Items tagged with Aging
A new blood test that will come on the market later this year in over-the-counter form is raising questions about just how much we should know, and what will be done with that knowledge. The test will, the maker says, be able to predict your life expectancy to within a decade. The test, by the company Life Length, is to come on the market in the U.K. later this year, and will cost 500 euros ($714). The tests measures the length of a person's telomeres, the cap-like molecular structures on the tips of the chromosomes. The shorter they are, scientists believe, the nearer one is to death. Essentially, the test will give a person's "true" biological, vs. his chronological, age. There have been tests...
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OMG, finally! We're glad to see a retailer as large as Amazon.com has taken some initiative. How many of you are frustrated by blister or clamshell style packaging such as above? The dang things are so annoying that "how-tos" have been written about them. It's easy to get a cut from their sharp edges, so we're not surprised that articles about "safely" opening them has been written. Custom openers have even been developed. Amazon.com is, with its "Frustration-Free Packaging" project, taking a step toward eliminating not just those packs but also things like tiny SD cards packed in large boxes. The project is starting small, with only 19 products from manufacturers including Fisher-Price, Mattel,...
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Before you say, "So What?" we are well aware that you could send an SMS from email by using an address of the form number@att.txt.net (we're also aware AIM supported this). But when you did that, you only got a temporary ID that your friend could text you back on for a limited time. This new feature will give you a permanent "number" they can use all the time for SMS, which goes directly to your Gmail Chat.So, how does it work? Well, first of all it's a Google Labs feature. Unlike Mail Goggles, we like this one. Go into your Gmail Settings, then Labs, and enable the functionality (most will not see this feature yet, at the time of this writing). Go into chat, type...
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The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Google-sponsored GeoEye-1 satellite, which was launched on September 6, has begun capturing image data from its orbit 423 miles above Earth. The satellite had been undergoing calibration and check out since launch, but transmitted its first, full color half-meter ground resolution images yesterday.Although the first images released from the Satellite are half-meter ground resolution, GeoEye-1 is actually capable of capturing much more precise images. Due to U.S. licensing restrictions, commercial customers--like Google--can only be given access to imagery that has been processed to half-meter ground resolution. But the GeoEye-1 satellite actually...
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It appears that a bug in a network driver used in the kernel of the latest alpha release of the popular Ubuntu Linux distro is damaging Intel network controllers, sometimes irreparably.In bug #263555 on the bugs.launchpad.net website titled, "[intrepid] 2.6.27 e1000e driver places Intel ICH8 and ICH9 gigE chipsets at risk", it is noted that the NVRAM on Intel 82566 and 82567 based LAN controllers is being corrupted, but the bug seems to have affected only notebook users at this point..."In some circumstances it appears possible for the 2.6.27-rc kernels to corrupt the NVRAM used by some Intel network parts to store data such as MAC addresses.This is limited to the new e1000e driver, and reports...
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The results of a recently published study of workers' instant messaging (IM) use shows that IM can actually improve workplace productivity. This contradicts a widely held belief that IM in the workplace is a hindrance to productivity. IM is often perceived as an interruption, and as such, "it can significantly hinder productivity by disrupting thought processes and work flows, causing individuals to take longer to complete tasks."Researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California, Irvine conducted a telephone study by randomly surveying individuals employed full-time who use computers in an office environment at least five hours per week. They netted 912 respondents, of which...
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In a somewhat controversial move, Microsoft will be including a new feature in its messaging services which will allow users to contact police with just a few clicks of the mouse. If you're a resident of the United Kingdom, the new "Report Abuse" icon will appear on your Windows Live Messenger or MSN Messenger, which when clicked will take you directly to a site that will help you get in contact with Police. The new feature has been created with the help of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection(CEOP) Centre, in an effort to help curb inappropriate online sexual conduct. "Behind the Report Abuse button will sit...
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