:))

Humor: Apple, Sony Fight for Space in Our Head from msnbc

This is almost the full article

"The Apple CEO, who last week became the first to have the iPod Micro implanted into his brain, showed how music can be downloaded via a USB port discreetly located on the back of his neck. Jobs said that the Micro can store up to 2,800 songs and that the tracks can be shuffled by blinking one's eyes or nodding one's head, making it possible to listen to music in a classroom or at the office without anyone else knowing it. He demonstrated by rocking out to the song "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas, declaring the sound quality inside his head "awesome."
While Jobs said that as many as 100 million Americans could be hardwired for sound by 2008, Sony Corp. CEO Sir Howard Stringer served notice that his company was rolling out a new, super-tiny PlayStation Portable that could also be implanted directly into the brain. "There's a lot of room in the average American's head and we intend to fight for every square inch of it," Howard told reporters.
Elsewhere, thousands lined up to buy Powerball tickets when lottery officials announced that the grand prize would be a full tank of gas."

Stem cell research follow up

Stem Cell Side Shows from NYTimes

"'Scientists experimenting with mice have devised two new ways to derive embryonic stem cells without destroying viable embryos. The work is being hailed for its potential to sidestep some of the ethical controversies that have slowed stem cell research in this country. But each of the new techniques raises ethical issues of its own, and neither is apt to be ready for use in humans for many years."

Way to go Satyen Nair

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/october/121281.htm from Midday [via IndiaUncut]

"When Nair approached Pawar, the policeman abused him and shrugged him off. But he got help from some rickshaw drivers in the area. They caught the constable and took him and the girl to the police station.
Nair said that the constable tried to bribe him with the promise of Rs 15,000 to keep mum about the incident."

When I first saw the heading of this article I was going to just put it in the back of my mind like the many others that I read and try to ignore. But this I think needs mentioning... It takes normal people with a little courage to make the difference.

I ask myself what would I have done? What would you have done ask yourself?

Talk back

Indian outsourcers follow a megatrend from CNET Nilekani's(CEO Infosys) Interview.

Talkback: Indian outsourcers follow a megatrend from CNET

More intersting than the article is the talk back there are some very very strong (uncalled for) arguments there.

Blogging in School curriculum

Blogging 101--Web logs go to school from CNET

"He's more than glad to do it. Like other teachers bringing blogging into the classroom, he thinks the online journals will spark students' enthusiasm for computers, writing and opining.
"They're learning the technical skills, but they're also learning that they have a voice online," he said. "They may be from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, but they're writing online, people are commenting on it, and they're learning that they have a voice.""

Isn't it intresting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bringing up kids the Asian way.

Item: Sisters Think Parents Did O.K. from NYTimes

"But their parents, who were hard-working middle-class immigrants from Korea, had other ideas. Eventually they set a rule: Read one book from the library this week, receive one candy bar the next. Looking back on it, the sisters are not complaining. Instead, in "Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers - and How You Can Too" (Berkley), to be published Nov. 1, they applaud their parents' coercions. "We read the book, and we got the candy," said Dr. Abboud, 32, who is a surgeon and clinical assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania medical school. "We didn't go without."
In "Top of the Class" the Kim sisters advise parents who want successful children to raise them just as the Kims did - in strict households in which parents spend hours every day educating their children, where access to pop culture is limited, and where children are taught that their failures reflect poorly on the family."

Multitasking in computer human interaction

Meet the Life Hackers from NYTimes

"When Mark crunched the data, a picture of 21st-century office work emerged that was, she says, "far worse than I could ever have imagined." Each employee spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted and whisked off to do something else. What's more, each 11-minute project was itself fragmented into even shorter three-minute tasks, like answering e-mail messages, reading a Web page or working on a spreadsheet. And each time a worker was distracted from a task, it would take, on average, 25 minutes to return to that task. To perform an office job today, it seems, your attention must skip like a stone across water all day long, touching down only periodically."

quote

Soul-mates are people who bring out the best in you. They are not perfect but are always perfect for you.
-- Author Unknown

Very Neat!!!!!!!

What art is hiding on your microchip? from CNET

""When I first saw him, he was upside-down, and I didn't recognize his face," the Florida-based cell biology researcher said.
Davidson suspected at first that the tiny design he saw was circular patterns added to the chip to thwart attempts by reverse-engineers to deduce its inner workings. But a second inspection showed it to be the characteristically hard-to-find character from the children's book series. "I realized, 'This is a doodle of some kind.' Then I started looking over the whole chip. I discovered Daffy Duck and other things on that chip," Davidson said."

Molecular Expression via CNET

"Ever wonder what's lurking within the dark corners, nooks and crannies of your computer? Is some gremlin responsible for all those crashes---you know, the ones that happen when you are trying to save that critical document you've been working on so diligently for the past three hours? We wondered too, so we took a look to see what we could find. And guess what? When we put the computer chips under the microscope we found some very interesting creatures hiding there.
Our search has led to a new collection of photomicrographs (photographs taken through a microscope) featuring many of the interesting silicon creatures and other doodling scribbled onto integrated circuits by engineers when they were designing computer chip masks. The tiny creatures are far too small to be seen with the naked eye, so we have provided high-magnification photomicrographs to share these mysterious wonders with our visitors. Engineers designing modern computer chips have a very rich sense of humor as you will discover when you visit our Silicon Creatures Gallery that we keep corralled in the Silicon Zoo. We hope you enjoy your adventure!"

Funny? yes and no.

JibJab takes aim at outsourcing from CNET

"The latest Web animation from the Spiridellis brothers also marks a switch in online allies for JibJab, from Yahoo to Microsoft's MSN.
The new animated short, "Big Box Mart," features an "unsuspecting consumer" who loses his highly skilled factory job because the work is being transferred to a lower-wage economy overseas. The worker ends up as a janitor at a mega-retailer.
"Big Box Mart" debuted late Thursday during NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Shortly after that, at 9 p.m. PDT, the animation became available on MSN Video and at JibJab.com."

JibJab (see the Big Box Mart animation)

A look at News!

The great Indian laughter challenge from The Hindu

This is a must read article if you news buff. It takes a humorous look at how today even the Indian media is not just commercialism of news but it is just a mater of sensational news building.

"A rough guide to media jargon might help enhance that.
Special Investigation: This means the reporter actually visited the place.
Breaking news: Means we saw it on the other channel and had to move real fast to claw our way back into the game.
Exclusive: It has not ever been carried before on this channel."

learning from the WEST!

Our President and his Vision

A day for Kalam to translate his vision from The Hindu

"Advice for teachers

"If you don't become learners, how will you teach? I think you should have some training for teachers so that they can teach students," Mr. Kalam said. Apart from offering friendly advice to teachers, he also found time to quiz the children. Walking into a classroom, he took youngsters by surprise, asking them how much time the Earth took to revolve around the sun."

I don't remember when was the last time we had such an active President. We need more presidents like him.

quote

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.
-- Aldous Huxley

Very good read

Big Girls Don't Cry from NYTimes

"WHEN women first joined the executive ranks of corporate America a generation ago, they donned sober slacks and button-down shirts. They carried standard-issue briefcases and adopted their male colleagues' stoicism.
More than two decades later, women have stopped trying to behave like men, trading in drab briefcases for handbags and embracing men's wear only if it is tailored to their curves. Yet there is one taboo from the earlier, prefeminist workplace that endures: women are not allowed to cry at the office. It is a potentially career-marring mistake that continues to be seen as a sign of weakness or irrationality, no less by women themselves than by men."

Something got to give....

Dravid named as captain from cricinfo.com

"The selectors have appointed Rahul Dravid as the captain of the Indian side for the forthcoming two ODI series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, which will include 12 ODIs starting on October 25. Dravid was put in charge of the side until November 28, when India will play South Africa in the final match of the five-match series at Mumbai."