Category: News

  • GROU.PS DIY Social Network Platform Reaches 2 Million Users, Becomes More Customizable

    GROU.PS, a do-it-yourself social network focused on moderated online collaboration has steadily gained an impressive amount of users and added compelling features to its application. The social network platform has just hit 2 million users, adding another million members in just 6 months.

    And GROU.PS has amped up its offering for publishers by launching Elastic Modules, which gives publishers the ability to change the way the data is displayed to their visitors. To date, the highest reach of look and feel customization was at the template level; the
    publisher could only change the skin of their site. Now publishers can actually modify the backend of the social network they’ve created.

    GROU.PS counts Don Dodge, developer evangelist at Google, is among the community builders that have chosen GROU.PS as their online platform. “Don Dodge’s Startup List” is sort of a Crunchbase for Boston area.

    The startup’s networks are attractive to users because it lets you run all of your group’s collaboration tools from one GROU.PS domain using a single login. The system supports wikis, photos, links, blogs, calendars, chat, forums, maps, profiles, and subgroups – each of which is available as a plug-and-play module for your community. These modules also allow users to pull in their data from other third party services (flickr, Digg, blogs, etc).

    The startup, which has over 40,000 networks on its platform, also recently added ActivityRank Pipelines, a point and reward system that lets moderators of a social network measure and rank members’ content contributions and then extend moderation privileges to members based on these rankings. And the social network is launching a subscription model that will allow moderators to charge subscription fees to members (GROU.PS gets a 50% cut on any fees charges).

    GROU.PS just raised $1 million in funding, bringing the startup’s total funding up to over $2 million. But while the social network is growing, it is still faces major competition form the leader in the space, Ning, which recently hit 37 million users with 1.6 million social networks created on the platform.

    Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0


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  • Klipsch headquarters walkthrough: behind the scenes and between the ears

    Every time trade shows such as CES and CEDIA open their doors, the collective masses are flooded with headphone after headphone, speaker after speaker. After awhile, one driver looks just as round as the next, and frankly, you start to take for granted what all goes into bringing the tunes we all dig to our ears, dens and underutilized kitchens. One of the mainstays in the audio industry opened their doors up to us this past weekend, and it didn’t take much arm pulling to get us inside. We’ve generally found the design and sound qualities associated with Klipsch gear to be top-shelf, and we’ve struggled in the past to find too many gripes with the headphones and sound systems we’ve had the opportunity to review. Needless to say, we were quite curious to hear about (and see) what all goes into imagining, designing, testing and qualifying the ‘buds and speakers that we’ve enjoyed for so many years, and if you share that same level of curiosity, join us after the break for the full walkthrough (and a few heretofore unreleased secrets, to boot).

    Continue reading Klipsch headquarters walkthrough: behind the scenes and between the ears

    Klipsch headquarters walkthrough: behind the scenes and between the ears originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Where’s my Jet Pack? Apple Tablet and Future Interfaces

    interface_appletablet_aug09.jpgEver since Jeff Han demoed his Multi-Touch Workstation at the 2006 TED Conference, the world has been waiting for a high resolution sensory work experience. As a generation of hunched night creatures with intimate knowledge of our chiropractors, we’ve suffered and conformed to our traditional interfaces for too long. Touch was the future of workstations. But as articulated by ReadWriteWeb, the upcoming Apple tablet is not the workstation of the near future. It simply isn’t practical. For those of us who still want to gawk at the cool regardless of its practicality, here is an assortment of 2009’s most interesting interfaces.

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    Editor’s note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we’ll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year – and ahead to what next year holds – we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It’s not just a best-of list, it’s also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb!

    Sixth Sense: Sixth Sense is an extremely inexpensive interface ($350 to build the prototype) and it consists of some colored finger markers, a projector, and a camera on a necklace. Demoed at the TED conference, this interface has amazing potential. We reviewed this product as part of our post The Wearable Internet Will Blow Mobile Phones Away.

    Given Nikon’s release of yesterday’s first camera with a built-in pico projector and Mobileburn’s demo of the Samsung Anycall Show phone, these little projectors are about to start popping up everywhere. For Minority Report fans, we may actually see these projector based interfaces used up for everyday tasks; however, it’s more produce amazing entertainment for gamers.

    Perceptive Pixel Multi-Touch Wall (Jeff Han’s new project) and Microsoft Surface: In the world of alternative interfaces, these two workstations are extremely well known. Certainly not the inexpensive, mainstream touch interfaces we’d hoped for, their size and price makes them unobtainable to the average user. However, for commercial uses, they’ve certainly got that wow factor. The products are used for story boarding, geo-spatial command, broadcast media, museum exhibits, hotels and Surface is even in Disneyland’s tomorrow land.

    Scratch Input: Recently featured in Technology Review for his presentation at the SIGGRAPH Conference, Carnegie Mellon Ph.D student Chris Harrison created a gestural input interface using existing surfaces and an acoustic input technique. In other words, Harrison’s interface uses scratches to communicate with his machine. By taping a modified stethoscope to a wall, Harrison got users to perform six scratch input gestures at about 90% accuracy with less than 5 minutes of training. If Scratch Input were utilized by a mobile manufacturer, a phone owner could simply rest their device on a table top and use it to scribble out messages.

    Pulp-Based Computing: While there’s little information on these projects just yet, one thing is clear. The folks in MIT’s Media Lab Fluid Interfaces Group are exploring electrically active inks and fibers during the paper making process to create a new form of paper-based computing. Apparently the paper would react in the same way as regular paper; however, it would also carry digital information. While the project is only in its early stages and appears to be hooked up to a basic Arduino prototyping platform, theoretically this could be used to create a new type of Wacom tablet. Remember when Steven Levy wrote about losing his Macbook Air? A paper interface would take some serious getting used to.


    Siftables: Created by David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanithi, Siftables is a series of blocks that contain built-in motion sensors, graphical displays and wireless communication. The blocks can be programmed to interact with digital information and media to form a collective interface. Siftables have been used to create art displays, painting tools, calculators, games and even a music sequencer. Bug Labs also offers a similar open source block system for modular device interfaces.

    For more on alternative interfaces featured during 2009, check out our articles on the BiDi screen and the wearable Internet.

    Discuss


  • Diagnosis Problems, Help/Advice Anyone?

    Okay. So this is my very first time here. I will try to write clearly and concisely.

    Prior to 2000 I have had episodes of Hypoglycemic shock and even some situations where I could have passed-out and who knows what.

    In 2003 I had some health problems, such as weight related (BMI number was/is higher than should be) and fatigue (and some other symptoms, including circulatory problems and chest pains), so I had my blood checked. My Cholesterol was high and my Potassium low! I am 5’6" and around 180-190 (overlapping pot-belly, so-called love-handles on the sides, chin-fat, thighs are fatty, upper underarms are full of fat nodules nearer to my armpits).

    Prior to 1992 I was slim and fairly energetic, but my life was very stressful.

    Anyways; in 2003 I had to work for a whole year as an overnight security guard (official California State licensed) at the entrance of a 55-plus retirement condo community. And my life was a mess. The reasons for having to take this job are various, suffice it to say my wife was not a citizen and had not yet been given her papers to be able to go to work, so I had to make enough money for the two of us.

    It was during this time that I began to have frequent urination, dryness of my mouth and thrush on my tongue just after awaking and if I forgot to drink enough, I was constantly thirsty (now I do not even feel thirst or hunger when I should, nor do I shiver or sweat when I should !!!), and often I would wake up with my fingers turning from red to brown, sometimes even to almost greyish-to-black! My lower legs would suffer swelling (Edema) and injuries, especially to my legs, would take too long to heal! These symptoms have since gotten worse. And on my feet, fortunately in only a few places (mostly on the outer side next to my little toe) I would feel constant itchyness. My skin has become dry. I also developed eczema on my forehead between my eyebrows and around the nostril-fold of my nose…which (my nose) tends to get, every now and then, one or more infected pores (acne).

    The worst thing is that if I accidentally eat anything with MSG or Caffeine or excess sugar my condition gets serious!

    One time, a few years ago, we went out to buy Chinese take-out and I specifically told them not to put any MSG (they had a sign suggesting they can accomodate). After eating my food, within minutes, I was fighting for my life! I had a Ketoacidic reaction so severe. At least I had the sense to drink A LOT of water. But the symptoms of that attack were really scary ( I had similar attacks prior to that but not as severe). My vision was impaired by flashes of what looks like micro-lightning, I had serious trouble breathing, I was struggling to avoid losing consciousness, I even poured the other half of the One Liter of cold water on my head (which helped a bit)! I was shaking and feeling very nervous and insecure!

    I’ve noticed that I have also got a problem with Caffeine: if I drink regular Coca Cola (in the UK they do not have the Decaffeinated sugar version…what they have here is Decaffeinated with Aspartame…which I know is toxic), or caffeinated black tea (coffee is out of the question!), I start to feel like my brain has trouble controlling my natural breathing and I have to force myself to breathe! Even then, unless I take Ascorbic Acid to break-up (the molecules)the accumulation of caffeine, one side of my brain feels very unpleasantly stuffy and lacking access to oxygen!

    Obviously I have long since…due to not having health insurance back home in the US….learned to use the Internet and Merck manual to try and figure out what my symptoms may be due to and what action, dietary and otherwise, I might take to remove or at least reduce those symptoms.

    Anyway; I just had my blood tested by the NHS here (this is the British National Health System…which is availble to all persons living in the UK legally….). This was after consulting with my new doctor (GP – Physician) here. The test showed elevated cholesterol, but no major indication of Diabetes Melitus 2 (adult onset type)!!! I find this result upsetting; not because anyone in their right mind wants to be diabetic, but because all my symptoms, including sudden mini-bouts of Hypertension that have also failed being detected, would seem to be signs of Diabetes or some other Endochrinal disease (Hyperthyroidism, Graves…).

    I did fast 10 hours before going (which was not easy, as you know), and drank only a little water a couple of hours before being tested.

    True: I have been taking Potassium Gluconate 99 milligrams per day…which I usually break into two pieces and take with my meals. And I have been eating as healthy a diet as I can, given that we are not doing well financially and we cannot afford to buy enough of the best possible fresh (life-force-rich) natural-state foods, such as certain types of fresh vegetables, fruits, etc. And I did stop eating cheese again! The cost of fresh produce in the UK is ridiculous! Even in the USA on the East Coast as compared to California; the price of healthy, fresh produce is too high!

    So: here are my two questions:

    1. If this is not Diabetes 2, then does anyone have a theory? Mind you: My GP here seems not to care to tell me what else it might be; saying that he does not know what is causing these symptoms and that he does not think I should be too concerned!!!

    2. If this is Diabetes 2 then how can I find out for sure and get authorized to receive the kind of discounts on things like testing strips and Keto-strips…whose costs, without NHS reduction of cost, are too high for me to buy on my own?
    I even bought my own Glucose meter two years ago, but I quit using it because I could not afford the sticks…and yes, sometimes my Sugar was too high or too low…but rarely, and since I abandoned my kit when I moved over here I could not test when I have had my recent most severe symptoms (which seem related to Caffeine and/or excess glucose and abnormally fast internal dehydration)??

    Also; I heard from someone here that the NHS has issued secret instructions to GPs (doctors) not to prioritize diagnosis for non-British patients (the recent financial crisis here has obviously begun to have a very negative financial impact on the NHS). Anyone here in the UK with similar concerns??

  • App Catalog Available Once More For Importers

    Earlier this month we reported that those who had imported the SIM-lock free German Pre for use on a non-O2 network were unable to access the App Catalog after updating to webOS 1.3.1. We hypothesized that Palm wouldn’t provide a remedy to the issue other than a rather convoluted work-around involving multiple Palm profiles and SIM cards, but it appears that Palm has been addressing the issue on their side, as a number of importers have been reporting that they once again have access to the Catalog.

    The issue has to do with the way the GSM Pre is activated, and the way in which applications are certified for certain countries.  If you were to activate your imported Pre with a SIM card from a Swedish network for example, you wouldn’t be unable to access the App Catalog.

    Having access to the Catalog is important for all webOS users, and hopefully bringing paid applications to markets outside of the US is a top priority for Palm in 2010 as they expand the number of countries and carriers selling itsproduct.

    Importers: can you access the App Catalog again?

    [via Palminfocenter]

  • VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton wishes you a Merry Christmas with his F1 car

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    Merry Christmas from Lewis Hamilton — Click above to watch video

    McLaren Formula One engineers use their laptops to find out what their MP4-series F1 cars are doing. Put one of the teams many computers in front of Lewis Hamilton, and he uses it to make the car do things – in this case, make a little music and dance a little jig. It’s just his, and Vodafone’s, way of saying Merry Christmas, folks. Follow the jump to see the vid.

    [Source: Vodafone UK]

    Continue reading VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton wishes you a Merry Christmas with his F1 car

    VIDEO: Lewis Hamilton wishes you a Merry Christmas with his F1 car originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 13:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • VLMC – Editor de vídeo gratuito e multiplataforma

    VLMCMuito se tem falado da falta de programadores para continuar a desenvolver a versão macOSx do reprodutor de vídeo opensource VLC, no entanto o projecto está em grande e pretendem agora lançar um editor de vídeo opensource multi-plataforma.

    Chama-se VLMC (VideoLAN Movie Creator) e é sem dúvida um dos projectos opensource mais falados do momento. O VLMC vai permitir a edição básica de vídeos em várias plataformas sem que o utilizador tenha que pagar um único cêntimo por isso.

    Veja abaixo um vídeo do software a correr em Ubuntu:

    VLMC (VideoLAN Movie Creator) is a free video editing software,
    offering features to realize semi-professional quality movies,
    but with the aim to stays simple and user-friendly.

    VLMC will be available very soon in a pre-release version for Linux, Windows and Mac, stay tuned !

    via VLMC

    WebTugaVLMC – Editor de vídeo gratuito e multiplataforma

  • NPR Science Friday interview today | Bad Astronomy

    me_nprI’ll be on today’s episode of NPR’s Science Friday! Ira Flatow hosted a round-table panel discussion with Paul Raeburn, Mariette DiChristina (the new editor-in-chief of Scientific American magazine), Wired senior editor Nick Thompson, and me. We chatted about the year in science news including social networking (like Twitter), privacy, Hubble, the Moon, and lots of other things, too. I had a fun time recording it, and I expect it’ll be fun to listen to as well.

    It airs on NPR from 2:00 – 4:00 Eastern time, and should be available online too.


  • Santa’s Dark Past

    You knew something had to be a little fishy with the Claus, right?

    Now, the truth comes out.

  • Season’s Greetings from the world’s smallest snowman

    Season's Greetings from the world's smallest snowman

    In the following YouTube video, you will see where and how they make the world smallest snowman at the NPL UK. They sure make science fun and turn it into entertainment.

    Posted in Love, Science & Technology

  • Is Google Voice available for the iPhone?

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    Need a refresher on the Google Voice and Apple saga? Let’s recap the story to date:

    Apple pulled all Google Voice related apps from the App Store back in July, which led to an FCC inquiry, which led Apple to claim they had not rejected but were “studying” Google Voice, which Google contradicted. The biggest surprise in the whole scenario is that AT&T said that they had no problem with Google Voice on the iPhone.

    Yet here we are, 4 months later, and still no decision (that we know of) has been made. I’ve previously referred to this as Apple’s pocket veto of Google Voice where they are able to say they haven’t rejected it when they have, in effect, rejected it. Put it all together, and this has led me to put up a website for your “Google Voice on iPhone” questions, which I narrowed down to IsGoogleVoiceAvailableForTheiPhone.com?

    As it stands today, the answer is a qualified “No” in that there are no Google Voice apps available from the App Store, but I was curious to see what options are available. I found three tools that you can use today, and one more which is on the horizon.
    1) Google Voice’s Mobile site: Using Mobile Safari, you can get to Google Voice’s Mobile site and access a variety of features, including turning phones on and off, making calls or sending SMS through your Google Voice account. This works, albeit slowly, and you are unlikely to want to make many calls this way, it’s just too much of a hassle. And did I mention that it’s slow? Especially compared to a local app, it’s pokey.

    2) Google Voice Bookmarklet Generator: David Friedman came up with an ingenious method for creating Google Voice “bookmarklets” for calling people using your Google Voice number. He then shared that idea on his website, which led someone else to write a Python script which will convert your entire address book to Google Voice shortcuts. His goal was not to reproduce Google Voice functionality, but simply to make it easier to call people through Google Voice.

    Check out the article where he explains how this works for more details. It’s fairly geeky, but some of you may find it a good tool for your utility belt.

    3) GV Mobile: One of the apps pulled from the App Store was GV Mobile by Sean Kovacs. Rather than see his work go to waste, Sean released GV Mobile for free to the jailbreak community through Cydia. Jailbreaking involves trade-offs (then again, so does “not jailbreaking”), but if they are trade-offs you are willing to live with, this is perhaps your best alternative today.

    What if there was another option? What if there was a way to get most of the benefits of a native app, local speed, offline access… but without having to wait for the App Store approval process?

    This is becoming an increasingly attractive solution to folks who are put off by the App Store delays, not only for initial approval (and the possibility of being yanked at any moment if Apple decides to “study” your app) but for updates. For example, what happens when you create a Twitter client for iPhone but Twitter makes API changes which render some or all of your app inoperable? Or, what if Google changes the authorization method for Google Voice? This happened recently, which broke some Google Voice apps that people had bought and downloaded before they were pulled off the App Store. Those developers have no way to get bug fixes to those customers who paid to buy their apps, which is bad for the developers (who get support requests for a problem they can’t fix) and for customers who paid for apps rendered useless by Apple’s arbitrary decision.

    It turns out there is another option. Neven Mrgan of Panic.com recently released an iPhone game called Pie Guy which is a web app, but is stored locally using HTML5. What that means is that it feels very much like a native app running at native-app speed, and it can be used offline.

    Riverturn, which had developed a native Google Voice iPhone app called VoiceCentral, is looking to make the same approach for Google Voice. Instead of waiting for Apple to figure out if they are going to allow iPhone clients for Google Voice, Riverturn is developing an HTML5 web app which you download to your iPhone. It is called VoiceCentral Black Swan Edition and it is currently in “very limited beta.” Those who have Google Voice accounts can sign up for the beta list at the website, which has some additional information and screenshots.

    Riverturn provided access to the beta to a few of us at TUAW and the response was a unanimous “Wow.” Quite frankly, if someone handed you an iPhone which had Black Swan already set up, I’m not sure that you would be able to tell it isn’t a native app. I used it to place a few calls and it worked quickly, easily, and reliably. The best part is that when the app is updated, all users will immediately get the updated version. No waiting for Apple to approve it.

    Web apps are not a panacea for the issues in the App Store. Before the iPhone SDK was announced, Apple promoted web apps as the best (and only) way to develop for the iPhone. It didn’t measure up: many users knew it, developers knew it, Apple knew it (they had already developed native apps, proving that for some cases they were needed).

    That said, there is a lot more than can be done with “web apps” than you might imagine, especially with HTML5 and local databases. Pie Guy is a great example of a web app game, and BlackSwan looks like it is going to be another great example of what developers can accomplish even when Apple gets heavyhanded about what can be offered on the App Store.

    In my opinion, Apple has been overly restrictive with the App Store, keeping worthwhile apps from the hands of users who want them. These apps don’t violate Apple’s initial list of limitations of what would be allowed in the App Store (as discussed previously):

    1. Illegal
    2. Malicious
    3. Porn
    4. Privacy
    5. Bandwidth hog
    6. Unforeseen (the handy catch-all)

    Google Voice apps do not fall under any of those categories (well, you could argue any app that didn’t exist at the time Apple made its announcement was “unforeseen”). Apple had approved several of those apps and profited from them; then, without warning or explanation, removed them. It took an inquiry from the FCC to get Apple to make any statement about it at all, even if that statement includes the laughable suggestion that Apple needed more time to “study” Google Voice. They said that four months and two days ago. Apple could have completed an entire college semester course in study of Google Voice by now. Still we wait, with no recourse, and no alternatives other than jailbreaking our iPhones — an action Apple considers hostile enough to violate the iPhone warranty.

    I suspect that others will say “if you don’t like the iPhone, don’t use it.” Except that I’m now in a contract with AT&T, a contract that I made based, at least in part, on Apple’s promises regarding the availability of apps which did not violate the above 6 points. Even if I wanted to abandon my iPhone now, would Apple pay my early termination fee? Should we start yet another class action suit against Apple? Wouldn’t it be easier on everyone involved if Apple would simply go back to its original guidelines for the App Store? How much faster would the review process be if the reviewers only had to worry about those 6 things?

    As hopeful as I am that Apple will loosen its grip on the App Store, I’m not holding my breath, which is why I’m glad to see innovative developers like Neven Mrgan and the folks at Riverturn finding alternative solutions.

    I’m planning a full review of VoiceCentral Black Swan when I’ve had more of a chance to use it. In the meantime I’ll try to help you keep track of Google Voice’s official status on the iPhone. I still hope that Apple will allow Google to release its iPhone app for Google Voice, as well as allow customers who have already bought and paid for apps to get bug fixes, etc. I applaud the folks at Riverturn for their ingenuity and creativity, and hope Black Swan is a terrific success. Perhaps it will inspire other developers to look at locally stored web apps as a development option.

    TUAWIs Google Voice available for the iPhone? originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • MobileRL wants you to download its software so it can spy on you!

    Picture 6With rising concerns for privacy these days, advertisers are having an increasingly difficult time gathering personal consumer data. MobileRL, an Israeli start-up, is looking to change or “revolutionize” the way information is collected for ad purposes. The Israeli company wants you to download software onto your phone which will allow them to turn it into an eavesdropping device. Your phone’s microphone can be turned on at any time, at MobileRL’s discretion, so it can listen to what’s going on at any given time. This new “data collection tool” is obviously going to need user consent since you have to download it yourself, so that might mitigate most legal issues (unless you live in a place where they can force something like this on you). But we know the real issue here, and if they can turn your phone’s microphone on at any time and run it for how long they want, how will that affect your phone’s battery life?

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  • Congress gets a taste of school lunches

    The United States Department of Agriculture recently offered members of Congress an opportunity to sample commodity foods that are part of the current school lunch program.

    Meals still have bad reputation

    The goal, officials said, was to show legislators how healthy and tasty meals are under the current system. The agency has been working hard to make school lunches healthier by cutting back on salt and adding more fruits and vegetables, for example, but the meals still have a bad reputation as being nothing but oily pizza, chicken nuggets and vegetables from a can.

    The USDA is now providing schools with green beans that have 64 percent less sodium than commercially available beans, and the agency’s mandate for sodium levels in canned vegetables is 71 percent less than what’s deemed healthy by the Food and Drug Administration.

    Kids who eat school lunches get 95 percent lean hamburger patties, while the leanest meat commercially available is 92 percent lean.

    In 1981, the USDA offered just 54 different fresh and processed options to schools; now there are more than 180. The program provides between 15 and 20 percent of all food served in American school cafeterias. And school officials say it is possible to make good, healthy meals with those options, such as choosing brown rice, unprocessed meat and dried fruit and nuts.

    You can lead a kid to the lunch line . . .

    The food may be better quality and healthier than it used to be, but that doesn’t seem to be helping kids much, given that a third of American kids are overweight or obese.

    One big problem has always been that kids simply don’t want to eat school lunches, and it can be difficult for schools to produce healthier, less processed meals when they lack real kitchen facilities and the workers aren’t really trained to cook (many schools just reheat meals these days).

    The USDA hopes Congress will provide more money to fund the school lunch program when it considers the reauthorization of the program early next year. Child nutrition programs, including school breakfasts, lunches and the WIC program, are now funded at $12 billion a year. USDA head Tom Vilsack says more money is needed because healthy foods are more expensive.

    (By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

    From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

    Congress gets a taste of school lunches

  • So, what’d you get?

    It’s the final Christmas morning of the decade, and considering that there are only two or three of these left before the world ends, we certainly hope an exuberant Santa Claus dropped off a fairly swank stash of gadgetry overnight. ‘Course, today just wouldn’t be today without pigging out on calorie-infested foods and spending copious quantities of time with folks you dearly love and desperately loathe, but frankly — we’re just interested in learning what kind of gizmos entered your life this morning for the first time. Tell us what you did (or didn’t) get in comments below, and be sure to tell us if you reacted similarly to the kids posted up after the break (no fibbing — Sir Kringle is already making his list for next year, don’tcha know?).

    When you’re done, check out what people got excited about in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

    Continue reading So, what’d you get?

    So, what’d you get? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Optimizing pipe quality with minimal expense

    With the new Efficient Air Cooling (EAC), the internal air cooling system from Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Bad Oeynhausen, pipe manufacturers are now easily able to improve the quality of their pipes and simultaneously increase their production output.

    The new system can be used in the production of both mono-layer and multi-layer polyolefin pipes. It is suitable for all pipe diameters between 63 and 2,000 mm with wall thicknesses of up to 150 mm. A special advantage is that EAC can not only be directly integrated into new dies, but also easily retrofitted to any existing VSI die. The benefit of EAC becomes immediately evident in production: the innovative cooling system allows a significant increase in production output or shortening of the cooling section, which is a considerable advantage especially where space is limited. At the same time, EAC ensures an improvement in product quality. The sagging effect is avoided, and the deformation of pipe ends following cutting significantly re-duced.

    Efficient Air Cooling has already left its development stage behind. The first system is in operation at Westfälische Kunststoff Technik GmbH (WKT), Sprockhövel, Germany, in combination with a PO 500 VSI (T) die. “We are enthusiastic about the in-crease of up to 50% in output in the same pipe size. We have not found any impairment in product quality either. The inner surface of the pipes is absolutely smooth, and the deformation of pipe ends following cutting has been significantly reduced”, Stefan Depmer, WKT is pleased to note.
    EAC provides effective cooling of pipes from both inside and outside, using nothing but air. In the interior of the pipe, cooling is effected by means of air exchange, with the hot air being sucked off. Simultaneously, the mandrel inside the die is cooled via a special mechanism, and finally the outside of the pipe is also supplied with cooling air. In this way, the pipe is very evenly cooled, which reduces tension inside the pipes and deposits on the inner surface. Systems using exclusively air for cooling are not only efficient but also easy to operate and require little maintenance.

    A positive side-effect can be achieved by using the hot air sucked off from the interior of the pipe for pre-heating granulate. This reduces the extruder’s energy consumption and boosts the efficiency of the line. This means that the ROI for an EAC is reached very quickly, in less than one year.

  • EH Circulator Models feature additional functions

    The EH models by JULABO are a low-priced series for routine applications in laboratories. The new circulators were upgraded with additional functions. The EH models now feature temperature calibration (ATC) and an electronic timer. A new user interface features intuitive operation a fresh design, fewer keys and easy handling. As before all EH-circulators incorporate a low liquid and high temperature protection classification III (DIN 12876-1) and qualifying them for unattended operation even with flammable liquids. They convince with a large and bright temperature display (LED) which is easy to read across the room, PID temperature control, a splash-proof keypad for trouble-free operation, and a temperature stability of ±0.03 °C. This series includes immersion circulators, open heating bath circulators as well as refrigerated circulators. Refrigerated instruments up to 920 Watt of cooling with a working temperature range from -35 °C to +150 °C.

  • NEW! Accupacks LDR4012 and LDR4024

    5Amp. USV for 24V and 12V supply
    – All complete in one Unit –

    The Accupacks LDR4012 and LDR4024 with charging regulators serve to buffer 12Volt- and 24Volt systems.

    The Accupack LDR will be connected between the line voltage and the installation, in order to provide DC to the equipment. In the event of a mains power failure, the “on board” sealed batteries supplies the system, connected to the outlet. The supply-duration depends on the load current of the consumer. The batteries could be easely replaced, if necessary.
    To provide the needed power and in order to maintain a wide input voltage range, a switch-mode power-supply is built-in. That means for AC – input voltage a range from 85 to 270Volts and for DC – input voltage a range from 150 to 400Volts. During the online operation the AC/DC converter supplies the accumulator with optimal charging-voltage as well as the output load, in a way that under normal operation-conditions the batteries are allways properly charged. These modern power supply is designed in acordance to the relevant international regulations and works with high efficiency.

    The output-voltage follows hereby the batterie voltage level. In any kind of operation, normal or emergency, the full load can be drawn from LDR4012 as well as from the LDR4024. For a limited period, the peak-current could exceed the nominal current up to 50%. The output is short-circuit-proof and effectively protected against polarity failure.

    The 2 build in Relays allowed a remote monitoring of the significant status of the LDR.

    Special Advantages of the LDR40:
    – no extra Power-supply required
    – Input voltage range: 70……270VAC
    – Accus integrated
    – Accu monitoring integrated
    – High capacity cells
    – Easy Accu-replacement
    – Remote monitoring by Relay
    – Safety acc. to VDE, EN. UL,CSA

  • Bluetooth keyboard on the HTC HD2

    With Engadget running stories on Bluetooth HID support being hacked onto the iPhone, it is useful to remind ourselves that of course Windows Mobile supported this for many years already.

    The video above shows the Logitech Dinovo Edge Keyboard paired with the HTC HD2.

    For full-touch devices like the HTC HD2 this is obviously a real advantage, and ironically the Apple bluetooth mini-keyboard works particularly well with the device, with of course no App for that needed.

    Read more about compatible keyboards and issues in this XDA-Dev thread here.

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  • Why the Predador drone encryption doesn’t matter

    predatorBruce Schneier wrote a great piece on the unencrypted Predator drone video feeds, noting that the drones were built for a post-Soviet, pre-insurgent era and that encryption, in the case of a live feed, is more of a problem than a threat.

    The problem is, the world has changed. Today’s insurgent adversaries don’t have KGB-level intelligence gathering or cryptanalytic capabilities. At the same time, computer and network data gathering has become much cheaper and easier, so they have technical capabilities the Soviets could only dream of. Defending against these sorts of adversaries doesn’t require military-grade encryption only where it counts; it requires commercial-grade encryption everywhere possible.

    While I agree with him whole-heartedly – Bruce knows his stuff – this is a huge PR mess for drone warfare. Luckily, these are drones and drones don’t have feelings and I suspect that once insurgents notice that they’re on a drone’s live feed, it’s probably too late.


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  • Flagrante exclusivo: furto de Cross Fox na Avenida Paulista – SP

    Tá bom sei que não é um Cross Fox, também confesso que é gringo e que não está sendo roubado!