Category: News

For me it was the Radio Shack TRS-80. (My family had every model up to the 4P.) Trying to load tapes to watch a little ASCII man dance in a proto-Dance Dance Revolution? Music, games, synthesis, tinkering—I was hooked.

Using the loaner ThinkPad x200 for my only computer during the week of the CES was a great experience. Lenovo makes ThinkPads to be great mobile computers and the pre-installed ThinkPad Power Manager utility proved that to me the entire week. Notebooks used on the go are reliant on the battery, as outlets are not handy. Fortunately, Windows 7 allows tight control over all aspects of the system to eke out the most from a notebook’s battery. The key to make this work is a good power management utility, and the ThinkPad utility is the best I have used.

The ThinkPad Power Manager has two modes — a basic mode that provides a simple slider to adjust power consumption, and an advanced mode that provides total control of the system’s components. The utility is so well written that I find the basic mode the best method to control the power, meaning a simple slide of the control adjusts the entire system to the new setting. When I desire more power, I slide the control toward the “High performance” setting. Sliding the control toward the “High energy savings” end of the slider does exactly that. The screen dims, and all the system components are changed to use less power.

Using the power slider not only makes an immediate switch in the power consumption, but the utility also instantly tells you how many watts of power the system is using and how long the battery is estimated to last with the new setting. In my experience, this estimation is very accurate, and is a great gauge that allows me to always have the system optimally configured to balance between performance and battery life.

»  Video comparisons of internet browsing on Google’s Nexus One vs. HTC’s HD2. [MobileTechWorld]

»  Whether they’re Team BlackBerry, iPhone or Android, smartphone users have the same taste in apps. [Mobile Entertainment]

»  Fox requests unofficial iPhone app be removed but Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is slow to comply. [Mediaweek]

»  Gartner says mobile web access will surpass PCs’ by 2013. [FierceMobileContent]

»  Ustwo creates a viral marketing campaign but an accidentally unsearchable app. [PocketGamer]

Los Angeles:  Investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) are looking for a man who stole a car and sped off with a 4-year-old boy inside early this morning in Granada Hills.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the car was found and the child was reunited with his mother.

The SUV, with the boy in a car seat, had been left running in a driveway in the 10000 block of Gaviota Avenue around 6:15 a.m.  According to detectives, the mother of the child went inside the home to get her infant.  As she walked to the front door of her home, she saw a man inside her SUV backing out of the driveway and called 9-1-1.

The SUV was equipped with LoJack. After the operator broadcasted the call, several squad cars, also equipped with LoJack, started searching for the vehicle.  "They picked up a signal and tracked the vehicle a few blocks from where the car was stolen," said Lieutenant Grey Doyle.  The vehicle was found abandoned near Debra Avenue and Mayall Street.

Investigators have few leads and there is no suspect description.

Anyone with information about this crime is urged to call LAPD’s Devonshire Division detectives at 818-832-0609.  During non-business hours or on weekends calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7.  Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477).  Tipsters may also contact Crimestoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters "LAPD." Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

Yes.  I couldn’t resist the play on words.

Joking aside, the Sony Ericsson “Faith” has been spotted, and from the looks of it, it’s running Windows Mobile 6.5.3.  Features are sparse at the moment, but the Faith (part of SE’s GreenHeart line) offers a 2.4-inch QVGA touchscreen to support 6.5.3’s gesture controls.  Given the lukewarm response to Windows Mobile in today’s marketplace, I figured Sony Ericsson had placed all of the eggs in the Android basket.  Could it be a renewed effort to make nice with Microsoft in order to prepare for the launch of Windows Mobile 7?  Engadget and I seem to think so.

The device is said to run European 3G bands – so no Faith in the States at the moment (and hey, it’s just a rumor anyway).  Would you buy it, or does the Android-powered X10 tickle your fancy?

Via Engadget

5 inches by 3.7 inches—that’s the diminutive footprint of the fully loaded conga-BM57 Core i7 motherboard.

Despite its small stature, the conga-BM57 features an impressive spec list, including a 2.66 GHz Core i7, 8GB of RAM, integrated intel graphics, 5 PCI Express lanes, 8 USB 2.0 ports, 3 SATA, 1 EIDE and Gigabit Ethernet—plus support for dual displays over VGA, LVDS, HDMI, DisplayPort or SDVO.

The price and release date are still unknown, but at this size, it would make one heck of a HTPC that could double for some gaming. [SlashGear]

Part animal, part plant, bright green, and totally bizarre: Meet the sea slug Elysia chlorotica.

Biologists already knew that this organism, native to the marshes of New England and Canada, was a thief that somehow pickpocketed genes from the algae it eats. At last week’s meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Seattle, researcher Sidney Pierce said he has found that the slugs aren’t just kleptomaniacs—they use the pilfered genes not only to make chlorophyll, but also to execute photosynthesis and live like a plant. Said Pierce: “They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything,” Pierce said. “This is the first time that multicellular animals have been able to produce chlorophyll” [LiveScience].

The slug steals in a different way than most organisms (usually bacteria) that employ horizontal gene transfer to incorporate the DNA of others. Most of those hosts tuck in the partner cells whole in crevices or pockets among host cells. Pierce’s slug, however, takes just parts of cells, the little green photosynthetic organelles called chloroplasts, from the algae it eats. The slug’s highly branched gut network engulfs these stolen bits and holds them inside slug cells [Science News].

By using detectors to trace small amount of radioactivity, Pierce says he confirmed that the slug was actually using the stolen genes to produce the chlorophyll itself rather than snatching already-made chlorophyll from the algae. In addition, parent slugs pass on the genetic pathways for chlorophyll and photosynthesis to their offspring, showing it becomes incorporated into their genes.

Once again, nature reminds us, evolution can be wonderfully creative. “This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal — that’s just cool,” said invertebrate zoologist John Zardus [Science News].

Related Content:
80beats: Inside a Tree Leaf, It’s Always a Balmy 70 Degrees
80beats: Arsenic-Eating Bacteria May Resemble Early Life on Primordial Earth
The Loom: Going Green

Image: Nicholas E. Curtis and Ray Martinez

In this Wall Street Journal article, UT Knoxville law professor and “Instapundit” blogger Glenn Reynolds reviews Jaron Lanier’s new book “You Are Not A Gadget.”

Após a Nissan revelar a primeira foto de seu novo modelo Juke na semana passada eis que surgem novas imagens mais nítidas, para delírio dos fãs da marca japonesa.

Esse novo modelo é um Hatch compacto SUV desenvolvido para a família e ao julgar pelas imagens esse modelo tem tudo para alcançar o mesmo sucesso do Nissan Qashqai lançado a pouco tempo pela Nissan e juntos os dois modelos vão expandir a linha Nissan podendo dar um impulso nas vendas dessa já conceituada fabricante de automóvel.

Baseado no protótipo visto anteriormente o Nissan Juke possui 4,06 metros de comprimento por 1,78 de largura sendo 25 centímetros mais curto que o Qashqai.

A Nissan definiu dia 10 de fevereiro para revelar todos os detalhes do veiculo e provavelmente estará lançando o veiculo em março no Salão do Automóvel de Genebra 2010.

Nissan Juke novas imagens

Fonte: AutoExpress

This Valentine’s Day, many women are going to dress themselves up with perfume to be more attractive to potential (or current) mates. However, all those smell goods may be unnecessary when it comes to attracting a partner.

According to a recent study in Psychology Science, women who go natural may do a better job at capturing their potential lover’s attention!

Humans may be more discreet than animals, but it turns out that smells are still very important. Animals have long used scent to choose a partner, but human males may do the same thing without realizing it.

Florida State University psychological scientists Saul L. Miller and Jon K. Maner decided to see if human male testosterone levels are influenced by natural odor signals like in the animal world. Ovulating women, whether they realize it or not, do emit a certain odor.

The Sniffy Study: (that’s my name for it)

For three nights at various phases of their menstrual cycles, women wore tee shirts. The males in the study smelled one of the tee shirts that had been worn by a female participant. Some of the males smelled control tee shirts that weren’t worn by anyone. For testosterone analysis, scientists collected saliva samples before and after the men smelled the shirts.

The Amazing Sniffy Study Results:

Men who smelled the shirts worn by ovulating women had higher levels of testosterone than men who smelled tee shirts worn by non-ovulating women or the control shirts. Plus, men rated the odors on pleasantness after smelling them. Guess what? They rated the shirts worn by ovulating women as the most pleasant smelling!

According to the authors, this research is the “first to provide direct evidence that olfactory cues to female ovulation influence biological responses in men.” That means that testosterone levels could be responsive to smells indicating when a woman is fertile. The authors concluded that the scents may promote sexy behavior by males.

Perhaps you should avoid blind dates while ovulating…

(Image via flickr.pedrosimoes7)

Post from: Blisstree

Turn Him on the Natural Way

What better place than the Detroit Auto Show to bring our the latest and greatest from American manufacturers? Enter the GMC Granite, a vehicle that represents GM’s current (and most might say, more correct) direction. The Granite is a fun, quirky little vehicle that is on par size-wise with the Nissan Cube and market-dominating Scion xB. While we’re sure there are some features that might not make it to production, we love the oversized grille and wheels, suicide doors, clever lighting, and high sporty beltline. The interior looks very aircraft-inspired and makes good use of organic LED lighting, and borrows a clever Jaguar-esque transmission shifter. Powering the mini-MPV is a turbocharged Ecotec engine mated to a six-speed automatic that promises to make the Granite both fun to drive and fuel efficient. Let’s hope GM takes some chances and gets this one into the marketplace as a replacement for the tired Cobalt.

Continue reading for more images and a video of the GMC Granite Concept.

Source: WCF

My 2010 calendar is filling up already!