IBM's latest supercomputer crunches numbers at enormous speeds--and will soon be put to use for nuclear warfare.

IBM has broken its own record of computer processing speed by pushing its newest supercomputer past the petaflop barrier. The Roadrunner, a massive machine occupying 6,000 square feet of space, this week achieved a peak of 1.026 petaflops, or just over one million billion calculations per second. Just ten years ago, the fastest supercomputer in the world would have taken 20 years to finish a problem the Roadrunner is capable of finishing in a week.

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Everyone knows you shouldn’t reveal your passwords. But what if you're out sick and your coworker needs to borrow your computer?

Carnegie Mellon University’s Grey project lets you give people temporary access to your PC without the risk that they could later use your password to break in. It replaces ordinary login methods with smartphone access, in which your phone uses Bluetooth to send a computer an unfakeable digital access ID. To allow a pal onto your PC, simply send a one-time pass to his phone.

The same system could also control office doors or file cabinets, so you could instantly revoke or grant entry whenever needed. A start-up company, GreenBack Systems, recently began developing Grey for possible use in workplaces in two to four years.

ece.cmu.edu/~grey

The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP, has been called a missile-defense tool and a mind-control device. The truth is a bit less ominous

Northern Exposure: With HAARP, an antenna array located 200 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska, scientists study the outer atmosphere by zapping it with radio waves generated by 3,600 kilowatts of electricity. Appropriately, it has a great view of the aurora borealis. Photo by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Read more about this article on :

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-06/militarys-mystery-machine

You probably don’t live anywhere near a gold mine, but chances are you own some gold jewelry or electronics that have bits of gold inside. Gold mining, which often takes place in developing nations often uses huge pools of cyanide to leach gold from the earth. Occasionally these pools burst, destroying rivers.

Illegal miners collect mercury-laced gold, separate the two, and leave the concentrated mercury to pollute rivers. What can you do? It’s difficult to know where your gold is coming from, but buying vintage jewelry—the ultimate in recycling—won’t increase demand for more mining

In 2010, Russia is expected to set afloat its first barge-mounted nuclear power plant, a $200-million plant the size of a football field that can be towed to energy-starved Arctic communities on the White Sea. Built by the energy company Rosenergoatom, the barge will carry its load of nuclear waste on board, offloading the stuff every 10 to 20 years, plenty of time to run into a perfect storm—or two.

Found this on:

http://www.popsci.com/environment/gallery/2008-06/looming-eco-disasters

Wind energy, tidal energy, solar—the world is embracing large-scale green power. Oh wait, maybe we spoke too soon. Tata Mundra, the largest coal-fired energy plant built in decades, is going up in India with the help of a $450-million loan from the World Bank. The 4,000-megawatt coal plant will use relatively modern, efficient technologies to produce enough juice to help out 16 million people, but in the end, coal is coal—at full capacity, the plant will emit only 13 percent less carbon than a conventional coal-fired facility.

On top of that, experts predict that up to 20 percent of the power generated will be lost to India’s poorly maintained electricity grid, negating any benefits of the plant’s technology and making it just another mammoth fossil-fuel incinerator.

I found This On:

http://www.popsci.com/environment/gallery/2008-06/looming-eco-disasters

T9 Nav is solving one of the biggest painpoint for all ye mobile users - that of searching a menu/command/contact etc. using the default keypad.
Sometimes knowing where something is located on your phone is the hardest part!
But T9 Nav makes finding what you want as easy as A-B-C

The T9 Nav client is a mobile search application that provides a quick way to to open the menu,
applications and content you want without needing to navigate through menus and options. Similar to the predictive text function available with text messaging, T9Nav allows you to simply type the first few letters or numbers for your search, and then a list of potential matches will appear.

For e.g. to search for Bluetooth menu, type in B L U E (or 2 5 8 3) and Bluetooth shows up in your list of results.

T9 is currently under private beta and has been developed by Nuance Communications, leader in speech and image recognition solution.

It’s currently available for Symbian S60 3rd edition phones, i.e. N73, N72, N95 , N71, N80, N93, 5500 Sport 5700 and N76.
Do give T9Nav a spin and share your comments.

Leaving Your Computer On

Standby power, also known as vampire power, the juice used by all those DVD player clocks, coffeepot LEDs and cellphone chargers—accounts for more than 5 percent of all residential electricity use in the U.S., a tab that costs us an estimated $4 billion per year and pumps millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Solution? Turn off your computer at night, unplug your iPod when it’s done charging, or put those gadgets on a power strip for one-touch turn-off.

Upgrading Your iPhone

What happens when you toss your old cellphone or computer monitor in the Dumpster? First, you’re contributing toxins like mercury, lead and cadmium into the environment. By some estimates, there are 500 million discarded cellphones in the U.S. alone. Second, you’re wasting precious resources: Electronics contain small amounts of precious metals like gold, silver and coltan, all of which can be reclaimed to reduce often environmentally destructive mining operations. What can you do? Plan your electronics purchases wisely—think about a new phone every three or four years, instead of every six months—and always drop your e-waste off at a recycling center...

Buying Plastic Everything

It’s been said that in 1,000 years, when archaeologists dig down to the 20th and 21st centuries, they’ll deem our time the Plastic Age. The ubiquitous petroleum-based material will be our most prominent artifact, mainly because the stuff doesn’t biodegrade. Besides just making a mess that won’t go away, some plastics are known to leak hormone-disrupting chemicals and other toxins. Until bioplastics—made from vegetable starches and cellulose—become viable, opt for glass containers when you can, and take a reusable bag to the grocery store.

SecureMac is reporting a new Trojan horse that threatens the Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 installation. AppleScript.THT, a new variant of the infamous Trojan Horse virus, is originating from a hacked website through iChat and Limewire.
The Trojan horse allows a malicious user to access a system remotely and transmit system and user passwords. It can also avoid detection through opening a port in a system’s firewall, as well as turning off system logging. AppleScript.THT can also log keystrokes, take pictures with Apple iSight camera, take screenshots and turn on file sharing.
SecureMac is also reporting that the Trojan horse is being distributed in two ways. As a compiled AppleScript known as ASthtv05, or as an application bundle called AStht_v06. When a user downloads and runs the script, the Trojan horse will then attack the system, and even moves itself into the /Library/Caches/ folder.
To protect your Mac OS X from getting infected by the virus, SecureMac is suggesting you run its MacScan 2.5.2 software.
i FOUND THIS ON:
[SecureMac]

How ironic: LinkedIn - indeed any social network - is all about making a connection. Yet thanks to the blizzard of coverage generated by the professional-themed network’s new $53 million-dollar round of funding, all I saw when I first tried to get on LinkedIn were error messages saying “connection interrupted” (Firefox) or “the server unexpectedly dropped the connection, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy” (Safari).
Yep, a New York Times story and ton of links on top content aggregators like Techmeme will do that to you.
LinkedIn is currently the Social Network Media Darling of the Moment because of its willingness to carve a niche for itself with $100,000-a-year-plus professionals, and many in that income bracket who have found their job security threatened in a down economy have turned to the site for career information. Indeed, a lot of people in my former profession - television news - who were recently downsized or may see a layoff around the corner have sprouted LinkedIn profiles. I’ve also noticed a rise in LinkedIn Groups dedicated to TV/media work (full disclosure: I’m a LinkedIn member.)
While a lot of the coverage has focused on forthcoming company-centered applications for LinkedIn and how that will go over with its 23 million members, The broadcast newsguy in me is curious about when I will see more video/audio on the site, specifically on the front page. I’m not talking about turning LinkedIn into Facebook or MySpace; I’m thinking valuable resources for the executives, mid-level professionals and entry-level staffers who make up the core of the membership.
Take some of the member-generated questions-and-answers and expand on them in LinkedIn-produced “news” stories; take more of the company-produced video content seen on LinkedIn’s blog page and put it out front; set up audio podcasts and quiz select members on major business stories of the day. No doubt LinkedIn’s membership includes some knowledgeable experts; any cable business network booker would love to include them in their Rolodexes. Use them and watch the connections multiply in the LinkedIn News Network.
Read [LinkedIn Blog]

Change is messy. Paradigm shifts, revolutions, restructures – any way you phrase it, widespread change entails considerable effort and uncomfortable periods. The same rings true with digital alterations. Challengers to the ubiquitous MP3 format face serious challenges despite their technical superiority to the old standard.
The foremost contender is the MT9 format. This upstart enables every user to split an audio file into six channels—vocals, guitar, bass, percussion and so on –- effectively making ordinary Joes into amateur recording producers. The format provides unprecedented widespread technical access to users as they isolate specific channels in their audio files.
Known commercially as Music 2.0, industry pundits are supportive of the MT9 format. The Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) is even considering making it an international standard in their meeting this month.
But the road toward this goal is long, hard, and riddled with industry realities. Big and small labels would need to start using the new technology to sell their music –- not an easy thing, as the Blu-Ray/HD DVD war reminds us.
Another critical hurdle is to convince audio device manufacturers –- phones, portable players, etc.—to start making products that support the format and its capabilities. In short, replacing the old standard would require an unparalleled amount of collaboration among labels, digital retailers, and device manufacturers.
The movement requires a strong leader that could force the issue and pave the way for others to follow. Apple, for example, could use its iTunes/iPod clout to talk with major labels and start the revolution.

As we ran our live blog of last Monday’s WWDC Keynote, I couldn’t help but get a little excited about all of the iPhone applications being demoed. This is a bit out of character for me, as I’m a Mac guy, not a gadget guy. In fact, before I finally broke down and bought an 8GB iPhone last autumn, the closest I’d come to a cell phone was using my wife’s Kyocera pay-as-you-go phone through Virgin Mobile.
Now, I’m happy with my iPhone. I’ve made some calls. I’ve even answered some. I’ve texted some friends, photographed some sunrises and followed my real time hockey scores. But, by and large, I get less use out of my iPhone in one week than many of you will in an hour. That’s all about to change, however, with iPhone 2.0 and the App Store. Now, there are programs to use. Information to store. Games to played.
Games.
This got me to thinking...will my 8GB iPhone be enough? When I upgrade, will I have pay for the 16GB model just to handle those glorious games? A quick check of my current iPhone reveals that I’m using less than 1GB in available space, and over 9/10ths of that is taken up by one movie (you probably don’t want to know which one). Obviously, I’ve got plenty of room to spare, but will that continue to be the case as I buy more games, utilities and productivity software? Apple has announced they’re restricting the iPhone app size to 2GB, but that’s only three applications away from filling up my drive. Hardly a restriction.
So, to get an idea on whether 8GB will be enough, I contacted a couple gaming companies to see what they’ll be delivering (I went with games only because they tend to demand more disk space). Pangea Software’s Brian Greenstone, who demoed Cro-Mag Rally and Enigmo for the iPhone at the Keynote, told me, “The app sizes are still in flux, but I can say that they’re not very large—smaller than the original games.” A quick check of their Mac counterparts reveals that Enigmo and Cro-Mag are 23MB and 130MB downloads, respectively. That’s certainly workable.

I also contacted our friends over at Freeverse regarding their iPhone games. Colin Lynch Smith replied, “Big Bang Sudoku will be around 4MG. Wingnuts Moto Racer will be in the vicinity of 10MG.” Colin also offered this tip; “Given that apps under 10MB will be downloadable over the cell networks, I think most devs will try to keep their apps under 10MG if at all possible.”

So, at least for now, it looks as if I’m safe with my 8GB model. We’ll see how long this lasts as more applications are released and developers continue to push the technology, but I have a feeling any disk space I sacrifice will be because I refuse to delete any games from my iPhone…
...and because I never know just when I’ll want to watch the greatest movie ever made!

i FOUND THIS ON:

http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/is-8gb-enough-for-the-iphone-3g/

It seems like every week there's another news story linking common plastic products to dangerous chemicals. Many of these chemicals seem as hard to understand as they are to pronounce, so how are we to know if products with phthalates are really safe? Should you avoid bisphenol A, and where would you start?

Your product choices, simple as they may seem, can make a big difference for your family. While you may not need to get rid of everything made of plastic, a few small, careful decisions can go a long way.

WHATS THE TROUBLE ??

A host of recent studies have found associations between chemicals in countless widely used plastics to disorders including birth defects, diabetes and cancer. Here's a look at the products and health issues.

The plastics and the products

A. Bisphenol A (BPA). This compound has been used for half a century in hard polycarbonate plastics and in epoxy resins. BPA is found in the lining of food and beverage cans and in plastic goods including baby bottles, water bottles, food containers, eyeglasses, bike helmets, DVDs, electronics and car parts.

B. Orthophthalates. Better known as phthalates (pronounced tha-lates), this group of chemicals is used to soften vinyl and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Phthalates are found in products such as soaps, shampoos, deodorants, cosmetics, water pipes, shower curtains, toys, electrical wires, medical tubing and vinyl flooring.

Another place these chemicals can now be found: in human blood and urine. Critics say they can break down and leach out of products, especially if heated. We're exposed to them not just through plastics but also through the food we eat and even the air we breathe, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says

Some researchers describe BPA and phthalates as environmental estrogens because they may act like female hormones. They are also sometimes called endocrine disruptors because of their effect on the endocrine system, which regulates reproduction and growth.

'Some concern'
The plastics and chemical industries say that BPA and phthalates have a proven record of safety. Many large-scale reviews and studies have not shown a health hazard.

The FDA says it "does not have compelling evidence" of health risks. But elsewhere in the federal government, the National Toxicology Program reported in 2008 that exposure to BPA posed certain risks to human development and reproduction.

"We express 'some concern' that current estimated exposures of BPA to fetuses, infants and children could cause neural and behavioral effects, effects on the prostate and mammary gland and an earlier age at which females attain puberty," testified John Bucher, associate director of the National Toxicology Program, at a congressional hearing in June 2008. "We express 'negligible concern' or 'minimal concern' that current exposures to BPA could cause adverse health effects in other segments of the population."

Also testifying at that hearing, FDA official Norris Alderson said "the current level of exposure to adults and children is safe."
Another federal agency, the National Institute of Environmental Health, has published dozens of studies indicating associations between phthalates or BPA and health concerns including:
- Breast, testicular and prostate cancer
- Obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes
- Allergies and asthma
- Early puberty in girls
- Decreased ovarian function in women
- Damage to DNA in sperm
- Potential disruption of boys' genital development
- Decreased levels of sex hormones in boys and men

Despite this list, there's still no proof that these chemicals cause disease. Many of the studies that identified these associations were performed on laboratory animals, which may or may not translate to humans. Additional research is under way. In the meantime, some consumers, agencies and businesses are taking precautionary actions.
Should you join them? With a lack of consensus from the experts, you need to decide for yourself whether it makes sense to avoid these products when possible. Get some tips on reducing your exposure to plastics.

I found this on:

http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/plastic-problems.html
What is your opinion on the potential health hazards of plastic products?

Give Your Brain a Boost

Can't remember where you put your glasses? Blanked on your new colleague's name? "Forgetting these types of things is a sign of how busy we are," says Zaldy S. Tan, MD, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "When we're not paying good attention, the memories we form aren't very robust, and we have a problem retrieving the information later."

The key, says Harry Lorayne, author of Ageless Memory: Simple Secrets for Keeping Your Brain Young, is to get your brain in shape. "We exercise our bodies, but what good is that great body if you don't have the mental capabilities to go with it?" Sure, you could write everything down, keep organized lists and leave electronic notes on your BlackBerry, cell phone or PDA. But when you don't have access to those aids, or if you want to strengthen your brain, try these expert-recommended strategies to help you remember.

Brain Freeze #1 "What the heck is his name?"
• Pay attention. When you're introduced to someone, really listen to the person's name. Then, to get a better grasp, picture the spelling. Ask, "Is that Kathy with a K or a C?" Make a remark about the name to help lock it in ("Oh, Carpenter -- that was my childhood best friend's last name"), and use the name a few times during the conversation and when you say goodbye.
• Visualize the name. For hard-to-remember monikers (Bentavegna, Wobbekind), make the name meaningful. For Bentavegna, maybe you think of a bent weather vane. Picture it. Then look at the person, choose an outstanding feature (bushy eyebrows, green eyes) and tie the name to the face. If Mr. Bentavegna has a big nose, picture a bent weather vane instead of his nose. The sillier the image, the better.
• Create memorable associations. Picture Joe Everett standing atop Mount Everest. If you want to remember that Erin Curtis is the CEO of an architectural firm, imagine her curtsying in front of a large building, suggests Gini Graham Scott, PhD, author of 30 Days to a More Powerful Memory.
• Cheat a little. Supplement these tips with some more concrete actions. When you get a business card, after the meeting, jot down a few notes on the back of the card ("red glasses, lives in Springfield, went to my alma mater") to help you out when you need a reminder.

Brain Freeze #2 "Where in the world did I leave my glasses?"
• Give a play-by-play. Pay attention to what you're doing as you place your glasses on the end table. Remind yourself, "I'm putting my keys in my coat pocket," so you have a clear memory of doing it, says Scott.
• Make it a habit. Put a small basket on a side table. Train yourself to put your keys, glasses, cell phone or any other object you frequently use (or misplace) in the basket -- every time.

Brain Freeze #3 "What else was I supposed to do today?"
• Start a ritual. To remind yourself of a chore (write a thank-you note, go to the dry cleaner), give yourself an unusual physical reminder. You expect to see your bills on your desk, so leaving them there won't necessarily remind you to pay them. But place a shoe or a piece of fruit on the stack of bills, and later, when you spot the out-of-place object, you'll remember to take care of them, says Carol Vorderman, author of Super Brain: 101 Easy Ways to a More Agile Mind.
• Sing it. To remember a small group of items (a grocery list, phone number, list of names, to-do list), adapt it to a well-known song, says Vorderman. Try "peanut butter, milk and eggs" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Happy Birthday" or even nursery rhymes.
• Try mnemonic devices. Many of us learned "ROY G BIV" to remember the colors of the rainbow, or "Every Good Boy Deserves Favors" to learn musical notes. Make up your own device to memorize names (Suzanne's kids are Adam, Patrick and Elizabeth, or "APE"), lists (milk, eggs, tomatoes, soda, or "METS") or computer commands (to shut down your PC, hit Control+Alt+Delete, or "CAD").
• Use your body. When you have no pen or paper and are making a mental grocery or to-do list, remember it according to major body parts, says Scott. Start at your feet and work your way up. So if you have to buy glue, cat food, broccoli, chicken, grapes and toothpaste, you might picture your foot stuck in glue, a cat on your knee looking for food, a stalk of broccoli sticking out of your pants pocket, a chicken pecking at your belly button, a bunch of grapes hanging from your chest and a toothbrush in your mouth.
• Go Roman. With the Roman room technique, you associate your grocery, to-do or party-invite list with the rooms of your house or the layout of your office, garden or route to work. Again, the zanier the association, the more likely you'll remember it, says Scott. Imagine apples hanging from the chandelier in your foyer, spilled cereal all over the living room couch, shampoo bubbles overflowing in the kitchen sink and cheese on your bedspread.


Brain Freeze #4 "What's my password for this website?"
• Shape your numbers. Assign a shape to each number: 0 looks like a ball or ring; 1 is a pen; 2 is a swan; 3 looks like handcuffs; 4 is a sailboat; 5, a pregnant woman; 6, a pipe; 7, a boomerang; 8, a snowman; and 9, a tennis racket. To remember your ATM PIN (4298, say), imagine yourself on a sailboat (4), when a swan (2) tries to attack you. You hit it with a tennis racket (9), and it turns into a snowman (8). Try forgetting that image!
• Rhyme it. Think of words that rhyme with the numbers 1 through 9 (knee for 3, wine for 9, etc.). Then create a story using the rhyming words: A nun (1) in heaven (7) banged her knee (3), and it became sore (4).

Brain Freeze #5 "The word is on the tip of my tongue."
• Practice your ABCs. Say you just can't remember the name of that movie. Recite the alphabet (aloud or in your head). When you get to the letter R, it should trigger the name that's escaping you: Ratatouille. This trick works when taking tests too.

Brain Freeze #6 "I just can't memorize anything anymore!"
• Read it, type it, say it, hear it. To memorize a speech, toast or test material, read your notes, then type them into the computer. Next, read them aloud and tape-record them. Listen to the recording several times. As you work on memorizing, remember to turn off the TV, unplug your iPod and shut down your computer; you'll retain more.
• Use color. Give your notes some color with bolded headings and bulleted sections (it's easier to remember a red bullet than running text).
• Make a map. Imagine an intersection and mentally place a word, fact or number on each street corner

I FOUND IT ON :
http://www.rd.com/health/brain-and-nervous-system/retrain-your-brain/article53051.html
CHECK IT OUT

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