John Mauldin writes about an intriguing new book by his friend Andy Kessler called The End of Medicine, subtitled "How Silicon Valley (and Naked Mice) Will Reboot Your Doctor."
What happens when you go to the doctor today? He uses a stethoscope to listen to your heart, looks down your throat and ears, and asks you questions. These were all 19th-century technologies, with some minor updates. X-rays? 80 years or more ago.
Medicine today is focused on fixing what ails you. If you have heart problems, let's put in a stent or repair a valve. Lipitor to help control your cholesterol. Chemotherapy to deal with your cancer, if we can't cut it out.
In short, we spend $1.5 trillion just in the US on trying to fix what goes wrong, and precious little on preventing things from going wrong. Health-conscious people try to eat right, exercise, take supplements, have regular check-ups, and avoid things that are bad for us; but if there is a problem, we go to the doctor to get it fixed.
That is going to change, and it is going to change at an even faster pace than did our cellular phone service. It will come one innovation, one small step at a time; but in 10 years, 15 at the outside, we will be more focused on preventing illness than fixing it.
Your front-line doctor is going to be displaced by technology. It is going to be one of the most massive disruptions in history.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
UFOs at NASA?
The search for proof of the existence of UFOs landed Gary McKinnon in a world of trouble.
After allegedly hacking into NASA websites -- where he says he found images of what looked like extraterrestrial spaceships -- the 40-year-old Briton faces extradition to the United States from his North London home. If convicted, McKinnon could receive a 70-year prison term and up to $2 million in fines.
[from frwr-news, 7/15/06]
After allegedly hacking into NASA websites -- where he says he found images of what looked like extraterrestrial spaceships -- the 40-year-old Briton faces extradition to the United States from his North London home. If convicted, McKinnon could receive a 70-year prison term and up to $2 million in fines.
[from frwr-news, 7/15/06]
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
put your unused computer time to use
Researcher David Baker believes the key to an AIDS vaccine or a cure for cancer may be that old PC sitting under a layer of dust in your closet or the one on your desk doing little else but running a screen saver. Those outdated or idle computers may be just what Baker needs to turn his ideas into scientific breakthroughs.
Baker, 43, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, realized about two years ago that he didn't have access to the computing horsepower needed for his research — nor the money to buy time on supercomputers elsewhere.
So he turned to the kindness — and the computers — of strangers.
Using software made popular in a massive yet so far fruitless search for intelligent life beyond Earth, he and his research team are tapping the computing power of tens of thousands of PCs whose owners are donating spare computer time to chop away at scientific problems over the internet.
Baker's Rosetta@home project is attracting PC users who like the idea of helping find a cure for cancer and admire the way Baker has involved regular people in his research that aims to predict how protein structures unfold at the atomic level.
"We're getting these volunteer virtual communities popping up that are doing wonderful things," Baker said. "People like to get together for good causes."
Baker's work could one day lead to cures to diseases from cancer to Alzheimer's. The project takes a more direct approach to other diseases, including the search for an HIV vaccine. In that case, his team hopes to develop a way to help the body recognize critical parts of the virus' proteins so that it can no longer hide from the body's immune system.
-- Donna Blankinship, Associated Press
Baker, 43, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, realized about two years ago that he didn't have access to the computing horsepower needed for his research — nor the money to buy time on supercomputers elsewhere.
So he turned to the kindness — and the computers — of strangers.
Using software made popular in a massive yet so far fruitless search for intelligent life beyond Earth, he and his research team are tapping the computing power of tens of thousands of PCs whose owners are donating spare computer time to chop away at scientific problems over the internet.
Baker's Rosetta@home project is attracting PC users who like the idea of helping find a cure for cancer and admire the way Baker has involved regular people in his research that aims to predict how protein structures unfold at the atomic level.
"We're getting these volunteer virtual communities popping up that are doing wonderful things," Baker said. "People like to get together for good causes."
Baker's work could one day lead to cures to diseases from cancer to Alzheimer's. The project takes a more direct approach to other diseases, including the search for an HIV vaccine. In that case, his team hopes to develop a way to help the body recognize critical parts of the virus' proteins so that it can no longer hide from the body's immune system.
-- Donna Blankinship, Associated Press
Monday, July 10, 2006
fans keep Star Trek alive
Paul Sieber was wearing a "Star Trek" uniform in the deep Virginia woods when he found himself surrounded by a leathery-looking gang.
Fortunately, the ruffians were dressed up as Klingons, and Sieber, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, was preparing to film them with a $6,000 digital video camera. At times like this, Sieber, writer and director of "Starship Farragut," must come to grips with the obvious — not all Klingons are trained actors — and bellow, "Quiet on the set!"
From these Virginia woods to the Scottish Highlands, "Star Trek" fans are filling the void left in a galaxy that has lost "Star Trek." For the first time in nearly two decades, television spinoffs from the original 1960s "Star Trek" series have ended, so fans are banding together to make episodes.
Fan films have been around for years, particularly those related to the "Star Wars" movies. But they now can be downloaded from the Web, and modern computer graphics lend them surprising special effects. And as long as no one is profiting from the work, Paramount, owner of the to "Star Trek" rights, has been tolerant. (Its executives declined to comment.)
Up to two dozen of these fan-made "Star Trek" projects are in various stages of completion, depending what you count as a full-fledged production. Dutch and Belgian fans are filming an episode; there is a Scottish production in the works at www.ussintrepid.org.uk.
There is a group in Los Angeles that has filmed more than 40 episodes, according to its Web site (www.hiddenfrontier.com), and has explored gay themes that the original series never imagined. Episodes by a group in Austin, Texas, at www.starshipexeter.com, feature a ship whose crew had the misfortune of being turned into salt in an episode of the original "Star Trek," but now has been repopulated by Texans.
"I think the networks — Paramount, CBS — I don't think they're giving the fans the 'Trek' they're looking for," said Sieber, a 40-year-old engineer who likens his "Star Trek" project, at www.starshipfarragut.com, to "online community theater."
"The fans are saying, 'Look, if we can't get what we want on television, the technology is out there for us to do it ourselves,' " he added.
And viewers are responding. One series, at www.newvoyages.com, and based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., boasts of 30 million downloads. It has become so popular that Walter Koenig, the actor who played Chekov in the original "Star Trek," is guest-starring in an episode, and George Takei, who played Sulu, is scheduled to shoot one this year. D.C. Fontana, a writer from the original "Star Trek" series, has written a script.
-- Danny Hakim, New York Times
Fortunately, the ruffians were dressed up as Klingons, and Sieber, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, was preparing to film them with a $6,000 digital video camera. At times like this, Sieber, writer and director of "Starship Farragut," must come to grips with the obvious — not all Klingons are trained actors — and bellow, "Quiet on the set!"
From these Virginia woods to the Scottish Highlands, "Star Trek" fans are filling the void left in a galaxy that has lost "Star Trek." For the first time in nearly two decades, television spinoffs from the original 1960s "Star Trek" series have ended, so fans are banding together to make episodes.
Fan films have been around for years, particularly those related to the "Star Wars" movies. But they now can be downloaded from the Web, and modern computer graphics lend them surprising special effects. And as long as no one is profiting from the work, Paramount, owner of the to "Star Trek" rights, has been tolerant. (Its executives declined to comment.)
Up to two dozen of these fan-made "Star Trek" projects are in various stages of completion, depending what you count as a full-fledged production. Dutch and Belgian fans are filming an episode; there is a Scottish production in the works at www.ussintrepid.org.uk.
There is a group in Los Angeles that has filmed more than 40 episodes, according to its Web site (www.hiddenfrontier.com), and has explored gay themes that the original series never imagined. Episodes by a group in Austin, Texas, at www.starshipexeter.com, feature a ship whose crew had the misfortune of being turned into salt in an episode of the original "Star Trek," but now has been repopulated by Texans.
"I think the networks — Paramount, CBS — I don't think they're giving the fans the 'Trek' they're looking for," said Sieber, a 40-year-old engineer who likens his "Star Trek" project, at www.starshipfarragut.com, to "online community theater."
"The fans are saying, 'Look, if we can't get what we want on television, the technology is out there for us to do it ourselves,' " he added.
And viewers are responding. One series, at www.newvoyages.com, and based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., boasts of 30 million downloads. It has become so popular that Walter Koenig, the actor who played Chekov in the original "Star Trek," is guest-starring in an episode, and George Takei, who played Sulu, is scheduled to shoot one this year. D.C. Fontana, a writer from the original "Star Trek" series, has written a script.
-- Danny Hakim, New York Times
Who Killed The Electric Car?
[7/8/07] Tesla: The Next Generation. Tesla Motors, based in Silicon Valley, recently began selling its first production car, the Roadster. Beyond its stylish looks, Tesla's top selling points are downright revolutionary: There's absolutely no gasoline. The car is 100% electric. This isn't a hybrid, folks. It can go roughly 221 miles on a single 3.5-hour charge. Zero to 60 MPH in 3.9 seconds, enough to put many Ferraris to shame. Top speed is 125 MPH. The base price -- $109,000 -- isn't for the squeamish, but cheaper models are on the way.
[1/8/07] Unlike hybrid gas-electric offerings from Toyota, Honda, and Ford, the Volt promises to be truly unique -- the first commercial car not powered by the internal combustion engine.
[8/30/06] A new breed of electric car poses an attractive alternative for drivers tired of pricey gas
[7/10/06] Chris Paine's ode ode to General Motors' EV1, an electric car whose brief promise of a future free from dependence on gasoline and its choking by-products was rudely crushed, leaving devoted EV1 owners so devastated that a group of them staged a mock funeral.
Paine was one such owner (executive producer Dean Devlin was another), and if he's hell-bent on finding a conspiracy behind the rise and fall of the EV1 he's also decent enough to allow that a naturally occurring perfect storm of broad-based consumer boneheadedness, corporate bad faith, shortsighted governance and general resistance to change might also have been to blame.
Paine begins in 1990, when car-clogged California's smog crisis, coupled with the fact that GM had recently unveiled the prototype for a workable electric car, prompted the state's Air Resources Board to pass a radical resolution: the Zero Emissions Mandate. It required that within eight years, two percent of all cars sold in California had to be emissions-free, and that the percentage was to reach 10 by 2003. The EV1 was the commercial version of the unfortunately named Impact, which was developed at the behest of notorious CEO Roger Smith (the "Roger" of Michael Moore's 1989 ROGER AND ME) after a custom-built "sun racer" built by GM engineers won the 1987 World Solar Challenge race.
EV1s began rolling into dealerships in California and Arizona in December 1996. The quiet, snazzy-looking two-seater got between 70 and 120 miles to a charge, but was available for lease only; prospective buyers endured long waits, vague delivery dates and intrusive interviews. And they still loved their cars, from celebrities like Tom Hanks, who talked up his on Late Night with David Letterman to Peter Horton, whose EV1 wound up as the last one in private hands.
Paine argues persuasively that as a corporate entity, GM undermined the EV1 at every turn, then cut back production after claiming there was no consumer demand. When leases came due, GM repossessed the cars and crushed them.
He also marshals extensive evidence that the automotive and petroleum industries banded together to force the Zero Emissions Mandate's repeal; that the Reagan and Bush administrations systematically dismantled federal policies supporting fuel economy, conservationism, and alternative fuel sources instituted by President Carter during the '70s gas crisis; and that hidebound automakers poisoned mainstream consumers against the very idea of electric cars by exploiting bigger-is-better status consciousness, resistance to government interference (the same interference that mandated seat belts, air bags and safety glass), and suspicions that tree-hugging sissies wanted to force everyone to drive mingy little golf carts.
Impassioned, unwieldy and padded with celebrity interviews, Paine's documentary ends on a surprisingly upbeat note, suggesting that America's "addiction to oil" is complex and deep-rooted but not hopeless, given the collective will to find a solution. — Maitland McDonagh
[6/26/06] Silicon Valley is trying to do something Detroit couldn't -- build an electric car that people will buy. Start-up Tesla Motors is using money from investors including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to build a sports car you can plug into the wall.
[1/8/07] Unlike hybrid gas-electric offerings from Toyota, Honda, and Ford, the Volt promises to be truly unique -- the first commercial car not powered by the internal combustion engine.
[8/30/06] A new breed of electric car poses an attractive alternative for drivers tired of pricey gas
[7/10/06] Chris Paine's ode ode to General Motors' EV1, an electric car whose brief promise of a future free from dependence on gasoline and its choking by-products was rudely crushed, leaving devoted EV1 owners so devastated that a group of them staged a mock funeral.
Paine was one such owner (executive producer Dean Devlin was another), and if he's hell-bent on finding a conspiracy behind the rise and fall of the EV1 he's also decent enough to allow that a naturally occurring perfect storm of broad-based consumer boneheadedness, corporate bad faith, shortsighted governance and general resistance to change might also have been to blame.
Paine begins in 1990, when car-clogged California's smog crisis, coupled with the fact that GM had recently unveiled the prototype for a workable electric car, prompted the state's Air Resources Board to pass a radical resolution: the Zero Emissions Mandate. It required that within eight years, two percent of all cars sold in California had to be emissions-free, and that the percentage was to reach 10 by 2003. The EV1 was the commercial version of the unfortunately named Impact, which was developed at the behest of notorious CEO Roger Smith (the "Roger" of Michael Moore's 1989 ROGER AND ME) after a custom-built "sun racer" built by GM engineers won the 1987 World Solar Challenge race.
EV1s began rolling into dealerships in California and Arizona in December 1996. The quiet, snazzy-looking two-seater got between 70 and 120 miles to a charge, but was available for lease only; prospective buyers endured long waits, vague delivery dates and intrusive interviews. And they still loved their cars, from celebrities like Tom Hanks, who talked up his on Late Night with David Letterman to Peter Horton, whose EV1 wound up as the last one in private hands.
Paine argues persuasively that as a corporate entity, GM undermined the EV1 at every turn, then cut back production after claiming there was no consumer demand. When leases came due, GM repossessed the cars and crushed them.
He also marshals extensive evidence that the automotive and petroleum industries banded together to force the Zero Emissions Mandate's repeal; that the Reagan and Bush administrations systematically dismantled federal policies supporting fuel economy, conservationism, and alternative fuel sources instituted by President Carter during the '70s gas crisis; and that hidebound automakers poisoned mainstream consumers against the very idea of electric cars by exploiting bigger-is-better status consciousness, resistance to government interference (the same interference that mandated seat belts, air bags and safety glass), and suspicions that tree-hugging sissies wanted to force everyone to drive mingy little golf carts.
Impassioned, unwieldy and padded with celebrity interviews, Paine's documentary ends on a surprisingly upbeat note, suggesting that America's "addiction to oil" is complex and deep-rooted but not hopeless, given the collective will to find a solution. — Maitland McDonagh
[6/26/06] Silicon Valley is trying to do something Detroit couldn't -- build an electric car that people will buy. Start-up Tesla Motors is using money from investors including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to build a sports car you can plug into the wall.
BASIC
[6/23/10 frwr_news] Just BASIC is a programming language for the Windows operating system. It is completely free and it is suitable for creating all kinds of applications for business, industry, education and entertainment. Just BASIC borrows many features from our popular commercial product Liberty BASIC.
[3/11/07] FreeBASIC - as the name suggests - is a free, open-source, 32-bit, MS-QuickBASIC's syntax-compatible compiler, that adds new features such as pointers, unsigned data types, inline-assembly and many others.
[7/10/06] GW-BASIC was once the main language used on home computers and is still useful in learning the fundamentals of computer programming and smaller utility programs.
You can get GWBASIC 3.23, GW-BASIC Manual, Compiler, tutorials, examples and games courtesy of KindlyRat.
[frwr-news, 7/6/06]
Actually though, I like QBasic (and the commercial QuickBasic) much better.
[9/9/06 frwr-news] It is possible to develop GUI applications with well known BASIC syntax in a modern fashion. KBASIC comes with truly Java-like object orientation and backward support for VB6 and QBasic, as it is 100% syntax compatible.
[3/11/07] FreeBASIC - as the name suggests - is a free, open-source, 32-bit, MS-QuickBASIC's syntax-compatible compiler, that adds new features such as pointers, unsigned data types, inline-assembly and many others.
[7/10/06] GW-BASIC was once the main language used on home computers and is still useful in learning the fundamentals of computer programming and smaller utility programs.
You can get GWBASIC 3.23, GW-BASIC Manual, Compiler, tutorials, examples and games courtesy of KindlyRat.
[frwr-news, 7/6/06]
Actually though, I like QBasic (and the commercial QuickBasic) much better.
[9/9/06 frwr-news] It is possible to develop GUI applications with well known BASIC syntax in a modern fashion. KBASIC comes with truly Java-like object orientation and backward support for VB6 and QBasic, as it is 100% syntax compatible.
Friday, July 07, 2006
A Virtual Keyboard
Women seem to carry their entire house in their purse. Most gals can usually whip out a band-aid, assorted make-up products, tissues, and of course, a wallet and cell phone, but how about a keyboard? Perhaps a techie like me could. I admit, in addition to the aforementioned items, I usually have my PlayStation Portable (PSP) along with some spare games, digital camera, and extra memory sticks. No my purse isn’t that big, and I don’t actually carry around a humungous keyboard with me. I’m talking about a virtual keyboard that’s about the size of a pack of gum - no joke!
The iTECH Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard has a red plastic window where a projection module uses a red diode laser to emit a keyboard template. The holographic optical element used to display the virtual keyboard then produces a full-size keyboard image onto your desk, or any other flat surface (with no protrusions over 1mm), and allows you to type wherever you are. It will make simulated key click sounds as your fingers press the virtual keys and break the laser, so it will sound like you’re typing.
-- Alison Stewart, MidWeek, June 16, 2006
The iTECH Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard has a red plastic window where a projection module uses a red diode laser to emit a keyboard template. The holographic optical element used to display the virtual keyboard then produces a full-size keyboard image onto your desk, or any other flat surface (with no protrusions over 1mm), and allows you to type wherever you are. It will make simulated key click sounds as your fingers press the virtual keys and break the laser, so it will sound like you’re typing.
-- Alison Stewart, MidWeek, June 16, 2006
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
WebReaper
WebReaper is web crawler or spider, which can work its way through a website, downloading pages, pictures and objects that it finds so that they can be viewed locally, without needing to be connected to the internet. [from frwr-news]
I tried it on my Yahoo fantasy basketball league and it worked pretty decently, though it didn't support the popup windows and crawled only so far.
I tried it on my Yahoo fantasy basketball league and it worked pretty decently, though it didn't support the popup windows and crawled only so far.
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