Testimonial: Rice Resurrects Even the Most Soaked of Gadgets
Nobody wants to lose their favorite new electronic gadget to a dunk in the drink. One Lifehacker reader saved his phone after an astounding 30 minute soak by sending it to the dry-rice spa.
Two years ago we shared a handy trick for saving your gadgets after an unfortunate run-in with water—using rice to soak up the moisture. Lifehacker reader Dietrich recently put that tip to use with impressive results:
For the last 2 days it has been a monsoon in my city. Today, during a rushed last minute shopping spree, I dropped my phone in a puddle. I didn't realize I had dropped it until I got back to my car 30 minutes later.
I remembered articles on Lifehacker about what to do so I immediately popped the battery out and dried the phone. When I got home I put my Palm Pre in a bag of rice for 10 hours. Adding insult to injury, I forgot to take the phone battery out of my pocket and put it through the washing machine. 10 hours later I'm typing this on my Pre. Good job Palm on making an excellent phone.
Revival after 30 minutes is a really impressive feat. Our own Lisa Hoover saved her son's phone from a water-logged fate after it took a dunk in a swimming pool by using a container of rice, but it definitely wasn't at the bottom of the pool for a half hour. Check out the original article for the how-to on using rice to dry out your electronics and if you've used the trick yourself, successful or not, let's hear about it in the comments.
moc.rekcahefil@nosaj.
Send an email to Jason Fitzpatrick, the author of this post, at wnfba@yvsrunpxre.pbz
via lifehacker.com
I can give a testimonial that the dry rice treatment works. Recently, my wife dropped her cell phone in a coke cup. To our amazement, we saw the cell phone come back to life, and some of the stickiness removed by keeping in a bag of rice overnight. If this happens to you, try this first. It works more often than you would think.
What Would a 10-Inch Apple ‘iSlate’ Look Like?
Nick Bilton/The New York Times A 10.1-inch display on a 2006 H.P. tablet.
reported on Monday that Apple was trying to strengthen the glass of such a screen and was forced to delay the product’s introduction until the first quarter of next year. The report cited unnamed sources “from Apple’s component suppliers.”
Giving people the Zinc Finger: potential great uses, potential unnerving dilemmas
In college, I worked on the Human Genome Project at the Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, I worked summers in high school at the NIH National Cancer Institute. One of the most important things I learned during those years (other than the importance of a control in an experiment) is the law of unintended consequences. The researchers I worked under were incredibly brilliant men and women, and also very ethical. The work they were doing could have the potential to save lives in various ways.
At the same time, they constantly preached to me, a young innocent, the laws of unintended consequences. They knew that a lot of their work in mappig the human genome, finding why cells kills cells and others live, coul be used for good and bad. Sometimes decisions were made not to go down certain routes. Though it has been written about over and over again, we must constantly stay close to the research being conducted. Profit is an incredible motivator (I think a bigger motivator than just doing harm to people). We must watch how companies use technology and constantly put the pressure on them to use it for good. I believe there will only be more regulation as technologies evolve, not less. This is probably a good thing. http://s.nyt.com/u/ACDiPhone and Android Users Spend More Than Half Their Time in Apps - stop working about the Network!
via mashable.com
This is why "The Network", as long as it is serviceable, doesnt matter that much anymore. I spend an incredible amount of time playing in different apps. The data the apps need to download is actually quite miniscule, and as long as I have some coverage, I am typically fine. I get a lot of people who say they would love to switch to iPhone, but they dont want to leave Verizon (Verizon definitely has better network than AT&T). They just dont realize (as they dont have the iPhone yet), that it doesnt matter. When you are reading NYTimes, listening to podcasts, playing games, watching tv shows movies, catching up on blogs, the network doesnt do much if you dont have a great phone that makes all of it so accessible so easily.
Whatever bees are doing must be computationally simpler than what we are doing now
We can all learn from biology on how to make better systems. In this case, engineers are using high speed photography to review how bees land (little known fact thY bees ALWAYS land on their feet too). Here is the link: http://fluentnews.com/s/22466329
Blind Faith I can believe in: treating the sickest of patients
I believe in God, strongly, but this is blind faith I can believe in. In my eyes, the story here is really about the people taking care of these kids who cannot return emotion in any sort of way. They 'just know' they are doing good work and 'just know' these kids are so appreciative.
The story is also about the US: our people and culture (we do have a culture!) hold the individual at the highest regard, even in these extreme circumstances. No doubt the quote below shows that we as a nation have struggled to come to this point, neverthless we show the world how each and very human life must be supported, loved, strenghtened no matter their condition. We all know previous to our nation's rise, people like those discussed in this article, and with much less debilatating conditions were locked away and hidden. We not only treat every individual with respect, we cherish them.
'Many of the caregivers are African and Asian immigrants who know such children would never have survived in their native countries. There was a time, not long ago, when they were rarely seen in this country.'
Let's thank these people for dedicating their lives to a thankless job.
With apps like NYTimes and FluentNews, I find myself saving more articles to read later rather than actually reading them!
I am constantly on the search for more articles and news to read. Voracious about news and interesting articles, I fin myself constantly opening my news apps on my iPhone and perusing headlines. I go through all the different sections looking for the newest news and saving them. I always think I will get to them later on. Sometimes I do, but often I find myself deleting saved articles that are weeks and months old. With news apps, kindle apps, there is more information at my fingertips than ever before. Trouble is getting to everything I am interested in reading!
What's Wrong With This Snowflake?
Testing posting to posterous from NPR app. Hoping the audio will show up online to my posterous.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121827582&sc=17&f=1001
Helping Children Search Better Online - Google for kids
Interesting read on how children think differently from adults and how that translates into their online searches. I am surprised there is not a startup (maybe there is!) that is dedicated to researhin how children think, would search and would review results. This article poses and intro to how such a company would do so. Though specialized, there is a lot of money in creating such a company and the exit options are tremendous.
http://fluentnews.com/s/22535069America continues to draw the best global talent
via economist.com
I continue to say how lucky I am born in this time and place. I am the son of two immigrants, as is my wife. Though we come from two different and dominant cultures, they are actually more similar than different (Indian and Taiwanese). We must continue to be an open society, attracting people who want to be able to express their thought freely and act freely on those thoughts, as well hold highest the regard of both hard work and intellectual curiosity. Far from perfect, but nevertheless our country's mindset enables people to explore freely bringing incredible social and economic progress.
App Changes hint at Apple tablet for January
I am pining for what the Apple Tablet could be. If it is true that the Tablet will come out in early 2010, this will be a late Christmas present for me.
Http://fluentnews.com/s/22469805With two premature babies, I am so thankful for living in the present time and place
One of the things I am most thankful is for living in the 21st century in the United States. My wife and I have had two premature babies; the second is currently barely 48 hours old! Both our daughters were born at about 33 weeks (normal term is 40 weeks) and both were born at less than 3.5 pounds. We are so thankful that the technology, experience, and culture to handle these tiny bundles so effectively is here today. We know if this happened just a quarter century ago, or of we lived in another country, the outcomes could be dramatically different for both the babies and my wife.
Our first daughter is now two, fully healthy and the joy of many people's lives. We are hopeful, because of the time and place we have been given, the same will be said of our second daughter in two years. From The New York Times: PERSONAL HEALTH: Risks, as Well as Hope, for Very Tiny Infants A growing number of extremely preterm, extremely tiny babies now survive and even thrive, thanks to expert, highly coordinated prenatal and postnatal care. http://s.nyt.com/u/vJ6The Brain's Many Layers
As we all continue to see, the investigation of the brain is going to be like what the heart has been over the last 20-30 years. The knowledge gained and the amount of techniques doctors have to treat diseases and other issues will go through the roof. I know I am biased (my wife is a Neurologist), but I also recognized this in college as a Biomedical and Electrical Engineer (I learned the body as a machine with my classmates). The brain's mysteries are beginning to slowly unravel - soon we will have treatments and cures for Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and other. Soon, deeper mysteries about personality (and maybe even person) will be revealed. Its an exciting time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22brain.html?_r=1&hpw
Newspapers and technology: Network effects | The Economist
via economist.com
"although telegraph wires could deliver news more rapidly than ever, they had a “last mile” problem: they could not disseminate news quickly to thousands of people"
Generics not as Good as Brand Name: Not All Drugs Are the Same After All
As a Neurologists husband, I have to believe the ANA, but still the cynic in me asks if this is orchestrated by Big Pharma?
http://s.nyt.com/u/vOsOffline retailers allowing consumers to go online to finish back offline
Though at first blush it seems that offline retailers would hate the ability to price compare in stores, that are actually smart about it and opening up their databases. They know that too often people come into the stores to touch and feel an object to buy, only to go home to find the cheapest price. I know from experience: now, if you are able to check in store that you are getting a good price, you will buy it right then and there for the convenience and immediacy (if the in store price is equal to or only greater than the online price by $5 or less). Though offline retailers will lose a few sales due to the technology, they will gain on the whole as people complete the transaction in their stores.
Mobile Phones Become Essential Tool to Holiday Shopping - NYTimes.com
Unmarked Trail - Tracing the Path of Food Poisoning
Its amazing that, though US food companies have setup an elaborate food chain, the tracing of products through that chain is extremely lacking. Though the article states that the industry is taking steps, the cynical side of me thinks this untraceability, like laundering money, maybe done on purpose.
Tracing the Path of Food Poisoning - The Atlantic Food Channel
Pittsburgh Sets Vote on Adding Tax on Tuition
Yeah, it stinks, but when we are a city of "nonprofits" (can I emphasize those quotes anymore?), there is a smaller tax base. No one is calling the students freeloaders, but the universities do not pay any taxes for the services they use. Though there is a fight now, the students decision to come to CMU, Pitt, etc wont be affected by this in the long run. The students should be more upset at the Universities for raising their tuition by 4-10% annually, not this one time addition of fees.
The real thing we need to do now is look at the definition of "nonprofit." Some nonprofits have grown into $ billion plus entities that use a lot of services, but dont pay for them, creating a distinct advantage. Being a nonprofit serving meals to the homeless is one thing; being a billion dollar nonprofit is another.
Pittsburgh Sets Vote on Adding Tax on Tuition - NYTimes.com
Locked-in man controls speech synthesiser with thought
An incredible revolution if we can synthesize thoughts into signals that can be decoded.
Locked-in man controls speech synthesiser with thought - health - 15 December 2009 - New Scientist
Wary Book Publishers Are Fighting the Future
As Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey Bezos, noted in a recent interview with The New York Times, “For every 100 copies of a physical book we sell, where we have the Kindle edition, we will sell 48 copies of the Kindle edition. It won’t be too long before we’re selling more electronic books than we are physical books.”
Yes, book publishers. Just fight the future. It always turns out so well.
Wary Book Publishers Are Fighting the Future - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
China’s Changing Views on Race - Room for Debate
China and the rest of the world are going through a cultural renaissance as more influence creeps in international trade. From learning how to deal with personal credit, to dealing with race that never appeared before, these new issues will cause these countries to go through some severe growing pains. There will be nasty battles, ugly confrontations, and some things that us in the US look at as backwards - DON'T. For all the progress that we have made, we are only a few decades ahead on most of the issues. I am proud that we are leading the world into talking about these new issues, and setting a higher standard, but let us not look down our noses either as racial and other equality issues arise. We must instead discuss how our country was in the same position, how we dealt with it so they can learn from us, and then how it has benefited our country today. We are not perfect in the US (far from it!), but we continue to lead the way in progress for all people.
China’s Changing Views on Race - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com
Are You Reading This on Your Phone?
The future is here - more and more, people are getting an incredible amount of info off their phone. I know for me, for one, I read my NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, and many other outlets during downtime on my iPhone. It is a great time to make sure you are always productive. However, Schumpeter is at it again with his pesky creative destruction (I for one LOVE it). Businesses and business model are changing all over. Only those who can maneuver quickly will survive.
Are You Reading This on Your Phone? - The Atlantic Business Channel
Brain scan reveals who will keep their promises
Scary. It is truly amazing sometimes how close science fiction does come to reality (is it really predictive, or is it causal?). I am hoping that logical minds prevail (Dr. Dan Langleben) and we dont actually use fMRI (or whatever the future version of this is) to actually predict people's behavior, and more importantly, act on it. This is akin to health insurance company using genetics to set individuals insurance rates.
Brain scan reveals who will keep their promises - life - 10 December 2009 - New Scientist
Global food system raises risk of widespread contamination - washingtonpost.com
Food has become just another mass manufacturing practice at this point. Strange things happen when you turn food production into an efficiency-at-all-costs process like when making widgets. With book's like Omnivore's Dilemma cluing us in on what is really happening, it is actually quite a scare. I am getting this sense that the food companies are going the way of tobacco and energy. This is to be watched very closely.
Global food system raises risk of widespread contamination - washingtonpost.com
AppleInsider | Intel to apply Apple's App Store strategy with netbooks
Of all the things Apple has innovated, it looks like the biggest contribution they have had on society is the App Store. Yes, yes, others have tried a version of this in the past, but nothing has (a) come close to the commercial success of the App Store; and (b) the reason everyone is opening their own version of the App Store is because of Apple's consumer influence. Even our very good partners over at Cerner have opened up a version of the App Store for Electronic Medical Records and other applications.
The idea of the App Store is unleashing another level of innovation on society, that may rival the internet (that sounds crazy, but think more about it and you will see it is true). These small applications can be written by a smaller number of people, and put out in the open for immediate testing and use. Soon gone will be the days of taking a year or two to develop software (except for the true platform developers). We will see applications, uses and functionality that we cant even dream of right now.
AppleInsider | Intel to apply Apple's App Store strategy with netbooks
Time Inc. Shows Us Their Idea of the Future of Magazines [Video]
Honestly? I am giddy at the thought of the Apple Tablet and access to magazines, newspaper and other media. I cant wait.
Time Inc. Shows Us Their Idea of the Future of Magazines [Video]
Women at Arms - A Combat Role, and Anguish, Too - Series - NYTimes.com
Thank you to our Women and Men Veterans.
Women at Arms - A Combat Role, and Anguish, Too - Series - NYTimes.com
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