Category: News

Well this is a bit of a surprise. For all the talk we keep hearing about how piracy is destroying the video game industry, and news stories with video game execs talking up DRM and the threat of piracy, a recent study of video game developers had only 10% saying that piracy was a threat to their business. Plenty were concerned about it as an issue they had to deal with, but most seemed to have some perspective on the relative risk of the threat. In fact, other parts of the survey note that about 50% are adapting to the marketplace, saying that “piracy” will change the way they do business, with it mostly meaning more “piracy-proof” business models. On the DRM front, there isn’t a whole lot of interest. 50% called it irrelevant with another 20% describing DRM as a part of the problem. I have to admit I’m a bit surprised by the findings (which makes me wonder a bit about the methodology), but it’s nice to see at least some suggestion that developers are adapting, rather than threatening and blaming.

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We’ve been told that T-Mobile retail locations have started receiving their shipments of BlackBerry 9700s in preparation of Monday’s national release. Though we doubt stores will sell them early, it’s always worth a try, no? We have also heard each store should be receiving a minimum of 25 units.

When it comes to Meditation we must have an open mind and make a commitment if we want change in our lives.

When people think of meditation they often think of religion or they think of it as a waste of time. But meditation is the ultimate skill of patience, which gives peace and calm to our minds, bodies, and then to our lives.

Stress causes a racing mind of worry and fear, which is usually on autopilot. When on autopilot we display unwanted emotions like anger, irritability, and moodiness. When our mind is noisy we are unable to fall asleep, stay asleep, and get essential hours of sleep.

Other thoughts that may cause disorder in our mind and lives are of what we don’t have, peoples’ offenses, the need to control other people, or lack of faith in ourselves. These stressful thoughts manifest into physical symptoms and cause muscle tension and stiffness.

A popular meditation technique to help remedy all of the above mentioned is Deep Relaxation Meditation, which is most effective if done everyday.

When we learn the technique of deep relaxation and do it often enough we will create a habit of being aware of our tension and stiffness throughout the day. In other words, we become more aware and in tuned with our mind and body. This habit allows us to bring ourselves to a relaxed and calm state anywhere at anytime.

The Deep Relaxation Meditation should be done everyday to produce the habit mentioned above. The best time to do this is right before you go to sleep so that you may create an intentional deep sleep and if you have difficulty sleeping this will also help improve your rest in the evening.

On the whole, we can benefit from Deep Relaxation Meditation if done two to three times a day. This technique can be done in 5 to 10 minutes.

The best way to learn this practice is with an instructive audio. After listening once or twice it should be very easy to facilitate on your own.

A good audio will teach you to begin in a comfortable position with deep breathing exercises. Then the audio will bring you through a process of relaxing every part of your body. Not only does this relax your body it also relaxes your mind because you take yourself out of your thoughts and into the focus of the senses in the body.

This practice has the benefit of releasing physical strain, quieting the mind, giving the participant peace, and it allows you a spiritual space.

When your mind is quiet and your body is relaxed you will better be able to hear that still small voice.

Learn to do a Daily Deep Relaxation Meditation and you will be an expert at destressing yourself and creating happiness in your life.

When you destress yourself you change your thoughts, feelings, actions, and attitude. You change your thoughts, feelings, and actions of stressful habits to successful practices.

If you are unhappy something must be done. If you are not living life with happiness, joy, energy, and vitality then you must do something about it.

You can learn to be happy by destressing yourself and I can show you how, for free. Subscribe to this blog for the updated posts, visit my website, sign up for our free weekly newsletters, visit our store and download the free stress management audios.

If you would like to live the life you dream of, let me help you. Learn to destress yourself, for free, by me, and learn what permanent stress relief really is.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Hope this is helpful.

Until next post… Don’t forget to have fun and be playful, it is in your nature.

Elizabeth

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Well, well. It looks like the Moon bombing went well as NASA just released a whole lot of data supporting the initial findings that there’s water on the Moon. Read NASA’s take and view a whole lot of line graphs I don’t understand at NASA.gov. Next up, moonQuest DSV.

Players of Xbox Live gaming service will be barred of service due to some modification in the game consoles. It is estimated that estimated players of 600,000 to 1 million will be suffered. This step is taken by Microsoft because of illegally downloading from file-sharing sites is taking place.

In a statement recently Microsoft said, “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live.”

Sad to say that the timing of the statement is coinciding with the release of Modern Warfare 2.

According to Microsoft there are over twenty million players globally using Xbox Live gaming service. This service of the company allows the gamers to play online with each other and also to buy and download games.

The company further said in the statement, “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live.”

The “Terms of Use” agreement of Xbox Live and Windows games’ as of September 2008 states: “only authorized software and hardware to access the Service,” and that they agree that their software and hardware “have not been modified in any unauthorized way … and that we have the right to send data, applications or other content to any software or hardware that you are using to access the Service for the express purpose of detecting an unauthorized modification.”

By Bob Powers
Bostonglobe.com

New Product, Powered by Adobe AIR, Provides Offline/Online Convenience

The Boston Globe announced today the formal launch of GlobeReader, a digital version of The Boston Globe newspaper that can be read offline or online. GlobeReader replaces the preview edition that had been available since this summer to all Boston Globe subscribers at no charge.

Through GlobeReader the content of the Globe is downloaded daily to a user’s desktop, laptop or netbook, in a format designed to resemble the look and feel of the print version of The Boston Globe. Enhancements to the preview edition include the addition of comics, sports scores, weather and the daily crossword puzzle. Various product and design improvements have also been incorporated.

“Reader response to the preview edition of the GlobeReader has been very encouraging. Now we’re pleased to offer GlobeReader to the public at large,” said Chris Mayer, senior vice president, circulation and operations, The Boston Globe. “It is important for our business to offer Globe news and information on a variety of platforms that appeal to a variety of market segments.”

GlobeReader is available at a fee of $4.98 per week. A bundle including home delivery in the Boston metro area of the Sunday Globe plus 7-day access to the GlobeReader is offered at the same price. For the Globe’s seven-day newspaper subscribers, it is included at no additional cost.

Designed for people who enjoy reading the news, GlobeReader combines the familiarity of The Boston Globe newspaper format with the convenience of a digital product. . . READ FULL STORY

The Center for Community Service at Ashland University will sponsor a poverty simulation with the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Nov. 18.…

“The poverty simulation is an interactive and role-playing activity designed to show participants the realities and ambiguities of living in poverty and to dispel the myths and stereotypes often associated with it,” said Erica Phillips, coordinator of the Ohio Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA Program for AU’s Center for Community Service.

»Read the full article in Mansfield News Journal.

Click here to see the video.

"Well, we have come to call each other Barack and Yukio," said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan in a joint press conference after the first meetings of President Obama’s trip to Asia. 

The Prime Minister went on to discuss the almost infinite range of issues on which our two countries are aligned and working together.   President Obama also gave full recognition to the importance of the relationship:

We have to understand that the future of the United States and Asia is inextricably linked.  The issues that matter most to our people — issues of economic growth and job creation, non-proliferation, clean energy — these are all issues that have to be part of a joint agenda.  And we had very productive discussions about these issues this evening.

It’s true that because of the strength of our economic ties, that was not the first item on our agenda, but we are fortunately going to have the opportunity to spend a lot of time discussing that in Singapore in the coming days.  As the world’s two leading economies, we have spent a lot of time working together in the G20 to help bring the world back from the brink of financial crisis, and we’re going to continue to work to strengthen our efforts so that we can expand job growth in the future.  And we will be discussing with our APEC partners how to rebalance our deep economic cooperation with this region to strengthen our recovery.

The Prime Minister and I discussed our cooperation on Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And I did thank the people of Japan and the Prime Minister for the powerful commitment of a $5 billion over the next five years to support our shared civilian efforts in Afghanistan, as well as the commitment of a billion dollars to Pakistan.

This underscores Japan’s prominent role within a broad international coalition that is advancing the cause of stability and opportunity in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And I shared with the Prime Minister our efforts in refining our approach to make it more successful in the coming year.

We discussed our shared commitment to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and ultimately seeking a world without them.  Since I laid out a comprehensive agenda in Prague to pursue these goals Japan has been an outstanding partner in those efforts.  And together we passed a historic resolution in the Security Council last September.  We are building a new international consensus to secure loose nuclear materials and strengthen the nonproliferation regime.

And to that end, we discussed both North Korea and the situation in Iran, recognizing that it’s absolutely vital that both countries meet their international obligations.  If they do, then they can open the door to a better future.  If not, we will remain united in implementing U.N. resolutions that are in place and continuing to work in an international context to move towards an agenda of nonproliferation.

Finally, we discussed our partnership on energy issues and climate change.  The United States and Japan share a commitment to developing the clean energy of the future and we’re focused on combating the threat of climate change.  This is an important priority for us; I know it’s an important priority for the people of Japan.  And we discussed how we can work together to pave the way for a successful outcome in Copenhagen next month.

So I believe that we are off to a very successful start.  I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation during dinner, as well as as we both travel to Singapore.  And I am confident that we will continue to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance so that it serves future generations.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, right, motions for President Barack Obama to be seated at the start of the bilateral meeting with their delegations at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 13, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Measuring and monitoring brain waves to analyze why people have problems with sleeping isn’t an easy task. Normally, patients need to be examined in special laboratories and wear head sets with up to eight electrodes over a certain period of time. But now Osaka-based Siix Corporation and the Osaka Bioscience Institute Foundation have developed a simple device that makes it possible to measure and monitor sleep-related brain waves in the comfort of your own home.

As you can see on the picture, the device isn’t much bigger than a box of cigarettes and fits on the head, meaning patients are able to use the device in their own beds when they sleep. Siix says it only records brain waves, but if you add electrodes the device can be used for monitoring your breathing patterns and eyeball movements as well.

The company works on making the device even smaller and aims at commercializing it as early as spring 2010, targeting medical facilities and designers of sleep-related furniture.

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

Dell said today it plans to introduce smartphones based on Google’s Android platform in Brazil and China.

The company said it plans to sell its new Mini 3 smartphones through China Mobile, the largest telecommunications firm in the world with more than 500 million customers, and Claro, which has more than 42 million customers in Brazil as part of the America Movil network.

"Our entry into the smart phone category is a logical extension of Dell’s consumer product evolution over the past two years," said Ron Garriques, President, Dell Global Consumer Group.

"We are developing smaller and smarter mobile products that enable our customers to take their internet experience out of the home and do the things they want to do whenever and wherever they want."

Details of the phone models will be released when the devices are available in store, which will be late November for China Mobile and around the end of the year for Claro.

The move by Dell will help Google’s Android platform become more widely available. Other companies that are backing the Android platform include Motorola, HTC, Verizon, Garmin, LG and Samsung.

Related Articles:

>Google Launches Analytics For Mobile Apps

>iPhone Most Popular Touchscreen Device

>Google Delivers GPS For Android 2.0 Devices

We’ve all seen the Verizon ads that make fun of AT&T’s network and the iPhone, and while it makes for a good chuckle, the folks at AT&T aren’t laughing. As a matter of fact, as you know, a lawsuit has been brought against Verizon to cease the airing of the ads. While the two rage on and settle the legal matter, AT&T has decided to take things into its own hands by publicly responding to the Verizon ad on its own site. Hit the jump for some of the key facts in that memo.

• AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people – or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work. Our data coverage consists of 3 different types of technology:
• 3G. 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T’s 3G network, the nation’s fastest.
• EDGE. 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE. With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE
• GPRS. Covers 303 million people, allowing you to talk, text, e-mail and access basic websites optimized for wireless.

AT&T is also dipping its finger into Verizon’s drink by stating that the latter can’t do data and voice at the same time, and its smartphone collection is nowhere near as popular as AT&T’s smartphone lineup (read: iPhone). AT&T kind of has a point, though. What do you guys think?

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Read

It’s a change of pace this week on the BBGeekcast. While we’re usually all over the latest devices, this time it’s about the software. RIM just held the second annual BlackBerry Developers Conference, and we got some interesting news that could enhance the BlackBerry platform. That’s going to be the next step for RIM, and that’s our main topic on the BBGeekcast.

So click on over here to hear the BBGeekcast (12 min, 2 sec)

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss future episodes!

You can also subscribe to the BBGeekcast in iTunes.

Highlights include:
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OMWOW! Pocket-Lint has some red hot pix of the iPod Touch used in Apple Stores to enable on-the-spot check out. It’s a standard Touch with a barcode scanner and credit card reader but it replaces the old EasyPay systems from Microsoft they were using until now.

The Lint Boys only got three hot photos of the device because the guys at the Apple store were scared of getting placed into the special Education Room in the basement of every Apple store.

Michael Carrier, a law professor specializing in intellectual property law, was kind enough to let us know about a paper he recently wrote
analyzing the Swedish court’s ruling in The Pirate Bay Case, and seeing how the reasoning set forth might apply to two other services: Grokster and Google. Grokster, of course, was a key player in a similar US lawsuit, that eventually resulted in the service shutting down. While many believe that the Supreme Court said Grokster was illegal, in reality, the ruling on the case only found that Grokster could be liable as a third party. Grokster itself settled before the lower court could rule on the issue, though co-defendant Streamcast was eventually found liable.

Carrier’s analysis suggests that the Swedish ruling over The Pirate Bay did not go into nearly enough detail on why it made its ruling. Many of the explanations are quite vague, and could be broadly applied to other services. The most interesting part of the paper looks at how Google would fare under the same conditions — and it finds that while Google has some distinct differences from The Pirate Bay, one could read the ruling in such a way that it absolutely would apply to Google as well — which has troubling implications. At the very least, it suggests that the Swedish court did not fully understand the technology or the implications of such a ruling, and was more influenced by the fact that it seemed like The Pirate Bay must be bad, and therefore decided to support that in the ruling. But without carefully highlighting why The Pirate Bay is different than Google, the ruling is too vague and potentially dangerous.

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