Wednesday, January 31, 2007

AFM allows for measuring individual gene transcript molecules. Researchers have developed a new method to measure gene transcription levels from minute samples, including single cells, using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The method paves the way for more accurate disease prediction, diagnostics, and treatmen... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 10:31:00 PM      Google It!.

Hyundai names Kurzweil Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. Hyundai has appointed Ray Kurzweil as Chief Strategy Officer of Kurzweil Music Systems. Hyundai, one of the world's largest corporations, plans to work with Ray Kurzweil to "build Kurzweil Music Systems into one of the largest music instruments brand... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 8:53:13 PM      Google It!.

Virtual hosting with S3. Today I'm going to learn something about Amazon S3 that I've been planning on learning for a bit of time. Virtual hosting is a feature that I asked for back in July of last year, and it turned out it had already been implemented. It makes it possible to store static stuff up in Amazon space, instead of having to rent expensive server space, which I currently do. My server bills come to $1200 every month. I think I can get that down quite a bit, using Amazon, but first I have to figure out how this works. Okay, so I created a CNAME, pointing aws.scripting.com to s3.amazonaws.com. When I access this address, I get the error response, which is good, it's what I expected. Next, I'll create a bucket with the name aws.scripting.com, and put some files in it. There's still part of the puzzle I don't understand, which is what is to stop anyone else from creating a bucket with that name. How does S3 decide among several buckets with that name? (Right now there are none, so when I create one, that won't be a problem.) [Scripting News] 3:24:40 PM      Google It!.

BioDieselNow - Informal Learning, Mass Amateurization and Open Science in one tasty package. BioDieselNow - Biodiesel from Algae It truly is not that remarkable to find examples of informal learning communities online, indeed these are the very genes on which the net has grown so explosively. Whatâo[dot accent]s maybe more remarkable is that people even feel the need to remark on them. So why highlight this one? Wellâo[oe] - I like the fact that in this one spot you can see the convergence not only of informal learning communities, but also the âo[ogonek]mass amatuerization of everythingâo[caron] and âo[ogonek]open source scienceâo[caron] in one fell swoop. Take a look at the post titled âo[ogonek]Biodiesel from Algae Reading Listâo[caron] where a propsective Masterâo[dot accent]s students solicits feedback from the forumâo[dot accent]s members on a proposed reading list as he has no access to local experts on as specific a topic as âo[ogonek]generating biodiesel from Algae. Whatâo[dot accent]s even better - he not only gets feedback on specific Thesis topics that could greatly advance the field, someone in the forum actually knows about a researcher at the studentâo[dot accent]s institution that might be worth hooking up with. Awesome! - I think it illustrates quite well how discussion forums arenâo[dot accent]t going away and can be quite powerful for facilitating community discussion. Sometimes we need to take a step back and realize not everyone has the same problems or goals as us, and that blogs arenâo[dot accent]t the only way. - in writing about this specific forum, Iâo[dot accent]m outing myself as a closet biodiesel fan. If Iâo[dot accent]m still writing EdTechPosts 10 years from now, please givem me a kick in the #@@. âo[breve]Cos secretly (well, I guess not so secretly anymore) all I want to do is homebrew! - SWL Tags: elearning2.0 social learning [EdTechPost] 3:23:08 PM      Google It!.

Game Writing. Aeonite writes "Billed as the 'first complete guide to writing for games', Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames provides an excellent overview of the ins-and-outs of writing for the videogame industry. As might be expected from a publication of the IGDA's Game Writers' Special Interest Group, the book is dense with information, addressing everything from high-level narrative theory to the specifics of dialogue engine design and game localization." Read the rest of Aeonite's review.[Slashdot] 3:22:13 PM      Google It!.

BBC Download Plans Approved. An anonymous reader writes "The BBC reports that following approval from the BBC Trust (an independent oversight body) they are now allowed to release their 'iPlayer', enabling the download and viewing of BBC owned content such as Doctor Who. Unfortunately the Trust also mandated the use of DRM to enforce a 30 day playable period, and exempted classical music performances from being made available. There will now be a 2 month consultation period. According to one of the trustees, the Trust 'could still change its mind if there was a public outcry and it was backed up by evidence.'"[Slashdot] 3:21:08 PM      Google It!.

Linden Labs Sends "Permit-and-Proceed" Letter. linuxwrangler writes "In sharp contrast to the incidents chronicled at Chilling Effects, Second Life creators Linden Labs have sent the parody site Get a First Life a proceed-and-permit letter. From the letter: 'Linden Lab is well-known for having strict hiring standards, including a requirement for having a sense of humor, from which our lawyers receive no exception. In conclusion, your invitation to submit a cease-and-desist letter is hereby rejected.' The letter also grants permission to use the parody logos." [Slashdot] maybe there will be another golden age --BL 11:06:39 AM      Google It!.

Linux 2.6.20-rc6 Kernel Performance. Michael writes "The Linux 2.6.20 kernel will feature KVM support, Playstation 3 support, and a variety of other improvements. With the Linux 2.6.20-rc6 kernel out the door, Phoronix has written a performance comparison of the Linux 2.6.20-rc6 kernel against the 2.6.19 and 2.6.19.2 kernels in a variety of benchmarks."[Slashdot] 11:03:33 AM      Google It!.

Eating According to Your Genome. The emerging field of nutrigenomics is starting to yield some DNA-based diet tips. ... [KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News] 11:01:30 AM      Google It!.