Slacker Radio for WebOS, It’s Out Now []

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There are two major camps for internet radio: Pandora and Slacker. Team Pandora's been setup on webOS for a while, but now Slacker fans can get theirs on every webOS phone.

Slacker Radio Announces Mobile App for Palm webOS Smartphones

Slacker Radio for the Palm webOS Offers Free Personalized Radio Stations and New Music Discovery On-the-Go

SAN DIEGO, CA – February 4, 2010 – Slacker, Inc. today announced the Slacker Radio Mobile app for Palm Pre, Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus smartphones. Music lovers in the United States and Canada can now listen to their favorite Slacker Radio stations on their Palm webOS smartphone. The free Slacker Radio app is now available at the Palm webOS App Catalog or by visiting http://www.slacker.com from a Palm webOS smartphone*.

Palm webOS smartphone owners now have the ability to enjoy the Slacker music experience, including custom music stations based on their favorite artist or mix of artists, over 120 expert-programmed Slacker genre, seasonal and spotlight stations and over 10,000 artist stations. Additional application features include an intuitive interface and the ability for listeners to personalize each station based on their music tastes.

With a music catalog that is nearly four times the leading competitor, Slacker gives listeners the ultimate music discovery resource by providing artist biographi es, album reviews and "peek ahead" artist and album previews. In addition to marking songs as favorites, listeners can also ban songs and artists to create perfect custom radio stations on their phones.

"Slacker offers music lovers an effortless way to discover and enjoy music on their computers, smartphones or through their home entertainment devices," said Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of marketing at Slacker. "Our free app for Palm webOS enables music fans play their favorite Slacker Radio stations wherever they go."

Slacker Radio for Palm webOS:
- Music library featuring millions of songs
- High-quality stereo playback from any available wireless connection
- Create custom artist stations based on artists or songs
- Over 120 professionally programmed and customizable genre stations
- View artist biographies and photos
- View album art and read reviews
- "Peek Ahead" artist and album preview
- Rate songs as favorites
- Ban songs and artists from stations

Pricing and Availability

The free Slacker Radio application is available through the Palm webOS mobile platform App Catalog or by visiting http://www.slacker.com from the webOS browser.

About Slacker, Inc.

Slacker is the world's first Personal Radio company offering "Your Radio Everywhere." Slacker enables music lovers to play highly personalized music online at the Slacker web site or on the go with Slacker Personal Radio players and mobile phones. Slacker mobile applications are currently available for Palm webOS, Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. For more information visit http://www.Slacker.com/everywhere.

For regular Slacker updates follow us at http://www.Twitter.com/SlackerRadio, become a Fan on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/SlackerRadio or visit http://www.Slacker.com.

[Slacker]


The Perfect NASA Out Reach Activity

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NASA and GM Create Cutting Edge Robotic Technology

"NASA and General Motors are working together to accelerate development of the next generation of robots and related technologies for use in the automotive and aerospace industries. Engineers and scientists from NASA and GM worked together through a Space Act Agreement at the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston to build a new humanoid robot capable of working side by side with people. Using leading edge control, sensor and vision technologies, future robots could assist astronauts during hazardous space missions and help GM build safer cars and plants."

Keith's note: I certainly hope that NASA and GM are going to create a road show for these cool-looking robots. Once you have built one or two then building multiple copies starts to get cheaper. NASA and GM should put them on display and then invite the public into GM plants across the U.S. to see them in action. Show how NASA technology is going to help the U.S. auto industry thrive and rebound as well as explore space. Take the robots to local schools and local chamber of commerce events and let people try them out for a drive, so to speak. Make certain that flyers and other promotional materials are in EVERY GM dealership in America and that very new GM car has something in the drivers sear about these robots to go with it. Put the robots in a GM TV commercial. Work with Mattel or other toy companies to make action figures. Work with Legos to make small hobby versions of the robot - indeed have school competitions where kids are encouraged to make their own copies.

This is a Education and Public Outreach activity that is just begging to be implemented. If NASA can lavish lots of attention on a fake robot like Buzz Lightyear one would hope that they could do the same for the real thing.

Leukomotion | Bad Astronomy

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This has already made the rounds of the blogoverse, but it’s so cool: video of a leukocyte chasing down and eating a bacterium.

I know it’s just biochemicals in action, a billion years of evolution writ small. But it’s still creepy and amazing.

And I learned a new word: this type of white blood cell is called a polymorphonuclear leukocyte, or, for short… a neutrophil.

That is so cool! And it will be my new superhero name.

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No bacterium shall escape my sight
Let those who worship microscopic evil,
Beware my power… NEUTROPHIL!

Hmm, that needs work. But not now, for there are microorganisms to ingest! Away!

Tip o’ the pseudopod to Orac.


Sport Science: Human vs. Bow | Cosmic Variance

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Super Bowl Sunday is, of course, the great American holiday. Past years have seen inspirational performances by Joe Namath, Joe Montana, and Janet Jackson. This year pits the New Orleans Saints against the Indianapolis Colts. New Orleans, of course, is known as a city of saintly behavior, while Indianapolis’s claim to fame involves horsepower in some tangential way.

When faced with contests of ritualized violence, we like to look for the science. So check out this video of Saints quarterback Drew Brees participating in a rigorous laboratory experiment by throwing the ol’ pigskin at an archery target. Joking aside, that is some pretty sick accuracy there.

Impressive that a human arm beats a bow and arrow for accuracy (although it’s not completely clear that the distances and conditions were perfectly analogous). All in the wobble, apparently. But if I were defending my castle from the barbarian hordes or something, I’d still prefer archers over some guys throwing footballs.


Delta Touch-Sensitive Faucet Review [Review]

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Delta's Touch Sensitive Faucet does one thing and one thing well: It dispenses water when touched with any part of your body, then shuts off when touched again. Not only that, it's also a pretty fantastic faucet.

The Price

$547 on Delta's site, but $300ish if you shop around

The Verdict

This is a high quality faucet, even without the touch features, and most likely beats whatever faucet you have installed in your house when you built/bought it. Add the touch features to that, and you get the first true revolution in sink faucets that I've seen in a while.

This actually isn't Delta's first touch-sensitive faucet. They had one model before that had this feature plus a motion-sensitivity, and discovered that most people only used the touch-sensitivity and decided to focus there instead.

The Installation

It's a little bit of a hassle to install, because you actually have to follow a series of instructions that has you removing your old faucet and installing this one (with the electronics that controls the touch-sensitivity). You actually need two people at one point, when you want to make sure you align the faucet correctly above the sink while the person below tightens.

It's not completely undoable if you have a spare hand and you're somewhat knowledgeable with tools, but I had a Delta professional install it to ensure optimum performance, and it didn't take too much longer than an hour.

Performance

The touch sensitivity, if installed correctly, is good, but not overly sensitive. The faucet and water handle, on the right, are both smart enough to detect the difference between a grasp—when you're moving the thing around—and a tap—when you're turning it on and off.

You turn on the faucet like any other faucet, by using the handle and switching it left for hot and right for cold. Once it's "on", you can tap anywhere on the body or the handle to turn it off. Tap it again to turn it back on. When you're completely done with washing, pull the handle down to the off position to ensure that a cat or a jumping baby brushing past it doesn't activate the water flow. It's also got a 4-minute timeout, so even if you do forget to turn the thing off, an accidental activation won't flood your house.

It's pretty great as an actual faucet too. The head has a pull-down for spray flexibility, and you can adjust the type of spray (like a shower) in one of two modes.

Warnings and Usage

If you install it yourself, make sure you install the base plate insulation unit, because if you don't, you're going to get finicky performance from the touch-sensitivity part. I had to have the installer revisit a couple times because it's not so clear in the instructions that many sinks need it, so even if you think you don't, put it in. Not doing so will make the touch only work 1 out of 3 or 4 times, which is a painful grey zone between not working at all, which is fine, and working all the time. If something like this happens to you, you can luckily disable the touch portion and just use it as a regular faucet until you get around to repairing it.

Also, be aware that you're going to get false positives occasionally when you're reaching over and grabbing something off your sink and you brush against the faucet. This is much less frustrating than the alternative of the thing NOT working when you want it to.

Is this practical?

Perhaps. You use your sink every day, but it's not that often that your hands are salmonella-tained enough to not be able to touch the handle and turn on the water manually. This is for those times. It's definitely a fantastic faucet, don't get me wrong, but it's a luxury. If you install this yourself without hiring a person to do so, $300 isn't too much to pay for the ability to turn something on with a touch. At my house, every guest that's seen it has been impressed. [Delta]

Touch works well, and allows you to turn it on with your arm, face or foot—whatever is currently less dirty than your hand

Works well as a faucet even without the touch technology

A little pricey, but not absurdly expensive

Installation might be tricky if you're not handy, and make sure you install the insulation plate, or you'll have sensitivity issues


Sun CEO Tweets Resignation in Haiku [Blockquote]

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Jonathan Schwartz manned the CEO helm at Sun Microsystems for almost four years. But now that the company's been sold to Oracle, he's tweeting off into the sunset. Hey, at least he counted his haiku syllables right.

I think it's only fair, since Jonathan left us with a poem, that we return the courtesy. I'll start!

Jonathan Schwartz: Don't
care for the ponytail, but
Java's pretty sweet.

Okay, now you go. Dirty limericks also accepted/encouraged. And bonus points for something with MySQL. [Twitter via Boing Boing]


Hmph! Sony Making an iPad of Their Own! [Sony]

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How do you counter Apple's iPad? With another iPad. That's what Sony's going to do, according to Sony's CFO Nobuyuki Oneda.

"[Slates are] a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product...Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."

To be fair, Sony's Reader was the first major eReader in the world, and it was a pretty remarkable product for its time. The Vaio P, while a bit unusable by normal-sized humans, is also a small engineering marvel.

But...oh Sony. I just can't take anything you say or do seriously anymore. I'm trying here. Make you a deal—say that whole piece about the iPad again. This time, I'll do my best not to crack a smile.

Nope, not working. I tried. I tried so hard. [Computerworld]


Facebook Help

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There is an account one of my friends in Facebook.

I want to find the date, when she Joined with the Facebook. (Actual Date.)

Can u tell me the way to find that.?

Iran Blasts 1 Mouse, 2 Turtles, and Some Worms Into Space | Discoblog

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mouseOn Wednesday, Iran launched a rocket into space–with a special and somewhat wriggly payload.

One mouse, two turtles and some worms were packed into the “experimental capsule” in the “Kovoshgar 3″ (Explorer 3) rocket and were given a one way ticket into the great yonder. The rat, nicknamed Helmz 1, and his buddies will now live out the rest of their lives on the rocket, their movements monitored by live video relayed from the space ark.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad exulted over the success, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, saying:

“We are two more steps away from reaching a point of no return. To a point where we bring all the skies under the domain of Iranian scientists.”

The Iranian Government, long suspected of having an illegal nuclear arms program, has insisted that Iran’s space program is for “peaceful means” only. But the West worries that the rockets built for the space program could be repurposed as delivery systems for nuclear warheads.

Watch a video of the launch here:

Related Content:
Discoblog: Mammals Attack the Middle East, Part II
Discoblog: Today’s Animal Mystery: Indian Mouse Problem Solved by…Rats
80beats: Iran Gets Its Sputnik Moment With First Successful Satellite Launch
80beats: Pentagon Disputes Iran’s Boast of Sending a Rocket Into Orbit

Image: iStockphoto


iWASwondering.org! | The Intersection

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I’m having fun exploring iWASwondering.org: A site about science and scientists for girls developed by the National Academies. There’s too much to describe so here’s a screenshot:

Picture 1

They’ve certainly highlighted some incredibly ‘cool scientists‘ like Amy Vedder and Marta Tienda and I’d love to see this online list expand to include women like Bonnie Bassler, Sylvia Earle, and many more. So far I’m impressed with how easy this site is to navigate as well as the animated character Lia who provides information. Go check it out for yourself and props to NAS for encouraging girls to pursue careers in science!

The Web site iWASwondering.org is inspired by Women’s Adventures in Science, a biography series for middle-school-aged students co-published by the Joseph Henry Press and Scholastic Library Publishing. Women’s Adventures in Science chronicles the lives of contemporary, working scientists. Despite their varied backgrounds and life stories, these remarkable women all share one important belief: the work they do is important and it can make the world a better place.

Each of the women profiled in the series participated in her book’s creation by sharing important details about her life, providing personal photographs to help illustrate the story, making family, friends, and colleagues available for interviews, and explaining her scientific specialty in ways that will inform and engage young readers. The scientists also participated directly in the creation of the Web site.

H/T Carl


Colon cancer warning signs

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A lot of patients suffering from colon cancer might well present no symptoms or signs during the earliest stages of the condition. When symptoms do eventually present, they can be many and varied, and can very much depend upon the size of the affliction, how far it has spread and also its actual location. It might be that some symptoms that present are as a result of a condition other than cancer itself, ranging from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and occasionally diverticulosis. Also, such problems as abdominal pain or swelling can be symptomatic of colon problems and may well require further investigation.

You may also notice that, upon going to the lavatory, you have some blood in your stools, and this can be a symptom of cancer. It can, however, also be indicative of other conditions and problems. For example, the kind of bright red blood that you may see on your toilet tissue could be as a result of hemorrhoids or anal fissures. It should also be remembered that various food items can also result in red-colored stools, and these include beetroot and red liquorice. Some medications can also be culprits, and some can also turn the stools black-including iron supplements. Irrespective, any sign of blood or change in your stools should prompt you to seek advice from your GP, as it is always best to be sure that it is not a sign of a more serious condition, and with any cancer,early detection and treatment is essential to a successful recovery.

You should also note-if you are currently concerned-any change in the regularity of your stools-including whether or not they are more thin or irregular than usual-especially over a period of several weeks. Also, be mindful if you have diarrhea for several days in a row or, conversely, constipation.

You might also experience pain in your lower abdomen-including a feeling of hardness. You may also experience persistent pain or discomfort in your abdominal region, and this can include wind and cramps. You may also get the sensation that, when evacuating your bowels, that the bowel doesn’t empty fully. Also, if you have an iron deficiency (or anemia), it may be an indication that there is bleeding in your colon. Also, as in most cases and types of cancer, you should seek medical advice immediately if you experience any sudden and unexpected or unexplained weight loss, as this is one of the principal red flags. Also be aware of more vague, seemingly incidental symptoms, such as fatigue. IF you have a couple of symptoms and also feel fatigued for days in a row inexplicably, then this is also another warning sign and you should seek medical advice. It is important not to panic, but just to be aware of what might be going on.

Remember, cases of colon cancer account for around 90% of all cases of intestinal cancers, and also account for more deaths every year of men and women from cancer. Early treatment is an absolute must.

Benjamin Banneker

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Benjamin Banneker was born November 9, 1731 and is well known for his work in astronomy. One of Banneker's greatest projects was being an integral part of the surveying of Washington D.C.

While he made many contributions to science, he got a late start on his science education. Eve

Dew-Spangled Spider Webs Could Inspire High-Tech Water Collection | 80beats

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Dew_drops_on_spider_webYou’ve probably heard about the extraordinary strength of many kinds of spider silk, but researchers in China say they’ve figured out another fascinating property of the silk—how it catches water in the air—and created their own copycat material.

For a study in Nature, Chinese scientists looked at the small, non-poisonous cribellate spider’s silk. The secret, revealed by scanning electron microscope, lies in the silk’s tail-shaped protein fibres which change structure in response to water. Once in contact with humidity, tiny sections of the thread scrunge up into knots, whose randomly arranged nano-fibres provide a roughly, knobbly texture [AFP]. In between these knots are smooth areas where the fibers are neatly aligned, allowing water to slide along until it hits a knot, where dewdrops accumulate.

Armed with this knowledge, Jiang’s team then replicated the spider fibres using polymethyl methacrylate, a synthetic polymer that was chosen because it bonds well with water molecules [Physics World]. The researchers report that their creation succeeded in gathering water the same way that spider silk does.

Still, they don’t know for sure why spiders developed this elaborate water-catching system. Jiang says that the purpose could be to gather drinking water so they don’t have to go looking for it, or to “refresh” the web to make it stronger and more robust. There’s also the possibility that the weight of too much water could destroy a web, but the spider’s water system allows droplets to coalesce and then fall off, relieving the web of that weight.

Whatever the reason, Jiang’s team says materials designed to mimic this capacity of spider silk could have benefits like speeding up chemical or industrial processes, or in a simpler sense, helping people in dry areas catch more water. Fog collection entails stretching out nets or canvas on poles and using the mesh to catch moisture from the breeze. The runoff is collected in a pipe or a trough on the ground. The technique, pioneered in the coastal Andes, is being encouraged in poor, dry parts of the world, such as Nepal [AFP].

Related Content:
80beats: Metal Injections Make a Spider Silk That Superman Would Envy
80beats: Spider Ancestor Made Silk—Possibly Using it for Sex—But Couldn’t Spin a Web
DISCOVER: Unraveling Spider Silk

Image: Wikimedia Commons / Fir0002


GE DC-300 Drive

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Some body that can help me with next problem

I have a DC-300 drive on a graphic machine with tachometer speed feedback but now the tachometer is wrong and I don´t have a spare tachometer for replace it, then I need operate the machine with DC-300 armature voltage feedback, without tachomete