Happy Birthday PC (Personal Computer - IBM) - 29th Birthday!!

:-) Let's blow the 29 candles for the birth of the IBM Personal Computer known as "PC" !!

The IBM PC was announced to the world on 12 August 1981, helping drive a revolution in home and office computing. it was the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform.
The machine was developed by a team headed by Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida, at the IBM Entry Systems Division.

The cheapest version cost was about $1,500. Nowadays, that amount of money would represent $3500 !!
Do you imagine paying such amount for your home PC??

The phrase "Personal Computer" was common currency before 1981, and was used as early as 1972 to characterize Xerox PARC's Alto. However, because of the success of the IBM PC, what had been a generic term came to mean specifically a microcomputer compatible with IBM's specification.

The Intel 8088 is an Intel microprocessor based on the 8086, with 16-bit registers and an 8-bit external data bus. The processor was used in the original IBM PC.
The 8088 was targeted at economical systems by allowing the use of 8-bit designs. Large bus width circuit boards were still fairly expensive when it was released. The prefetch queue of the 8088 is 4 bytes, as opposed to the 8086's 6 bytes. The descendants of the 8088 include the 80188, 80288, 80186, 80286, 80386, 80486, & 80388 microcontrollers which are still in use today. See the list below for a more complete list.
The most influential microcomputer to use the 8088 was, by far, the IBM PC. The original PC processor ran at a clock frequency of 4.77 MHz. A popular clone using an 8088 was the Leading Edge Model D, with a switch to select running at 4.77 MHz or 7.16 MHz.
Apparently IBM's own engineers wanted to use the Motorola 68000, and it was used later in the forgotten IBM Instruments 9000 Laboratory Computer, but IBM already had rights to manufacture the 8086 family, in exchange for giving Intel the rights to its bubble memory designs. A factor for using the 8-bit Intel 8088 version was that it could use existing Intel 8085-type components, and allowed the computer to be based on a modified 8085 design. 68000 components were not widely available at the time, though it could use Motorola 6800 components to an extent. Intel bubble memory was on the market for a while, but Intel left the market due to fierce competition from Japanese corporations who could undercut by cost, and left the memory market to focus on processors.

[Original Article - Happy Birthday PC (Personal Computer - IBM) - 29th Birthday!!]

OpenIDEO: a new experiment in open innovation | opensource.com

OpenIDEO: a new experiment in open innovation | opensource.com

MANIA - Craig Larsen (Kindle edition - FREE)

Editorial Reviews
Product Description

A City Gripped By Fear. . .

Seattle newspaper photographer Nick Wilder has snapped his fair share of gruesome homicide scenes. But when a serial killer dubbed the Street Butcher takes his sick crimes to new depths of depravity, Nick finds the case suddenly getting to him in more ways than one. . .

A Killer Who Knows No End. . .

With each new murder Nick is shocked by what he won't soon forget. But the deeper he digs, the closer he gets to his own disturbing past--and the more he must risk to unmask an unpredictable, deranged psychopath. As the motives multiply and the suspects mount, the cold, stark Seattle winter is about to turn even chillier. . .



KINDLE EDITION - NOW FREE! - $0,00



"Larsen taps into our deepest terrors. . . A fast and thrilling debut."--William Lashner, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Bone

"Harrowing and twisted. . .a white-knuckle read!" --Gregg Olsen

Product Details

* Format: Kindle Edition
* File Size: 296 KB
* Print Length: 320 pages
* Publisher: Pinnacle Books; 1 edition (October 30, 2009)
* Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
* Language: English
* ASIN: B002RTIN4C

How Facebook Betrayed Users and Undermined Online Privacy | Media and Culture | AlterNet

How Facebook Betrayed Users and Undermined Online Privacy

Facebook has collected loads of private information about their users -- information that is being sold to marketers.
August 5, 2010 | [original article in AlterNet]


In just six years Facebook has crossed the threshold of 500 million users. In the past nine months it has doubled in size and is now the number one most visited Web site in the world, surpassing Google. Facebook’s motto is “Making the world open and connected,” where a lone voice can have a powerful impact, as evidenced this year by one activist’s post on Facebook that sparked a demonstration of 12 million people against the Revolutionary Forces of Columbia (FARC), which had been terrorizing Colombian citizens for years.

But along with its policy of openness and potential for social change, Facebook has repeatedly come under fire for its lax policies toward the privacy of its members.

Behind the Wall

Facebook members have a “wall” where they can post pictures and information (essentially their own web page), chat with each other, and read the latest on everyone in “The Feed.” But behind the wall, users are creating a cumulative data repository of all the relationships in the entire world and the intimate details of everyone’s lives. The databases and algorithms employed at Facebook to store, crunch, and make inferences about you are far greater holders of data than any government agency.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has often claimed to be a champion of privacy and promised, “we will never sell your information.” Nevertheless, many users were shocked to discover late last year that their names and profile pictures, along with basic information about them, had been made public. At the heart of the storm is not the complexity of controls on Facebook, although that was an issue. The anger was about Facebook sharing personal information in new ways without prior permission from its users.

Ironically, Facebook has made an international impact it had not intended. German officials launched legal proceedings against Facebook over its policy of saving information about people who aren’t members of the social network but have various details posted on it thanks to their friends on Facebook. Following an investigation by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Facebook implemented new privacy policies. In the U.S., members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission called for more regulation and Zuckerberg was all but forced to agree to more privacy controls. In June, four U.S. senators wrote to Zuckerberg telling him they were concerned about Facebook’s privacy practices.


The Beacon

Fastbook first aroused controversy on its violations of privacy with its use of web beacons. Web beacons are tiny image files that, when combined with small text files called “cookies,” will track your activities on other sites and automatically send information about you, including keystrokes, to the originating Web site. Facebook designed them to broadcast back to users and their friends what actions Facebook members took on participating Web sites. Users were not informed that data on their activities at other sites was flowing back to Facebook, nor were they given the option to block that information from being transmitted.

How Facebook Betrayed Users and Undermined Online Privacy | Media and Culture | AlterNet

Talisker 10 Years - Single Malt Scotch Whisky

A month ago I bought a bottle of Talisker 10 Years - Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
It's really original, It's quite strong (45,8% vol) and it has a powerful smoked flavour.
Talisker is the only single malt Scotch Whisky from the Isle of Skye.
The fact is that being in such a bad-weathered isle, it gives it that powerful taste it has.

Tasting Notes:
Nose: Powerful peat-smoke with seawater saltiness, the liquor of fresh oysters and a citrus sweetness.
Palate: Rich dried-fruit sweetness with clouds of smoke and strong barley-malt flavours: warming and intense. At the back of the mouth.
Finish: Sweet malty flavours that blend into a smoky climax.

[(original article)Talisker 10 Years - Single Malt Scotch Whisky]

USB Mouse for Musicians - BOSS DS-1 Distortion pedal

BOSS DS-1 distortion pedal is one of the most well-known pedals in the world for guitar players.
Boss has designed a really cool gadget specially for musicians and other Boss fans for having your Boss pedal connected to your home computer, office laptop or your Recording Studio computer.
Do you think recording tracks with this mouse in your hand?
I love it!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: USB Mouse for Musicians - BOSS DS-1 Distortion pedal

Hearing problems? Listen through your teeth

The ITM (In the Mouth) Hearing Device

It's a small device designed for people who have hearing problems and doesn't want to wear an ear device. You wear it inside your mouth, and its technology makes you listen the sounds through your head bones. Incredible, isn't it?

SoundBite Oral DeviceThe ITM device is custom made to fit around either the upper left or right back teeth, does not require any alteration of the teeth, and is easily inserted and removed by the wearer. It contains electronics, a sealed, flat, rechargeable battery, wireless capability that picks up sound transmissions from the BTE, and a small actuator that converts those signals into vibratory energy. All of these miniaturized components are hermetically sealed inside a dental grade acrylic that has been safely used for making dentures for many years.

[soundBite in detail]

[Original article - Hearing problems? Listen through your teeth]

Invention that incorporates LED lights into a bicycle’s tires

The Cyglo Night Bright Tyre is an invention that incorporates LED lights into a bicycle’s tires. It recently won an inventor’s contest on a BBC television show, and they’ve since secured patents and are looking for a partner with the means for production.

Visit www.nightbrighttyre.com for more info.
Cyglo Tyre is a unique, patented invention designed to revolutionise cycling safety. Click here to learn how Cyglo works.

Chocolate That Cures Acne, Potato Chips That Lower Cholesterol -- Here Come the Nutraceuticals to a Store Near You | Food | AlterNet

[original article from alternet.org]

Cinnamon is no longer just the spunky spice on cinnamon toast. Turmeric is no longer just the bitter yellow dust that colors curry.


These days, both are hailed as superpowered disease-fighting "nutraceuticals" — part nutrient, part pharmaceutical. Along with many other once-humble substances (think pomegranates, fish oil and flax seeds), they're key ingredients in "functional foods," which comprise a booming $30-billion-a-year industry bent on erasing the border between medicine and meals.

When is candy not candy? When are potato chips not potato chips? When are crisp salty discs and dark-chocolate balls not mere hedonistic treats? When they're functional foods, in this case Corazonas chips and foil-wrapped Frutels — bought in hopes of lowering cholesterol and curing acne.

For fear of FDA/FTC backlash, functional-food companies must exercise great care in promoting such near-miracles. But consumers are fluent in the lexicon by which thousands of new products are marketed — and old products reframed — as not just tasty but "healthy" and "scientifically proven," "according to studies," "to reduce the risk" of very specific, sometimes very deadly diseases.

Energy bars and energy drinks are just the tip of this antioxidant-enhanced, vitamin-enriched, high-fiber iceberg. In a fear-driven, science-obsessed society that's queasy about health care costs, it's just what the doctor didn't order. ("Based on cutting-edge science, Frutels contains vitamins and minerals shown to strengthen the body ... and help clear skin of blemishes," reads the company's Web site.) Brownies that prevent macular degeneration? Soda pop that fights cancer? Bring 'em on — and thank you, folic acid and epigallocatechin gallate!

As defined by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, nutraceuticals include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, other botanicals, and that amorphous category known as dietary supplements. Some truly inspiring products have emerged. Megabrands are riding this bandwagon to the bank as well. Several pages of Welch's Web site — headlined "The Science" — praise the power of polyphenol antioxidants in grape juice. General Mills boasts that the cereals in its "Big G" line — including Lucky Charms, Chocolate Cheerios and Trix — "are made with whole grains, which deliver vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients. That’s important, because studies suggest that whole grains may help reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and certain types of cancer."

Giving the acronym FWB a whole new meaning — food with benefits — nutraceuticals hark back to preindustrial folk remedies. Given that this ancient science of roots and fruits spawned Chinese herbal medicine, ayurvedic medicine and Western pharmacology, embracing ancestral wisdom in the form of antiviral pizza and anticancer jam can't hurt


Chocolate That Cures Acne, Potato Chips That Lower Cholesterol -- Here Come the Nutraceuticals to a Store Near You | Food | AlterNet

Brief history of Scotland

As my ascendants are Scottish and I'm so proud of having scottish blood, I wish to publish a brief history of Scotland, wich is written in a cloth I have on the wall.

WHA'S LIKE US
DAMN FEW AND THEY'RE A' DEID

The average Englishman in the home he calls
his castle, slips into his national costume
- a shabby raincoat - patented by chemist
Charles Macintosh from Glasgow, Scotland.
En route to his office he strides along the
English lane, surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr,
Scotland.
He drives an English car fitted with tyres
invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn,Scotland.
At the office he receives the mail bearing
adhesive stamps invented by James Chalmers of
Dundee, Scotland.
During the day he uses the telephone invented by
Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
At home in the evening, his daughter pedals her
bicycle invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, blacksmith
of Dumfries, Scotland.
He watches the news on a T.V., an invention of John
Logie Baird of Helensburgh, Scotland and hears
an item about the U.S.Navy, founded by John Paul
Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.
He has by now been reminded too much of Scotland
and in desperation he picks up the Bible, only to
find that the first man mentioned in the good book
is a Scot-King James VI- who authorised its
translation.
Nowhere can an Englishman turn to escape the
ingenuity of the Scots.
He could take to drink but the Scots make the best
in the world.
He could take a rifle and end it all but the breech-
loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick
Ferguson of Pitfours, Scotland.
If he scaped death, he could find himself on an
operating table injected with penicilin, discovered
by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, Scotland and given
an anaesthetic, discovered by Sir James Young
Simpson of Bathgate, Scotland.
Out of the anaesthetic he would find no comfort in
learning that he was as safe as the Bank of England,
founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.
Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get
a transfusion of guid Scottish blood which
would entitle him to ask-

"WHA'S LIKE US"

Original article:
Brief history of Scotland

Funny Drummer - Rick K. and the Allnighters - Wipe Out

It's incredible how this guy plays the drums!
And after all.... he doesn't lose the pace!
One day, I want to play like him... :-P

Funny Drum Lessons Part 6. (Danny Carey's Groove)

The best teacher showing you Danny Carey's techniques (one of the best drummers)

I love this guy! :-)))))