Category: News

Don’t think the adorable blobs have forgotten about you! LocoRoco has got some holiday treats for you as well, and they come in threes.
 
 
 

The movie titled “Known Universe” takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History.

Every satellite, moon, planet, star and galaxy is represented to scale and its correct, measured location according to the best scientific research to-date.

Watch the video below.

See also Solar System Scrollable Scale Model, Powers of 10, The Simpsons Powers of 10, Titan Descent Dashboard and Disney Mars Colonization Movies. Via kottke.org.

I have not posted in some time because I’ve been busy speaking in Hawaii, which was very nice, and putting together a Vegan Valentine’s Day dance to be held in Berkeley on Friday, February 12th. If you are in the Bay Area, or want to travel to the Bay Area, it is going to be a lot of fun!

Click here for more details.

Proceeds go to benefit Vegan Outreach.

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Filed under: Advice, Health, Hormone Diet

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That’s Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how … Read more

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San Francisco’s Moscone West convention center has been booked from June 28 to July 2, under the vague-sounding slot called “Corporate Event.”

Apple watchers know that June has typically been the month of iPhone announcements, and since the company’s had its WorldWide Developers Conference every June at Moscone West over the last few years, you’ve got to know that this is setting some tongues wagging.

The original iPhone debuted at WWDC in June 2007, with the next two models each year at the same event on the same month: the iPhone 3G in 2008 and the 3GS in 2009. Given that the pundits are expecting a big refresh this year — not just a minor upgrade — and the June tradition looking good for 2010, it seems some excitement may be heading our way this summer. Since it seems that Apple’s sticking to its typical schedule, can we also look forward to an iPhone SDK event in March as well? Man, I hope so.

iPhone 4.0 — It’s kind of amazing that so few words could hold so much potential excitement.

Via: Engadget

Chile, South America | Ghost Towns

Until 1909, Chile had something very special. Known as white gold, Chile saltpeter, or more technically as Sodium nitrate, it was an extremely valuable commodity for two main reasons: it could kill, and it could also give life.

Like its cousin, Potassium nitrate, Sodium nitrate could be used both as a fertilizer, and as a explosive, or rocket fuel. When someone talks about a fertilizer bomb this is the stuff they are talking about. The reason it was so valuable was that you couldn’t really make the stuff, you had to find it and Chile had tons of it.

So valuable was this “white gold” that Chile went to war with its neighbors over areas containing the valuable saltpeter. In the oft forgotten War of the Pacific or “Saltpeter war,” Chile, Peru and Bolivia all fought over territory containing the minerals with Chile gaining much of the disputed territory.

At the turn of the century the Saltpeter Works of Humbert and Santa Laura were both busy trying to extract as much of this Saltpeter as possible. Hundreds of buildings were built and whole communities of workers from South America, Europe and Asian formed around these towns. In the words of UNESCO they became a “distinct urban community with its own language, organization, customs, and creative expressions, as well as displaying technical entrepreneurship.”

But something was coming that would change this all. In 1909 two German scientists, Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch figured out how to chemically fix nitrogen, that is, how to make this white gold on an industrial level. It was disastrous for the Saltpeter towns, and despite efforts to compete, by 1960 they were completely and totally abandoned.

Today the towns ghostly remains stand as rusting ruins in the inhospitable Atacama desert. In 2005 UNESCO declared them a World Heritage Site.

Other “nitrate towns” nearby in a similar condition include Chacabuco, Maria Elena, Pedro de Valdivia, Puelma and Aguas Santas. It is ill advised to visit Chacabuco, which was used as a concentration camp by Pinochet and is still surrounded by unmarked landmines.

Researchers have discovered that common bacteria suspended in a solution can be made to turn microgears. This opens up the possibility of building hybrid biological machines at the microscopic scale. The researchers say the discovery demonstrates how microscopic swimming agents, such as bacteria or man-made nanorobots, in combination with hard materials, can constitute a “smart material”, which can dynamically alter its microstructures, repair damage, or power microdevices…

Tags: Bacteria,
Mechanical,
motion,
Power,
Repair,
Research,
Tiny

Related Articles:

• OdorBox eliminates kitty litter odor and keeps bacteria at bay
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• Microbial fuel cell promises high yield hydrogen source and wastewater cleaner
• Alkeo ultra-violet cutting board
• Toothbrush Sanitizer by Philippe Starck

Filed under: Love & Relationships, Happiness

Judy Dutton, author of How We Do It: How the Science of Sex Can Make You a Better Lover, answers questions about why we’re so persuaded by physical beauty, and whether choosing beauty over brains will really make us happy.

Q: Why are we so … Read more

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Short on space but still need somewhere to sit down and eat? Here’s an innovative solution – the Picture Table is a unique dining table that flips back against the wall and becomes a stylish showcase for your favorite photograph, poster or piece of art…

Tags: Design,
furniture

Related Articles:

• Sturdy picnic table for outdoor dining purists
• Offi Paket – the dining set that doesn’t eat into the room
• Rotational dining table
• Expandable dining in perfect symmetry
• Electrolux Rendez-Vous: the kitchen table becomes the table kitchen
• Table with a stream flowing through it

Filed under: Healthy Eating

He’s known for his his jiggly belly and enjoying a drink at your house in the midst of delivering presents to children worldwide — so real or not, is Santa a bad influence on us? That’s what some experts are claiming, given his partiality to eating … Read more

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The NY Times is reporting that the Chinese government appears to be raising the walls on the Great Firewall of China even higher, shutting down a bunch of sites, limiting the ability to let individuals put up their own websites, and completely restricting the ability to offer third party mobile content. Here’s where it gets sneaky. The Chinese government claims that it’s an effort to stop “piracy.” And, indeed, some of the sites that were shut down appear to be sites related to file sharing. But this is great for the Chinese government — because US lobbyists and diplomats have been complaining about Chinese “piracy” for ages, even as US diplomats have complained about free speech restrictions online in China. So, by hiding a more massive crackdown behind the claim that the government is really “cracking down on piracy,” China knows that the US can’t complain too much. After all, it’s been demanding a crackdown on piracy for so long. So what if that “crackdown” also massively limits the ability of individuals to communicate freely online?

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In online business, in addition to optimizing learning SEO, you would need a tool to determine the number of visitors coming to your site. It is useful to determine what steps will you do to revenue dollar / rupiah you up.

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So Big Red had some ‘splaining to do, and recently had to cough up a few answers for a FCC inquiry. The commission wanted to know more about the early termination fee levied on smartphone users, who were singled out for higher fees (up to $350) for breaking two-year contracts. And even if they were just one month short of the 24-month term, they would still have to pay $120.

It doesn’t take a mind reader to know what the carrier was thinking: Smartphones aren’t cheap, and providing low up-front retail prices costs a lot initially. These costs don’t get recouped when users break their contracts early. According to Verizon, that $350 ETF doesn’t even quite cover it, but at least it’s a deterrent — especially to people who try to beat the system using BOGO (or buy-one-get-one) deals. These users may get an extra handset through those kinds of specials, which often require signing up for two lines. So crafty individuals then sell the extra handset, quit one of the contracts, pay the ETF and pocket the difference. Verizon believes this profit is money taken right out of the carrier’s bottom line.

Here’s what I found a little confusing, though: On one hand, the company says that the $350 ETF doesn’t quite fully make up for its out-of-pocket costs, but then later admits that the fee isn’t just for recovering its investment. The ETF is also used to defray the cost of operating a smartphone network, advertising, tech support and managing a broadband network. (It might just be me, but these explanations seem kind of contradictory, no?)

Another point of inquiry had to do with those annoying little $1.99 fees. Upon closer inspection, it looked like those couple of bucks were tacked on whenever users hit up the mobile web — whether intentionally or not. Verizon denies this. The company insists that users who accidentally launch the mobile web don’t get charged. Only users who open the launch page, and then navigate away from it — indicating that genuine web browsing is happening — are assessed the fee.

Sounds good, but here’s the wrinkle: Verizon subscribers (and even employees) say there are still penalties being levied for accidental access. According to a Verizon staffer cited by DSL Reports, those two little dollars have been used to generate millions in extra revenue for the carrier every month.

The FCC is reviewing Verizon’s responses, so we’ll find out whether they satisfy the agency. But what about you? Are they up to snuff for you?

Via: PhoneArena, BoyGenius Report, DSL Reports

Sega’s also getting in on the spirit of giving this holiday season as prep to kick off the SEGA MEGA SALE on the PlayStation Network. Product discounts up to 40% off are sure to drive you loco.