Hi Guys,
The mixture is:
1:1:5 ---- H2O2(30%) : NH4OH(29%) : H2O(18M Ohm DI water)
I am interested in the pH of the products, potential Off gases and any hazards that may be associated with the mixture. If anyone can help that would fantastic, and if you require more info
I can't tie a sheepshank knot off the top of my head, but more than once, I'm pretty sure I've tangled one by accident. (Yes, this is a Ford Sync ad, but it's quite clever.) [AdsoftheWorld via 9GAG via TheNextWeb]
PETA Protests NASA Plan to Radiate Monkeys, Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
"A man in an astronaut suit stood outside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Thursday morning. Normal enough, given the contents of the building before him. But he was not promoting an exhibit, nor was he affiliated with the museum. He and a group of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists were brandishing signs and distributing pamphlets protesting a NASA program."
Hello.
Why when I change places of two devices in a (Danfoss) net, their communication with the central controller fails? Is it important, the physical place of the individual "dwellers" of the net ?(indeed, their adresses were not changed).
There's still some question about whether Windows Mobile 6.6 or Windows Mobile 7 will be shown in February, but a solid tipster just told us that it will be WM7. And then he describes it.
Here are a couple things described about WinMo 7 that mesh with the rumors we've heard before. First, it'll have the Natal-like gestures to be able to use the phone without touching it. We first heard about gestures on WM7 two years ago, and then sprinkled about the rumors in the past year.
Then, he says that you won't be able to upgrade to Windows Mobile 7, because the OS actually requires you to have better hardware (faster processor, more memory, etc) and includes support for the motion-sensing gestures above.
This bit also meshes with the rumored specs of the "Zune phone", which is basically Windows Mobile 7. From that rumor:
ARM v6+ processor, with an Open GL ES 2.0-capable graphics chip-this may be the TI3430 or the Nvidia Tegra. To show all the eye candy there will be a 3.5" 800 x 480 or 854 x 480 pixels touchscreen. The specification also points out at other things in Pink, like 3-megapixel camera, GPS, light sensor, 3-axis compass, accelerometer, USB, Bluetooth, and full Wi-Fi support.
But then how does that account for the HD2, which HTC Russia claimed will be getting a WM7 upgrade? Because HD2 is basically the top of the line right now, which—looking at its specs—put it into the Windows Mobile 7-capable category.
So yes, it seems like we'll be seeing Windows Mobile 7 at Mobile World Congress in February. It better be pretty damn good for Microsoft's projection of being able to regain 25% of the phone market by 2014.
Thanks tipster!
Apple's interest in mobile advertising clearly goes beyond flicking Google in the nads, since they spent $275 million on mobile ad company Quattro after losing AdMob to Google. In fact, according to BusinessWeek, Apple's mobile ad plans are downright ambitious.
"Mobile ads suck" is a sentiment BusinessWeek vaguely ascribes to Steve Jobs through a "source familiar with his thinking." So Jobs, along with "his lieutenants," have been talking about "ways to overhaul mobile advertising in the same way they had revolutionized music players and phones," two sources told BusinessWeek. (Worth noting, Quattro's former CEO is now VP of mobile advertising at Apple.)
Why care so deeply about mobile ads? Besides the ongoing Google rivalry, which stands to get even testier in the mobile space—just check out figures like ones out of this 424-page Morgan Stanley report, which talk about how the mobile internet will be twice as big as it is on the desktop. (Also, this.) The first guy to really figure out mobile ads (whatever that entails)? Wins a truckload of money. Case in point: Google figured out search advertising. Look where they are today.
Mobile browsers aside, just think of all of those free and cheap iPhone apps with room for innovative advertising to make somebody even more money. Not us, though. [BW via Alley Insider]
This weekend at Caltech we had a small but very fun conference: the “Physics of the Universe Summit,” or POTUS for short. (The acronym is just an accident, I’m assured.) The subject matter was pretty conventional — particle physics, the LHC, dark matter — but the organization was a little more free-flowing and responsive than the usual parade of dusty talks.
One of the motivating ideas that was mentioned more than once was the famous list of important problems proposed by David Hilbert in 1900. These were Hilbert’s personal idea of what math problems were important but solvable over the next 100 years, and his ideas turned out to be relatively influential within twentieth-century mathematics. Our conference, 110 years later and in physics rather than math, was encouraged to think along similarly grandiose lines.
And indeed people had done exactly that, especially ten years ago when the century turned: see representative lists here and here. I asked the organizers if anyone was taking a swing at it this time, and was answered in the negative. I was scheduled to give one of the closing summaries, and this sounded more interesting than what I actually had planned, so naturally I had to step up.
Here are the slides from my presentation, where you can find some elaboration on my choices.
And here’s the actual list:
Clearly I cheated somewhat by squeezing multiple questions into single problems. But the real challenge was thinking sufficiently big to come up with problems that people a century from now would agree are interesting. And I stuck to “elementary physics” — particle physics, gravitation, cosmology — just because I’m not competent to pick out the important problems in any other fields. Twenty-four, of course, because Hilbert had 23, and we had to go one better. There was certainly no shortage of candidates; I was coming up with more good problems and throwing out old ones right up until the last minute. Any obvious ones I missed?
Lost in the CES maelstrom, we missed the Kingston SSDNow V 30GB, a solid state hard drive designed to run your operating system, faster faster, kill kill, pussycat. The best thing is the price: Only $80 after rebates.
• Sequential Speed**: up to 180MB/sec. read, 50MB/sec. write
• Performance: enhances productivity; makes users more efficient
• Innovative: 2.5" form factor; uses NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Reliable: less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock Resistant: no moving parts; handles rougher conditions than a hard drive
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Capacity1: 30GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Vibration operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (20min/Axis)x3 Axis
• Vibration non-operating: 20G Peak, 10-2000Hz, (12 Cycle/Axis) x 3 Axis, x 20min.
• Power specs: Read: 1.4W (TYP), 2.5W (MAX)
• Write: 1.7W (TYP), 4.2W (MAX)
• Idle, Standby, Sleep: 55mw (TYP)
• Life expectancy: 500,000 hours MTBF** Test system: Intel® DG945ID Desktop Motherboard; Intel® Quad Core Q9550; 4GB DDR2 800MHz system memory; on-board SATA 3Gbps with ACHI enabled in BIOS; OS: Windows® 7 Professional x64 or Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 (Intel® IMSM installed in both operating systems).
** Based on internal testing. Performance may vary based on system settings.
It's coming in February for $110 without the promotional rebates. [Kingston]
My caffeine needs have been growing exponentially, so we need more interns in New York City. But, this time, we're lookin' for a few different kinds of interns.
Four different kinds, to be precise:
Writing Intern: Your main task will be writing posts, but with a secondary focus on all the other intern duties as outlined here.
Promotion Intern: Great for people who like to talk to other people. You'll be promoting our stories on Digg, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. You should know how to angle stories a certain way, and be familiar with social networks as well as other major sites. When I say familiar, I mean you should read them and know what kind of stories they're apt to post.
Research Intern: You should be good at pulling together multiple forms of information from multiple sources for our editors. This includes online and offline sources and even calling up people to arrange (and possibly conduct) interviews. Mostly, you should have a good grasp of technology and be able to locate and dissect information fast.
Copyediting Intern: English. You should know it. And you should be able to recognize when we screw up. You'll be going through our posts as a copyeditor, fixing typos and correcting our grammar. If you're already doing this in your spare time (for free), you'll love this position.
All of these internship positions will still have the primary task of finding stories for us—so think of this as your secondary superpower—as outlined here. Look that over (click the link and read it first!) and see if you're qualified.
If you think you're suited for one of those four positions (choose one only, please), send an email to jobs@gizmodo.com with the subject "NY Writing Intern" or "NY Promotion Intern" or "NY Research Intern" or "NY Copyediting Intern"—whichever one fits you the best. No attachments. No. Attachments.
Remember, it's full time, you need your own laptop, and you need to be able to get to Manhattan daily.
Good luck!
what are the requiremet for designing and selection of tes rig for diesel engine
50% Favor Cutting Back on Space Exploration, Rasmussen Reports
"Fifty percent (50%) of Americans now say the United States should cut back on space exploration given the current state of the economy, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 31% disagree with cutting the space program, and 19% more are not sure. The new findings mark a six-point increase in support - from 44% last July - for cutting back on space exploration."
The Keyless Entry fob for my 2007 Silverado is not working completely. It will Lock, but not Unlock. I've never heard of this before. I've lost the second fob, so I can't troubleshoot as I would normally be able to do as to whether the problem was in the fob or the truck. I am approaching this a
Haiti and other parts of the Caribbean are the only areas along the eastern coast of the North and South American continents that are experiencing active plate tectonics. The island of Hispaniola, of which Haiti occupies the western third, is itself is an exhumed portion of the Caribbean Plat
Astronomy is changing, and quickly. What used to be a quest to see farther is transforming into a race to see smaller and in more detail. If the 20th century was defined by the realization that the Universe consists of hundreds of billions of galaxies, being swept away from each other by the Hubb
There are too damn many ebook readers and it's tough to figure out what's worth buying and which reader will even survive the market. To make things easy, here's our guide to the readers that matter—for now. Updated.
Of course we're skipping some of the many ebook readers floating around, but quite frankly we can't really stomach all of them. We decided to focus on the ones that matter to us—whether because they stand a shot of surviving the over-saturated market, or simply because they are examples of what we think matters about these gadgets. Feel free to let us know if you disagree with any of our survival odds or if you think we missed a significant device.
When we reviewed the Barnes & Noble Nook, we decided that it was pretty damn good all around. At the time, we mainly focused on pitting it against the Amazon Kindle, but even without that limited comparison the Nook remains a rather good device:
It's got a second screen which actually serves a useful purpose
Expansion and evolution possibilities of this very device are great, especially with touchscreen and Android OS
Lending and in-store Barnes & Noble action will be huge
Native ePub support
A little thicker than Kindle, but as a tradeoff, it's a little smaller footprint
Wi-Fi doesn't seem to matter now—hopefully it will prove to be an advantage later
LCD and other features mean less battery life than Kindle, but still adequate, "measured in days"
Current software is buggy and sluggish in spots; hopefully fixes and optimization will come soon
Second-screen possibilities are great, but current implementation is cautious and conservative
Taking all those features and shortcomings into account, we think that the Nook's survival chance is 80%— if it can fix its firmware and get production up to speed.
A hands on of the Entourage Edge left us hesitant about whether there's actually a market for something that has the price tag of a good netbook and barely more features than most readers:
It does have two full screens on which actual work can be done
Can run Android applications and be used to browse the web
Wi-Fi built-in, so you're not stuck relying on 3G
Two built-in microphones for noise-cancelation, but unfortunately no synchronization with notes
Note taking can be done using a stylus
Switching between the screens allows for websites to be loaded on one screen and "pushed" to the other
Just as with most other readers, you can highlight, annotate, and bookmark
It's three whole freakin' pounds and ridiculously bulky
$500 price tag.
The Edge shows us what happens when you try to make a reader into what it's not—a pseudo netbook or tablet. We think the device's survival chance is 0% and consider it pretty much DOA.
We liked the feel of the Plastic Logic Que when we got our hands on it, but we didn't like the price tag. The device is mainly aimed at business folk who want to carry a notepad-sized device instead of a stack of documents, but it could make a rather nice reader if you crave for a large screen:
At 8.5 x 11 x .33 inches, its about the size and thickness of a standard notepad. It weighs about one pound. Like a heavy notepad.
The screen is huge—and I mean huge. Over ten inches.
Because of Plastic Logic's obsession with its namesake material, the Que is light as a feather
Formatting from magazines and other publications is maintained on the screen
The interface seems snappy and intuitive
Que Mail and Que Calendar services allow email and calendar updates to be pushed over WiFi and 3G networks
While odd to look at, the wide bezel actually makes the Que a lot more comfortable to hold than some other readers
The back of the device is a magnet for fingerprints. It's annoying, but not unusual for shiny toys like this.
$650 for the 4GB model with Wi-FI and $800 for the 8GB model with WiFi and 3G are quite the prices to swallow
We think the Que's features, design, and business as well as consumer appeal leave it with a survival chance of 70%—higher if businesses feel like spending so much on a device that will certainly help cut back on paper use. Or if Plastic Logic manages to cut back on that price.
Our hands on of the Spring Design Alex Reader left us thinking that the Nook might have some serious competition, but even on its own the Alex is a rather good device:
It's thin—we thought we'd break it just by holding it—but it turned out to be surprisingly sturdy
You can run any Android app including the browser, email client, and music player apps
The interaction between the two screens doesn't seem fully worked out
No news about whether there's a data provider secured for the device
$399 makes the Alex a wee bit pricier than the nook
Assuming that a data provider is secured for the Alex, we could see its survival chance being 80%—higher if there's a price drop to bring it closer to the Nook's.
When the Sony Daily Edition reader was announced, we got a bit excited about its electronic library program and wide screen, but alas, we're still waiting to actually get one of these devices into our hands to check out all the features:
Sony's got plenty of partners for this device to provide content
The on-screen content is rotated automatically to allow viewing in a nice, comfortable, and super wide landscape format
Native EPUB support
The electronic library program will let you borrow books from your local library's electronic collection
Free 3G service is included—but limited to accessing the Sony Store
$399 is a bit much for a device with so few tricks up its sleeve
Until we actually take a Daily for a test run, we're deeming its survival chance as 40%—mostly because the library program is appealing along with the push for EPUB formatting.
In our review of the Amazon Kindle 2, we discovered that it's not too different from the original model, but we still liked all the features:
The rounded design makes the device appealing to hold and look at
Zippy interface, decent refresh rate
Plenty of internal storage and long battery life
Text-to-speech book reading
Crisp, sharp display
It's hard to read longer, more complex books
While the Kindle 2 wasn't a huge leap from the first generation, we still think the device about a 80% chance of survival, especially if Amazon works on improving the interface and how the device treats flipping through book sections.
When we got our hands on the Notion Ink Adam Pixel Qi, we discovered that it's more of a tablet than it is a reader and that it tries too hard to be both:
The device runs on Android 2.0
There's a snappy Nvidia Tegra 2 processor lurking inside
10.1-inch panel that can switch between backlit LCD mode and low-power electrophoretic reflective mode
3G service, which is becoming fairly standard among readers
LCD colors aren't as vivid as a plain LCD
Despite having "ink" in its name, the Adam falls too far into tablet territory for us to take it seriously as a reader so we give it a 40% chance of survival in that particular market. As a tablet device though, it might actually do rather well.
When we got a hands on with the Skiff, we were pretty impressed by its size but uncertain about most features since we didn't get to play with a final production model:
It's big and thin: 11.5 inches of touchscreen space on a device only a quarter of an inch thick
Light and—quite importantly—solid feeling
Layout mimicks a real newspaper better than most readers
Can handle 12fps animation, which is pretty primitive compared to an LCD device
Reasoably responsive to taps and swipes
You can highlight and annotate content
Magazines feel awkward to read as they're full page scans and any zooming feels slow due to the e-ink refresh rate
Once again: The Skiff unit we tried out was not a final version, so plenty can change by the time it hits shelves. But based on what we've seen so far, this could be a pretty great reader overall—despite its key focus being periodicals. Assuming that it's price turns out to be reasonable and the interface is fixed up a bit more, we give it a survival chance of 70%.
Those are the ebook readers we think deserve some discussion right now. There are plenty we left out—super cheap ones, poor imitations of readers mentioned already, and some that just plain make us gag. We didn't want to promote crappy products or those where "you get what you pay for" rings a bit too true. That disclaimer aside, we welcome discussion and mentions of other readers, simply because it's always possible that we omitted something worthwhile—like the Skiff which has now been added—by accident. So let's hear it in the comments.
It's clear that Microsoft will bring something to Mobile World Congress. This is inevitable, and necessary. But yesterday's report that it'll be Windows Mobile 6.6 has been met with another saying it'll be Windows Mobile 7. So which is it?
The conservative choice would seem to be Windows Mobile 6.6, especially given the nagging reports that Windows Mobile 7, which we basically know to exist in some form, has been delayed—in release, if not unveiling—until late this year. But here's the thing: until yesterday, nobody had even heard of Windows Mobile 6.6. We've only just been introduced to the final version of Windows Mobile 6.5.3, which appears to be the ultimate expression of the wrongheaded 6.5.x ethos, and any interim releases, even assuming a late 2010 release for WinMo 7, would have a hard time finding handset support.
Now that Bloomberg is chiming in to say that WinMo 7 will be unveiled at Mobile World Congress, I think it's fair to bet on seeing for the first time in February. As for 6.6? I'm not convinced that it even exists, or that Microsoft is oblivious enough to press forward toward such an obvious, self-imposed dead end.
On another note, this has been some uncharacteristically tight leak control from Microsoft—we know practically nothing about Windows Mobile 7 right now, which is as refreshing as it is frustrating. [Bloomberg via Silicon Alley Insider]
This is the first in a series of guest posts by Joel Barkan, a previous contributor to “The Intersection” and a graduate student at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The renowned Scripps marine biologist Jeremy Jackson is teaching his famed “Marine Science, Economics, and Policy” course for what may be the last time this year (along with Jennifer Jacquet), and Joel will be reporting each week on the contents of the course.
Guilt. Shame. These aren’t emotions commonly associated with fish. According to Jennifer Jacquet, however, they may actually be effective tools to prevent destructive overfishing. Jennifer knows a thing or two about guilt—she writes the Guilty Planet blog for scienceblogs.com. Her lecture today covered creative ways to convince corporations to buy and sell fish caught in a sustainable manner. A supermarket that sells orange roughy, for instance, might change its practices if made to feel shame for peddling this exploited fish. Greenpeace, which graded the major seafood markets for sustainability, has made headway by calling out less ocean-friendly chains like Trader Joe’s. Can we go further, though, and attach a real public stigma to the trade of unsustainably caught fish?
Jennifer talked about the importance of corporate transparency to bring about policy changes, using examples from other industries. She mentioned the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), which forces polluters to publicize their emission levels. On the day after the first TRI figures were released in 1989, the polluting firms saw their stocks fall a combined $4.1 million. These corporations—feeling guilty and seeking to deflect public scorn—soon announced plans to reduce emissions. Jennifer also referenced restaurant hygiene report cards, which grade the cleanliness of restaurants: you get an A if diners can eat your risotto off the floor, a C if the vermin outnumber your patrons. No restaurant wants the scarlet letter “C” tacked to its window—it would be hard to recover from the public shame of such a poor grade.
Our class discussion, as it has a tendency to do here at Scripps, delved into a number of tangents, all of them thought-provoking. One student, who moved to San Diego from China in June for graduate school, cautioned that with shame can come unfair humiliation. He spoke of China’s Cultural Revolution, when citizens who were suspected of supporting capitalism were forced to walk through the streets wearing hats bearing the sign “Capitalist Dog.” Now, he asserts, China feels regret for putting its people through such a public disgrace because it realizes its original convictions were misguided. I brought up the success of anti-smoking campaigns and the shame placed on cigarette companies for being deceitful about the health effects of smoking and its youth-targeted advertising. Prof. Jeremy Jackson countered by pointing out that a backlash against anti-smoking campaigns actually makes smoking appealing to some young people.
But back to fish—after all, this is a marine policy course. Can seafood retailers like Walmart and Red Lobster be guilted into changing their practices? I think we have a long way to go: it’s still a social norm to buy and eat trawl-caught shrimp, which includes 12 pounds of unintended, wasted bycatch for every pound of shrimp caught. The public looks down upon corporate misdeeds like embezzlement and pollution. It’s time to add trade in unsustainable fisheries to that list of offense.
Linda De Croock, a Belgian woman who had her throat crushed in a car accident a quarter-century ago, received one of the odder-sounding organ transplants we’ve ever heard: For two years, De Croock had a dead man’s windpipe growing inside her arm. Reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine, her doctors say they successfully implanted the donated trachea in her forearm and then moved it from there to where it belongs.
While the arm might seem a questionable place to put a windpipe, the point was to acclimate her body to the new organ and get her off anti-rejection drugs. Doctors at Belgium’s University Hospital Leuven implanted the donor windpipe in De Croock’s arm as a first step in getting her body to accept the organ and to restart its blood supply. About 10 months later, when enough tissue had grown around it to let her stop taking the drugs, the windpipe was transferred to its proper place [Canadian Press]. Since De Croock’s own tissue has grown around the windpipe, her body no longer considers it foreign and dangerous. A year has passed since the surgery to move the windpipe from her arm to her throat, and the doctors report she is doing well.
After the accident, De Croock originally had metal pieces installed to prop open her windpipe. But having metal do the job became worse and worse. “Life before my transplant was becoming less livable all the time, with continual pain and jabbing and pricking in my throat and windpipe,” the 54-year-old Belgian told The Associated Press in a telephone interview [Canadian Press].
This is the first time scientists have transplanted an organ as large as a trachea in this way—allowing it to acclimate inside the patient’s body before they set it in its proper location. Dr Pierre Delaere, the surgeon who led the team, said: ”This is a major step forward for trachea transplantation. Her voice is excellent, and her breathing is normal. I don’t think she could run a marathon, but she is doing well” [Sydney Morning Herald].
Related Content:
80beats: Injured Vet Receives Transplanted Pancreas Grown From a Few Cells
80beats: First American Face Transplant is Successful (So Far)
80beats: Doctors Use a Patient’s Own Stem Cells to Build Her a New Windpipe
Discoblog: Organ Transplants Gone Horribly Awry
DISCOVER: How Do Transplant Patients End Up With Killer Organs?
Image: iStockphoto
That's right, Marvel's first next IMAX movie is, appropriately, gonna be Iron Man 2—perfect, since we'll need a mega-sized screen to hold that many mecha flying around, going pewpewpew. Unfortunately, it wasn't shot in IMAX (like parts of The Dark Knight), it's just gonna be remastered. [Comic Book Resources via io9]
One of the cooler stories out the whole Google-China debacle is that Google hacked the hackers. It "began a secret counteroffensive," breaking into a computer in Taiwan, gathering evidence the attacks originated from mainland China, possibly orchestrated by the government.
Google's delta force found evidence that the hackers had attacked 33 other companies, like Adobe, and that the onslaught actually came from China, not Taiwan. More to the point, "much of the evidence, including the sophistication of the attacks, strongly suggested an operation run by Chinese government agencies, or at least approved by them." Unfortunately, Google can't prove the Chinese government's involvement 100 percent, which is why the Obama administration is pussy-footing around the issue.
Still, it's pretty awesome: If you hack Google, they will hack your ass right back. [NYT]
