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  • Nano-magnets in metamaterials pave the way to invisibility cloaks

    A Dutch team of scientists has made a huge step toward manufacturing a Harry Potter-style ...

    A Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak is one more step closer to reality thanks to the work of a research team at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in the Netherlands, which has successfully harnessed the magnetic field of light to develop meta-materials that can deflect light in every possible direction…

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  • Sausage and Egg – With out the McMuffin

    Being a guy on the run all the time, i do find although i hope to stop but i do find my self on the road and forgetting breakfast.

    What is a good or better fastfood breakfast option?

    I was thinking a Sausage and Egg McMuffin but tossing out the McMuffin ( 1 Egg, sausage and Cheese )

  • Music Publishers Force Another Lyric Site Offline

    Back in August we wrote about the ridiculous situation with the National Music Publishers Association suing a bunch of lyrics sites for not paying up to help promote songs. This action helped push at least one of the sites, LyricWiki — which was user generated lyrics — to shut down (though, Wikia picked up the project and paid up to the NMPA). Now it appears that the NMPA has forced another one of these sites to shut down and hand over all of the money it made. Once again, be careful singing along to or quoting any lyrics. The songwriters and publishers want to get paid every time you do.

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  • Oovoo extends its videoconference service to smartphones

    oovooDetails have been hard to come by, but videoconference service Oovoo will definitely announce a new mobile product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether or not there’ll be a demo.

    The photo above shows a six-person Oovoo conference taking place across six monitors last fall, powered by one AMD ATI graphics chip.

    Up until now, Oovoo has been available both as a Mac or PC download, or as a browser-based service. The next step is obviously onto mobile screens.

    “With more consumers and businesses using smartphones and smartbooks and with the increased bandwidth capabilities of 4G networks, we can now bring our high-quality video calling to these mobile devices,” CEO Philippe Schwartz said in a prepared statement.

    What makes Oovoo special is its combo of deep features —  high-resolution video, video conversation recording, telephony, desktop sharing, video messaging, instant message chat, and file sharing — coupled with the fact it can handle a six-way conference without flaming out. That’s why AMD used it for the ATI demo.

    Pricing will supposedly stay the same: Free for two people, with the option of a monthly fee or a pay-per-use fee to accomodate three to six participants and let you dial direct to their phones. Whether or not you’ll be able to talk to five other people from your phone, and what kind of phones will work with Oovoo, we’ll find out on Wednesday.

    Oovoo is a New York-based company founded in 2007, and privately funded.


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  • Panasonic announce World’s first integrated twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder

    Panasonic's twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder

    Shooting in 3D has traditionally required a complex, bulky and fragile rig using two cameras and additional hardware to calibrate and adjust them. Panasonic’s straight-forwardly-named Twin-lens Full HD 3D camcorder looks to radically change the 3D game, with integrated lenses and dual memory card slots allowing you to capture 3D footage immediately, with just one device…

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  • Kodak Waterproof Playsport Hands On: It Might Be the New Pocket Cam to Buy [Camcorders]

    From my admittedly quick hands-on, I’ve pretty much decided that the Kodak Playsport is the most practical pocket camcorder to date.

    Why?

    It’s rugged and waterproof up to a modest (though useful) 10 feet. That’s nice. But what you can’t tell from a spec sheet is that it’s wonderfully shaped and very solid in your hand—probably more solid than any other pocket cam I’ve held. The rubber grip is perfectly positioned to add…grip, and the HDMI/USB ports are plugged with a latch-protected stopper.

    Basically, I trust that it’s actually waterproof, especially as the demo unit was still working after being submerged for 8 hours.

    And as for the internals, the sensor is identical to that in the larger but respected Zi8. So the Playsport’s 1080P video should compete with other camcorders in the sector.

    Bottom line, if you’re taking a $150 camera on vacation, it makes sense for it to be more rugged and expendable than your cellphone. Good for Kodak for knocking out what looks to be a very decent cam. My only complaint would be that I certainly wouldn’t mind a larger screen—oh, and what’s with the purple back?

    Available this April for $150, more details here.







  • Hands On With Nvidia’s 7-inch Tegra Android Tablet [Tegra]

    This won’t be officially “announced” until tomorrow, so there’s no name or anything to it, but we just played around with Nvidia’s 7-inch Tegra tablet design that runs Android.

    Nvidia says they’ll talk about the details tomorrow, but they have several OEM partners working with the Tegra, and one ready to bring it to market.

    What we saw was 1080p video being played smoothly on a 1024×600 screen—lower resolution, of course, but Tegra can supposedly support TV out to a standard 1080p set. There’s also web browsing, which we didn’t see because of the lousy Wi-Fi, and the eBook reader application, which is very usable with its swipe-to-turn gestures and quick page flips.

    Because it’s not a phone, it’s not clear whether or not this will get the official Google Android certification, so you might not be able to run those Android apps from the Marketplace on it. But there should be more details about this tomorrow during the Nvidia press conference. Basically, this is a promising tablet design that should be able to merge quality graphics performance with Android apps, provided it can run those apps.







  • HP Refreshes Netbooks, Notebooks for CES

    HP is getting into CES fever and have announced a refresh of just about its entire notebook and netbook lines. The netbooks get some fresh paint and other goodies, including a fair smattering of touch. The convertible Tablet PC, the tm2, is the latest iteration of HP’s dual digitizer packing tablets. The tm2 picks up where the tx2 left off and adds full HP TouchSmart software to the touch and ink. The tm2 starts at $949 an will be available January 7.

    The netbook line has the Mini 210 and Mini 2102 picking up the latest Atom processor options along with HD display options. Both models feature a 10.1-inch screen and that nice 93 percent keyboard. The 210 starts at $299 and the 2102 starts at $329. They are also available on Jan. 7.

    The 5101 gets refreshed and morphs into the Mini 5102. This is the brushed metal netbook aimed at the enterprise, although consumers like it just fine. My video review of the earlier 5101 demonstrates what can be expected from the newer 5102 model. The keyboard is a 95 percent of a full-sized one, and HP made is spill-proof to add a rugged nature to the model. The Mini 5102 is the first HP netbook to incorporate face recognition software, that logs the user in once it recognizes the person is authorized. The Mini 5102 has two options that are first for HP netbooks. There is an interesting touch screen option for the 5102, making it HP’s first touch-enable Mini. There is another option to make the netbook easier to carry, an attachable handle.  HP is pre-loading the Corel Home Office Suite to the Mini 5102 which starts at $399. It will be available later in January. HP is quoting a 10-hour battery life using the optional 6-cell battery, which is only $25.

    The ProBook business line of notebooks is also getting new models, notably the 6440 and 6540. These sport the Core i7 processors for performance boosts, and construction with magnesium for durability. These new models start at $949 and are currently available.

    The EliteBook business line also sees new models, the 8440 and 8540. Both new models feature refreshed components like the rest of the HP notebooks, with the notable addition of USB 3.0 to the 8540.  The 8440 and 8540 will be available in January for $1,099 and $1,249, respectively.

    HP TouchSmart tm2
    Compaq Mini 102
    HP Mini 210
    HP Mini 2102
    HP Mini 5102
    HP Mini 5102 with handle option
    HP EliteBook 8540w

  • Sony’s 13 New Handycam Camcorders Are All Basically the Same [Video Cameras]

    Save for slight variations in storage mediums and capacities, resolution, and lenses, Sony’s 13 new Handycam Camcorders aren’t radically different from each other.

    The ones that matter the most are Sony’s XR550 and CX550, which (yes), has everything mentioned below, but either adds to or improves on its underlings’ offerings with a either 240 gigs of HDD action or 64 gigs of flash storage, 3.5-inch screen, 12 megapixel stills and full manual controls. It also has a color viewfinder and mic/headphone inputs for those budding auteurs out there. Expect the XR550 to cost $1400 and the CX550 to cost $1300 when they come out in late February.

    There’s the 150 series, where you can get the 120 gig HDD of the XR150, or the 16 gigs of flash storage on the CX150, but they both shoot in 1080p, with a 25x zoom lens, have a steadyshot mode, take 3.1 megapixel stills and come with a 2.7 inch LCD. Oh yeah, there’s also the CX110 that lets you customize the capacity with a memory card (presumably a MemoryStick). The XR150, CX150 and CX110 will hit stores in late January for about $700, $550, and $500, respectively.

    Then there’s the 350 series, which has everything mentioned above, plus it lets you choose between 160 gigabytes of HDD storage (XR350), or a 32 gigabyte flash capacity (CX350). From there, these cams come equipped with a 30mm wide angle lens with 12x zoom, steadyshot, 7.1 megapixel stills and GPS for geotagging. And for the middle aged male in us all, there’s a golf mode, that lets you record your swing to either analyze it frame-by-frame, or create a composite image for that cool, strobe-y effect. Oh, and there’s also the CX300, which only has 16 gigs of flash storage (oy oy oy). The XR 350, CX350 and CX300 will cost $1000, $900, and $800, respectively, when the come out in late February.

    But Sony didn’t forget about those of you still desperately grasping onto the 90s—there’s an SD line as well! Sony has 5 of these that have varying capacities maxing out at 120 gigabyes of HDD storage and 16 gigabytes of flash storage, and lenses with 60x zoom, face detection, 2.7-inch touchscreen, and all that other crap old people like. The DCR-SX and SR lines will be available in late January, ranging in price between $270 and $400, and a couple of them will come in colors such as—aw, hell, who cares.







  • Reminder: NRJ Awards

    We’ve still got time to vote for Beyoncé at the NRJ Awards for Best International Album! Click here to cast your vote. GO GO GO!

  • Get an RSS Feed or iCal of Your Favorite Bands’ New Releases With Roadie

    Every now and then, we come across cool apps that allow geeks to conveniently manage their musical tastes in a way that encourages more real-world fun.

    Last year, we met up with Livekick’s founders in New York to talk about their very thorough site for helping web geeks get out to more shows and concerts. Today, we’ve discovered Roadie, a much simpler app that focuses on album releases. Roadie creates an RSS feed or iCal based on a user’s Last.fm favorite acts or a custom list of manually entered bands. Essentially, it allows users to keep up with album releases quickly and painlessly.

    Sponsor

    The Last.fm import is a super simple way to get users quickly into using the site’s features, but we also wish they’d allow for an iTunes artist scan:

    The RSS feed, which we quickly popped into Google Reader, shows recent and upcoming releases:

    And the iCal was just as easily added to Google Calendar, for those who prefer those kinds of notifications:

    Users can upload other folks’ Last.fm faves, as well, if gift-giving ideas are in needed. Other features that would make this app even more useful would be a Twitter OAuth to receive DMs the day before and/or the day of an album’s release. And of course, we’d love to see a location-based feature that added tour dates to the mix.

    Roadie comes from Portuguese web and mobile dev shop Think Orange, which was founded by a couple Ruby on Rails geeks. Roadie is an experimental side project for them, and they’re looking forward to creating many more projects in 2010. We’re looking forward to seeing what they cook up, as well!

    Give Roadie a spin, and let us know what you think in the comments. Is this app useful for you?

    Discuss


  • People S Choice Awards Nominees 2010 Live Streaming

    However, the official website of People’s Choice Awards is offering live streaming on the Peoples Choice Awards 2010 red carpet which starts 7:30/6:30c.
    And tonight will be much more than just a casual attendee- she’s scheduled to perform a collaboration with emo rockers Cobra Starship.

    Hosted by Queen Latifah, the 2010 People’s Choice Awards will award trophies to the top names chosen by the public.
    Favorite MOVIE ACTOR

    * Brad Pitt
    * Hugh Jackman
    * Johnny Depp
    * Robert Pattinson
    * Ryan Reynolds

    Favorite MOVIE ACTRESS

    * Anne Hathaway
    * Drew Barrymore
    * Jennifer Aniston
    * Kristen Stewart
    * Sandra Bullock

    Favorite ACTION STAR

    * Christian Bale
    * Gerard Butler
    * Hugh Jackman
    * Shia LaBeouf
    * Vin Diesel

    Favorite COMEDIC STAR

    * Adam Sandler
    * Ben Stiller
    * Jim Carrey
    * Ryan Reynolds
    * Vince Vaughn

    Favorite BREAKOUT MOVIE ACTRESS

    * Anna Kendrick
    * Emily Osment
    * Ginnifer Goodwin
    * Miley Cyrus
    * Zoe Saldana

    Favorite BREAKOUT MOVIE ACTOR

    * Chris Pine
    * Joseph Gordon-Levitt
    * Sam Worthington
    * Taylor Lautner
    * Zachary Quinto

    Favorite ON-SCREEN TEAM

    * Harry Potter and
    the Half-Blood Prince
    * The Proposal
    * Transformers:
    Revenge of the Fallen
    * The Twilight Saga
    * X-Men Origins: Wolverine

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  • Health Bits: Pomegranates, Food Labels

    Pomegranates & Breast Cancer

    One day, doctors could prescribe pomegranates to reduce the risk of hormone-dependent breast cancer. Pomegranates, which contain anti-aromatase phytochemicals, were the subject of a recent study with results published in Cancer Prevention Research.

    pomegranate-cancer

    Researchers say that certain properties of pomegranates can suppress estrogen production, preventing the proliferation of breast cancer cells and growth of estrogen-responsive tumors. However, more research is needed to see if the in vitro lab results on cultured breast cancer cells could translate to humans. Meanwhile, a pomegranate a day probably couldn’t hurt.

    Accuracy in Food Labels

    Researchers from Tufts University discovered that some commercially prepared foods contain more calories than revealed on nutritional labeling. The findings were published on the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

    The guilty parties included quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods, as well as frozen meals. Twenty-nine of the quick-serve and restaurant foods studied contained an average of 18% more calories than stated. Ten of the frozen meals measured contained an average of 8% more calories than shown on the label. Researchers say that some of the restaurants offered free side items which contained more calories than the main entrees. The foods studied were obtained in the Boston, MA area, but the restaurant chains have a wide distribution in the US.

    Quitting Smoking & Diabetes Risk

    A new study has found that those who quit smoking are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the years immediately after quitting. Researchers believe the risk is increased due to weight gain. However, the increase doesn’t appear to be long-term, and experts say that the benefits of stopping smoking greatly outweigh the diabetes risk.

    Those who quit smoking lower their risks of lung cancer and heart attack. The study, which followed almost 11,000 people for nine years, was published yesterday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

    (Image via stock.xchng)

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    Health Bits: Pomegranates, Food Labels

  • I Get That A Lot Full Show live Streaming 2010

    Watch our video for a sneak peek from the episode. “I Get That a Lot” airs Wednesday night on CBS.Then check out the photos of other stars from the CBS show.
    The celebrities who appear this time out are Rachael Ray, Gene Simmons, Julie Chen, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, and Tony Hawk. The scenarios the celebritPhoto Credit: Monty Brinton/CBSies are put in are all rather plain, and each of the various situations only work as well as the celebrity involved.

    It is Julie Chen who is the standout amongst the group. Although she is not recognized by everyone she helps get yogurt for, she has an incredible amount of fun with the scenario, constantly annoying, frustrating, and perplexing customers. She is, perhaps, the most traditional Candid Camera-like person here, just generally bothering people whether or not they have any idea she is famous. Then, when people do recognize her – or at least that she looks kind of like Julie Chen – she turns it up a notch and is truly outstanding. Chen is even good-natured enough to make fun of herself by doing a Chen-bot impersonation.

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  • Don Boudreaux on the Chinese Currency Issue

    Don Boudreaux is the anti-Krugman on Chinese currency issues.  In this piece, he first explains that "a lower-priced yuan causes Americans to buy fewer U.S. products and more Chinese products."  Then, assuming arguendo — more on arguendo assumptions soon in relation to the China – Publications AB report – that "the Chinese government does in fact keep the price of the yuan artificially low," he asks: "Does this policy help the Chinese and harm Americans?"

    He answers:

    A low-priced yuan certainly shifts business to some Chinese producers and away from American producers who compete with them, …

    But, he says:

    contrary to protectionists’ claims, Beijing’s efforts to lower the price of the yuan harms the Chinese economy and benefits the economies (including that of the United States) whose people trade with the Chinese.

    I'm not sure I completely followed his rationale for this conclusion (feel free to take a look and try to convince me).   More generally, though, I think Boudreaux would analogize currency undervaluation to subsidizing exports, both of which he would say are bad for the exporting country, but good for the country doing the importing.  In essence, he is saying that the benefits to consumers in the importing country outweigh the harms to specific producers in the importing country.

    One thing I wonder is this.  I know he thinks the benefits to the U.S. mean that we should be happy with this kind of policy by foreign governments.  But in terms of global welfare, does he think the world as a whole is better or worse off with this kind of policy?

  • After A Chin Augmentation Surgery, Your Plastic Surgeon Will Give You Care Instructions

    The chin will usually be taped after the procedure in order to minimize any discomfort and swelling. Sutures that were placed in the skin will be removed after five to seven days. If the plastic surgeon chose for you to have an intra-oral incision, the sutures will dissolve in time. While you recover from cosmetic chin surgery you will experience some mild discomfort and swelling in the affected area for several days after the surgery. It’s typically that you will experience some temporary difficulty with talking and smiling. Blue and black marks can be visible around the neck and chin in some cases. Your cosmetic surgeon will provide you with instructions about your dental hygiene, eating, and any other restrictions to your activities after the procedure.

  • Firmware Update Will Allow All PS3s to Play 3D Games and Blu-rays

    3D

    During the big 3D-hyping portion of their CES press conference, Sony announced that all PlayStation 3s in homes around the world will become fully capable of playing 3D games and Blu-ray movies through a firmware update later this year.

    There was no word beyond that on when such a firmware update would be issued, and really, this is about as much information as was provided during the conference as far as videogaming in stereoscopic 3D is concerned (or gaming at all in general — Kaz Hirai made an appearance earlier in the conference, but only to announce the broadening scope of PSN to other Sony devices).

    But Sony did have a lot to say on what you’ll be playing your 3D videogames on, as they revealed their new line of full HD 3D-integrated Bravia televisions for release later this year. Additionally, they announced a partnership with IMAX and Discovery Channel to create a new 3D-only television network, and a partnership with ESPN to create a 3D-only sports network.

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  • And the Results are in!!!

    Ok not good – Everything up Chol / A1C etc – Good news thou my HDL has gone up to. Doc wasn’t too concerned as he knows I’ve been on Holidays since 22nd Dec 09. My A1C went up to 5.9% from 5.6%:( and my LDL went up from 3.7 to 4.5
    Admitted to Doc – that during holidays and what with the extreme hot days here in Perth – running and pumping weights has taken a back seat – but I am back at work on Monday so will resume a more "normal" routine than "chasing sharks at the beach" Total weight loss since dx is 10kgs – so although levels are up – we will test again in April and this time I am sure to kick butt!

    One comment doc did make – which I don’t even take seriously was – no need to be concerned – your doing great – you have good control. I am only concerned if youe levels were 7 and greater…..HELLO? Told him I am striving for a A1C of 5%
    His reply to that was: Even I don’t have an A1C of 5% – said it was impossible?????

    I just nodded and took off !
    :confused: :confused:

  • Tony Hawk, Tony Hawk Para Pc

    “Tony Hawk: RIDE is THE new way to play. It gives a whole new meaning to game night by allowing the entire family to challenge one another to competitions that are as fun to watch as they are to play,” said Rob Kostich, head of marketing, licensed products, Activision Publishing, Inc.

    “This is the game I’ve always wanted to make,” said legendary pro skater Tony Hawk. “The skateboard peripheral opens up a whole new level of interactivity and physicality, allowing players to control the action with their whole body. I can’t wait for everyone to jump on the board and ride.”
    The boy’s grandfather apparently blamed the videogame: “”Anthony was playing … on PlayStation when his friend came and stabbed him. My grandson died over a video game.”

    Quite how the game is to blame is anybody’s guess, but both the grandfather and the original news story say he was killed “over” it, despite there being no details as to how or why. Did Morales want to steal it? Did he ragequit violently? Nobody seems to know. But then, considering the fact that nobody knows if Morales was the boy’s cousin or just a family friend, I can’t be too surprised.

    In fact, there is so much wrong about this story I don’t know where to stand. First of all, what’s a 9-year-old boy doing with a 25-year-old “friend”? Second of all, why would you leave him in the care of someone who doesn’t “act right” on the streets, regardless of whether or not he “minded his manners”? Third of all, why in the blue Hell would you live in Harlem?

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  • HTC HD2 Officially Confirmed by T-Mobile USA

    Found under: HTC, HD2, T-Mobile, USA, ,

    T-Mobile will be the carrier that will officially bring the HTC HD2 to the USA. We have known this for quite a while now and it took T-Mobile a lot of time to come clean and confirm the device. The Windows Mobile 6.5 flagship phone has been available in other markets for a few months now while the U.S. customers have been waiting for any carrier of the big four to pick it up. Despite the fact that both CES and MWC will bring us lots of new hot phones T-Mobile doesnt seem to be

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