Author: Serkadis

The readers of this blog are probably far to well-informed to take part in the “electromagnetic allergy” FUD and NIMBYism. I’m sure it’s clear to you guys that we’re all saturated with various forms of radiation all the time, and having a radio tower by your house isn’t likely to do anything other than mess with your reception. But the residents of Craigavon, a town in Northern Ireland, seem to think otherwise. In fact, they directly attributed lack of sleep, headaches, rashes, and a whole swath of vague complaints to a wireless broadband tower set up by iBurst.

The usual ignorance and hysteria, yes, but here’s the fun part. After confirming that the residents had been having the same symptoms over the last couple months, iBurst revealed that the tower had been turned off the entire time. I would have liked to see their faces.

iBurst CEO Jannie van Zyl says:

At this point it became apparent that the tower can, in no way, be the cause of the symptoms, as it was already switched off for many weeks, yet the residents still saw symptoms that come and go according to their proximity to the area.

The mind is a powerful thing. It can produce psychosomatic rashes, worry you into insomnia, and I don’t know if the Craigavon residents know this, but it can also be filled with knowledge so you don’t go through life as dumb as a chicken.

[via Reddit]

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Filed under: Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone

Quite a few people have been asking me what app it was that I used in that post the other day about the rumored new iPhone. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an app (although the jailbreak apps LockInfo and Intelliscreen offer similar features) — it was one concept among many that have been suggested for a potential new homescreen on the iPhone’s next OS revision. There have been a lot of great ideas bouncing around for the kinds of information Apple could put on a completely revamped iPhone homescreen: an easier-to-read clock, a list of received push notifications, easy access to contacts and/or email, and more.

It seems as though Apple is experimenting with some of those things as well: the company recently filed a patent for including a contact, with picture, on the iPhone’s home screen as an icon. Rather than navigate through the system to find your aunt that you call all the time, you could save auntie’s picture on the home screen, and then hit one icon to call her up.

Unfortunately for Apple, as Engadget points out, the Android OS actually lets you do this already, so the chances of their getting this patent approved are low. But it does tell us that Apple is at least thinking about how they could make the homescreen a little more useful. They may still be tied to the icon scheme, but at least they’re looking at adding a little more functionality.

TUAWApple gets one-upped on homescreen contact patent originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Author of Four Steps to the Epiphany and blogger Steve Blank has not only been an entrepreneur in several startups, he also teaches entrepreneurship in universities. In his latest blog post entitled, “A Startup is Not a Smaller Version of a Large Company”, Blank argues that the process of transition from “garage to Google” is a bumpy ride that requires more than just agile development and team building.

Sponsor

Last week ReadWriteStart published an article asking the question: Are You Hiring the Right People at the Right Time?. We wrote it in the belief that most startups go through several different stages and each stage may be best lead by a different type of executive.

Blank takes this idea one step further and notes the distinction between each state of business saying, “In the Middle Ages children were considered to be smaller versions of adults. We now know that the human life cycle is more complex; children aren’t just small adults, and adolescents are not simply large children. Instead each is a unique stage of development with distinctive behavior, modes of thinking, physiology and more. The same is true for startups and companies.”

He suggests that in addition to exploring new management, companies should reassess their culture, sales, marketing and strategy during the transitional period. In the coming weeks, Blank will present us with a multi-part look at how small companies grow into large ones successfully. If this series is anything like his post entitled, The Elves Leave Middle Earth – Sodas are No Longer Free he’ll share a management model that allows our companies to grow while successfully retaining trusted employees.

Discuss

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

The Guidos have gotten to the babies! Even kids are caught up in the phenomenon of MTV’s trashiest ratings winner: Summer at the Jersey Shore officially kicks off when eight kids move out of their bunk beds and into their summer share.

I just wanted to put a little attaboy in here for Google. The quake in Haiti will of course prompt a humanitarian response, and accurate aerial imagery will help get it to where it needs to be most. Helicopters are probably occupied ferrying passengers and supplies, so I’d imagine few can be spared for reconnaissance; satellite imagery is the best way to go for a snapshot of the area, and Google contracted GeoEye to shoot some shots for just that purpose.

Check out Google’s Haiti relief and imagery page here. It’s good to note every once in a while that the technology we take for granted can actually be used for things other than finding the nearest coffee shop. This kind of quick and helpful response (thanks as well to the mobile companies and their texting donations) is heartening.

If you want to help, and I know you do, then text HAITI to 90999 to donate ten bucks to the Red Cross.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

MySpace is obviously a social network, but in terms of being talked about these days on the social web it has lost a lot of steam in recent years. To help with that, they’re bringing in Sean Percival to be the service’s new Director of Content Socialization.

Percival, who was apparently one of the first 3,000 people to ever sign up for MySpace, had previously been consulting for the company and has written a book about what he’ll now be preaching: MySpace Marketing: Creating a Social Network to Boom Your Business. He’ll report to Angela Courtin, the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Entertainment & Content for MySpace, and will work with the editorial and content teams to try to help kickstart talk about the service on the web.

Percival, who lives in LA, is also known for starting the Southern California tech/gossip blog Lalawag. Previously, he’s worked at Mahalo, Docstoc, and Tsavo, under Mike Jones who is now the COO of MySpace. Jones was MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta’s first hire when he took over that role last year.

As he notes on his blog, this is a good week for Percival, he also just announced that his wife is pregnant. Read more about Percival’s new gig on the MySpace Blog.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

Little Girl, this is not appropriate…..Just last month, Noah Cyrus, age 9, lit the web aflame when she debuted her disturbing, arse-slapping cover of Akon’s sex-charged hit “Smack That.” Well, Little Noah isn’t done entertaining the pedos just yet. This week, the tot is singing about partying and gettng “crunk” with an inspired parody of “Tik Tok,” a club banger from pop newcomer Ke$ha.

We blame the parents.

Microsoft has issued Security Advisory (979352) after its own investigations into the highly-organized hacking attack in late December, the one that Google earlier this week attributed to China, led the software giant to conclude that a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Internet Explorer was used by the perpetrators. 

“The company has determined that Internet Explorer was one of the vectors used in targeted and sophisticated attacks targeted against Google and other corporate networks,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Ars. “Microsoft continues to work with Google, other industry partners and authorities to actively investigate this issue. To date, Microsoft has not seen widespread customer impact, rather only targeted and limited attacks exploiting IE6.”

While Microsoft says it is only aware of limited, active attacks attempting to use this vulnerability in IE6, and has not seen attacks against other versions of IE, the vulnerability is not limited to version 6, according to the security advisory. Internet Explorer 5.01 on Windows 2000 SP4 is not affected, but IE6 on Windows 2000 SP4, as well as IE6, IE7 and IE8 on supported editions of Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2 are all affected. 

“The vulnerability exists as an invalid pointer reference within Internet Explorer,” the advisory reads. “It is possible under certain conditions for the invalid pointer to be accessed after an object is deleted. In a specially-crafted attack, in attempting to access a freed object, Internet Explorer can be caused to allow remote code execution.”

Microsoft did not give any workarounds for the flaw in the security advisory, but it did list five mitigating factors:

• Protected Mode in IE7 on Windows Vista limits the impact of the vulnerability.
• In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability or do so via a webpage that accepts or hosts user-provided content or advertisements. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these websites and would have to convince them to do so, which is typically achieved via an e-mail or instant message.
• By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration. This mode sets the security level for the Internet zone to High and so is a mitigating factor for websites that you have not added to the Internet Explorer Trusted sites zone.
• An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less affected than users who operate with administrative user rights.
• By default, all supported versions of Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail open HTML e-mail messages in the Restricted sites zone, which should mitigate attacks trying to exploit this vulnerability by preventing Active Scripting and ActiveX controls from being used. However, if a user clicks a link in an e-mail message, the user could still be vulnerable to exploitation of this vulnerability through the Web-based attack scenario.

Microsoft says it will continue to monitor the situation and will either post a patch on Patch Tuesday or will release an out-of-cycle security update. We will keep you posted when Microsoft does release an update.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Article

Article Tags: Tom Bethell, Wikipedia

Two weeks ago I wrote an article here about global warming and the advocates — call them warmists — who tamper with Wikipedia to reflect their own biases. One warmist named William Connolley, a green ideologue in Britain, had rewritten 5,428 climate articles. His goal was to bring the articles into line with Green Party dogma.

A number of people responded, some taking the position that Wikipedia is a waste of time so why bother with it? But that is not satisfactory. Here is a better response, from Howard Hayden, a friend of mine. He puts out The Energy Advocate, a newsletter that raises many doubts about global warming and related energy issues. “Wiki is a great source of non-controversial information,” he told me. “It’s a shame it has been hijacked by true believers.”

I agree. I find Wikipedia useful and I do use it. But I avoid it where science and controversy interact — global warming, biodiversity, intelligent design, and a few other issues. There, Wiki cannot be relied upon. Political activists have enough time on their hands to make changes that suit their tastes.

Click source to read FULL article by Tom Bethell

Source: spectator.org

Read in full with comments »   

Soft Servo Systems now offers its general motion control and CNC products with the popular and proven EtherCAT interface system (visit: http://www.softservo.com/EtherCAT.php?catID=2&subID=11): a fast, vendor-independent, Ethernet-based realtime network for servo and I/O communications that works with CANopen over EtherCAT (CoE) servo drives and I/O devices.

With this system, RJ45 Ethernet cables are plugged directly into the Ethernet port on the PC, and servo drives are connected in a simple, single-line daisy-chain – no hardware is required, not even a terminator. Up to 32 servo drives (plus additional I/O stations) can be integrated in one network.

The EtherCAT interface system is fast, with an interpolation rate of 0.5 ms. There are no delays in gateways, and there are no underlying sub-systems. Its simplified configuration and standard cabling, as well as the elimination of adapter cards, switches and hubs, make this a very economical system, both in terms of initial cost and in terms of maintenance.

Corporate Profile

Soft Servo Systems, the leading provider of PC-based motion control products, was founded in February 1998 by MIT professionals with funding from private investors.

Soft Servo Systems was among the first to develop a truly PC-based servo controller in which a single, powerful host computer, combined with FPGA technology, performs all real-time servo control operations. Our products integrate and leverage this servo control with the most advanced information and communication technologies. In addition to handling feedback loops, multi-axis coordination and NC path generation, the computer also provides the graphical user interface, data processing, plant monitoring, network communication, file management, and more.

Soft Servo Systems’ soft motion and soft CNC products are based on our unique and proprietary software technology that fully exploits the ever-improving CPUs in personal computers to give customers superior CNC/motion control performance. Soft motion technology eliminates the need for a motion control coprocessor card. The multi-axis servo loops are entirely closed in the CPU and provide extremely fast and accurate motion control. The end result is a highly flexible, low cost control system, with exceptional features that traditional PC-based controllers (still requiring motion control boards) cannot provide.

Soft Servo Systems’ CNC and general motion control products run on Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows XPe, with a real-time kernel. The open architecture of our core soft motion technology minimizes hardware, connections, and setup requirements, thereby maximizing scalability and customizability for CNC and motion control systems.

Soft Servo Systems, Inc. offers high-performing, innovative, and affordable motion control solutions to high-volume OEMs in the machine tool, factory automation and general motion control industries. Let Soft Servo Systems’ PC-based motion control help you to achieve the ultimate flexibility and intelligence in building your CNC or motion control system.

Well, this is just plain clever. It doesn’t seem like you can buy one just yet, but hopefully that will change soon, as I want one. [OOOMS via NotCot]

PERSPECTO is the extensive WAGO monitor and panel program for operating and monitoring the process data of machines, systems, and control technology.

PERSPECTO is optimized for the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM, fast, flexible and adaptable.

Benefits at a glance:

Attuned to the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM
Uniform and expert support
Short boot time
High computing power
Outstanding energy efficiency
Monitor sizes from 3.5″ to 15″
Flat design
Multiple interfaces
Optional IEC-61131- compatible control functionality

Introducing the Model 830, Impulse Heat Sealer with remote seal head. When you need flexibility, enhanced production, space maximization, and total process control, this sealer is the perfect choice. The separate control cabinet, seal head and touch screen allow you to place each component to maximize your specific sealing process requirements. It’s virtually a Custom machine without the custom price tag.

Arranging a Heat Sealing station is as easy as 1-2-3. The Seal Head can be placed in a laminar flow hood, on a tabletop, cart or stand, and is operable in a vertical, horizontal or angled position. The Touch screen is mounted on a flexible arm so the operator has easy access and visibility. The control cabinet can be wall mounted, lay flat or stand up within 6 feet of the seal head.

The new 830 Heat Sealer was engineered to overcome the space constraints of heat sealing pouches in flow hood applications. This heat sealer is fully validatable with the repeatability and reliability required in the medical industry. Standard features include full digital process control and display through the LCD touch screen HMI, password protected seal parameters, visual and audible alarmed process fault indication, multiple recipe storage (50), seal lengths up to 35”, validation verification ports and external exhaust port. The laser cut and welded stainless steel case provides a clean room friendly, seamless enclosure for cleaning that is not corrosive to biocides and sterilization fluids. The sealer is 100% validatable and calibratable, ISO 11607, CE compliant.

Don’t sacrifice valuable workspace. The 830 Heat Sealer with Remote Seal Head answers the industry’s need for smaller footprints, modular design and ease of operation through its simplified operator touch screen. The Modular design simplifies maintenance and sterilization further reducing downtime. The electrical power and pneumatic tubing are easily disconnected from the machine. The remote seal head enhances productivity by eliminating the need to fit a large heat sealing machine into a small work space.

A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces.Grinding Mill widely used in metallurgy, building materials, chemicals, mining minerals in areas such as grinding materials processing. According to the fine grinding of materials and discharging materials fineness, milling machines can be divided into Raymond Mill, High pressure suspension mill, TGM series mill, HGM Series mill and so on. Raymond Mill powder confidential by the mainframe, analysis machine, Blower, finished Cyclone, plumbing installations, electrical components. One rack by the host, Jin Feng volute, blade, roll grinding, grinding Central, Shell and electrical components. Aids is a jaw crusher, constantly bucket hoist, electromagnetic vibrating feeder, cabinet, users can choose the situation flexible. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand (mortar and pestle), working animal, wind (windmill) or water (watermill). Today they are also powered by electricity.

A modern grinding mill must be able to deal with many tasks while providing a high-degree of grindability, with results that are fine and exact. Only a ballmill of the highest standards, backed by a strong company with a long history in the field will do; only a mill from Retsch meets this challenge. Although we have been producing the highest-quality laboratory equipment for ninety years, we do not rest on the reputation of past products; in fact, we maintain a close working relationship with universities and research institutions to insure that we are always up-to-date and on the cutting edge of the latest available technology.

Types of our grinding mill products:

•Ball mill
•Colloid mill
•Conical mill
•Disk mill
•Edge mill
•Grist mill, also called flour mill or corn mill
•Hammer mill
•Mortar and pestle
•Pellet mill
•VSI mill
•Wiley mill
•Windmill

We are dedicated to this, not only to keep our standards as high as possible, but also to insure that our customers are getting the quality that they expect. As demands for higher performance of mills – the level of micronization and fineness of the milled material – rises, so do our standards. We strive to work with our customers, not only as a supplier of laboratory system solutions, but also by listening to their requests and needs in an ever-faster changing world. We are proud to present you with the results of that dedication,

Characteristics of Dual-use Super Pressure Grinding Mill

•1 The upper, the larger diameter. Ladder shape of roller and ring reduces the down speed of material, extend grinding time, and increase efficiency.
•2 Pressure spring increases pressure.
•3 Soft connection reduces vibration.
•4 Vane of classifier reduces air resistance, increase capacity.
•5 Efficiency of blower is 83%.
•6 Impeller adjustment device is easy to operate.

OD external display module accessory for electronic motor protection relays.

When electric motors stop pumps, mixers, ventilators and other machines, the maintenance personnel must know immediately the reason of that stop.

It may occur by an overload, motor jam, phase lose or over temperature in the winding among others.

Now it is possible to know quickly the status of the relay by mean of the OD accessory adaptable for several relays.

It is very easy to install.

The size is 22mm diameter like a standard push button. Ideal for motor control centres (MCC)

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Toys/Games

Someone had an iPod and a driving game. What he didn’t have was a desire to hold his phone and twist it this way and that. Enter Legos, lately becoming the go-to method to instantly raise the awesome factor of anything. So this unnamed Lego maniac used the interconnecting blocks to build an iPhone holder connected to some tiny steering gear and a wheel. Does it work? Yes. Does it work well? Ummm… Follow the jump to see it in action. Hat tip to Don!

[Source: YouTube via AutoMotto]

Continue reading Video: iPhone driving game + Lego Maniac = Awesome

Video: iPhone driving game + Lego Maniac = Awesome originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Oprah Show is getting us ready for Adam Lambert’s big O debut! The Harpo Team Tweeted this image of the glam rocker with The Queen of Talk just ahead of his interview and performance on the show next Tues., Jan. 19th.

Microsoft sees no need for a “new approach to China,” though rival Google has adopted one that has generated quite a response. In an interview with CNBC today, CEO Steve Ballmer said his company has no plans to cease operations in China or take a moral stand on the Chinese government’s attitude toward free speech. Said Ballmer: “We’ve been quite clear that we are going to operate in China [and] we’re going to abide by the law.”

Asked earlier in the day by Reuters if Microsoft (MSFT) had plans to pull its business out of China, Ballmer answered, “No….I don’t understand how that helps anything. I don’t understand how that helps us and I don’t understand how that helps China.”

Of course, Microsoft has quite a bit more at stake in China than Google (GOOG)–all those pirated copies of Windows, for example.

Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

Read Original Article

GeoEye Satellite Image

Click for zoomable image: Satellite imagery captured on Wednesday, the day after Haiti’s earthquake, shows the ruined National Palace surrounded by people and debris. Click on the image to explore the scene with HDView (plug-in required).

In the wake of Haiti’s earthquake, satellites are helping rescuers pinpoint where the need is greatest – and reconnecting the ruined nation with the outside world.

…(read more)