6/28/10
























    

6/26/10

Downloading Ubuntu Server Edition and Creating a USB Boot Drive

6/23/10

Apple - iPhone 4 - This changes everything. Again.

Motorola Droid X


The four usual Android buttons are situated below the screen. They feel good and have excellent travel and feedback.

The Droid X has a 1GHz processor.

There are seven home screens, which can fit gobs of user content, apps, widgets, shortcuts and so on. Motorola and Verizon have pre-loaded pretty much every screen with at least a few apps and widgets. One thing that's awesome: the widgets can be resized. They aren't locked into one size. You can crop and resize them at will.

The Droid X runs Android 2.1, but Motorola has taken some of the elements of its Motoblur software and incorporated them into the user interface. Social networking apps.

My favorite new feature is the visual bookmarks Motorola is now using in the Android browser. Similar to Apple's CoverFlow, you can scan through your browsing history and bookmarks and float past 3D images of your favorite sites. Very cool.

Based on the few moments we've spent with the Droid X, it is a sure-fire winner. Verizon Wireless and Motorola are going to sell bazillions of these things. It impresses all the way around. We can safely say that Motorola knocked it out of the park.
'God particle' symphony: CERN scientists

'God particle' finder? The massive ATLAS particle detector, one of four huge detectors at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, observes high-energy proton collisions so that scientists can explore new territory in matter, energy, space and time.

6/22/10

WiMAX-embedded laptops Coming Out


CLEAR SPOT - CLEAR WiMAX 4G Internet Chicago



Embedding 4G technology into laptops and netbooks makes all the senses and easy for consumers to experience Clear’s WiMAX mobile Internet service which is supposed to be supper fast.

While Clearwire plans to offer a WiMAX-enabled handset sometime this year, the carrier is marketing its service as an alternative to DSL services and as such, the embedded laptops are part of its strategy. For its part, Intel wants to repeat its success in Wi-Fi chips in the WiMAX space.

Improving The Linux Desktop? Why, It’s Elementary

All of elementary’s current offerings, combined with several external projects, come together to create one neat looking desktop. These include their icon set, eGTK theme and Nautilus improvements, as well as an interesting project called Gloobus Preview (a GNOME plugin based on Apple’s Quick Look) and Docky. Thanks to Ubuntu’s Personal Package Archive, installing components (or the entire elementary desktop) is a snap with the end result looking something like this.

 Elementary Project




Relocating isn’t an option for everyone. It costs money, it’s inconvenient, it’s a risk. But for some people it’s the best option.
Whether you want to relocate or you just like to know what’s going on in the cities around you, here are the metros with “the largest over-the-year increases in employment” according to the BLS based on the number of jobs added.
5.Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.
However, based on percentage increases, the top metros are:
You’ll notice that these metros aren’t the biggest, most recognizable names in the country, save for the Washington, D.C. area. Perhaps because people don’t think to look to smaller regions because they assume bigger cities offer more opportunities. Whatever the reason, the latest data shows that the metros to watch might not be the ones job seekers have been thinking about.

Cargo: The Middle Passage




Whitney Houston & Jennifer Hudson



Whitney Houston & Jennifer Hudson both singing 
I Have Nothing and And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going.
One of the greatest singers of all time Whitney Houston.
New favorite the wonderful Jennifer Hudson.

6/21/10

New Orleans Solar Panels

South Coast Solar, Louisiana's largest renewable energy company is shown installing solar panels. This was for Global Green's project in the Holy Cross area of New Orleans.

6/17/10

Mass-Market Smartphone Solution

Dr. Patricia O'Looney - FDA Hearing - Fingolimod

National MS Society



A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee today recommended that the agency approve marketing of fingolimod capsules (formerly called Gilenia, Novartis International AG) for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis. If approved, fingolimod would be the first oral disease-modifying therapy for the treatment of MS. While the FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisory committees, it usually does. According to Novartis, the agency is expected to make a final decision about whether to approve the drug in September 2010.

Among its discussions, the advisory committee recommended that fingolimod be approved at the dose (0.5 mg once daily) recommended by Novartis and that:
• Fingolimod demonstrated substantial evidence of effectiveness for the treatment of relapsing MS to reduce the frequency of clinical relapses and to delay the accumulation of physical disability;
• the safety data currently known justify the drug’s approval, and the FDA should require a post-marketing study that would proactively gather information about adverse events and longer-term safety, the effects on a broader range of people than were included in the trials, and possible complications of taking other medications including steroids along with fingolimod;
• patients should be monitored during the first dose for possible lowering of heart rate and other potential heart effects, and that some assessments for potential adverse events related to eye (especially macular edema) and lung function be required, to an extent to be determined by the FDA;
• the FDA should consider requiring a study to evaluate whether a lower dose would be as effective as the recommended dose, with fewer adverse events;
• this therapy should be approved as a first-line therapy, meaning that patients would be eligible to take fingolimod without having to try an alternative therapy first.

About the drug: Fingolimod is a new class of therapy in development for treating multiple sclerosis. It binds to a docking site (sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor, or S1P receptor) on immune cells, including T cells and B cells, that have been implicated in causing nervous system damage in MS. The drug appears to induce immune cells to remain in lymph nodes, where they can do little harm, preventing them from migrating into the brain and spinal cord.

Positive results from two large-scale phase III clinical trials have been published showing that fingolimod significantly reduced multiple sclerosis relapse rates. One of the trials also suggested that fingolimod could slow the progression of disability. (New England Journal of Medicine January 20, 2010.) Read more about these studies on our Website. In December 2009, Novartis applied to the FDA and European regulators for marketing approval of this compound for the treatment of relapsing MS.

6/14/10

"Linux infection proves Windows malware monopoly is over"??

The #1 source for Linux

Linux infection proves nothing it is one program not "Linux"

That is indeed a rubbish headline. If it was a Firefox or OpenOffice.org binary shipped with Ubuntu, then it would be a big deal. But an IRC server? Something that only 0.001% of people ever use?

M


Oops. Unreal IRC server has a backdoor.



That's not great news, but it is one program not "Linux".

The programmers and maintainers of UnrealIRC have just learnt some valuable lessons. There are reasons for MD5 checksums and PGP/GPG signing and using limited accounts with secure access to servers. If these methods aren't implemented then problems can occur. Notice that CVS and pre-compiled versions weren't affected, just a tarball replaced on the main server.
_________________
G'day from
Downunder!


Ollie

6/1/10

Breast Cancer Vaccine successful in mice

Breast cancer vaccine - VIDEO

 Scientists at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic are touting a new prototype vaccine to prevent breast cancer as "promising." The vaccine contains a protein found in most breast cancers, but not found in healthy women, except during lactation, now we want to move forward in testing the vaccine in human patients.

Enrollment could begin next year according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The FDA has granted approval to two cancer-prevention vaccines: cervical and liver cancer. However, these vaccines target viruses, while the one tested by the Cleveland Clinic targets cancer formation. If any human testing proves successful, the strategy would be to vaccinate women 40 and over as well as younger women with a heightened risk of breast cancer. There is no funding for human trials at this point, but it has been applied for.

But Speculation is it will take at least 10 years to get the vaccine to normal, healthy women at risk of developing the cancer. It looks to me to be extremely promising