But Did the IQ Go Down When The Bra Size Went Up? November 7, 2009
Posted by Joey in Fashion, Gadgets, Technology.Tags: Inflatable Bra
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Via Gizmodo, apparently now a fashion blog:
Based on my non-existent Chinese skills, I managed to understand that this inflatable bra makes boobs big, BIG, BIG. And I guess it comes with odd sound effects included? Can someone watch please this commercial and translate for me?
Windows 7 Security Still Pathetic November 5, 2009
Posted by Joey in Software, Technology.Tags: Malware, Microsoft, Rootkits, Viruses, Windows 7
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When, do you suppose, Microsoft will actually write a secure operating system?
Never. Gotta keep those anti-virus companies fat, dumb and happy. After all, the anti-virus companies can’t make money on Mac OS X or Linux.
Windows 7 Still Vulnerable to Viruses — Durr, Really? | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.
Anti-virus software vendor Sophos tested Windows 7’s built-in anti-virus capabilities by feeding a clean system 10 pieces of the newest malware. Eight out of the 10 samples ran successfully, claims Sophos.
“Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows,” says Chester Wisniewski, a senior security advisor at Sophos, in a blog post. “The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, 2 would not operate correctly under Windows 7.”
Sophos’ findings aren’t surprising: Windows 7 promises backward compatibility with most software that works on older operating systems, such as Windows XP. It would be reasonable to infer most malware compatible with Windows XP or Windows Vista is likely going to harm Windows 7.
LHC Cools Down October 16, 2009
Posted by Joey in Science, Technology.Tags: Large Hadron Collider, Mini black holes, Particle Physics, Physics, Vacuum Bubbles
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The Large Hadron Collider has now reached its operating temperature of 1.9K. Can whirring protons be far behind?
Stand by for vacuum bubbles and/or mini black holes.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | LHC gets colder than deep space.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment has once again become one of the coldest places in the Universe.
All eight sectors of the LHC have now been cooled to their operating temperature of 1.9 kelvin (-271C; -456F) – colder than deep space.
The large magnets that bend particle beams around the LHC are kept at this frigid temperature using liquid helium.
The magnets are arranged end-to-end in a 27km-long circular tunnel straddling the Franco-Swiss border.
The cool-down is an important milestone ahead of the collider’s scheduled re-start in the latter half of November.
The LHC has been shut down since 19 September 2008, when a magnet problem called a “quench” caused a tonne of liquid helium to leak into the LHC tunnel.
Large Hadron Collider: Sabotage From The Future October 15, 2009
Posted by Joey in Science, Technology.Tags: Higgs Boson, Large Hadron Collider, Mini black holes, Physics, Time Travelers, Vacuum Bubbles
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Oh, yes! Saboteurs from the future are keeping the Large Hadron Collider from starting up, since that will cause vacuum bubbles or mini black holes that could destroy the universe, and/or the earth, respectively.
Woohoo!! You go, time travelers. Stop in, we’ll have coffee and chat.
Big assist to William Gibson for this article found at Is The Large Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged from the Future? – Large hardron collider – io9.
What if all the Large Hadron Collider’s recent woes are more than bad luck and technical problems? Two noted physicists speculate that the future may be pushing back on the LHC to avert the disaster of observing the Higgs boson.
The quest to observe the Higgs boson has certainly been plagued by its share of troubles, from the cancellation of the Superconducting Supercollider in 1993 to the Large Hadron Collider’s streak of technical troubles. In fact, the projects have suffered such bad luck that Holger Bech Nielsen of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto wonder if it isn’t bad luck at all, but future influences rippling back to sabotage them. In papers like “Test of Effect From Future in Large Hadron Collider: a Proposal” and “Search for Future Influence From LHC,” they put forth the notion that observing the Higgs boson would be such an abhorrent event that the future is actually trying to prevent it from happening.
A Robot Sings October 7, 2009
Posted by Joey in Technology.Tags: CEATEC HRP-4C, Robots
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Kill it. Kill it with fire.
FTC to Regulate Blogging October 5, 2009
Posted by Joey in Government, Internet, Politics, Technology.Tags: FTC
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Which part of the 1st Amendment don’t these FTC turds understand?
Here’s my freakin’ disclosure: No one is stupid enough to pay me to write this blog.
Via Instapundit, FTC to Regulate Blogging – Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News – FOXNews.com.
The Federal Trade Commission will try to regulate blogging for the first time, requiring writers on the Web to clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products.
The FTC said Monday its commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the final Web guidelines, which had been expected. Violating the rules, which take effect Dec. 1, could bring fines up to $11,000 per violation. Bloggers or advertisers also could face injunctions and be ordered to reimburse consumers for financial losses stemming from inappropriate product reviews.
The commission stopped short of specifying how bloggers must disclose conflicts of interest. Rich Cleland, assistant director of the FTC’s advertising practices division, said the disclosure must be “clear and conspicuous,” no matter what form it will take.
Bloggers have long praised or panned products and services online. But what some consumers might not know is that many companies pay reviewers for their write-ups or give them free products such as toys or computers or trips to Disneyland. In contrast, at traditional journalism outlets, products borrowed for reviews generally have to be returned.
Miniature Living Room Inside A PC October 4, 2009
Posted by Joey in Art, Gadgets, Technology.add a comment
I have to admit, this is freakin’ cool!
I’m a MacHead, and the only thing I miss about PCs is building a customized gaming machine.
There’s a painstaking amount of detail inside the scene, including intricate housewares such as a vase, flowers, the newspaper, and a gumball machine (?!). Anyone with this much time on their hands must also spend hours thinking of the perfect way to get away with murder.
Happy Birthday, Compact Disc October 1, 2009
Posted by Joey in Gadgets, Music, Technology.Tags: Compact Disc, Sony, The Cars
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Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way to obsolescence.
I bought my first CD player in 1985; my first CD was, I think, The Cars by The Cars. I just plunked down major bucks for the complete remastered Beatles albums, but that’s likely to be my last major CD purchase. It’s downloads from here on out.
Oct. 1, 1982: Portable Music Enters the Spin Zone | This Day In Tech | Wired.com.
1982: Sony starts selling the first CD players to the public. Change is in the air.
Once upon a time cassettes were the preferred method of storing music. These mighty rectangles of plastic and magnetic tape allowed for easy recording, flaunted ample capacities, and were effortlessly portable. (If you weren’t worried about portability, there was still the reliable LP vinyl phonograph disc.)
And yet cassettes sucked.
3G Carriers: You Pay Us To Fix Our Crappy Service September 21, 2009
Posted by Joey in Internet, Technology.Tags: AT&T, Femtocells, Sprint, T-Mobile
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Gizmodo goes off on a rant on AT&T and other cellular providers on femtocells. In other words, customers are expected to pay to fix their crappy service.
However, T-Mobile’s @Home service is VoIP service for replacing your telephone line, not a femtocell. It exists basically as an attempt to kill off Vonage and other VoIP providers.
3G MicroCells: Carriers Want You to Pay Extra to Fix Their Own Failures – 3G microcell – Gizmodo.
AT&T’s network is basically a huge failure. And if you want to fix their incompetence in your area, you’ll need to pay an additional $150 for a 3G MicroCell. I call bullshit.
Danny touched on this earlier, but the logic here is blowing my mind. How little regard for your customers do you have to have to offer a product that fixes your own product for an additional fee every month? Seriously, somebody explain to me how this is going to fly.
AT&T is currently testing the MicroCell in North Carolina, charging up to $20 a month to people who want to fix the dead spot in their apartment by running their phone through the internet. And they’re charging subscribers $150 for the box itself. It’s all a trial, so any of these prices could change, but as it stands it’s pretty ridiculous.
And AT&T is the last carrier to the femtocell party. Sprint charges $20 a month for its AiRave femtocell and Verizon charges $250 for its Network Extender box. T-Mobile charges $10 a month for its @Home service, which uses Wi-Fi instead of a cellular connection, but does the same thing. All of the carriers are ripping off their customers with these things, since all of the work is being put on your home internet connection, which you pay your broadband carrier for.
Paparazzi Laser Shield September 21, 2009
Posted by Joey in Media, Technology.Tags: Conspicuous Consumption, mega-yacht, Paparazzi, Roman Abramovich, Yachts
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You would think, given the massive scale of conspicuous consumption, that Roman would want paparazzi photographing his yacht.
I can’t think of a reason why using a laser against a paparazzi wouldn’t be considered assault. But then, I’m not a Russian oligarch.
Russian Billionaire Installs Anti-Photo Shield on Giant Yacht | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has a rather curious new addition built in to his latest oversized yacht. The 557-foot boat Eclipse, the price tag of which has almost doubled since original plans were drawn to almost $1.2 billion, set sail this week with a slew of show-off features, from two helipads, two swimming pools and six-foot movie screens in all guest cabins, to a mini-submarine and missile-proof windows to combat piracy.
It might not seem like somebody with such ostentatious tastes would crave privacy, but along with these expensive toys, Ambramovich has installed an anti-paparazzi “shield”. Lasers sweep the surroundings and when they detect a CCD, they fire a bolt of light right at the camera to obliterate any photograph. According to the Times, these don’t run all the time, so friends and guests should still be able to grab snaps. Instead, they will be activated when guards spot the scourge of professional photography, paparazzi, loitering nearby.
