Recently in News Category

The entire cocoa genome (DNA) is being sequenced and analyzed as part of a project to help create stronger, healthier cocoa crops. Cocoa, of course s the key ingredient in chocolate. Through the collaboration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), IBM and the world's largest chocolate company Mars, scientists hope to increase the crop's yield, as well as pest and disease resistance and increased water and nutrient use efficiency. While cocoa is not grown in the U.S., IBM reports for every dollar of cocoa imported, between one and two dollars of domestic agricultural products (like corn and wheat) are used in the making of chocolate products. This is the first time all three entities, USDA-ARS, IBM and Mars, have collaborated on a crop-related project.

A stronger, healthier genetically modified cocoa bean that results in more chocolate supply and therefore cheaper chocolate is all well & good, but if you mess with the flavor, you will die. No seriously. I will hunt you down and I will kill you. Ok, I jest... a little. Me a chocoholic? You betcha!

Just got a popup toast icon in my current version of Windows Live Messenger saying that a new version of Windows Live Messenger was out - namely Windows Live Messenger 8.5 which has been in beta.

The previous (non-beta) version was Windows Live Messenger 8.1. In the new version, Messenger now works with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety to help you control who's on your child's list of contacts. It also has an updated look and feel and improved (VoIP) audio for video calls.

And according to Microsoft, here's some of the stuff they've added since MSN Messenger 7.0:

• Sharing Folders that let you collaborate with friends and share files, pictures, and videos
• The ability to send messages to contacts even when they're offline (they'll get your message the next time they log in)
• An easy view of your Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger contacts, all in one place
• The Roaming Identity feature that lets you log in anywhere you're online and still see your display picture, personal message, and shared folders
• Redesigned Contact Cards that let you access more data about your friends
• The ability to send an SMS message to a friend's phone

Go download Windows Live Messenger 8.5 here

Update: A reader points out that v8.5 came out in late 2007 and that Windows Live Messenger v9.0 is currently in private beta. He writes,"looks like you just got one of the security upgrade prompts to update to the latest version."

I'll have to go see if I can join the privata beta

According to Verizon, beginning next week, Verizon will make available to more than 10 million homes and businesses the nation's fastest consumer broadband connections, with download speeds up to 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps over their fiber to the home (FTTH) network.

Verizon had already offered the 50/20 Mbps and 20/20 Mbps services in its FiOS markets in Connecticut (my state), Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. The company is now expanding those offerings to new Verizon FiOS customers in parts of California, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington, replacing existing offerings of 30/15 Mbps and 15/15 Mbps services, respectively.

The mid-tier connection speed in those markets for new customers is being increased from 15/2 Mbps to 20/5 Mbps, and the basic service tier is being increased from 5/2 Mbps to 10/2 Mbps. Existing FiOS Internet customers who are interested in the new speed options can call Verizon for information about the new plans.

Check out these performance benchmarks:

At 50 Mbps, downloading a 5 GB (gigabyte) file, such as a 112-minute, high-definition movie purchased online, takes approximately 13.3 minutes, while a 50 MB (megabyte), or 60-minute, Web video takes 8 seconds, and a 5 MB MP3 music file takes less than eight-tenths of a second.

Using a 20 Mbps upstream broadband connection, a consumer could upload a 250 megabyte (MB) file of 200 photos in about 90 seconds, instead of the roughly 47 minutes it takes over a 768 kilobit-per-second (Kbps) upstream connection.  A 500 MB file, such as 400 digital photos or a medical imaging data file, can be uploaded in less than four minutes, compared with about 90 minutes over a 768 Kbps connection.  A 3 gigabyte (GB) file, such as a one-hour family video shot with a high-definition video camera, can be uploaded in around 20 minutes, compared with more than nine hours with 768 Kbps upstream.

Great, now if only Verizon FiOS was available in my neighborhood. Hello? Verizon? My pokey AT&T DSL is crying out to be replaced with your ultra-fast FiOS service. Help!

Several bloggers were abuzz with the news of Amazon's website being down today.

One site claims "Some customers reported that traffic caused the site to slow down considerably". The reason? "THOUSANDS of customers were in shopping heaven today when a pricing error on Amazon’s UK website caused online chaos." It adds, "For two hours, the entertainment giant was advertising massive discounts on several DVD box sets including a 44-disc set of hit US drama West Wing for just £17.97." And says, "Sales of Family Guy shot up over 200,000%, according to the Movers & Shakers chart on Amazon." Wow!

here's the full story on the possible cause of Amazon being down:
www.express.co.uk/posts/view/47292/Amazon-prices-spark-shopping-frenzy

PS3fanboy claims the Metal Gear bundle killed the Amazon.com website.
http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2008/06/06/metal-gear-bundle-kills-amazon-com/

Perhaps a combination of the two? Perhaps yet another "perfect storm" which also caused the Skype outage.

Only time will tell as to the true cause. In the meantime, fellow bloggers are reporting that Amazon's EC2 and S3 services are online and unaffected.

The new Jawbone, made by Aliph, is 50% smaller than the original Jawbone. This Gen 2 Jawbone Bluetooth headset enhances the original Jawbone's claim-to-fame capability - namely its superb ability to suppress background noise.

Here's some more pics of this sexy Bluetooth headset:






The noise reduction feature was originally called "Noise Shield" but is now called "NoiseAssassin". Jawbone's NoiseAssassin technology feels your speech with its patented Voice Activity Sensor (VAS). The Jawbone headset uses the VAS to distinguish the sound of your voice from ambient noise with incredible accuracy and then uses proprietary Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms to subtract the noise so only the sound of your voice comes through.

The NoiseAssassin technology was originally developed by Aliph for DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), which creates and delivers breakthrough technology for the U.S. military. It is tested and designed to work in the toughest, most inhospitable terrain, when clear communication is critical, which means for the average user it is designed to perform everywhere.

Check out the before and after sound quality with this graph:


The original Jawbone didn't perform as well as other headsets in reducing wind noise. It was one of my major complaints. The new Jawbone claims to have solved this problem and does much better in wind.

Similar to the previous version, the new Jawbone headset has two buttons that are operated by touching the outside shield, and they control all the functions of the headset, which is extremely lightweight at just 10 grams. Now you would think the new Gen 2 Jawbone would have better battery talk time, right? Wrong. The new Jawbone actually only has four hours of talk time compared to the old version's six. The reason is the smaller battery, which is a worthy sacrifice considering the original Jawbone felt like a boat anchor on my ear. But the good news is that it has a standby time of over 8 days vs only 5 days on the original Jawbone!

Here are the specs:

Weight: 10 grams
Talk Time: Over 4 hours
Standby Time: Over 8 days
Range: Up to 33 feet (10 meters)
Charge: 80% charge in 35 minutes, 100% charge in less than 1 hour
Colors: Black / Silver / Rose Gold
Supports Bluetooth(R) 1.1, 1.2, and 2.0

Additional features:

•  50% smaller than the original Jawbone
•  Military-grade noise elimination technology
•  Ten times better voice clarity than competing headsets -- meaning it transmits 90% less noise
•  Faster processing eliminates unexpected noise bursts
•  Unmatched intelligibility -- voices sound human, not robotic
•  Sophisticated dual microphone array reduces wind noise
•  Invisible touch controls
•  Three-dimensional texture on shield inspired by noise abatement surfaces
•  Premium materials including medical-grade plastic and fine leather
•  Magnetic USB cable & wall charger included
•  Three (3) earbuds -- small, medium, and large
•  Two (2) fine leather earloops -- medium and large
•  Two (2) slim earloops ideal for use with eyewear -- medium and large
•  Fits either ear

Availability and Pricing
The new Jawbone is available today for $129.99 at AT&T retail stores nationwide and online at www.jawbone.com. It's a bit of a premium for this headset, but well worth the voice quality in my opinion. It is available initially in matte black, it will be coming soon in silver and rose gold.

Today, I was downloading my financial information from various banks and credit cards and had difficulty loggiing on or downloading information from several of them. On Citibank's website I was able to logon, but couldn't successfully download the Quicken Web Connect file containing my 'recent activity'. This has never happened to me in the 8 years I've used Quicken with Citibank. About 15 minutes later I tried again and it worked.

However, I then logged onto Bank of America where I have a few accounts. I was able to logon, but when I try and view detailed account info, I get this web server error:

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@mbna.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Yeah, just what I want to see. My bank running a web server that "encountered an internal error or misconfiguration". Yeah, I know this is a generic error message, but still, banks of all websites should have 100% uptime with no errors.

So anyway, I then try my other Bank of America account and same error as above. Frustrated, I head on over to Discover to download it's account info to Quicken. This website wouldn't even let me logon! Now what in blazes is going on here? This is THREE major financial instutions that I'm having trouble with ALL ON THE SAME DAY. That's when it hit me. Today, the IRS is wiring out the tax rebates to millions of Americans (early I might add). My guess is that the government's computers are overwhelming the banking network or the bank's computers. Gee isn't that special? Hope my tax rebate doesn't get lost in the digital ether.

Anyone else experiencing issues? Let me know.

AT&T announced today that it'll be cutting about 1.5 percent of its workforce. The company calls it the "next step in streamlining its operations." AT&T had about 310,000 employees at the end of 2007, meaning the layoffs would affect about 4,650 workers. The layoffs mean a one time charge of about $374 million in Q1.

Guess their triple play U-verse isn't growing as fast as they would like. Well, if they came to my neighborhood like they promised they would last year, I'd sign-up to be a customer. Assuming of course they solved the exploding batteries problem. I don't need AT&T burning down my neighborhood. I like my house thank you very much.

Last week, I was listening to Mark Levin on WABC 770 AM radio when I learned that Herb Peterson, the inventor of the tasty Egg McMuffin had passed away at the age of 89. Herb's invention actually paved the way for McDonald's to introduce breakfast to McDonald's restaurants - previously only lunch & dinner were served. Mark Levin interviewed Herb's son David Peterson who explained that breakfast now accounts for 30% of McDonald's business. So McDonald's franchise owners owe a lot to this man. As do I, since Egg McMuffins are one of my favorite foods. Though with my Biggest Loser contest going on, I haven't had an Egg McMuffin in months!

Herb actually began his career with McDonald's Corp. as vice president of the company's advertising firm, D'Arcy Advertising. He even wrote McDonald's first national advertising slogan, "Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day." Peterson then became a franchise owner of six McDonald's restaurants in Santa Barbara and Goleta, California.

Per Mark's interview with David Peterson, David explained how his father Herb loved eggs Benedict and then worked on creating something similar for his McDonald's franchises. With that, the Egg McMuffin was born! It made its debut at a restaurant in Santa Barbara that Herb Peterson co-owned with his son David. The Egg McMuffin is a breakfast sandwich that consists of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle with the yolk broken, and topped with a slice of cheese and a slice of grilled Canadian bacon. It was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin

I took an excerpt of the Mark Levin show of the David Peterson interview and posted it here as an .mp3 if you want to hear the interesting history of the Egg McMuffin along with Mark's comedic interviewing style.

Surely Disney World would never experience a power outage, right? After all, Disney World rakes in millions of dollars each year from tourists. That includes thousands of dollars from my family visits to Disney World. Not to mention they are in Hurricane Valley, so surely their CTO and electrical engineers have backup power systems in place with tons of redundancy, right? Wrong!

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "A circuit breaker tripped at Disney's Epcot Center this morning, causing parts of the park to lose power and some rides to close down temporarily."

The article goes on to explain that a breaker tripped causing the entire park to "experience a sudden change in voltage, much like when lights flicker during a thunderstorm", according to Disney spokesperson Kim Prunty.

Apparently, it started at 11:30am and most attractions were up and running at this by 2 p.m. Egads! An hour and a half outage? That's like what, how many rides missed? Oh about 1 turn at Test Track, a notoriously long line.

Disney doesn't know what caused the breaker to trip. That makes you feel confident, doesn't it? According to the article, the power outage was limited to parts of Future World and the main entrance, but several rides stopped because of the power surge and had to go through a restarting process.

I'm headed back to Disney World May 29th. Can't wait to go! Gotta catch up with my old pal Goofy... Maybe he tripped the circuit breaker. He's always tripping up on things.

I can't seem to get to the Overture Keyword Selector Tool (http://inventory.overture.com/), a great site for researching keywords for SEO purposes.

I was just on the site 10min ago and now it stopped. Surely, the Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo, which owns Overture doesn't have anything to do with this? Does it?