monkeybrainz - Slashdot User

Comment there's hope (Score 1) 178

by monkeybrainz on Tuesday October 05, 2010 @11:09AM (#33794506) Attached to: Best Mobile Computing Options For People With RSI?

after a 3 year battle to carpal tunnel/RSI/tendinitis i'm finally getting it under control. after taking care of the carpal tunnel with surgery i still had the RSI/tendinitis. pills did nothing to help. touch-pads killed me. PT cost a fortune. i attribute it to a complete change in lifestyle. not working 7 days a week. no more 16 hour programming marathons. getting away from the computer during lunch. i cut out foods which encouraged inflammation, and increased intake of foods which help reduce inflammation. setting my computer screen to lock me out every 1/2 hour for 3 minutes so i stand up. i ended up losing weight in the process :) made sure every work area is ergonomically correct. no more laptops for me. heat, stretching exercises & ice daily. after the severe inflammation went away, i am now finally working my way up to strengthening exercises. i tried a dozen input devices and finally settled on the mouse which has kept me employed and the Microsoft ergonomic 4000 keyboard. maybe this will help someone or just give them hope

Zune HD Unveiled, Set For Fall Release 410

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday May 27, 2009 @01:13PM from the for-sufficiently-small-values-of-h dept.

Several readers have written to mention that Microsoft has confirmed and unveiled the Zune HD. It has a "3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display, built-in HD Radio receiver, HD output," and it makes use of multi-touch input. More details will be forthcoming at E3, including how the device interacts with Xbox Live. Reader johnjaydk notes a PCWorld article that asks whether the Zune HD will be capable of competing with the iPod Touch. Quoting: "... the real competition between the Zune HD and the iPod Touch will come down to software. The new Zune will be based on a custom version of Windows CE, while the iPod Touch runs on the already popular iPhone platform, for which thousands of applications are available."

Citrix To Bring Millions of Windows Apps To iPhone 172

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 23, 2008 @09:56AM from the your-chocolate-got-in-my-melted-cheese dept.

Anonymous writes "Citrix is putting out word that it's developing an iPhone receiver that could make 'millions' of Windows applications work on Apple's handset. (Something Citrix is calling 'Project Braeburn.') Aside from Flash and a few other apps, is anyone pining for Windows-based apps on the iPhone? (Exchange on the iPhone seems to be successful, but so does Apple's App store, which has done pretty well without Windows.)"

Will People Really Boycott Apple Over DRM? 664

Posted by kdawson on Monday December 22, 2008 @09:14AM from the for-tuppence-and-a-pretty-interface dept.

Ian Lamont writes "DefectiveByDesign.org is waging a battle against DRM with a 35-day campaign targeting various hardware and software products from Microsoft, Nintendo, and others. On day 11 it blasted iTunes for continuing to use DRM-encumbered music, games, TV shows, movies, audiobooks, and apps with DRM, while competitors are selling music without restrictions. DefectiveByDesign calls on readers to include 'iTunes gift cards and purchases in your boycott of all Apple products' to 'help drive change.' However, there's a big problem with this call to arms: most people simply don't care about iTunes DRM. Quoting: 'The average user is more than willing to pay more money for hobbled music because of user interface, ease of use, and marketing. ... Apple regularly features exclusive live sets from popular artists, while Amazon treats its digital media sales as one more commodity being sold.' What's your take on the DRM schemes used by Apple and other companies? Is a boycott called for, and can it be effective?"

Scientists Build Neonatal Incubator From Car Parts 211

Posted by kdawson on Monday December 22, 2008 @02:59AM from the band-aid-and-a-dead-bee dept.

Peace Corps Online writes "The NYTimes ran a story this week about a group of scientists who have built a neonatal incubator out of automobile parts, including a pair of headlights as a heat source, a car door alarm to signal emergencies, and an auto air filter and fan to provide climate control. The creators of the car-parts incubator say that an incubator found in any neonatal intensive care unit in the US could cost around $40,000, but the incubator they have developed can be built for less than $1,000. One expert says as many as 1.8 million infants might be spared every year if they could spend just a week in the units, which help babies who are born early or at low birth weights regulate their body temperature until their organs fully develop. Experts say in developing countries where infant mortality is most common, high-tech machines donated by richer nations often conk out when the electricity fizzles or is restricted to conserve power. 'The future medical technologists in the developing world,' says Robert Malkin, director of Engineering World Health, 'are the current car mechanics, HVAC repairmen, bicycle shop repairmen. There is no other good source of technology-savvy individuals to take up the future of medical device repair and maintenance.'"

Chemical Pollution Is Destroying Masculinity 773

Posted by kdawson on Monday December 08, 2008 @09:05AM from the lower-your-voice-and-say-that dept.

myrdos2 writes "A host of common chemicals is feminizing males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people. Many have been identified as 'endocrine disruptors' or gender-benders because they interfere with hormones. Communities heavily polluted with gender-benders in Canada, Russia, and Italy have given birth to twice as many girls as boys, which may offer a clue to the mysterious shift in sex ratios worldwide. And a study at Rotterdam's Erasmus University showed that boys whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs grew up wanting to play with dolls and tea sets rather than with traditionally male toys. It also follows hard on the heels of new American research which shows that baby boys born to women exposed to widespread chemicals in pregnancy are born with smaller penises and feminized genitals. It is calculated that 250,000 babies who would have been boys have been born as girls instead in the US and Japan alone. And sperm counts are dropping precipitously. Studies in more than 20 countries have shown that they have dropped from 150 million per milliliter of sperm fluid to 60 million over 50 years."

Mad Scientist Brings Back Dead With "Deanimation" 501

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @07:30PM from the way-science-should-be dept.

mattnyc99 writes "Esquire is running a a jaw-dropping profile of MacArthur genius Marc Roth in their annual Best and Brightest roundup, detailing how this gonzo DNA scientist (who also figured out how to diagnose lupus correctly) went from watching his infant daughter die to literally reincarnating animals. Inspired by NOVA and funded by DARPA, Roth has developed a serum for major biotech startup Ikaria that successfully accomplished 'suspended animation' — the closest we've ever come to simulating near-death experiences and then coming back to life. From the article: 'We don't know what life is, anyway. Not really. We just know what life does — it burns oxygen. It's a process of combustion. We're all just slow-burning candles, making our way through our allotment of precious O2 until it becomes our toxin, until we burn out, until we get old and die. But we live on 21 percent oxygen, just as we live at 37 degrees. They're related. Decrease the oxygen to 5 percent, we die. But, look, the concentration of oxygen in the blood that runs through our capillaries is only 2 or 3 percent. We're almost dead already! So what if we turn down the candle's need for oxygen? What if we dim the candle so much that we don't even have the energy to die?' " The writer Tom Junod engages in what Hunter Thompson once called "a failed but essentially noble experiment in pure gonzo journalism." If you can suspend your inner critic for a time, it's a fun ride.

Windows Drops Below 90% Market Share 595

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday December 02, 2008 @03:09PM from the easing-the-stranglehold dept.

ozmanjusri writes "Online market share of the dominant Windows operating system has taken its biggest monthly fall in years to drop below 90%, according to Net Applications Inc. Computerworld reports that Microsoft's flagship product has been steadily losing ground to Mac OS X and Linux, and is at its lowest ebb in the market since 1995. 'Mac OS X... [ended] the month at 8.9%. November was the third month running that Apple's operating system remained above 8%.' The stats show that while some customers are 'upgrading' from XP to Vista, many are jumping ship to Apple, while Linux is also steadily gaining ground. A Net Applications executive suggests the slide may be caused by many of the same factors that caused the fall in Internet Explorer use. 'The more home users who are online, using Macs and Firefox and Safari, the more those shares go up,' he said. November has more weekend days, as well Thanksgiving in the US, a result that emphasizes the importance of corporate sales to Microsoft."

New Nanotech Fabric Never Gets Wet 231

Posted by timothy on Tuesday November 25, 2008 @11:08AM from the good-for-lining-lunchboxes dept.

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist reports on a simple coating for polyester that renders it unwettable — even after two months underwater it emerges dry to the touch. Water cannot attach to the new fabric thanks to nanostructured filaments and a structure that traps a constant air layer. One potential use is for low-drag swim wear."

Should We Clone a Neanderthal? 990

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 25, 2008 @01:46AM from the they-are-among-us dept.

SpaceAdmiral writes "Forget cloning a woolly mammoth — should scientists clone a Neanderthal? Such a feat should be possible soon, although it raises a number of bioethics concerns, including where to draw the line between humans and other animals."

Machine Condenses Drinking Water Out of Thin Air 438

Posted by timothy on Sunday November 23, 2008 @03:18PM from the LED-bulbs-or-klieg-light-specials? dept.

longacre writes "A new $1,200 machine that uses the same amount of power as three light bulbs promises to condense drinkable water out of the air. On display at Wired Magazine's annual tech showcase, the WaterMill 'looks like a giant golf ball that has been chopped in half: it is about 3ft in diameter, made of white plastic, and is attached to the wall. It works by drawing air through filters to remove dust and particles, then cooling it to just below the temperature at which dew forms. The condensed water is passed through a self-sterilising chamber that uses microbe-busting UV light to eradicate any possibility of Legionnaires' disease or other infections. Finally, it is filtered and passed through a pipe to the owner's fridge or kitchen tap.'"

Microsoft's Office Web Will Do iPhone, Linux, Mac 202

Posted by timothy on Thursday November 13, 2008 @05:15PM from the do-is-a-flexible-verb dept.

CWmike writes "Gregg Keizer reports Microsoft has clarified that its upcoming Office Web service will be available to users running Mac OS X and Linux, as well as from Apple's iPhone. The key to this cross platform-friendliness: Office Web will run in Firefox and Safari browsers, in addition to IE. Introduced last month, Office Web is a lightweight version of its Office suite that runs as an online service. I think it's time for Google to embrace OpenOffice.org to take on Microsoft head-on, as CW blogger Preston Gralla has argued for and described how to go about it."

Woman Admits Sending $400K To Nigerian Scammer 857

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday November 13, 2008 @03:44PM from the headdesk dept.

svnt writes "Janella Spears wiped out her husband's retirement account, remortgaged their paid-for house, and took out a lien against the family car in an attempt to cash in on the deal. A undercover officer involved with the investigation called it the worst example of the scam he's ever seen. Thoughtfully, Spears has gone public with her story as a warning to others not to fall victim."

Comment smells like nirvana to me (Score 1) 333

by monkeybrainz on Friday October 03, 2008 @11:24AM (#25246663) Attached to: Weird Al To Release Songs As He Records Them

like a virgin, he's trying this for the very first time. he may usually dare to to stupid, but in this instance he's rejecting the record industry who are clearly addicted to spuds. why should i drive down to my local spatula city when you i just sit at home downloading playing with my bologna. the masses are screaming they want a new duck aleady. it's all about the pentiums baby. ok i'm done now

Towards an Exercise Pill 362

Posted by kdawson on Friday August 01, 2008 @12:28PM from the if-they-can-send-a-man-to-the-moon dept.

aztektum among many other readers sent us news that medical researchers have developed two drugs that can build muscle tone in mice without exercise. While such an advance may inspire dreams of a "couch potato pill," the article mostly talks about other medical uses, should the drugs prove safe and effective in humans. The doctor in charge of the research is working with sports authorities to develop a test to detect the drugs in athletes. "Researchers at the Salk Institute in San Diego reported that they had found two drugs that did wonders for the athletic endurance of couch potato mice. One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice's endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment. A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect. 'It's a little bit like a free lunch without the calories,' said Dr. Ronald M. Evans, leader of the Salk group."

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