Why do bose make the most effective TV sound systems

When I was young and inexperienced about the ways of the world, my Mum used to buy me those electric toothbrushes that you see on TV.

 

Those things don’t actually have a very long shelf life, but they do work a treat (it was 27 years before I needed my first filling). Therefore, whenever an old one bit the dust, my Mum would somehow stump up the money and replace it. Good as gold.

 

One of the many disillusions I’ve endured since leaving home about six years ago, (first for Uni and then for the big, scary real world) is that you have to pay for your own stuff. Like, all the time. For example, the other day our washing machine broke and it cost the best part of £40 to repair it (amazingly, all that palaver was just because the button had come off of my girlfriend’s trousers and gotten caught somewhere in the mechanism). The week after that, our food bill spiralled upwards to almost twice its previous amount with no warning from our local recession-maligned supermarket. As a matter of necessity, my much-loved electric toothbrush was forced out of my life.

 

So, last week, with a little more money in my pocket than usual, I ‘treated’ myself to a new toothbrush and, wouldn’t you know it? The damn thing died on me this morning. For **** sake!

 

What does this have to do with the Bose TV sound system? Not a lot, but I was pissed about it and I wanted to vent.

 

Actually, the two products do have quite a lot in common (in a good way). Like my preferred brand of toothbrush, the Bose TV speaker doesn’t come cheap, however, it is also arguably the best product of its kind and, like the toothbrush; no home should be without one.

 

Your average flat panel TV screen doesn’t have wonderful speakers to match its exceptional picture; you’ve probably noticed. The size and shape of those speakers are all wrong for anything but the most basic aural experience. Today’s average flatscreen TV viewer hooks an external sound system up to the TV as a matter of course.

 

What I’m saying, then: is if you’re going to buy speakers; buy Bose.

 

With a flawless, easy set up and a smart, compact design, Bose’s new TV sound system provides you with a broader, more detailed sound. You can hear every bone crunching in your favourite high-octane action fest, or experience fully the subtle nuances of heartbreak in your favourite rom coms (probably).

 

Using proprietary digital signal processing (look it up – I have a word limit and I wasted almost half of it talking about a toothbrush), these speakers adjust and optimise the sound at almost any volume level. In practical terms, this basically means that you won’t have to turn the sound right up to hear the dramatic whispery bits, only to be deafened, in turn, by the sonic assault of the massive explosion-y bits.

 

This speaker array will bring audio quality into your home that is damn close to cinema level and perfectly compliments a Blu Ray/Plasma screen setup, in fact, I’ll go one better: it completes it.

 

On the downside, this system is not the cheapest. However, sometimes it’s worth shelling out a little (OK, a lot) extra in order to get the nicest product on the rack. When I consider how much time the average family spends watching TV, it makes sense that they’d want to invest in a superior product. Anyway, the point is this; whether its oral or aural technology you’re after, it pays to buy the best. 

Why do bose make the most effective TV sound systems

What exactly is the Walkie Talkie Tower

I’m happy you asked. 20 Fenchurch Street, affectionately known as the ‘Walkie Talkie Tower’ and less affectionately identified as the ‘Walkie Scorchie’ (yeah, that’s a reputation that’s never catching on), is a commercial skyscraper in central London. It’s presently under development and isn’t expected to be done until next year. When all is said and done, it’ll have cost some £200 Million to build.

 

The structure gets its nickname because it’s considered to resemble a walkie talkie (while, to be truthful, I can not see it myself). It is too known as the pint, a thing that was far more fitting.

 

When done, the construction will stand at 160m in height and also have 37 storeys. The ‘Walkie Talkie Tower’ was built by Rafael Viñoly (the guy who designed the Tokyo International Forum, Carrasco International Airport and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, just in case you wondered) but will feature a garden on the roof that will be open to the public.

 

The tower has been the subject of some controversies since the project’s inception. Initially, it was designed as being 200 m high, but this was scaled back amid worries that it’d block out views of local landmarks Saint Paul’s Cathedral plus the Tower of London. Heritage communities complained further and there is a public inquest (which unsurprisingly found in favour of the guys with £200Million burning a hole in their back pockets). The building work has suffered some delays (as it had been initially expected to be complete by 2011), but is now thought being on schedule.

 

The tower made further headlines this year after motorists complained that it was acting much like the large magnifying glass and ‘melting’ their vehicles. Actually, the companies responsible of the building’s development in fact paid out £1000 in compensation to a Mr. Lindsay, when his vehicle was severely damaged. Joint developers Land Securities and Canary Whorf Group issued this announcement in light of those actions, and Canary Whorf Group issued this statement in light of the events, “As a gesture of goodwill, we have offered to meet the repair costs of his car. As responsible developers we take the issue seriously and are open to discussions with any individual or business that may have been adversely affected on a case by case basis.” That was nice of them.

 

That was nice of them.

 

Soon after nearby car parks were closed until later in the year, when the sun’s rays is less intense.

 

Curiously, another structure of Rafael Viñoly’s, the Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, also suffers from a sunlight reflection problem, being nicknamed the ‘Vdara Death Ray’ by locals…

 

Also, I actually just read that a number of motorists are referring to the tower as the ‘Fryscraper’. Now that is a reputation that may catch on.

What exactly is the Walkie Talkie Tower

What’s Better, a Tablet or a Laptop?

This is going to be a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ type thing. The debate you’re dragging me into here, is actually a long and storied one (with both sides making good points along the way). So here goes…

Basically, it all depends on what you need the device in question to do.

The tablet PC has not supplanted the laptop (not yet anyway) and, in fact, the average tablet cannot hope to contain the amount of information that can be stored in a laptop. Also, unless you are an ‘Angry Birds’ fanatic, never, ever think of a tablet as a gaming device.

However, tablets boot up quickly and are net ready in seconds. They are easy to use when out and about and far more portable than laptops.

So, if you’re looking to check your emails whilst on a train, or play a few rounds of ‘Angry Birds’ whilst on the toilet (hey, I’m not judging – its what I do), or if access to the Internet is the key factor for you, then you’ll find a tablet not only cheaper, but probably far better suited to your needs.

However, if you want to go out and take your desktop with you, then you’ll need a laptop, no question about it. A laptop can handle better and more complex software, running every bit as efficiently as your desktop. If you’re editing video footage, writing a novel or doing anything else that takes up time and memory, then a laptop is definitely the way to go, no question about it.

Think of a tablet as being a bigger, better version of your smartphone. It’s a great entertainment tool, a personal organizer and a generally useful lifestyle accessory. So, whilst it is technically a portable computer, you really shouldn’t relate to it in the same way you relate to your desktop PC or MAC.

Likewise, do not think of your laptop as a quick, easy way to check your Facebook in a crowded cafe, there are boot-up times, updates and lots more to consider. What you need to do now is have a really good think about what it is you specifically want from the device.

In that respect, I’d advise you not to look at it as an ‘either/or’ thing, both technologies are suited to different uses, so its a bit like comparing pencils and pens in that respect – they can both perform the same tasks, but they are also individually better suited to others. 

What’s Better, a Tablet or a Laptop?

The Samsung 42 inch Smart Television that gives too much and takes very little

It is a simple error to make I suppose. I work in the dark and, as a consequence, am often barely getting up at midday. At time of writing, it’s just gone 4AM (and I do not expect to get asleep for a minimum another hour). So, I groggily say goodbye to my gf as she gets up for work at 7AM after which I doze until around 10.30 or 11.00, before getting up and planning to work on my ‘fun’ projects like internet comics, novels and attending web literature seminars.

 

Once evening rolls around once more, I revisit to my commercial work (the stuff that pays), that’s why this piece will end with the brazen effort to sell you a smart tv (just in case you were wondering).

 

The genuine highlight of my day is when said gf arrives home from work. She puts down a LOT of overtime and she goes to 2 weekly dance classes, so we do not get to spend an enormous quantity of time together, especially as her working day comes to an end just as mine begins (she can also be far less misanthropic than her companion and, as the result, actually includes a semblance of a social life).

 

There is a short, shining period where we eat food (usually lovingly prepared by me) and settle down to watch Television together. We’re both Sci-Fi nerds, so we like to watch a fair bit of ‘Star Trek’ in its a mixture of incarnations, but we also like ‘Cheers’ ‘Seinfeld’ ‘Frasier’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ in addition to numerous others.

 

That won’t sound like a great deal of an thrilling day, especially since the most fun part is watching telly, however it really is a lot of fun. From time to time I wish it were more bizarre (and I once, in all honesty, really tried to convince her to stow away with me on the cruise liner), but watching Telly with my partner is basically the high point of my day.

 

Support yourself; here comes the sales pitch. Essentially, if we have the new Samsung 42-Inch LED TV, we could enhance that tiny little bit of ‘us’ time even further. About the evenings when we wanted to stream a full show, especially a bit as fantastically photographed as my current favorite film ‘The Hunter’ starring Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor; we’d be absolutely engrossed.

 

The Samsung smart TV, with its advanced picture quality and also the opportunity for studio-quality sound output, could provide a new lease of life to any quantity of old favourites, as well as badass newcomers like ‘Skyfall’.

 

Furthermore to a, the Samsung 42-Inch LED TV allows for the use of apps like ‘Youtube’, ‘Facebook’ and ‘Netflicks’ all of which would obviously be extra functional.

 

I remember being at school and having to put in writing an essay on how TV was an terrible invention that’s tearing at the core of modern relationships, all I can say is that, in my current relationship, I’ve found it to be quite the contrary.

 

When you watch TV even half as often as we do, you then owe it to yourself to buy a good one (unless you can’t afford it, naturally, you then owe it to yourself to start saving up and bookmark this page for a later re-read). Happy viewings!

The Samsung 42 inch Smart Television that gives too much and takes very little

Wonderful New Year|Merry Christmas to everybody

The time is now upon us and it’s time to relax, joyful Christmas to all our visitors

Wonderful New Year|Merry Christmas to everybody

Iceman’s Living Relatives Discovered

A team of Austrian scientists has identified living relatives of Oetzi the Iceman, the 5,300-year-old body discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991.

The research highlights 19 Tyrolean men, all of whom bear distinct genetic similarities to samples taken from the body of Oetzi (so named because he was discovered in the valley of Oetz).

It is thought that the same genetic mutation that was found in Oetzi’s ancient DNA will also be discovered in the nearby Swiss region of Engadine.

The men have not been informed about their famous heritage and their connection to the Iceman is known only from analysis of their blood after donation. Women were not included in this particular study, as a different procedure would be required to match their samples to Oetzi’s.

The Austrian team has announced that it will be working with Swiss and Italian partners in order to further their research.

Since hikers discovered the body in 1991, Oetzi has been a source of constant fascination to historians, geneticists, archaeologists and interested media outlets. A high level of research has uncovered how Oetzi died, what his last meal consisted of and even what his face might very well have looked like (he had brown eyes). In addition, the Iceman’s entire genome was mapped and published last February.

In life, Oetzi stood at about 5ft 2in, lived to be approximately 46 years old and suffered from (amongst other things) arthritis and a whipworm infestation.

However, the discovery of living relatives to the 5,300-year-old corpse definitely represents a milestone in a case that has been called ‘the world’s oldest murder mystery’ by some.

Since Oetzi’s discovery in 1991, debates have raged about the Iceman’s final moments, there has even been some speculation that he was buried, but why and by whom remains a mystery.

In addition, a court case raged for years between the body’s discoverers and the local authorities, regarding a 25% finders fee that the authorities declined to pay in full. The court case was eventually settled in 2008.

The Iceman has made news in other areas as well; seven people involved in the discovery of Oetzi have died under allegedly ‘mysterious’ circumstances, leading some to speculate as to the existence of a curse.

Last year, Oetzi made the news yet again, as Italian scientists determined that there were red blood cells around Oetzi’s wounds. This was remarkable news as previously no blood was found within the body. These findings made Oetzi’s blood the oldest in the world, but, amazingly, his bloodline continues to this day.

 

SOURCES:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17909396

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17909396

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7643286.stm

Iceman’s Living Relatives Discovered

Rock Band on the PS3, what you may not be familiar with it

My neighbour ‘Little’ Chris, then aged about 9 , once stated that he hoped there might be a ‘Bass Hero’, ‘Drum Hero’ and ‘Singing Hero’ to go along with the ‘Guitar Hero’ games he loved. Someone must have been taking note that time, because a year roughly later the 1st rockband game appeared on shop floor.

 

Now on its 3rd instalment, the immensely accepted rockband series seems to have eclipsed those guitar video games for good, forcing a place between more victorious music sims of all time in the process. Yes, rockband is here to stay whether you prefer it or not and okay, that’s my friend Kieran playing bass on the case of rockband 3 (OK, maybe it isn’t, however it really looks like him).

 

Ethical debates on the company takeover of rock n roll aside; folks are purchasing and enjoying the new rockband game in record numbers. Let us find out why.

 

Using the up-to-date rockband game, around 7 friends can jam on well-over two thousand songs, with unparalleled longevity and repeat value. rockband 3 even features a Pro mode, which is praised by musicians because of its understanding to learning your instrument for real.

 

Specific tricks (such as drum rolls) have been made easier to perform this time around, plus the game itself does seem a little more forgiving, this may only be an effective thing, because who joins a rock band to be uptight?

Rock Band on the PS3, what you may not be familiar with it

When NASCAR needed a faster, more efficient communications system, they turned to Motorola.

The Talladega Superspeedway covers 3,000 acres, and is a Super Bowl®-sized NASCAR event that attracts 150,000 on-site spectators and millions more watching at home.

NASCAR manages over 1,200 races every year on 200 race tracks in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and each location poses its own challenges in terms of radio traffic and interference. These challenges are magnified when systems must be deployed quickly, every week, over a wide geographic area. Pit crews, drivers, officials, and all other members of the internal and external organization must have a communications system that supports flawless connections, every time. When seconds count, there is no room for missed or delayed communications; speed and voice clarity are everything. NASCAR recently realized that their older system was just not keeping up, and there’s no doubt that providing secure and reliable communications for an event like this can seem overwhelming. Each NASCAR event involves up to 40,000 people, with approximately 80 officials presiding over two races, each with 43 cars, and each with teams of up to 30 people. In addition to NASCAR drivers, maintenance personnel, and pit crews, each race requires spotters, timing and scoring groups, as well as fire and rescue units. Also working on-site are emergency personnel, food vendors, ticketing and parking attendants, television and radio crews, and public relations representatives. Because NASCAR stages many regional events, several outside organizations need to be integrated into the communications loop. The sheer number of radios and talk groups that have to be moved and set up very quickly is enough to tax any radio system, and NASCAR’s old system was clearly over-taxed. NASCAR examined all options during a six-month intensive study. Digital radio seemed to be the best route to achieving the key requirements surfaced in this study, which included NASCAR’s need to:

• Coordinate large numbers of radios

• Ensure absolute audio clarity

• Maintain consistent, reliable communications

• Have a radio that was durable enough to withstand a rough environment

After assessing all the options, NASCAR determined that Motorola’s MOTOTRBO professional digital two-way radio was the right system for their needs.MOTOTRBO digital radio precisely met each of

NASCAR’s four requirements.

To coordinate large numbers of radios, the MOTOTRBO system is engineered to maximize use of the radio spectrum. The power of MOTOTRBO is leveraged by NASCAR to bring together multiple talk groups who work all over the property and need to be in full communication at all times. MOTOTRBO is also used to connect spotters, emergency medical technicians, crews in the garage and pit areas, as well as security and all other service and support personnel required to help each race run smoothly.

MOTOTRBO’s ability to work in either digital or analog mode makes it possible to seamlessly integrate older radio systems that may not yet have migrated to digital. To ensure absolute audio clarity, MOTOTRBO’s noise-canceling technology enables headsets for racing officials to perform at higher levels. Added to inherently clearer digital communications, the noise-canceling capabilities of MOTOTRBO technology supports sharp and clean communications in even the harshest environments. If MOTOTRBO users can communicate clearly at a noisy racetrack, it’s easy to see how well these digital two-way radios would perform in most workplace environments. “ We have to make sure we’re communicating quickly and concisely. Through MOTOTRBO, we’re able to do our jobs a whole lot better

than we have in the past.”

To maintain consistent, reliable communications, MOTOTRBO’s digital technology makes possible  extended battery life so that all users can easily connect throughout an 8-to-12-hour workday and then keep communicating, even when races run longer than scheduled. The MOTOTRBO system is

also less susceptible to static and interference, and when second-by-second communication is demanded, digital provides the proven reliability NASCAR needs. Durability is ensured with MOTOTRBO radios that deliver the highest quality of communications, even in harsh environments where they’re frequently dropped and exposed to dust, rain, grease, oil, and solvents. MOTOTRBO is designed to meet U.S. Military Standards C, D, E, and F, as well as IP57 for submersibility in water. When properly equipped with a Motorola FM-approved battery, MOTOTRBO radios have been certified by FM Approvals in accordance with Canada and U.S. codes to be intrinsically safe.

Source – http://www.motorolasolutions.com/web/Business/Product%20Lines/MOTOTrbo/_Documents/Case_Studies/Static_Files/Events_Nascar_car_racing.pdf

When NASCAR needed a faster, more efficient communications system, they turned to Motorola.

Pleasurable, Games And The Letter ‘X’

The aim of this site is to keep you updated on the latest releases, innovations and general news from the black-and-green neon world of the Xbox.

 

Here at best xbox game, we love the damn things. Can’t get enough of them, in fact. But the console itself is nothing without the rocket fuel that takes your imagination into the stratosphere with each new adventure. By which, of course, we mean the games.

 

Without great games, a console is nothing at all. Less than nothing. At best xbox game, we really feel that the Xbox has the best game library ever assembled, a roster of undeniably brilliant stories, characters and experiences. best xbox game aims to grow up to be the definitive Xbox site. With your support, we just might.

 

We like Playstation, we like Wii but that’s as far as it goes here at best xbox game. If you want the advice of our ‘X-perts’ regarding the best and brightest this console has to offer, all you have to do is stay on best xbox game and have a look around. We just might have what you’re looking for, the missing piece of the existential puzzle on your life. Then again, we may have overshot ourselves on that last part. Whatever.

 

best xbox game is committed to providing the ultimate guide to the ultimate games for the ultimate console. So there. 

Pleasurable, Games And The Letter ‘X’

Pioneering Rock Musician Lou Reed Dies at 71

Rock n Roll poet Lou Reed, a founding member and principal songwriter of the massively influential band ‘The Velvet Underground’ – as well as a globally recognized recording artist in his own right, has died of liver failure, he was 71 years old.

Reed’s songs were groundbreaking in that they openly discussed issues like outsider sexuality and hard drug use and then married these lyrics to alternative, sometimes avant-garde music.

Reed was a recording artist in every sense of the word. Throughout his life and career, his work was challenging, powerful and often divisive. However, he was also no stranger to a catchy, crowd-pleasing pop chorus, as famous hits like ‘Perfect Day’, Satellite of Love’ and ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ will attest. Lou Reed’s work was the ultimate meeting point between the urban culture of the New York City streets and the highbrow insouciance of the uptown art galleries.

Supremely influential to the development of Pop, Glam, Indie, Punk and lots more besides, Reed was considered to be a godfather of alternative sounds.

Lou Reed was born in Brooklyn in 1942, when World War 2 was still raging around the world. He studied at Syracuse University and, around this time, became a disciple of the poet Delmore Schwartz. Upon graduation, he worked for Pickwick records as a songwriter, generating at least one minor hit. Eventually, he met Welsh violinist John Cale and, together with drummer Maureen Tucker and guitarist Sterling Morrison, formed The Velvet Underground.

The Velvet Underground were an instant hit on the New York music scene, so much so that pop artist Andy Warhol became a fan and incorporated them into his various projects. Warhol would eventually be credited as the producer of the band’s 1967 debut album, for which he also provided the artwork. The band were white hot creatively for three years, until their last album ‘Loaded’ was released in 1970.

Commercially, however, the Velvet Underground were completely ignored at the time. It was only later that they would be considered by a new generation of musicians as a seminal, trailblazing band.

Reed’s first solo album (where he was backed by the progressive rock band ‘Yes’) wasn’t a hit, but his glam-inflexed, David Bowie produced follow up, ‘Transformer’ became a worldwide smash and yielded several enduring pop classics.

For the rest of the decade, Reed refused to be pigeon holed as simply a ‘Rock’ or ‘Pop’ performer, instead producing albums like the tragic, story-based ‘Berlin’ or the savagely experimental ‘Metal Machine Music’. ‘Coney Island Baby’ was perhaps his most accessible record after ‘Transformer’, it was a hard-edged song-set that featured a collection of radio friendly alternative rock tunes and it was well received by the majority of fans.

Over the decades, Reed’s rebellious music continued to divide and delight in equal measure. Albums that had some fans and critics cheering had others scratching their heads. He was wholly capable of being supremely heartfelt and candid one minute and yet totally aloof and incomprehensible the next. He was, however, never less than 100% true to his incomparable artistic spirit.

In the 2000’s, Reed became a devoted practitioner of Tai Chi; he based an album on the works of Edgar Allen Poe and he worked as a photographer (which had been a side passion of his for many years). He also became even more heavily involved in social and environmental activism. His most recent record was released in 2011; it was produced in collaboration with Thrash Metal giants ‘Metallica’.

To say that Lou Reed made a huge impact on popular music would be an absolute understatement; to say that Lou Reed is one of the founding fathers of alternative music/culture would be doing the man something of a disservice. In truth, Lou Reed wrote the book on Rock n Roll, before summarily burning it and doing whatever he felt like doing, whenever he felt like doing it. He will be missed.

Pioneering Rock Musician Lou Reed Dies at 71

Tech We’d Like to See: Cities on the Moon

What it is:

Placing a city (or several) on the moon has long been a dream of science fiction writers, futurists and ambitious scientists. Recently however, renewed public interest in space exploration, together with a growing realization that the world is becoming dangerously overpopulated, has lead some scientists, artists and zealous would-be lunar colonists to start taking this ages-old dream extremely seriously. 

Why we want it:

Because it could potentially be one of the only non-genocidal solutions to the eventual overpopulation of planet earth. Also, who wouldn’t want to sit on the moon and watch the Earth rise?

When can we expect it?

A couple of years ago, a group called Moon Capital launched a high profile competition, allowing scientists, architects and aspiring artists the chance to create scientifically plausible scenes of moon colonisation (in the style made famous by super-artist Chesley Bonestell).

The competition had (hypothetical) moon colonisation taking place in the year 2068. This estimate was good enough for the entrants of the competition, so it’ll be good enough for us, too. Hopefully, then, you’ll get your lunar colony in about 55 years time (just under a hundred years after Neil Armstrong took that one small step….)

Of course, the problems posed by such a feat of engineering are many-fold. For starters, the moon is some 380,000 km away from us at any given time, (which is quite a trip for a moving van, even taking speed cameras out of the equation), then there’s the difficulty of actually building a working city in such a hostile environment…

We’ve built space stations, of course, so we know we can construct things in space, but they aren’t exactly desirable places to live. Also, we can get people to the moon and back (we’ve been at it since the 60’s, no matter what the conspiracy nuts tell you), but the trip is still intensely dangerous and requires a great deal of training and preparation.

Finally, we come to the complete lack of breathable atmosphere on the moon; this would require scientists to create some sort of artificial environment (or else speed up development of terraforming methods, but that’s a story for another time).

Oh yeah, there’s no food either, not unless you like your Selenite steaks rare.

Yes, the idea of colonising the moon poses a number of mind-boggling obstacles, but if there’s one thing that we as a species excel at, its overcoming obstacles.

So, while it may seem far-fetched to imagine something like this actually happening, consider this; the first powered flight took place in 1903 and just 66 years later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were hanging out on the moon. Think on that for a second.

Cool Factor: 5/5

Cities on the moon? Now that’s cool. 

Tech We’d Like to See: Cities on the Moon

BREAKING NEWS ‘New’ Species of Mammal Discovered in South America

American Scientists from the Smithsonian Institute of Washington DC have discovered a new type of carnivorous mammal previously unknown to Western science.

The creature, known as the olinguito, is the first such animal to be discovered on the American continent in 35 years.

Zoologist Dr. Kristofer Helgen, who works as the curator of mammals in Washington DC’s National Museum of Natural History, discovered some stored remains in a Chicago museum and was reportedly ‘stopped in his tracks’ upon seeing them.

Following further examination, Helgen says that, “The skins were a rich red colour and when I looked at the skulls I didn’t recognize the anatomy. It was different to any similar animal I’d seen, and right away I thought it could be a species new to science.”

DNA testing eventually proved that, whilst the 35-cm long olinguito is a type of olingo (a relative of raccoons), it is definitely a distinct species in its own right. However, not content with simply describing the species from the remains, the real challenge for Helgen was to attempt to observe this new mammal in the wild.

Using educated guesswork and clues obtained from the specimen drawer, Dr. Helgen and his team were able to theorize a possible habitat for the olinguito. Their ideas proved to be correct and the animal has since been established as inhabiting a number of protected areas from Central Columbia to Western Ecuador.

This is not the first time that Dr. Helgen has identified new species by examining museum remains. In fact, throughout his distinguished career, he has discovered around 100 new species of animals. As an example, Helgen’s work has demonstrated that the hog badger, presumed simply to be a single, widespread species, was in fact three different species, albeit with similar attributes.

Historical records show that Washington National Zoo actually had an olinguito specimen in the 1960’s, but it was never identified as such. The animal was exhibited as an olinga, but its keepers were puzzled when it failed to breed. Sadly, the captive olinguito died without ever being correctly identified.

It should also be noted that just because an animal is considered ‘new’ to Western science, the term rarely denotes a species completely unknown to Humankind. People native to the areas inhabited by these animals are usually well aware of its presence and indispensable in locating individuals for observation and study by Western researchers. 

A host of other new species have already been discovered this year, including the Cambodian tailorbird, a new type of hero shrew, a reef fish from the Caribbean, a beautifully patterned bat from the Sudan and two new spider species (including a grey and black tarantula the size of an open palm).

To Dr. Helgen, this is hardly surprising, “Conventional wisdom would have it that we know all the mammals of the world. In fact, we know so little. Unique species, profoundly different from anything ever discovered, are out there waiting to be found.” He says.

 

 

SOURCES

 

http://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/explorers/bios/helgen-kristofer/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23701151

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/23716967

http://blog.getaway.co.za/travel-news/new-species-discovered-2013/

BREAKING NEWS ‘New’ Species of Mammal Discovered in South America

PS4: Is The Most recent Batch The Greatest?

Lets find out what the latest ps4 games are like.

 

Signed in to.

“Well, with a little trepidation I’ve finally done it” the update read “I’ve bought my own detached house. It has all appliances I could need and a beautiful thatched roof”

I was surprised and impressed by this news, Bob is only a little older than me. I was surprised by how much success he’d had. Quite what (or who) he’d pulled off to suddenly get this kind of money. Worked. We had fun.  He moved away and we didn’t really talk until I randomly met him on a train some years later. Working as writers. I was about to post a long message congratulating Bob on his newfound success when I noticed the final two words to his status. Dork.

 

The point is that Bob is not alone, 2011 was a great year for PS4 games. Around half my mates had their social lives decimated by Skyrim. With its immersive mix of story. Once a week Wednesday when I braved the elements to grab my comics for the week, I’d be met with a giant bust of a Barbarian holding aloft an axe, his face contorted by a soundless bloodthirsty howl presumably emanating from under his helmet. The barbarian followed me about actually, and I caught him.

 

Another big release that deserves mention in our list of latest ps4 games, especially since the half of my friends not eliminated by Skyrim succumbed to. is extremely unlikely to work if they make the title any shorter. F13, for example, might disappoint F1 fans expecting an upgrade. Its the next version along from the last release. Its not anything new.

 

Another one that did well towards the end of last year. I don’t even know what ‘Tenkaichi’ is (I think its served in a sort of smingy sauce. I can’t stand Dragon Ball Z. Have you ever actually tried to watch earlier episode or showing you what’s to come in the next episode. Madder. ONE MORE TIME, our (by now furious?Madder than all hell. The end. Installments. What’s that? Oh, the game? {I have no idea, I got sidetracked|Distracted|Taken off on a tangent…More Pissed off and angrier.

 

Look at some of the latest ps4 games, and, if you’re not hip to such things, is probably where most of your friends have gone

PS4: Is The Most recent Batch The Greatest?

Why do secret service guys wear those earpieces with the coiled wires instead of something less conspicuous?

That’s actually a pretty good question. Good quality wireless earpieces are available, affordable and would be far more inconspicuous than the classic ‘wired’ models. So why don’t the secret service make their presence a little more, well, secret?

The main reason is largely psychological in nature (though there will be a technical component later on). You see, if a potential troublemaker looks into a crowd and sees nobody there that he/she identifies with as a threat, then said troublemaker will be far more likely to start making trouble. However, if they notice secret service guys using their trademark earpieces, then they might think twice about it and a lot of unpleasantness can actually be avoided.

To you or I (assuming that you aren’t a troublemaker?), the secret service guys are just that, they usually appear to protect someone or something, so we ought to have no reason to fear them. Ergo, they stand out just enough to deter the would-be troublemakers, but not so much that they frighten the rest of us or distract from whatever proceedings we happen to be, um, proceeding with.

If you’re sitting there saying, “hang on, what happens if they want to sneak up on someone?” then my answer is still the same, expect that I would imagine that the secret service would put two or three agents within visual distance of a suspect and then ‘herd’ the troublemaker towards other agents in the vicinity. I have no evidence (or experience, I’m grateful to say), to back that up, but it seems reasonable to me to do it that way.

Now, onto the technical part: wireless communication, whilst it has improved greatly in the last few years, is still not as reliable as the more old fashioned forms of ‘wired’ communication. Wireless communication can be subject to signal interference, as well as suffering from a more limited bandwidth.

Finally, wireless communications gobble up battery power far more than their wired counterparts, so for tasks that may last for several long hours at a time, long battery life is a must.

When the wireless technology improves, I suspect that the secret service will make the leap, but I also suspect that they’ll keep the coil, for the reasons stated above.

Also, as an added extra – if you’re wondering why they touch their ears when they receive a message (much to my fellow Brit James Bond’s chagrin), well, that’s because pushing the earpiece into your ear drowns out background noise and also makes the message louder. They simply do it for sound clarity when receiving important information. 

Why do secret service guys wear those earpieces with the coiled wires instead of something less conspicuous?

(Possible) Explanation Presented for ‘After Death’ Experiences

A new scientific study has recommended that dying rats encounter an abnormal course of intense neural activity throughout their last moments of existence. This enlarged brain use might be in line with (and thusly describe) Human accounts of near or after death experiences, as reported by some people around the world.

 

Approximately a 5th of all folks who have survived a cardiac arrest have reported having an ‘After Death Experience’ or ADE.  This is sort of an alarming stat, specially as the ADE tends to have a profound effect within the life of the survivor. Having an ADE is seen by many as indisputable evidence of an afterlife or a continuation of the individual’s soul after death.

 

Equally, a ‘Near Death Experience’ (or NDE) is believed being comparable to an ADE, but noticeably happens whilst the patient remains to be technically alive. Some people who experience NDE’s report a floating sensation or ‘From Body Experience’ (OBE), as well as encounters with angels, dead family members and loved ones. Both NDE and ADE survivors frequently portray traversing an extended tunnel in the direction of an intense light.

 

Deliberations of life after death seems in early scriptures, archaeological sites and many subsequent works of philosophy and possess fascinated (and frightened) Human beings, no matter of creed, ethnic group or culture, since time immemorial.

 

After recovering from surgery in 1979, Jazmyne Cidavia-DeRepentigny of Hull, Georgia, USA, reported a stereotypical NDE account that was ultimately published in the book ‘Beyond The Light’ by P.M.H Atwater in 1994. Like many people, Jazmyne recounts information of her surgery that might be very complicated to obtain were she lying.

 

Jazmyne says that “I was floating over my body.  I could see and listen to everything that was being said and done.  I left the area for a minute and came back to where my body lay.  I knew why I died.  It is because I couldn’t breathe.  There was a tube along my throat and the health staff didn’t have an oxygen mask on my nostril.  I had also been given too much sedative”.

 

She went on to describe her attempts to get rid of the tube from her throat in a relatively traumatic account.

 

Prior to the aforementioned study, it is established incontrovertible fact that neural activity ceases once the heart stops. This has now been demonstrated as being untrue, at the least so far as rats are concerned. It’s also the strongest presumption to this point regarding the reasons of ADEs, OBEs and NDEs.

 

One of those scientists responsible for these results, Dr. George Mashour of the University of Ann Arbour, Michigan, USA said that the team was “surprised with the high degrees of activity” within the rats. “In truth, at near-death many identified electric signatures of consciousness exceeded levels found within the waking condition, signifying the brain is capable of well-organized electric activity over the early phase of clinical death.” He said.

 

The team’s lead scientist, Dr. Jimo Borjigin added that “This report tells us that drop of oxygen or both oxygen and glucose during cardiac arrest can stimulate brain activity that’s characteristic of mindful processing,”

 

However, Dr. Martin Coath from the University of Plymouth, UK was a little critical of the team’s findings.

 

Dr. Coath said, since the rats were anaesthetized, the findings better demonstrated the unconscious brain’s response to a dangerous lack of blood flow and oxygen. He also said that the study had not necessarily showed that any ‘heightened conscious processing’ had actually taken place, signifying the wording of that conclusion was “a bit of a stretch”. He commented that, while the results were “genuinely interesting” they were as well “hardly astonishing”.

 

The effects of the study will no doubt be of great importance to numerous in the scientific community, also as religious groups, those fascinated in the mystical and people who have experienced an ADE or NDE.

  

SOURCES:

 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/paranormal-death-experiences-explained-204403437.html#7mbMENa

 

http://www.iands.org/nde-stories/17-nde-accounts-from-beyond-the-light.html

(Possible) Explanation Presented for ‘After Death’ Experiences

Could we now have found possibilities of life from another planet?

A team of British scientists believe that they’ve discovered organisms in earth’s atmosphere that originate from space.

 

As difficult as that may be to trust, Professor Milton Wainwright, the team’s leader, insists that this is definitely the situation.

 

The team, from the University of Sheffield, discovered the tiny organisms (misleadingly referred to as ‘bugs’ by a great deal of persistent journalists) living on a research balloon that was sent 16.7 miles into our environment throughout last month’s Perseids meteor shower.

 

In response to Professor Wainwright, the minuscule creatures could not have been carried into the stratosphere on the balloon. He said, “A lot of people will imagine that these biological particles must have just drifted up into the stratosphere from Earth, but it’s generally accepted that a particle of the volume found can’t be lifted from Earth to heights of, for instance, 27km. The only well-known exemption is by a violent volcanic eruption, none of these occurred within three years of the sampling trip.”

 

Wainwright maintains that the only most important end is that the organisms originated from space. He went on to mention that “life isn’t restricted to this planet but it nearly certainly did not originate here”

 

However, not everyone is so persuaded. Dr. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer for the SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project remarked, “I’m very skeptical. This claim has been made beforehand, and dismissed as earthly contamination.” The team responds to that by saying they were thorough when they prepared the balloon before the experiments began.

 

However, they do acknowledge that there can be an strange reason for these organisms to reach such altitudes. It must also be renowned that microbal organisms discovered in the 1980’s and 1990’s and named ‘extremophiles’ stunned the scientific community by living in environments that will instantly kill the majority of life on earth.

 

These creatures have been observed living deep under Glacial ice and even 1900 feet below the sea floor. In March of this year, Ronnie Glud, a biogeochemist in the Southern Danish University in Odense, Denmark was quoted as saying “In the most remote, hostile areas, it is possible to actually have higher motion than their surroundings,” which “Yow will discover microbes everywhere – they’re enormously compliant to surroundings, and survive wherever they’re,” so this indicates more plausible that either the team is in error, or that this is simply one more case of microscopic life showing up in an extraordinary place.

 

Additionally, it isn’t the very first time this unique team has come under fire for making such claims, either. Back in January of this year, astrobiologist Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe reported that ‘fossils’ found from a Sri Lankan meteorite were testimony of extraterrestrial life, an assertion that’s commonly criticized by the scientific community.

 

Other scientists have complained that there basically is not enough indication to make this type of claim, as the theory this valuable would require a large body of evidence to prove its validity.

 

What that claims to a reporter is that microorganisms can live almost anyplace which it simply is not good science to leap to wild conclusions like aliens when a more plausible answer is most probably present. Science should not be subject to such wild leaps of elaborate. Imagination is a great aid to science, but it really is not a science in and of by itself. Unfortunately, Dr. Wainwright and his group appear to be seeing what they need to observe.

  

SOURCES:

 

http://www.livescience.com/27954-microbes-mariana-trench.html

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/09/22/news/entertainment/have-we-found-alien-life/

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/alien-bugs-discovered-earths-atmosphere-152253962.html#13B0NDB

Could we now have found possibilities of life from another planet?

Book about Jewel Encrusted Skeleton ‘Saints’ released to vast enjoyment

Paul Koudounaris, who’s also known by his nickname ‘Indiana Bones’ in known as an writer, photographer and leading specialist on bone-decorated places and ossuarys. Earlier this year, Koudounaris released a book that includes high definition images of that 400-year-old ‘catacomb saints’ of Rome, a bunch of corpses that had been carefully adorned with jewelry and finery before being presented as ruins of saints to congregations across Europe.

During the Protestant Overhaul of that 16th Century, Catholic church buildings were routinely stripped of their relics, cryptogram and finery. In order to counter this, The Vatican had antique skeletons removed out of the Catacombs of Rome and generously adorned as the remnants of acknowledged saints.

Though mostly forgotten until Koudounaris published his book, the catacomb saints continue to fascinate concerned parties; they can also still inspire religious zeal. In 1977, the town of Ruttenbach in Bavaria worked hard to raise sufficient funds to purchase back 2 of their original saints from confidential collectors, the decorative skeletons had initially been auctioned off in 1803.

The book, which Koudounaris has surreptitiously titled ‘Heavenly Bodies’ sees its writer try to find and photograph each of these existing catacomb saints.

In their prime (a period that lasted over 200 years before finally coming to a close in the nineteenth century), the saints traversed in all places, being transported at great expense by the Church. They were adored as things of care, or conduits for prayer.

Though the saints could appear unusual to modern eyes (one Telegraph reporter described them as ‘ghastly’), it’s imperative that you understand that those who prayed at the feet of those gilded cadavers were considerably nearer to death than their modern counterparts. In the wake of The Black Death (which recurred regularly throughout Europe from the 14th to the 17th Centuries), art, literature and also worship had moved to accept such ghoulish, macabre images.

The remnants were regularly decked out by nuns and sometimes positioned in a range of natural poses, before being secured in glass cabinets. Some of the thorough decoration took as long as five years to complete, with jewellery and costumes being acutely grand.

Koudounaris’ book, ‘Heavenly Bodies’ is out there now.  

Book about Jewel Encrusted Skeleton ‘Saints’ released to vast enjoyment

Xbox One unboxing – headset included with all versions

Editorial – this year will become a massive year for the console industry. The new generations of Xbox and Playstation, are due to be released inside weeks of each other. Both are vying for our consideration and hard earned money, unlike the last generation, Sony with the Playstation 4 have put a less expensive package together in contrast to the xbox one, which amazed everyone at E3 in june. But latest news released by Microsoft proves the xbox one contains kinect and a headset, proving that xbox ones additional price is literally for added extras.

 

The standard and Day One editions of the Xbox One console will both include a headset, despite Microsoft suggesting that Kinect would be used instead.

As U-turns go it’s one of Microsoft’s more minor in recent months, but Xbox Live director of programming Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb has confirmed that all Xbox One consoles will be sold with a headset.

The unboxing video below is for the limited edition ‘Day One’ boxed set, although the only difference is an exclusive Achievement and a specially embossed controller.

That means the other contents of the box will also be included in the ordinary edition, namely a 4K compatible HDMI cable and the controversial Kinect sensor.

Initially Microsoft said that the Xbox One wouldn’t come with a headset, despite the console using a new audio connector port that means existing headsets need an adaptor to work.

The idea was that you were going to have to pay for that separately or just use Kinect’s microphone to speak to people. Microsoft then reversed its decision, then pretended it hadn’t reversed its decision, and has now admitted that actually, yes: it does come with a headset.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/08/xbox-one-unboxing-headset-included-with-all-versions-3917117/

Xbox One unboxing – headset included with all versions

Xbox One unboxing – headset included with all versions

Editorial – this year will become a massive year for the console industry. The new generations of Xbox and Playstation, are due to be released inside weeks of each other. Both are vying for our consideration and hard earned money, unlike the last generation, Sony with the Playstation 4 have put a less expensive package together in contrast to the xbox one, which amazed everyone at E3 in june. But latest news released by Microsoft proves the xbox one contains kinect and a headset, proving that xbox ones additional price is literally for added extras.

 

The standard and Day One editions of the Xbox One console will both include a headset, despite Microsoft suggesting that Kinect would be used instead.

As U-turns go it’s one of Microsoft’s more minor in recent months, but Xbox Live director of programming Larry ‘Major Nelson’ Hryb has confirmed that all Xbox One consoles will be sold with a headset.

The unboxing video below is for the limited edition ‘Day One’ boxed set, although the only difference is an exclusive Achievement and a specially embossed controller.

That means the other contents of the box will also be included in the ordinary edition, namely a 4K compatible HDMI cable and the controversial Kinect sensor.

Initially Microsoft said that the Xbox One wouldn’t come with a headset, despite the console using a new audio connector port that means existing headsets need an adaptor to work.

The idea was that you were going to have to pay for that separately or just use Kinect’s microphone to speak to people. Microsoft then reversed its decision, then pretended it hadn’t reversed its decision, and has now admitted that actually, yes: it does come with a headset.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/08/xbox-one-unboxing-headset-included-with-all-versions-3917117/

Xbox One unboxing – headset included with all versions

Icom Earpieces – Show Them Some I.D or You’ll Have to Leave

Come back with me to a point in my life when I still hadn’t gotten my act together…

At age 20, I used to be unkempt haired, absent minded and into rock n roll in a large way (waitaminute – I am still unkempt haired, absent minded and into rock n roll in a big way…). I used to be courting a pole dancer, singing in a grotty group and telling anyone who would listen that I required to get out of the crappy little city and really make something of my life. I assume, in some respects I was a little like George Bailey of Bedford Falls, (if George Bailey was sort of a dick and made a point of claiming the ‘F’ word in every 2nd sentence…)

To make ends meet, while I waited in frustration for George Carlin to crop up in his time travelling phone box and help me usher in an era of world concord, I worked at a couple of careers. Specifically, one evening a week, I was employed as the Youth Worker.

To my surprise, I discovered the position to be really fun, also as very rewarding. Since I was a guru in all things media (and a Uni Certificate to show it), I started a project that might tutor the kids all about film creation, music and also the press in general.

One of my best students was a somewhat worried boy with a hard stare and a ‘brick sh!thouse’ size. When I wasn’t pulling him off various youths who may or might not have mouthed off his sister, we got along very well. After I left the job a few years later, we actually became firm friends. He has also become mainly close to my cousin (who was also a Youth Worker for a period) and my mother and father.

And not using a hint of sarcasm, watching this hard, conflicted boy grow up to become a polite, hard working man is both an honour and also a privilege. On the other hand, he floundered for a very long time as he searched for work. It just seemed that there wasn’t anything he was able to use himself to.

Then, unexpectedly, he found his vocation. My friend is a completely certified doorman, working the door in a number of pubs, clubs, venues and bars.

So as to communicate easily without causing a lot of fuss, bouncers like my buddy often use Icom Earpieces. These earphones come in several forms, with 2-pin, multi pin, straight pin and high angled forms all catered for. You can even find an Icom earpiece for nearly any form of Icom 2 way radio imaginable.

There is no fuss, as the earpieces might be operated plainly and prudently and, being armored with Kevlar, they’re every bit as hard wearing as the two-way radios they work with.

Icom has been trading in quality two way radio equipment since 1954, so they know what they’re doing and how to make customers happy whilst doing it. Icom Earpieces are solid, reliable and high spec, so it is no wonder that so many within the safety industry decide to wear them.

 As for my buddy, it appears like he has himself on track; he’s found a job that he is good for also as one that is nice for him. I might have made my share of errors in the past, but I was certainly right about a couple of things.

Icom Earpieces – Show Them Some I.D or You’ll Have to Leave

The new iphone 5s is announced, what do we think?

Given the reliability, capacity to entertain and user-friendliness of the iPhone, its a small wonder more people don’t fall in madly love with them. You love your iPhone, it’s only natural to want to protect her. You can start by buying some iphone covers from this very site!

 

Your iPhone is beautiful, gets on with your friends and is always there when you need her. She’s smart, funny and the envy of everybody you know. So who wouldn’t hire a bodyguard for their iPhone? She’s in constant danger!

 

iPhones need iphone covers to keep them safe. In the course of a day iphone covers protect her from being dropped, waterlogged, smashed, cracked, burned and otherwise mistreated. In fact, sometimes the only thing standing between iPhones and their total annihilation are iphone covers.

 

iphone covers come in a variety of colours, designs and prices, so why not look around and see our selection of iphone covers? Ultimately, you may end up cradling your iPhone whilst leaving a busy London nightclub crooning “And iiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeiiiiiiiieeeeeeiiiiiiii wiiiiiiiil alwaaays loooove youuuuuuuu!!!!” at the top of your lungs, but this only happens in very rare cases.

 

The rest of us, after nestling our little beauties safely in their iphone covers, go on to lead mostly normal lives and in no way ever end up sitting behind a dumpster in Soho, holding our iPhones ever-so-tenderly. “Hey, why are you singing to that iPhone?” “Uh…No reason, officer…”

The new iphone 5s is announced, what do we think?

How have cooking games become well-liked?

Nigella Lawson, Jaimie Oliver and Ainsley Harriott might not be your idea of gaming heroes or heroines, but nonetheless baking games are a steadily growing trend. Enduring the current allure with video games similar to real-life (The Sims, Tennis, Bowling etc) all baking games are about is, clearly, cooking.

 

That could seem pointless, given that the real-life equivalent of cooking games (actually baking) are a few things you virtually need to do each day or else starve, consider just how much amusing you would get with cooking games. These video games will teach formulas, quantities, techniques and even some subtleties that professional cooks have to learn the hard way.

 

The Cooking Mama series is one of those major cooking games about the marketplace. Somewhat sexist title aside; the franchise has produced titles for that DS and Wii console, (the console that is best for baking games.) Handheld devices were initially the layout of choice for launching the 1st baking games, with Sweet Ange being released all of the way back in the days of Game Boy Colour.

 

Admired in Japan and increasingly catching on in the West, baking games look set to be another big thing. With baking games, you’ll discover baking skills without wasting cash or making yourself unwell. You’ll be taught patience as some baking games permit you to produce your gaming gourmet goodness in real time!

 

Naturally, cooking games hold a component of danger (and not just digital nut traces). Do not forget to turn the feast on when handling your cooking games, then go virtual bowling or fishing and come back to find your banquet ruined. Though cooking games can be tempting as a cheaper alternative, you’ll also discover a cooking games dinner being far less nutritious than a TV dinner.

How have cooking games become well-liked?

’Earth-Like’ Asteroid Devoured by Dead Star

The Hubble Space Telescope has recorded an intriguing event some 150 light-years from Earth.

A large asteroid was pulled into the White Dwarf star (named ‘GD 61’ by astronomers) and utterly destroyed. This is not an unusual event, as even dead stars still exhibit a very high level of gravity. However, scientists are interested because the chemical signatures left in the star’s atmosphere indicate the presence of water and a rocky surface, both considered to be key building blocks for the creation of life on our planet.

Until this event was observed, water and a rocky surface had never been found together on an object outside our solar system.

The asteroid consisted of the elements magnesium, silicon, iron and oxygen, all of which are usually found in rock minerals, but scientists believe that the abundance of oxygen indicated the heavy presence of H20.

The object was at least 90KM across and as much as 26% of that is thought to have been water. Earth is considered to be just 0.02% water.

This discovery is important because it gives scientists a vindicating glimpse of how inhabitable environments may have been formed, receiving key components (such as water) from outside sources such as meteorites.

It is thought that water first arrived on our planet by similar means and that other planets in the GD 61 system would once have received water this way as well. According to BBC News, scientists consider the presence of rocky planets in the GD system to have been “very likely”.

Scientists have observed over 1,000 planets outside our solar system, but none is thought to contain water.

Closer to home, some planets and heavenly bodies are thought to contain water. Mars is considered by many to once have had liquid water, but if this is still the case, it is a greatly reduced amount.

Elsewhere, Jupiter’s moon Europa raises a tantalizing prospect that there are oceans under its icy surface. This has led to some convincing research into the possible presence of ocean currents there. However, Europa is not alone, its fellow moons Callisto and Ganymede have also been suggested as candidates for liquid water.

In addition, Rhea (moon of Saturn), Titania (moon or Uranus), Oberon (also orbiting Uranus), Triton (moon of Neptune), Pluto (dwarf planet), Eris (dwarf planet), Sedna (possible dwarf planet) and Orcus (another possible dwarf planet) are all speculated to have oceans, some of which may be in contact with the rocky core of the respective body, which would hypothetically result in a steady stream of minerals and salts into the water – an important factor in creating life.

Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers, which is seen as proof of the presence of water or at least water vapours. It has even been theorized by some that Neptune contains oceans of liquid diamond.

The heavy presence of water on this asteroid is a vital clue for scientists and their understanding, not only of the cosmos, but also of how our home planet came into being.

 

SOURCES

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24491845

’Earth-Like’ Asteroid Devoured by Dead Star

Alternative methods to charge your mobile, Pee as you go

Scientists working at the University West of England (UWE) in Bristol, UK, have found out a way to power a mobile phone with Human pee.

The team has been able to recharge a Samsung phone by placing the fluid through a cascade of microbial fuel cells. Using this process, enough energy is generated to send text messages, browse the World-wide-web and also make a short phone call.

As outlined by the scientists in charge, the next step is to fully power the device with urine…Presumably cleaning their hands straight afterwards.

Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos has worked for a long time with microbial fuel cells; he’s believed to be an expert in harnessing energy from abnormal options. The potential applications of his work are very appealing from an environmental perspective.

Dr. Ieropoulos said, “We’re very excited as this is a world first, no-one has harnessed energy from pee to try this so it’s an exciting finding. Using the ultimate waste product as the supply of energy to produce electrical power is roughly as eco as it gets.” Eco-friendly tech is, obviously, the great doctor’s main area of interest.

The microbial cells work as a energy converter, they turn the natural substance directly into electricity, via the metabolism of live bacteria. The electrical power is the by-product of a microorganism’s natural life cycle, meaning that as they ‘eat’ the pee, they create power the energy that powers the phone. Now that is what we call ‘pee as you go’.

Toilet humour aside, the team have engineered a world first, as nothing as large as a mobile battery has ever been charged using this method before.

There are, at the present, no plans to market this tech on a huge scale, but maybe someday we can be signing a ‘P’ mobile contract, the trick, as they say, will be pissistance.

PS – I’m apologetic about this one. The work and its implications are actually astonishing. All credit to the UWE team. Though, I always wanted to do one of those ‘And Finally’ type tales and now I finally get to. Please forgive me, one and all.

SOURCES:

 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/urine-could-charge-mobile-phones-152225132.html

Alternative methods to charge your mobile, Pee as you go

With numerous Kenwood radios, what kinds of connectors and earpieces work on these models?

The most effective types are the 2-pin connector along with the multi-pin connector. The two pin model features 2 connector pins and the multi-pin model features multiple pins. Any difference in functionality may be a topic of customer discretion.

 

The 2-pin connector’s piece includes an in-line PTT (push-to-talk) key and a built-in mic. It also has a surveillance audio tube and comes complete with the clothing clip. This Kenwood earpiece is available for just over £20 (excluding shipping and handling fees).

 

The multi-pin connected earpiece is a different form of connector completely. However, the earpiece is similar, as it also includes an in-line PTT switch, a built-in mic, surveillance tube and clothing clip. The cost is a little bit extra than the 2 pin variety.

 

Both sorts of Kenwood earpiece can be improved by paying extra money which enable it to include features like a ‘swivel’ earloop, for better easy use and luxury, a noise-reduction characteristic and a steel clothing clip (replacing the plastic version).

 

The kinds of connectors compatible with Kenwood two way radios are limited in comparison with some other manufacturers, but Kenwood identify when to concentrate on a particular area, because at times less is more.

 

Kenwood two way radios may only link via two types of connector, but their gear is among the most effective in the world. A Kenwood 2 way radio consumer doesn’t have to spend undue time searching his/her options and researching them before purchase, provided the connector/earpiece falls into one of their two aforementioned different types, then the equipment will work fine.

 

EarpieceOnline have been manufacturing excellent accessories since 2007 and they have a good history of trust, customer reliability and leading edge equipment. For this reason, Kenwood earpieces are popular and frequently sell on the internet.. 

 

For More information on the full range of Kenwood earpieces visit earpieceonline

With numerous Kenwood radios, what kinds of connectors and earpieces work on these models?

How to transmit pictures from my digital camera to my Kindle fire hd without having a PC?

The brief answer is no, you can’t. I’m sad, but that is just how it is.

On the other hand, all hope is not lost despite this dreadful news. There are two main avenues you may go down.

The first is to simply message the photos to yourself and download them to your Kindle. This method works fine if you simply need a few holiday snaps or pictures of the little nephew’s birthday or what, but its not much use for the large amount of photos.

The next method is a little more refined. With a hard drive, you are able to transfer photos comparatively easily from one device to another, this will allow you to transfer a greater amount of photos and will likely take a lot less time.

The best option, I think, is likely the second, especially if you hunt down the “eye-Fi” SD card, fitting with most up-to-date cameras (though, as always, it’s certainly best to double check). Sime, of The Digital Photography Educate blog, was clearly impressed. In his review, he said,

“With the Eye-Fi X2 card, I could upload full res photos from my NEX 5  to my iPhone and then do what I wanted with them [Instagram / Facebook / Flickr etc] when you’re using the X2 card, you can connect the camera directly to your iPhone / iPad without having to use a Wifi router etc… You can also use the Eye-Fi app on your phone [iPhone and Android] to upload your images to your computer / Flickr etc. Yep – works, works well”.

He then gave an individual account of that Eye-Fi’s usefulness, which I’ve re-printed below.

“My wife and I went to the zoo with our almost-three year old a couple of weeks back and I had a look through her images afterwards, realising that there were images from her camera dating back to… well, when I gave her the camera! She’s currently using a 32GB SDHC card in there, and just leaves everything on the card! When I asked if she had copied any on to her computer, I was told “That’s too hard / I don’t have time / Where’s the cable” (Yes, a combo of the three, I didn’t press for details…;) So – I cunningly swapped out the existing card for the Eye-Fi card, loaded the app on her Macbook and added it to start when her computer starts, but to hide in the background (This is an option in the application) so basically, the camera connects to her laptop whenever it can and copies the photographs across – they are there, ready to use. Guess who won ‘awesome technical husband of the week award?’ (Obviously a lot of you are tech savvy, but well… )”

In no way let it be said that I disregard a question of yours without producing a proposal of my own.

If you’ll allow me a quick tangent, there is the line in a single of those beloved books of my teenage years ‘Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood & Sweatsocks’ by Mick Foley (which is the great book about life in general, even if you are not a wrestling fan) where Mick says, “I had always felt that it is not good enough to shoot something down – It was best to have a solution”. Take that and work with it, reprobates.

How to transmit pictures from my digital camera to my Kindle fire hd without having a PC?

A bone conducting earpiece, what makes it special to other types

Music is a large part of everyday life also it has been for nearly as long as People have been on this earth. I often point to the finding of a 40,000-year-old flute dating back to that ice age as evidence for this, but truthfully, the facts you need is all around you, every day. We recall ballads and music long after the folks who first composed them have died and rotted away (a plan which I find curiously soothing) and also the music industry, love it or hate it, is actually a large business.

 

On the other hand, whilst the ice age musicians probably lived in a world of stark violence, frozen, featureless wastelands and harsh, ‘kill or be killed’ inter-cave politics, they by no means required to contend with road works, transport lorries, screaming infants or drunken crowd-rousers on their way to the stag night. Fortunate buggers.

 

Today’s listener has to accommodate all that and more, that may make listening to your music not only difficult, but also dangerous.

 

Now, though, modern science has stumbled across a means in which you can still listen to the favorite songs, even when you’re wearing earplugs (no, I’ve not been sniffing discarded paint cans once more). It’s called bone conduction technology and no, despite the marginally strange name, it in truth does not harm…

 

Based on recent research, exposure to any sound over 100 Dbm wears away a film known as a myelin sheath and leaves your internal ear susceptible to problems like tinnitus and temporary deafness, that may be the start of even more significant problems. Bone conduction technology is made to bypass the most sensitive portions of the ear and reduce the danger of inner-ear damage.

 

How? Well, in order to know that, we need to first identify with how our ears essentially work. (HERE COMES THE SCIENCE-Y BIT) Basically, sound travels though the air, these sound waves are intercepted by quite a few structures within the ear and are ultimately translated and transmitted into our brains (if it helps, imagine it like the encoding/decoding of digital information, like that which leads the actions of the wireless mouse).

 

The sound waves first meet a bit of cartilage (yes, similar stuff a shark’s skeleton is made of), which allows to concentrate the sound, this is called a pinna (but you may call it your outer ear without looking too ridiculous). 

 

Then, the sound waves pass into your central ear, that is filled up with air and also includes both your acoustic canal plus your eardrum (my little brother burst his when he was little and almost burst mine crying about it). The eardrum vibrates, passing the sound through to the ossicles, that are three small bones (that are actually pretty vital to the sense of balance, I am told). These tiny bones transmit the signal to the cochlea, that’s a fluid-filled infrastructure that ‘encodes’ the signals for our brain to ‘decode’.

 

Bone conduction tech vibrates the bones of your skull, distributing the sound directly to the cochlea and bypassing the rest of the ear completely. The nerve impulses transmitted to your brain are precisely the same, but the sensitive instrument of our ear does not need to deal with the trouble of, to quote Anchorman’s Brick Tamland “LOUD NOISES!”

 

This process seems to be completely safe; in fact, the legendary deaf composer Beethoven employed a elementary version of this process in order to compose his most famous works. He attached a rod linking his piano and his head and, as such, was able to listen to the song he was playing.

 

So here you go, rather than exposing your delicate ears to louder and louder volumes, just to drown out the environment noise, it is possible to alternativily stick your earpugs in and play your music at the proper volume. Make no bones about it (groan!)

 

for more information on the full range of bone conductor earpieces visit www.earpieceonline.co.uk

A bone conducting earpiece, what makes it special to other types

Could we have discovered the biggest fish ever seen on the earth?

A combined Scottish-Canadian team has verified that the primitive sea animal leedsichthys problematicus is the biggest boned fish yet to travel the seas of the world.

Mounting to lengths of 16.5 m over a projected escalation period of forty years, the Jurassic-era sea animal would have outgrown even today’s huge whale sharks. Although its grand mass, yet, leedsichthys is believed to have been a filter feeder, just like baleen whales, basking sharks and whale sharks are these days.

Discovered from the late 19th century and officially named (after English farmer and fossil collector Alfred Leeds) in 1889, remains of leedsichthys have been unearthed right through Europe, and in South America.

The ‘problematicus’ portion of its scientific brand stems from the indisputable fact that leedsichthys fossils are notoriously tricky to recognize. That is due to the indisputable fact that leedsichthys’ skeleton #was not# made entirely of bone. Large portions #of the# animal’s internal structure were actually #made from# cartilage, just #as a# shark’s bone structure is. Cartilage #does not# mineralize as willingly as bone and, as the result, fossil cartilage is fairly uncommon.

Out of context, the fossilized bones can signify a challenge to palaeontologists. Over the years, remains of leedsichthys have even been posited as belonging to bone-plated fossil stegosaurus!

Because leedsichthys vertebrae was cartilaginous, it may be very difficult to see how long the fish may have been, with some unsupported estimates signifying that it was as long as 30 metres.

However, each time a new, more complete, fossil was found near Peterborough, UK, scientists were finally able to take an exact measurement. Professor Jeff Liston, of our National Museum of Scotland, said, “We sat down and checked out a good range of specimens, not only at the bones, but their internal development set ups as well – just like the expansion rings in plants – to find some ideas with the ages of these animals, as well as their estimated sizes,”

The team ultimately resolute that a tiny adult leedsichthys would grow to 8 or 9 m after some 20 years and, in another 20 years; it could get to about 16.5 m in length. This is larger than the whale shark, the biggest bony fish living these days, despite persistent and credible reports of whale sharks developing as long as 14 m in length.

This information is thrilling to scientists and natural history enthusiasts as it guarantees a functional insight into the alterations in ocean life that occurred up to and during the Jurassic era.

Scientists now believe that filter-feeding sea animals began as quite small animals, before growing to massive sizes we all know nowadays. The outstanding mass of leedishthys problematicus thus implies that there was a huge surge in the plankton populace of that Mesozoic seas.

The discovery also requires a serious change to the records.

 

SOURCES:

Could we have discovered the biggest fish ever seen on the earth?

Stallone To Play ‘Rocky’ Yet again

Rumours thrive that Sylvester Stallone is going to be playing the character of ‘Rocky Balboa’ again, in a new movie set in the ‘Rocky’ world.

The incredibly popular character Rocky Balboa initially appeared in the Oscar-winning 1976 film ‘Rocky’ and is the central hero in no less than six films to date.

MGM films have basically offered the brand new project, currently known only as ‘Creed’ to director Ryan Coogler.

The future film is invariably a spin-off as opposed to a direct sequel.

Michael B. Jordan, star of this year’s ‘Fruitville Station’ along with HBO television drama ‘The Wire’, would play the grandson of returning series character Apollo Creed. The planned plot would call for young Creed to enter the world of boxing, with Stallone’s Balboa playing the position of his guide.

Director Ryan Coogler, who worked with Jordan in the aforementioned ‘Fruitville Station’ film, is claimed to be enthusiastic about the idea and is hoping to co-compose the script.

Apollo Creed, as portrayed by Carl Weathers, was firstly presented as Rocky’s rival. In his initial role, Creed (who was apparently based on a combination of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Joe Louis) was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champ also like the confidence entrepreneur. When challenged with the lack of proper opponents, Creed decided to put his trophy on the line against a neighborhood, unknown fighter.

The first film largely centred round the chosen fighter Rocky Balboa as he trained for the largest fight of his life. In the later films, Apollo Creed became a tutor plus a close pal to Rocky.

Weathers played Creed in every ‘Rocky’ film until ‘Rocky IV’, where the character was killed in a match with Russian boxer Ivan Drago (portrayed by Dolph Lundgren).

Despite the character’s downfall, he is significantly mentioned in both follow-up movies and remains popular with fans of the series.

The final film in the initial Rocky series, ‘Rocky Balboa’ was released in 2006 to a strong critical and profitable reception. In 2010, Sylvester Stallone was inducted into the Worldwide Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum for his formation and portrayal of Rocky, also like the many tributes he has paid to boxers and also the sport of boxing in his career.

SOURCES:

http://www.sylvesterstallone.com/stallone-inducted-into-boxing-hall-of-fame/

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/stallone-to-play-rocky-again-in-spin-off-creed-053257511.html

Stallone To Play ‘Rocky’ Yet again

Tablets set to outsell PCs by the end of the year

Editors Note – The writing was on the wall the very first time Steve Jobs stood up on the stage in 2010 and showed everyone the future of computing. The tablet has changed just how we take part in games, compose letters and work out of the office, So this news story about a drop of 13 percent in sales of laptops and a rise of 7% in sales of tablets, isn’t surprising three years on. This is only going to improve for the little tablet pc with apple consistently innovating, microsoft starting to move into the market with their windows 8 tablets and google’s android spreading out its market share quicker than anybody else, it is difficult to see how a laptop or maybe the desktop can compete.

 

The number of laptops sent from producer to retailer fell by 13.9 per cent worldwide over the period, while volumes of desktop computers shipped dropped by 7.4 per cent, according to estimates by Canalys analyst firm.

Year-on-year, PC shipments to European, Middle Eastern and African markets showed a decline of three per cent. Western Europe in particular proved challenging for vendors, with a decrease of 10 per cent over the year.

Volumes to the Asia Pacific region declined 0.5% year-on-year to just over 40 million units, with figures for the region affected by a six per cent fall in shipments to China, which accounted for almost 45 per cent of the Asian market.

Apple remained the top PC vendor for the quarter, with a 17.1 per cent market share with over 18.5 million units. This is a 4.5 million unit lead over Lenovo, its closest competitor in the market, but still a dip from the 19 per cent market share the Californian company enjoyed in the second quarter of 2012.

Lenovo, the Chinese multinational, gained market share in notebook and desktop PC shipments over the quarter. It also bucked trends by reporting strong annual growth in EMEA (34 per cent), the US (28 per cent) and especially Latin America (93 per cent) and performed well on the tablet side of its business, where it shipped an estimated 1.5 million units.

“It is striking how successful it has been in globalising its PC business and breaking the one million unit barrier is an important milestone for its tablet shipments,” said James Wang, an analyst with Canalys.

“Lenovo is on an upward curve with its tablets, expanding in mainland China and Latin America, where there is little competition from the likes of Google or Amazon.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10226694/Tablets-set-to-outsell-PCs-by-the-end-of-the-year.html

Tablets set to outsell PCs by the end of the year

The Finest DP2400 earpiece

Well, dear readers, here it really is, the final of the 5-part sequence on 2 way radio earpieces.

We’ve thrown totally random pop-culture sources at you (everything from ‘Wacky Races’ to 007 himself) and we’ve (hopefully) had a number of laughs amongst all the dry details and information. If you’ve read all of these things thus far, then cheers, we appreciate your time.

Okay, so the final point on our list is that Dp2400 earpiece, which is the costliest earpiece we have viewed so far, albeit by only £2. The DP2400 earpiece, then, (for all those amongst you who haven’t been keeping count) could be bought from Earpieceonline for £29.75.

For your hard-earned wonga, you have a six-month malfunction guarantee (always a wanted and cherished feature), also as the brilliant little device, all things deliberated.

The Motorola dp2400 earpiece includes extra-long Kevlar strengthened cabling (although its improbable that the wires will interrupt a bullet, we are just telling you that immediately), as well as a rotating sprung lapel clip, which is a real enhancement on that more stationary design (although you most likely cannot break out that Sumo suit just yet) and a very good seperate microphone.

The sound quality is incredibly, good plus the earpiece itself is usually strong and durable. With this earpiece, you’ll manage to hear any instruction clearly and cleanly.

The Dp 2400 earpiece also features a multipin plug, but the plug is only designed to fit the Motorola DP2400 and Dp 2600 series. It will not work with the Motorola dp3400 or DP4800 series, which strictly limits its appeal in this market, as it renders the Dp 2400 earpiece less adaptable than the other, cheaper models on the list.

Generally, this is really a very nice earpiece indeed. Performance wise, though, there is not a great deal to select from between any to those earpieces featured on the list, they all are superiority products and not any will let you down.

The Dp 2400 earpiece is the genuine, trustworthy product that does a good job and doesn’t hurt your bank account. What more can you ask for?

…Thus our series completes. However, we hope you’ve found this series enlightening and useful to you. With all the importance we place on 2 way radios (across the varied outposts of the little multimedia empire), it seemed overdue that we focussed a bit on the peripherals. Glad you could join us. For further information on the DP2400 earpiece visit earpieceonline.co.uk

The Finest DP2400 earpiece

Games pioneer John Carmack joins virtual reality headset firm

Editorial – The Band at Oculus are re-inventing the VR Headset with their kick starter funded Oculus Rift headset. John Carmack of half life, call of duty and Quake fame and a specialist in 1st person shooters, has joined the Oculus company to develop a game, I imagine a first person shooter, for the headset. Watch how this develops as the future of games may be in this appointment.

 

A firm developing a hotly-tipped virtual reality gaming headset has hired a gaming pioneer to be its chief technology officer.

John Carmack is famed for developing the first-person shooter genre, creating games such as Doom and Quake.

He will join Oculus VR to work on Oculus Rift, a goggle-like device which uses two small screens to “immerse” players into a game.

The company has not yet announced a release date for the headset.

However, developer kits have been sent out to companies keen to make use of the device within their titles.

The Oculus Rift, which has been made thanks in part to $2.4m (£1.5m) raised through crowd-funding site Kickstarter, requires the user to wear a black headset, the front of which contains two small screens, each displaying a slightly different perspective on the same scene.

The effect is one of being “in” the game – if the player moves his or her head around, the scene changes accordingly.

‘Transformative technology’

Movement is still achieved by using a traditional controller, although other designers have experimented with creating treadmill-like add-ons for the device.

Early demo models of the headset used a single screen divided to produce two 640 by 800 pixel images – one for each eye – but it is likely that the version that gets released publicly will be in high-definition.

Mr Carmack said: “Now is a special time. I believe that VR will have a huge impact in the coming years, but everyone working today is a pioneer.

“The paradigms that everyone will take for granted in the future are being figured out today. I’m extremely excited to make a mark in what I truly believe will be a transformative technology.”

Mr Carmack is best known for founding iD Software, the firm responsible for the likes of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake and others – all of which pushed boundaries in what remains one of the most popular gaming formats.

Mr Carmack said he will continue to work with iD, but that his main focus was now on Oculus VR.

He also runs a small aerospace company, however this has been put in “hibernation mode” following various setbacks including a crashed rocket.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23615877

Games pioneer John Carmack joins virtual reality headset firm