Other than the fact that they are expanding the routes on which this is offered, I'm not sure how this is new news. Gogo has been offering service on trans-con American Airlines flights from LA to the east coast for at least 6 months now.
I've used it a few times, and it works OK. Speeds were reasonable (100-150KB download speeds, ping times comparable to mobile broadband, 150-200ms) and I think there was only 1 dead spot for a few minutes during the times that I was logged in. They did not block VPN access so you could conceivably use VoIP once you VPN, but I did not try this.
A link to the actual service (rather than USA today or a blog) would help too:
Why the heck is he using an FM transmitter to connect the iPod to his nice tube equipment. Its one thing to use nice tube amplifiers to get a warm analog sound from a digital source (even order harmonic distortion and all that jazz), but why limit the frequency responce to FM's 50-15,000 Hz?! Good sources (such as the iPod) and good output equipment (which would presumably be hooked up to quality tube amplifiers) would benefit greatly from a full 20-20,000 KHz frequency responce!!
He was saying "Kali Ma" and this means The Dark Mother. Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess Durga. Everything else about the temple and the rituals was all Hollywood BS though.
I am a frequent visitor of Vegas and I doubt I will EVER use the new monorail. First of all, the construction of this monorail closed a number of FREE trams/rails that I often used. There was an excellent free rail between the MGM and Ballys, as well as the Monte Carlo -> Bellagio tram. Both closed down for this construction. Now going from MGM to Ballys will cost $$ and the Monte Carlo Bellagio tram still remains closed! It's on the other side of the street for god sakes. There was no reason to close this excellent free service.
Second, the cost. I usually go with a group of friends, and if the 5 of us split a cab, it always cost $10 or less total, AND takes us door to door instead of only a few stations WAY at the back of the casinos. This is also 24 hrs a day. The monorail closes at midnight!! Who the hell heads back to their room at midnight in vegas?!
The only advantage the monorail has is a direct route to the convention center. Large conventions could make good use of this, but otherwise, I'd suggest tourists stay away.
I just bought a Philips DVP642 from CompUSA for $69. For the price it can't be beat. Plays Divx 3,4 and 5, Xvid and a bunch of other formats. I haven't had any problems playing anything yet.
There are tiny creatures living off radiation in ancient pockets of water several kilometres beneath the Earth's surface, say researchers.
The microbes seem to have been isolated for hundreds of millions of years. Similar conditions might exist beneath the surface of Mars.
"Anywhere you have a crust with uranium and water in it, you have the potential for life," microbiologist Tullis Onstott, of Princeton University, New Jersey, told this week's American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
As you go deeper, the chemicals essential for normal life - organic matter and oxygen - disappear. And you get crushed and cooked, as temperature and pressure rise.
Microbes have been found a kilometre or so beneath the Earth's surface before. But cost and contamination with shallower bugs have hindered scientists looking deeper for life.
Working with miners in the world's deepest holes - 3.5 kilometre-deep South African goldmines - Onstott and his colleagues found hot water rich in bacteria.
The water is loaded with dissolved hydrogen gas, at a concentration up to a hundred million times higher than normal. Radioactive isotopes in the water show that the gas could only have formed by radioactive energy from surrounding uranium deposits splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen, argues Onstott.
Researchers had speculated that bacteria might make hydrogen in this way, but it has never been seen before. "It's a completely novel system for supporting life," says John Baross, who studies deep-sea bacteria at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The mine-dwelling bacteria are hard to grow in the lab. Genetic evidence suggests that some of the microbes are related to a species called Pyrococcus abyssi, which lives in hot, deep-sea vents.
These bacteria are thought to be similar to the first life on Earth. They use hydrogen and sulphur to survive without oxygen.
Other genetic sequences of microbes in the mine water are unlike those of any other species. Onstott says that he would not be surprised if the mine contained new species with new types of metabolism.
Radioactive dating by Onstott's colleagues suggests that some pockets of mine water have been isolated for several hundred million years. "The dinosaurs came and went while this water has been down there," he says.
If the microbes can be grown and their workings probed, they should provide new insights into primitive life, Baross adds.
Missions to Mars could look for life by sniffing for hydrogen seeping up from deep in the planet's crust, says Onstott. Mars has some water and uranium, although less than Earth.
Most older cities have a lot of steam tunnels and abandoned stations like these. Does anyone out there have some interesting exploration stories to share?
Doesn't look too promising
on
New Look at ADSL2
·
· Score: 5, Informative
The increases in performance and range are pretty minimal. An additional 50kbps and 600ft of range isn't all that impressive, although the fact that it is backwards compatible with some existing hardware is semi-promising.
Anyway, here's some extra info on ADSL2, or G.bis that i dug up:
Well based on the number of rods and cones in the human eye, our eye's "resolution" is only approximately 1000 "pixels" if you consider a single rod or cone responding to an individual part of the visual field. The brain fills in a LOT of information for us to have such a rich visual experience.
Like the blind spot for example. Try this out, its quite neat. Grab a pencil with your right hand and cover your left eye. Hold the pencil vertically with the eraser at approximately eye level directly in front of you. Move the pencil slowly to the right but continue to look straight ahead with your right eye. Try not to look directly at the pencil, but you'll notice that the eraser will disappear about 30 deg right of center if you use your peripheral vision.
This phenomenon occurs because your eye lacks photoreceptors in that region of your fovia, which is where the optic nerve connects to your eyeball. Our brains are VERY excellent at filling in this gap and you would have never noticed this unless you tried a test like above. Patient Alpha's brain is doing the exact same thing with the information that's being presented to it. Even though he's only receiving a 32x32 image, his brain is learning to fill in the gaps and that is why he thought they upped the resolution.
One thing the article fails to mention is which DTV standard sets are required to accept. Does anyone know if 8VSB is the final decision?
Also, notice that we really only have two years before we wont have a choice for larger sets:
Commissioners voted 3-1 to require manufacturers to add the tuners to all TV sets with screens of 36 inches and larger by July 2004, while the requirement for smaller sets would be phased in over the following three years.
Keep that in mind if you're going to be buying a big screen TV in the near future.
It seems that Trident is trying to pull a Matrox and resurrect themselves from the 3D video card grave yard
I hardly think Matrox comparing Matrox to Trident is very fair. Matrox did not "come back from the dead" with the Parhelia, they just attempted to compete in the gaming market. While they did not release a Ti4600 killer, the Parhelia did introduce a number of innovative features. But G-series cards have been quite successful for the past few years in the workstation and financial markets with Matrox's excellent dual-head capabilities. Trident on the otherhand hasn't released a competitive card on any level in many years, so this announcement is in fact a resurrection of sorts.
Slashdot Mirror
Other than the fact that they are expanding the routes on which this is offered, I'm not sure how this is new news. Gogo has been offering service on trans-con American Airlines flights from LA to the east coast for at least 6 months now.
I've used it a few times, and it works OK. Speeds were reasonable (100-150KB download speeds, ping times comparable to mobile broadband, 150-200ms) and I think there was only 1 dead spot for a few minutes during the times that I was logged in. They did not block VPN access so you could conceivably use VoIP once you VPN, but I did not try this.
A link to the actual service (rather than USA today or a blog) would help too:
http://www.gogoinflight.com/
Aren't we having a zinc shortage? Get it from these fingers!!
A link to the site in question would help:
http://uclaprofs.com/
Not to be confused with the professor review site at http://uclaprofessors.com/
Why the heck is he using an FM transmitter to connect the iPod to his nice tube equipment. Its one thing to use nice tube amplifiers to get a warm analog sound from a digital source (even order harmonic distortion and all that jazz), but why limit the frequency responce to FM's 50-15,000 Hz?! Good sources (such as the iPod) and good output equipment (which would presumably be hooked up to quality tube amplifiers) would benefit greatly from a full 20-20,000 KHz frequency responce!!
He was saying "Kali Ma" and this means The Dark Mother. Kali is the fearful and ferocious form of the mother goddess Durga. Everything else about the temple and the rituals was all Hollywood BS though.
More info on Kali: here.
That was fast. Less than 5 posts and the machine is melted.
9 7.php
w w.tritium.co.uk/
Well here's a press release on the product. I like the part about it "vaguely resembling a Klingon space ship".
Check it here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/6/prwebxml1350
Oh and of course the Google cache of the melted tritium.co.uk box: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:TSbW7tvLA14J:w
No, according to this ticketing page the monorail's hours are 8am to midnight.
http://www.lvmonorail.com/ride_01_gettickets.html
No, according to this ticketing page the monorail's hours are 8am-midnight.
I am a frequent visitor of Vegas and I doubt I will EVER use the new monorail. First of all, the construction of this monorail closed a number of FREE trams/rails that I often used. There was an excellent free rail between the MGM and Ballys, as well as the Monte Carlo -> Bellagio tram. Both closed down for this construction. Now going from MGM to Ballys will cost $$ and the Monte Carlo Bellagio tram still remains closed! It's on the other side of the street for god sakes. There was no reason to close this excellent free service.
Second, the cost. I usually go with a group of friends, and if the 5 of us split a cab, it always cost $10 or less total, AND takes us door to door instead of only a few stations WAY at the back of the casinos. This is also 24 hrs a day. The monorail closes at midnight!! Who the hell heads back to their room at midnight in vegas?!
The only advantage the monorail has is a direct route to the convention center. Large conventions could make good use of this, but otherwise, I'd suggest tourists stay away.
I just bought a Philips DVP642 from CompUSA for $69. For the price it can't be beat. Plays Divx 3,4 and 5, Xvid and a bunch of other formats. I haven't had any problems playing anything yet.
a tid=18&threadid=306890
Check out this extensive thread at fatwallet:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?c
Strange, I thought everyone used this one:
Keep Pots Clean Or Family Gets Sick
I love having windows, but like me, for many of us I don't think that is an option.
Easy solution: Use linux!! =)
For those who dont know, The CMU developed captcha project is great. Check out their work here:
http://www.captcha.net/
American Geophysical Union Meeting,
San Francisco, December, 2002
Goldmine yields clues for life on Mars
Radioactive bacteria live deep in the Earth - and maybe elsewhere.
9 December 2002
TOM CLARKE
Mine dwelling bacteria may be similar to the first life on Earth
© GettyImages
There are tiny creatures living off radiation in ancient pockets of water several kilometres beneath the Earth's surface, say researchers.
The microbes seem to have been isolated for hundreds of millions of years. Similar conditions might exist beneath the surface of Mars.
"Anywhere you have a crust with uranium and water in it, you have the potential for life," microbiologist Tullis Onstott, of Princeton University, New Jersey, told this week's American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
As you go deeper, the chemicals essential for normal life - organic matter and oxygen - disappear. And you get crushed and cooked, as temperature and pressure rise.
Microbes have been found a kilometre or so beneath the Earth's surface before. But cost and contamination with shallower bugs have hindered scientists looking deeper for life.
Working with miners in the world's deepest holes - 3.5 kilometre-deep South African goldmines - Onstott and his colleagues found hot water rich in bacteria.
The water is loaded with dissolved hydrogen gas, at a concentration up to a hundred million times higher than normal. Radioactive isotopes in the water show that the gas could only have formed by radioactive energy from surrounding uranium deposits splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen, argues Onstott.
Researchers had speculated that bacteria might make hydrogen in this way, but it has never been seen before. "It's a completely novel system for supporting life," says John Baross, who studies deep-sea bacteria at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The mine-dwelling bacteria are hard to grow in the lab. Genetic evidence suggests that some of the microbes are related to a species called Pyrococcus abyssi, which lives in hot, deep-sea vents.
These bacteria are thought to be similar to the first life on Earth. They use hydrogen and sulphur to survive without oxygen.
Other genetic sequences of microbes in the mine water are unlike those of any other species. Onstott says that he would not be surprised if the mine contained new species with new types of metabolism.
Radioactive dating by Onstott's colleagues suggests that some pockets of mine water have been isolated for several hundred million years. "The dinosaurs came and went while this water has been down there," he says.
If the microbes can be grown and their workings probed, they should provide new insights into primitive life, Baross adds.
Missions to Mars could look for life by sniffing for hydrogen seeping up from deep in the planet's crust, says Onstott. Mars has some water and uranium, although less than Earth.
© Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2002
There are a lot of sites out there with some info on the tunnels:
http://www.thetube.com/content/metro/01/0110/31/
http://www.londonrailways.net/ghost.htm
The BBC has a great article here.
Most older cities have a lot of steam tunnels and abandoned stations like these. Does anyone out there have some interesting exploration stories to share?
The Cappucino TX-3 has had similar or even better specs for quite a while now, and its pretty similar in size:
-Intel 815 motherboard
-1.2 Ghz Intel Pentium III processor
-512MB 144-pin PC133 RAM
-30 GB internal hard drive
-Your choice of 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM, or 8x/8x/24x/8x DVD/CD-RW combo drive
-Built-in 10/100 base-T ethernet (RJ45)
-Internal 56K V.90 modem
-Four USB ports (USB 1.1)
-Two FireWire ports (IEEE 1394)
-No operating system installed.
-All standard I/O ports built-in
-Dimensions: 6" x 5.75" x 2.25"
-Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year
Also, CappucinoPC have the Mocha P4 machine which is slightly bigger and has specs rivaling current fully loaded computers.
Check out these links:
Cappucino TX-3 at Thinkgeek
Mocha P4 at Cappucinopc.com
A review of what appears to be the Mocha at Tomshardware
The increases in performance and range are pretty minimal. An additional 50kbps and 600ft of range isn't all that impressive, although the fact that it is backwards compatible with some existing hardware is semi-promising.
c le.asp?ID=5435
Anyway, here's some extra info on ADSL2, or G.bis that i dug up:
http://www.aware.com/products/DSL/gbisadsl2.htm
http://www.convergedigest.com/Silicon/siliconarti
http://www.dslprime.com/a/adsl21.pdf(sorry about the pdf)
Reuters has an article regarding this technology as well:
Reuters Link
Wow, that must make for a REALLY small phone. How the hell are we supposed to dial?! :)
Well based on the number of rods and cones in the human eye, our eye's "resolution" is only approximately 1000 "pixels" if you consider a single rod or cone responding to an individual part of the visual field. The brain fills in a LOT of information for us to have such a rich visual experience.
Like the blind spot for example. Try this out, its quite neat. Grab a pencil with your right hand and cover your left eye. Hold the pencil vertically with the eraser at approximately eye level directly in front of you. Move the pencil slowly to the right but continue to look straight ahead with your right eye. Try not to look directly at the pencil, but you'll notice that the eraser will disappear about 30 deg right of center if you use your peripheral vision.
This phenomenon occurs because your eye lacks photoreceptors in that region of your fovia, which is where the optic nerve connects to your eyeball. Our brains are VERY excellent at filling in this gap and you would have never noticed this unless you tried a test like above. Patient Alpha's brain is doing the exact same thing with the information that's being presented to it. Even though he's only receiving a 32x32 image, his brain is learning to fill in the gaps and that is why he thought they upped the resolution.
Also, notice that we really only have two years before we wont have a choice for larger sets:
Keep that in mind if you're going to be buying a big screen TV in the near future.I hardly think Matrox comparing Matrox to Trident is very fair. Matrox did not "come back from the dead" with the Parhelia, they just attempted to compete in the gaming market. While they did not release a Ti4600 killer, the Parhelia did introduce a number of innovative features. But G-series cards have been quite successful for the past few years in the workstation and financial markets with Matrox's excellent dual-head capabilities. Trident on the otherhand hasn't released a competitive card on any level in many years, so this announcement is in fact a resurrection of sorts.