A digital doomsday may be round the corner. In exactly 1,273 days there will be web confusion in the world as we run out of Internet addresses.
More than 85 per cent of the available addresses have already been allocated and the rest will run out by 2011, according to a prediction by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
These are not the normal web addresses that you type into your browser's window. These are the numerical Internet protocol (IP) addresses that denote individual devices connected to the Internet. They form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.
IP addresses are so basic to the success of the Internet that you really do not need to know a website's domain name if you know their IP. In fact, domain names are only a convenience for people who have better luck remembering to type, say, www.google.com, than they would have trying to remember Google's IP address of 216.239.39.99.
Whenever you type http://www.google.com into your browser, the browser sends a query off to a big telephone book in the sky and asks "Hey, what's the IP address for google.com?". This big telephone book, more commonly called a "Domain Name Server" or DNS for short, returns 216.239.39.99 to your browser. Your browser then heads off to Google's website using the IP address as a map.
When the current IP address scheme, called Internet Protocol Version 4 (Ipv4), was introduced in 1981, there were hardly 500 computers connected to the Internet. The address makers at that time allowed for four billion addresses, thinking they would last forever. They have been nearly gobbled up in just under 30 years!
As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: Internet speeds will drop and new connections and services (such as Internet phone calling) will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain.
The solution to the shortage is to upgrade to a new address protocol.
The Internet protocols are prepared by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers working for the smooth operation of the Internet.
The IETF is an organised activity of the Internet Society (ISOC), a not-for-profit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. The Society's south and southeast Asian Bureau was established this January. The India chapter is headquartered in Chennai.
The IETF is already prepared for the doomsday. It has devised a replacement system, called IPv6, more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving Internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.
Then why the doomsday predictions? The problem is that the new system is not really compatible with the Internet of today. If, for example, Google wants to support IPv6, it will need to build a whole new IPv6 web service, complete with new domain names, servers and bandwidth. The costs run into billions.
The OECD notes that "immediate costs are associated with deployment of IPv6, whereas many benefits are long-term and depend on a critical mass adopting it", according to The Sunday Times.

Scientists attempting to create a nicotine pill to treat Alzheimer's disease have suggested that smoking can help boost memory and concentration. Nicotine has long been known to have a stimulating effect on the brain.

However, the deadly side effects of cancer, stroke and heart disease, mean its benefits have been largely set aside by medical research.

Now researchers, who hope to develop drugs which copy the active ingredients in tobacco without causing heart disease, cancer, stroke or addiction, discovered that nicotine can boost the intelligence and recall ability of animals in laboratory experiments.

The researchers, who plan to present their latest findings at the Forum of European Neuroscience in Geneva, hope that the new drugs, which will be available in five years, may have fewer side effects than existing medicines for dementia.

However, the scientists stressed the new treatment at best will only give patients a few extra months of independent life instead of fully freeing them of Alzheimer's disease. "The substances that we call drugs have, in the majority of cases, do have a mixture of beneficial and harmful effects and nicotine no exception to this," Professor Ian Stoleman of Britain's King's College was quoted as saying by the Mail online.

Researchers led by Prof Stolerman studied how nicotine alters the brain's circuitry to boost concentration and memory. In his study, he showed that the concentration power in rats went up by 5 per cent when injected with nicotine, the report said.

No, it’s not because the airline hates you

Last year, U.S. airlines canceled 21,000 flights. Or rather, a small cadre of guys canceled 21,000 flights. Every gate agent reports up the ladder at a given airline to a set of command-center managers. We spoke with a few of the people who make the big decisions to learn what factors influence whether they cancel a flight.

Number one is no surprise: The Weather

No 2. : Repairs

One warning light is all it takes to ground a plane. Age-related corrosion is often the culprit. Airplanes also have mileage-based maintenance checks, so if a plane has just passed the mark (or will very soon), an airline may cancel its next flight to be safe.

No 3. : Crew Hours

Flight crews can work for only 30 hours every seven days and 100 hours a month. If delays have tacked on too many in-flight hours (idling on the tarmac counts) and crews will exceed their quotas during the next flight, the airline will cancel it.

No 4. : Full or Empty

Contrary to popular belief, it’s usually better to fly in the evening, since the airlines will work furiously to get the planes where they’re supposed to be for the next day’s schedule. It’s the early-morning flights that are more likely to be canceled.

I found this On:

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-%2526-space/article/2008-09/why-your-flight-got-canceled

Buying a 3G iPhone doesn’t have to mean that your first-generation model is now just a paperweight

Here’s a secret they didn’t tell you when you bought a 3G iPhone: One of its best features—the ability to run new applications found on iTunes—is also possible on the old iPhone with an easy software upgrade. Plus, you can hack your first-gen to run unofficial apps alongside the sanctioned ones (known as “jailbreaking” the phone). And remember that your deactivated iPhone still has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. With all this at your disposal, there are lots of ways to give a first-gen a second life.

Remote Control
Apple’s free Remote application is the slickest way to control your AppleTV or Mac’s iTunes with an iPhone, but there are other free apps for controlling your TiVo (code.google.com/p/tivoremote), your MythTV home-theater PC (trac2.assembla.com/mymote/wiki) or any computer (code.google.com/p/telekinesis).

GPS Device

xGPS ($75; xgps.xwaves.net) uses a small GPS receiver that plugs into your phone, along with software to give you turn-by-turn directions (you must have a jailbroken phone to use xGPS). Coming in January, LocoGPS (gomite.com) will do the same thing with a GPS receiver that connects to your iPhone over Wi-Fi.

VoIP phone

Although your cell number is now on the 3G, your old phone can still make calls over the Internet using Wi-Fi. Truphone is found in the app store; calls cost between 6 and 30 cents a minute. Fring (fring.com) lets you use your Skype account, including SkypeIn, so you can receive calls too.

Media Center

With Apple’s Universal Dock ($50; apple.com), you can play video and music from your iPhone through a connected TV and stereo. Download movies and TV from iTunes or transfer them from your Mac, and install applications like Pandora and Last.FM for customized Internet radio.

Music Studio

From vinyl scratching (MixMeister Scratch; free) to more cowbell (More Cowbell; free), the iPhone can provide just about any sound you’re craving. One of the most versatile apps is MooCow Music:Band ($1.99), which gives you simulated piano, drums, bass, blues guitar, metronome and, of course, crowd noise. To get a little more utility out of your actual instruments, use any number of tuning applications, including Stay in Tuen ($4.99) and Tunic Guitar Free (free).

Shop Assistant
Our pal Chuck over at Toolmonger has put together a list of five uses for your iPhone around the shop including the rather analog straight edge, and a digital level using the phone’s built-in accelerometer and an app like Bubble Level ($.99). We’d add “calculator” to that list with the handy ShopCalc ($1.99), which can add fractional and decimal measurements interchangeably, and a more comprehensive unit-conversion app like Units (free), which handles everything from pressure to power

I found This on:

http://www.popsci.com/oldiphone

Spooked? In our first episode of The Science of YouTube, we take a ride down into the Uncanny Valley and explore why this robot might freak you out

Have a look around intresting stuff

Scammers take advantage of banking turmoil, incidents of fraud increasing as market falls

In the worst of times, don't expect the best in everyone. Scammers are reveling in the financial turmoil by taking advantage of consumers' fears, especially those who are customers of banks most affected by the Wall Street crisis. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which issued a warning this week, cautioned that people should watch out for e-mails or pop-ups, even if from their own banks, asking for any sensitive personal or financial information. People should double-check their bank and credit card statements for fraudulent activity, the report added.

Banks making the news like JP Morgan Chase, which bought out Washington Mutual in September, or Citigroup, which as of this week backed out of settlement talks with Wachovia and Wells Fargo, are prime targets for phishing. The report said that fraudsters may not necessarily be taking information to get credit using someone else's identity, but could be going a step further and breaking into accounts that already exist. Spammers are apparently also creating fake Web sites and malicious software to get information.

To learn more about scams, check out the FTC's site.