Chinese doctors have revealed the existence of a 100 item check-list to gauge a future would-be astronaut’s health.

Some of the items include:

• No scars
• No history of serious illness in the last three generations of your family
• No tooth cavities (this is tough enough in North America, not sure how often most Chinese see dentists)
• Runny noses
• Ringworms
• Drug allergies
• Bad breath

“The bad smell would affect their fellow colleagues in a narrow space,” said Shi Bingbing, an official with the 454th hospital of People’s Liberation Army air force based in Nanjing, one of the six astronaut health screening hospitals.

Aside from the physical requirements of the job, the candidate must also possess a pleasant and adaptable disposition, the paper said.

“These astronauts could be regarded as super human beings,” Shi said.

China sent its first man to space in September last year. Zhai Zhigang, the son of a snack-seller, unveiled a small Chinese flag in space, helped by colleague Liu Boming, who also briefly popped his head out of the capsule.

The space walk was a step towards China’s longer-term goal of assembling a space lab and then a larger space station.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-08/01/content_8504696.htm

But even if the price ends up being more initially the Leaf has a few things going for it. 1) Nissan is drawing attention to the fact that the Leaf will cost less to operate than gasoline powered cars. The savings in both energy and maintenance, will come because there are fewer moving parts in the vehicle. 2)  Many governments currently offer incentives in the form of tax credits or rebates to purchase an electric car. 3) In the US market with it’s, recently announced, cash-for-clunkers program, that can be as much as another $5′000 off the price of a new car.

The Leaf uses a lithium-ion battery pack with an output of over 90 kilowatts. The Leaf’s electric motor puts out 80 kilowatts of power, substantial enough to give it the performance equivalent of a combustion engine. Nissan claims the Leaf has a range of over 160 kilometers.  This is reminiscent of other electric vehicles currently in the works from other automakers. Taking a page from today’s Hybrids, the Leaf uses regenerative braking and has a recharge time of 30 minutes to get the battery pack up to 80 percent using a quick charger. From a 200 volt source, the Leaf takes 8 hours to recharge.

There is one feature of minor concern. The car’s on-board computer, along with tracking typical metrics such as charge level and range, connects to a data center that will receive diagnostic information from the car. According to Nissan, “it will also keep the driver informed of local recharge stations.” Nissan says the computer will also provide entertainment for passengers. What Nissan does not mention, is if this information would also allow Nissan to track where your car is, how fast it’s going, and other data, that if were collected by the police without a warrant would result in a violation of privacy rights. It also does not mention what the retention policy would be for this data, and how easily law enforcement will be able to get access to it. Nissan will need to treat lightly on this.

The Leaf will originally be built in Japan, and sold in Japan, the United States, and Europe. As demand dictates, Nissan will build additional units in its Smyrna, Tennessee plant.

In the European pre-order deal users will get %50 off the cost of Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional editions. The deal runs from July 15 through August 9. The Vole has capped the number of copies that can be pre-ordered, likely creating an artificial bottleneck.

Personally enough with the amping already, let’s see what this baby can do.

We have all seen the various ads where Apple uses vague concepts such as, “Macs are cooler” and “Macs are easier to use”, to push their wares. We have all seen the cheap shots they take at Bill Gates by having a geeky and technologically inept twit touting Windows, only to admit that Macs are cooler in the end.

Well now Microsoft decided to run some ads specifically targeting Apple, and unlike the former’s unsubstantiatable statements, Microsoft attacks Apple where it really hurts, on price.

Macs on average are about twice as expensive as Windows based machines, running on the exact same hardware, and now Microsoft is driving the point home. In the ad, Microsoft compares a $972 Dell laptop to a $1999 Mac with virtually the same hardware. Apparently Apple’s legal department called Microsoft to get them to stop running the ads, because they lowered the price of their PCs (oops I mean Macs) by $100, making the ad technically slightly inaccurate. The end result, however, is that Macs are still hundreds of dollars more expensive, and seeing as how Apple just tipped their hand, Microsoft has every intention to ratchet up the ads even more.

How does it feel to have the finger wagging in your face now Steve? Let’s do some LSD and talk about it.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/16/apple_asks_microsoft_to_pull_ads/

I’m sure that with some improvement and ingenuity this concept will take off in the near future. Especially for those businesses focused on interactive media and design.

AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.

Palm PRE’s media sync software currently works with iTunes version 8.2, by pretending to be an iPod when users try download stuff form the iTunes store. With the release of 8.2.1 Wednesday, which does little other than to block the PRE’s ability to fool iTunes that it’s an iPod, that fun is over.

An Apple worm was recently quoted saying, “iTunes 8.2.1 is a free software update that provides a number of important bug fixes. It also disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.” We wouldn’t to have anyone pretend anything that’s for sure.

So all you Palm PRE users who were trying to be descent people by BUYING music at the iTunes store, unlike so many of your peers, learn your lesson well. Either don’t buy your music at all anymore, or just not from Apple’s iTunes store. Apple would of course love for you to run out and take back your PRE and buy an iPhone/iPod, but I think you should extend your middle finger and offer Apple a well deserved expletive instead.

With Apple, it’s always their way or the highway. Why can’t they just be happy that someone is spending money at their store?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/apple_disables_palm_pre_access_to_itunes

The release appears to be disabling a hack that allows users to use the iPhone 3G and 3GS as a wireless broadband modems for laptops and PCs, using their cell provider’s data plan.

This capability – known as tethering – was touted as one of the benefits of version 3.0 of iPhone software, when Apple sang its praises at its Worldwide Developers Conference last month. Unfortunately, Apple also announced at that time that the iPhone’s exclusive US carrier, AT&T, wouldn’t support tethering until it was damn well good and ready.

For those that can’t read between the lines, I”ll explain it simply. You can’t use tethering because of the anti-competitive and exclusive deals that Apple signed with certain mobile carriers. It means that services will not be offered as applications become available, instead allowing some third parties to dictate what you can or can’t do with your phone. It means that creative products and applications will be stifled until a proper way to fleece you out of your money has been thought-up. I would also hazard a guess, that this was not Apple’s own idea, but rather a special request by AT&T, and that should make it much more annoying. How does it feel iUsers (or should I say iUsed?) that some corporation was able to tell the manufacturer of your precious phone that they want certain features disabled. Does it feel like jailhouse love with no lubricant? It should.

If AT&T feels like taking a year or two “officially” allow tethering, because they might not want to upgrade their networks right way, well too bad for you iUser. Your phone provider signed an exclusive deal with a carrier and you can kiss their ass once you have passed over your hard-earned money.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/15/iphone_beta_disables_tethering/

www.system-network-solutions.com

Steve Jobs will not be shamed by his use of psychedelics in the past (Well, allegedly in the past. Common all these freaky looking gizmos and no one credits drug use). He has famously called his LSD experiences “some of the two or three most important things I have done in my life.” Examine that statement for a second. The CEO of a hugely successful corporation – the things he must have seen and done – and yet his LSD use is one of the most important experiences in his life.

LSD inventor Albert Hofmann, just before his death, decided to write to the iPhone creator to see if he’d be interested in helping a fellow researcher out with some research money.

Albert Hofmann died @ age 102, which in and of itself, is remarkable considering I am sure he has done a his fair share of the drug he helped create, and drugs are bad. He had penned this never-before-seen letter in 2007 to Jobs at the behest of fellow researcher and friend Dr. Rick Doblin.

Rick Doblin runs an organization dedicated to studying the medical and psychiatric benefits of psychedelic drugs. Below are the letters he wrote to Steve Jobs, and to his friend telling him about the letter. Find a link to the full story at the bottom.

***************************************************

Dear Mr. Steve Jobs,

Hello from Albert Hofmann. I understand from media accounts that you feel LSD helped you creatively in your development of Apple computers and your personal spiritual quest. I’m interested in learning more about how LSD was useful to you.

I’m writing now, shortly after my 101st birthday, to request that you support Swiss psychiatrist Dr. Peter Gasser’s proposed study of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. This will become the first LSD-assisted psychotherapy study in over 35 years.

I hope you will help in the transformation of my problem child into a wonder child.

Sincerely,

A. Hofmann

**********************************************

Dear Rick,

Thank you for all you do for my problem child. I am pleased to add whatever I can do from my part.

I learned much from your great letter, to do things after waiting for the right moment, how clever and careful you organize and do your work.

I do hope that my letter to Steve Jobs corresponds to your expectation, especially what regards the choice of the writing paper. [Doblin had asked Hofmann to use his personal letterhead. It's not what you're thinking.] I believe that I followed your prescription.

Hopefully Dr. Gasser will be successful with his request.

Cordially -

Albert

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-grim/read-the-never-before-pub_b_227887.html#hoffmanjobsletter

The new Toshiba phone is all screen – the touch-screen LCD measures 4.1-inches – and is only 9.9mm. In other words, just slightly thicker than a supermodel turned sideways.

Honestly now, my next phone better damn well fit in my wallet or I”m just not interested. Will I now have to endure horny nerdy kids bragging about how thin and small theirs is?

North Korea is accused of lunching an attack on various US and South Korean web sites. The attack was a plan old fashioned DOS flood using zombie machines; something that script kiddies have been doing for years now. How these guys managed to become a threat in any respect is beyond me. And why isn’t all traffic from North Korea, and Iran automatically just discarded into the trash in the first place?

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE56709E20090711