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Comment Re:Signal strength check (Score 1) 177

by abushga (#27767379) Attached to: Viability of Mobile Broadband For Home Use?

Signal strength is marginal where I live but EVDO is the only game in town. I use a 3G Sprint Aircard 597E with a 3 watt amplifier and external antenna on the roof, provided by evdoinfo.com. I get about 1.1mbps down and upload is fast enough that I don't think about it. Ping time to yahoo.com this evening is 79ms.

I've also installed broadband wireless routers with EVDO card, amplifier and antenna pre-configured by evdoinfo,com for friends in the area. Never a complaint from Sprint or Verizon, and my friends are delighted.

I've noticed that the routers establish a rock solid connection, whereas my Aircard 597E requires "Sierra Wireless Watcher LIte" software to "activate" the card. The Sierrra software crashes about 20 times a day and I am among the many who absolutely detest the software. Somewhere there is a Sierra QC engineer who did not put this on his resume.

I've had the contract for a couple of years; for $60/month I download >1 GB/day with no surcharge or complaint from Sprint. YMMV.

Comment Many benefits (Score 1) 563

by abushga (#26418795) Attached to: Obama Proposes Digital Health Records

I see many benefits, from personal experience. The Mayo Clinic is all digital. As a patient moves from physician to physician during the day, successive doctors can view records updated in real time and videoconference with one another on the spur of the moment if a Dx needs clarification. Patients from out of town can zip through the system in a day. It's a snap to divert a patient to a specialist for a quick consult. Nothing falls through the cracks. Everyone can read the reports for a change. Net is better faster cheaper care and more personalized attention. At least this has been our family's experience with our 88 year young mom.
Biotech

Submission + - Artificial, free-living organism breakthrough (google.com)

Submitted by abushga
abushga writes: U.S. scientist Craig Venter has patented (in 2006) and evidently will soon announce an aritficial chromosome that can be "transplanted into a living cell where it should "take control," effectively becoming a new life form." "The single cell organism, which ETC has coined "Synthia," is piloted by a chromosome with just 381 genes, the limit necessary to sustain the life of the bacteria so it can feed and reproduce. The new bacteria will therefore be largely artificial, though not entirely, because it is composed of building blocks from already existing organisms." http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hI3FcpEMmrHSmxfk66f4gMNwo8QA
Yahoo!

Submission + - Yahoo Groups Glitch

Submitted by
David Hartley
David Hartley writes: "It appears that Yahoo groups is sending out countless duplicate messages to many of its Yahoo groups. This is confirmed in the Yahoo Group Moderator group. The group that I maintain is seeing countless duplicate messages being sent. Can others confirm this?"
Biotech

Submission + - Can genetic research be a home hobby?

Submitted by
tinkertim
tinkertim writes: "Greetings fellow Slashdotters, especially ones that know something about DNA.

Some friends of mine and I are very curious to get to know more about DNA and want to understand whats 'under our hood' a little more.

We're particularaly interested in some subtle differences between men and women. Some women see things in 4 shades of colors, while men see things in 3. It would be neat to know if two people 'see' the same object the same way, especially amongst friends (and spouses). To know this, we have to be able to look at eachother's DNA and be able to understand what its telling us.

My questions are broad, and I apologize. I hope the nature of these shows those 'in the know' just how very much 'in the dark' the rest of us are.

Labs that do DNA testing have very expensive stuff in them. Is there a less reilable but still informative procedure one can follow using less expensive equipment at home?

Can hobbyists form relationships with testing labs without licenses and other such prerequisites?

Most overall, is this something a reasonably smart person can dive into just for the sake of learning? Lasers at one time were pretty hands off .. but now people have them on keychains. How far into the hands of average people will DNA sequencing technology journey?

Finally, I realize the implications of what I'm asking. For agruments sake, I ask you to to separate the technology from its implications. That being said, please feel free to present any implications that you feel aren't obviated by the question itself.

The question refers only to someone examining their own genetic blueprint for the sake of knowing what it says.

Thanks to all in advance."

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