Zocalo - Slashdot User

Optimizing your caffeine intake with an app-> 0

Submitted by

MrSeb

on Wednesday February 15, @07:11AM

MrSeb writes "Two doctors at Penn State University have developed Caffeine Zone, a free iOS app that tells you the perfect time to take a coffee break to maintain an optimal amount of caffeine in your blood — and, perhaps more importantly, it also tells you when to stop drinking tea and coffee, so that caffeine doesn’t interrupt your sleep. By reading through lots of peer-reviewed studies, doctors Frank E. Ritter and Kuo-Chuan Yeh found that a caffeine level of between 200 and 400mg in your bloodstream provides optimal mental alertness, and that you should be below 100mg when you try to sleep. Caffeine Zone plots your caffeination level after you consume caffeine, and warns you if that big afternoon coffee will keep you up at night. It also lets you change the 'optimal' and 'sleep' values if you're particularly resistant or weak to caffeine."
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Comment: Re:Hear that, MSFT? (Score 2, Funny) 639

by Zocalo on Thursday February 16, @09:49AM (#39059609) Attached to: An Early Look At Mac OS X 10.8

Well, they'd have to change a few things to avoid getting sued by Apple. Maybe go after the dog lovers instead of those who prefer cats? Yes, that could work... You could install "Windows 7 SP Shitzu" and really mean it when you say "My PC's running like a dog" or "Man, this new OS is a PoS". Also, anyone who says "It's the dog's nads" would obviously be a paid shill, so it would clear that up too.

Sony Raises Price of Whitney Houston's Music 30 Minutes after Death-> 0

Submitted by M.Nunez on Wednesday February 15, @12:12AM

M.Nunez writes "Just 30 minutes after Whitney Houston died, Sony Music raised the price of Houston's greatest hits album, "Ultimate Collection," on iTunes and Amazon. Many technologists, including chairman of the NY Tech Meetup Andrew Rasiej, suggests that Sony should be boycotted for the move. In a tweet, Rasiej wrote, "Geez Sony raised price on Whitney Houston's music 30 min after death was announced. #FAIL...We should boycott Sony.""
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Megaupload Co-Founder Released On Bail-> 0

Submitted by masterfpt on Wednesday February 15, @07:42AM

masterfpt writes "TorrentFreak.com is running the following article: "The co-founder of Megaupload has been freed on bail by a judge in New Zealand. Mathias Ortmann will be the subject of strict conditions including no Internet access. The US will now rely on a United Nations treaty to extradite the Mega team. Separately, it was revealed that the FBI remotely monitored last month’s raids and congratulated New Zealand police on their work.""
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F.C.C. Bars Lightsquared from Using Airwaves-> 0

Submitted by mc6809e on Wednesday February 15, @04:50AM

mc6809e writes "A proposed wireless broadband network that would provide voice and Internet service using airwaves once reserved for satellite-telephone transmissions should be shelved because it interferes with GPS technology, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The news appears to squash the near-term hopes for the network pushed by LightSquared, a Virginia company that is majority-owned by Philip Falcone, a New York hedge fund manager."
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Female Passengers Say They Were Targeted for TSA Body Scanners-> 0

Submitted by wiedzmin on Tuesday February 14, @08:38PM

wiedzmin writes "TSA agents in Dallas singled out female passengers to undergo screening in a body scanner, according to complaints filed by several women who said they felt the screeners intentionally targeted them to view their bodies. Allegedly, women with "cute bodies" were directed through the body scanners up to three times over by female agents, who appeared to be acting on a request from male agents viewing the scans in a separate room. Apparently this was done because the scans were "blurry", possibly due to autofocus problems with agents' smartphone cameras."
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Invasive species turn parasites into hosts-> 0

Submitted by ananyo on Wednesday February 15, @07:36AM

ananyo writes "The arrival of an alien species can turn an ecosystem on its head. Researchers have found an invasive mussel that has caused a complete ecological role reversal, turning a host into a parasite and vice versa. In a new study (abstract http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/02/08/rsbl.2011.1234), the team focused on ecosystems involving European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) — small, pale-silver freshwater fish that lay their eggs in the gills of mussels. But an invasive Chinese mussel species, Anodonta woodiana, turns the tables on the would-be-parasite, ejecting bitterling eggs laid in them but colonizing the fish with its larvae."
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Amateur Radio Gets Secondary MF Allocation at WRC-12 1

Submitted by dtmos on Wednesday February 15, @06:31AM

dtmos writes "The ARRL is reporting that "delegates attending the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) in Geneva have approved a new 7-kilohertz-wide secondary allocation between 472-479 kHz for the Amateur Radio Service." This band, below the AM broadcast band, will retain its primary ship-to-shore and radionavigation beacon allocation. Due to the unique propagation characteristics of this part of the spectrum, an allocation has long been desired by the amateur radio community. Much as moonbounce and meteor scatter have produced their own amateur digital communication protocols (OSS under the Gnu GPL, of course), I expect the unique channel impairments of this band will lead to the development of dedicated digital communication schemes (beyond QRSS)."

Is Agriculture Sucking Fresh Water Dry?-> 0

Submitted by sciencehabit on Tuesday February 14, @01:12PM

sciencehabit writes "The average American uses enough water each year to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and global agriculture consumes a whopping 92% of all fresh water used annually. Those are the conclusions of the most comprehensive analysis to date of global water use, which also finds that one-fifth of humankind’s water consumption flows across international borders as “virtual water”—the water needed to produce a commodity, such as meat or electronics, if the ultimate consumers were to make it themselves rather than outsource its growth or manufacture."
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Climate Change Denialism Sponsorship Revealed-> 1

Submitted by

dnarepair

on Wednesday February 15, @03:58AM

dnarepair writes "Leaked documents reportedly from the Heartland Institute reveal details of their attempts to undermine climate science public opinion and teaching. The documents detail their plans for developing K-12 curricula that will help in "dissuading teachers from teaching science" as well as lists of prominent bloggers and writers they hope to recruit to their cause."
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