Beens' Blog

I received this email and am including it here in its entirety:   Stroke Recognition   During a BBQ a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the  rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ - had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke perhaps Ingrid would be with us today.   Recognizing a Stroke   A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed an getting to the patient within 3 hours which is tough...

Here are PC World's 100 best products of 2005:   http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,120763,pg,12,00.asp

A teenage girl with an extreme allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend who had eaten a peanut-butter sandwich hours earlier. Christina Desforges, 15, from Saguenay, Canada, went into anaphylactic shock. She was given an adrenalin shot and taken to hospital but died four days later from acute respiratory failure. Read more at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/29/wkiss29.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/29/ixportal.html .

Check out this amazing Christmas Lights display!   http://media.putfile.com/WizardsofWinter-SM   Crank up your speakers!  The song is Wizards in Winter by Trans-Siberian Orchestra , from their " The Lost Christmas Eve " album.

The Attorney General for the state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment on Monday, calling the media giant's copy-protection technology "illegal spyware".   Read more at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/22/texas_sues_sony_bmg/ .   (Send Sony a clear message that we want to be able to copy our legally owned CDs onto our portable MP3 players and computers. Don't buy any Sony CDs!)

When was the last time you received an e-mail from the FBI or the CIA? The blood-sucking, vermin virus creators are at it again, this time spreading a new scourge by e-mail that warns unsuspecting victims they've been observed visiting illegal Web sites.   Read more at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/249565_virus24.html .

Growing marijuana use is sparking fears of havoc on the roads in Canada and prompted the launch on Monday of an official campaign to persuade people not to smoke and drive. Read more at http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1838435,00.html

Machines will overtake humans to become the biggest users of the Internet in a brave new world of electronic sensors, smart homes, and tags that track users' movements and habits, the UN's telecommunications agency predicted. Read more at http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005%5C11%5C21%5Cstory_21-11-2005_pg6_1 .

Got my new Suzuki DL650 V-Strom today (Saturday). It was only about 6 degrees C outside and windy, but had to take it out for a drive. What an amazing bike! I've upgraded from a Honda 80 Aero scooter to this... quite the step up!  It took a few laps around the block to get used to the balance, the shifting, and the brakes, and then I was off!  This bike has all the power I will ever need, and perfect handling.   I hear it's going up to 9 degrees tomorrow...     ( Toronto Star Review )

A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis. He plans to have millions of machines in production within a year. The laptops are powered with a wind-up crank, have very low power consumption and will let children interact with each other while learning. Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4445060.stm .

If you're into online games that make you think, check this out... http://deathball.net/notpron/

Security experts said last week that Sony is spying on thousands of listeners who buy and play its music CDs on their computers, and that hackers have quickly exploited weaknesses in the controversial Sony anti-piracy technology to infect users' machines. Read more at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20051114-9999-mz1b14sony.html .

Digital TV prices are coming down even as technologies improve. The sets are still costly, but relative bargains are out there.   Read more at http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-technopolis13nov13,1,7872634.column?coll=la-headlines-technology&ctrack=1&cset=true .

It's difficult to pin down the exact origin of email, but in October 1971 , an engineer named Ray Tomlinson chose the '@' symbol for email addresses and wrote software to send the first network email .   Read more at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/guess-what-just-turned-34.html .

More and more, video game-related courses are being offered in colleges around the U.S. in response to the digital media industry's appetite for skilled workers and the tastes of a new generation of students raised on Game Boy and Xbox.   From http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050923.gtvidsep23/BNStory/Technology/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20050923.gtvidoct12

Google on Friday released a feed aggregator, one of the missing elements of its information portal, in a move that allows Net users to subscribe to web sites and news sources. Read more at http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=13915 .

Yahoo has debuted a Yahoo Podcasts service that leverages the portal's search engine to enable users to locate and subscribe to audio content that they can download to their Apple iPods and other portable MP3 players. Read more at http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=13932 .

Polk Audio LCi-IP Ultra High Performance In-Wall/ In-Ceiling Loudspeakers are the world's first active Internet Protocol-ready Loudspeakers. They were created for IP networked systems such as the ground-breaking NetStreams DigiLinx system but also provide vast convenience and performance benefits when used in analog systems.   Read more at http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/hidden/ip/lc265i-ip/ .

"Microsoft and Intel last week tried to swing the computing, consumer electronics and entertainment industry toward HD DVD in a format war to establish a higher-capacity successor to today's DVD."   CNet has an some FAQs surrounding this controversy. Read more at http://news.com.com/FAQ+HD+DVD+vs.+Blu+ray/2100-1041_3-5886956.html .

From slashdot -- http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/28/2352206&tid=126   "New Scientist has found a patent for a microphone that clips on your tooth , meaning you can stay in radio contact even the noisiest situations - like warzones. You use your tongue to flip it on and off. Here is the patent itself ."

Since being introduced almost four weeks ago the iPod nano has taken the MP3 market by storm, earning accolades from reviewers and industry analysts alike, but not everyone is completely satisfied. Some customers have complained about scratched and/or broken screens on their iPod nano, leading one user to even set up a Web site to outline his problems.   Read more at http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/09/27/nanoscreen/index.php .

A pair of unpatched vulnerabilities in Mozilla's Firefox browser could allow an attacker to take control of a PC simply by getting a user to visit a malicious Web site, Mozilla says. Read more at http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163100338

Ottawa — The budding Internet-based telephone business is widely expected to be regulated the same way as traditional phone services under a CRTC ruling next week that analysts say will strike a blow to the dominant phone companies. Read more at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050505.wxcrtc0506/BNStory/Business/ .

On slashdot -- http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/27/0422250 "RustNeverSleeps writes "Computerworld reports that Microsoft will be including a new document format called 'Metro' with Longhorn. Apparently, Metro is intended to be a competitor to Adobe's PDF and Postscript formats. The format will be open and available for royalty-free licensing, and will be based on XML. Can we expect Microsoft to do this right? If they do, I think it could be a good thing." Reader gsfprez is less optimistic: "... I noticed the main, and probably most important difference between old and busted PDF and new-hotness Metro (besides the Queer Eye styled name)... 'We will offer products based on this next generation RIP technology and make them available under license to printer manufacturers and software integrators worldwide.' Yes, I can see it now - entire industries undoing their time-tested, battle hardend PDF-based workflows with free and open files all ...

Combining two of the largest makers of software for creating and delivering digital content, Adobe Systems Inc. said Monday it will acquire Macromedia Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D89HS0VG0.htm?campaign_id=apn_tech_down

Sony Corp. said it sold more than 500,000 units of the PlayStation Portable in its first two days on the North American market. Read more here .

Google today announced the integration of its Keyhole digital mapping service with the popular Google Maps service ( http://maps.google.com ). Clicking the new Satellite link will convert your map into an aerial satellite view. Depending on your location, you may not get rooftop-level detail -- if satellite imagery is not available the software will suggest that you zoom out. Read more here .

The European Union has revealed it is to ban the sale and use of Apple Macintosh computers by 2006 - citing "the need for unification" in a directive unveiled today. http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=4799

A good Java manual is available online at the Borland Website. The address is... ftp://ftpc.borland.com/pub/jbuilder/techpubs/jbuilder2005/gsjava.pdf My grade 12 students might find some use with this "Developing Database Applications" book, available at... ftp://ftpc.borland.com/pub/jbuilder/techpubs/jbuilder2005/database.pdf If you want to try out an advanced, free Java editor, Borland has released JBuilder 2005 Foundation, available at... http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_jbuilder.html # (Be sure to get the Foundation version, not the others) If you want to get started with JBuilder, so sure to download "Getting Started with JBuilder", available at... ftp://ftpc.borland.com/pub/jbuilder/techpubs/jbuilder2005/introjb.pdf

An ex-student of mine runs a hardware review website. He is looking for staff members to help with reviews. Here was his request: "Unique Hardware is in in desperate need for new staff. Think you can fillthe void? Then please drop me a line resume@no_spam.uniquehardware.ca . We are looking forward to having you on the UH team." A perk for reviewing for this website is that you often get to keep what you review! http://www.uniquehardware.ca/

Finally, I've reached the end of the Internet! No...really! Check it out for yourself: http://www.internetlastpage.com/

From the "nvu" website: Finally! A complete Web Authoring System for Linux Desktop users as well as Microsoft Windows and Macintosh users to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (pronounced N-view, for a "new view") makes managing a web site a snap. Now anyone can create web pages and manage a website with no technical expertise or knowledge of HTML. Check it out at http://nvu.com/index.html . Let me know what you think.

I routinely search my hard drive for specific filenames, but the searches take way too long because Windows also wants to search through the filenames of files embedded in zip files. I discovered the way to disable this "feature": Create a batch file that contains the following command: regsvr32 c:\winnt\system32\zipfldr.dll /u If you ever want to re-enable the ability to search through zip files, just modify the command by removing the "/u".

OpenOffice 2.0 Beta has been released. [ Overview / OpenOffice.org / Features ] OpenOffice 2.0 introduces a new " open " file format that will soon become an ISO standard. This opens up the possibility of true compatibility across different programs and operating systems. Bottom line for this office suite: it is a free and an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office and WordPerfect Office.

The Mozilla Foundation has released the latest version of its popular Firefox browser, along with a series of patches intended to prevent spoofing and phishing attacks that have caused the browser to crash. Firefox 1.0.1, addresses numerous security vulnerabilities and approximately 40 other browser fixes, according to the not-for-profit software foundation. Read more here .

One person actually did. Read more here .

A Georgia woman has sued Hewlett-Packard Co., claiming the ink cartridges for their printers are secretly programed to expire on a certain date, in some cases rendering them useless before they are even installed in a printer.   Read more here .

Unique Hardware has just posted a guide to speeding up Firefox. For those of you using this excellent browser, visit this page for the details.

Knoppix is a Linux distribution that can be run entirely from CD. It does an amazing job of detecting your hardware, and is relatively fast considering it runs from the CD. Once you decide you want to keep running it, it can be installed on your hard drive with little fuss. "Knowing Knoppix" is a free book intended for beginners. It seems to be fairly comprehensive, and is probably a good place to start if you want to experiment with Linux.