Technically Speaking

Astronomers are happy because they are now able to prove one of their theories on the formation of planets. A 12 million year old star, 33 light years away, called, AU Microscopium or AU Mic, is in the process of creating some planets.

They have seen evidence of a disk of dust orbiting the star — a disk like the one our own solar system is believed to have formed from.

And within the disk is a clear swathe, which suggests a planet has started to form and has scooped up some of the dust in the process.

The star, called AU Microscopium or AU Mic, is dimmer and redder than our own Sun, so any planets orbiting it are likely to be cold.

“The dust missing from the inner regions of AU Mic is the telltale sign of an orbiting planet,” Michael Liu of the University of Hawaii, who helped lead the team, said in a statement.

“The planet sweeps away any dust in the inner regions, keeping the dust in the outer region at bay.”

Liu and colleagues used telescopes on Hawaii’s tall Mauna Kea peak to find the young planetary system. They were pleased to find one so close.

A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, and 33 light-years is close enough to let scientists try to see the star better using the Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites) or ground-based telescopes.

“We know that extrasolar planets are common, but understanding how they form is an outstanding question. Because AU Mic is so near to Earth, it provides us a special opportunity to examine planet formation in great detail,” Liu said.

Writing in the online Science Express version of the journal Science, Liu’s team said AU Mic is extremely young — just about 12 million years old compared to our own Sun’s age of 4.6 billion years.

What they see fits in with theories about how stars and planets form — with the star forming first, and a circling ring of dust gradually accumulating into orbiting planets.

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The final planets probably won’t be completely formed for a few million years. I think that would qualify as one of the longest known labors.

It has been a while since I have went on a linkfest excursion, so I had to do it today. Once again, by going through my refferer logs I was able to get a list of sites that I could/should recognize, and here they are.

Tiger Hangs on

Dizzy-Girl still has lots to say, and still more?

Mind boggling Neuroscience

You gotta admire a man with a plan.

Watch out BlogRolling, there is a new kid on the block.

Birthday shout… Happy BirthDay Charles. BTW, how old is a few decades?

Sarcasm, a suit fitted for Sama.

The first review I came across for The Passion.

I wish I were here

There is a day for everything.

Okay, today was a “Snow Day” here in the Metro Atlanta area, but I had to work. Tomorrow if suppose to be an “Ice Day”, I don’t expect to miss work then either.

Did someone forget to carry the 1?

Ahhhh, What can you say about good ole motivation?

No limits to spam…

Analyze your bloggish stylings.

I hate mortals, too!, oh, that’s mortal dilemmas….Damn speed reading!

It just scares me to think of the possibility.

Someone swat that nat buzzing in my ear. I know the pain, Glenn, although it seems like it was 30 years ago. Wait a tick, it was thirty years ago!

In the beginning…

I just get a kick out of this site.

As Linux and other OS’s gain popularity, the ability to game on these platforms become a greater need. As we all know, the majority of computer games on the market are designed to be played on Windows based systems. Some of the gaming companies have tried to port their software to Mac OS X or Linux but their efforts prove not to be cost effective. Enter TransGaming Technologies, an Ottawa based software firm, with a different approach to making gaming multi-platformed. Their WineX software is designed to translate Windows computer games, on the fly, so that can be played on Linux systems.

WineX is an attempt to sidestep the costly and difficult process of “porting” a game from one computing platform to another. Porting is done all the time in the gaming business. Games originally written for PlayStation 2 or XBox are carted over to Windows PCs and vice versa. Several companies, such as MacPlay, have found success in porting major Windows PC games to the Apple Macintosh. But so far, porting to Linux has been a losing game. One company that tried it, California-based Loki Games, went bust in 2001.

TransGaming thinks it has a better idea. Rather than rewrite huge slabs of game software for a Linux version, Linux users can run Windows games on top of WineX code. State insists that the extra layer of software doesn’t harm the performance of the games. “In some cases we’ve seen games run faster in Linux than they do under Windows,” State said.

Meanwhile, a few gaming companies are going out on a limb and offering true Linux versions of their titles. BioWare Corp. of Edmonton, Alberta, sells a Linux version of its popular role-playing game, Neverwinter Nights. The US Army never planned to make a profit on its hugely popular war game America’s Army, so it’s no surprise that it has produced a free Linux version at www.americasarmy.com.

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The idea of translating code isn’t a new one but it looks as if TransGaming has found a market niche in which they can capitalize on the method. The claim that the translated code can run faster on Linux than it does natively on Windows sound really remarkable. I would like to see some benchmarks on that. I’m not sure if this company is developing this software for other OS’s or if it is strictly for Linux. The site’s META description, “TransGaming Technologies create the portability solutions that allow gamers to run their games on multiple platforms such as Linux”, leads me to believe that they are working toward a true multi-platform solution. This is a good company to keep an eye on. I should talk to my brother about TransGaming’s stock outlook.

September 21st, at long last, will be the day of the big release. The announcement isn’t official, that is, a full press release has yet to be issued, but reports are out and all are saying that it is going to happen. As of now, the films will be sold as a set, you will not be able to buy them individually. It will be packaged in a 4 disc set, the fourth disc to contain all the extras.

Today’s announcement came early and without finalized specs due in part to the intense anticipation amongst consumers for the titles. “We are currently in the process of restoring and remastering all three titles for the DVD release, so we’re still working on details of the marketing strategy,” revealed Ward, not before adding with knowing understatement, “but I believe that it is safe to say that it will receive tremendous exposure across all media.”

According to Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn, both the studio and Lucasfilm arrived at the September 21st date to gain maximum exposure during the holiday season: “We sold about 17 million VHS ‘Star Wars’ units during two fall release periods in ‘95 and ‘97,” he explained. “With that in mind, we designed our release strategy to pick the best release date that had the most gentle sales curve decline on home video.”

While the full details on what extras will be included in the set are still pending, Ward promises that Lucasfilm “are creating added-value material that gets inside the creation of the ‘Star Wars’ films in a fresh and fun way. We want watching this DVD collection to be as memorable as seeing the movies for the first time.” He also confirmed that rumors that Lucas would not contribute new audio commentaries to the set are false, although there are as of yet no exact details on which films will receive commentary tracks, and who will be among the participants.

Of course, the big question mark amongst fans has always been whether Lucas would allow the original, unaltered original editions of the trilogy to also be released on DVD. Not possible, said Ward, who confirmed that the upcoming set will feature only the 1997 Special Edition versions of each film. “What George did in 1997,” Ward explains, “was [to] make the movie he originally wanted to make.”

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Just got word that Kill Bill 2 stills and a teaser have surfaced. What I have seen so far about Vol. 2 hasn’t pumped me up yet, don’t get me wrong, the was a little interests bubbling up when I saw the pictures of Gordon Liu, but I’m sure as the trailers start to come out I will get that itch back. I watched the teaser and wasn’t impressed with the quality of the quicktime clip. I’m not sure if there was something wrong with the clip or something with my computer. I’ll take a look at the teaser with another machine a get back to you all.

Kill Bill 2 Still pictures.

Kill Bill 2 Teaser

UPDATE: Okay, it looks as if I have a problem with my main machine. The Kill Bill Trailer for Vol. 2 behaves properly on other machines. I may have to re-download the QuickTime plugin.

The long standing King of file compression programs has now released version 9.0. If you are a user of this fine product, you may want to upgrade to this latest version. Checkout the key features.

Key Features

New for 9.0 Advanced Zip file security Easy-to-use, state-of-the-art AES encryption for your sensitive files. More…

New for 9.0 Increased Zip file capacity Support for the 64-bit extended format, which for all practical purposes eliminates the existing restrictions on Zip file size and capacity. More…

Tight integration with Windows Zip, unzip, and one-click Zip and E-mail directly from Windows Explorer or My Computer. More…

WinZip Wizard interface Guides new users through most common WinZip operations. More…

Install feature Automatically install software, desktop themes, and screen savers contained in Zip files. More…

Favorite Zip folders feature Quickly find your Zip files with Favorite Zip Folders. More…

Quick Pick Tray icon gives easy access to WinZip and your recently used Zip files. More…

Windows XP Take full advantage of Windows XP features including fast user switching and XP themes. More…

Internet File Support Decode most popular Internet file formats, including MIME, UUEncode, XXEncode, TAR BinHex, and many others. More…

E-mail support Includes convenient, one-click Zip and E-mail from Explorer. More…

Split Zip file feature Divides archives into user-defined sizes to accommodate e-mail or storage limits. More…

Make Executable feature WinZip Self-Extractor Personal Edition allows the creation of Self-Extracting Zip files, which are ideal for sending to recipients who may not have an unzip utility. More…

More…

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Download your copy here.

Thanks LockerGnome

In London that is…, This is London reports that a series of muggings for people’s iPods is on the rise. The distinctive looks of the iPod make it an easily recognized target. Not only are the looks distinctive, they are also so alluring that the owner wants to show them off to all they meet.

Gary Parkinson, deputy editor of gadget magazine Stuff, claimed the key for owners was to change the headphones. “Having white headphones might be stylish but they act as an indicator to thieves. You really are an obvious target if you use them.

“The other problem is that the iPod is so shiny and lovely that you always want to get it out and show people. However, this attracts criminals like magpies. We’d recommend people use the remote control and keep the iPod itself in a pocket.”

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Here is an account of one that was mugged for his iPod.

Saqib Sabir was recently mugged for his iPod on his way home from work. He said: “I was walking down the road near to my home when two men jumped me. They pulled a knife and told me to hand over my phone.

“Then one of them spotted my iPod. They obviously knew what it was, because they immediately threw my phone away to take it. I was gutted, I use my iPod all the time, and I’d only had it a few weeks.”

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There are a couple of lessons we all can take from this story; 1. Don’t be showing off your iPod to just anybody. and 2. Buy your iPod with a credit card.

Of course, that not me speaking. I’m not a quitter, I need my windows based machines, but I am still deeply interested in owning a Mac. David Coursey, of ZDNet writes about his troubles with windows and he is fed up. David closes his article with a statement that brings a question to my mind; Why do you keep going back to Windows when you are so confident in the performance of a Mac?

SO I’M DOING what I always do when Windows ticks me off (that’s not the word I really want to use, but this is a family AnchorDesk): I grab a Mac. Right now, I’m typing this column on a 15-inch PowerBook G4.

The nice thing about Mac OS X is that it’s darn near uncrashable. No matter what programs I install or uninstall or how I use it, OS X just runs. I’ve been using it since before the commercial release and have had only one serious crash–and that was during a hardware
installation. The machine then booted right up without further incident. Other that that [sic], the OS has been–at least in my experience–rock solid. And that’s more than I can say about my Windows machines.

Sure, not all the programs I want to use run on Mac, but it’s like I tell people: If a Mac does what you want to do, it’s a much more stable OS than Windows.

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The obvious answer is that there are so many application written for Windows and that if you should ever need professional help with your Windows machine, you would be able to find help on any street corner. I propose that you use the right tool for the job. If you know that you can rely on a Mac machine, buy a Mac and use it for your mission critical purposes. Save Windows for your leisurely computing tasks.

Why pay for DVD copying software when you can get it for free? If the rumors I heard about DVD X Copy are true then you won’t be able to buy DVD copying software in the near future, but that is another story.

I was watching an episode of ScreenSavers when they did a bit on free DVD copying. Of course my ears perked right up and I can to do some investigation of my own. This investigation consisted of me downloading the free programs, DVD Decrypter (Download) and DVD Shrinker (Download). I installed both programs and started playing with them. One thing I noticed so far is that it takes a long time to decrypt a full DVD movie. I decrypted Austin Powers: Goldmember and it took about 50 minutes to complete. I’m not to happy about that, but what can you do? Next, I invoked DVDShrink. DVDShrink did its thing rather quickly, so this is a bonus. I haven’t yet burn the movie to a DVD yet but one beautiful thing about this program it that it allows to determine the compression ratio, This feature allows you to make a copy of the original DVD using only one DVD. Store bought DVDs are recorded on 2 layers while the burners we have only burn on one layer, therefore it usually takes two DVDs to copy an original DVD. Using DVDShrink will alleviate this problem. Now, I haven’t made the DVD copy yet because the software require you to use Nero. I am a fan of Roxio, so I don’t have a copy of Nero handy. I will attempt to burn the DVD using Roxio and if I’m unable to do it then I will have to install Nero. Either way I’ll get back to you on how the burn goes.

For more info on the free DVD copying software, visit the ScreenSaver website.

Imagine a diamond that is 10 billion trillion trillion carats. Sounds like I made up that number, heh? Well, Astronomers believe that there is a diamond that big and they believe that they have found it. They named it Lucy, after the Beatles’ song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

The huge cosmic diamond - technically known as BPM 37093 - is actually a crystallised white dwarf. A white dwarf is the hot core of a star, left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon.

For more than four decades, astronomers have thought that the interiors of white dwarfs crystallised, but obtaining direct evidence became possible only recently.

The white dwarf is not only radiant but also rings like a gigantic gong, undergoing constant pulsations.

“By measuring those pulsations, we were able to study the hidden interior of the white dwarf, just like seismograph measurements of earthquakes allow geologists to study the interior of the Earth.

We figured out that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy’s largest diamond,” says Metcalfe.

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If we were able to mine such a diamond the price of diamonds would become dirt cheap. Everyone would have a diamond. The astronomers predict that our sun will become a white dwarf, in about 5 billion years. 2 billion years after that our sun should be ready for mining.

I know that there are problems with this site right now. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to address them til the evening hours. So if you have issues operating through this site, please bear with me.

Two new viruses/worms have been sweeping the Internet yesterday and today (labeled by Symantec as W32.Beagle.B & W32.Netsky.B). Symantec has classified both as a level 3 threat (out of 5). They both will be coming from forged addresses with random subject lines and text body. They will both have an attachment with a .exe, .scr, .com, or .pif extension. As always, update your anti-virus scanners (latest definitions are dated as of this afternoon) and do not open any attachments with these type extensions.

It looks as though the hackers have found another vunerability to exploit. This one allows remote programs to execute. Read more about it.

Thanks Lockergnome

Well, I’m tinkering with this site again. I suspect that I will never have the site exactly how I want it. Let’s go over what I have done and what needs to be done….

I have re-entered the entries that were lost in my site conversion to MySQL.

I have taken a mess of JavaScript off of the pages and put them into external files.

I have put in a request for new webspace with HostRocket. I have an account with them hosting my family website. I think I will be doing myself good by moving to their servers. I will get 50GB of bandwidth each month with rollover bandwidth. Also, I’ll be working with a Gig of space. I’ll keep you posted as to how this transition goes.

I have noticed that my Category pages are not formatted properly. I don’t know what the cause is as of yet. I suspect something went awry with the pagination template that I am using. Unfortunately, I don’t have time tonight to troubleshoot the case. Hopefully by next weekend I will be able to correct the problem. I should have the new webspace up and running by that time.

I have a new idea for my “other page” that was formerly my “Memory Links”. I will unveil it when the new space is up and running.

More updates to come.

I have recently reached the 100,000 mark in site visitors. This is a mark I really thought to be unreachable, at the early beginnings of this site. The last couple of weeks the hits have been coming in fast and furious, so I didn’t actually catch the momentous event. I do know that the 100,000th visitor was sent to me by Google, something about Janet Jackson!!! This month already, this site has seen more traffic than any 2 past months combined. This is a record month.

Thanks for your visits.

I knew it wouldn’t take long before someone came up with the angle that would sell Virginia State University’s previously owned Apple G5 computers. The computers are a piece of history for they made the world’s third fastest computer and they signify the start of Apple entering the supercomputer business.

The Virginia State University system helped put Apple on the supercomputing map in a big way. The machine proved the merits of Apple’s G5 processor - aka IBM PPC 970 - and the company’s server aspirations. Apple’s Xserve tends to end up in mostly Apple shops, but the university work proved it could be an option for any customer in the high performance computing field.

But if the “Big Mac” is a piece of history, it’s only because the system sticks out as a shining example of success in an otherwise dull story.

Apple has yet to prove it can capitalize on “Big Mac’s” success in a big way. It will take some time to see if the Mac maker can close deals with other schools or big business.

That bit aside, customers can pick up a refurbished system for $2,799. It ships with dual 2.0GHz processors, 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive. The computers start shipping next week.

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The comparable computer new from Apple will run you about $3000.oo, so if you don’t mind a used machine, slightly used, then I think you would be getting a pretty good deal.

A new hydrogen reactor has been created. The significance is rather important. Because of this invention we may be on our way to a cleaner-burning source of power. Another great selling point for the reactor is that it makes the production of renewable hydrogen economical and available. Currently it is very expensive to produce hydrogen because it is made with fossil fuels. The new process uses ethanol, a corn-based product.

Hydrogen power itself is hardly a new idea. Hydrogen fuel cells already propel experimental vehicles and supply power for some buildings. NASA has used them on spacecraft for decades.

But hydrogen is expensive to make and uses fossil fuels. The researchers say their reactor will produce hydrogen exclusively from ethanol and do it cheaply enough so people can buy hydrogen fuel cells for personal use.

They also believe their technology could be used to convert ethanol to hydrogen at fuel stations when cars that run solely on hydrogen enter the mass market.

Hydrogen does not emit any pollution or greenhouse gases. But unlike oil or coal, hydrogen must be produced — there are no natural stores of it waiting to be pumped or dug out of the ground.

The new technology holds economic potential for Midwest farmers, who are leaders in the production of corn-based ethanol.

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If technology based on this discovery starts to prove feasible we can expect to see great advances in our technology and great benefits to our environment. I wonder what impact this will have on the price of corn.

I have been waiting a while for this time to come. T-Mobile has finally added the Treo 600 to their line of phones. I recall hearing that there was some issue with configuring the Treo 600 to work on T-Mobile’s network but it appears that the issue is no longer of concern. I was actually afraid that I would have to leave the T-Mobile family to get the phone that I wanted. After hearing so much on how good of a phone the Treo 600 is, from my brother, I’m anxious to finally have one of my own. T-Mobile is taking pre-order and expects to start delivering the goods in early March. For more details on the Treo 600, checkout the HandSpring Website.

Alpine takes its innovative car stereo designs to the next level by integrating the Apple iPod. The head unit allows the user to control their iPod’s functions through it.

Mobile multimedia specialist Alpine has developed a system that enables consumers to connect and control their Apple iPod portable music player from their in-vehicle sound system. Alpine’s iPod Ready strategy is part of the company’s overarching mission to create innovative in-vehicle electronics that are easier to use and provide great sound in the mobile environment.

“The integration of iPod control into selected 2004 Alpine in-dash receivers addresses the growing market of portable digital audio device users who want a safe and easy-to-use solution for playback in the car,” says Graham Johnson, Alpine’s UK Marketing Director.

With a simple one-cable connection, iPod users will be able to operate key playback features from the Alpine receiver’s buttons and have display of playlists, album, artist and songs on the head unit. The iPod can then be safely stored in the glove box or console because it acts like a portable hard drive connected to the head unit through Alpine’s powerful Ai-NET system bus. The Alpine connectivity solution also provides charging of the iPod’s internal battery.

This system is the first of its kind and is sure to keep Alpine’s market share strong. Who will be next to jump on the iPod bandwagon? There has been no mention of price for this gadget, but it is due out in the summer of this year.

After a complex 11-hour operation, baby Rebecca was doing fine, but something went wrong post op.

Earlier surgeons had said baby Rebeca Martinez was doing well after a complex 11-hour operation carried out by a team of 18 people on Friday.

Born with the head of an undeveloped conjoined twin fused to the top of her skull, she was thought to be the first such baby to survive beyond birth.

In the delicate operation, surgeons had to cut off undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries and close Rebeca’s skull using a bone graft from another part of her body.

“She was too little to resist the surgery,” the baby’s mother Maria Gisela Hiciano told the Associated Press news agency from the hospital in Santo Domingo where surgery took place.

The team was led by Jorge Lazareff, who successfully separated Guatemalan conjoined twins in 2002.

Baby Rebecca suffered from a condition known as “Parasitic Twins”. The condition was recorded only eight time in history and the other seven babies died before birth. This condition would have limited the development of Rebecca’s brain, insuring some other type of handicap in the future.