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Comment Re: Not a laywer. (Score 1) 224

Interestingly enough, the medical field uses an encrypted third party for medical release forms. I have personally seen more than one of these third party providers require a key and password that were both sent to the same email. They were in separate emails, mind you, but they did not require additional authentication, such as birthday, etc, that would be unavailable without access to the individual's email address.

Comment Re:Duh (Score 1) 340

I've did a little research in the field if immunology in college, and this theory is not only widely accepted, but is being used to help explain other common 20th century diseases.

A great example: It's been discovered that fatty tissue in individuals with obesity often have a very high number of macrophages - white blood cells - that cause a general inflammatory response, in fact a response very similar or identical to what the body would do in the case of a parasite. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC297006/)

It's also well supported that being exposed to allergens at a young age decreases your likelihood of being allergic to them later in life, as the body has time to develop an appropriate immune response while antibody production is still malleable. I.e. A child who has never touched a cat is more likely to be allergic as an adult than one who grew up with cats.

I would argue that the biggest and most effective change that saw an increase in general health and longevity in the 20th century was the widespread use of sanitary cooking and waste management. The ability to stop excrement from contaminating drinking water and food was responsible for a huge reduction in disease and especially spread of parasites.

Comment Require a key to get frequent updates. (Score 2) 687

There's an application that extends usability of trackpad functions on Macbooks running Windows, called Trackpad++ (Link)

Upon downloading for free, it is fully usable, but the owner updates the product with bugfixes and sometimes features once a week. If you don't register the product by sending the owner a donation to receive a license key, it is disabled every week (and doesn't download updates automatically). You can continue using the product, but only if you go online and download the latest version.

This has the benefit of showing off other potential goods you have on your website, giving you free advertising, in addition to forcing users to see the "purchase" button over and over again.

If a consumer doesn't like or need your product, it stops working, no loss. If he wants to test it a little longer, he can keep downloading it, until he decides to purchase or not. When he buys it he is guaranteed updates and a usable product.

Comment Such a great love for Google Maps (Score 1) 143

I do tend to wonder, if Google Maps is so pivotal to the widespread adoption of iOS 6, would we begin to see a lot of people moving toward Android phones if Google removed their maps from the iOS App Store? I know Google Maps (and its turn-by-turn navigation) was a very important feature when considering purchasing my own phone.

Comment Re:Why would you want to game on Linux (Score 1) 332

Graphics card utilization is still rather far behind in OSX. There have been several tests comparing Windows and OSX for graphics card performance - such as this one (http://www.macworld.com/article/1155124/mac_windows_graphics.html). Because Linux is open source and is supported by avid enthusiasts, it is quite possible that the Linux port of Steam may begin to utilize the graphics card through the operating system more successfully than OSX does. Essentially, one shared barrier to the quality of gaming on UNIX operating systems - graphics support - is conceivably less detrimental to Linux than it is to OSX. I could see Steam for Linux surpassing Steam in a very short time. The upfront cost of the computer means that it is cheeper to get into gaming on Linux that it is on OSX, and Linux users have consistently shown (through the humble bundle) that they are willing to pay well for games.

Submission + - Apple to Build Search Engine to Thwart Google? 2

Hugh Pickens writes: "eWeek reports that the data Apple collects about users from its iPhone is so valuable that the company may build its own iPhone-centric search engine just to keep Google from gleaning insight from that data. "The data generated on the iPhone OS platform must become an increasing priority for Apple and we believe the company has the resources to develop its own products in both maps and search in the next five years," writes analyst Gene Munster. Google is currently the default search engine on the iPhone however Google has increasingly encroached on Apple's mobile turf, offering the Android operating system and several mobile applications and as the search provider for the iPhone, Google sees what iPhone users are searching for, which can help it tailor software and services for its own mobile smartphones, a competitive advantage that has not gone unnoticed by Apple. Apple lacks the experience and engineering wherewhithal to build a large, scalable search engine but Munster says Apple could buy a search startup with a Web index, such as Cuil or Taptu, using its index as the seed for its own search engine. "Apple is in an inside position to tap into the current pent up demand for better mobile search, and add a new competitive differentiation from other search providers and device makers," adds IDC analyst Hadley Reynolds."
NASA

Astronauts Having Trouble With Tranquility Module 300

Coldeagle writes "Astronauts ran into trouble while trying to connect up the new Tranquility module onto the ISS. A critical insulating cover didn't fit quite right: 'The fabric, multilayered cover is supposed to go between Tranquility and its observation deck, but the metal bars are not locking down properly because of interference from a hand rail or some other structure at the hatch.' One has to wonder if this is another imperial/metric snafu."

Comment Bit early... (Score 1) 269

Should we not create computers with at least near human intelegence before we try to give them curiosity? It seems pretty useless to me to give a computer curiosity in the hope that humans might learn something when, at its current state, the computer could not decipher the information it is curious about. I guess we could still look to the future, but why waste this time on such things when we could be programming for the iPad?
User Journal

Journal Journal: The iPad 1

Is almost a total disappointment. No camera, no backgrounding, no flash support.

User Journal

Journal Journal: Singularity

I am learning more daily about Singularity. It seems in some ways to be a cult...

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