A new technique will allow amateur movie makers to superimpose extra features on their videos and make it look realistic..
Article Link: www.newscientist.com
Video Link: www.youtube.com
<p>
The investigators first examined all twins as independent
individuals, Johansson told Reuters Health. Similar to previous
research, the current analysis found that low birth weight was
more common among adults with type 2 diabetes.
Read more
Now that the “Let’s Rock” even has come and gone, let’s take a look at what Apple has brought into our laps.
HD TV Shows
Right off the bat Steve announced the arrival of HD TV shows to the iTunes store. The shows will cost you $2.99 a pop (instead of the $1.99 you pay for SD shows), but unlike HD Movies, HD TV shows can be watched on your computer, not just an Apple TV. Also, after a much publicized breakup, NBC is back. I wonder if they came back on hands and knees.
iTunes 8
The newest version of the worlds greatest music management software was also released today. A new Pandora-like “Genius” feature is now included that can generate playlists of songs that go together based on a seed song you pick. I’ve been playing with this tonight and my Genius seems quite stupid, but I’m sure they will smarten him up in the next update.
New Nanos
We all saw it coming. Kevin Rose let the world know a few weeks ago that the “Zune” like nano would make an appearance at todays event, and it did. The new nano is “the thinnest iPod” ever made. It has an oval, tapered shape with a black wheel. The new Nano can also create Genius playlists on-the-fly without the need to connect to iTunes. You will also get a built in accelerometer like the iPhone and Touch so that you can view Cover Flow art, photos, and video when turned sideways.
New iPod Touch
The new touch has the same 3.5″ display but is thinner with a tapered stainless steel back. The touch will also gain integrated volume controls on the side and a built in speaker. You will also be able to channel the Genius without the need of iTunes. The new touch is rated for 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video. 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, or 32 GB for $399.
OS 2.1 for iPhones and iPod Touches
Rolled into all of the excitement today, Steve also announced the arrival of the 2.1 firmware for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. The major update includes fixes for better battery life, dropped calls, backing up speed, and general bug fixes.
One More Thing
The was no “One More Thing”. Too bad, I was hoping a rev on MacBook Pro’s since my son spilled a full bottle of water on my MacBook Pro yesterday. I guess I will have to go out now and just buy whatever the local Apple store has in stock.
<p>As one in the field of science, it was never great to be a smoker. It is definitely a profession where there are not a lot of smokers and you do get looked down on, particularly at biology conferences. I have been a smoker since I was 14. I had tried to give up a few times, but never managed it. In January of this year, my good friend Bob who owns a luxury hunting resort on the Welsh border, recommend that I see a hypnotist to cure me. When he had kids, his wife insisted he give up smoking and he managed to do it with hypnotherapy - just one session. He said he never felt the need to smoke ever again. I gave it a try and for the first couple of weeks I just didn’t want to smoke, but when my extremely talented young computer programmer left my company, the company was thrown into disarray. I quickly picked back up the fags and continued to chugg away as the company stabilised.
Once things got better, I wanted to give up again, but I wanted to take the route where my faith lies, the medical route. I scoured the net for information and found numerous recmomendation of a company called The Online Clinic. They had great info on there quit smoking page, which I verified at scientific sites. I arranged a consultation and I am happy to say that after my treatment, I have been smoke free since July this year and going strong.
<p>Three UK animal rights extremists received jail sentences ranging from 15 months to four years their part in an illegal campaign against companies that had business relationships with Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Mark Taylor, 39; wife Suzanne, 35; and Teresa Portwine, 48, were the first to be charged under new UK laws designed to make it easier to crack down on animal rights extremists who skirted the law in their efforts to harass and intimidate animal research firms and nonprofits.
All three plead guilty to conspiracy to interfere with a contractual relationship. Portwine was sentenced to just 15 months, Suzanne Taylor received 2 1/2 years, and Mark Taylor was sentenced to four years in jail.
The judge in the case apparently took into account testimony from witnesses that Taylor had been a ring leader of the group’s activities in handing out the sentence. Taylor participated in numerous protests and drove others to said protests where groups of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty activists wearing masks would storm into the offices of the targeted companies.
Sources:
3 animal rights extremists
sentenced. D’arcy Doran, Associated Press, March 6, 2007.
Animal rights activists are jailed for ‘intimidation’. New Scotsman, March 6, 2007.
Animal rights activist jailed. Press Association, March 6, 2007.
<p>Summer session is quickly drawing to the end. Over the summer, I’ve taken a total of four classes: Computer Organization 1, The Romans, Data Structures, and Software Engineering. In case you weren’t familiar with how the summer school works at UNB, it’s divided into two smaller terms, Interssesion (May & June) and Summer session (July and August). Classes are super compressed into six weeks, as opposed to three months (with a month for exams, totaling four months). This Saturday at 1400h, I have my software engineering exam, and then Monday at 0900h I have my Data Structures exam.
After my exams I’ll be returning back home for a few weeks before I head back out to Ottawa for another four months. This fall I’ll be going to QNX Software Systems out in southern Kanata. I’m not familiar at this point as to what my actual assignment will be, as they said they’ll figure where I want to work when I get there. The only unfortunate thing about working out in Kanata is that it’s over an hour bus ride from my house, vs about 45 minutes to the IBM lab I worked previous. The one good thing about a bus ride that long is that I can take a small nap on the bus. I’m really looking forward to my term there, and I think it’ll be fun to try something different. After my work term, I’ll be returning to Fredericton for another term of school.
<div class=”imageframe” style=”float:left; width:215px;”>
Nuclear physics could become quite fashionable if creating new radioactive isotopes starts helping doctors improve medicine, especially as more atom smashers are planned and built in the next decade.
<p>The memory of mice suffering from Alzheimer’s disease has been restored, a study shows.
US scientists increased the activity of an enzyme called Uch-L1 which is involved in memory function. They then tested the mice and found that they had regained the ability to form new memories.
Writing in the journal Cell, the team said the work was in its early stages, but could help the development of therapies for the debilitating disease.
The scientists used transgenic mice that had Alzheimer’s disease. Like humans with the condition, the mice had plaques of protein amyloid beta in their brain and damaged synapses (the site where brain cells communicate with each other), and they also suffered from memory loss.
(more…)