Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Now You Can Install a Second Hard Drive in Your Mid-2011 iMac [IMac]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5890851/now-you-can-install-a-second-hard-drive-in-your-mid+2011-imac

Did you know iFixit was good for something other than posting galleries of new gadgets they've torn apart? Well they are, and their latest good deed involves devising a kit so that you can install a second hard drive in your mid-2011 iMac.

When iFixit tore down the iMac after the last refresh, they found mounting points which were completely unused. So they built a kit that lets you place an additional hard drive in that spot. For $70, each kit comes with the necessary SATA cables, mounting tape, suction cups (for removing the screen), a driver kit, and a spudger.

iFixit recommends adding a smaller, cheaper SSD and using that as your boot drive while using your HDD for media files and things of the like. Hard to go against that advice. [iFixit]

IBM's Watson Supercomputer Is Cashing in on Wall Street [Watson]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5890855/ibms-watson-supercomputer-is-cashing-in-on-wall-street

IBM's Watson Supercomputer Is Cashing in on Wall Street A year ago, IBM's Watson supercomputer bludgeoned human supernerds Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in Jeopardy. Since then, Watson's been putting its natural language interpretation skills to work for health care organizations, but now it's coming for the money: As of yesterday, Watson works for Citigroup, one of the biggest financial corporations in the world.

Apparently, Watson will "help analyze customer needs and process financial, economic and client data to advance and personalize digital banking." What that means, probably, is that Watson will be digging through millions of pages' worth of information for its new masters, much like it did with its closed database during Jeopardy. To help, Citigroup's already at work teaching Watson about regulatory practices and Wall Street jargon, like golden parachutes and BSDs.

Watson's analysis will be delivered as a cloud-based service, so there won't be whole floor dedicated to its servers at the Citigroup headquarters. And before the doomsday scenarios set in, it's mainly going to be doing risk management—IBM doesn't plan to have Watson pick stocks (yet, I guess).

A guy as smart as Watson, you're not really surprised when he ends up on Wall Street. I just want to see what his cover letter looked like. [Business Week]

Verizon launches 'faster than wired' broadband for the home

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/verizon-homefusion-broadband/

Verizon Wireless is making good on that name, aiming to rid your home of those ugly, ugly wires. The carrier wants to substitute them with the not-exactly-subtle, bucket-sized antenna you can see on the left. Its HomeFusion service aims to replace DSL-connected domiciles, with Verizon reckoning its own wireless broadband can offer up better upload and download speeds. According to the Washington Post, the hardware will set potential customers back around $200, but installation costs will be included in the service. The entry-level $60 per month package will net you 10GB of data, with HomeFusion currently readied for launch in Dallas and Birmingham later this month. Users will be able to connect up to 50 different devices and Verizon intends to roll out the wireless internet package as far as its LTE network tendrils can reach. Plans go up to 30GB for $120 per month, with additional gigabytes charged at $10 a pop. For anyone in broadband-unfriendly homes looking for a step up in internet speed, you may want to start looking for somewhere to ~~hide~~ hang that antenna...

Continue reading Verizon launches 'faster than wired' broadband for the home

Verizon launches 'faster than wired' broadband for the home originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer launches Ultrabook-like Aspire V5 series, we go hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/acer-ultrabook-v5-series-hands-on/

After trotting out some mobile fare at MWC, Acer hasn't pulled in the reigns on its new product horse, announcing its new V5 notebook this morning at CeBIT. Yes, notebook. At 30 percent slimmer than the class it replaces, these are still trim machines. The 11.6-inch model is only 15mm thick, which is way into Ultrabook territory, while the 14- and 15-inch models land at 21 and sub-23mm respectively. It's Intel on the inside, including Core i3 and Core i5 processors, with NVIDIA GeForce GT series on-board to handle graphics. Release is penciled in for Q2, and pricing is expected to range from €499 to €699 (about $650 to $920). If you're in the market for something a bit less expensive but you're into the V5's design, you might take notice of the Aspire One netbook, which is set to use the same chassis but will ship with Intel Pentium and Celeron processors instead, with pricing estimated between €399 and €449 (about $525 to $590).

We went hands-on with a dummy model of the V5 at CeBIT, though the prototype we saw today may not be the exact design you'll find in stores later this month. The 15.6-inch sample was very thin and relatively light, with a full-size chiclet keyboard and numberpad on the side. There's a USB 3.0 port on the left-hand side, along with two standard USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI connector and proprietary Ethernet port. There's also a pop-out optical drive on the right, though there's no SD slot in! sight. Overall, it's a very nice design, but we'll need to wait for the company to demo functional versions before we can pass judgement on performance. As always, you'll find our video overview just past the break.

Gallery: Acer Aspire V5 hands-on

Continue reading Acer launches Ultrabook-like Aspire V5 series, we go hands-on (video)

Acer launches Ultrabook-like Aspire V5 series, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Extension Automation Enables Extensions Based on Specific Web Sites [Chrome Extensions]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5890518/extension-automation-enables-extensions-based-on-specific-websites

Extension Automation Enables Extensions Based on Specific Web Sites Chrome: If you have a few browser extensions you love to use, but they cause problems on specific web sites or you don't need them enabled all the time, Extension Automation is a simple tool that automates extensions based on the site you're visiting.

With the extension installed, you can set up extensions to only run on specific sites by adding them to a list. This keeps the extensions from slowing down Chrome and clogging up your toolbar. It's also handy if you have a couple extensions you love to use but they cause problems on certain sites.

Extension Automation | Chrome Web Store via Addictive Tips

Sync Your Desktop Between Computers with Dropbox [Dropbox]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5890690/sync-your-desktop-between-computers-with-dropbox

Sync Your Desktop Between Computers with Dropbox If you use multiple machines, you may be frustrated by the fact that your desktop—where many of us keep our current projects—doesn't stay in sync between computers. While you could drag the files to your Dropbox manually, reader tpflanz has a simpler solution: just move your Desktop to your Dropbox.

I sync my documents through Dropbox, but my desktop contains a different mishmash of icons on each computer. The problem is, my desktop actually serves a purpose in my workflow—whether as a mini to-do list or a dump for works in progress, and forgetting to drag files over when I switch workspaces is a constant problem. Tpflanz' handy trick works on Windows, Mac, and Linux:

I don't always work from one physical location, so it is a bit of a chore to make sure I have transferred files to a location (such as USB drive or FTP site) so I can access them later. As well, should I really need to pull out my laptop to grab a single .php file or .psd? I don't think so.

Using Dropbox as my desktop allows everything I am working on to be available everywhere I work, without even thinking about it.

Sync Your Desktop Between Computers with Dropbox You can either symlink your Desktop as described in our Documents-organizing feature, or (if you're using Windows) literally move the Desktop's location. Just head to your User folder in Windows Explorer, right click on the Desktop folder, choose Properties, head to the Location tab, and then enter the path to your Dropbox folder. After doing the same on your other machines, everything will stay in perfect sync.

This trick should have been obvious to me, but I never thought about it. If you actually use your desktop to house items you'll need later, this is a really great way to make sure you don't forget about any of it. Do note, however, that if you have application shortcuts on your desktop, you'll want to make sure they're stored in the same place on each machine, or they won't work. Hit the link to read more.

My Favorite Use for Dropbox: Synced Windows Desktop | Travis Pflanz via #tips

AppGarden for Android Rolls Together Dozens Of Useful Tools into One App [Android Downloads]

Source: http://lifehacker.com/5890811/appgarden-for-android-rolls-together-dozens-of-useful-tools-into-one-app

AppGarden for Android Rolls Together Dozens Of Useful Tools into One App Android: If you have a stand-alone dictionary app, calculator app, tipping app, unit conversion app, and a dozen other apps designed for very specific purposes, AppGarden is a new super-app that wants to replace them all without sacrificing their features. The app is a collection of mini-apps that can do everything from bandwidth monitoring to unit conversion to stock quotes and URL shortening, all under the umbrella of one installation.

AppGarden needs a lot of permissions, but that's not unexpected when you look at the list of mini-apps built into it. One tap gets you access to features that you may have needed dozens of other apps to do, including a three-source dictionary, thesaurus, urban dictionary lookup, local weather and local time-zone information, Wikipedia lookup, random number and password generators, a stopwatch, and much more. The best part of the tool is that because it does so much, you can clean up the other apps you may have installed that do the same things.

XDA-Developers forum member plbelanger built AppGarden. The app is completely free (but ad-supported) and available now in the Android App Market. You can get the "pro" version to remove the in-app ads for $1.99. Would you try a single app to replace the half-dozen apps you may have installed, or do you prefer individual apps for discrete purposes? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

AppGarden | Android App Market via XDA-Developers

Violin Strings Made by Spiders Sound Smooth as Silk [Science]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5890563/violin-strings-made-by-spiders-sound-smooth-as-silk

The world's best violins come with strings made from catgut—which isn't typically from cats, but does definitely come from the inside of an animal. If you want a more vegetarian alternative, though, how about a set made from spider silk?

In a world first, Japanese researcher Dr Shigeyoshi Osaki has used thousands of strands of spider silk to produce a set of violin strings, and he claims they have a "soft and profound timbre" compared to gut, reports the BBC.

But how do you make a violin string from spider silk? Firstly, you need a lot of spiders; Osaki used 300. Next, you need to collect 3,000 or so lengths of their dragline silk—that's the type of silk they dangle from—and twist them together to make make a bundle. Once you have three bundles, twist them together, in the opposite direction, to make a single string. You'll have to do that four times to string an entire violin. The process is to be outlined in a forthcoming issue of Physical Review Letters.

Speaking to the BBC, Osaki said:

"Several professional violinists reported that spider strings... generated a preferable timbre, being able to create a new music," he wrote... The violin strings are a novel practical use for spider silk as a kind of high value-added product, and offer a distinctive type of timbre for both violin players and music lovers worldwide."

Sadly, the silk isn't quite as strong as catgut, and tends to snap a little more easily, but maybe the tone's worth it. If you can find enough spiders. [Physical Review Letters via BBC; Image: land_camera_land_camer]

Your Doctor's Chicken Scratch Handwriting Could Kill You [Drugs]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5890623/your-doctors-chicken-scratch-handwriting-could-kill-you

Your Doctor's Chicken Scratch Handwriting Could Kill You Fifty families with unsuspecting kids in Chatham, New Jersey recently received a breast cancer drug from their local CVS instead of the fluoride pills they asked for. The kids took tamoxifen for months before anyone noticed. Outrageous, right?

Actually, it's all too common. Pharmacies across the country mix up names and prescriptions, or misread doctors famously illegible scrawl shockingly often. Just this past year, a pregnant woman with a prescription for antibiotics instead received an abortion drug. Luckily the baby wasn't aborted but now has an increased risk of health problems. A teenage boy received a leukemia drug instead of pain medication for his extracted wisdom teeth. Ouch, and also the drug could have made him sterile but luckily only shot up his blood pressure. Walgreen's paid one family $33 million for a mix up that led to a 46-year-old woman's death. Another woman was apparently psyched to accidentally receive Oxycontin and tried to keep it (she was arrested). The list goes on.

But no one knows just how long the list is because there is no list. One estimate says 7,000 people die every year due to medication errors. But no agency is specifically tasked with keeping track of these mistakes. And when pharmacies settle with victims of mix ups, they usually demand silence in exchange for cash. The FDA and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices "accept" reports about problems, but pharmacies aren't required to send reports. The U.S. Pharmacopeia also tries to keep track of mistakes but the error program is voluntary.

So since no one's looking out for you, you'd best make sure you know what kinds of pills you're swallowing. Eric Pavlack of Pavlack Law in Indianapolis writes that he's represented his fair share of mix-ups that have ended in injury and health problems. And of course personal injury lawyers are all over these cases and stand to (are) making bank. But he has some good advice for next time you pick up a prescription:

1. When your doctor gives you a prescription, be sure you can read what it says.

2. When you pick up your prescription, take the bottle out, review it, and specifically ask the pharmacist if this is the medicine and dosage that your doctor prescribed. If the pharmacist is annoyed or dismissive, it's time to find another pharmacy.

3. When you look at the bottle, verify that the medicine matches your prescription and your name is on the container. If there are any discrepancies, insist on an explanation.

4. If you experience side-effects after taking a drug that seem inconsistent with the warnings, immediately contact your doctor or pharmacist.

The FDA does try to make sure drug names aren't too similar, and they've begun rolling out bar-code systems that increase accuracy. "E-prescriptions" are also becoming more common but not nearly enough. Why on earth are doctors still writing out prescriptions by hand? Hey docs and hospitals, welcome to the 21st century, please get on board with doing it electronically.

Scientists Create 230-Percent Efficient LED Bulbs [Lighting]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5890719/scientists-create-230+percent-efficient-led-bulbs

Light bulbs have always required more electricity than they need to produce light because the energy conversion process—changing electricity to light—was inefficient. But an MIT research team has just shown that an LED can actually give off more light than what it consumes in electricity.

Incandescent bulbs are the poster child of inefficient energy conversion. The devices heated a filament with an electrical current which not only produced light, but a lot of waste heat as well. Fluorescent bulbs, CFL's, and even conventional LED's all generate the same waste heat to varying (albeit much smaller) degrees but none has ever reached 100-percent efficiency—a mark known as "unity efficiency."

The team from MIT posited that while the bulbs energy requirements decrease at an exponential rate (halving the voltage reduces the input power by a factor of four), the lumen output would decrease linearly (halve the voltage and the lumens drop by half as well). This means that at some point, the amount of lumens the bulb is emitting would be more than the amount of energy spent—essentially "free" light.

Granted, this point occurs only when using minuscule amounts of electricity to power incredibly dim bulbs. In their experiments, the team was able to generate 69 picowatts of light from just 30 picowatts of energy. They did so by harnessing waste heat, which is caused by vibrations in the bulb's atomic lattice, to compensate for the losses in electrical power. The device also reacts to ambient heat in the room to increase its efficiency and power the bulb.

This process cools the bulb slightly and could eventually be employed to manufacture "cold" bulbs that don't generate any heat, only light. And, since the same physical mechanism from these tiny bulbs can be applied to any LED, they likely will be. [Physics via Physorg]

Image: Kristina Postnikova / Shutterstock

Delta teams up with Amazon to give you free WiFi access for in-flight shopping

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/05/delta-amazon-deal-offers-free-in-flight-wifi-access-to-its-stores/

Delta teams up with Amazon to give you free in-flight WiFi access to its shop

SkyMiles distributor Delta isn't a newcomer to the land of in-flight WiFi freebies. And, while this time it's not setting a time limit on your browsing, you'll have to stay within the Amazon virtual walls to take advantage. The hook-up between the airline and online retail giant will allow passengers to do some up-in-the-clouds shopping at no cost, including its Wireless store. Delta says the goal is to offer a "convenient way to shop online at 30,000 feet for things they want on the ground." Other bits announced are also costless access to content from The Wall Street Journal and People magazine, as well as more "exclusive" deals. Now, if only we could be certain folks weren't going to be hogging all the Gogo bandwidth streaming Netflix -- we'd be set.

Continue reading Delta teams up with Amazon to give you free WiFi access for in-flight shopping

Delta teams up with Amazon to give you free WiFi access for in-flight shopping originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigabyte unveils U2442 ultrabooks and P2542G gaming laptop at CeBIT

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/05/gigabyte-unveils-u2442-ultrabooks-and-p2542g-gaming-laptop/

Gigabyte at CeBIT

You didn't think a company like Gigabyte would roll into CeBIT empty-handed, did you? The Taiwanese company knows how to rock a trade show properly and came packin' a whole bevy of goodies. Getting top billing are the brand new U2442 ultrabooks and the P2542G gaming laptop. The slim and light model comes in two versions. The U2442N comes rocking an Ivy Bridge class Core i5 or i7 in a shell that's 18.5mm thick at its narrowest point and starts at 1.49Kg (3.3lbs). The U2442V trades in the standard voltage CPUs for ULV ones, while keeping the same 14-inch 1600 x 900 display. They both also offer a GeForce GT 640M GPU with 2GB of memory, up to a 750GB hard drive as well as USB 3.0, Bluetooth 4.0 and Thunderbolt connections.

The 15.6-inch P2542G sacrifices portability, but comes packing high-end components like an Ivy Bridge Core i7, a 2GB GTX 660, a Blu-ray drive, a THX certified, dual-woofer sound system, a 1920 x 1080 display, oh, and an HDMI out jack in addition to the usual assortment of USB ports. For more check out the gallery below and PR after the break.

Gallery: Gigabyte U2442 and P2542G

Continue reading Gigabyte unveils U2442 ultrabooks and P2542G gaming laptop at CeBIT

Gigabyte unveils U2442 ultrabooks and P2542G gaming laptop at CeBIT originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RelayRides hooks up with GM, opens P2P car sharing to OnStar subs

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/05/relayrides-opens-p2p-car-sharing/

Usually when a stranger gets behind the wheel of your car, it's more a situation for the authorities than General Motors. But with the impending nationwide rollout of RelayRides' P2P car sharing program, owners of GM vehicles will soon be actively looking for complete strangers to take a spin at their wheels in exchange for cash. The startup, backed by venture capital from Google, launched its unique rental service two years ago in Boston and San Francisco and is now poised to expand that reach to about six million OnStar subs with an upcoming smartphone app. Admittedly, it's a bizarre, though potentially lucrative concept, as those who opt-in and open their driver-side doors to randoms could net anywhere from $250 to $1000 per month, while renters only have to cough up about $5 to $10 per hour. It's a tough sell when compared up to the more traditional, well-established likes of, say, ZipCar, but if you're keen on sniffing that previously-owned car smell, this should be right up your alley.

RelayRides hooks up with GM, opens P2P car sharing to OnStar subs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google sharpens its memory, brings recent search history to Android and iOS

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/05/google-recent-search-history-for-android-ios/

Google sharpens its memory, brings recent search history to Android and iOS

Face it, Google already knows you better than your friends or family, so why not cuddle up next to the giant and let it make your life a touch easier to manage? Today, the folks in Mountain View announced that recent search history is now accessible from Google's mobile homepage for Android and iOS, where users may now easily access the businesses and places they've searched for within the last day. We attempted to try the addition for ourselves, but it seems the new functionality hasn't yet hit every user. Naturally, you must opt-in to have your searches archived in the first place, and from there, you'll need to sign into your account from your mobile device to access the helpful tidbits. One thing is now certain: even if you've forgotten where you're going, Google is sure to remember.

Google sharpens its memory, brings recent search history to Android and iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MIT opens App Inventor to all, launches public Beta

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/mit-opens-app-inventor-to-all-launches-public-beta/

App Inventor

You'd be forgiven for thinking you've already read this article. Truthfully, you pretty much already have. The software is the same (App Inventor), the milestone is the same (public availability), even the development status is the same (beta). So, what praytell is new then? Well, the Android apps creation tool is no longer being managed by Google -- MIT has snatched up the source and worked up its own version. Now you, or anyone else for that matter, can go and log into the MIT App Inventor, so long as you have a valid Google ID. Interested in giving it a try? Did you miss out when it was the Google App Inventor? Hit up the source link for more.

MIT opens App Inventor to all, launches public Beta originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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