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Domain: parallaxis.net
Stories and comments across the archive that link to parallaxis.net.
Stories · 6
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Biology's McGyver: DIY DNA P.C.R.
joesao writes "In this short, charming interview, Dr. Eva Harris talks about popularizing biology by doing what she calls "knowledge-based" technology transfer: "...people purify DNA for P.C.R. processing with a fancy substance made of silica particles, which costs about $100 for a few milliliters. [...] So what we've done is buy a 20-pound bag of ceramic dust for $5 at the hobby store. And you wash the stuff in nitric acid and sterilize it, and then you have thousands of tubes of that substance. We're not violating anything because the commercial manufacturers have their way of doing this, and we have ours." Open-source biology, anyone?" -
Easy Character Accents in Mac OS X?
joesao writes "How have people been typing accents under OS X? I'm not talking funky key combinations, but simple, 'dead-key' stuff like: a + ` = à. In Windows this is accomplished easily by setting the input locale for keyboards as 'United States-International' but the similar function under System Preferences doesn't have any acceptable keyboards. Unicode isn't an option, either; only a few applications support that. Documentation on Apple's site is scant, and a Google search doesn't yield anything that really works. Anybody out there have a decent keyboard file for Mac OS X?" -
'Pop' Between Tracks In New iPod
joesao writes "The new iPods released last week seem to have a problem that causes an audible 'electrostatic pop' between all tracks played on it. The effect is not imaginary, as it has been witnessed by many users over at the Apple discussion forums. Now, one user has actually published a sound sample recorded the iPod's playback and the verdict is in: it's real. I hope this is a firmware issue and that it's quickly fixed ..." I just ordered a new iPod. I wonder if I should cancel my order. -
Finding Decent Unix Server Hosting?
joesao asks: "I've hosted my website and a number of others at Communitech for 4 years now and I've enjoyed affordable, quality Unix hosting that has given me no headaches. Recently they have been bought out and the service has completely deteriorated. The online forums are on fire with people pledging to leave, calling in and taping conversations, and so forth. So now I'm searching for a decent Unix host. My requirements aren't too bad: I need PHP, MySQL, the ability to configure my server somewhat (htpasswd, htaccess), raw log files, SSH, FTP, crontab, decent bandwidth (~10 GB), POP accounts, around 300 MB disk space (I host the bulk of my images/videos elsewhere)... and I wouldn't mind paying what I pay for DSL every month (~$50). That excludes buying a T1 for my house. And I don't mind what flavor of Unix/Linux it runs on, as long as it just works (wouldn't mind XServe, either). I'm having trouble finding credible sites with rankings out there so I ask the Slashdot community for help. Any recommendations?" -
Helmet Paint Job iBook Mod
joesao writes "Remember that beautiful red iBook from a while back? So Pbsource has a post about a guy who hired a French helmet painter to scrape the lid of his iBook and turn into this. I wish somebody would start doing art replicas. Van Gogh, anyone?" -
Reclusive Stem Cell Researcher Profiled
joesao writes: "The NYTimes is profiling Dr. James Thomson, a reclusive Winsconsin researcher who was the first person to isolate human stem cells from embryos. The article outlines a few of the issues surrounding the stem cell research controversy, and of course, it's more acceptable counterpart, adult stem cell research. Why is this such an ethically-laden topic? I can understand why religious groups are so uptight about this, but don't the benefits greatly outweigh the burden of destroying the bundle of cells we call 'embryo'?"