Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Quake survivor amazes doctors


Quake survivor amazes doctors
By Zulfikar Ali
BBC News, Kamsar camp, Pakistan-administered Kashmir

Doctors say it is a miracle.

Naqsha Bibi, 40, was recovered alive from the debris of a collapsed house in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on 10 December.

The unexpected rescue came more than two months after the 8 October earthquake destroyed large parts of Indian and Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northern areas in Pakistan.

Naqsha Bibi, now under hospital treatment, is suffering from muscle stiffness and is so weak that she can barely talk.

She weighs under 35kg - about half the weight of an average woman her size.

But since being brought to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, she has been put on a liquid diet and is showing signs of recovery.

Doctors say that on Tuesday morning she gave them a smile. ----Read online


Call me!

Monday, October 31, 2005

Hyper Frame


Dig This: It's midweek. You've worked yourself silly for the last two days and now you're ready for some recreation before thinking about the weekend. Try Hyper Frame, a simple little Shockwave game:
Brace your mind for an addictive puzzle game unlike any other! Click squares on the cube to connect same-colored markers. It sounds simple, but it's a super challenge and once you start you won't be able to stop!

GoogleBase is live.


By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. Google will host your content and make it searchable online for free.
Examples of items you can find in Google Base:
* Description of your party planning service
* Articles on current events from your website
* Listing of your used car for sale
* Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.

At the time of writing this item, Google Base still suffers from some problems, such you are sometimes unable to pass the login page, although you are logged in. But I expect that this problem will get solved quickly. Source: Aviran’s Place

Friday, October 28, 2005

Home improvements for young disabled eased

Families in England needing to adapt their homes to care for a disabled child will no longer be subject to means testing from December 2005.

The government's decision makes it easier for families to apply for a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to get funding for help to provide access ramps, stair lifts, level access showers and home extensions.

The change, which ensures families are entitled to apply for the maximum grant available without having to go through a means test, will mean they can now apply for up to ?25,000 for disability improvements to their home.

Housing Minister Baroness Andrews said the current DFG means test prevented some families from getting the help they needed, in what were often difficult and distressing circumstances.

"The ending of the means test is an important change which will be warmly welcomed by all those who have been pressing for a change," she said.

Lord Richard Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said, "This is excellent news, not just for the families concerned but for society as a whole. By removing a crucial barrier to families resolving their housing difficulties, the government has opened up the prospect of improving disabled children?s life-chances not just today, but throughout their lives. This will have positive knock-on effects for years to come.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Guess what just turned 34?




Googler insights into product and technology news and our culture.
Guess what just turned 34?

10/21/2005 03:19:00 PM
Posted by Paul Buchheit, Gmail Engineer

It's difficult to pin down the exact origin of email, but in October 1971, an engineer named Ray Tomlinson chose the '@' symbol for email addresses and wrote software to send the first network email.

At the time, it must not have seemed very important – nobody bothered to save that first message or even record the exact date. I've always thought that it would be fun to witness a little bit of history like that – to be there when something important happened. That's part of what drove me to join a little no-name startup named Google, and it's why I was excited when I was given a chance to create a new email product, now called Gmail.
Read on and when you get to the end you will find an invite to join the Gmail fun and Games (Well Fun Anyway)
Tony

Sunday, August 14, 2005

NTL to offer 10Mbps broadband as standard

UK cable firm NTL today promised to make 10Mbps its standard broadband access speed, and to upgrade existing customers at no extra cost.

The first home surfers in the UK to receive the upgrade will be NTL's current 3Mbps broadband customers.

"By the end of this year they will have a connection of up to 10Mbps, while their usage allowance will increase from 30GB to 75GB per month," the company stated.

The move is part of a service revamp that creates a set of cable broadband products "up to 10Mbps as standard", with different inclusive bandwidth options to match usage plus a series of services with no traffic caps at different speeds.

NTL said that the roll out of its revamped product portfolio will be complete by the end of 2006. It added that there are no plans to change monthly prices but some customers will need to upgrade their modems.

The cable firm said that moving customers to a 10Mbps broadband service is part of a wider progression towards services with even higher speeds and greater bandwidth.

NTL claimed that its fibre-rich network means that broadband speeds of between 30Mbps and 50Mbps are possible through DOCSIS 3.0 (cable) or ADSL 2+ (copper).

Simon Duffy, chief executive at NTL, claimed that the move puts the company "well ahead" of any other broadband provider in the UK.

"Moving 1.5 million customers to a connection of up to 10Mbps is a major initiative," he said. "However, we have full confidence in our ability to complete this programme in 2006 by leveraging our next-generation platform."

Friday, August 12, 2005

CCTV video mixes maps and images


By Jo Twist
BBC News science and technology reporter

Smart software is taking CCTV into the domain of 3D gaming by combining graphics, map data, and different camera views in one composite image.

The system automatically tracks and stitches 3D images with CCTV video, maps and other real-time information.

It automatically alerts operators to intruders, unusual behaviour, left objects or anything it is told to spot.

The UK's former defence research agency, QinetiQ, plans to bring the US system, called Praetorian, to the UK.

It is currently in operation at airports in the US and other high security environments there.

"This is a huge step, not just an incremental step [for CCTV]", Simon Stringer, managing director of QinetiQ's security division told the BBC News website.

The London Underground system alone, the epicentre of the recent bombings, has more then 6,000 CCTV cameras on the network.

The Praetorian system looks like something one would see in a computer game or the TV series 24.

It has rendered graphics of landscapes and real-time video inserts of objects which can be seen and navigated from different angles.

Camera to camera

The term Praetorian was originally the name given to the tent of Roman commanding generals - praetors. The Praetorian Guard was the select gang of individuals who would protect it.

"It [Praetorian] provides a composite picture which means you are not only able to determine where something is going on, but control the incident by deploying appropriate personnel to the area," explained Dr Stringer.

The big advantage is that not only do you have situational awareness, but the system will automatically alert you to intruders, abnormal behaviour, left objects or anything else you tell it to look for
Simon Stringer, QinetiQ
If a camera operator suspects an individual, he or she can be designated, or marked, and the system will automatically track the individual from camera to camera.

Automatic handover from one camera to another, without operators manually switching views, is highly desirable for CCTV systems.

Praetorian will graphically build up the terrain around the CCTV video insert and will swap camera views seamlessly in real-time too.

Those movements can then be rendered and projected onto a 3D map which would allow the individual to be intercepted or isolated, away from busy public transport, for instance.

By stitching different 3D and real-time information together, the system presents a rather game-like interface.

Situational awareness

"What it does is to give you an overall perspective on a region or a site or an area such that you get a composite picture of the whole thing," explained Dr Stringer.

"The big advantage is that not only do you have situational awareness, but the system will automatically alert you to intruders, abnormal behaviour, left objects or anything else you tell it to look for."

Facial and behavioural recognition systems have been developed and tested on the UK's CCTV networks, but the systems do not build composite images with this data all at once, in real-time.

Praetorian is not a biometric system that tries to pick out particular people, however.

"It is not looking at a database of people. It is looking for anomalies in behaviour, for example, people loitering in places you would not expect them to be," said Dr Stringer.

"Somebody loitering on a continual basis, or indeed leaving something would alarm it. You can then decide if you want to capture the image and refer it to other images."

It is programmed to know what is considered "normal human behaviour" in any given context, so can detect the typical movements of someone speaking on a mobile, for example.

Abandoned objects will also be detected because the system will know what is supposed to be in a particular image in ordinary circumstances.

If it spots something it does not recognise, it will alert the operator who can then inspect the image more closely to decide whether it is deemed a threat or not.

"The computer scans and recognises a normal environment," said Dr Stringer.

"If something is put down and becomes part of the environment that computer does not see as normal, it will sound an alarm and the operator will see if it warrants further investigation."

Dr Stringer said QinetiQ was confident that the system would be deployed in the UK and the company is in talks with UK authorities.

As it is a software system, it can be overlaid on top of existing CCTV network architectures.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4741527.stm

Published: 2005/08/12 08:01:10 GMT

© BBC MMV

Friday, June 03, 2005

Microsoft shoots for Raw photos

Microsoft is adding support for the Raw photo format to its forthcoming version of Windows, codenamed Longhorn.

The company has entered into agreements with Adobe, Canon, Fuji and Nikon to deliver native support for Raw images in both Longhorn and Windows XP.

The Raw format is gaining in popularity with digital photographers because of the higher-quality pictures it delivers. It represents the image that a camera produces before any processing is done.

Common digital image formats, including Tiff and Jpeg, process the file in order to compress it, but this can lead to loss of detail or colour quality. Most users currently need third-party software to work with Raw files. Microsoft's support means they will be able to perform basic actions such as opening and printing files.

Raw images are mostly supported by high-end cameras, but price drops will soon bring it within the reach of the common photo enthusiast, according to Ron Glaz, program director of digital imaging services and solutions with analyst firm IDC.

"Microsoft's implementation of the Raw file format in Longhorn will simplify access to Raw files, and that is expected to increase the use of the file format by various types of digital camera users," he said.

Users of Windows XP can expect support for Raw images through an updated Image Thumbnailer and Viewer, which allows preview and printing of files from Canon and Nikon without requiring third-party software.

Microsoft hasn't published a projected release date for the update, but said users can download the free software "soon." The software vendor also promised to add support for the format in a future version of its Microsoft Digital Image Suite photo-editing product.

>NTL offers 1MB access for £9.99


Cable company NTL is offering 1MB broadband access for just £9.99 a month to people applying between June 1 and July 11. The pricing lasts for a year, after which it goes up to the standard £17.99 a month, but there are no start-up charges.

The service is capped at 3GB a month at both prices, but NTL says few of its users exceed that limit.

Existing customers will not be able to claim the new rate
SHAME . Chris Bunyan, director of Internet product management, said most of them had already taken advantage of other sign-up offers, such as free line rental.

Bunyan would not comment about reports of revived talks about a long-predicted merger with Britain's other UK cable giant Telewest. The two are not strictly rivals as they cover different franchise areas.



Permalink to this story

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Microsoft's Fresh Start for Donated Computers program

If you're an educator, check out Microsoft's Fresh Start for Donated Computers program, which helps schools rejuvenate machines with damaged or missing operating systems:
Has your school ever received donated personal computers that were delivered without the appropriate documentation and CDs for the original Windows® operating system? Microsoft's Fresh Start for Donated Computers program helps primary and secondary (K-12) schools ensure its donated computers are properly licensed—so students and teachers can gain additional access to technology.

To learn more about the Fresh Start for Donated Computers program, select your country or region. If you decide to apply, the license documentation will be provided in the language you select here.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Google Allows Users To Add More Bells and Whistles to Home Page

By Michael Liedtke May 20, 2005



AP Business Writer

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) -- Google Inc. has introduced a new option that will enable visitors to display more information on the online search engine leader's bare-bones home page, a departure that pushes the company a step closer to operating an Internet portal in the mold of rivals Yahoo and MSN.com.

The feature, introduced Thursday and available at http://labs.google.com, allows the millions of Google users worldwide to select components tools located underneath the search engine's hood and display them on the main page.

For instance, a user could choose to have the weather, an e-mailbox, movie listings, top news stories, stock market quotes, and driving directions displayed whenever they visit Google's home page and sign in using a personalized account. The company unveiled the feature during a media day hosted at its Mountain View headquarters.

Displaying a potpourri of information on the home page marks a significant change for Google, which has always greeted its visitors with little more than a box to process a search request, along with a few tabs to navigate to other features, such as news and shopping.

The company decided to give users the option of adding more bells and whistles on the front page because it believes it developed a "critical mass" of products that present helpful information to visitors, said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer products.

Despite the shift, Google isn't trying to persuade visitors to spend more time on its Web site, Mayer said. "We are still interested in getting people off our site to the places that they want to go (online)," she said.

Even after they create their own version of Google's front page, users still will be able to toggle back to the bare-bones look by clicking on a "Classic Google" link located near the top of the page.

Web surfers who personalize Google's home page will be able to create a site that looks more like Yahoo and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com, which both have tried to built multidimensional sites, or portals, designed to give visitors everything they might need.

Both Sunnyvale-based Yahoo and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft also have spent heavily on building improved search engines to challenge Google's leadership in that specialty, hoping to tap into a rapidly growing ad market revolving around search requests. The companies also both offer tools that enable visitors to Yahoo.com and MSN.com to personalize their home pages.

The bare-bones approach has served Google well so far, helping it create the fourth most trafficked site on the Web, according to comScore Media Metrix, a research firm. Google attracted 78.6 million unique U.S. visitors last month, lagging behind Yahoo (114.8 million unique visitors), MSN (97 million) and AOL (86 million), comScore said.

Google has a strong financial incentive to boost its traffic figures because it maximizes its profits when Web surfers click on advertising links displayed on its site. The search engine also delivers ads to hundreds of other Web sites, but has to share those sales commissions.




Saturday, May 21, 2005

Grandparents' £1bn 'property ladder' help

One fifth (18%) of British families rely on help from grandparents to provide financial support for grandchildren throughout their childhood, Barclays research reveals.

Across the UK, grandparents are shelling out over £4 billion each year to help families with childhood costs, which equates to an annual average of £2,303 per family.

According to Barclays, almost a quarter (23%) of this cash is used to help children get on to the property ladder, either via house deposits or contributing to mortgage repayments. Additionally, grandparents’ contributions are important early on in life in terms of helping with childcare costs (35%), as well as fees for university education in later years (31%).

However, over a half of grandparents who help their families out do so by giving cash on an ad-hoc basis (58%) and very few take a more structured approach through an annual gift (22%) or planned investment (16%).

Whilst ad hoc gifts can be useful to meet immediate needs such as school fees, Barclays warn that this approach may not be the most cost efficient way of supporting a grandchild’s longer-term needs such as university fees or a deposit on a first home.

Barclays estimates that if you had invested the £2,303 (nearly £200 a month) given by grandparents each year in the stock market over the last 18 years, the investment would now be worth £54,760. By careful planning and regular investment, the contributions provided by grandparents each year might help towards the £40,000 prospective cost of putting a child through university in 18 years time or to provide the estimated deposit on a first home in 30 years time.

Grandparents based in the South West give the most financial support by giving their grandchildren an average of £4,829 a year, whereas grandparents in the North East are most likely to help out financially (22%) than any other region.

However, many grandparents are not making the most of the £3,000 gift they could make each year which is not eligible for inheritance tax, with only 18% saying they would consider it.

Stephen Ingledew, Director of Barclays Financial Planning, said: "Many families are now finding the need to turn to grandparents for financial support as the cost of property and education bites, and indeed many grandparents will want to help wherever they can. However, we’d urge any current or future grandparents to ensure their finances are working as hard as possible for them and by extension for their grandchildren. A little bit of planning early on can reap benefits for the whole family."

"Many grandparents are generous in giving cash gifts on an ad-hoc basis, such as for birthdays or to help cover a mortgage repayment. But, with an average of £2,303 being handed over by grandparents each year, British grandparents should look at other, more financially sensible options. For example, perhaps look at a planned investment or provide an annual gift such as a cash ISA, where grandparents can save or invest for their grandchildren whilst enjoying tax benefits."

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Quote of the Week:

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Sunday, May 15, 2005

The Oak And The Rose

An oak tree and a rosebush grew,
Young and green together,
Talking the talk of growing things-
Wind and water and weather.
And while the rosebush sweetly bloomed
The oak tree grew so high
That now it spoke of newer things-
Eagles, mountain peaks and sky.
"I guess you think you're pretty great,"
The rose was heard to cry,
Screaming as loud as it possibly could
To the treetop in the sky.
"And you have no time for flower talk,
Now that you've grown so tall."
"It's not so much that I've grown, " said the tree,
"It's just that you've stayed so small."
Shel Silverstein

Thursday, March 24, 2005

How was I born? Joke

Son: Daddy, how was I born?

Dad: Ah, my son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!!

Well, you see, your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on MSN.

Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.
As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the "delete" button, nine months later a blessed little Popup appeared

and said: "You've got male!!!"

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

How to Find Lost Objects

The method is based on what Is called the Twelve Principles—a set of precepts designed to lead you directly to any lost object. Like a bloodhound!

The Twelve Principles are: ?

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

QUOTE

" All animals except man know that the ultimate of life is to enjoy it" Quote by Samuel Butler 1912.

Quote of the Week:

The wise are not wise because they make no mistakes. They are wise because they correct their mistakes as soon as they recognize them. - Orson Scott Card (1951- ), Xenocide

Government services online

Is there a planning application pending in your street? How long are hospital and school waiting lists? Find the answer to these questions, and more, with CW?'s guide to e-government.
You'll soon be able to access all government services online, at least if government meets its end-of-year deadline. In theory, you'll be able to check what day your rubbish collection falls over the Easter bank holidays, search for schools in your area, register with a GP, check hospital waiting lists, read the latest budget and even file your tax return electronically.
Access national government

The entry point to the UK's 'online government' is the Directgov website www.direct.gov.uk. Directgov is a treasure trove of information about public services such as GPs, hospitals, the Inland Revenue and schools. You can also look up government papers such as details of the Lottery Bill, for example.
Navigation bar

Along the top of the Directgov website are five tabs, which will remain regardless of where you are on the site.

Directgov home takes you back to the home page. Info for arranges information according to personal circumstances and includes categories such as 'Disabled People', and 'Parents'. Info about has general information on topics such as 'Learning' and 'Money'. Quickfind lists directories of government services, including links to local councils. Finally, Newsroom is the place to go for government news, statements, publications and announcements.
Information central

The main part of the screen organises links under three main headings: 'Find what you need', 'Most popular services' and 'Directories'.

Find what you need contains general information on everything from Tax Basics to Travel. Click on Parenting and you'll find advice on how to choose the right childcare option, for example. Most popular services contains more specific information including a link to 'find a local school'. Simply enter your postcode to search for schools in your local area. The search presents key facts about each school including its religious affiliation, the number of pupils and its performance. Directories includes an A-to-Z of local councils.
Leaning to the right

The right-hand side of Directgov hosts News Headlines. Go to the bottom of the page, however, and hidden away is a useful link to 'Find forms online'; a tax-rebate form, say.
Interacting with government services

Most government services are still primarily accessible face-to-face, or by good old-fashioned phone calls or snail mail. But some government services now allow you to interact with them directly via the web. These services are grouped in a section called 'Do it online', under the Most popular services menu.

* File an electronic tax return |
* Land registry |
* Report non-emergency crimes |
* Renew or replace a passport

File an electronic tax return

One of the most popular government services online is filing an electronic tax return; you can also apply for child benefit and tax credits. Click 'Do it online' then 'Do it online by category' at the top of the page, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click 'Money'. Click the link to 'Complete your Income Tax Self Assessment (SA) online', then the external link to Tax Self Assessment.

You should now find yourself on the Inland Revenue's website (www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk). You need to register with the Inland Revenue's website to be able to use the service – register under 'new user'. First you must tick, which service you need 'Child Benefit Online', 'Self Assessment Online' or 'Tax Credit Online' and click the Register button. Enter your name, email address and a password then click Continue.

The site will ask for your unique taxpayer reference, National Insurance number and postcode so make sure you have these to hand before you start.
top
Land registry

Looking to move to a new area? The section entitled 'Find local property prices' is well worth a visit. The link jumps to the Land Registry website where you can enter your desired location (Stratford-On-Avon, say). The search engine will tell you the average price for a detached, semi-detached, terraced house, and a flat there.

It's also useful if you're selling your own property - just enter the postcode to discover the average price of a house or flat in your area.
top
Report non-emergency crimes

You can also report non-emergency crimes from the 'Do it online' area of via Directgov (the link takes you to www.online.police.uk). First, click to say whether you are the victim of the crime. Next, pick the type of crime that you want to report; theft, criminal damage or vandalism, theft from a motor vehicle or damage to a motor vehicle. Next enter your name, then your contact details and click 'submit'. For emergencies, you should still dial 999.

In the event that you have information affecting national security you can also email MI5, anonymously, if you wish (www.mi5.gov.uk).
top
Renew or replace a passport

You can renew or replace your passport (www.passport-applications.gov.uk) online. To be more accurate, you can pay for a new passport and fill out an application form. But, as online signatures are still some way off, to complete the process, you'll still have to sign and return a form sent to you by the Passport Service.
Accessing local services

Two thirds of contact between citizens and government happens at local level. Often, your local council's website is the best place to start if you're looking for a care home for a relative, need to find a school, pay your council tax or even book a squash court at the local sports centre. 'The average person wants to know whether a telephone mast is being put up next to their kid's school or whether there are plans to widen the road,' said Paul Smith, research director for e-government consultancy Kable.
www.one-ipswich.com

The good news is that all 355 English local government authorities (LGAs) have pledged to have their services online by year end. Ipswich Borough Council, for instance, is using a graphical information system (GIS), a piece of software that pulls together information about a place, and organises it on a geographical basis. The borough's online portal www.one-ipswich.com has a map on its home page divided into five key areas. By clicking on their area residents can search local services such as 'advice and support', 'wildlife' and 'nature and parks'.

Bracknell Forest Council has also embraced e-government. Local residents can pay their council tax, make mortgage repayments or pay rent online. 'I want a website not a notice board,' said Councillor Paul Bettison, leader of Bracknell Forest and e-government champion for the Local Government Association (LGA). 'My residents are accustomed to setting up a standing order to pay their council tax at four in the morning using online banking; they get hacked off if they can't tell us that they've done it at 4:10am,' he continued.

Alternatively, if a Bracknell Forest local suspects their neighbour is trying to sneak through a controversial planning application, they can look it up on the website. Equally, if they're awaiting a planning application decision of their own, they can monitor its progress electronically.

The website is also making it easier for the 6,200 council tenants in the borough to report a fault, such as a blocked sink, with a couple of mouse clicks. 'The website features a schematic diagram of the house; tenants can click on the room where there's a problem, and then, for example, click on the sink if that's where the problem is, they can even select the u-bend. When the technician comes he knows exactly what the problem is and is more likely to have the part on board,' says Bettison.

Bracknell Council has also introduced what Bettison claims to be 'the world's most multi-application smart card.' Dubbed 'The Edge', the card is available to all local residents. Schools in the Borough Council are making good use of the cards, which can be topped up with dinner money as a kind of electronic purse (parents can even stipulate how much cash pupils can spend per day) and is also used to register pupils in the morning.
E-citizen project

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has invested £2.5 million in the 'e-citizen' project, which is designed to ensure that all citizens have the same access to local government services, regardless of where they live. The first stage, just reaching completion, is to ask every local authority who they hope to reach with online services, how they're doing it and how successful they've been. The second, bigger, challenge is to inform local residents about the services they can access online. 'If you ask people what they want from a council website they can't vocalise it but once they visit the site they are keen to get involved,' said Neil Wholey, head of e-government research for MORI.

Until the e-citizen project really takes off, you can find your own local council via Directgov using the A-to-Z of local councils (under Quickfind).

WEBSITE LINKS
Directgov

E-citizen
IDeA (Improvement and Development Agency)
Inland Revenue
Local Government Association</b>
MI5
NHS
UK Passport Services


Thursday, March 17, 2005

Dig This: You're going to watch this short video a couple of times, I promise, because it's so, well, remarkable. The guys' timing and aim are amazing; and if you think this footage has been tinkered with, notice how the woman rubs her head after the swoosh. [Thanks, Alex.]

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Best blogs on the web' honoured

The best of the web's blogs - online diaries or websites where people publish their thoughts - have been recognised in the annual Bloggies.

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things took the top overall blog prize.

The prize for the best British blog and the lifetime achievement award went to plasticBag.org, a site dedicated to musings about people and new media. .........cont.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Just For Grins

In my life, I thought I had a handle on the meaning of the word "service."
"The act of doing things for other people."

Then I heard the terms:

Internal Revenue Service
Postal Service
Telephone Service
Civil Service
Selective Service
City/County Public Service
Customer Service
Service Stations

I became confused about the word "service." This is not what I thought "service" meant.

Then today, I overheard two farmers talking and one of them mentioned that he was having a bull over to "service" a few of his cows.

SHAZAM! It suddenly all came into clear perspective.
Now I understand what all those "service" agencies are doing to us.

Just For Grins

In my life, I thought I had a handle on the meaning of the word "service."
"The act of doing things for other people."

Then I heard the terms:

Internal Revenue Service
Postal Service
Telephone Service
Civil Service
Selective Service
City/County Public Service
Customer Service
Service Stations

I became confused about the word "service." This is not what I thought "service" meant.

Then today, I overheard two farmers talking and one of them mentioned that he was having a bull over to "service" a few of his cows.

SHAZAM! It suddenly all came into clear perspective.
Now I understand what all those "service" agencies are doing to us.

Sunday, March 13, 2005

EasyMobile.com launches in the UK

Mobile phone company easyMobile.com will launch today in the UK, claiming to be the first operator to offer low-cost, no-frills services to consumers based on internet-only sales. The company will extend the service to 11 other key European markets at a later date.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the easyGroup, said that the launch will leave rivals "running scared".

"I think that is why Orange, the competitor owned by the France Telecom, is running so scared that it decided to take us to court over a spurious claim that we cannot use the colour orange.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Woman impaled on bath tap

NoteThought you might find this story interesting but have refrained from publishing any photos as it could have been someone I know.

From correspondents in New York
March 04, 2005
From: Agence France-Presse


A 92-year-old Harlem woman who fell in her bathtub became impaled on the cold water tap and screamed for help for more than six hours before she was rescued, the New York fire department said.
After falling yesterday, she banged on walls and shouted for help for hours, said Lieutenant James McCluskey.

"The neighbours at first thought it was a plumber," he said.

Neighbours finally used a key to get into the apartment, finding her with the four-pronged knob stuck in her, the Daily News reported.


Firefighters cut the metal tap with bolt cutters and took her to Harlem Hospital where it was removed.( The TAP that is)

"It was in there pretty good," Lt. McCluskey said.

Ms Riley was resting at the Harlem Hospital today as was her bottom.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

TELEO (Beta)


Due to the overwhelming success of Teleo's beta launch, you may experience difficulty connecting to the service. We are currently upgrading our system, and will restore service as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience during our beta test phase.
Check back later

Friday, February 25, 2005

Couple's final tsunami pictures


Couple's final tsunami pictures
By Valentine Low, Evening Standard
24 February 2005

These pictures are the last thing John and Jackie Knill ever saw. They show the Asian tsunami seconds before it hit a beach in Thailand — a massive churning wave rushing towards them.



As we now know, few people who were that close to the wave when it struck would survive. But the Knills, a Canadian couple on holiday at the popular Thai resort of Khao Lak, perhaps did not realise that.

And instead of running for their lives, they took these photographs with their digital camera.


What happened next one will never know for sure. The Knills — from north Vancouver — disappeared and relatives say they were notified about a week ago that the identities of their remains had been confirmed.

Searchers later also recovered the couple’s destroyed digital camera but were able to print photos from its memory card. Today, 60 days after their death, the last moments of John and Jackie Knill can be reconstructed.

A shot taken at 8.20am shows that everything on the beach appears to be normal.
Six minutes later, curious onlookers are shown wandering onto suddenly-exposed tidal flats, a sign of the impending tsunami. A large wave appears to be breaking in the distance.

Two minutes after that, some spectators appear to realise this is no ordinary wave.

"I don’t know why they didn’t run," their son Christian Knill told Global TV in Vancouver. "Either they knew they couldn’t or they didn’t know the power of the wave."

A pair of photos taken at 8.30am shows a wall of water churning up sand and mud. A final shot a couple of minutes later shows the tsunami hitting the beach.

Then nothing.

At first the pictures show a distant wave on the horizon.


The water then starts to rush out from the shore as the wave draws nearer.


The wave can be seen growing as it moves closer.


The photos were taken on the popular holiday resort of Khao Lak.


The final image shows the tsunami crashing into the beach.

Friday, February 18, 2005

Quote:

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Today's Quote:

Quote: "I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food?" -- Bill Bryson

Serial burglar caught on webcam

A house burglar was caught after a webcam on the owner's computer recorded images of him carrying out the raid.

Stills of serial raider Benjamin Park, 19, of Cambridge, were sent to an email address so even when he stole the computer, the images could be found.

Police said it was a "brilliant idea" of software engineer Duncan Grisby, who set it after a previous burglary.

Park was given an 11-month jail term by magistrates in Cambridge on Tuesday after admitting burglary.

"It was an absolutely brilliant idea of Mr Grisby's," said Det Sgt Alan Page, head of Cambridgeshire Police Burglary Squad.


SAY CHEESE

"The webcam was set up in his computer and began filming once it registered motion. It captured every movement Park made.

"At one point he stared into the computer as if it might be making a noise or something to make him suspicious.

"He then stole the computer but it didn't matter because Mr Grisby had set it up so that as it was recording it was sending the images to an email address.

"When the break-in was discovered Mr Grisby simply gave us the email address and we were able to watch several minutes of footage and say, `That's Ben Park'.

"Mr Grisby is an extremely bright man. He'd set this up because he'd been burgled some years ago and the quality was superb.

'Better than alarm'

"It was better than a burglar alarm and when Park initially denied breaking in to the property we were simply able to show him the footage."

Magistrates heard Park, who has more than 13 previous convictions for theft, had stolen computer equipment and other property with a value of nearly £4,000 from Mr Grisby's study.

He committed the offence in February while on bail after being charged with an attempted burglary in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in August.

"The webcam made our job really easy," added DS Page. "It was a pleasure to show him the pictures and see his expression when we interviewed him."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/4272041.stm

Published: 2005/02/16 22:26:26 GMT

© BBC MMV

Serial burglar caught on webcam

A house burglar was caught after a webcam on the owner's computer recorded images of him carrying out the raid.

Stills of serial raider Benjamin Park, 19, of Cambridge, were sent to an email address so even when he stole the computer, the images could be found.

Police said it was a "brilliant idea" of software engineer Duncan Grisby, who set it after a previous burglary.

Park was given an 11-month jail term by magistrates in Cambridge on Tuesday after admitting burglary.

"It was an absolutely brilliant idea of Mr Grisby's," said Det Sgt Alan Page, head of Cambridgeshire Police Burglary Squad.


SAY CHEESE

"The webcam was set up in his computer and began filming once it registered motion. It captured every movement Park made.

"At one point he stared into the computer as if it might be making a noise or something to make him suspicious.

"He then stole the computer but it didn't matter because Mr Grisby had set it up so that as it was recording it was sending the images to an email address.

"When the break-in was discovered Mr Grisby simply gave us the email address and we were able to watch several minutes of footage and say, `That's Ben Park'.

"Mr Grisby is an extremely bright man. He'd set this up because he'd been burgled some years ago and the quality was superb.

'Better than alarm'

"It was better than a burglar alarm and when Park initially denied breaking in to the property we were simply able to show him the footage."

Magistrates heard Park, who has more than 13 previous convictions for theft, had stolen computer equipment and other property with a value of nearly £4,000 from Mr Grisby's study.

He committed the offence in February while on bail after being charged with an attempted burglary in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in August.

"The webcam made our job really easy," added DS Page. "It was a pleasure to show him the pictures and see his expression when we interviewed him."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/4272041.stm

Published: 2005/02/16 22:26:26 GMT

© BBC MMV

Friday, February 11, 2005

BT quadruples broadband speeds for free

BT today promised to "transform" its retail broadband services by doubling or quadrupling existing connection speeds without raising tariffs. The move will offer the telco's 1.4 million retail broadband customers a minimum connection speed of 1Mbps.

Most consumer and business customers will have their speed increased to 2Mbps, as much as four times faster than current speeds. Those with BT Broadband Basic will have their speeds increased from 512Kbps up to 1Mbps.

Ian Livingston, chief executive at BT Retail, said: "Today we are offering customers up to four times the broadband speed without charging a penny more, allowing customers to get even more from their broadband services for entertainment, education or communication."

BT said that the higher speeds will pave the way for the delivery of improved services such as video over broadband.

"The internet is no longer simply about surfing the web or checking email. More and more people are enjoying online gaming, on-demand music and video," said Livingston. "BT is bringing applications of the future, such as video telephony, within reach of all our customers today."

According to Livingston, the announcement will also help businesses conduct online trading and teleworking more cost effectively.

"We fully appreciate the critical nature of broadband for business so, in addition to 2Mbps as standard, we are introducing a service level guarantee on our premium business product," he said.

The speed boost will become effective for consumers signing up after 17 February, and for business customers taking out a contract after 1 April. Migration of existing customers will start from the same dates.
This article was printed from the VNU Network
VNU Business Publications
© 2004 All rights reserved

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes

Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes
by Stephen King
I. The First Introduction

THAT'S RIGHT. I know it sounds like an ad for some sleazy writers' school, but I really am going to tell you everything you need to pursue a successful and financially rewarding career writing fiction, and I really am going to do it in ten minutes, which is exactly how long it took me to learn. It will actually take you twenty minutes or so to read this essay, however, because I have to tell you a story, and then I have to write a second introduction. But these, I argue, should not count in the ten minutes.

Friday, February 04, 2005

Here's a rather interesting description of the universe

Here are some facts about the universe:
area: infinite - bigger than the biggest thing ever
and then some. much bigger than that in fact,
really amazingly immense, a totally stunning size,
real "wow that's big" time. Infinity is just so big
that by comparison, bigness itself looks really
titchy. gigantic multiplied by colossal multiplied
by staggeringly huge is the sort of concept I'm
trying to get across here

Imports: none. It's impossible to import things
into an infinite area, there being no outside to
import things from

Exports: none: see imports

Population: none. It is known there are an infinite
number of worlds, simply because there is an
infinite amount of space for them to be in.
however, not every one of them is inhabited.
Therefore, there must be a finite number of
inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by
infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so
the average population of all the planets in the
universe can be said to be zero. From this it
follows that the population of the whole universe is
also zero, and that any people you may meet from
time to time are merely the products of a deranged
imagination

Art: none. the function of art is to hold the
mirror up to nature, and there simply isn't a mirror
big enough. see area
=====

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Ctrl-Alt-Del :: Taking another serious look at VoIP technologies

Ctrl-Alt-Del :: Taking another serious look at VoIP technologies: "
For quite sometime now, VoIP technology has been something that has fascinated me to no end. While just about everyone has heard of Vonage and Skype these days, I could not shake the feeling that there had to be more to the world of VoIP services out there. After doing some digging, I ended up with the following discoveries

"

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Granny facing jail for cannabis casseroles




26/01/05 - News section

Granny facing jail for cannabis casseroles
by DAN PARKINSON, Daily Mail

A pensioner who put cannabis in her casseroles to ease back pain became an unlikely drug dealer after friends developed a taste for her cooking.

Former restaurateur Patricia Tabran, 66, laced her hotpots, cakes and soups with the drug, professing that it soothed aches left over from injuries she sustained in a car crash.

Her specialities were chicken and leek pie and lemon and lime cheesecake.

When friends and neighbours in her Northumberland village sampled the fare they were so impressed they begged her for recipes and a supply of the key ingredient.

Tabran, who had been using her pension to buy £20 bags of cannabis from a dealer in a Newcastle pub, succumbed to their pleas and took £150 each off a group of friends to do business on their behalf. Acting on a tip-off, police raided her stone-built cottage and found 242 grams of skunk, a potent type of cannabis, and a quantity of self-sealing bags.

They also seized 31 cannabis plants she had been trying to grow in her attic. "They weren't very pleased when I said they couldn't take the soil or the huge pots because they were mine," she said yesterday.

Cannabis helped combat pain

Last night Tabran was facing a possible jail term after admitting possession of the drug with intent to supply. She has refused to name the friends she was buying for.

"They wanted the stuff to help them relieve pain," she said. "I'd been going on the bus to Newcastle to get small amounts. It was all I could afford as a pensioner. That was used in the cooking.

"When I got a chance to get more and help out my friends, I met a supplier."

She said she was scared. But after a series of rendezvous with the dealer in coffee shops, he arranged to hand over the drugs.

"I took the envelope with the kitty money and gave it to him. He pulled out a package from under his coat. It was similar to a gun holster.

"I asked him if he wanted to count the cash. He said I didn't look like the sort of person who would want to cheat anyone. He gave me a little bit extra of the loose stuff."

Bespectacled and wearing a black cardigan, Tabran, from Humshaugh, near Hexham, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court this week after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.

She will be sentenced later this year after probation and psychological reports. Last night she told how the cannabis helped combat pain from a car crash in which she suffered whiplash.

She also suffers pain from a lower back injury, and arthritic knees.

'I'm a good cook'

She said the cannabis even helped relieve tinnitus and the depression she has suffered since the death of her son in 1975.

"NHS medicines bring me out in a rash," she said. "I've been using cannabis to eat and bake in my food for months since I was introduced to it in February last year. I am sure the whole village knows about it now.

"I'm a good cook and I used the stuff I'd bought from a pub in Newcastle to put in stews, soups, curries and chocolate cake and desserts.

"I believe cannabis should be made legal for medical reasons. It's a natural herb. It has given me natural pain relief, as it has for my other friends who are suffering from MS and other conditions.

"If they send me to jail I am going to write a book about the merits of medicinal herbal cannabis.

"I want people to know NHS medicines are poisoning them instead of treating their illness.

"If Jeffrey Archer can write a book in prison, so can I."

Tabran ran the Zodiac Centre restaurant in Edinburgh with her husband, whom she later divorced. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl.

Her depression started after the death of her 14-year-old son, Duncan, in 1975. She found him dead in bed face down in his pillow.

She remarried and had a second son, Colin, now 25, but her husband, David, died from cancer.

She has two grandchildren but has not had contact with them or her daughter for several years.


Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=335452&in_page_id=1770
©2005 Associated New Media

Nvu FREE

Powerful Open Source Web Editor (IDE)
Got Dreamweaver envy? Go on, admit it. Macromedia Dreamweaver (and Adobe GoLive, among others) is a powerful tool that can help make Web design an enjoyable, creative experience, rather than a menial coding headache. But if you are a Linux developer, or if you simply couldn't afford expensive software, you were out in the cold... until now.

Even Dreamweaver users may want to stop and take a look at Nvu, a free, open source Web design environment with Mozilla's Gecko rendering engine at the heart of its WYSIWYG HTML editor.

Nvu runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, and even though this is only the second beta release of the software, it's already got a solid feature set, including:

* multiple file editing with tabs
* multiple views per file: HTML, tags, WYSIWYG, and Preview
* strong CSS support
* site file management with integrated FTP
* on-the-fly spell checking

Power users may miss a few features of the commercial packages, like Secure FTP (Blane suggests a work-around in his blog entry), pop-up code hints, server-side coding, and testing servers. But if the momentum of this project is maintained I expect all that and more will eventually be added.

Monday, January 24, 2005

19 Million Firefox Downloads - Spread Firefox

19 Million Firefox Downloads - Spread Firefox
SpreadFirefox.com announced on Thursday that the popular open source browser had reached 19,000,000 estimated downloads. What’s even more amazing is the fact that it was done in a little more than 10 weeks.

Friday, January 21, 2005

How to make your PC secure

An unguarded PC is a potentially dangerous window into your life and finances. We show you how to make it secure and keep it secure
Kyle MacRae, Computeractive 19 Jan 2005

Part 1
Part 2