Online Gamers To Help Create Vaccines And Cures
May 16, 2008
Being an online gamer doesn’t hold quite the same social stigma it once did. It’s now perfectly acceptable to admit to others, even in polite and mixed company, that you play World of Warcraft until four in the morning. Games like Second Life and WoW have brought a pastime once associated with spotty, socially inept, teenagers to the masses.
It seems that thanks to the online game called FoldIt that this evolution of sorts is being taken to a whole new extreme. An extreme that, even after continued assessment and reassessment seems… odd.
Without getting too heavily involved in the baffling science behind Protein folding, FoldIt enables players to help shape the advance of medical science by simulating the protein folding process. Players compete to fold the best protein, and the software predicts just how effectively they have solved the problem. The end result could well be used to help create vaccines and make medical discoveries.
While it hints of a million monkeys with a million typewriters game developers claim that FoldIt uses humans’ inherent problem solving capabilities, thus removing the need to rely on expensive and largely time consuming computer analytical methods of discovering protein folding methods.
So if, God forbid, you’re ever diagnosed with a life threatening disease and the doctor tells you that they have a breakthrough vaccine they’d like to try, don’t be too surprised if you learn that it was developed by somebody called **FoldItN00b1972**.
Ferrari California Pictures Unveiled
May 16, 2008
While the Ferrari California won’t be officially unveiled until the Paris Motor Show on 1st October, the official website has some glorious images and incredible sounds of the new convertible Grand Tourer. It might just be me but while the pictures look incredible, the greatest thing has to be the sound.
You can hear and see the awesome power of the next Ferrari masterpiece and I strongly urge you to check it out. As if the roar isn’t enough, there’s a downloadable PDF giving you the run down and figures so you can salivate for the next 5 months until it becomes available and you can stop dreaming (because like the vast majority of the world’s population you’ll never see one, let alone own one).
The 7-speed gearbox and mid-front mounted (a Ferrari first) 4.3l V8 engine delivering an astonishing 460hp at 7,500rpm. I can’t stress enough just how throatily beautiful that V8 sounds and it ensures that you can get up to a speed of 62mph in less than 4 seconds. Read more
Canon Announces E-520 Digital SLR And New Zuiko Wideangle Lens
May 16, 2008
Canon has certainly been busy this last few weeks. It seems only a couple of months since they announced the coming of the E-420 and they’re already blasting the E-520 out along with an impressive digital wideangle lens. The reason it only seems two months is because it actually is two months since that release.
The Canon E-520 offers many of the features that its marginally younger sibling offers, but it also features a 10MP sensor that stabilises images. What’s more, it incorporates the quiet and speedy TruePic III processor that is bound to keep previous Canon owners happy. Prices for the camera start at just short of £500 for the body only package.
Also released was the Zuiko 9-18mm digital wide angle lens. This lens is available as part of SLR camera packages or independently. However, the lens will not be available until some time in September so you’ll just have to wait. In the meantime, if you want more information on either these products then mosey along to the UK Canon website to take a look.
Canon Announces Two New Compact Printers
May 15, 2008
Canon has recently announced that it will be launching two new compact printers to be included as part of the Selphy range. The CP760 and CP770 are both said to offer lab quality prints that will last for 100 years (presumably, that hasn’t been tested yet, otherwise these printers have been in development for a very long time indeed).
The CP760 offers a simple layout and intuitive interface, direct printing from a range of memory cards, and a 2.5” LCD display screen. Red Eye Correction and Auto Image Correction with Face Brightening also ensure that consumers get the very best quality prints.
The CP770 includes the same features, but it also comes inclusive with its own storage container – granted, it does look a but like a plastic Dulux paint tin, but its handy none the less. The more advanced CP770 also offers optional wireless printing capabilities and an optional battery pack.
The CP760 is due in shops some time this month, while you will have to wait a few weeks until June before its big brother, the CP770 is available. The Selphy range offers an affordable option when it comes to printing high quality photographs and images but I do genuinely have to question the design of the carrier for the CP770.
Yahoo Shareholder Taking Action Against Microsoft Bid Refusal
May 15, 2008
Carl Icahn, an investor of some serious substance in Yahoo, is attempting to stage the boardroom equivalent of a military coup. To put it mildly he’s a little upset that Yahoo opted to turn down Microsoft’s substantial offer, equivalent to 72% more than the share price, without even consulting the shareholders.
As a result of the billionaire’s action, shareholders will now be required to make a choice between the old board and Mr Icahn’s board at the shareholder’s annual meeting on July 3rd. When you consider that Mr Icahn reputedly holds around $1bn worth of shares, it’s understandable that he’s a little mystified by the irrational decision, as he put it. He is, after all, missing out on more than $700,000.
Already carrying a lot of clout from his 3.6% share in the company, My Icahn intends to try and purchase a further $2.5bn worth of shares so that he holds an even greater share and even more weight in the board wrangling.
The BBC website also reports that despite rumours to the contrary, Microsoft has now firmly pulled away from any kind of deal and has no intention of staging another buyout attempt later in the year. If Mr Icahn’s attempts to overthrow the board were successful then it’s possible that their stance would change.
So, Microhoo (or Yasoft) could still be on the cards after all. Although, there are a lot of factors that need to be fulfilled in the next few months.
CBS To Buy CNET For $1.75bn
May 15, 2008
A major buyout of the CNET group of websites by television company CBS has been announced. A total sale price of $1.75bn has been agreed, which is equivalent to $11.50 a share, or 45% higher than Wednesday’s closing share price. The culmination of the two companies will enlarge even CNET’s already prestigious online presence and improve advertising opportunities between the two.
The CNET website itself is one dedicated to a topic close to all of hearts – technology and gadgets. As well as providing reviews and news, it has introduced video reviews, major online communities and much more. However, the CNET website is only a portion of the company’s web portfolio. Other technology related sites owned by CNET include ZDNet, Gamespot, and News.com as well as many others.
The purchase will make CBS one of the ten largest online entities in the world. The total visitor figures may still be dwarfed by some of the Internet behemoths like Google, it is still an audacious move that puts CBS even further on the media map. According to the Reuters website, CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves has stated the intention behind the purchase is that CBS’s “goal is to have our content in as many platforms as possible.”
The deal has yet to be finalised and needs to be agreed by regulators before the final paperwork is completed, but it is expected to go through in the third quarter of this year so is relatively imminent.
TomTom One Explore In-Car Satellite Navigation Review And Specification
May 15, 2008
TomTom One Explore In-Car Satellite Navigation
Price inc VAT £109.99
save £40
Ever since I started driving I knew I had a great skill - the skill of getting lost! I am rubbish at reading maps and my girlfriend is even worse (she is so bad that many an argument has been had due to her poor directions!). I am pleased to announce that I found the answer a few years ago in the form of Tomtom satellite navigation and this new tomtom one is packed full of features to get you from A to B quickly and safely. Read more
ASUS Eee PC 4GB Blue Handheld PC Review And Specification
May 15, 2008
ASUS Eee PC 4GB Blue Handheld PC
Price inc VAT £199.00
Share photos of your travels without waiting till you get home. Shop the world wide web without attaching any lines or wires. Learn through the latest technology without a technical manual. Play, relax, and entertain on the go with shock-proof design. Connect with friends and family with just a few clicks with the ASUS Eee PC 4G. Read more
Samsung i780 - Just Another Blackberry Clone?
May 15, 2008
The Samsung i780 is, at first glance, another Blackberry clone – in fact, no matter how often you glance, that’s pretty much what it remains. It does throw in some pretty impressive additional features including the rather useful mini touchpad tracker pad navigational thing and HSDPA support for lightning fast download and upload speeds. But, like many clones it looks the part and tries to impress, but it has some imperfections compared to the original.
The 2.5 inch display is touch-screen – much like the Blackberry line. The QWERTY keyboard could easily have been physically removed from a Blackberry. Yet, it doesn’t seem to manage these things quite as well as a Blackberry – it just hasn’t had the same amount of practice is probably the problem. Read more
Console Wars Update - XBox360 Reaches 10m US Units
May 15, 2008
Yet another update to the next gen console wars – a couple of updates, in fact, and one of them is a sort of cross last-gen/next-gen hybrid internal war. First up is news that the Xbox360 is the first next generation console to sell a huge 10 million units in the US. Obviously Microsoft are making a big deal out of it, and it is big news, but the PS3 has been hot on their tails in worldwide figures and the Wii is still the stand out leader (although conveniently not always considered to be a part of the current console war).
The other news is that the PS2 out-sold its younger and better looking sibling, the PS3, for the year 2007. While the PS3 sold just over 9 million units for the year, the PS2 sold a staggering 13.7 million units.
The console war lives on, as ever, with each of the three seemingly reporting the best results. While the Wii is sometimes overlooked in this round, it has to be the stand out winner. The cheapest, most innovative, most popular, and with the widest appeal of the lot it has easily outsold each of its competitors by a significant margin and continues to impress.
