Diamond is NOT Forever!!!

"Diamond is forever", well its a big NO! Because according to DeBeers, the world's largest diamond miner, says the supply of diamonds is slowly and surely running out. And expect that the price will increase at least 5 per cent per year for the next five years.

"Diamonds are a treasure of nature that should be properly protected, because there will be less to sell. The reality is that supply cannot keep up, and that will become very accentuated over the next 15 years."

So maybe when the time comes that diamond is just a thing of the past, maybe we can think of something new that can be worth like a diamond... maybe uhmm... a rock that comes from outer space! No? Okay, I wish diamonds do "grow" so fast, just like trees and weeds.

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 was announced to be ready for release and expected to be on store starting on June. Microsoft manufacturing partners and computer makers will get the software first, followed by businesses and then finally general customers.

Twilight & Harry Potter to be Studied in Cambridge

According to BBC news, Twilight, Harry Potter and video games as works of literature, will be some new additions for the study of children’s literature in Cambridge.

BBC News:

Professor Maria Nikolajeva, who will be the centre’s first director, said it was important to get an understanding of what was influencing young people.

She said: “It’s easy to say that these things are just kids’ fashions or that they’re trash, but I don’t believe that’s good enough.

“If what we regard as trash is popular with young people, we need to know why and whether, as researchers and teachers, we can offer them something that addresses the same needs but also deals with these themes in a critical and ethical way.”

She added many trainee teachers did not understand the significance of the latest children’s books or films when they went into the classroom.

“Studying this can help us deal with questions which are important not only for the children themselves, but for adults as well,” she added.

I think not everybody will agree about this, in fact some said its a "trash". The concept of teaching these new literature is to study about the ideas children pick up from books as well as other sources the university's new centre for the study of children's literature.

Apple iPad

Size and weight:
Height:242.8 mm (9.56 inches)
Width:189.7 mm (7.47 inches)
Depth:13.4 mm (0.5 inch)
Weight:0.68 kg (1.5 pounds) Wi-Fi model;
0.73 kg (1.6 pounds) Wi-Fi + 3G model


Processor:
1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip


Capacity:
16GB, 32GB, or 64GB flash drive


Battery and Power:
Built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

So I assume you are one of the million dudes who are waiting for the release of Apple's iPad, it will surely boast its unbelievable feature and will cost cheaper than other Apple products. Yup, Apple will sell iPad to its most affordable price, isn't that a great news? In fact, I am starting to save up for this...

Its design is just right for everybody, not so bulky and not so small. Just right to see web pages as they were meant to be seen, one page at a time. With vibrant colour and sharp text. Whether you’re looking at a page in portrait or landscape, you can see everything at a size that’s actually readable. It is Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously.


For its accessories, its case do not only protects the iPad, it can be used in various positions, look at photos and slideshows, or watch movies.


Keyboard Dock is a dock for charging your iPad, integrated with a full-size keyboard. The dock has a rear 30-pin connector, which lets you connect to an electrical outlet using a USB Power Adapter, sync to your computer, and use accessories like the Camera Connection Kit. And an audio jack lets you connect to a stereo or powered speakers.

And oh, before I forget there are 140,000 apps available for you to explore!

Pants on the Gound song will invade the Grammys

Its "way to go", for Larry Platt, the one with "the pants on the ground", the song with a catchy tune? After I saw him auditioning in American Idol two weeks ago, for some reason it stuck up in my mind, unknowingly suffering from last song syndrome (lol).

Anyway, Gen. Larry's song became an instant hit or some said first viral hit video for this year, not to mention also became a frequent topic on social commentary sites--some liked it and some didn't but hey, now, he's going to perform on the red carpet/grammys, yes... he will!

Upcoming Movies to be Release in 3D format

As Avatar movie became amazingly successful on its release, now, there are 2 movies to be also released in 3D format. One is the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Its still unclear if author J.K. Rowling would say "ok" for converting Harry Potter movie into third dimension format, but hey, I would say "Please..... make it in 3D, I am so wanting to watch it in big iMax screen!" "Deathly Hallows: Part I" is set tobe release on Nov. 19, and "Part II" is slotted for July 15, 2011.




Another movie to be converted into 3D format is Clash of the Titans, in which I can say, the scenes will be superb. Warners will push back the release of "Titans" one week to April 2.


Must mark my calendar for the release date of these movies!

Pay to view some movie videos on youtube

Youtube started to feature MovieSpotlights in partnership with Sundance Film Festivals! They are featuring the films from 2010 and 2009 Sundance Film Festivals. And you can access some certain videos by paying around $5 dollars and you decide if you want to purchase it. I saw some movie features in their site and most of them are good indie films. The partnership was done to test on how the users will respond to paid content on the site, and this could be a new revenue stream for the web video giant. USA Today said that the move is helping independent filmmakers find distribution avenues for their films. The movies will be shown without ads, which would be an aesthetic disaster for any director who chose to put his creation online.

Check out youtube site and choose your movie.

The World Lost a Little Piece of Sunshine

I was saddened by the news I read from the internet early this morning. Brittany Murphy had died at a very young age, she's only 32. She was found unconscious in a shower at her home in Los Angeles. Her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack called the emergency services and then she was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills where she was confirmed dead at 10:04 am.

I am a fan of her. I first saw her in Riding in Cars with Boys movie last (2001), I was in college that time. I love her smile,... its like a sunshine!

Modern Cremation Will Produce Ferfilizer

Our world is really crowded that there is a new and modern process to dispose human remains. It is called resomation--a process where the human corps will be cremated and will eventually turn into a fertilizer. This process was developed by a Scottish company, Resomation Ltd. To understand how in the world they came up with this idea is, its just like a natural process of decomposition, but they have to hasten it just like pressing the fast-forward button of your remote control. The process will be through alkaline hydrolysis, which occurs when the body is sealed inside a vault-like tube filled with water and lye and steam-heated to 300 degrees and after three hours, a powdery bone fragments and 200 gallons of fluid are all that remains. Comparing to traditional cremation and burial, alkaline hydrolysis doesn’t lead to toxic chemicals like dioxin and formaldehyde being released into the atmosphere or water supply.

This may not be accepted by everybody, it will a personal choice for anybody who would let their relatives/loveones to undergo this process. But I think those that are concern about the environment crisis--global warming, they consider this approach as acceptable and just the right thing. As we can see, even the process is natural and eco-friendly, I think the leaders will still have to struggle to deal with this idea.

How about you? Just curious of what do you think about this. I would be glad if you do comment. As effective and promising as this may seem, this could be a common way to deal with human remains anytime soon.

Ikee - First iPhone Worm

There is a news that some iPhone users suddenly had their iPhone wallpaper changed into a picture of '80s singer Rick Astley with the words "Ikee is never gonna give you up"? It is actually a worm known as Ikee, the very first virus created for iPhones. Well, its not that bad because it is not destructive and does not compromise any data contained on the iPhone, but its still a virus… Ikee was developed in Australia and it has not spread beyond Australia.

Ikee can infect only iPhones that have been unlocked and IPhones purchased through regular channels on a plan with an authorized SIM are not at risk. By the way, Ikee’s creator is also the one who created worm on Twitter under the name Ikeeex.

Warning to All Facebook Users - Fake Facebook e-mail contains Trojan

Let’s admit it, Facebook is part of our life. I myself is infected with this “facebook addiction” thingy. We can do anything there, play games -- which make me sleep for only 4 hours a day, post something whatever we’d like to tell the whole wide web. And its good, we can let everybody know whats we’re in to with just one click, and we can meet more people and find long lost colleagues.

But here is an alarming news from MX Labs. Here is CNET news:

A new variant of the Bredolab Trojan horse is attached to a fake "Facebook Password Reset Confirmation" e-mail. If you received e-mail from "The Facebook Team" that displays mail address service@facebook.com well, the address and sender were spoofed. That e-mail is accompanied by an attachment named, "Facebook_Password_4cf91.zip and includes the file Facebook_Password_4cf91.exe". It contains the user's new Facebook password. The security firm said that the element between the underscore and .zip are randomly chosen letters and numbers for each recipient.

Here is an alarming part…

When a user downloads the file, it could wreak havoc on their computer. The Trojan horse Bredolab executes files from the Internet, such as rogue anti-spyware. To bypass firewalls, it injects its own code into legitimate processes svchost.exe and explorer.exe. Bredolab contains anti-sandbox code (the Trojan might quit itself when an external program investigates its actions). Once it makes its way to the user's PC, Bredolab creates "%AppData%\wiaservg.log" and "%Programs%\Startup\isqsys32.exe" in the user's system files. It also creates two new processes, called "isqsys32.exe" and "svchost.exe."

After it sneaks its way onto the user's computer, Bredolab downloads a bot called Pushdo. The company found that Pushdo immediately starts "spamming out more of these Facebook password reset e-mails."

For its part, Facebook was quick to point out that the e-mail containing the virus wasn't coming from the social network.

"This virus is being distributed through email, not on Facebook," a Facebook spokesperson wrote. "The email is disguised as a Facebook password reset e-mail with an attachment that purportedly contains the new password, but is actually the virus. We're educating users on how to detect this through the Facebook Security Page."
Facebook said that users should be "suspicious of unexpected emails claiming to be from Facebook." The company also said that it will never send users a new password as an attachment.

I haven't received this kind of e-mail, I am now very cautious. This is an outbreak already. Oh, if you happen to have downloaded the file you should use anti-malware software to remove it.

Here is a list of security software available from CNET's.

Amelia Earhart Final Resting Place Found??

I've been watching movies that I'd never watched in theater for the past weekends. One of my favorite is The Night At the Museum 2 - Battle of the Smithsonian. This movie was released few months ago but I never got to watched this because of work load. Anyway, back to what I was saying, one character that amazed me so much is tall, slender, blonde and brave Amelia Earhart. I adore her so much for being adventurous and always looking for a challenge. In fact back in her days, its always the Men who has promising jobs and opportunities in the world and the Women are doomed to stay in the house. But as time goes by, Women had the chance to work and vote, but it’s different for Amelia. She aimed to do extreme job, a job that a man wouldn’t expect that a woman can do. She became the very first woman who had such courage and bravery to become a pilot. Unfortunately, when the time came that she attempted to cross the Atlantic (July 2, 1937), she disappeared with no trace. Until now, her death had been a mystery.

But just recently, according to researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), Amelia had an emergency landing in a tropical island of southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati. Author of the book "Finding Amelia," and his crew have been searching the Nikumaroro island for evidence of Earhart. It is a tiny coral atoll; in fact it is some 300 miles southeast of Earhart's target destination, Howland Island. TIGHAR would suggest that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, made a forced landing when the plane had run out of fuel and crashed on the island's smooth, flat coral reef. And eventually became castaways and died in that place.

A woman's shoe, an empty bottle and a sextant box whose serial numbers are consistent with a type known to have been carried by Noonan were all found near the site where the bones were discovered.

"The reason why they found a partial skeleton is that many of the bones had been carried off by giant coconut crabs. There is a remote chance that some of the bones might still survive deep in crab burrows" - was according to Gillespie (TIGHAR executive and author.)

.

Such promising news! Amelia's disappearance will not be a mystery anymore.

Frankencamera

This is Computer science professor Marc Levoy of Stanford shows off his prototype "Frankencamera". He is the son, grandson and great-grandson of opticians, so he comes naturally by his interest in things visual. He imagines a future in which the camera is able to make adjustments that better mimic what the human eye is capable of. What He is holding "is big and ugly". It's made from recycled parts, but just for now...

This "Frankencamera" is just like an iphone that can be altered in nearly infinite ways, depending on the applications downloaded to it. So, this is made to beat even the best SLR today.

Mr Levoy and his colleage, developed a program that instructs the camera to take two rapid shots if a frame has both dark and light parts. One shot exposes correctly for the dark; one shot exposes correctly for the light. The program then merges the two images into one, taking the best parts from each. These are just a couple of examples of how programmers could change the future of photography with the Frankencamera. The camera, use Linux operating system, which is "open source," which means the camera owner can change everything about the electronic guts.

Frankencamera is only a prototype for now, and Mr. Levoy says they will not compete with Nikon and Canon, just to try and push traditional camera makers to incorporate more of these flexible ways of producing images in their cameras. Presumably, it will become smaller and more elegant over time.

The Best Place to Live

I wake up this morning feeling tired, tired of life I'm leading. And when I arrived at the office, I was welcomed by piles of piles of paperworks, nagging supervisors - over reacting on something (sorry but I have to be very honest - I know they might be reading this...). Yeah, I am leading a nerve cracking life, and hoping to go somewhere, go to a far place where there is no traffic, no noise pollution and live in a cottage near the lake, sorrounded by thick pine trees and with a mountain capped with snow. It's a stress free place to live in, for me.

I think I have to go to Norway! Norway is the best place, in fact ranked one, in the annual United Nations human development index. Yeah, there are lakes and snow capped mountains there, a stressfull place with clean water and air...

Other options that are in the Top ten best places to live are Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

Let's go and have a peaceful life there!

Newest Technology that Set Self-Destruct Data

Are you bothering about your secrets to be revealed? Lets say, confidential e-mails, text messages or even photos and videos that you know (scandal blah blah)... sometimes we go beyond our limitations, just for the challenge? And the next day, you'll find it in the world wide web, watched by the whole world...!

Well, I think this is a great news for you. University of Washington introduced a new technology that is called Vanish, and it is designed to make your electronic messages just literaly vanish.

"With self-destructing data, users can regain control over the lifetimes of their Web objects, such as private messages on Facebook, documents on Google Docs, or private photos on Flickr," the researchers wrote in the paper announcing their work.

The self-destroying data is a seductive idea for people concerned about privacy. Imagine, just like what we see in a movie. But yeah, we have to take some few considerations like some people can use it for wrong purposes. It could be easy for criminals to do something and can't be detected. And for legal purposes, some relevant data that can be use as evidence could not be retrieved. This is perhaps can be helpful for us, but can do great change to create great problems.

Mysterious Disease I'm Sure You'd Never Heard Of...

We are living in an unforgiving strange world, yet a beautiful place to live in. There are still lots of mysterious matter we are about to know. Things that perhaps will take years us to understand. How about some mysterious diseases? Check this out.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
This is one of my old time favorite story, I watched the animated film a hundred times, I can say... and I'm glad there is a Semi-3D movie that is coming. But, I never expected to read about a disease that is called an Alice inWonderland Syndrome. Sounds so bizarre!

This disease id also known as Todd's syndrome. It is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human perception. Sufferers may experience size distortion of other sensory modalities. Reports suggests that the symptoms of AIWS are fairly common in childhood, with many people growing out of them in their teens. It appears that AIWS is also a common experience at sleep onset.

Treatment is the same as that for other migraine prophylaxis: anticonvulsants, antidepressants, beta blockers, and calcium channel blockers, along with strict adherence to the migraine diet. No studies are available that display any correlation between age, gender or race. AIWS is thought to be relatively common among migraine sufferers.

Pica

This is really a strange illnes. A pregnant women or children developed an appetite to eat non-nutritive substances, such as paint, clay, plaster or dirt (ewwww!!!), or alternatively items that are more commonly considered to be food ingredients, such as raw rice, flour or salt.

Moebius syndrome

An extremely rare genetic disorder. Characterized by complete facial paralysis. Sufferers cannot close their eyes, look from side to side, or form facial expressions. Limb abnormalities such as clubbed feet and missing fingers are often also present. But they can live long healthy lives.

The President's Plan: Health Care

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."

– President Barack Obama, February 24, 2009

Pres. Obama addressed to a joint session of Congress about His plan on Health Care Program. This is a great news. He explained how the reformed Health insurance program will provide more security for those who who have health insurance coverage and for those who don’t, and will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government.

The Administration believes that comprehensive health reform should:

•Reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government
•Protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs
•Guarantee choice of doctors and health plans
•Invest in prevention and wellness
•Improve patient safety and quality of care
•Assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans
•Maintain coverage when you change or lose your job
•End barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions

Because of this reform program, getting a health insurance won't be a burden for every family in U.S. There are lots of great Health Insurance plan we can choose. Florida Health Quotes is offering great and low cost insurance plan. They guarantee and efficient service for everybody and offer different quotes as well as Travel Quotes.

For the past years, the costs of Health insurance doubled and in fact a rate 3 times faster than cumulative wage increases. This forces families to sit around the kitchen table to make impossible choices between paying rent or paying health premiums. Given all that we spend on health care, American families should not be presented with that choice.

This reform program is really important and great to be given attention. My cousins in U.S. are was able to avail the low Health Insurance.

Eco-Campaign that All Women Should Support

I'll talk about something that sounds like "underware". Yup, its about BrA.

According to a report, women for some reason had this behavior that 61% of women hesitate when it comes to throwing away all old bras. It may have to do with the fact that often when they are discarded, it’s not because they are dirty or unsuitable for wear; perhaps only out of style. And many women said that they would not like to see other women wearing their discarded underwear. (Absolutely...!) In areas where the use of translucent bags for garbage collection is mandatory, women who don’t want others to see what they are doing for whatever reason feel they have to literally cut up the bras into small fragments.

Then it came to Japan's innovative resolution that leads to recycle bras into solid Fuel. Eco-campaign hosted by Wacoal, Japan’s leading manufacturer of ladies’ underwear, is a collection of bras weighing approximately 3.59 tons, the length of which, if hooked together, would be three times the height of Mt Everest!

And a competing company known as Triumph, is following the lead of its rival and in a transparent effort to “one-up it” and show the donor some appreciation, gives out 50-yen postage stamps per bag of bras. The bras are recycled into solid fuel, that knows not of different cup sizes and out-dated designs. In other countries like Brazil, bras are now being used for purposes other than fuel; namely both as revamped bras and also as unusual purses.

Great work for Japan! Yes, we have to think of how we can recycle our discarded things to save our place. Ladies, heads up, and may your cups always runneth over!

New Moon Movie Update

A stunning New Moon Movie Poster!

and oh, don't forget to buy tickets for New Moon Movie before it sold out.

Blah Blah... Whatever!

I didn't have any idea for today, I spent most of the time reading articles and before I sleep I decided to share it with you.

Here are three some nice articles that I wanna share:

• English is toughest European language to read

Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year, but British kids take two-and-a-half years to reach the same point. They found that those learning Romance languages such as Italian and French progressed faster than those learning a Germanic language such as German and English.


• Aspirin May Harm the Healthy

Aspirin use to prevent primary cardiovascular events is only appropriate where individual patients are considered by their doctor to be at special risk from particular factors such as obesity, lifestyle, stress and a familial history.

Healthy people who take aspirin to prevent a heart attack are doing themselves more harm than good, according to new research, the study found that healthy people, or those who have not had a heart attack, who take aspirin every day almost double their risk of being admitted to the hospital for internal bleeding.


• Bacteria Clean Sewage and Create Electricity

Geobacter grows by breaking down organic materials and transferring electrons pretty much onto anything that looks like iron.
When attacking environmental pollutants such as aromatic hydrocarbons, Geobacter can break down some 90 percent. All in all, systems incorporating Geobacter can recover up to nearly all the electrons within sewage. Energy that bacteria could generate from wastewater could help power the considerable needs of wastewater treatment.

Have a great day everybody!