One problem I have with automatic updates and the reason I always switched to "notify only" is that I almost always use my laptop tethered to my mobile phone, often abroad. Nothing more fun than realising that silent download of a 250 MB windows update in the background has gone through your data limit minutes after you switched on the computer. Fun indeed.
How does it film *virtual* reality? Can it also be used to film reality?
I definitely second that - if you could only donate to one charity, MSF is a great choice. They make a real difference, they push no agenda, and they go to unsexy places. A charity worthy of your support.
Also worth mentioning that 'good for the individual' is not the same as 'good for the species,' and nature selects the latter
Are you sure about this? Even though there are people who argue this is the case, saying that nature selects species and not individuals is a bit misleading. Selection of individuals is still probably the most commonly used level ("survival of the fittest" refering to individual organism), but if anything, the shift is downwards - to genes, or even beyond - to information and context.
Please define "better". For myself, the greatest achievement of humankind is the advancement of knowledge about the world. Depending on what your priorities are, you could argue that a different era was "better" (e.g. less polution, less stress [doubtful], more "natural", or whatever floats your boat). But if you give up on what makes us what we are, you could argue that the best way to live your life is to be in a coma. Yes, today sucks but it is still better than any day before. YMMV.
One drop is about 0.05 ml, i.e. 20 drops per mililitre. (When talking about water.)
You're missing the point. It's not that we should all get down to the lowest common denominator, it's about having useless visual bling (that is annoying and distracting even for a healthy person) that serves no useful purpose and CAN'T BE SWITCHED off making the phone unusable for people with a medical condition.
Again, the solution is not to force everyone to use a static UI, it's to give people the choice. Which is something Apple never does, I guess because then there would be people who switch it off and then complain that it does not work. I am an iPhone 5 user recently switched from Android and while the phone works just fine, I sorely miss the ability to actually customise anything.
I'm not a Star Trek fan but this always reminds me of A. C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama. It is exciting to live in the future.
It is very easy to make a test that detects 100% of patients who will eventually get a disease. Just make it always say "positive" and you're done. The hard thing is balancing the ability to detect a disease and avoid false negatives (sensitivity) with the ability to detect absence of disease and avoid false positives (specificity). Related to this are the positive predictive negative predictive values. Since Alzheimer's is very difficult to diagnose clinically and the only definitive proof is a biopsy/autopsy, I very much doubt a screening test would exist with a 100 % sensitivity and/or specificity.
Ever watched a Shuttle returning?
Space X is posting updates here: http://www.spacex.com/webcast/ , unfortunately there is no live video feed, only status updates.
Wonder no more: they'll get beaten up just the same. See here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/16/augmented-reality-explorer-steve-mann-assaulted-at-parisian-mcdonalds/
The official site now has a video that includes some of the on-body camera shots, I am sure we will see many more of them as the footage is processed. I believe he had a couple cameras mounted on the suit, so don't worry.
User hostile.
