Fastest train in the world

The fastest commercial train in the world is now operational in China running at a maximum speed of 394 kilometers per hour (km/hr) in a trail run. The train link connects two cities, Guangzhou in South to Wuhan in central China, and will travel at an average speed of 350km/hr (217mph). The 1,068 km distance between the two cities can now be covered by the high-speed train in two hours and forty five minutes ? that is, a saving of about six hours of travel time. The high-speed train line uses technology developed in co-operation with firms such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom. The Guangzhou - Wuhan train line is a part of the government plan to build 42 high-speed train lines by 2012. In the biggest rail development program in the world, China government plans to build 34,000 km of new train tracks in addition to its existing 86,000 km railway lines. According to China's railways ministry, the average speed of the high-speed railways in other countries in the world is less than 300 km/hr; way less than the Guangzhou - Wuhan train line (in Japan it is 243 km/hr, in Germany 232 km/hr, and 277 km/hr in France). First high-speed railway network in China was unveiled at the time of Beijing Olympics in 2008 to connect the capital city Beijing with the port city of Tianjin. The train could travel at a speed of 250 km/hr.

Water on the Moon

It is confirmed. The Moon has water and plenty of it. The NASA LCROSS mission has successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon?s south pole. Here is the CBS video:

CEO of the decade: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs did a great job in the past decade to be ranked Fortune Magazine?s CEO of the decade. It is not the first time that Fortune recognized Jobs as a business genius. On November 27, 2007 Fortune Magazine named Jobs the most powerful person in business (CNN). I like the way Jobs is portrayed in the article titled The decade of Steve. Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley. Some of the notable contributions that Jobs was instrumental in are: One of the first commercially successful personal computers (Apple II in 1977). First mouse driven graphical interface (Macintosh computer in 1984). ?Desktop publishing? Laser printer Personal computer network Successful computer animated feature films (Pixar) Highly successful digital music player (iPod in 2001) Online music store (iTunes in 2003) Highly successful smart-phone (iPhone in 2007) Congratulation to the magician of the digital world, Steve Jobs!

Will Google Maps Navigation replace standalone GPS?

Newly announced Google Maps Navigation caused shares of satellite navigation device companies to fall substantially amidst fears of the death of standalone GPS. Is it really the death or the rumors of the death have been greatly exaggerated? In the Navigation Application, Google uses search engine to find addresses, Google Street View for photos of locations, and live traffic data in its turn-by-turn GPS software. The application is available in the new Droid phone. Let?s see some advantages and disadvantage of Google GPS attached to mobile phone. Advantages of Google Maps Nav.: It is a free service Comes with phone and doesn?t need an extra gadget, easy to carry and you are less likely to forget it at home. Real-time updating Linked to the HUGE Google search database Disadvantages: It is device specific ? only phone it supports now is Motorola Droid. More may be (are) coming but it will take time.  Multi-tasking ? using GPS and calling somebody would be difficult. It would certainly add concern to the traffic safety. Dedicated data connection is required ? there are many places where Google service might not be available. Mobile phones usually have smaller screen as compared to dedicated GPS. More the screen are better the details on the map. Mobile phones' smaller form factors usually don?t allow for extra battery (like iPhone). Constant use for long period of time might not be practical in some situations. Google will certainly add advertisement in future. Would like smaller screen and ads in it? GPS manufacturers knew it was coming. Sometime back, TomTom started offering its own mobile GPS application for iPhone for $100. But free application is lot more cheaper! It is to be seen if Apple will beg Google to make one for iPhone. Official video on Google Maps Navigation: Professionals would certainly go for standalone GPS but causal users like myself would certainly be happy with the new device and new application. Death is a harsh word; but it is sure that they wouldn?t sell like hot cakes anymore. GPS manufacturers need to step forward in innovating their products, cutting the prices, and offer better value to the customers. It sure is not a dead end!

Google wave to wash email ?

Google, aiming to revolutionize the way people communicate online, has recently introduced an online application named Google Wave. The online tool will store a thread of data, document the history of a conversation and keep it on a server that runs on a Wave Protocol. The wave protocol is related to cloud computing in which the users save, retrieve and work on data and applications on remote computers rather than the local hard drives. It is widely believed that future is for cloud computing in which users don't need to download anything and everything can be done online. The operating system Google is planning to release, Chrome OS, is also based on the similar conceptual framework. The widely used and most popular online communication tool 'email' was first introduced more than 40 years ago and it has little changed in the four decades. Emails are stored in server and are transferred to the users' computer on request. However, Google Wave allows users to collaborate in real time. Users can see how and when things change and respond as required. Email didn't replace snail-mail but it sure did reduce the mail-box load. Now, it might be Email's turn to shed some weight in the inbox. Google Australia first proposed Google Wave in 2007. It is told that 100,000 beta users are testing the service currently. The service currently is invitation only. If you want to test it, you can also request an invite by visiting wave.google.com.

Happy Birthday Googlle

When I saw the misspelled Google logo, first thing I did was check the address bar. Yes it was the same old google.com. The same colorful logo of Google had an extra ?l? today. A mouse over the logo for a while revealed the secret of the misspelling. Google is celebrating its 11th birthday today and everybody is invited to click its? misspelled logo! Happy Birthday Google! Wish, you will prove to be even more innovating and user-friendly, respect our privacy, and wouldn?t meddle with our personal life in the coming year.

Camera on New iPod Nano doesn’t take photos. Why?

It was surprising that that the iPod Nano got a new video camera while the iPod Touch did not. Many people assumed that the camera equipped device could take still photos along with videos. After all, a sequence of still photos make video clips. But, the mighty Apple doesn?t think so! The Nano can take video but taking still photos is not its cup of cake. David Pogue of the NY Times asked Steve Jobs about it. Here is what he has to say: The sensors for doing video are fairly thin. The sensors for doing a still camera, at much higher pixel resolution ? and we?d really like to have autofocus ? they are just way too thick to ever fit inside the Nano. Are you working on making them thinner? Why wasn?t the iPod Touch thick enough?

Steve Jobs back on spotlight

After lot of speculations, Steve Jobs, CEO Apple Computers, has finally appeared on stage at Apple?s ?It?s only rock and roll? event in San Francisco. This appearance is his first public appearance after a lengthy pause on such appearances due to his health reasons.
Welcome back Steve!
He has announced the release of iPhone OS 3.1 and iTunes 9.
Later today, Apple is expected to announce a new lineup of iPod media players at the event.
Rumors on camera on iPod Nano are confirmed. iPod Nano will now have a video camera, microphone - speaker built in, voice recorder, and a pedometer. FM is another surprise addition to the little device.
It seems, Apple thought that camera or built-in microphones on  iPod Touch would be ?too good? and will eat-up the market of other iPod cousins. There was no iPads/tablets or whatever they were supposed to be called in the event.

Cell phone still a luxury to Canadians?

Canada made Blackberry may be the world?s most-popular or next-to-the-most-popular high-end smart phone but that doesn?t mean Canadians love cell phones to the ancient land-lines. In a latest report, Canada has the lowest mobile penetration followed by Mexico. Among 30 member countries surveyed by a Paris-based organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), consumers in the U.S., Canada and Spain pay the highest mobile phone bills. I posted about the previous report of OECD in 2007 and nothing has changed in the last two years ? rates in Canada are still the highest and it is still the country with the lowest mobile penetration. Yes $85K mobile phone bill do make sense sometimes. In the same report, it is told that Italians have 150 mobile phone subscribers for every 100 residents.

World's shortest guy with leggiest lady

Last year it was the tallest man with whom he posed for photograph. Recently he met a long-legged Svetlana Pankratova in London's Trafalger Square to pose for for the launch of the 2009 edition of the Guinness World Records book, which is published on Wednesday.

The world's smallest man, He Pingping, is 20 years old and just 74.61 centimeters tall. It is told that the shortness resulted from being born with a condition known as primordial dwarfism. Pingpin is told to be a keen poker player and smokes two packets of cigarettes a day.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the long-legged Russian woman, Svetlana Pankratova, has the world?s longest legs. Pankratova, 36, an estate agent from Volvograd, Russia, is 1.96 meters tall. Her legs alone measure 132 centimeters.

Pingping posed for a photograph showing him standing up comfortably between her legs. (Photo Source : WENN)

Stephen Hawking may relocate to Canada

After almost 50 years at Cambridge University the leading physicist Stephen Hawking, 66, is considering leaving Britain and move to Canada. He attacked the British government for carrying out "disastrous" cuts in science funding totalling $160 million.
Last month, Hawking said the funding cuts would "cause enormous damage both to British science and to our international reputation." He is now said to be contemplating an offer to join a fellow academic who is leaving Cambridge this autumn to lead a well-funded Canadian science institute. Neil Turok, an authority on mathematical physics, said "the door is open" for Hawking to join him permanently at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ont., which has received $600 million in funding.
Turok decided to leave Cambridge after failing to persuade university authorities, research councils and sponsors to spend $40 million expanding the university's Centre for Theoretical Cosmology, which he heads, into a Hawking Institute.

That was the rumor; but Hawking's office said that Hawking had no plans to leave Britain permanently.

A spokesman was quoted as saying that hawking "is not joining the brain drain".

UPDATE:
The University of Cambridge has poured cold water on reports its most famous physicist might be coming to Canada to work, saying Wednesday Stephen Hawking "has no plans" to leave. (CBC)

Are we giving too much attention to Google?

It made news when Google 'forgot' to change its logo to give a wink to Canucks on the Canada Day. Although the internet giant has a history of recognizing the Canada Day in the past (except for 2003) July 1st of 2008 brought a bit of hollowness for the Canadians when the same old primary-coloured letters appeared on the Google website. Here is the history and corresponding logos: 2007 - the L in Google was transformed into an image of the Peace Tower, complete with fireworks.
2006 - there was a Canadian flag2005, a simple Maple Leaf did duty as the first O (although Google's list of holiday logos for that year lists Canada Day as July 2.)
2004, the second G was a loon and its reflection with a Canadian flag hanging off the L.
2003, forgot the Canadians2002, a moose lurked behind the word Google with a Canadian flag again suspended from the L.
2001, the first year the company marked the holiday, there was a beaver, a Canadian flag and even text saying: ?Happy Canada Day.?


Do you really care if Google forgets or recognizes the Canada Day!

iPhone launch in Canada - nothing much to celebrate

When Rogers revealed specifics for the services plans for the upcoming iPhone 3G this Friday many Canadians were not happy.

But why?
Rogers has set a mandatory three-year contract. O2 offers an 18-month contract and throws in the iPhone for free and AT&T has a two-year contract. In the U.S., AT&T offers 450 minutes of voice, unlimited data and 200 SMS messages. But Rogers thinks Canadian don't even deserve that.
$60: 150 minutes of calls, with unlimited evenings and weekends; 400 MB of data; 75 sent SMS messages, with unlimited incoming text messages and visual voicemail messages.$75: 300 minutes of calls, 750 MB data and 100 sent SMS messages.$100: 600 minutes of calls with 1 GB of data and 200 sent SMS messages.$115: 800 minutes of calls, 2 GB of data and 300 sent SMS messages.There is nothing like "unlimited data" to Canadians for whatever amount they pay!

People are really angry and James Hallen has started a petition at RuinediPhone.com. James is planning to send the online petition to Rogers on July 11th, the day the iPhone 3G is available, and also to send a letter to Steve Jobs. The letter was drafted when there were nearly 6,000 petitions which is a fraction of the current 15,664 number at the time of writing this post.

Do the Screensavers save your screen these days?

Gone are the days when screensavers save your monitors when old CRTs are replaced by flat panel screens!
In an effort to save environment an Australian company, Telstra, has decided to remove all animated logo screesavers from the company laptops and computers and replaced with a black, power-saving screensaver.
By removing 36,000 screensavers, they claim to cut 646 tons of CO2, which would be like removing 140 cars from Australian roads for one full year. (source)
Well, it sure is another simple method to make your PC greener if you haven't already done so.
Happy earth-saving!

Net neutrality in danger?

Looks like a its a conspiracy against Net neutrality! Big service providers are are predicting Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth by 2010 without substantial investment in network infrastructure.
Decades of dealing with the trickle of bandwidth consumed by voice and dialup modems left AT&T twiddling its thumbs. The massive rise of DSL and cable modem service in the 2000s has had AT&T facing a monstrous increase in the volume of data transmissions. And that's set to increase another 50 times between now and 2015.
AT&T says that video alone will eat up 80 percent of traffic in two years which is just 30 percent now. The BBC has come under fire from service providers like Tiscali, which claim that its iPlayer online-TV service is becoming a major drain on network bandwidth.

Publishers and content creators have argued that Net neutrality should be legislated in order to protect consumers. ISPs reject the neutrality concept itself citing services like voip requires priority by default.

Is it going to cost more to watch videos in YouTube in future?

Biggest BBQ in Uruguay

To set a new Guinness world record and to promote the country's succulent top export more than a thousand barbecue fanatics in Uruguay grilled up 12 metric tonnes (26,400 lbs) of beef on April 13, 2008.

A grill of nearly 1 mile long was set up and firefighters had to lit six tonnes of charcoal to start the grand ceremony.

Some 1,250 people grilled the beef and about 20,000 spectators cried with joy when a Guinness judge confirmed the barbecue record had been broken. (Reuters)
Tags: Urugay, BBQ, record

Texan entrepreneur crowned Miss USA

A 26-year-old entrepreneur from Texas was named Miss USA on Friday, besting 50 other beauty queens for the coveted crown. Crystle Stewart completed her degree in Consumer Science and Merchandising at the University of Houston. She won the Miss Texas USA 2008 title in a state pageant held in Laredo, Texas on July 1, 2007, after competing against 121 contestants.

She founded and runs her business "Inside/Out" which aids young women in building self-esteem and volunteers with many organizations in the community

Details in the official Miss USA 2008 site.
Tags: missUSA

Tattoo your vaccine

A tattoo, or dermal pigmentation, is a mark made by inserting pigment into the skin for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on humans are a type of decorative body modification, while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding.
That is what wikipedia has to say about tattoos. Looks like the defination needs to be modified soon. A recent study suggest that injecting DNA-containing vaccines with a tattoo gun is far more effective than the way human vaccines are now delivered. Visit Yahoo Health for further details. (photo: Dennis Mojado)

The use of tattoo injections, coupled with the ability to rapidly produce large quantities of a vaccine, might prove extraordinarily valuable in a situation such as a threatened terrorist attack, where a sudden need arises for large amounts of an effective vaccine.

Drunk man threatened city with TV remote

As an example on how scared people are these days, a drunken man's threat to blow up half a city with his television remote control forced Australian police to declare a state of emergency at a luxury golf resort.
Geoffrey Martin Fryatt, 57, a resident of the Fairways Golf and Lifestyle Retreat in Brisbane, was arrested by elite paramilitary police after terrifying neighbors with a knife and threatening to detonate a store of chemicals with the TV remote.
"One push of the button will blow up half of Brisbane," Fryatt shouted in the standoff last May before police in the Queensland state capital opened fire with rubber bullets.
Fryatt's lawyer told the Brisbane District Court that his client lost control after losing much of his life savings in a fraud carried out by his finance broker, local media said.
"People are genuinely scared of sudden explosions," the judge said, sentencing Fryatt to a year's probation. "Frightening members of the public with threats of bombs and bomb hoaxes has a much greater impact than it once did," she said.
Fryatt accepted probation, but said he was concerned it could interrupt plans to travel overseas to do humanitarian aid work, the Brisbane Times newspaper reported.
"Let's get you right before we send you off to a third world country," the judge said.(Reuters)

New tech usage ranking for 2008

The United States, Sweden and Japan topped a new ranking that measures how well countries use telecommunications technologies; networks, cell phones and computers; to boost their social and economic prosperity.
The ratings for "innovation driven economies" measured in the study, scale 1-10 are:

UNITED STATES 6.97
SWEDEN 6.83
JAPAN 6.80
CANADA 6.50
FINLAND 6.10
BRITAIN 6.10
AUSTRALIA 5.93
GERMANY 5.52
FRANCE 5.07
SOUTH KOREA 4.78
HONG KONG 4.46
ITALY 3.85
SPAIN 3.56
HUNGARY 3.18
CZECH REPUBLIC 3.11
POLAND 2.18
Following are indexes for "efficiency and resource driven economies", scale 1-10, but not comparable with indexes for innovation-driven economies.
RUSSIA 6.11
MALAYSIA 5.82
MEXICO 4.37
BRAZIL 4.28
SOUTH AFRICA 4.11
CHINA 3.42
PHILIPPINES 2.38
INDIA 1.68
NIGERIA 1.01
Source: Reuters