Market set for higher open on deals, profits
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wednesday, with stronger-than-expected profits and more deal news, including reports that Cablevision Systems Corp. would be taken private.
LSU Preview, Colin Cowherd talks up LSU, etc.
It was LSU preview week at our sister site Roll Bama Roll. I answered a few questions about the upcoming season from the guys representing OUR NEWEST F*CKING RIVAL ! Last week, apparently Schrutebag (aka one of the better known radio names in the sports talk universe) anointed LSU the best football program of the past decade (or perhaps it was " ... (Read on Source)
I Couldn't Grow My Own Herbs Posted By : John McGuire
A brief overview of herb gardening explaining that these hardy and versatile plants are easy to grow, decorative and fragrant, and have a wide range of uses including in cookery and medicine.
Facts are facts
"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."
Topic: Facts are facts Agreed.A I don't for one second thing the government is absolved of any blame. via The Daily Herald
Human Therapeutic Cloning at a Standstill
A lack of human eggs has created a major roadblock in one of the most promising areas of stem-cell research. (Read on Source)
Apple supporting WDL initiative; Mac worldwide share; iPod suit
Apple is amongst a handful of tech companies pitching their support to a multinational effort to create a free international digital world library. Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray weighs in with estimates on the Mac platform's worldwide market share growth....
VPN anonymous surfing. VPN Service. Anonymous surfing Posted By : Blacklogic1
Anonymous browsing with VPN. How to surf anonymously using VPN service.
Accell UltraAV 4-1 HDMI switcher
The Accell UltraAV HDMI 4:1 switcher does an excellent job of juggling your HDMI sources and--in many cases--it doesn't even need AC power.
Gallery: Top 10 Worst Aircraft Ever
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In the 105 years since the Wright Brothers took to the air, dreamers, engineers and aviation buffs have designed every kind of airplane imaginable in a never-ending quest to fly higher, faster or further. Some were innovative, some were beautiful and some even made history. Others, well, let's just say they must have looked good on paper.
Here's a tribute to some of those that surely looked better on paper.
Tupolev TU- 144
The Concorde gets all the love, but Russia's Tupolev TU-144 was the first supersonic transport and the only commercial plane to exceed Mach 2. The "Concordski" was fast but plagued by bad luck. Three crashes -- including a dramatic mid-air breakup during the 1973 Paris Air Show -- relegated it largely to a lifetime delivering mail. It was mothballed in 1985 but briefly brought back a few years later as a research plane.
: The Comet was the premiere commercial jet airliner and a landmark in British aeronautics when it first flew in 1949. Today it's better known for its atrocious safety record. Of the 114 Comets built, 13 were involved in fatal accidents, most of them attributed to design flaws and metal fatigue.
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The ?Spruce Goose? was either a brilliant aircraft years ahead of its time or the biggest government boondoggle ever. By far the largest aircraft ever conceived -- its wingspan was 319 feet -- the Spruce Goose was intended to be a military transport plane. But it wasn't finished until well after World War II ended, rendering it both obsolete and irrelevant. It only flew once.
: The Zubr was as useless as it was ugly. Not only was it incapable of flying with the landing gear retracted, the airframe was so highly stressed the plane could disintegrate without warning. If that wasn't enough, it couldn't take off with a payload much heavier than a few cartons of cigarettes. The Polish Air Force had a few in its fleet during World War II, but none of them saw combat.
: Cool name, lousy plane. Dr. William Christmas didn't know the first thing about planes when he designed one for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and it showed. He didn't think the plane needed wing struts, so of course they fell off during the plane's maiden flight in 1918.
: With its carbon-composite construction, unique design and rearward-facing turboprop engines, the Starship was a groundbreaking aircraft. But it was slow, difficult to fly and a bear to maintain. It took to the air in 1989, but Beechcraft only sold a few of the 53 it built.
: The Hiller VZ-1 hovercraft must have looked good on paper, because it sure didn't look good in the air. The idea was simple -- a fan provides lift and the pilot steers by shifting his weight. The Defense Department loved it until it saw the Pawnee in flight. It was good for just 16 mph and it tended to be uncontrollable. The project was killed in the late 1950s.
: Defense Department projects are famous for cost overruns, and General Dynamic?s flying wing bomber was a doozy. The Flying Dorito was the most troubled of the stealth aircraft projects the Pentagon embraced during the 1980s, experiencing problems with its radar systems and use of composite materials. When the projected cost of each plane ballooned to $165 million, a Secretary of Defense named Dick Cheney killed it in 1991.
: With its anemic engine, poor maneuverability and gunner blocking the pilot's view, the B.E. 2 was doomed from the start. German aces had no problem shooting them down during World War II, making it just about as useless as a fighter. It had no problems against German Zeppelins, though, so the plane lived out its days attacking them instead.
: The XB 15 was the largest plane ever built in the United States until the Spruce Goose came along. The heavy bomber was so massive it had passageways in the wings and bunks for the crew. But big planes need big engines and no one made one big enough to give the XB any kind of speed for its maiden flight in 1937. The plane maxed out at 200 mph, and the U.S. Army Air Corps killed the project. The only XB ever built saw duty as a cargo plane in the Caribbean during World War II.
Mets 6, Phillies 3 Reliving the Past, Mets Refuse to Repeat It - New York Times
 WBT | Mets 6, Phillies 3 Reliving the Past, Mets Refuse to Repeat It New York Times - By BEN SHPIGEL The Mets acknowledge the past. They respect and accept it, too. They just do not care so much to relive it. Painful reminders of their debacle of a loss from the night before surfaced at every turn Wednesday night, but the Mets repelled ... Myers wasn't Maine problem for Phillies in loss to Mets Reyes clubs homer to back Maine |
Google: We See 1 Trillion URLs Daily
Google says the World Wide Web is big. Really big. You just won't believe how mind-bogglingly big it really is. I mean you think Kim Kardashian's butt is big but that's just peanuts to the Web.
Godfather 2 Due in February for Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Electronic Arts confirms that Godfather 2 will ship early next year featuring a unique viewpoint.
Congrats to our latest SEC graduates
Hi there - it looks like you're new here. Welcome! If you like what you read, I'd really appreciate it if you could subscribe to my feed. Make yourself at home :) (Read on Source)
Report: 88 killed in Russia jet crash; no survivors
A plane carrying 88 people has crashed in central Russia, killing all on board, an emergency official said Sunday.
Jet Airways renews Global Distribution Contract with Amadeus
Jet Airways renews Global Distribution Contract with Amadeus.
Look for the guy with a hammer
The old adage is that for someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It's a warning that people who are only good at one thing often believe that the one thing is the answer to every problem. And it's a good warning. But what if you've decided that in fact, a hammer is exactly the tool that will solve your problem? My advice: hire a ... (Read on Source)
Customer Workshop in Brighton, 3rd October
EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED TO KNOW ? But were too scared to ask? The latest in Fresh Egg?s series of customer workshops on Everything You Need to Know About Running Successful SEO Campaigns proved a great success. Held at the Dome… (Read on Source)
How Snails Walk on Water Is a Small Miracle
 | Aquatic snails use an amazing method to propel themselves across the water's slippery surface, new research shows. |
Gear Gallery: New MacBooks, Best Tapeless HD Cams and T-Mobile G1 Phone
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With all the emphasis Apple placed on the new design and construction, it's really the performance, rather than the aesthetics, that stand out for us. Our black MacBook (2.2-GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM) got an Xbench of 68.03 with a battery rundown of 2:52. On the other hand, our new aluminum MacBook (2.4-GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM) scored an Xbench of 116.70 with a battery rundown of 3:01. We know, we know ... Xbench is a synthetic benchmark. But that's a pretty shocking improvement in the performance numbers, and in our use of the new MacBook, it's noticeable across the board. This machine, in comparison to the very capable Black Book, just screams. The new Pro machine is also faster, in Xbench at least.
It's hard to evaluate aesthetics — a jaw-dropping beauty to one person is an eye-crunching catastrophe to another — but to my peepers, the new Mac laptops are some of the most handsome the company has ever released. I?m a sucker for the black bezel around the screens, and for the glass all the way to the edge of the display. (One bonus is that the laptops and the iMac, as well as Apple?s new Cinema Display, all share the same black-and-aluminum look. Jony Ive must be doing the dance of joy). This isn't the sort of redesign that makes your jaw drop, although it might be unreasonable to think that Apple has to reach that standard every time they launch a revision. That's a measure of how inflated our expectations have become. But the Apple notebook line is just miles ahead, and these two machines — especially the MacBook — only put them further out in front.
MacBook: $1,600 as tested, Apple
MacBook Pro: $2,500 as tested, Apple
Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com
Read the rest of our in-depth MacBook and MacBook Pro review.
Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
: Despite being released back in January of this year, the 1920 x 1080, 10x optical zoom SD9 is (still) the top performer. Touted by Panasonic as the world's smallest full HD cam, its slimmed-down profile makes it a real winner with the portability crowd. HD image quality and compression are noticeably ahead of other cams in this roundup, but there's still some ghosting and artifacts in certain (read: low light) situations. The menu system is classic Panasonic-simple and easy to learn, but the joystick has been moved into the LCD cavity, hampering movement and versatility. The rest of the controls are nicely placed with smooth well-modulated zoom and a fumble-resistant, dedicated optical image-stabilization button.
WIRED:Small, well-built design. Simple menu system. Top-notch battery life.
TIRED:Moving the joystick to the LCD-bridled shooting ease. Shrunken size compromised comfort and usability.
$800, Panasonic
Read the rest of Flash and the Pan: 4 Tapeless AVCHD Camcorders Tested.
Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
: Standing apart from the crowd with its unique form factor, this Sanyo AVCHD video cam is a pocket-size video rocket, shooting 1080p at 30 frames per second with a 38-380mm zoom. The novel design and sharp video are complemented by functions like Face Detection and Face Chaser, which zero in on faces in the scene and both focus and adjust the exposure on the fly.
It works surprisingly well and delivers some delicious video to the SD/SDHC memory format. The 1010 also records fairly sharp 4-megapixel stills as long as ambient light isn't terribly low. In spite of all this goodness, Sanyo may have been asleep at the wheel by not including optical image stabilization. If you can live with merely digital IS, then take good look at this multifaceted camcorder.
WIRED: Easy-to-handle form factor. 10x optical zoom. 4-megapixel stills on the fly. Admirable video quality.
TIRED: No optical image stabilization. Sound is a touch weak.
$800, Sanyo
Read the rest of Flash and the Pan: 4 Tapeless AVCHD Camcorders Tested.
Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
: Google's Android OS for the T-Mobile G1 is pretty freaking on-point for a first-gen software release. Sure, it has bugs — web pages don't automatically resize and the zoom feature blows — but it's also remarkably polished, bristling with nifty tricks. Take the long touch: Not unlike the Windows-born right-click, it brings up useful contextual menus. Long touch a field of text, for example, and you get the option to select it, copy it or paste something in (take that, Jobs!). And though Android?s first home is a touchscreen phone, you can tell that the OS was designed to work with hard-buttons as well.
In fact, if you can't abide fingerprints, you can get around the G1 quite well without ever smearing the glass. The keys are useful, but their physical location is a problem that ties into the most noticeable G1 bugaboo: its size. This is a big annoyance for us — nearly a half-inch thick — and its problematic girth is made worse by an annoying button bank.
WIRED: Android is legit, and future iterations should get even more impressive. 3G on a T-Mobile phone. Tons of apps that will keep you entertained for the duration of your 2-year contract — and all of them are free until Google decides on a way to charge. Relatively cheap, and data plans include T-Mobile hot-spot subscriptions. Snappy processor never seems to get bogged down, even with multiple apps running. Decent battery life: a day of heavy use, or three if you have no friends. Mounts on both Mac and PC as an external drive, allowing you to drag and drop music or videos.
TIRED: Fugly. Bulky. No 3.5mm headphone jack and no adapter that lets you plug your own buds into the HTC mini USB multiport. T-Mobile's 3G network is not as quick as AT&T's, and nowhere near as pervasive. We don't mean to whine about free stuff, but the included 1-GB MicroSD card seems a little dinky compared to the 8-GB iPhone you can get for $20 more. Camera is slower than a three-toed sloth to respond.
$180 with 2-year contract, T-Mobile
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Read our full T-Mobile G1 review.
Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
: While the Ultra Motor A2B makes a clear impression on the public, the plush front and rear suspension with smooth and fat motorcycle-like tires ensure that most bumps and potholes leave little or no impression on the rider. The 500-watt motor in the rear hub and motorcycle-like twist throttle delivers a comfortable and steady amount of power as you cruise along at the federally mandated max of 20 miles per hour. Encased in the aluminum downtube, the lithium-ion battery yields just over 20 miles of range over varied Los Angeles-area terrain including moderate ups and downs, groceries and other cargo onboard AND very little pedaling.
Let's be honest, the A2B is more akin to a scooter than bicycle because of its 73 pounds and laid-back beach-cruiser geometry. But the A2B's designers were smart, by giving it pedals and keeping the maximum powered speed below 20 mph, you don't have to endure the DMV's motorcycle certification test, pay any registration fees or even insure your A2B as a motorcycle. The A2B is by far the eye-catching electric "bike" in the market and provides a nice option for those who are green-minded, have a fair bit of extra green in their wallets but don't want to shvitz their way to work and back.
WIRED: Plush, comfy and downright fun to ride. Eye-catching design leaves local yokels slack-jawed. Don't worry about Crackhead Bob boosting your battery — it's encased within the bike making it nigh impervious to petty theft.
TIRED: Throttle grip is hard on the hands. Heavy. Hard to imagine pedaling it more than a couple blocks. Downhill mountain-bike style drivetrain is noisy.
$2,700, Ultra Motor
Photos: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com
Read our full Ultra Motor A2B review.
Check Wired.com's latest Gadget Lab reviews, updated daily.
Learn How IT Certification Can Boost Business
Businesses are always trying to find new ways that they can expand and allow their company to grow. This is not only to provide the best customers to service, but also to allow an easier work load for the employees and add more innovation to your business. If you are debating whether you should begin IT Certification processes for your business or employees, then you may want to consider how it can help you to progress against your competition. One of the abilities that IT Certification will give you is the ability to provide a different type of frame work for your internal structure. Most companies are learning how to do most of the tasks more effectively and quickly through the use of technology. IT Certification can help you to do this by providing you with the ability to create new databases and communicate with the use of technology. By beginning to change this internal structure, it will allow for the employees to get more work done in a shorter amount of time. Working smarter in the office is one of the benefits that IT Certification can provide you with. The next benefit to having those in your business that have IT Certification is that you can build security networks. This will allow for your areas on the Internet as well as the office areas to have the necessary encrypted codes. Providing security to your business will benefit you not only in being able to protect yourself from losses, but will also enable customers to feel safe when they are working with you. Making sure that you understand technology as it relates to security is important for your business to remain secure and to continue to flourish. If you have a business that is beginning to grow, it is also important to have IT Certification. There are several applications that can be used in technology that will allow you to integrate and consolidate your business services effectively. This will give you the ability to use technology to your benefit, instead of allowing it to be less supportive of your business needs. As every business will have individual differences in their needs, by having IT Certification, you can use the flexibility as a tool to combine different methods as well as to build databases. Several will also use IT Certification in order to find the target markets that best fit them. This is especially beneficial to those who are becoming more familiar with the Internet as a way to reach customers. There are certain ways to design, plan and implement technology in order to attract a person that will want to buy your product. It is easier for customers to find you if you know how to use the technology efficiently. If you are a beginning company, having IT Certification can be beneficial in allowing you to grow quickly with the use of technology skills.
Author Johnny Mendel manages the <a href='http://www.pc-computer-repair.co.uk/'>PC Computer Repair in London</a> website that provides access to quality low priced <a href='http://www.pc-computer-repair.co.uk/computer-repair/'>computer and pc repair</a> products online. You can also get great free information articles on Johnny's site.
Kick Your Way to the Top of the Class with JavaScript/Ajax Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch, January 1
Big Nerd Ranch, premier provider of bootcamp-style training for Mac and Open Source developers, announces a new class, JavaScript/Ajax Bootcamp January 19-23, 2009. (PRWEB Nov 12, 2008)
Read the full story at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1603834.htm
'Stress Tests' Probe Nanoscale Strains In Materials
Researchers have demonstrated their ability to measure relatively low levels of stress or strain in regions of a semiconductor device as small as 10nm across. Their recent results not only will impact the design of future generations of integrated circuits but also lay to rest a long-standing disagreement in results between two different methods for measuring stress in semiconductors.
Tracking build status with Pulse
Pulse is a build server that can monitor your source repository and trigger a build and test cycle every time somebody does a commit. With Pulse you will always know if the most recent sources in your revision control system compile and if they pass your unit and system tests. Better yet, Pulse allows you to build and test your current working copy of checked-out source, during a so-called Personal Build, so you can see if your code breaks things before you commit your changes to the central repository.
And We Begin Anew
Every headline and mention about 2008 seems to be the same: good...
Polarized Light Leads Animals Astray: 'Ecological Traps' Cause Animal Behaviors That Can Lead To Dea
Human-made light sources can alter natural light cycles, causing animals that rely on light cues to make mistakes when moving through their environment. In the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a collaboration of ecologists, biologists and biophysicists has now shown that in addition to direct light, cues from polarized light can trigger animal behaviors leading to injury and often death.
Texas Science Standards Looking Good
The Ft. Worth Star Telegram reports that the proposed final draft of the new Texas science standards are much better than expected and that scientists and groups like the Texas Freedom Network are pleased with them. The final proposal for the state's science curriculum pleases scientists and watch groups, who say it will help protect Texas ... (Read on Source)
name: MAGPIE