October 11, 2008 by alikat.

npr.org

“Doing several things at once can feel so productive. But scientists say switching rapidly between tasks can actually slow us down.” more

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October 6, 2008 by alikat.

devicedaily.com

“CERN launched the largest computing grid in the world which is destined to analyze the data coming from world’s biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The computing grid consists of more than 140 computers centers from around the world in order to be capable to analyze 15 million GB [15 Petabytes] of LHC’s data.” read

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October 4, 2008 by alikat.

A take on Ethanol by Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren senior fellows at CATO institute read

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October 3, 2008 by alikat.

“XDRTB.org is an extraordinary effort to tell the story of extremely
drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) and TB through powerful photographs
taken by James Nachtwey.  XDR-TB, or extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis,
is a new and deadly mutation of tuberculosis. Similar in creation to
multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) but more extreme in its manifestation,
it arises when common tuberculosis goes untreated or standard TB drugs are
misused. James’ photographs represent these varying strains. Learn more about TB, MDR-TB and XDR-TB, and learn how you can take action to stop this deadly disease.” read

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October 3, 2008 by alikat.

"LISBON (Reuters) - Microsoft launched on Friday a software package for a Portuguese ultra-cheap laptop for school children that the government hopes will boost the country’s technological edge in education.

Portugal started rolling out the "Magellan" computer at schools last month. It aims to hand out a total 500,000 of the laptops, which cost just 50 euros ($69.29) for school children, at home and export it to countries in Latin America and Africa." read

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October 2, 2008 by alikat.

computerworld.com

“Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer  revealed a few details on Wednesday [Oct 1] of a forthcoming operating system that will help developers write Internet-based applications.

Within a month, Microsoft will unveil what Ballmer called "Windows Cloud." The operating system, which will likely have a different name, is intended for developers writing cloud-computing applications, said Ballmer, who spoke to an auditorium of IT managers at a Microsoft-sponsored conference in London.

Cloud Computing is a term often applied to programs that are presented in a Web browser, but the actual computing is performed at a distant data center. “

read the article

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October 1, 2008 by alikat.

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September 30, 2008 by alikat.

"There has been a rumor that Bill Gates gave a "Rules to Live-By" speech to high school kids with 11 great wisdoms about what should children expect as they enter the "real world". The fact is that the author of these rules is Charles Sykes, the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids. " read the rules

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September 30, 2008 by alikat.

"Thinking Machine 4 explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought. Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought process visible on the board before you.

The artwork is an artificial intelligence program, ready to play chess with the viewer. If the viewer confronts the program, the computer’s thought process is sketched on screen as it plays. A map is created from the traces of literally thousands of possible futures as the program tries to decide its best move. Those traces become a key to the invisible lines of force in the game as well as a window into the spirit of a thinking machine. "

Play the game

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September 30, 2008 by alikat.

An interesting graphical history of the Internet growth on the National Science Foundation’s web site.

link

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