Monster Black Hole Found Escaping Home Galaxy

A mammoth black hole has been discovered fleeing its host galaxy at high speed, according to a controversial new study. The galactic eviction may be the result of a violent merger between two black holes. http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13803-monster-black-hole-found-escaping-home-galaxy.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news2_head_dn13803

Forum Search Tool

Technorati tags: forum, search

I new search dedicated to forums is in beta.   I don’t know how many times I have cursed at a forum’s search “capabilities.”  Frequently I find no way to use quotes around a phrase.  It’s maddening when you are looking for something obscure.  Newly launched Twing comes to the rescue. http://twing.com/

Negative Stairs

Now that’s cool.. Have you ever seen anything like this? http://www.materialicio.us/2007/07/20/didden-village-mvrdv/

Secrets of Massive Black Holes Revealed by Radio Telescope

“We have gotten the clearest look yet at the innermost portion of the jet, where the particles

actually are accelerated, and everything we see supports the idea that twisted, coiled magnetic fields are propelling the material outward,” said Alan Marscher, of Boston University, leader of an international research team. “This is a major advance in our understanding of a remarkable process that occurs throughout the Universe,” he added.

You Suck at Photoshop Series Continues

I decided to check out if new videos were posted and there are now 10 videos to watch.  The first four are a must-see and you can find more about them on my previous post.  The most useful one posted is for the patch tool. 

Cute Kittens?

Nothing like a laser pointer and a video camera.  Still, it’s funny ..

Superconductors reach half-way to room temperature

A rash of new discoveries in the last month or so have netted a compound capable of having  superconducting properties well above the boiling point of of nitrogen.  It’s superconducting properties are kept until 138K, add pressure and this can be raised to a whopping 164k.  That’s half-way to 298K room temperature.   

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080420-superconductor-breakthroughs-abound-some-like-it-hot.html

Patent Trolls:Legal dispute could increase cost of digital TV

With gas prices on the rise, the cost of living going up with incomes not staying in step, here is an asshat company trying to cash in on the new HDTV standard.  Companies like this should be taxed for taking advantage of the taxpayers: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416/ap_on_hi_te/digital_tv_patent_fight

WASHINGTON – A small Pennsylvania company’s patent lawsuits could hamstring the government’s $1.5 billion effort to make the transition to digital television easier on consumers’ wallets.

Rembrandt Inc. owns a patent on technology that it says is part of the digital television broadcasting standard used by the TV networks. Rembrandt is suing 14 companies, including Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and News Corp.’s Fox Broadcasting for patent infringement and wants millions of dollars in royalties.

Windows XP sp3 released to RTM

For everyone that has not upgraded to Vista, SP3 will be released on the 29th of April, 2008.   http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3214173&SiteID=17

NASA tests new Methane Engine

This looks impressive:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2803521197171124691&hl=en

Upgrade Experience from Windows 2003 SR2 to 2008

I just installed an upgrade on my home server to windows 2008. So far  the only problem I have had is minor – my shared printer was disabled.  It was easy to add back, so I’m impressed so far.

Why Pop-Up’s are So Hard to Catch!

Now my nightmares as a child trying to catch a pop-up don’t seem so bad..

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg19826515.300-why-a-baseball-popup-is-tricky-to-catch.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

New targeted Cancer Therapy Method

A promising new cancer treatment that may one day replace radiation and chemotherapy is edging closer to human trials.

Kanzius RF therapy attaches microscopic nanoparticles to cancer cells and then “cooks” tumors inside the body with harmless radio waves.

Based on technology developed by Pennsylvania inventor John Kanzius, a retired radio and TV engineer, the treatment has proven 100 percent effective at killing cancer cells while leaving neighboring healthy cells unharmed. It is currently being tested at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

“I don’t want to give people false hope,” said Dr. Steve Curley, the professor leading the tests, “but this has the potential to treat a wide variety of cancers.”

http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2008/04/kanzius_therapy

The Fifty Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time

Need a laugh?  Here’s a site that will keep you laughing for a while.  They have the top 50 posted with video for most of them.  Below is one of my favorites.

source:http://www.cynical-c.com

Don’t get stranded in an airport.

The trifecta of airlines (Aloha, ATA, and Skybus) that went bankrupt and ceased operations last week may soon have extra company.

Scott McCartney, columnist for The Wall Street Journal, has instituted a “death watch” of sorts in his latest column, highlighting Alitalia, Frontier, ExpressJet, and SunCountry as airlines in peril. The culprits? The same woes you’ve heard about all year—high fuel prices, costly overhead, and intense competition from rival airlines. If you have a ticket on any of these lines, you may want to consider making alternate arrangements.

“Passenger carriers are no longer required to honor tickets of failed competitors because Congress let a government protection for travelers expire in 2006,” says McCartney. So unlike in previous years, ticketholders on the three failed airlines found themselves having to pay up or be stuck

Full article http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/the-next-airlines-to-go.html?id=2548549&source=dealalert&value=2008-04-10&u=3726113C54

Time Machine Camera from Canon

So the name is a little much for me, but some sports photographers may really  appreciate it’s features.   It is able to take 60 full resolution (6mp) frames in two seconds.  It’s even able to capture photos prior to the shutter button depress.  It also has a motion detection which allows you to capture an event when it comes in the frame.  Finally, how does a low-res 1200 frames per second sound?    Check out article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/technology/personaltech/03pogue.html?em&ex=1207713600&en=ac5e1533178d8858&ei=5087%0A 

Technorati tags: photography

  (special thanks to Aaron for the info http://www.aaronburg.com/)

Lightroom 2.0 Beta is released to the public

Technorati tags: adobe, lightroom, photography

Get while it’s hot at: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

• Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
• Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
• Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
• Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
• 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

New game for kids helps them brush their teeth

Here is a new system that uses LEDs on a special toothbrush with a webcam to track the movements during brushing.  The computer calculates what areas need additional attention.  They say it helps kids brush twice as good. I’m interested to find out when these systems will start showing up at dentist’s office.

Technorati tags: webcam, toothbrush, technology, cool

Source: http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn13598-computerised-toothbrush-makes-oral-hygiene-a-game.html

New Google Talk released

It’s missing voice chat, but it does pop-up reminders for Google calendar events.  check it out here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=993

Solar Tsunami

See this wild video of a solar Tsunami from NASA:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7326097.stm