Christmas Eve - Santa Movement "Confirmed"

On Christmas Eve, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as Norad confirmed and tracked Santa and his reindeers across the world. Norad which has been tracking Santa for the past fifty years. How? With Santa Cams stationed across the globe and satellite, of course. Twitter users, for the first time followed the direction Santa headed from tweets, or Twitter messages from "Bitz the Elf," whose screen name is "noradsanta," according to Google, which has been giving Norad a hand in tracking Santa this year. Some web-based software which Google has used to help Norad include Google Maps and Google Earth. Below is one of the many video captures of Santa. Here he is shown at Beijing, China, travelling along the Great Wall and admiring some of the more well-known tourist attractions as well as some of the newer buildings made for the Olympics such as the Bird's Nest Stadium.

Regenerative Medicine Not So Far Away

The US Army has already developed a medicine to help regrow tissue and bone. Extracellular Matrix, he cream-colored crystallized powder, dubbed "magic dust," combines properties from the intestinal lining and the urinary bladder to make it into what it is. The medicine helps by giving the body`s natural healing powers a power boost, sort of tricking the body to think that it is back in the womb. One man who took part of the regenerative-medicine study after cutting off the tip of his finger in a model plane's propeller, had the substance applied to the wound, and after a month the body grew skin and tissue to renew the damaged finger. Whether it looked like a normal finger again, and to what extent the wound has healed was not told. Another medicinal breakthrough is a kind of engineered skin substitute. It is made from the patient`s own cells and about the size of a postage stamp. It could grow several times larger and can be used to prevent injection and can also placed over top of severely damaged skin to serve as new skin. The Army has also announced that a process to rebuild or regrow missing or damaged bone. A biodegradable scaffold is needed to be put in place of the missing/damaged bone to guide the regrowth. So far the only success the researchers have had is on test rats, which they have managed to restore 3cm of bone. They hope to achieve two more centimeters within two years. This technology is developped for injured soldiers and whether or not it will be available for the public was not told.

The picture to the right shows that the scaffold has already promoted bone regrowth in the rat. Before this, the bone was missing on the underside, and the new bone cells appears to be more greyish and transparent compared to the rest of the bones that were not damaged in this x-ray.

Mekong, Vietnam - "Treasure Trove" of Undiscovered Wildlife

Last week, the World Wildlife Fund released a report saying that parts of Vietnam and five other countries, is home to 1068 previously unknown wildlife species, including mammals, plants lizards and fish. The report has a timeframe of discoveries made from 1997 to 2007. Currently, the WWF averages two new discoveries a week. One such discovery is a lizard known as cyrtodactylus phongnhakebangensis, which has a brown body with a bright yellow tail for the most part, and white at the tip of the tail. It was discovered in 2002. Another discovery is an odd millipede, discovered in Thailand in 2007. It is bright pink and produces hydrogen cyanide for protection. Not all the discoveries made were absolutely new. Some of them are considered to be 'rediscovered', especially the Laotion Rock Rat, also known as Laonastes aenigmamus, which is a living fossil, thought to have been extinct for 11 million years. Oddly enough, it was spotted at a food market. In the report a total of 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders and a toad were found. Below are some pictures and footages of the wildlife.

Archeologists find 2000 year old Brain

Recently at an archeological excavation at York Universi cty in northern England, archeolgoists have found a human skull in a mud pit. These types of findings are quiteommon. The only difference is, is that parts of the brain inside the cranium has been preserved. Rachel Cubitt was the person who found the skull and noticed that there was something inside. When she tried to see, she noticed an unusual yellow substance from the bottom of the skull. Recognizing what it may be, she remembered a university lecture on the rare survival of ancient brain tissue, and looked for a professional opinion, which turned out to be that the yellow substance was in fact, portions of a preserved brain. The skull was then taken a CT scanner at York Hospital, which produced an extremely clear image. The fact that no flesh or soft tissue except the brain is extremely rare, says Dr Sonia O'Connor, Research Fellow in Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford. York University was in the middle of expanding the campus when an extensive prehistoric farming landscape of fields, track ways and buildings dating back to at least 300 BC, was found. Since then archaeological investigations have continued.

Exam Week

Tomorrow will be the first exam for Notre Dame. After this, a whole week of exams will follow and then a back-to-normal-school friday. Good Luck!

Dragonball Evolution

The new Dragonball Z movie is set to come out in the summer of 2009. A trailer was just leaked or realeased and named Dragonball Evolution. It appears to be a poorly thought-out movie. Everything that made Dragonball Z what it was has been entirely changed. For example, Master Roshi, originally an old and balding man in the Dragonball Z series, is now a much younger looking Chow Yun Fat with plenty of hair. The masculine Goku, the main character of the whole show, is now a feeble looking teenager played by Justin Chatwin. For all those Dragonball fans out there, I suggest having a look and deciding for yourselves whether this movie might actually be really big hit ( just as many people had thought that Transformers would be lame because it was a movie based on a toy ), or become a major flop. Click here to see the trailer or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4t8PeqJ6E

The Kiss of Deaf?

Yesterday in Zhuhai city in Guangdong province, China, a woman in her 20's had a slightly too passionate kiss in which the super suctioned kiss "reduced the pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear." Because of this, newslines dubbed it the "Kiss of Deaf." Though the woman completely lost her hearing in her left ear, she is expected to make a full recovery in a couple month's time.

Hong Kong's HUGE Computer Fair

Thousands and thousands of people are attending the the Sham Shui Po Computer Festival. Sham Shui Po is well-known as a computer hotspot. A few of the products sold there include components like motherboards, RAM, and CPU's, complete systems, and various peripherals, along with other technology related gadgets and gizmos. Not only are the prices cheap, but because right now the Computer Fair is taking place, everything is heavily discounted on top of the already cheap price. The fair lasts for four days, ending this coming monday. Yesterday an estimated 120,000 people visited the fair, and today is expected to bring more people looking for some hi-tech toys.


Right: The digital hub logo of Sham Shui Po

Microsoft - The next fashion statement?

Microsoft will be launching a new line of clothing called "Softwear by Microsoft." It will be mostly concentrated on graphic t-shirts that will feature designs based on ancient 1980's MS-DOS fonts. Pictures of a much younger Bill Gates mugshot will be on some of the t-shirts as well. Common, the rapper who also grew up in the 80's will be the celebrity spokesperson for Softwear and also made contributions some of the designs on the shirts too. Reportedly, the Microsoft line of clothing is expected to hit select stores on December 15 of this year.

To visit the Microsoft Softwear website click here or go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/softwearbymicrosoft/

NFL: Live and 3D

Yesterday's NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers was played in 3D in private theaters to audiences in Los Angeles, New York and Boston by the Burbank, Calif., firm 3ality Digital. 3ality chairman David Modell said it was more of a test run to show to the NFL that 3D technology is already here. Howard Kat, who is the NFL senior vice president for media operations, says the whole thing was just a "proof of concept." The amazing thing about all this is that it was shown live AND 3D, something not normally heard of. Now the bad part is the 3D glasses. By now, one would think that there would have been some improvements to 3D viewing, and its true, there probably are, but the glasses still remain the same, unchanged for decades.

Facebook Attacked by Koobface Virus

Attention Facebook users: today Facebook has been attacked by the Koobface virus. This virus is similar to old worms from years ago which spreads through infected friend lists. How it infects a computer is that it will tell the Facebook user something like "You look funny in this new video," and prompt the user to open the link. After doing so it will show that a Flash update is needed. Letting the "Flash Update" to begin is the key for the virus to get into the computer. But not to worry, even if anyone did get tricked, there is a solution which Facebook has posted that can be found here or go to http://www.facebook.com/security

9 Year Old Writes Dating Book

Alec Greven, a nine year old, who attends Soaring Hawk Elementary in Colorado, has written a book called "How to Talk to Girls". It first started off as a $3 dollar pamphlet at his school book fair, and when it became a "bestseller" there, it went onto bookshelves in bookstores. Though it is clearly written by a child of young age, people of all ages can find it very entertaining. On one of the pages, "Pretty girls are like cars that need a lot of oil." can be found. In chapter three, Alec writes "It is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry." When asked whether or not he has a girlfriend he said "I'm a little too young."

Car Dealership's New Sale - Buy One Get One Free

It's not something usually seen at a car dealership, and also probably the first of its kind of sale. As of late, car dealerships have had to close down because of the economic crisis. It is because of this that now people, especially families, are not putting vehicles on the top of their to-buy list. Just last year, cars like pickups, suv's, sports cars, and regular cars were quite popular. Today it isn't as much as a high priority thing to get anymore because people have to save more. So, car dealers had to come up of a way to start sales again which have dropped from 1.18 million last year to 747,000 this year. Rob Lambdin's University Dodge in Miami thought that the best way was a Buy One Get One Free sale. Theres just one thing though. To get the second vehicle, a Dodge truck at full retail price. You can get the second truck for about $3,000 in tax, tags and dealer fees, after buying the first one. Most of the cars are of US automakers. Even still, with this amazing sale going on, there still arent enough people coming into the stores.

iPod Touch - TruPhone, Now make calls using the Touch

TruPhone, in the beginning (way back in 2006) allowed iPhone users to make calls across the internet without having to pay any long distance fees and whatnot. It was something that troubled many cellphone operators and companies. But now, it is something that can be added to the iPod Touch as an application. With the application, anyone can now make calls and SMS, through WiFi through their Touch, as long as you're connected to the internet of course. Another limitation is that to use the new phone capability, you'll need a headset attached to the Touch. Calls made to other TruPhone users and GoogleTalk IM PC users are completely free of charge. Landline calls are charged seperately. With this, it might just be better to stick to the Touch and not get that iPhone everyone's been wanting, since the only difference between the two shortly ago was the phone capability, and now thats shrinking as well. What makes the TruPhone really good, is that it can be downloaded for free by clicking here or visit http://www.truphone.com/

New JK Rowling Book - The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The new book titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" was just published to the public today. This book, is supposedly the same story book mentioned in the extremely popular "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." Prior to its public publishing, JK Rowling had made seven hand written and self-illustrated versions by herself. These were bound in leather and mounted with semi-precious stones. She gave six of these to six people who were very involved with the Harry Potter series. The seventh book went for auction which sold for $4.5 billion with proceeds going to charity. The 'regular' edition royalties that would normally go to the author is to be sent to Children's High Level Group, a charity she co-founded to support institutionalized children in Eastern Europe. Although it is expected that it would not be nearly as popular and as big of a hit as the Harry Potter series, it would still be expected to hit No.1 in book charts.

Teacher Putting Up Advertisements on Exams

Tom Farber, a high school calculus teacher, recently had his class budget cut. He needed more and so he sells ads on his tests and exams. People, usually parents and students, can sponsor an ad to be put on the front of the test. The cost of an ad is $10 for a quiz ad, $20 a test and/or $30 for one to be put on the final exam. So far, there were five quotes put up on the test and two ads for local businesses. One of the ads were "Brace yourself for a great semester! Braces by Henry, Stephen P. Henry D.M.D." an ad for braces. The other one was for a haircut at a barbershop. Teacher Tom Farber has collected over $300 already and is aiming for $1000. He says that although he likes the idea, he doesnt want to do this every year because the government should give more funding to schools instead of cutting them, and that it shouldnt become a standard for schools to raise enough money just to have enough tests to be printed. The students are liking it as well. "It raises money for the teachers and it's amusing for the kids, so it seems like a win-win," said Luke Shaw, a student taking one of Tom's classes.

Jupiter, Venus and the Moon to Unite

Last night, Jupiter, Venus and the moon aligned in the night sky across many countries around the world. In some places they appeared close together in random positions, and in other places people saw either a happface or a frown. The 'smile' or 'frown' is no doubt caused by the curvature of the Earth when the sun, Earth and moon aligned so the sun's rays would shine onto the earth and beyond to the where the moon was. It was a magical moment which wont happen again until November 18, 2052. Photographers around the world took many pictures of this once (or twice, for the younger astronomers out there)-a-liftime event. Here are several of the pictures taken.

Visually Impaired-Friendly iPhone

Yanko Design featured a concept for which the visually-impaired may be able to work with an iphone much easier. The silicone case features engraved with bas-relief buttons which provides tactile feedback to visually-impaired individuals. An application would need to be have downloaded seperately so that the case would work with the iphone. So far this is just a concept and has not been mass produced yet, but would be interesting if it were.

Nasa's Lost Toolkit Seen in the Sky

A few days ago an amateur astronomer saw something fly across the sky. Since he's got some background knowledge about celestial projectiles, he knew that this was not a shooting star, comet, or meteor. A UFO was just as unlikely. What it was, was Nasa's toolkit which astronomer Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper lost during a spacewalk to lubricatethe station's malfunctioning starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, or SARJ, which is designed to allow the solar panels on the left side of the station to rotate and track the sun. The cost of the bag is an estimated $100,000. Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Ontario, the amateur astronaut, saw it with his own home telescope. He followed the coordinates from the U.S. military, according the Toronto Star. Luckily he filmed the kit which is now considered space debris.

The video can be seen here or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRW4ibfaZHI

Light-Powered Nanomachines

Solar power isn't so high-tech anymore when it comes to having light powered technology. Instead of converting light energy into electricity, researchers at Yale University have come up of a way to harness light energy directly. Although the researching has only just made produced a little success and is still on a very small scale of harnessing light energy, researchers at Yale can now cause a very small object to vibrate, simply by putting light through it. The nanomechanical resonator, or bridge which was the small object, vibrates when laser light is routed through it. The resonator simply reacts to the energy. The researching team is led by Hong Tang, an assistant professor at Yale's School of Engineering & Applied Science department. "You don't need to apply voltage, you just need to pass light through it," he says, explain how the concept is actually quite simple. Although the research is still in its very early stages and Tang would like to "get a similar device vibrating at much higher speeds, above the gigahertz range—in the billions of cycles per second,"the possibilities of harnessing light energy directly could be endless. When that happens maybe the world wouldnt need to rely on fossil fuels so much and help the environment, though that would be quite some time into the future before any of that actually happens. It'll be best if we all just stick to recycling for now until that happens...

Below is a picture of the nanomechanical resonator with the light travelling through it. The vibrations cannot be seen, nor detected unless using another extremely precise laser to detect movement.

Mortal Kombat vs DC and Left 4 Dead

Mortal Kombat vs DC universe and Left 4 Dead were both released last tuesday. Mortal Kombat vs DC universe is quite an amazing game, allowing the player to play with some of the all time favorite Mortal Kombat characters including Raiden, Scorpian, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang and several others. DC Universe's characters include the big-name superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonderwoman, Flash and a few others. Character selection, despite having some great choices, is limited to only 20 characters and no unlockables. The gameplay is quite good as well with an interesting storyline. Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is a great game and very well worth playing.

Left 4 Dead is another game that was released last tuesday. Again this game is also very fun in its own ways. The gameplay is in a single player shooting style, but still different than most single-player shooting games. Where other games have missions that repeat themselves no matter how often u restart, this one has an amazing replayability function. Every time you play, you can choose a different course of actions and that will usually lead to other paths as well. Another thing about this game is that it is almost like being in a movie, capturing the zombie film genre feeling perfectly. This leaves the player feeling a little spooked as well as entertained with the surprisingly fun shooting of zombies, which seem quite realistic as well. Though the graphics aren't top-notch, after playing a few minutes of the game will make you completely forget about any visuals. Multiplayer with this game is also proving to be very addicting.

If anyone ever gets the time, check out these games. They're quite worth the time.

Python

This week the ND ICT12 class started programming in the Python language at school. At home we had to install Python 2.6 but for those encountered problems, installed Python 2.5 instead. So far we are in the middle of a Temperature Calculation Program. It is to be finished Friday.

Il Divo and Their New Album "The Promise"

Il Divo just released their new album "The Promise" last tuesday, and it has already hit the number one spot in the UK. Il divo is a group that sing 'popera' a split between pop and opera. The group consists of Spanish baritone Carlos Marin, American tenor David Miller, French pop singer Sebastien Izambard, and Swiss tenor Urs Buhler. Together they are Il Divo, popera group created by SURPRISE! Simon Cowell. Not only can they sing, but they are handsome as well, and even more odd... they are all from different countries with different first languages, singing in a total of six languages made up of French, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. The four members are also known for their exquisite taste in fashion, most of the time wearing Armani suits.

So far, they are popular much around the world, and as for America, it is "more of a slow burn," says David Miller. Despite this they have already sold over 22 million albums internationally. It seems that the groups success and popularity are still growing more and more.

Second Life Taken Too Seriously in Reality

Nowadays married couples have been divorcing much more than before. And it is due to problems within the marriage that mess things up. But rarely, if ever, has there been a divorce over a computer game. Second Life is an online virtual world computer game, where people from anywhere in the world create a character, or avatars and interact with others. Anyone can join for free.

Now things start to become ridiculous when matters inside the game are being taken seriously outside the game, in real time. Just recently a British couple divorced because the wife found her husband's avatar having an "affair" with another avatar. The woman says, "It may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world and it hurts just as much now it is over." And now the couple's marriage of three years is ended in divorce. It is reported by CNN that the woman is now dating a man she met in "World of Warcraft".

An even more weird event took place last month, during October. A 43 year old woman in Japan is in jail because her online virtual husband left divorced her in Maple Story, another virtual game, although different from Second Life. Maple Story is a massive multi-player online role playing game where players travel throughout "Maple World" trying to defeat monsters and developing their character's skills. Marriage is of course, a part of the game, and so is divorcing. When the woman found out her virtual husband left her, she hacked into game, with her colleague's account and murdered her virtual ex-hubby. The woman says, "I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry." The hacking allegation carries a maximum five-year prison term.

Sony Ericsson C905

Just released last month, Sony Ericsson's C905 ("C" for Sony's Cyber-shot line of cameras) has an amazing 8.1 megapixel camera in this high-end, scratch-resistant ( for the screen) cellphone. It is the first 8.1 megapixel camera to be released outside of Korea. It carries the Assisted GPS function and WiFi as well, although its camera feature and capabilities overshadow the rest of the phone's functions. The camera in it has the Xenon-in built flash. Because of this there will be no worries for red eye nor light adjustment. The Xenon-in built camera flash takes care of it all for you. It carries the Smart-Contrast feature, allowing the camera to automatically adjust the shadows to get a more beautifully taken picture. Auto Focus is another feature, though it is pretty much a standard in cameras now, allowing the camera to automatically focus on whatever picture you're trying to take. Face detection of course, is included. Obviously it detects the faces of the people in your picture and takes a clearer and sharper image of the faces so that it doesnt fade off into the background. And finally, the camera also has a Best Pic function as well. This makes it so that when you click to take the picture, three pictures will be taken, and then three more pictures after you let go of the button. This allows you to choose which picture is the best, just in case you're just a tad late in taking the photo.

All this is inside a CELLPHONE. Of course the cellphone has its own unique features as well but no other cellphone has a camera that even comes close to the C905, at least for now. If anyone is a fan of cameras, cellphones, and/or camera-phones, this is the phone to get.















Do cameras interest you? To find out more, go to the Digital Camera Survey website here or go to http://www.ndrs.org/iol/cameras.htm

Telus BlackBerry Storm retail price?

The BlackBerry Storm has been confirmed for Bell and Telus, though it has yet to be released. Currently the rumors are that the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm will cost $299.99 on a 3-year contract, $549.99 on 2-years, $599.99 on a single year and $649.99 without a contract, although either Telus nor Bell has made a statement for how much these handhelds will cost when they're released to the public.

bgC3 - Bill Gate's new mysterious company

After recently stepping down as an executive chairman, Bill Gates has started a new and mysterious company called bgC3, which he has kept very tightly under wraps. bgC3 is expected to be a think tank for scientific and technological innovations. According to the company's federal trademark registration the company will be involved in scientific and technological services, industrial analysis and research, and design and development of computer hardware and software as well.

More over, some have been wondering what the name represents. Obviously "bg" would stand for Bill Gates, and the "C" has been given a couple guesses as to what it might stand for. The first and most probable guess for what it might be is: company. That would make sense as C3 would mean Company 3, which really is his third company or enterprise after Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But TechFlash, a technological news souce based in Seattle, has reported that the "C" stands for "catalyst." The reason for this is that bgC3 will, aside from its other purposes, will act as a catalyst between Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So far, an insider has said that the statement is only half correct.

To visit the website click here or go to http://www.bgc3.com/

Hugh Jackman - Sexiest Man Alive vs. George Clooney - Former Sexiest Man Alive

In a recent interview, Hugh Jackman who just won the title of the Sexiest Man Alive from People Magazine, revealed that he received a not-so-friendly phonecall from predecessor George Clooney, who has held the title twice before. It happened at 2a.m. when the phone rang. George Clooney told Hugh "I know what you did! You started this big campaign that's been going on and [you] took the title away from me." Whether this was intended to be a joke or not is not clear, although Hugh said it was NOT a courtesy call, despite recalling the event in a jokingly manner.

Motorola's Moto QA30

The Moto QA30 is Motorola's response to the latest trend in qwerty-equipped devices. Not just another qwerty phone, it is a qwerty SLIDER to be exact, the first of its kind. It comes with 2.5-inch 320×240 display, 2-megapixel camera, 1x EVDO connectivity, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack, Facebook access, email, USB 2.0 and microSD card support up to an amazing 32GB. Details concerning the price and availability are still unknown at this time, but expect it to be revealed soon than later. Although it runs on the CDMA network, and not the more popular GSM, that just means that the QA30 will almost surely be available in Canada. Look forward to it!

OLPC

One Laptop Per Child, or otherwise known as OLPC, is a non-profit organization. It is giving out laptops manufactured by Quanta Computer. These laptops can be given to children and schools in places that are in need of more modern technology for learning and every day use, for $199. Or for the price of $399, the person who made the purchase will, not only send one overseas to those in need, but receive one as well.

The latest laptop is the XO. It is a very capable laptop despite being only $199 each. They are made specially for children in remote locations and Third World countries, but recently, a large quantity has been given to the state of Alabama as well. It is only about the size of a small textbook, has a special screen that is just as visible even if it is directly in the sun. It is light, durable and self sufficient, meaning that battery can be stored through electrical outputs and if there are none available, energy can be produced manually through a handle that spins a rotator, storing energy inside the machine. Another neat feature is its wireless networking system. Say there are 15 of these laptops at a remote location. If even just one of these is connected to the internet, then the other 14 will be connected as well, as long as they are within range.

The laptop is a very interesting machine, with many features in which a normal computer bought at a much higher price doesnt even have. OLPC is clearly a great organization, not only helping others in places that need the attention, but for no profit as well.

Last week, we (the ict12 class) were introduced to the visual
basics program. We started off in the new language by creating a Hello World program that responds to clicks, unlike Turbo Pascal. VB appears to be a lot more fun as well.

Microsoft Announces New Operating Systems

Yesterday, (Oct 28, 2008) Microsoft unveiled details of two new operating systems. Currently the most commonly used Microsoft operating systems are Windows XP and Windows Vista. Although frequently criticized, often by those who have never used it, Vista is actually a very stable, rich environment in which to work. Particularly when used with up-to-date machines.

Nevertheless, Microsoft has decided to press ahead with successors for Vista. In late 2009, Windows 7 will be released. It wil be much like Vista. Around the same time, Microsoft will release Windows Azure, an operating system that lives on Microsoft servers and not on your computer. This is called "Cloud" computing. The "Cloud" being the internet. Basically this means that you won't need an operating system for programs: they will all live in the "Cloud."

Whether this works out or not, remains to be seen. However, many companies have already tried this, both with Microsoft and Google products.

"Cloud" computing is one of the most used technology buzz-words at present.