Middle-aged parents must stretch properly to avoid injuries when playing Wii games, doctors have warned.
The Nintendo console – which is expected to be one of the most popular presents again this year – allows players to simulate a range of energetic sports in their own home.
But parents who are not used to regular exercise could seriously hurt themselves if they do not warm up and warm down properly before playing.
Osteopaths have reported a rapid increase in the number of back, neck and elbow injuries among older people who claim to have overexerted themselves on games such as Wii tennis.
Health and fitness experts are warning those older parents playing Wii games with their children to stretch properly to avoid a pain filled festive period.
Read the full story by Martin Evans at the Telegraph.co.uk
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Leaders from all over the world are in Denmark this week to discuss climate change
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| World of Warmcraft | ||||
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Leaders from all over the world are in Denmark this week to discuss climate change. Nothing shows a dedication to the environment like renting 1200 limos.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Scientists Hide Global Warming Data | ||||
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Baby-by-Number: Parents’ New Obsession With Data
"Allen Fawcett admits he and his wife are mildly addicted to keeping track of their babies’ schedules. The pair of economists have been recording every diaper, feeding and nap since they became parents.
With the help of the Trixie Tracker website, they know they’ve changed exactly 7,367 diapers for their three-year-old son and 969 for their three-month-old daughter. They also have a graph of precisely how many minutes each of their children slept on nearly every day since birth. During their daughter’s first month, the data shows she averaged 15 hours of sleep a day, which is two hours more than her brother at the same age and well above average for other Trixie Tracker babies.
“People look at us and say, ‘My goodness, how do you spend so much time on this?’” Fawcett said. “But each record takes just a few iPhone clicks, so it’s really not as time-consuming as it looks.”
The Fawcett family may take schedule tracking to the extreme, but they’re certainly not the only parents who are measuring, recording and comparing minute details of their kids’ lives.
Fifteen years ago, tracking your baby’s development meant going to the pediatrician every few months and recording his growth on a simple height and weight chart. Today, baby tracking is a booming business. In addition to websites that let you track your infant’s schedule, there are iPhone apps that translate and record your baby’s cries, wearable devices that keep track of how much you talk to your child, and even electronic toys that record how your child plays with them, so you can compare his progress to developmental norms.
As a soon-to-be mom expecting my first child in less than a month, I sympathize with the desire to keep close tabs on a baby. Almost the instant a second line appeared on my pregnancy pee stick, I found myself seized by a strong desire to make sure my baby was developing normally.
I managed to refrain from buying a home Doppler device to monitor my kid’s heartbeat, and I skipped the special Kickbee belt that detects fetal kicks and tweets every time baby wiggles in the womb. But once my first son makes his appearance, I know I’ll be tempted to try some of the infant-tracking technology. Who wouldn’t want more ways to record their child’s health and well-being?
According to pediatricians and child development experts, however, this new obsession with quantifying our kids has a potential downside, especially when parents cross the line from merely tracking an infant’s schedule to obsessing over developmental milestones and worrying about how baby measures up to her peers."
Read the full story at Wired by Hadley Leggett
Friday, December 11, 2009
Soviet Star Wars
The launch that saved the world from orbiting laser battle stations.
"It sounds like something from a James Bond movie: a massive satellite, the largest ever launched, equipped with a powerful laser to take out the American anti-missile shield in advance of a Soviet first strike. It was real, though—or at least the plan was. In fact, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev walked out of the October 1986 summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, because President Ronald Reagan wouldn't abandon his Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, the Soviets were closer to fielding a space-based weapon than the United States was. Less than a year later, as the world continued to criticize Reagan for his "Star Wars" concept, the Soviet Union launched a test satellite for its own space-based laser system, which failed to reach orbit. Had it succeeded, the cold war might have taken a different turn."
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Dyson bladeless fan
The Gadget inspectors review Sir James Dyson's latest product the bladeless fan!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Cocktails From Behind The Iron Curtain - Food
Although the Berlin Wall came down over the period of a long summer, November 4, 1989 — when over 1,000,000 people gathered in East Berlin’s Alexanderplatz — is often regarded as the beginning of the end, not only for the Berlin Wall, but for the Soviet Bloc itself.
Posted using ShareThis
Leo Laporte & Net Neutrality
OPEN (ep 3) explores the inner-workings of the TWiT Cottage and the creative process of Leo Laporte. Leo has build an online network with over a dozen shows, a staff of 7 and an unrelenting drive ...
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Several Restaurants Sue Vendor for Unsecured Card Processor
"Seven restaurants have sued the maker of a bank card-processing system for failing to secure the product from a Romanian hacker who breached their systems.The restaurants, located in Louisiana and Mississippi, filed a class-action suitagainst Georgia-based Radiant Systems for producing a point-of-sale (POS) system that they say was not compliant with payment card industry security standards and resulted in an undetermined number of customers having their debit and credit card numbers stolen.
The suit alleges that the system stored all the data embedded on the bank card magnetic stripe after the transaction was completed — a violation of industry security standards that made it a high-risk target for hackers.
Also named in the suit is Computer World, a Louisiana-based retailer, which sold and maintained Radiant’s Aloha POS system.
According to plaintiffs, Computer World’s technicians allegedly installed the remote-access program PCAnywhere on the systems to allow its technicians to fix technical problems from off-site. The only problem is, the company failed to secure the program. The suit alleges that the system was not up to date with software patches, and the PCAnywhere remote log-in and password that technicians used to access the POS systems was the same at every one of the 200 Louisiana locations where the system was installed. According to one of the plaintiffs who spoke with Threat Level, the default login was “administrator” and the password was “computer.”
As a result, a hacker, believed to be based in Romania, accessed the systems of at least 19 businesses through the PCAnywhere software, and possibly others plaintiffs say. "
Image courtesy California State Controller’s Office & Wired
Friday, December 4, 2009
Home owners and HOA's butt heads over solar
"Ready to chuck his electric bills, Camarillo resident Marc Weinberg last year asked his homeowners association for permission to put solar panels on his roof.
When the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. said no, Weinberg sued the group. Under the state's Solar Rights Act, he argued, a homeowners association can't unreasonably block solar installations.
Weinberg won, and the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. was ordered to not only permit the solar panels but to cover the tens of thousands of dollars that Weinberg had spent on legal fees. Since last fall, when he installed a double row of matte black panels, three other homes in the hilltop neighborhood of luxury estates have added panels. "
When the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. said no, Weinberg sued the group. Under the state's Solar Rights Act, he argued, a homeowners association can't unreasonably block solar installations.
Weinberg won, and the Spanish Hills Homeowners Assn. was ordered to not only permit the solar panels but to cover the tens of thousands of dollars that Weinberg had spent on legal fees. Since last fall, when he installed a double row of matte black panels, three other homes in the hilltop neighborhood of luxury estates have added panels. "
Read the full story at the LA Times
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Eco Motors creates radically new type of engine
"Eco Motors is the name of a new company that has come up with a radically new type of engine. It has two opposing pistons in two contiguous cylinders, connected to a common crankshaft in the middle of the engine. An electric supercharger provides boost on demand. It's a two-stroke engine with no valves, yet still achieves 90% scavenging efficiency with less oil consumption than a four-stroke engine. In other words, it's a two-stroke engine that can meet the strictest emissions standards. It can be made as a spark-ignited or compression-ignition engine, and the diesel version can meet emission standards without using urea."
Read the full story at autoblog
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
SSL/TLS Zero-day flaw found in web encryption
"Security researchers Marsh Ray and Steve Dispensa unveiled the TLS (Transport Layer Security) flaw on Wednesday, following the disclosure of separate, but similar, security findings. TLS and its predecessor, SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), are typically used by online retailers and banks to provide security for web transactions.
The flaw in the TLS authentication process allows an outsider to hijack a legitimate user's browser session and successfully impersonate the user, the researchers said in a technical paper.
The fault lies in an "authentication gap" in TLS, Ray and Dispensa said. During the cryptographic authentication process, in which a series of electronic handshakes take place between the client and server, there is a loss of continuity in the authentication of the server to the client. This gives an attacker an opening to hijack the data stream, they said.
In addition, the flaw allows practical man-in-the-middle attacks against hypertext transfer protocol secure (Https) servers, the researchers said. Https is the secure combination of http and TLS used in most online financial transactions."
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A Wired review of Apple Magic Mouse
It's Magic! The First Apple Mouse That Doesn't Suck
"It's about time. For years, Apple has embraced aesthetic simplicity over practicality with its peripherals. Single-button mice! Yes, we know Apple hasn't made single-button mice for a long time, but why in the world did Steve Jobs ever think that was a good idea? Well, he was wrong until today. Apple's latest Magic Mouse actually does the trick thanks to its multitouch powers.
The Magic Mouse ditches the lozenge-shaped body and gunk-collecting trackball of its predecessor (the Mighty Mouse) in favor of a curvy wedge shape with a fully touch-sensitive housing. The new form factor fits more naturally in your hand than previous Apple mice — enough so to erase the painful memories you have of that atrocious hockey-puck mouse from the '90s.
The mouse detects touch gestures that trigger different functions. Swiping upward or downward with momentum enables scrolling in a browser. In Safari, using two fingers and swiping left or right takes you a page backward or forward, respectively. The same gesture also lets you flip through a photo album with the Mac OS X Preview app.
In an age where a heavy amount of everyday computing can be done in a web browser, the Magic Mouse couldn't be more than welcome."
Read the full story by Brian Chen
Monday, November 23, 2009
iPhone worm can act like botnet say experts
A second worm to hit the iPhone has been unearthed by security company F-Secure.
It is specifically targeting people in the Netherlands who are using their iPhones for internet banking with Dutch online bank ING.
It redirects the bank's customers to a lookalike site with a log-in screen.
The worm attacks "jail-broken" phones - a modification which enables the user to run non-Apple approved software on their handset.
The handsets at risk also have SSH (secure shell) installed.
Read the full story at BBC News
More:
Symantec Spots Worm Targeting Jailbroken Apple iPhone Phones
It is specifically targeting people in the Netherlands who are using their iPhones for internet banking with Dutch online bank ING.
It redirects the bank's customers to a lookalike site with a log-in screen.
The worm attacks "jail-broken" phones - a modification which enables the user to run non-Apple approved software on their handset.
The handsets at risk also have SSH (secure shell) installed.
Read the full story at BBC News
More:
Symantec Spots Worm Targeting Jailbroken Apple iPhone Phones
Friday, November 20, 2009
Report: Countries prepping for cyberwar
"Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a "Cyber Cold War," amassing cyberweapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report to be released on Tuesday by McAfee.
In particular, countries gearing up for cyberoffensives are the U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France, the says the report, compiled by former White House Homeland Security adviser Paul Kurtz and based on interviews with more than 20 experts in international relations, national security and Internet security.
"We don't believe we've seen cases of cyberwarfare," said Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at McAfee. "Nations have been reluctant to use those capabilities because of the likelihood that [a big cyberattack] could do harm to their own country. The world is so interconnected these days."
Threats of cyberwarfare have been hyped for decades. There have been unauthorized penetrations into government systems since the early ARPANET days and it has long been known that the U.S. critical infrastructure is vulnerable."
Read the full story at CNET by Elinor Mills
In particular, countries gearing up for cyberoffensives are the U.S., Israel, Russia, China, and France, the says the report, compiled by former White House Homeland Security adviser Paul Kurtz and based on interviews with more than 20 experts in international relations, national security and Internet security.
"We don't believe we've seen cases of cyberwarfare," said Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at McAfee. "Nations have been reluctant to use those capabilities because of the likelihood that [a big cyberattack] could do harm to their own country. The world is so interconnected these days."
Threats of cyberwarfare have been hyped for decades. There have been unauthorized penetrations into government systems since the early ARPANET days and it has long been known that the U.S. critical infrastructure is vulnerable."
Read the full story at CNET by Elinor Mills
Thursday, November 19, 2009
How not to be a jerk during your next fight
"I can sum up in three "acts" the breakdowns and breakups of most relationships since the beginning of time:
Act 1: You hurt me.
Act 2: Because you hurt me, I now hurt you.
Act 3: Because you hurt me, I now hurt you and so you hurt me again and so I hurt you -- and downward spiraling we shall go.
John Gottman, the famed founder of The Love Lab (a family research laboratory where where couples are studied), says he can consistently predict how long a relationship will last, not based on how well a couple gets along, but by how well a couple doesn't get along.
A relationship is only as strong as how well the two can deal with their weakest moments and how well they handle conflict."
Read the full story at CNN By Karen Salmansohn from Oprah.com
Act 1: You hurt me.
Act 2: Because you hurt me, I now hurt you.
Act 3: Because you hurt me, I now hurt you and so you hurt me again and so I hurt you -- and downward spiraling we shall go.
John Gottman, the famed founder of The Love Lab (a family research laboratory where where couples are studied), says he can consistently predict how long a relationship will last, not based on how well a couple gets along, but by how well a couple doesn't get along.
A relationship is only as strong as how well the two can deal with their weakest moments and how well they handle conflict."
Read the full story at CNN By Karen Salmansohn from Oprah.com
Simple ways to not be a idiot during your next fight:
0. Apply Bible principles of love and respect.
1. Pick the right time and the right place, in private.
2. Avoid harsh start-ups such as starting out blaming or calling your partner bad names.
3. Always be virtuous. Don't be cold, pridefull, angry or become hysterica.
4. Instead of trying to win arguments, try to have a winning relationship!
5. Put in the "virtue of discipline" to calm yourself before you begin talking. Be calm and reasonable and your mate will be too.
6. Close a difficult conversation by sharing memories of good times and/or your partner's good qualities. You can catch more Bees with honey than with vinegar. A few kind words can go a long way.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Respirator or face mask? Best H1N1 protection still debated
In fact, surgical face masks, which are cheaper and easier to wear, may be just as good as N95 respirators. At the very least, researchers can't prove that one is better than the other. It's the latest wrinkle in a continuing debate over how to protect health-care workers from the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu."
Read the full story at CNN
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Advisory Windows 7 Security Bug
Microsoft releases an advisory to help users concerned about a new zero-day vulnerability affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The bug was made public last week after Patch Tuesday.
Microsoft released a security advisory to help users mitigate a bug affecting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Release 2.
The security vulnerability was reported last week by researcher Laurent Gaffie and can be exploited to remotely trigger a denial-of-service condition in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Gaffie posted proof-of-concept code to the Full Disclosure mailing list and his personal blog last week.
The bug he uncovered lies within the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol and affects SMB versions 1 and 2, the advisory states. SMB is the file-sharing protocol used by default on Windows-based computers.
According to Microsoft, users can block
Monday, November 16, 2009
Psystar massacred in court
Mac clone maker Psystar was dealt a significant legal blow on Friday when federal judge William Alsup ruled (PDF) that it violated Apple’s copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Groklaw called the ruling by “a total massacre”!
Groklaw called the ruling by “a total massacre”!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Ultimate Russian Comfort Food
"The differences between Russian and French cuisine are many, but here’s one of the most important: French food is urbane, it beckons you forward while always managing to stay a few steps ahead, like a mysterious beautiful woman. Russian food is basic, nourishing, domestic. Like mom, it simply smothers you with love. That’s why you can eat French cuisine at home, but still picture it being served in a restaurant, while Russian cuisine will always have something homemade about it, no matter where it is served.
Golubtsy, or stuffed cabbage, is perhaps the homiest of all Russian dishes. For most children of the Soviet Union, golubtsy bring back memories of mom or grandma and long, comforting meals in a warm kitchen."
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Unlock Any iPhone in Seconds!
Superstar iPhone hacker George Hotz has just released Blacksn0w, an addition to his latest Blackra1n iPhone jailbreaking application. Why would you want it? Because it will take any iPhone or iPod Touch and jailbreak it with one click. It will also unlock any iPhone and allow it to be used on any cell carrier, anywhere in the world. It even restores internet connection tethering for iPhones running the latest 3.1.2 software.
Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 out of 10 viruses
SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software. Unfortunately, despite Microsoft's claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
TechTV Geeks make good: Leo Laporte Makes $1.5 Million Per Year from Podcasting
Leo Laporte shares his views on podcasting, the Internet and how the little guy is beating up big mainstream TV media. The talk was given at the Online News Association Conference in San Francisco and it's forty minutes long.
Friday, October 30, 2009
InfoWorld: Snow Leopard beats Windows 7
PC vs. Mac deathmatch: Snow Leopard beats Windows 7
"Windows 7 was built to fix the problems that plagued Vista, and it unquestionably succeeds in doing that. It's a bit less bloated, and it runs a bit faster. The annoying security alerts from User Account Control have been quieted. And the compatibility issues with third-party software and hardware device drivers have largely been ironed away; after all, it's been two and a half years since Vista debuted. Windows 7 even includes a virtual "XP mode" for running legacy programs.
[ Which is better? The Mac OS and Windows 7 UIs face off. | GetInfoWorld's 21-page hands-on look at the next version of Windows, from InfoWorld’s editors and contributors. | Find out what's new, what's wrong, and what's good about Windows 7 in InfoWorld's "Windows 7: The essential guide." ]
Windows 7 goes a few steps beyond merely repairing Vista. It borrows --and improves on -- tricks from the Mac's playbook to make it easier and faster to organize files and launch programs. Like Apple's operating system, Windows 7 not only looks good, but it has tools and shortcuts that help you work more efficiently. If there were ever a Windows that could challenge Mac OS X, Windows 7 is it.
Still, once you've had Mac, can you ever go back?"
Read the full story at InfoWorld
Thursday, October 29, 2009
How To: Hackintosh a Dell Mini 10v Into the Ultimate Snow Leopard Netbook
Here's the pitch: a 10-inch, almost-pocketable computer running Snow Leopard, the latest, greatest version of OS X. It costs just $300. Sound good? Here's how to make your own.
Last time we threw together a guide like this, things were different. Snow Leopardwas but a glint in Steve Jobs' eye, and in terms of hardware, the Mini 9 was the best thing going—it was pretty much the only netbook you could guarantee would work perfectly. Not to mention the hackintosh process was much, much more complicated. And riskier! And yet, despite all this, it was easy to recommend loading a Mini up with OS X, because to put it bluntly, the results were fantastic.
But the Mini 9 was a bit too small for regular use, and even if it's still pretty easy to buy one, it's not officially part of Dell's product line anymore. Fast forward to now: the Mini 10v is a (quite similar) replacement for the 9, with a slightly larger screen, 160GB HDD standard, and 1GB or RAM. Most importantly, the keyboard is a bit larger, and the price is wonderfully low: $300 for a netbook that's completely ready for hackintoshing. Or to put it another way, the 10v is a $300 Apple netbook.
Read the full story at Gizmodo
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Apple Powerhouse on Nasdaq
While you may have heard about Apple new 27 inch iMac or their new MacBook or the new Magic Mouse. You may not have heard just how well Apple Stock is doing.
It's no surprise that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) crushed its fourth-quarter earnings estimate. The company delivered earnings of $1.67 billion, up 47% from last year on an earnings-per-share basis. To understand why Apple's crushed earnings predictions were no shock, take a look at the business model that telegraphed the punches behind what Apple called its most profitable quarter ever.
Apple's core competency is innovative design and technology. That's the spirit behind its famous "Think Different" ad campaign. Apple introduces products that truly wow the market. Think back to the Macintosh in 1984 -- the first affordable computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). Today, the iPhone challenges the definition of a phone, by combining a portable digital media player, Internet client, GPS navigator, camera, and ... um ... oh yeah, a phone. Not only does Apple wow consumers, but it changes the way we think about consumer electronics.
Read the full story at fool.com
It's no surprise that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) crushed its fourth-quarter earnings estimate. The company delivered earnings of $1.67 billion, up 47% from last year on an earnings-per-share basis. To understand why Apple's crushed earnings predictions were no shock, take a look at the business model that telegraphed the punches behind what Apple called its most profitable quarter ever.
Apple's core competency is innovative design and technology. That's the spirit behind its famous "Think Different" ad campaign. Apple introduces products that truly wow the market. Think back to the Macintosh in 1984 -- the first affordable computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). Today, the iPhone challenges the definition of a phone, by combining a portable digital media player, Internet client, GPS navigator, camera, and ... um ... oh yeah, a phone. Not only does Apple wow consumers, but it changes the way we think about consumer electronics.
Read the full story at fool.com
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sweet Panasonic 3D technology is coming home
Now wait one second before you start on the whole "I'm not wearing any stupid looking glasses," because no matter what you say, there are more people paying extra to go 3D movies than ever and the reason is simple; it's because this isn't like the crappy 3D you saw during the Super Bowl last year -- or that our parents grew up with. No, the 3D that Sony, Panasonic, and others are promising next year is like nothing you've seen. We've come a long way since the old anaglyph red and blue glasses that come in cereal boxes, so before you knock the new technology before it's even out, click through and read about the technologies that might bring us a real 3D revolution.
Read the full story at engadget
Monday, October 26, 2009
Cherkassy, Ukraine War Monument updated
Years ago when a monument was erected in Cherkassy, Ukraine to commemorate the ultimate sacrifice that was made by Russian soldiers during World War II. The huge statue and expansive plaza were capped off by an eternal flame. Unfortunately, when the Soviet Block broke up, the natural gas that had been provided by the government became a luxury so the flame was extinguished.
So the eternal flame sat unlit, a sad commentary to the remembrance of the dead. But how to fix this issue? As cell phone companies came into the area, a need for cell phone towers arose. At some point a solution was reached; a cell phone tower was built in the bowl of the eternal flame and then wrapped with an LED marquee. The marquee now displays the image of a flame in perpetuity.
Read the full story at hackaday
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Top 15 Terminal Commands for Hidden Settings in Snow Leopard
"Every time Apple brings out a new version of OS X, we compile a list of our favourite Terminal commands for enabling hidden features and changing hidden settings (here are the lists for Tigerand Leopard).
For those who are new to Terminal Commands, here's a quick run down of how to use them. Don't worry, it's really easy. Start by opening up Terminal, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. In the window that appears, paste in one of the lines provided below, and then hit return. For the changes to take effect, you need to restart the application concerned. For applications like the Dock or Finder, it is easiest to just type
For those who are new to Terminal Commands, here's a quick run down of how to use them. Don't worry, it's really easy. Start by opening up Terminal, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. In the window that appears, paste in one of the lines provided below, and then hit return. For the changes to take effect, you need to restart the application concerned. For applications like the Dock or Finder, it is easiest to just type
killall Dock or killall Finder into the Terminal to restart them. To reverse the changes, you just need to change the last word of the command and run it again. If the last word is YES, change it to NO, change 1 to 0, and change TRUE to FALSE and vice versa for all."Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Performance showdown: Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard
"In time-based tests, Snow Leopard consistently outdid Windows 7. It took only 36.4 seconds to boot up, while Windows took 42.7 seconds. In a shutdown test, Snow Leopard took only 6.6 seconds, while Windows needed twice the amount of time: 12.6 seconds."
Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
Кен Робинсон рассуждает о том, как школы подавляют творчество
A visionary cultural leader, Sir Ken led the British government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, a massive inquiry into the significance of creativity in the educational system and the economy, and was knighted in 2003 for his achievements. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, a deep look at human creativity and education, was published in January 2009.
Сэр Кен Робинсон предлагает создавать образовательные системы, нацеленные на развитие, а не подавление творческих способностей
Monday, October 19, 2009
The pocket spy: Will your smartphone rat you out?
"THERE are certain things you do not want to share with strangers. In my case it was a stream of highly personal text messages from my husband, sent during the early days of our relationship. Etched on my phone's SIM card - but invisible on my current handset and thus forgotten - here they now are, displayed in all their brazen glory on a stranger's computer screen.
I've just walked into a windowless room on an industrial estate in Tamworth, UK, where three cellphone analysts in blue shirts sit at their terminals, scrutinising the contents of my phone and smirking. "If it's any consolation, we would have found them even if you had deleted them," says one.
Worse, it seems embarrassing text messages aren't the only thing I have to worry about: "Is this a photo of your office?" another asks (the answer is yes). "And did you enjoy your pizza on Monday night? And why did you divert from your normal route to work to visit this address in Camberwell, London, on Saturday?"
I'm at DiskLabs, a company that handles cellphone forensic analysis for UK police forces, but also for private companies and individuals snooping on suspect employees or wayward spouses. Armed with four cellphones, which I have begged, borrowed and bought off friends and strangers, I'm curious to know just how much personal information can be gleaned from our used handsets and SIM cards."
$1.5M Russian SUV Features Diamonds, Whale Penis Leather
Whale penis leather interior. That's all you really need to know about the $1.5 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition. Yes, the diamond-encrusted white gold gauges and gold-plated bulletproof windows are impressive, but seriously, whale penis leather interior.
The already bulletproof and wildly over-the-top 8.1 liter GM V8-powered Dartz Kombat T98 is getting a name change to Prombron and along with it will come a complete and brain-maimingly bourgeoisie upgrade with the Monaco Red Diamond Edition. The world's most expensive ultra-luxury SUV will debut at the 2010 Top Marques Monaco show.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Women Are Unhappy? And You're Surprised?
Marcus Buckingham tells us that women are accomplishing more and more and becoming increasingly less happy in the process. As surprising as this might seem to some, my response is more along the lines of, "of course!"
A couple of months ago, as I began this series about aspiration and inspiration, I wrote an article entitled, What Do You Want Out Of Life, Really? For some, the answers would seem to lie in measures the "real world" would understand: money, cars, jobs, houses and other kinds of physical world accomplishments or acquisitions. However, many of us have gone through that cycle, acquired like crazy, and still wound up feeling unfulfilled. Sound familiar?
My experience in working with thousands of individuals over the past 30+ years leads me to believe there is very little correlation between material world success and happiness or fulfillment.
Having read the articles Marcus has written so far, my response is more toward "of course" than "surprise" that women might be experiencing less happiness over the past two decades. To be clear, there's no such thing as "women" in the sense that if you are a woman, then you are necessarily one of these women who, statistically speaking, are less happy. That's an individual experience, and, in my world view, an individual choice. Or more accurately stated, a consequence of individual choices made or avoided - more on this in another article downstream.
In my work on the difference between symbols vs. experience, I have found that many people seem to suffer from the illusion that happiness, satisfaction or fulfillment (experience) are a result of accomplishing some goal or, more to the point, of acquiring something in the material world (symbol).
As Marcus addresses the rhetorical question of "what's going on here," he offers several tips in his article about What the Happiest Women Seem to Have in Common. His first two tips resonate strongly with what I have learned over the years and provide a foundation on which to build a more fulfilled and successful life. Marcus calls them: Focus on moments, more than goals, plans or dreams and Accept what (you) find.
Read the full story by Russell Bishop
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Fake antivirus attacks PCs with ransom demand
The Fake antivirus phenomenon has taken an unpleasant turn with the discovery of a Windows program that not only cons users into buying an unnecessary license but appears to lock files and applications on the victim's PC.
According to security company Panda Security, rogueware program Total Security 2009 starts out in conventional fashion with the 'discovery' of a non-existent malware infection for which it demands an unusually ambitious $79.95 (£50), and even has the cheek to ask a further $19.95 for 'premium' technical support.
Read the full story by John E. Dunn , TechWorld
Russian Girl Hot for Words
Marina Orlova is a philologist (one who studies linguistics and etymology). She loves to discuss the origins of words.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sneaky Microsoft plug-in puts Firefox users at risk
"Computerworld - An add-on that Microsoft silently slipped into Mozilla's Firefox last February leaves the browser open to attack, Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged earlier this week.
One of the 13 security bulletins Microsoft released Tuesday affects not only Internet Explorer (IE), but also Firefox, thanks to a Microsoft-made plug-in pushed to Firefox users eight months ago in an update delivered via Windows Update.
"While the vulnerability is in an IE component, there is an attack vector for Firefox users as well," admitted Microsoft engineers in a post to the company's Security Research & Defense blog on Tuesday. "The reason is that .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installs a 'Windows Presentation Foundation' plug-in in Firefox."
The Microsoft engineers described the possible threat as a "browse-and-get-owned" situation that only requires attackers to lure Firefox users to a rigged Web site."
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