and prior art is summarized in her recent paper, Dissecting Insect Flight. This and more can be found on her group's website, which appropriately enough is dragonfly.tam.cornell.edu.

Ice worms: They're real, and they're hot

Thriving in conditions that would turn most living things to Popsicles, these inch-long earthworm cousins inhabit glaciers and snowfields in the coastal ranges of Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. They move through seemingly solid ice with ease and are at their liveliest near the freezing point of water. Warm them up slightly and they dissolve into goo.

Their life cycle remains a mystery.

...

Polar bears weather the cold with thick insulation and the ability to generate their own heat. Antarctic cod have blood laced with antifreeze. Ice worms don't have any of these defenses.

Instead, they have the remarkable ability to boost their cells' energy production when the temperature drops, Shain discovered. "It's equivalent to putting more gasoline in your tank," he said.

The worms also possess cell membranes and enzymes that function and stay flexible in temperatures where most animals' cellular processes creak to a halt.

The downside is extreme sensitivity to heat. At about 40 degrees F, the worms' membranes melt and their enzymes go haywire.

Why ice is slippery?

Why ice is slippery? This question has baffled
scientist for decades with absolutely no concrete answers. Read this article
to find out more than one explanation for an answer and why water, the very
reason for life on earth, behaves weird at different environments

From the article:
The explanation once commonly dispensed in textbooks
turns out to be wrong. And slipperiness is just one of the unanswered puzzles
about ice. Besides the everyday ice that you slip on, there are about a dozen
other forms, some of which experts suspect exist in the hot interior of Earth or
on the surface of Pluto. Scientists expect to discover still more variations in
the coming years.

Ice, said Robert M. Rosenberg, an emeritus professor
of chemistry at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis., and a visiting scholar at
Northwestern University, "is a very mysterious
solid."

Faster than a speeding photon

Nice article that explains the theory and concepts behind experiments that makes light travel than the speed of light. Can we receive data before its being sent? What happens to the theory of relativity in that case? Does it fail? Read the article and make your own conclusion

From the article:

The textbooks say nothing can travel faster than light, not even light itself. New experiments show that this is no longer true, raising questions about the maximum speed at which we can send information.

Can a light pulse travel faster than the speed of light? This question has intrigued physicists for many years because such an event could violate Einstein's theory of special relativity and the principle of causality (that 'cause' always precedes 'effect'). Together these imply that no object or information can travel faster than the speed of light, c=310⁸ m s^-1. For nearly two decades, physicists have been sending certain light pulses faster than c over short distances (so-called superluminal propagation), but the light pulses have always been distorted in the process so interpreting these experiments has been difficult.

In May this year, Mugnai et al. reported superluminal behaviour in the propagation of microwaves (centimetre wavelengths) over much longer distances (tens of centimetres) at a speed 7% faster than c. A report by Wang et al. ( page 277 of this issue) now demonstrates a very large superluminal effect for pulses of visible light, in which a pulse propagates in a specially prepared medium with a negative velocity of -c/310: that is, not only faster than a pulse travelling in a vacuum, but so fast that the peak of the pulse exits the medium before it enters it!

How does Google Earth work?

Starting with an icosahedron (a), the triangular tiles are split into 4 smaller tiles (b), and re-mapped into a shape approximating a sphere (c). The process is then repeated (d,e,f). © Ross Heikes

From the article:

The globe-imaging software Google Earth has become a cult web product since its release last June. Using the web-based tool, users can fly around the globe and zoom in on both natural features and whole worlds of information added by other users

But how is it possible for you to zoom in from outer space to a point somewhere above the rooftop of your house without bringing your desktop computer to a grinding halt?

The main obstacle to a convincing three-diménsional skydive is data transfer. If one were to download over the Internet a one-metre resolution image of the entire world it would take 69 years with a 10-megabit-per-second Internet connection, and 12,400 years with a standard 56K modem.

To slash the amount of data they have to transmit across the Internet, virtual globes such as Google Earth approximate the sphere of the planet's surface with a polygon made up of flat tiles. The further away your viewpoint is from the surface, the fewer tiles are needed to create the illusion of roundness, and the lower the resolution of these tiles can be.

As you zoom in, the computer explodes each tile into smaller sub-tiles, each with higher resolution, and re-forms the polygon into a ball. The process continues as you zoom. This means that the virtual globe only has to download high-resolution data when the viewer is actively zooming towards it.

Virtual globes also use another trick to speedthings up further: a disk cache. Images for places you have already looked at are stored locally on your hard drive, so when you fly over this area again the software does not need to re-download the images, but instead quickly calls them up from your hard disk.

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060213/full/060213-7.html

Moore's Law Staying Strong Through 30nm

The NYTimes has the story on IBM with JSR Micro advancing photolithograhy research to allow 30nm chips. Good news for Intel, AMD, Moore's Law and overclockers. The IBM researchers' technology advance allows for the same deep ultraviolet rays used to make chips today to be used at 30nm. Intel's newest CPUs are manufactured at 65nm and present technology tapped out soon after that. This buys Moore's Law a few more years.

Surround sound comes to MP3

Wired is running an article discussing the future of the MP3 format with the amount of competition out there, especially from the surround sound scene. Thompson, the entity that licenses the MP3 format, released the MP3 Surround format to try to combat this but will it be enough? From the article: 'It may seem as if the venerable MP3 standard is here to stay, but it faces attack from a number of angles. First, it doesn't sound as good, byte-for-byte, as files purchased from iTunes Music Store (in the AAC format) or any of the Microsoft-compliant stores. Second, the CD rippers/encoders that most people use -- iTunes and Windows Media Player -- have encouraged users to rip to AAC and WMA over the years. Third, only one major online music store, eMusic, proffers songs in the MP3 format, and it lacks most major releases. Fourth, geeks who love MP3 for its wide compatibility can now choose from preferable open-source alternatives such as Ogg Vorbis.

Flexible body armor

One item to pop out of the Turin Winter Olympics is the use of flexible body armor. Similar to silly putty, this shear rate material is flexible under normal load and hardens under impact. Sounds expensive, but could offer some great alternatives for traditional hard shelled impact gear in active sports and military applications.

From the article:
The material exhibits a material property called "strain rate sensitivity". Under normal conditions the molecules within the material are weakly bound and can move past each with ease, making the material flexible. But the shock of sudden deformation causes the chemical bonds to strengthen and the moving molecules to lock, turning the material into a more solid, protective shield.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8721&feedId=online-news_rss20

Are viruses the ancestor of all living beings on Earth?

With the recent discovery of a truly monstrous virus, scientists are again casting about for how best to characterize these spectral life-forms. The new virus, officially known as Mimivirus (because it mimics a bacterium), is a creature "so bizarre," as The London Telegraph described it, "and unlike anything else seen by scientists . . . that . . . it could qualify for a new domain in the tree of life." Indeed, Mimivirus is so much more genetically complex than all previously known viruses, not to mention a number of bacteria, that it seems to call for a dramatic redrawing of the tree of life.

"This thing shows that some viruses are organisms that have an ancestor that was much more complex than they are now," says Didier Raoult, one of the leaders of the research team at the Mediterranean University in Marseille, France, that identified the virus. "We have a lot of evidence with Mimivirus that the virus phylum is at least as old as the other branches of life and that viruses were involved very early on in the evolutionary emergence of life."

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060218/mathtrek.asp

Does dogs know Calculus?

From the article:

When Elvis and Pennings go to the beach, they always play fetch. Standing at the water's edge, Pennings throws a tennis ball out into the waves, and Elvis eagerly retrieves it. When Pennings throws the ball at an angle to the shoreline, Elvis has several options. He can run along the beach until he is directly opposite the ball, then swim out to get it. Or he can plunge into the water right away and swim all the way to the ball. What happens most the time, however, is that Elvis runs part of the way along the beach, then swims out to the ball.

Elvis playing fetch at the beach. Courtesy of Tim Pennings

Depending on the dog's running and swimming speeds, the strategy that Elvis follows appears to minimize the time that it takes to get to the ball. Indeed, Pennings found by experiment that Elvis performs in a way that closely matches a calculus-based mathematical model of the situation.

"It seems clear that in most cases Elvis chose a path that agreed remarkably closely with the optimal path," Pennings argued in the May 2003 College Mathematics Journal.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060218/mathtrek.asp

World's smallest external HDD

Japanese peripherals specialist Elecom has introduced what it claims is the world's smallest external hard drive. Its MF-DU204G packs in 4GB of storage capacity yet is sufficiently small to warrant its own, integrated USB connector.

The secret? The use of a bus-powered 0.85in HDD, Elecom said. The drive is packed into a unit that measures 6.8 x 3 x 1.3cm and weighs just 44g. The company bundles a USB extender cable should the drive prove too large and obscure other USB ports. Elecom also bundles USB Disk Pro, a security utility that password-protects the drive.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/14/elecom_world_smallest_hdd/

How to recover scratched CDs

The first thing to do when coming across a CD with a read error is to clean it, to check whether it the error is not being caused by a dirty surface. You can even wash the CD gently with a little detergent, using your fingers to clean it (avoid sponges, since they can scratch the CD). If the error persists, try reading or playing the CD on another drive. If another drive (or CD player, in the case of audio CDs) gives the same result (read error or skipping, in the case of audio CDs), it will mean that the CD is scratched.
...

As the CD's contents are preserved, a scratched CD can be recovered by polishing its plastic surface. If, after carrying out the above cleansing, the CD persists in giving reading errors, just polish the CD with toothpaste. That's right, toothpaste. It works wonders, and you won't spend a fortune buying professional cleaning kits. Polish the scratches with a cotton swab, rubbing gently the paste-imbued swab over the scratches until they disappear or until you notice that you have removed them as far as possible. Sometimes the paste may cause new scratching, but it will be merely superficial and easily removed. After clearing the scratches, wash the CD in water.

If there are still scratches that the toothpaste has not managed to removed, use a metal polish (Brasso) in the same way as described above. Finally, rub Vaseline on the CD, very gently (do not press hard), from moving out from the centre to the rim.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/77

Easiest would be buy Scratchless CDs

Health issues surrounding the use of wireless networks: Are RF signals safe?

The explosive growth of wireless technologies in recent years has brought the IT world to a new, cableless era, where people can walk around their office and from one business location to another, without loosing connectivity to their network. The same goes for home users: they can now roam around their house with their laptop and surf the web in all liberty. The increasing popularity of wireless APs is rapidly saturating the air with RF signals, and this brings a new question to life: Should we be concerned about the effect of RFs on our health? Up to now, the safe limit of exposition to radio frequencies for human beings remains pretty much unknown. The studies have shown that there is no evidence that these signals present a hazard to people.

"Research on the possible health effects of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) energy dates back more than 60 years and will continue for the foreseeable future. As research adds to the extensive scientific knowledge in this important area, we believe it will further strengthen the basis for public confidence in the safety of current and future wireless communications technologies."

One thing that I know for sure is that these signals gives awful headaches when you work in a wireless lab where three or four access points are broadcasting at the same time on different channels. I've also heard many stories about people who had their desk located directly under a broadcasting antenna and whom had terrible migraines at the end each day.

Here are a few recommendations to follow if you want remain on the safe side:

• Don't stand in close proximity to any antenna that is transmitting. Those that are only made to receive signals are perfectly safe. If an antenna is a directional one, it is safe for you to stay in the back or on the side of it.
• Don't move a device that is transmitting.
• Don't touch any powered antenna.
• To comply with FCC RF exposure limits, dipole antennas (rubber ducky ones, like on most home wireless routers) should always be located at least 8 inches from any person.
• When using a laptop with a PCMCIA or integrated wireless NIC, the adaptor's integrated antenna should always be at more then 2 inches from the body of the operator.

If you want to learn more about this interesting subject, I would strongly suggest that you visit the radio frequency safety section of the FCC website.

Note: This article is reproduced from [GeeksAreSexy]

Plant cells for robot controls

Controlling robots in complex environments is not an easy task, but it would greatly increase their usages. Yet living organisms are facing complexity and successfully dealing with it. So why not apply lessons from nature to robotics? This is what did researchers from Japan and U.K. who built an interface between a plant and an omnidirectional hexapod robot. The interaction loop they realized between living plants and robots might lead to the integration of biological cells in other technological devices based on biohybrid architectures.

For more information, you alsoshould read "Robot Control with Biological Cells" (PDF format, 15 pages, 262 KB).

http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=157

Love is the drug

Anthropologist Helen Fisher, author of "Why We Love," studied the brain circuitry that makes falling in love the intense, passionate emotion it is. She found that the brain sees romantic love as a reward, stimulating activity in the same areas that light up when a person seeks any kind of a reward, whether it's chocolate, money or drugs.

"It became apparent to me that romantic love was a drive -- a drive as strong as thirst, as hunger. People live for love, they kill for love, they die for love, they sing about love," Fisher said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/02/14/science.of.love/index.html

Laser Projectors Coming to Cell Phones and PDAs

Light Blue Optics Ltd (LBO) has developed unique laser-based projection technology, which uses computational algorithms and novel optical techniques to allow miniature lasers to display video images in real-time using the diffractive nature of laser light. This overcomes the size limitation of conventional projection techniques, allowing projectors to be smaller than ever before. Understand that there is no glass, no prisms, NO MOVING PARTS, and no need for fans to provide heat dissipation. In addition, it runs on less than 1.5W at full power and less than 350mW while displaying typical video images (50% average pixel amplitude. There is also an infinite focus, meaning that no matter how close or far away, there are no optics to adjust for a clear picture.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/laserprojectorscellphones.php

A new machine that wahes, dries and irons

From the article:

The machine washes, dries and irons clothes in separate compartments and is said to eliminate colour runs, shrinkage and ironing.
It can tackle up to 16 items at a time, including king-size bed sheets.
Because hangers are used, they do not become entangled and have 83% fewer creases, according to the designer. The items are then dried and ironed by hot air blown across them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4712446.stm

New Microchips Shun Transistors

Wolfgang Porod and his colleagues turned to the process of magnetic patterning (.pdf) to produce a new chip that uses arrays of separate magnetic domains. Each island maintains its own magnetic field.

Because the chip has no wires, its device density and processing power may eventually be much higher than transistor-based devices. And it won't be nearly as power-hungry, which will translate to less heat emission and a cooler future for portable hardware like laptops

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70190-0.html?tw=rss.index

Want to face lift your Windows XP ...

You can install custom themes on your XP machine. For that you need to patchup uxtheme.dll under c:\windows\system32
When they sold windows XP, micro$oft didn't want you to have the ability to install any XP theme files. They made XP such that it will accept themes that digitally signed by them only not others. Google for uxtheme.dll and you will find one suitable for your XP installation. You can download uxtheme.dll if you running SP2 from here.

I got inspired to write this from this article.

To name a few, here are some links to download themes

http://www.getskinned.org/
http://bfarber.com/
http://interfacelift.com/themes-win/
http://skins.deviantart.com/windows/visualstyle/

http://www.crystalxp.net/ (might ask you to install additional software)

3D display ... a reality soon

Check out this awesome display of 3D images using dots. This could be t he future of true 3D displays. Unlike other displays, this doesn't use any human-eye tricks nor mimic 3D. They display true 3D image in front of you.

From the article:

The AIST, Keio University and Burton Inc., in cooperation, have succeeded in a spatial display of "real 3D images" consisting of dot arrays using a device which is made by additionally incorporating a linear motor system and a high-quality and -brightness infrared pulse laser into the 2D display device mentioned above.

The linear motor system enables the position of the laser focal point to be varied by high-speed scanning of a lens set on the motor orbit. Incorporation of this system makes the image scanning in the direction of the z-axis possible. For scanning in the x and y axis directions, conventional galvanometric mirrors are used.

http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_e/latest_research/2006/20060210/20060210.html

Einstein's theory 'Improved'?

A Chinese astronomer has fine-tuned Einstein's groundbreaking theory of gravity, creating a 'simple' theory which could solve a dark mystery that has baffled astrophysicists for three-quarters of a century.

 

Read more ...

Open source UI design templates

Check this out. Some elegant design templates for your web offered as opensource. All in return he asks you is to link back to his site. That shouldn't be a problem. If you are using it for commercial use, consider making a donation.

 

Dont forget to take a look at his tutorials.

 

http://www.sixshootermedia.com/Pretty_as_a_Picture/templates/index.php#amyg1

Command line utilities for your Windows XP and 2000

Useful command line utilitlies that you can execute from Start -> Run. All are from Micro$oft and are known popularly known to public

 

http://www.networkclue.com/os/Windows/commands/index.aspx

 

Radical new battery technology makes efficient batteries

Work at MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) holds out the promise of the first technologically significant and economically viable alternative to conventional batteries in more than 200 years.

 

Joel E. Schindall, the Bernard Gordon Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and associate director of the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems; John G. Kassakian, EECS professor and director of LEES; and Ph.D. candidate Riccardo Signorelli are using nanotube structures to improve on an energy storage device called an ultracapacitor

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/MIT_Researchers_Fired_Up_About_Battery_Alternative.html

Can we dedect fourth dimension?

Northeastern University and University of California scientists say they might soon have evidence of extra dimensions and other exotic predictions. Early results from a neutrino detector at the South Pole called AMANDA suggest ghostlike particles ...

 

http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1089401.php/Other_dimensions_might_soon_be_detected

How to improve performance of Windows XP

Good collection of how-tos to improve performance of Windows XP box.

 

http://www.activehowto.com/how-to/4/11/414.htm

3D paintjob for your walls

As the title says. Look at these pictures

Scientists moot gravity-busting hyperdrive

The US military is considering testing the principle behind a type of space drive which holds the promise of reaching Mars in just three hours. The problem is, as New Scientist explains, it's entirely theoretical and many physicists admit they don't understand the science behind it.

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/06/hyperdrive/

Mapping veins instead of finger printing for humans

In Memphis, Tenn., a small medical supply company called Luminetx has developed a new method of palm-reading that it hopes will rival fingerprinting or retinal scans as a way to perfectly identify individuals. The technology is based on an infrared scan of the blood cells running through veins, which is then analyzed by a computer.

 

http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-6034134.html?part=rss&tag=6034134&subj=news

 

DIY collection - ElephantStairCase.com

Elephant Staircase is a wiki made up of pages detailing ridiculously sweet projects. These projects range from do-it-yourself projects, to hacking/modding (legally of course), to cool ideas for random stuff, to random cool things to do with your time and money. Basically a cookbook for the technically inclined, scientifically fascinated, geeks, nerds, mechancially curious, l33t, or just anyone who cares.

 

http://www.elephantstaircase.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Software-Defined Radio Could Unify Wireless World

Technicians in Ireland are testing a device capable of skipping between incompatible wireless standards by tweaking its underlying code. The article states: 'The device can impersonate a multitude of different wireless devices since it uses reconfigurable software to carry out the tasks normally performed by static hardware. The technology promises to let future gadgets jump between frequencies and standards that currently conflict. A cellphone could, for example, automatically detect and jump to a much faster Wi-Fi network when in a local hotspot

 

The art of metaprogramming

One of the most under-used programming techniques is writing programs that generate programs or program parts. Learn why metaprogramming is necessary and look at some of the components of metaprogramming (textual macro languages, specialized code generators). See how to build a code generator and get a closer look at language-sensitive macro programming in Scheme.

Code-generating programs are sometimes called metaprograms; writing such programs is called metaprogramming. Writing programs that write code has numerous applications.

This article explains why you might consider metaprogramming and looks at some of the components of this art

Part I

Part II

New transmission to radically improve mileage

82 year-old inventor, Laird Gogins, achieves lifelong dream by finally perfecting his transmission. Gogins says that his new transmission will change the world because it would increase mileage in a car from 20 mpg to 30 mpg. "We wouldn't even need a teacup of oil from the Middle East," Gogins said.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,635179379,00.html

Is Time single dimensionned?

A physicist at Stanford has just recently published a peer review website for several physics lectures focusing on a single underlying idea that time is not a single dimension of spacetime but rather a local geometric distinction in spacetime." The science is presented quite clearly and originally uses GPS systems as a point of focus.

From the article:
Not too long ago, people thought the Earth was flat, which meant they thought that gravity pointed in the same direction everywhere. Today, we think of that as a silly idea, but at the same time, most people today (including most scientists) still think of spacetime as if it were a big box with 3 space dimensions and 1 time dimension. So, like gravity for a flat Earth, the single time dimension for the 'big box universe' points in one direction, from the Big-Bang into the future. A lot of lip service is given to the idea of "curved spacetime", but the simplistic 3+1 'box' remains the dominant concept of what cosmic spacetime is like.

Future of Digital Cameras

Where does the digital camera technology heading to?

From the article:
There's the end of the megapixel race. "In compact cameras, I think that the megapixel race is pretty much over," says Chuck Westfall, director of media for Canon's camera marketing group. "Seven- and eight-megapixel cameras seem to be more than adequate. We can easily go up to a 13-by-19 print and see very, very clear detail."

If not pixels, what will motivate us buy new camera every couple of years?

http://news.com.com/Pixel+counting+joins+film+in+obsolete+bin/2100-1041_3-6034570.html

Writing sensible email messages

If you want to be a good email citizen and ensure the kind of results you're looking for, you'll need to craft messages that are concise and easy to deal with.

This article will give you insight on how to write effective emails

AJAX Design Patterns

In this tutorial we describe how to build a modularized architecture to create complex AJAX Applications. Unlike most of the AJAX tutorials we focus on the design and implementation of a whole application and not on the low level details.

http://snyke.net/blog/2006/02/05/ajax-design-patterns/

Bottled Water - the $100 Billion Fraud Industry

Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief--often mistaken, as it happens--that this is better for us than what flows from our taps. At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.

Read the article from yahoo

The cure for your allergy: a hookworm?

A team of British scientists investigating whether a tiny tropical hookworm could provide a cure for asthma and hay fever have committed the ultimate act of bravery by infecting themselves with the parasite to observe the effects... 'It was fairly itchy when they first go through the skin,' he admitted.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1702692,00.html

Man-made blood won't carry bacteria, viruses

Clinical tests on humanoids are set to start this time next year and alleviate the worldwide blood shortage. Since they are artificial and made with disinfected synthetic materials, they wont carry germs that normally spreads through blood transfusion.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=29493

Cooking eggs with cellphones

Suzzanna Decantworthy published an article in her Wymsey Weekend column that described how to cook an egg with two cell phones. From the article: "Many students, and other young people, have little in the way of cooking skills but can usually get their hands on a couple of mobile phones. So, this week, we show you how to use two mobile phones to cook an egg which will make a change from phoning out for a pizza.

Pretty scary. Does our brain get fried when we talk? What damages does a cell phone conversation cause?

Don't Bring Home the Bacon, Print It

Ink-jet printing has come a long way; we used to use it for what was called "hard copy." Soon, you will be able to use a modified ink-jet printer to make yourself some breakfast -- like bacon, for instance? Nothing like fresh bacon.

Read the article from yahoo

Self cleaning bathrooms

Researchers at the University of New South Wales are developing new coatings they hope will be used for self-cleaning surfaces in hospitals and the home. It's made of a special nanoparticle coating that absorbs ultraviolet light below a certain wavelength and gives the particles an oxidizing quality stronger than any commercial bleach. Say goodbye to tedious bathroom cleaning!