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Valleyschwag care package... #2

In some rather out-of-date-by-now news, to brighten up my currently-very-monotonous-exam-ridden-life, the guys from Valleyschwag have finally sent out their 'care' packages for this month...

...so in all honesty, I really have nothing to complain about since my uni-exam-month has two major events to colour them up...

1. My brand spanking-and-smelling-of-new ASUS W2Jc arrives after tomorrow [I hope, after 2 months!], so i can finally rid myself of this rented notebook I am using.... right now though I really miss my W1 which of course I sold a month ago *sigh*
2. My SHWAG also finally arrives... I'm guessing toward the end of this week, though my hopes are realistically focused on next week
3. My order from Amazon for my 'summer-reading' books should be here also sometime this week... I got a nice load of 'learn how to speed read at 1000 words per minute' books

In other news.... I have finally managed to solve a Rubik's cube in under 5 minutes... pretty good improvement me-thinks, considering that up to last Monday I had never solved it... aaaalllsssssooooo I have been doing memory exercises recently and can nowadays GUARANTEE that if you give me a jumbled 20 digit number...

...like 28394828597031628492 ....

...and you let me stare at it for 60 seconds or so... then i can guarantee that I will be able to memorize it... even backwards!

Note: It is impressive how 'productive' in other areas I can be during exam time... if only one such area were my exams themselves!!! haha

Additional-Note: As for loading my notebook with stickers like the Valleyschwag guys suggested... call me a boring sod, but I usually 'remove' stickers from on my notebook, so the last thing I want to be doing is adding more... yet again... we could always adorn the back-side of its carry-bag... mmm... food for thought...


Read more about schwag here --> The Chronicles of Valleyschwag

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Valleyschwag

Solid state HARD DRIVES...

First we had mechanical floppy drives... unnecessary battery drain for notebooks... that is now history [thankfully]
and we had mechanical mice... replaced by ir mice and nowadays laser mice...

...that leaves us with mechanical hard drives and mechanical optical drives.... that's all that's left 'mechanically' in our pc's....

...say hello to the first notebook that does without a mechanical hdd... by far the worst nightmare to our notebook battery... who knows... at this rate maybe even optical drives shall become a thing of the past... especially considering that 32gb is technically on par with the latest bluray discs in terms of capacity at least...

read on....

Pocket-lint.co.uk Samsung say 32Gb flash drive will go into Q1 and Q30 laptops news story in Notebooks

Samsung say 32Gb flash drive will go into Q1 and Q30 laptops

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Robot performs heart surgery

It has been displayed in sci-fi films... and tech-gossipers would proclaim that they knew this day would finally arrive... and for a change, they were correct!

In an article on ANSA.IT, there is reported that the first long distance heart surgery has been performed in 50 minutes by a robot!!

What with the new artificial muscles, robotic suits and all... only one thought comes to mind at times... "How I wish I were born today!" since who knows what the future will hold beyond my years of existance!!  (ok fair enough, i'm still in my twenties... and maybe some might even say that with the rate we're going, maybe I don't even want to live further into the future... but I'm a tech and it's natural for me to dream of such!!)

oh well.. read on... --> ANSA.it - News in English - Italian robot does heart surgery

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Malta - Eurovision - Faniello - BIG WOOPS!

Ok... having given myself some time to reflect over last nights' results... seeing Malta ending up last in the Eurovision Song Contest, not only do I now think that he deserves it... but I honestly think that all Malta really deserves it!

I honestly do like the winning song, albeit not being my preference... that there would have been the Greek song.. I simply loved it.. as well as Romania.

But what STINKS the most is that the larger part of our {maltese} votes went to Switzerland... and I repeat... this is SO STUPID! It is OBVIOUS that the Maltese voted for Switzerland just because there was a friggin Maltese guy singing! This is not to say that their song was bad... on the contrary... but see, that is the point here, my gut tells me that the SONG was NOT the reason the Maltese voted for them... which is such a pity and so childish... I can already imagine the infantile screams before placing the call-vote... "We cannot vote for Malta..so vote for Switzerland!".... all along forgetting two very important facts...

1- The Eurovision is about SHOW and SONG {which therefore is also about VOICE}...
2- The other fact is that the Swiss song was less than 50% swiss in itself!!!! So wtf! There technically was no Swiss song...so tell me again... what exactly did we vote for!

I resign... the utter stupidity on this island is a disgrace!

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Bizarre shapes created in water when spinning....

news @ nature.com - Geometric whirlpools revealed - Recipe for making symmetrical holes in water is easy.

Bizarre geometric shapes that appear at the centre of swirling vortices in planetary atmospheres might be explained by a simple experiment with a bucket of water.

Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark in Lyngby have created similar geometric shapes (holes in the form of stars, squares, pentagons and hexagons) in whirlpools of water in a cylindrical bucket1. The shapes appear easily enough once the bucket is spinning at a rate of one to seven revolutions per second, they say.

Tomas Bohr and colleagues made plexiglass buckets, 13 and 20 centimetres across, with metal bottoms that could be rotated at high speed by a motor. They filled the bucket with water and spun the bottom to whip up the liquid into a whirlpool that rose up the sides of the container.

This set-up is very similar to the rotating bucket that Isaac Newton used in the seventeenth century to investigate centrifugal forces.

The researchers found that once the plate was spinning so fast that the water span out to the sides, creating a hole of air in the middle, the dry patch wasn't circular as might be expected. Instead it evolved, as the bucket's spin sped up, from an ellipse to a three-sided star, to a square, a pentagon, and, at the highest speeds investigated, a hexagon.

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Step 1 : Build the 2x2x2 corner

ok...so i am on a mission to solve the rubix cube.... i must do it... since currently the most i have ever been able to achieve was to solve one side perfectly [i.e. with all other edges complete] in some 30 minutes...

but... i have come across this great tutorial... and i'll keep you posted on my progress :o)

Read more at lar5.com/cube/fas1.html

Valleyschwag

Ok ok... I did it... i've proven to the world something that was already fact (so why prove it you ask?)

Well I've subscribed to ValleySchwag, basically I am PAYING money for someone to send me stuff which if I were located at a different tangent to this planet I will probably be getting for free...

...and I CAN'T WAIITTTTTTTTTT :'''''''o( [sad imitation of crying baby here]

What is fair is fair though... they experienced an exponential growth over the last month... which means they were not ready for it... which also means they have lots to do... which means they have lots to pack... which also means they have a lot of crap to pack.... which means I can go on repeating forever... AND I WILL...SO IF YOU WANT ME TO STOP, SEND ME MY SCHWAG!!!!

[disclaimer: i hope the above works, if not please do note that i AM joking and i can appreciate the amount of work invovled :o) ]

[ honesty-aimer: i was planning on writing an entry when i got my schwag... but the guys there are excited to hear about themselves, and i seriously don't blame them... hence my entry]

ANYWAY.... anyone who wants some schwag, i'm putting my reputation on the line and recommending you to this site... even though i haven't tasted the schwag.......yet...

The Chronicles of Valleyschwag » Blog Archive » Valleyschwag Loves the Bloggers

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Eurovision Song Contest

The results are out... and I swear Malta has been disgraced!! We have NEVER done so badly!!! ... and to think there were other competing songs in our festival which sounded so much better!! Pity... i guess we learnt our lesson :o(

Read more at www.eurovision.tv/engli...

BBC NEWS | Technology | Wireless boost for British cities

Wireless is finally spreading, and in the latest news there seems to be an initiative to introduce wireless to the Brits... i don't know what it is with Brits always following up on the US... but hey... right now..i sure wouldn't mind being a Brit :o)

Read more at news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/tec...

Monkeys CAN actually talk!!

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (UPI) -- British scientists report they have evidence monkeys can put together a simple sentence, an ability thought to be solely human...

In some very interesting news it seems that monkeys can actually talk.. who knows? Ever heard of Planet of the Apes? Maybe one day we can decipher what the monkeys say... which will lead to us communicating with them... which might lead to us releasing their brain onto knowledge... which MIGHT result us in finding out that they are more intelligent than us... something that can work positively... or negatively..

Yet, another problem might be as a result of our very 'civilisation'... since our activists would oppose any though measures we might want to take..in-the-event-of... and in the meantime, our uncivilised friends; currently known as monkeys, might actually not give two craps about our civilised ways and just trample the crap out of us...

interesting food for thought... read on.... Monkeys may be able to make sentences

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Human & Chimp Sex...

you really want to read further....

Humans, chimps may have bred after split - The Boston Globe

"human ancestors evolved apart from the chimpanzees for hundreds of thousands of years, and then started breeding with them again before a final break"

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The Vista Requirements...

...and here are THE requirements :

A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2
• 128 MB of graphics memory
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space
• DVD-ROM Drive3
• Audio output capability
• Internet access capability.

Windows Vista Capable and Premium Ready PCs

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Windows Vista Hardware Requirements

Microsoft has [at last] released the hardward requirements for its upcoming Windows edition, due in January 2007 [codename Longhorn].  At this stage, anyone who plans on using a Microsoft operating system solution, and is also planning on purchasing a new pc [or upgrade], should also check out a neat little feature on this site called 'Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Beta' [I swear... I adore Googles' innovative idea... the 'everthing-is-beta' idea though, is not one such idea!!]

Anyway... check it out... you don't wnat to find yourself spending oodles of $$$$$ on new hardware only to find yourself needing a new upgrade in a matter of months... so take a hint ;o)

Windows Vista: Get Ready

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what an interesting word... LIMBO

has anyone ever though of the multiple connotations, or meanings of the word limbo?

well here are a few...

1. limbo is an imaginery place for lost or neglected things
2. in Roman Catholicism, Limbo is the term used to describe the place for unbaptized souls prior to the claimed resurrection of Jesus, such souls would have though not committed any sins in their life yet would still be marred by original sin [Adam and Eve]... nowadays this predominantly means infants only
3. Limbo is also a dance originating from the island of Trinidad, which most of us have probably danced to without knowing its name... it is 'generally' danced to a caribbean rythm during which each dancer leans backwards and passes under a horizontal stick which keeps being lowered and lowered after all dancers pass, and if hit... the dancer is 'disqualified'... this goes on until only one dancer is left
4. In Marvel Comics, Limbo is a fictional dimension whose physical laws are magical, as well as having the ordinary laws such as gravity, etc...
5. In the Inferno Operating System, Limbo is the name of a programming language, primarily designed for writing distributed systems.  It is a strongly typed [compile time as well as runtime] language which supports modular and concurrent programming as well as interprocess communication over channels, automatic garbage collection [unlike c/c++] and ADTs.
6. Limbo is also the substance that separates dimensions, consisting primarily of delta particles.... therefore a hole in space-time is in reality a hole in the limbo!!

how's that for some education ;o)

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Word document automation through .NET - The Code Project - C# Programming

I just released an article detailing office automation through .net...

Read more at www.codeproject.com/csh...

Blogging... evolved

I have stumbled across this site whilst scanning the net for a good firefox blogging solution... worth a look... i am test-driving it for a while now and we'll see how it goes :o)


Performancing.com | Helping Bloggers Succeed

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Google Notebook

Google notebook is finally online!

I have been personally testdriving it for a few days and can already say it is pretty slick and has great potential... I basically see it soon replacing my bookmarks... especially since it can be seen as a form of 'bookmarks on the move' solution.Personally I was always on the lookout for something on these lines, yet somehow the rest didn't quite... err... digg it ;o)

Read more at www.google.com/notebook...

The 20 Most Important Tools Ever - Forbes.com

The 20 Most Important Tools Ever - Forbes.com: "The 20 Most Important Tools Ever"

Related Info for: digg.com/

Related Info for: digg.com/

it finally happened.... digg has come on par with slashdot!!!! who ever thought someone would overtake slashdot?

my personal view though is that possibly... for now at least... they will remain on par for a while since i myself will be checking out both

Woman's Affair Exposed By Parrot

Woman's Affair Exposed By Parrot

This is HILARIOUS!! Please read!!!
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Intel chips in Macs make it easier to escape dual code - Los Angeles Times

Intel chips in Macs make it easier to escape dual code - Los Angeles Times

Intel inside -- so what? / Few really care -- or understand -- what's inside anything

Intel inside -- so what? / Few really care -- or understand -- what's inside anything

I refer to this article by David Lazarus

Sure, he does have a point in stating that the general folk do not really care about how things work, and therefore with the same logic, the same folk would not really care how the blessed thing works....

...yet in my opinion... David was targetting the wrong audience alltogether.

We obviously know that a concierge, or a policeman, or anyone not in the field is not going to care how these things work... and I agree... why should they? But then again, the most technicaly person David really contacted was a Software D.e.v.e.l.o.p.e.r.... as David correctly put it... this guy is not a Software E.n.g.i.n.e.e.r.... which means that he is never really gets in touch with how the machine actually works, but in comparison uses pre-written tools that will translate his code into whatever processor he or she is working on.

Yet it really does matter for engineers who are trying to push the limits of a machine to its maximum.

The Intel chips use a so-called CISC instruction set, in comparison to the PowerPC processor and it's RISC instruction set. The fundamental difference between these two is that the PowerPC can do something simple very efficiently, yet to do something complex it will take ten-fold the amount of code required on a CISC processor... the reason for this is that most RISC commands are 'generalised'... i'm just trying to keep it simple here.

So yes, for us real tech people, it does actually really matter how something works... like the example of the racing car... go ask any Forumula 1 driver how their car works... they will probably know more about it than most of the people working on it... why? Because when you are a 'prime' user of the technology involved, it pays to know what is going on.

...in short...I agree with David that the general audience shouldn't care, yet I would also like to point out that the information was 'just out there'... so nobody said it was being targetted directly at the non-tech people who will not give two hoots about it in reality... or come out with some 'blonde' comment (as indeed your 'blonde' did)... the whole thing is in fact being fuelled into the non-tech by people like David himself who have given it enough importance to actually publish an article about it (when he himself states 'get over it')

I rest my case

Macsimum News - Sony Interview: Cell, a revolution that will change computing history

Macsimum News - Sony Interview: Cell, a revolution that will change computing history

The Cell Processor?

- A dream?
- A new computing era?
- A new way of thinking?

-- who knows??

microsoft are good... but they are also very selfish apparently

Now I do not like running to conclusions of this sort...

...but this fact struck me!

I tried accessing a microsoft site, and my browser (Opera 8.01) would just freeze on the page and eventually time-out.

...as did FireFox
...as did Mozilla

...yet on Internet Explorer the page loaded INSTANTLY!

I checked to see if it was a browser limitation, maybe some ActiveX or VBScript content?

...it wasn't

Set my browser (Opera) to identify itself as Internet Explorer... and hey presto... the page loaded in a flash...


...I wonder!

PHP vs ASP.NET

Last night I got a call from an undisclosed company I have been communicating with so that perchance I might start doing some freelance or part-time development for them.

I have been a coder in a variety of languages to date, yet the one language I feel most comfortable with is (by far) PHP.

Some might argue that PHP is mainly a web-development scripting language, but let's face it, web-development is the future! Nowadays I refuse to code desktop (client-side) applications for my personal clients since it is so cost-ineffective... my solution is always a LAMP (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP/Perl) one, simply becuase, they are CHEAP, they are Server-Side, and therefore are faster, easier to deploy and give you an instantly enhanced ROI.

It was therefore strange when my prospective employer/client asked me what I develop in and claimed he had never heard of PHP.

...they code in C#

Now I have twiddled around in C# in the past, can't really say I'm a C# developer though, since common sense would dictate using Java2. I mean, why BOTHER learning how to code in a language to which there is an equivalent (and debatably superior) language such as Java2?

Unfortunately though, I need my income too, therefore this weekend is dedicated to a crash course in C# for myself, namely the .NET framework, which to date I had no reason to delve into, simply because J2EE already has most of the things I need... and yet again... I'm only develop for companies, and web-dss's is what I really do.

Still... I was curious and wanted to find a comparison between ASP.NET and PHP... my tracks were cut short when I found one ready for me by an undebatably superior reviewer --> http://www.oracle.com/technology/pub/columns/hull_php2.html

That pretty much tells me that I am indeed a sane developer :o)

...now back to my C# *sigh*

microsoft.torrent

Bitorrent is arguably the best peer-to-peer download utility that has ever hit the computer desktop industry... it is fast... so fast that, unless you throttle it on a generic ADSL connection, you won't even be able to download a standard website, chat or send emails, simple because it will hog your entire bandwidth in a matter of minutes (well at least for my connection it does hehe)

...unfortunately (or some might argue.. fortunately) this also makes it the ideal download protocol for priated music, movies, tv-series, software and porn...

Therefore wouldn't it be strange if Microsoft decided to inject some of it's own code into the torrent idea to make it more efficient? (if such were possible?)

Yet believe it or not... they have!

Appropriately code-named Avalanche, Microsoft's attempt at becoming a content distributor adheres to Bitorrent's idea of piecing up together multiple files which it would download from a multitude of sources.

The difference between Bitorrent and Avalanche, is that for the latter, each peer or seed (workstation or server offering pieces of the file for download) would generate a linear combination of file blocks, tagged with a header to describe relevant parameters required for decoding the block.

...read more

a new website?

...a new website is being developed that will hit the maltese online market (if such exists) like a storm...

...wait for it... more to come...

New earth-like planet found

It's 15 light years away from our planet...

It orbits a 'sun-like' star called Gliese 876...

Is this the next destination for humans? ... or is it already a destination for those we don't yet know about?

Well in reality I am not too sure of that. Size-wise, this planet is 7½ times the size of earth as we know it, with temperatures ranging from 400 to 750 degrees... thus making it uninhabitable for us... but one can never tell what evolutional tricks could have occured there... we know of mammals and fish which live in climates thought unbreable for us... so who knows?

Yet... Astronomers believe this discovery is a step in the right direction and we're getting closer to finding a planet that might support life ...

...we'll wait and see!

Opera Web Browser

Opera Web Browser

Does anyone really ever use this browser?

Well I used to... it IS amazing... it IS fast... it is THE most secure browser out there...

but somehow... i still prefer using FireFox... why? Becuase it is modular... and it lets me modify it and personalize it any way I want... simple!

Yes I could go on an in-depth comparison of the main browsers... which is faster... etc... etc.. etc... but honestly... who cares??? I mean come on!! Who cares if a page lasts 1 second longer to redraw than on another browser? If the browser lets you browse the way YOU want... then that is the reason you'll use it...

..period

Asus P505 reviews and technical details - Softpedia

Asus P505 reviews and technical details - Softpedia: "Asus P505"

My favourite computer brand is finally coming out with their own range of mobile phones... and what a mobile also!!!!





Impressive...I want one!

CNN.com - The fusion of man and machine - May 16, 2005

CNN.com - The fusion of man and machine - May 16, 2005: "Memory enhancement, an increased range of senses, dieting control and thought communication will all be on the market, while technology to allow for multi-dimensional thought will be at the planning stage."

After a long absence I am finally back! Had lost my drive to write in here until I saw this article... (and after it was pointed out to me by my girlfriend)

Interesting concept... who knows...

Many of us have been suceptible to a myriad of films over the past few years, all touching topics of this nature, and all categorized as Sci-Fi or something of the sort... some of us recall 'The Lanmower Man'... others might more vividly recall an extreme of such topic being 'The Matrix'

..Sci-Fi you say? Think again...

Nowadays a technology allowing the use of chip implants that communicate with our neural network can be employed to fight diseases, increase our thinking capacity... make us 'more intelligent'...

...but the definitely biased question pervails...

"Will computers and Robots ever take over mankind?"

Man is known to cause his own destruction through over-ambition.... who knows? Maybe we will have the same fate as the Dodo... who knows...maybe one day a bunch of Robots will create a film about us humans on the same lines hehehehe

Yahoo Raises Free Web Mail Storage

Yahoo Raises Free Web Mail Storage: "Internet giant Yahoo Inc. says that users of its free web mail service will have one gigabyte of storage space starting late next month.

The company also added several enhancements to its web mail including better security and a search fucntion. email features including better virus cleaning and scanning along with a search function.

'The global roll-out will begin in late April, which will make Yahoo! Mail the largest e-mail provider to deliver 1 GB of storage space for free to consumers worldwide,' Yahoo said.

Yahoo's paid web mail users will enjoy 2 GB of storage space and the ability to send attachments up to 20 MB in size.

Rivals Google already offer 1 GB of storage space on its Gmail while Microsoft's Hotmail has a 250 MB storage allocation for users."

...it is interesting to see that indirectly Yahoo and possibly also Microsoft are admitting defeat to Google as far as both Web-Mail and Search-Engine wars are concerned.

Yet one can understand why both Yahoo and Microsoft have/are taking to so long to catch up with the 1GB free storage space for web-mail... it is already surprising that Yahoo has manage to promise such storage facilities for late April...

one must though take into consideration one major factor... firstly both Yahoo and Msn have been around for a very long time and therefore have already got a tremendous user base, hence upgrading them all to 1GB of free storage is definitely no walk in the park for them vis-a-vis availing themselves of such quantities of data storage, even for giants as themselves, plus one must also remember that the more storage and users there are, the more concurrant transactions on their servers, hence less speed.

Google has had the upper hand yet again in this department... they started off their service from null and therefore had the opportunity of tuning and adapting their system as it grew... plus it is still in beta and therefore they would technically have every excuse should something go wrong from time to time... witty move google!!

Added to this is the fact that Gmail's interface is so sleek and fast, this raises serious doubts as to whether or not both Yahoo and Hotmail will be able to match such standards...

yet again one has to see... i will be trying to get hold of a 1GB Yahoo account myself, for testing purposes, and simply because I love giving my opinion on just about anything under the sun... yet I have serious doubts as to how much mail traffic I would be able to target to my Yahoo account, especially since I am already one of the avid Gmail users who is already at over 30% of my free online 1GB storage :o)

Reuters Photo

Reuters Photo:



"Michael Jackson waves to his fans as he arrives at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Maria, California March 15, 2005. The teenager who accuses Jackson of sex abuse weathered a punishing cross-examination by the singer's lawyer on Monday, denying suggestions he invented the molestation because he felt rejected by Jackson as a father figure. Photo by Phil Klein/Reuters"

Michael Jackson

US News Article | Reuters.com: "The 15-year-old boy told jurors last week that Jackson, 46, masturbated him at least twice in February or March of 2003 after nights of heavy drinking at the singer's Neverland Valley Ranch, testimony that cuts to the heart of the child molestation case."

...there's not much to follow up on as at this very moment on the Jackson scandal. Granted he looks like a weird man, what with his ghost-like image and skin that would make Marilyn Manson jealous, yet there don't seem to be enough facts right now...

one waits for the next cross-examination...

If the story is true though, one would pity the boy, since suing Jackson is very easily interpreted as an excuse to filch money and fame off the pop-idol... both of which he's got enough to spare... similar to the Lewinsky story...

who knows?

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

Technology News Article | Reuters.com: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A software vendor that tried to drum up sales by offering to clean up nonexistent computer 'spyware' has been temporarily shut down, U.S. regulators said on Friday."

...haha what is this world coming to? Not only do we have spyware... now we also have 'spy-businesses... just this is no form of Sherlock Holmes business mind you... it's a fake business selling a fake service... good one :o)

www.szc001.com

Finally szc001.com is up... damn what a nightmare one week... 3 emails and 2 support requests... and not ONE reply!!!

AMD rolls out 64-bit mobile processor, Turion 64 : Processor News - BIOS : Technology For Business

AMD rolls out 64-bit mobile processor, Turion 64 : Processor News - BIOS : Technology For Business: "Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has introduced its Turion line of 64-bit mobile processors, the first stage in an effort to recover ground lost in laptops in recent years to Intel. "....

Intel's Moore was correct... at this rate hardware has technically out-performed software already by a far cry!

AMD launched their 64-Bit processors over a year ago now... and yet there still isn't a widely used operating system to cater for it's power... therefore anybody who dished out cash to buy this (pretty costly) CPU has pretty much wasted a real lot of money since; unless they use Linux, BSD or any other 64-Bit enabled core, they are definitely not using the full core's potential or even touching it's 64-Bit abilities...

..i.e. money down the drain since such CPU's have already taken the downhill price plunge...

yet Microsoft will be releasing their 64-Bit Operating System later on in April... and here is AMD already dishing out a 64-Bit Processor for notebooks/laptops (why do they keep calling them laptops??? a laptop is NOT a notebook)... anyway...

Intel is hoping to catch up on the desktop workstation market early in April when they release their Dual-Core Pentium D's and eventually their 64-Bit and server counterparts...

This is so clear... last year AMD pretty much dominated the Workstation arena with their 64-Bit processors (albeit mostly for the gaming market... which is by far the biggest in terms of revenue)... whilst Intel dominated the notebook market with their amazing Centrino (i know cos i've got one hehe)...

...this year... the scales tend to tip towards Intel with their upcoming Pentium D (I mean seriously... two cores... you have to love that since with HT Technology it's like having virtually 4 cores!!)... whilst AMD will dominate the Notebook market...

the following year is almost predictable... Intel will dish out their 64-Bit notebook Centrino (Centrino D maybe?) whilst AMD will dish out their Dual Core workstation cores...

the only way this can change is if Intel Hat-Trick AMD and produce a dula core 64-Bit processor for both Workstation AND Notebook prior to the end of 2006...

...unless of course AMD has some hidden ace in their pocket... which has been the case before... so why not again?

Anyway..gotta go...lecture round the corner... tata

Blu-ray.com - What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray.com - What is Blu-ray?



...do you recall the introduction of DVD onto the market? I'm sure I know the expression on everyone's face (everyone = anyone who knows the difference between a litre and a KB)... like wow... a disc that can store 7Gb of data!!

Then came the DVDRW.... and once again it was... WOW... i can store 7 DivX's on one disc!

Well... say hello to mr Blu-Ray :o) This neat little disc can store around 25GB of data on a single layer (i.e. dual layer discs would store 50Gb)... that is... simple... STAGGERING!!

Where's this world coming to? I vividly recall a substantial number of years back a certain Mr Sir Bill Gates commenting on how a computer would never require more than the standard base 640KB to work properly...

...well... he was correct... it does work properly with 640KB... but there isn't much you can do with it anyway... and it makes anything based on Allan Turing's definition almost impossible to achieve, since back in the 70's, Mr. Turing (creator of the well known Turning Model used in programming algorithms), already envisaged that such machine can only work based on a theoretically infinite amount of memory available...

I'm just wondering when the 'standard' will become the Terabyte :o)

I personally am the proud owner of a 1-TB array of discs... yet I still don't seem to be able to fill it up hehe albeit having been at me for well over a year now... who knows? Maybe one day a windows LongHorn (or maybe ShortHorn in the future, who knows) installation would consume 1TB of space just for a basic installation...

i guess we'll just dream for now... yet with Apple Computers Inc. joining up in the Blu-Ray force... this is going to be the first step to mass storage on optical discs...

stay tuned :o))

Google Search: stefan camilleri blog

Google Search: stefan camilleri blog

woohooo!! and the blog gets number one spot... *finally*

....to the faithfully departed.....

i shall abstain from writing any posts in here today... other than this since i want to commemorate this day accordingly.

Today the mother of a very close friend of mine passed away, I shall not write her name here of course... it is funny how when someone close to you loses a loved one, even without speaking to them, you tend to feel the weight over you just the same.

Such was the case today... I was studying when all of a sudden I felt a really bad aura and got a shiver down my spine... a few seconds LATER I receive a message that my friend's mother passed away :o(

I have nothing else to say today... except that today I managed to experience two emotional extremes in a span of a 2 hours.

CNN.com - Report: Woman 'tastes' musical notes - Mar 3, 2005

CNN.com - Report: Woman 'tastes' musical notes - Mar 3, 2005: "LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Music can be a mouth-watering experience for one Swiss musician who 'tastes' combinations of notes as distinct flavors, according to a report in the science journal Nature."

......amazing.... read this article... this woman can actually TASTE music... not image tasting it mind you... she can actually taste a bittersweet symphony and a salty song hehe

They tested E.S.'s ability by applying solutions tasting sour, bitter, salty or sweet to her tongue and asking her to identify the tone intervals, a difficult task that requires musical training.

When the applied tastes corresponded with the intervals she was able to identify them quicker than other musicians.

"We found that E.S.'s tone-interval identification was perfect," the researchers said.

Google launches desktop search product

Google launches desktop search product: "Google launches desktop search product"

...finally out of beta! I've been using this since it's original beta release earlier last year, and I must say I simple love it... prefer it ten-fold over MSN's desktop search, and now... it also works with Thunderbird and FireFox...

...what more could a geek want??



...watch this space... it asked me to restart and i'll have to reindex... things that will happen some time later this week... yet once done I'll be as usual writing my opinion in here..

Swaziland- King MSWATI III

Swaziland- King MSWATI III

interesting stuff to know....

Google Answers: Researcher Application

Google Answers: Researcher Application

...now wouldn't this be a GREAT money-making niche?

Select Italy: Museum Tickets Reservation, Museums in Italy

Select Italy: Museum Tickets Reservation, Museums in Italy: " Easter Mass at St. Peter's


For millions of faithful around the world, Rome is more than just the Eternal City, it is the capital of all Christendom. And for many, attending an Easter or Christmas Mass at the Vatican is the dream of a lifetime. Dream no more because now - on the most holy days of the year - you can participate in services led by the Pope himself.

Date: March 27, 2005
Time: 10:30AM"

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Interstellar dust cloud may have iced Earth

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Interstellar dust cloud may have iced Earth: "Like an automobile passing through a dust storm, Earth's passage through a giant cloud in space could have led to global freezing that virtually wiped out life on the planet hundreds of millions of years ago."

NIDA for Teens: Mind Over Matter - Nicotine

NIDA for Teens: Mind Over Matter - Nicotine: "The Brain's Response to Nicotine"

Note to self --> I MUST STOP!

For centuries, people have chewed and smoked tobacco, which comes from the plant nicotiana tabacum. The reason tobacco is used by so many people is because it contains a powerful drug known as nicotine.

When tobacco is smoked, nicotine is absorbed by the lungs and quickly moved into the bloodstream, where it is circulated throughout the brain. All of this happens very rapidly. In fact, nicotine reaches the brain within 8 seconds after someone inhales tobacco smoke. Nicotine can also enter the bloodstream through the mucous membranes that line the mouth (if tobacco is chewed) or nose (if snuff is used), and even through the skin.

Nicotine affects the entire body. Nicotine acts directly on the heart to change heart rate and blood pressure. It also acts on the nerves that control respiration to change breathing patterns. In high concentrations, nicotine is deadly, in fact one drop of purified nicotine on the tongue will kill a person. It's so lethal that it has been used as a pesticide for centuries.

So why do people smoke? Because nicotine acts in the brain where it can stimulate feelings of pleasure.

Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells. They communicate by releasing chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. Each neurotransmitter is like a key that fits into a special "lock," called a receptor, located on the surface of nerve cells. When a neurotransmitter finds its receptor, it activates the receptor's nerve cell.

The nicotine molecule is shaped like a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine and its receptors are involved in many functions, including muscle movement, breathing, heart rate, learning, and memory. They also cause the release of other neurotransmitters and hormones that affect your mood, appetite, memory, and more. When nicotine gets into the brain, it attaches to acetylcholine receptors and mimics the actions of acetylcholine.

Nicotine also activates areas of the brain that are involved in producing feelings of pleasure and reward. Recently, scientists discovered that nicotine raises the levels of a neurotransmitter called dopamine in the parts of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward. Dopamine, which is sometimes called the pleasure molecule, is the same neurotransmitter that is involved in addictions to other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Researchers now believe that this change in dopamine may play a key role in all addictions. This may help explain why it is so hard for people to stop smoking.

Did you know that nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine? If someone uses nicotine again and again, such as by smoking cigarettes or cigars or chewing tobacco, his or her body develops a tolerance for it. When someone develops tolerance, he or she needs more drug to get the same effect. Eventually, a person can become addicted. Once a person becomes addicted, it is extremely difficult to quit. People who start smoking before the age of 21 have the hardest time quitting, and fewer than 1 in 10 people who try to quit smoking succeed.

When nicotine addicts stop smoking they may suffer from restlessness, hunger, depression, headaches, and other uncomfortable feelings. These are called "withdrawal symptoms" because they happen when nicotine is withdrawn from the body.

Withdrawal may be bad, but long-term smoking can be much worse. It raises your blood pressure, dulls your senses of smell and taste, reduces your stamina, and wrinkles your skin. More dangerously, long-term smoking can lead to fatal heart attacks, strokes, emphysema, and cancer.

You may be surprised to learn that tobacco use causes far more illnesses and death than all other addicting drugs combined. One out every six deaths in the United States is a result of smoking.

But even when faced with risk of death, many people keep using tobacco because they are so addicted to nicotine. Believe it or not, half of the smokers who have heart attacks keep smoking, even though their doctor warns them to stop. That's a strong addiction!

Smokeless tobacco also has harmful effects. Chewing tobacco can cause damage to gum tissue and even loss of teeth. It also reduces a person's ability to taste and smell. Most importantly, smokeless tobacco contains cancer causing-chemicals that can cause cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. This can even happen in very young users of chewing tobacco. In fact, most people who develop these cancers were users of chewing tobacco.

The brain's best defense against nicotine is to think hard before using it.

The truth is, there's still a whole lot that scientists don't know about nicotine's effects on the brain. Maybe someday you'll make the next big discovery.

solved :o)))) thanks to Matt!!