My blog is worth $2,256.16.
How much is your blog worth?

IT-blog

IT-Blog about Technology|Hardware|Tech Deals|Special Events|Breaking news|Etc.

8/18/2006

What do you drink when it's hot?

The claim is that drinking a cold drink is better as the cold drink comes in contact with the tissues of the mouth, tongue, and throat thus soothing us, and it brings body temperature down since the body must warm up the drink to body temperature.

On the other hand, some say drinking a hot drink is better as the body has to use more energy to reduce the temperature of the drink to body temperature.

But this is contradicted by those who maintain that this body process only makes you hotter. People choose with their feet on this one (well, their mouths too).

People prefer cool drinks much more often than hot drinks during hot weather for sensory reasons rather than body temperature reasons. The same is true with hot drinks being more preferable during cold weather.

In fact, the temperature of the drink does not really matter unless a massive amount of liquid is being consumed or if the temperature of the liquid is extremely cold or extremely hot. If extremely cold, such an amount would probably make you sick and cause you to vomit and cramp. If extremely hot, it would burn your mouth.

The fact that fluid temperature, cooler or warmer, doesn't much matter is due to the much greater mass of the body compared to the drink. Cold or hot, the temperature of the drink is transformed to body temperature without much of a lowering of body temperature at all. The body's system of temperature regulation (homeostasis) is not so easily fooled.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta stresses that during hot weather more fluids should be consumed. The CDC makes no recommendation as to the temperature of this fluid other than to "avoid very cold drinks" as these can cause stomach cramps.

The CDC says that besides water, salts, and minerals also need to be replaced in order to avoid heatstroke. It recommends avoiding caffeine, alcohol, and drinks with large amounts of sugar as these can "actually cause you to lose more body fluid".

by Dr. Stephen Juan

8/17/2006

10 tips on doing nothing at work

Manual for lazy ppl :)
  1. Look Busy: Having papers spead all over your desk helps, as do pencils which are widdled down to the eraser. If you have to walk somewhere, keep your head down, and walk quickly (this also works if you’re trying to avoid being called over to do work. NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT!). Carrying clipboard with you while moving around also helps.
  2. Look Stressed: If you look completely stressed out, co-workers and your boss will be more likely to leave you alone, since you must have other pressing matters on your mind. To look stressed leave your eyes unfocused, move from place to place quickly while quietly talking to yourself, and if someone asks you a question, stare off into the distance for a moment, give a big sigh, and answer them with an irritated tone.
  3. Speak Quickly: If they can’t figure out what you said, they’ll assume you don’t have the time to explain it.
  4. Hide: Find a good hiding place. A couple good examples are under a desk, in the air vents, or a janitor’s closet.
  5. Break a Limb: Obviously this method only works when you work at a job that requires physical labour or typing. How you break the limb is up to you, though I recommend something spectacular (ie. snowboarding on the Alps).
  6. Make Excuses: There’s nothing like having a good list of excuses on hand (Memorized, that is. A list on paper is suspicious). Ones like “I would stay late, but I have to babysit my mother’s aunt’s friend’s sister’s goldfish,” may work. Of course, ymmv.
  7. Never Leave Your Office/Room: If you don’t leave your office, you are less likely to be bothered. Remember: out of sight, out of mind. Of course, you will need to ensure that you have an ample supply of rations so that you can survive until it’s time to head home. Bathroom breaks, I’m still working on.
  8. What they can’t see… Rearrange your office so that your computer monitor faces away from any windows or doors that your boss may be able to see through. This will ensure that you have ample time to hit the “Boss Key” in any game you’re playing, or open a Word document to hide the porn you’re surfing, should your boss happen to wander into your dungeon..er..office.
  9. Fool their eyes: If you can’t rearrange your office, perhaps employ a service like WorkFRIENDLY which acts as a proxy to mask any website that you visit. You can mask the sites to look like a Word Document and at a quick glance, they look like any other document. If the boss gets too close, click the “Boss Key” and WordFriendly will hide the website with pseudo-word document.
  10. Choose a profession people don’t understand: I’m a web developer. Most people don’t REALLY understand what you need to do to be a web developer, so I might be doing a blog post, but they’re thinking I’m working. Golden!

8/14/2006

After Ten Years of Debate, Few Believe in Life on Mars

It was a science fiction fantasy come true: Ten years ago this summer, NASA announced the discovery of life on Mars.

At a Washington, D.C., news conference, scientists showed magnified pictures of a four-pound Martian meteorite riddled with wormy blobs that looked like bacterial colonies. The researchers explained how they had pried numerous clues from the rock, all strongly supporting their contention that microscopic creatures once occupied its nooks and crannies.

It was arguably the space agency's most imagination-gripping moment since Apollo. Space buffs and NASA officials said that it just might be the scientific discovery of the century.

Convincing the Skeptics

"If the results are verified," the late Carl Sagan pronounced, "it is a turning point in human history."

Ten years later, the results have not been verified. Skeptics have found non-biological explanations for every piece of evidence that was presented on Aug. 6, 1996. And though they still vigorously defend their claim, the NASA scientists who advanced it now stand alone in their belief.

"We certainly have not convinced the community, and that's been a little bit disappointing," said David McKay, a NASA biochemist and leader of the team that started the scientific episode.

Even though the majority of his colleagues don't buy his "life on Mars" theory -- McKay's own brother, also a NASA scientist, is one of his most prominent critics -- many say they respect him and greatly appreciate his efforts.

The announcement and the technical paper that followed it practically created exobiology, the scientific field that investigates the potential for life on other planets.

"Without that paper I wouldn't be working in this field," said Martin Fisk, a marine geologist who studies how bacteria survive under the sea floor, partly because their harsh environment may resemble that of extraterrestrial life.

Debating the claim has helped researchers develop standards that will eventually prove useful for evaluating the presence of life in other Martian meteorites or a sample from the red planet. It has given the scientific community ideas about exactly where on the planet they would most like to scoop up a sample, should they ever get to retrieve one.

It is undeniable that McKay and his colleagues have drawn attention to what is -- whether it contains evidence of life or not -- a very interesting rock.
Ancient Rock

The rock in question was discovered in Antarctica, where rocks that fall from the heavens are easy to spot on the icy glacial plains. Its name, ALH84001, indicates that it was the first meteorite found during the 1984 research season in the Allan Hills, an especially meteorite-rich area in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.

At first ALH84001 was misclassified, so it wasn't until 1993 that researchers even realized the rock came from Mars. That was interesting enough, because at the time fewer than a dozen Martian meteorites were known to science.

But ALH84001 also turned out to be much more ancient than the other known Martian meteorites. At 4.5 billion years old, it dates from a period of Martian history when liquid water -- a requirement for the presence of life -- probably existed at the now barren planet's surface.

It made sense to ask: Could there be fossils of ancient Martian microbes, or maybe traces of them, preserved in the cracks and pore spaces of ALH84001?

The NASA scientists proffered four reasons to support their view that the answer to that question is "Yes."

First, chemical analysis showed that the meteorite contained a variety of organic molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. PAHs can be produced by biological processes, and that's what McKay and his colleagues argued. But they are also commonly found in asteroids, comets and meteorites, not to mention the Antarctic ice where ALH84001 is estimated to have lain for 13,000 years. For that reason, skeptics immediately dismissed the importance of PAHs in the Martian meteorite.

A second line of evidence -- that the elongated blobs in the electron microscope images could be fossils of ancient Martian bacteria -- was also rejected pretty quickly by most scientists.

The problem was, those blobs were much smaller than any bacteria that have ever been observed on Earth. A National Research Council panel concluded in 1998 that the blobs were 100 to 1,000 times too small to be free-living organisms because they couldn't have held all the proteins, DNA and other molecules necessary for even the simplest metabolic processes.

You could argue that perhaps Martian life evolved a more compact biochemistry, or that the blobs shriveled as they fossilized. At one point McKay and the other NASA scientists suggested the blobs might be pieces of larger organisms.
Lines of Evidence

"That was only mentioned once or twice and never brought up again," said Allan Treiman, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

The two other lines of evidence survived longer. Both revolved around minerals sprinkled through the meteorite that could have been produced by microbes.

The first mineral, carbonate, is typically formed on earth by the remains of living organisms that make shells and other skeletal parts out of minerals they extract from seawater. Some of those organisms can be quite tiny. So finding carbonate in ALH84001 could indicate the presence of ancient microbes in the rock.

The story is similar for magnetite, the other mineral of interest in ALH84001. Some bacteria produce extraordinarily small and pure magnetite crystals, then align the magnetic grains to make a microscopic compass needle that helps them navigate.

The bacteria don't use their internal compasses to find north; they use them to tell up from down. Earth's spherical shape means that a compass needle in either hemisphere points at least somewhat downward, so the magnetite grains help the microbes sense where they are with respect to the planet's surface.

Some of the most evolutionarily ancient bacteria on Earth produce magnetite, McKay and his colleagues pointed out. Perhaps ancient Martian microbes did as well; at least some of the magnetite grains in ALH84001 share the shape, small size and remarkable purity of those produced by bacteria on Earth.

Of all the lines of evidence presented by the NASA scientists, it was the magnetite grains that proved most provocative. They were embedded in the carbonate along with other iron-containing minerals in such an unusual arrangement that something out of the ordinary must have put them there -- could it have been alive?

"The shape of the magnetite grains is still rather distinctive," McKay said. "If it were found on Earth it would be a very strong biosignature."
Final Word?

For years McKay and his detractors argued about how distinctive the magnetite grains in ALH84001 are, and whether a non-biological process could have produced them. Certainly nobody had ever produced similar magnetite grains in the laboratory.

Then somebody did. In 2001 a second team of NASA scientists, including McKay's brother Gordon and a consultant to the space agency named D.C. Golden, managed to cook up a batch of magnetite grains very similar to the ones in ALH84001. Golden and Gordon McKay were also able to incorporate the magnetite grains into balls of carbonate like the ones David McKay and his colleagues described in 1996.

"He got a little testy about the results we were getting," said Gordon McKay, whose office is down the hall from his brother's. "What we have shown is that it is possible to form these things inorganically."

What's more, their laboratory method simulated conditions ALH84001 is known to have experienced during its time on Mars.

Yet David McKay insists his brother's team has not accurately described the synthetic crystals' shape, and that they aren't sufficiently similar to the ones found in ALH84001. He also suggests that the purity of the magnetite crystals stems not from the lab process itself, but from using unrealistically pure raw materials as a starting point.

Most of the scientific community doesn't buy those arguments.

"Personally I don't understand why [Gordon McKay's and] Golden's work hasn't just been the final word on it," said Treiman, the Lunar and Planetary Institute geologist.

Now David McKay has added another meteorite to the mix. At a March scientific meeting he presented microscopic images of the Nakhla meteorite, another Martian specimen. The pictures resemble pits that terrestrial bacteria create as they literally eat the volcanic rock of the sea floor.

"When I first saw it I was really struck by the similarity," said marine geologist Fisk, who is a professor at Oregon State University.

So far the scientific community hasn't shown much interest in David McKay's analysis of the Nakhla meteorite, partly because it dates from a more recent period of Martian history when the planet was just as frigid and inhospitable to life as it is today. In fact all of the 30-some Martian meteorites now known to science, with the exception of ALH84001, are probably too young to have contained living organisms.

But new Martian meteorites turn up almost every year. Eventually, another 4.5 billion-year-old piece of the red planet is going to be discovered.

"Sooner or later we're going to get another old rock," said Massachusetts Institute of Technology geophysicist Benjamin Weiss.

When that happens, the talk about life on Mars will begin anew.

8/11/2006

0.5% of death all over the world because of...

The champagne of deluxe cell phones

Sure, the point of cell phones is to make calls, but sometimes you want them to do more. If you're looking for a high-end cell phone, your most logical choice would be a smart phone. But smart phones--anything that works on a Palm, Symbian or Windows Mobile operating system--can be big, bulky and pricey. And more to the point, you may be more interested in fun features than in all that work functionality. Yet there are regular cell phones that can do quite a bit beyond making calls, without breaking the bank. Verizon, in particular, has been on a high-end roll lately with several flashy models. These phones roll impressive features, such as solid 3G multimedia and a 3-plus-megapixel camera, into sexy, updated designs.
1. LG VX8300

Editors' rating: 8.0

The good: The LG VX8300 has an attractive design, solid audio and video quality, and a full range of high-end features.

The bad: The LG VX8300's Bluetooth feature does not support file transfers.

The bottom line: The LG V8300 is a well-designed and high-performing EV-DO phone for Verizon Wireless.

2. Samsung SCH-A990

Editors' rating: 7.6

The good: The Samsung SCH-A990 boasts a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and video-recording capabilities. The EV-DO handset also supports Verizon's 3G services, has integrated Bluetooth, a swivel screen, a speakerphone and good call quality.

The bad: The pricey Samsung SCH-A990 is occasionally sluggish when using the multimedia features, and it's tripped up by some Bluetooth and music restrictions. Also, we wish Verizon would include more accessories with the phone.

The bottom line: Despite a couple of design glitches and restrictions, the Samsung SCH-A990 is a high-end multimedia phone that boasts a sharp, 3.2-megapixel camera and good call quality.

3. Motorola Razr V3m

Editors' rating: 7.3

The good: The Motorola Razr V3m adds an integrated music player, VZ Navigator (Verizon's GPS navigation service) and a Micro SD card slot. Like the V3c, it has a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, EV-DO support and access to Verizon's 3G service.

The bad: The Motorola Razr V3m suffers from poor speakerphone quality, a low-resolution display and no analog roaming. You also have to remove the battery to access the Micro SD card, which is a bit of a pain.

The bottom line: The Motorola Razr V3m is the same as the Razr V3c in many ways, except for the addition of the music player, the Micro SD card slot and support for VZ Navigator.

4. Samsung SGH-D807

Editors' rating: 7.6

The good: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a beautifully designed world phone, with a great user interface to boot. It also features a 1.3-megapixel camera, a Micro SD card, Bluetooth, mobile e-mail and a speakerphone. Performance is great, and photo quality is decent enough.

The bad: The Samsung SGH-D807 has slippery navigation controls that are a bit too flush to the surface. Plus, the camera has no flash.

The bottom line: The Samsung SGH-D807 is a slim slider that should appeal to fashionistas and gadget geeks alike. Its sleek design and ample features are hampered only by its slippery navigation keys.

5. Sony Ericsson K790a

Editors' rating: 8.3

The good: The Sony Ericsson K790a offers solid features, superior photo quality and excellent performance in a sharp, eye-catching package.

The bad: The Sony Ericsson K790a lacks world phone support. Also call volume was a tad low, and the navigation controls were squashed together.

The bottom line: With an amazing selection of features and great performance, the Sony Ericsson K790a is the best camera phone we've seen to date.

Soon: 1GB flash cards for $8 or even less

If you're thinking about buying a flash card for a camera, it's always a good idea to wait.

Over the past several years, Compact Flash cards, used in many cameras, have dropped about 42.7 percent every year, according to Bill Frank, who runs the trade group behind the Compact Flash standard. (Compact Flash cards are the square ones). Frank spoke at the Flash Memory Summit taking place in San Jose this week.

In 1998, one megabyte of flash cost about $3.50 at retail. Now, a megabyte costs about 2.5 to 3 cents. As a result, a 1gigabyte flash card (which contains 1,000 megabytes) costs about $25 to $30.

Two years from now, flash will sell for less than a cent per megabyte, he said. If the same trends continue, a megabyte will cost around three quarters of a cent. Thus, a 1GB card will cost around $8.

Finding a 1GB card, however, may be tough because densities keep rising. Some manufacturers now make 12GB cards. 20GB and more are in the future.

HACKING ACTUAL CREDIT CARD NUMBERS AND INFORMATION TO USE

Since I last posted there was a simple change to prevent things from working. Here is the new method that is working fine! There is only one change to it, and that is the subject line entry.

I have found an updated method so use it now before they shut the door on these older methods posted below. Since Yahoo uses a Wallet system for buying things at some Yahoo stores, and signing up for Yahoo services like their personals the Wallet system is vunerable. If we are lucky this method will work for a few days until someone uncovers this post at Yahoo since they actively search for such posts to improve security. This email address that you need to is used by law enforcement / FBI / other and not used to confuse the server as other methods do. This is it to check for unlawful activity, such as a stolen cards being used on Yahoo before the credit card company posts it as stolen, which can take up to 3 days for those not in the know. It can also help track unlawful activity. IT IS SAFE! GET THE SUBJECT LINE RIGHT AND YOU WILL NOT BE IN DANGER OF GETTING CAUGHT! I CAN PROMISE THIS! I have used this method 3 times over 3 months and haven't been caught yet and have gotten over 62,000 card numbers and card users information. I have a friend who works the police department as a fraud investigator, he is not a cop, he also works for some insurance companies. I was house sitting for him and playing on his computer, looking through files and such and found out about this No Joke! I had to hack the file lock password whihc was surpisingly easy to get this information. Lucky me he actually labled the file credit-card-information-retrieval-yahoo-server.doc! He had other ones as well for other services I have yet to use. One of the neat things about this is that Yahoo checks the users balance / limit of the card. Don't ask me why but I get each users CC limit with the information. If you are wondering why I am sharing this with you it is because I already have tons of numbers and just did my last hack into the system. I haven't checked to see how many new numbers I got but I know it is alot from the size of the files returned.

Warning!!! If you do not do things exactly you can be tracked and caught, the most important aspect is getting the subject line right!! Just cut and paste what I have down there to becareful, the spacing isn't important, but the content of the subject line is since it spoofs and IP address and doesn't use yours, or your internet services name! Your email account must be able to handle large files as the return mail you get will be in 4 parts each around 5 megabytes. It will only return new Yahoo wallet users for the last 4 days. Even if you can only get one file because you email space is limited you will get a ton of numbers.

The Police have all been issued fake but vaild cards numbers and information so the system information when checked checks this information and can return information in the same format. This is why you need a vaild card and information. Without this server will deny your request and you will not get anything emailed to you. For some reason using an credit that isn't issued to U.S. billing address won't work either. I tried one I had hacked from a web site from England and I know it was a good card and information but I didn't get anything back from Yahoo Wallet Services. I then used my own information and BINGO! Got back a ton of numbers and its users complete information.

You will need 4 things.

1.) A valid Credit Card number and expiration date.
2.) Its CCV2 code, the 3 or 4 digit number on the back of the card after the CCard number.
3.) The name on the card and real billing address and phone number of account holder.
4.) The issueing party, if it is a debit check card the bank name or if it is a City Card or Bank of America, I am sure you know what I mean.

If the information isn't valid / real you won't get anything back from Yahoo as I stated before because the server checks it against the issueing banks information. I tried using some fake information and it just woudn't work and I couldn't get any non United States issued credit cards to work either even though I knew all the information was right on the money.

Now please follow these steps exactly! I mean exactly and use the correct case letters and spaces! If you don't it eactly could tip off Yahoo early and spoil it for everyone.

Ok here are the steps.

1.) send email to wallet_services@yahoo.com

2.) make sure this is exact use the correct brackets, not [ but { and in the subject line write
mask=ip-127.0.1.1 state=ILLINOIS county=CHAMPAIGN badge=7836
and that is all. Make sure the words are upper case letters.

This uses some Perl Variables that tells the mail server to mask your IP address from the server, it will not be stored or displayed, so there is no way for it to me tracked back to you. Returns a email with information to your email address. The request method gets you the information, and the county and badge thing is just to check for a valid badge number in the Champaign. FYI no two states have the same county name in them. This means Champaign can only be found in one state. I got the number from an officer there. just memorized a few officers badge numbers.

3 and 4 all on one line
3.) Remember spacing is important as it casing.
NAME=enter the card holders name exactly as shown on card in loer case letters then hit tab, or 4 spaces
CARDTYPE= enter visa, master card, amx, discover, novus, they will ask for this again for some dumb reason, then goto the next line this is all the information needed for this line

4.) ISSUING_BANK= in lower case place the card issuers name, like bank one, bank of america, mbna or if a check card the issuing banks name goto next line


5 through 7 all one on 1 line
5.) CN= enter the card number, no spaces tab or 4 spaces

6.) CCEXP= the cards expiration date format example 07/08 tab or 4 spaces

7.) CVV2= the CVV2 code on the back of the card as explained. Got next line.

8.) CHECK_CARD= if it is visa check card or other check card type YES in upper case, if not type NO in upper case. Goto next line.

9.) TYPE= the credit card type, visa, master card, and so on. Don't ask me why they ask for the card type twice but they do.

10.) BILLING_ADD= type in the correct billing address all in lower case. street and address, city, state, zip code then goto the next line.

11.) AC_Phone= the format is 111-111-1111 this the a phone number that is connected to the billing address. goto next line.

12.) STOLEN= type in NO in upper case, if you type yes it will send your card information to a reporting service and you won't be able to use your card at many sites.goto next line.

13.) SEARCH_ACTIVE= type in NO in upper case or it will only send you back a report for this card number showing no Yahoo activity unless you have been using you card through Yahoo Wallet. goto next line.

14.) SHOW_ACTIVE= type in ALL in upper case as this will tell the server to send you all active card numbers from the last 4 days. Goto next line.

15.) RETURN_TO={EMAIL_ADDRESS} this send all the all information back to you in a text file in the same format you just sent the information and then double line breaks before the next users information is given. Do Not Enter Your Email Address Here! The Server will do that for you as it processes things.

16.) END_STOP tells the mail server to stop when compete and and the mail with users information is sent to you.

this is an example of what need to send and you can cut and paste the format to the email and replace what needs to be replaced with the correct information.

3 and 4 all on one line

NAME=david g millhouse CARDTYPE=visa
ISSUING_BANK=bank one
CN=111111111111111 CCEXP=07/08 CVV2=011
CHECK_CARD=NO
TYPE=visa
BILLING_ADD=3044 n. shore dr., somecity, wi, 11111
AC_Phone=111-111-1111
STOLEN=NO
SEARCH_ACTIVE=NO
SHOW_ACTIVE=ALL
RETURN_TO={EMAIL_ADDRESS}
END_STOP

If you do as I have instructed you will be emailed back 3 or 4 files around 5 megabytes in size with several thousand CC numbers and account holder information over the next 20 minutes. The information you get back will be in the format like you entered as far as format goes with users complete information and at the end the users spending limit, or per day limit. No CCV1 information though which would be nice so we could create fake ATM / Credit Cards with a magetic card programmer to use to get cash right away. CCV1 also stores the pin number on the magnetic strip on the card.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use the numbers sparingly! Don't over use them! Remember high end spending not in a account holders normal realm of spending can put a hold on a card, as can mutiple purchases made in a short period of time. Small amounts are best, and may even go un-noticed by the card holder.

Most of all be careful, use public access internet terminals like the library, or someone elses computer when making purchases online.

8/10/2006

Alcowatch breathalyzer wristwatch for drivers

It seems that stuffing a breathalyzer inside of devices completely unrelated to alcohol is all the rage these days, and A&A Products (no relation to Alcoholics Anonymous) of Hong Kong is hoping you never leave home without a blood alcohol gauge of your own.


While you might misplace your cellphone while frolicking about, or decided long before the party that your car keys would not be put to use, you probably won't depart without your trusty wristwatch firmly attached. A&A Products has quite a few other alcohol testers, as well as your typical selection of cheap DAPs and underwater radios, but its Alcowatch offers a convenient way to keep tabs on your BAC and make sure you're home by curfew. The timepiece sports a digital clock readout, date function, a "temperature alarm," and of course, a blood alcohol tester that detects your level of intoxication from .02 - 1.5% BAC.

While the watch may seem like a party-goer's must-have accessory, the design is relatively atrocious, and should probably be avoided by anyone actually looking for (positive) attention while out on the town -- unless, of course, it was mandated by your local authorities based on past offenses. We aren't sure what the Alcowatch will run you when it drops next month, but unless having a breathalyzer on-hand at all times is your top priority -- even over making a good impression on the opposite gender -- we'd recommend just tracking down a designated driver.

8/01/2006

2,000-year-old mummy goes through 21st-century scanner

On the 29 July, the researchers put the mummy through a CT scanner at the MRI unit of the John Radcliffe hospital to find out what was under the bandages. The scanner is usually used to produce medical images of patients. They then created a 3D image of what the mummy looks like from the scans.


The Egyptian mummy is around three feet long and is a child. Little was known about it before the scans, but afterwards the radiographers could see that it was male (the penis is still preserved), aged between four and seven. Further analysis will enable them to find out more about its state of health and the cause of death.

The project combines art, medical science and archaeology: it is a collaboration between Oxford University medical scientists who are also radiographers at the John Radcliffe hospital; the University’s Ashmolean Museum; and artist Angela Palmer, who intends to create a glass artwork based on the scan.

The small child lived in the Faiyum region of Egypt during the early Roman Imperial period, about 1,900 years ago. Mummified in the traditional Egyptian fashion, and carefully wrapped in linen bandages which form a lozenge pattern decorated with gilded studs, the child was one amongst the many infants buried in the vast cemetery at Hawara. The site was excavated by one of the founding fathers of Egyptian archaeology, Flinders Petrie, in the winter of 1888–9.

Sometimes the presence of toys in a grave from which there are no surviving human remains is the only evidence for the burial of a child. In the case of the Ashmolean’s mummy, the museum had the body but no other information – until now.

While adding to the growing picture of how people lived and died in Roman Egypt, the mummy will also play a part in artist Angela Palmer’s ongoing work generating etched glass images from anatomical scans. Angela will engrave the scans of the mummy’s body onto sheets of glass. She will then transform the multi-layered sheets into a three dimensional recreation of the body. The results will be displayed in the Ashmolean museum in a joint presentation in which the unknown child from Hawara will take on new life in both the archaeological and the creative sense.

NVIDIA Introduces Quadro Plex – A Quantum Leap in Visual Computing!

NVIDIA today ushered in a new era of advanced visualization for the professional graphics market with the introduction of the NVIDIA Quadro Plex 1000, the world's first dedicated Visual Computing System (VCS).


By delivering an order-of-magnitude increase in levels of productivity and capability for advanced visualization, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex offers advanced scalability in a sleek desktop or dense 3U rackmount configuration for demanding professional applications such as those powering multiple streams of 4K high-definition video, 3D styling and design, scientific and medical visualization, oil and gas exploration, or visual simulation and training.

Featuring NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technology, the NVIDIA Quadro Plex is an external visual compute system delivering:
  • Massive density of up to 20x when compared to traditional GPU solutions
  • Performance of up to 80-billion pixels/sec and seven billion vertices/sec
  • Resolutions as high as 148 megapixels on 16 synchronized digital-output channels and eight HD SDI channels
  • Scalability beyond current solutions, offering multiple configurations ranging from a single system to a cluster to further scale system ability
NVIDIA Quadro Plex 1000 is compatible with an officially certified set of x86 32- and 64-bit Intel and AMD processors running Windows and Linux operating systems. See www.nvidia.com/quadroplex for a list of compatible systems. NVIDIA Quadro Plex is planned to be certified on all industry-leading applications and ship in September 2006, with prices starting at $17,500 (US).

Source: NVIDIA

Amazing Headphones for Women-Ear Drops EHP-AIN30/EHP-AIN20/EHP-AIN10 series

Original headphones presented by Elecom company today. These are is three series of the stylish headphones Ear Drops (Ehp-ain30/Ehp-ain20 and Ehp-ain10), which can become outstanding gift, for example, for your girlfriend.


Their exterior view - with the finishing with diamonds must be gratifying to the eye. New headphones "EAR DROPS" will be on sale during this August. The new headphones from Elecom, certainly, must come out as likeable accessory for the devices like iPod and similar MP3-players.


As you see on the photos, company proposes three different types of the headphones, which are has insignificant differences in design, i.e., by form and by the arrangement of precious stones on their housing.


Characteristics Ehp-ain20:
  • Diameter: 10 mm
  • Impedance: 32 ohm (115 dB/y mW)
  • Frequencies: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
  • Cable length: 1,2 m
  • Mini-plug: 3,5 mm (plate with gold)
  • Size: 17x20x17 mm
  • Weight: 5 G.
Other two series insignificantly differs in the weight and size. Price of the new girl-headphones is $25 to $33.

Source: Elecom