දිනුශංකගේ ලියමන

Starting up

2011-09-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

The liyamana is going live again .From today on i'll update this blog. :)

How swarm size affects download speeds

2010-11-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

I'm sure all of you notice that you usually download (much) faster than you upload on average, right? So, how is this possible, if the number of total bits downloaded in a swarm always equals the number of bits uploaded (Uploaded to downloaded ratio for a swarm as a whole must equal 1:1) ?

You download faster than you upload because some other peer is doing the exact opposite, i.e. uploading faster than they are downloading. A seed only uploads, contributing to the overall swarm upload count, allowing another peer(s) to download a bit more than they upload. Every peer uploading > downloading means another peer can download > upload.

In small to medium-sized swarms, there are usually enough seeders (or peers with large upstream pipes) to support greater download speeds than upload speeds for the other peers in the swarm.

However, I'm sure you've noticed that there are usually far more peers than seeds in any given swarm. This is especially true in large swarms. You have thousands (or tens of thousands) of peers wanting to download faster than they upload (since most net connections have larger downstream pipes than upstream), but only hundreds of seeders to support that desire. Those extra uploaded bits are being competed for by thousands of peers (rather than hundreds or dozens on smaller swarms), so you are much less likely to get that extra download speed you'd like.

If you take the total number of seeds and divide them by the total number of peers in the swarm, then you can have some idea of the competition there is within the swarm for pieces and bandwidth. The total numbers of peers and seeds for any torrent can be found either on the tracker hosting that torrent, or in the case of Azureus, the numbers in brackets in the seeds and peers columns (these numbers include yourself when downloading or seeding, and don't when a download is stopped or queued). If there are too few seeds, then the competition for limited bandwidth, and rare pieces will be enormous, and the download will be slow no matter what the overall size of the swarm is.

Unfortunately you can't pull bits out of thin air; they need to be uploaded by someone. This is why downloading on large swarms seems to go slower than on smaller swarms: everybody is uploading at only 10k/s, but wanting to download at 100k/s....which is impossible, since the overall swarm ratio will/must always be 1:1.

One important thing to remember is, is that most providers limit the upload more than the download. 4mbit download against 1mbit upload or something. If you don't want to kill your download speed, set your upstream speed to about 80% of your maximum upstream speed. Leave enough bandwidth for your download. Limiting the max connections per torrent might stabilize your download. Azureus needs less time searching for connections and can concentrate on the up-download part which might save bandwidth.

And remember, seeding is really really important! Somebody spent time seeding so that you could download the file. So it is crucial that you seed so that other people can share it too. That is why it is called p2p file-sharing and not p2p file-downloading. Any time you feel that this may be too much of an inconvenience for you, or think you have too small an upstream pipe, think about all those who spent ages seeding no matter what the size of their pipe, so you could download. Please try to keep that in mind.

Google's Nexus Arrives Today? EAVB_SWHVXMOOTE

2010-01-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

Good God! It's January 5 folks! Today is the day when Google would be holding a special press meet at its Mountain View Campus - mostly believed to be the launching platform for the Nexus One, Google's own Android based smartphone.

While we are yet to receive any correspondence from Google regarding the nature of the conference today, most have largely assumed this to be the official announcement of the Nexus One and Google's future plans with the device. While it would be most welcome from Google if it uses this opportunity to announce something other than this, we won't complain - as long as it is something really kick ass. (Ahem: Remember Google Wave?)

Having said that, let's get back to the Nexus One, the specs of which was revealed a week ago. The phone, which is the first ever "GooglePhone", sports a 3.7-inch gargantuan display and has even been termed by some to be the best Android device yet. Other specs include:

Android 2.1

HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA 2Mbps

Qualcomm Snapdragon (QSD 8250) processor at 1GHz

4 illuminated softkeys (Back, Menu, Home, Search)

Tri-color charging and notification LED

Haptic feedback

Accelerometer

Light sensor

Proximity sensor

A-GPS

Digital compass

Wi-Fi

3.5mm headset jack

Active noise cancellation

5MP camera with autofocus, LED flash, geotagging and 2x digital zoom

Stereo Bluetooth 2.1 (A2DP, EDR)

512MB Flash memory

512MB RAM

4GB MicroSD card included (supports cards up to 32GB)

MicroUSB

Weight: 130 grams (1400 mAh battery included)

Would that be droolworthy enough? Watch this space as the events unfold a few hours from now.

Google Wave

2010-01-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

Google Wave is a self-described "personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009.[1][2] It is a web-based service , computing platform , and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail , instant messaging , wikis , and social networking .[3] It has a strong collaborative and real-time[4] focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, spelling/grammar checking , automated translation among 40 languages,[2] and numerous other extensions.[4] Initially released only to developers, a "preview release" of Google Wave was extended to 100,000 users in September 2009, each allowed to invite twenty to thirty additional users. On the 29th of November 2009, Google accepted most requests submitted soon after the extended release of the technical preview in September 2009; these users have around 25 invitations to give.

Google Wave is designed as a new Internet communications platform. It is written in Java using OpenJDK and its web interface uses the Google Web Toolkit . Google Wave works like previous messaging systems such as email and Usenet , but instead of sending a message along with its entire thread of previous messages, or requiring all responses to be stored in each user's inbox for context, message documents (referred to as waves) that contain complete threads of multimedia messages (blips) are perpetually stored on a central server. Waves are shared with collaborators who can be added or removed from the wave at any point during a wave's existence.

Waves, described by Google as "equal parts conversation and document", are hosted XML documents that allow seamless and low latency concurrent modifications.[5] Any participant of a wave can reply anywhere within the message, edit any part of the wave, and add participants at any point in the process. Each edit/reply is a blip and users can reply to individual blips within waves. Recipients are notified of changes/replies in all waves in which they are active and, upon opening a wave, may review those changes in chronological order. In addition, waves are live. All replies/edits are visible in real-time, letter by letter, as they are typed by the other collaborators. Multiple participants may edit a single wave simultaneously in Google Wave. Thus, waves can function not only as e-mails and threaded conversations but also as an instant messaging service when many participants are online at the same time. A wave may repeatedly shift roles between e-mail and instant messaging depending on the number of users editing it concurrently. The ability to show messages as they are typed can be disabled, similar to conventional instant messaging.[3]

The ability to modify a wave at any location lets users create collaborative documents, edited in a manner akin to wikis . Waves can easily link to other waves. It is in many respects a more advanced forum.[6] A wave can be read and known to exist by only one person, or by two or more. It can also be public, available for reading and writing to everyone on Wave.

The history of each wave is stored within it. Collaborators may use a playback feature in Google Wave to observe the order in which a wave was edited, blips that were added, and who was responsible for what in the wave.[3][4] The history may also be searched by a user to view and/or modify specific changes, such as specific kinds of changes or messages from a single user.[2]

As of November, 2009, Google Wave is still in active development and is expected to remain in development until later in 2009.[2] It was launched to about 100,000 users on September 30, 2009.[7] Google Wave access can be requested. Developers have been given access to Wave proper, and all wave users invited by Google can nominate up to 20 others.

HSPA+: High Speed Packet Access Plus

2010-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

HSPA+: High Speed Packet Access Plus

HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Plus) is also known as HSPA Evolution and Evolved HSPA. HSPA+ was standardized in 3GPP Release 7 and Release 8. HSPA+ will apply some of the techniques developed for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and allow operators to extend the life of their HSPA networks. 3G Americas initiated proposals at 3GPP to lead the development of the HSPA+ standards which now have received wide scale commitments from operators.

HSPA+ will bring improved support and performance for real-time conversational and interactive services such as Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC), picture and video sharing, and Video and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) through the introduction of features like Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antennas, Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC) and Higher Order Modulations.

Some of the key features of HSPA+ include the following:

HSPA+ is a simple upgrade to today’s HSPA networks, protecting an operator’s investment in the network. HSPA+ enhancements are backward-compatible with UMTS Release 99/Release 5/Release 6
HSPA+ provides a strategic performance roadmap advantage for incumbent GSM-HSPA operators providing OFDMA-equivalent performance in 5X5 MHz spectrum allocations with only incremental investment. HSPA+ could match, and possibly exceed, the potential performance capabilities of IEEE 802.16e-2005 (mobile WiMAX) in the same amount of spectrum, and could match LTE performance when using 5 MHz of spectrum.
HSPA+ will significantly increase HSPA capacity as well as reduce latency below 50 milliseconds (ms)
The first phase of HSPA+ with 64 QAM has already been deployed commercially and is providing peak theoretical downlink throughput rates of 21 Mbps
HSPA+ with 64 QAM and advanced antenna techniques such as 2X2 MIMO can deliver 42 Mbps theoretical capability and 11.5 Mbps on the uplink and could be ready for deployment in 2010
Smooth interworking will be provided between HSPA+ and LTE that facilitates operation of both technologies. As such, operators may choose to leverage the System Architecture Evolution/Evolved Packet Core (SAE/EPC) planned for LTE.
HSPA+ supports voice and data services on the same carrier and across all of the available radio spectrum and offers these services simultaneously to users

HSPA+ is an affordable and incremental upgrade to existing HSPA networks. It provides a tremendous advantage to HSPA operators, which is not an option for CDMA operators who are already unable to compete with the higher data throughput performance of HSPA and have no future evolution commercially viable for enhancement to their EV-DO networks today. Because it offers impressive performance at an incremental cost, some HSPA operators plan to use HSPA+ as a companion to LTE.

Telstra in Australia, Starhub in Singapore, CSL in Hong Kong and Mobilkom Austria in Central and Eastern Europe were the first operators to launch commercial HSPA+ networks in early 2009, initially providing peak theoretical download speeds of 21 Mbps. Several operators such as Telstra plan to upgrade their networks to 42 Mbps in the short term.

Benefits

Fully integrated
Qualcomm's HSPA+-enabled solution features fully integrated next-generation wireless capabilities and advanced applications. Integration of these features onto a range of chipsets, allows manufacturers of data cards, handsets and personal/mobile computing devices to get their devices into the marketplace faster than ever.
Cost effective
HSPA+ solution is backward compatible with prior generations of WCDMA and does not require wireless network operators to obtain/purchase new spectrum for deployment. Thus, operators can leverage their existing network and spectrum resources - preserving investments - to offer next-generation wireless bandwidth and performance.
Greater functionality
Qualcomm's HSPA+ solution enables the mobile broadband experience consumers and professionals demand today and well into tomorrow, including multimedia streaming, video telephony, quick and accurate position location, real-time 3D mobile gaming, corporate network access, faster Web browsing, and multitasking.

Nokia’s Linux-Based N900

2010-01-05T08:46:00.000-08:00

Nokia’s new N900 “mobile computer” is now, finally, official. The N900 is most notable for being the first handset to features the Finnish company’s new Maemo 5 operating system, an OS skewed heavily towards internet use and built on a Linux base. Here are the key features of this rather sleek looking new cell.

The screen is touch sensitive (natch) and squeezes 800 x 400 pixels into 3.5-inches, the unit includes GPS, an FM transmitter, TV-out and USB ports and a 5MP camera. And of course it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, something very important for some people (although there is an on-screen QWERTY, too). It also has a hefty 32GB of on-board memory, expandable with a microSD card.

In short, it does everything a modern phone should. What it will come down to is the software, a place where Nokia has arguably lost its way of late. Nokia’s dumb-phones were probably the easiest to use handsets then available. Will Maemo fix this?

For that, we’ll have to wait for the hands-on test. But the pictures look promising, and the light-on-dark interface is both clear and gorgeous. The N900 will be available in October for around €500 ($710). And one more thing: the Mozilla browser does Flash. Take that, iPhone.

Future of the Web: Location, Location, Location

2010-01-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

When Sam Altman visits New York, he's never alone for very long. Altman is the 24-year-old CEO of Loopt, a company that makes a "location-aware" app for mobile phones that tracks where all of your friends are and what they're doing.

"I'll pull it out on the ride in from the airport, and before I've even gotten to the city I'll have figured out who's nearby me, and we'll be making plans to get together that night," Altman told me. If he looks on his phone's map on a Saturday night, he can literally see groups forming in real time. "It's getting to the point now where if you want do something social, you have all this information about the world around you," he says.

Location-based applications are quickly becoming the hot new thing on phones. Since many mobiles today — most particularly the iPhone — can determine their location via GPS chips (or pinging local cell towers and WiFi signals), they're spawning a whole new ecosystem of apps. There are social ones like Loopt or foursquare, which track the movement of friends as well as find-stuff tools like Yelp that locate top-rated bars and restaurants near you. According to web-research firm Compete, one in three mobile-phone owners uses location-based tools, and the number of apps has exploded from 500 to 2,500 since last October.

Yet this new class of information tool violates everything we normally think about the internet.

The whole reason the web revolutionized the world was that it rendered geography irrelevant. People connected worldwide based not on location but on their common interests: Model-train collectors and free-speech activists and Britney Spears fans could swarm onto the discussion boards and blogs, from Chicago to Tehran. By severing the link between location and geography, the internet turned everything upside down.

Now mobile phones are inverting everything again, in the other direction — because your location becomes most important thing about you. So how is the return of geography going to change our lives?

The near-term effects are obvious: We're using it as a sort of radar for our social lives and Yellow-Pages needs. The first round of geo-aware phone apps has consisted mostly of "listings" services and tools for tracking your posse.

Altman thinks these apps are already tweaking people's everyday behavior. Early adopters often allowed only approved friends to track them; but now a larger chunk of Loopt users publish their location openly, for anyone to see. Why? Being open allows for more happy encounters — hook-ups with friendly strangers who are useful, or at least interesting, to know.

What's the next? It's probably ''tagging:'' Writing up notes, implanted in space, that describe something interesting about a particular location. Some apps already offer crude versions of this: With Socialight or Brightkite or Graffito, people can pick a spot on the map — using their phone or browser — and post a note that others will see when they're nearby.

These markups are still pretty sparse, but they're intriguing: When I wander through midtown Manhattan, I find it's an odd mix of the utilitarian — notes warning me that a bar has awful service, or recommending an awesome music store — and grippingly personal: a dispatch describing where somebody had a breakup and what it was like.

"It's like this form of Terminator vision," jokes Socialight founder Dan Melinger, whose app is set to launch soon on the iPhone. He thinks that as more and more people tag the real world, it will create a sort of parallel, invisible internet of data floating over our everyday lives.

"You can figure out the mood of a place by searching for all notes in an area," Melinger adds. What types of music do people listen to in this neighborhood? What do they argue about?

All those tracks of our lives form an enormously rich stream of information. So most geo-app pioneers are developing collaborative-filtering tools that find patterns in the data; for example, recommending other people you might want to "friend" because they have similar everyday behavior — going to the same cafes and schools and bars (at the same time of day) and talking about the same topics in their tags. (And, of course, alerting advertisers if you're the type of person who drinks a lot of coffee, as evidenced by your daily route.)

Altman calls this the "life graph" — the lattice of invisible geodata you produce every day as your phone leaves trails through the digital ether

Geo-apps face one big technological hurdle, though: Most phones do not allow an app to constantly check its location — every minute, say — in part because that constant pinging would drain the mobile's battery. They thus require you to pull out your phone and look at it, and many people find this onerous (or simply forget to do it regularly).

Assuming those tech hurdles can be overcome in the next few years, many geo-app makers envision physical space marked up with interesting information that actively pops up when you walk past a particular location.

In the long run, we could find ourselves living in a world where long, threaded discussions and conversations occur not only on blog postings or Facebook status updates but in specific cafes, public buildings, or rooms.

Granted, the privacy aspects of geodata are hair-raising. Many of these new apps intend to monetize their service by helping advertisers target you based on where you go — using your "life graph", as it were, to sell you things. Geo-enhanced advertising is likely to be something potentially useful — and annoying and occasionally unsettling — as Google's ads keyed to your search queries and e-mails.

Ted Morgan, the CEO of Skyhook — a company that maps out WiFi signals worldwide, to help phones pinpoint their location — thinks the way geotagging really changes life is by becoming part of everything: All Tweets, all Facebook entries, all MySpace posts, all news items become automatically marked up with geographic data. What will that do? He's not sure. But then again, nobody predicted social networking, either.

"You're going to see some Mark Zuckerberg guy come out with an idea that nobody could foresee," he predicts.

Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Air Force Completes Killer Micro-Drone Project

2010-01-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

The Air Force Research Laboratory set out in 2008 to build the ultimate assassination robot: a tiny, armed drone for U.S. special forces to employ in terminating “high-value targets.” The military won’t say exactly what happened to this Project Anubis, named after a jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology. But military budget documents note that Air Force engineers were successful in “develop[ing] a Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV) with innovative seeker/tracking sensor algorithms that can engage maneuvering high-value targets.”

We have seen in recent years increased strikes by larger Predator and Reaper drones using Hellfire missiles against terrorist-leadership targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But these have three significant drawbacks.

First, you can never be quite sure of what you hit. In 2002’s notorious “Tall Man incident,” CIA operatives unleashed a Hellfire at an individual near Zhawar Kili in Afghanistan’s Paktia province. His unusual height convinced the drone controllers that the man was Bin Laden (who stands 6 feet, 5 inches). In fact, he was merely an innocent (if overgrown) Afghan peasant.

A second problem is that the Hellfire isn’t exactly the right weapon for the mission. Originally designed as an anti-tank missile, it’s not especially agile, nor is it designed to cope with a target that might swerve or dodge at the last second (like cars and motorbikes).

And thirdly, such strikes tend to affect a number of others, as well as the intended target. It raises the risk of killing or injuring innocent bystanders.

This was the rationale for Project Anubis. Special Forces already make extensive use of the Wasp drone made by AeroVironment. This is the smallest drone in service, weighing less than a pound. It has an endurance of around 45 minutes, and line-of-sight control extends to 3 miles.

It might seem limited compared to larger craft, but the Wasp excels at close-in reconnaissance. Its quiet electric motor means it can get near to targets without their ever being aware of its presence.

The Air Force’s 2008 budget plans described the planned Project Anubis as “a small UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] that carries sensors, data links, and a munitions payload to engage time-sensitive fleeting targets in complex environments.” It noted that after it was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Anubis would be used by Air Force Special Operations Command. The total cost was to be just over half a million dollars.

No official announcements have been made since then, and the Air Force did not return a request to comment on this story (hardly surprising for a weapon so likely to be used covertly). But the current Air Force R&D budget does mention the effort, briefly. This newer document refers to Project Anubis as a development that has already been carried out. According to the budget, $1.75 million was spent to reach the goal.

The current state of Project Anubis is unknown. It could be one of tens of thousands of military research efforts that started, made some progress and ended without a conclusion. Or Anubis could now be in the hands of Air Force Special Operations Command.

If so, Anubis would solve both of the problems associated with the Predator-Hellfire combination. It would follow and catch the most elusive target, and its ability to take a video sensor close to the target should mean it can be positively identified before the operator has to make a go or no-go decision.

(There may be a classical reference here: The god Anubis was responsible for weighing the hearts of the dead to judge whether they would have eternal life. The Project Anubis MAV will have to make similarly fine judgments.)

A tiny warhead, weighing a fraction of a pound, could mean extremely little collateral damage, compared to the 20-pound warhead on a Hellfire.

I reported in 2007 on a rumor that the miniature Wasp drone (photo at top) might get a lethal “sting.” It now appears that word of this new weaponry was more than idle talk.

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Google Nexus One

2010-01-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Nexus One should showcase the latest generation of the Linux-based open source Android operating system. It’s also the first phone that is expected to be directly marketed by Google, setting higher expectations for the phone.

Google’s upcoming Tuesday press conference is likely to mark the debut of the Nexus One, the search company’s own Android-based smartphone.

Here’s what we know about the phone so far.

Hardware

The Nexus One was designed by HTC, which has a close relationship with Google. HTC created the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, and has released at least five Android handsets since the operating system launched in October 2008.

Though packed in a big, white box with the Google logo printed prominently, the Nexus One clearly shows the stamp of HTC’s design sensibilities. Photos show a device similar to the HTC Droid Eris phone with its trackball and four buttons at the bottom of the phone.

The Nexus One has a 1-GHz Snapdragon CPU, a 3.7-inch 480 x 800 display, 512 MB of of RAM and an expandable 4-GB microSD card, says Engadget. The 1-GHz processor alone should make the Nexus one of the fastest smartphones available currently.

By contrast, the Palm Pre has a 600-MHz Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor and the Motorola Droid runs a 550-MHz Arm Cortex A8 processor.

The Nexus One doesn’t lack in the bells and whistles either. It has a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi connectivity, accelerometer, compass and proximity sensors. The phone is also reportedly extremely thin — slimmer than the iPhone and HTC’s Droid Eris.

Operating System

Nexus One will run Android 2.1, the latest version of the operating system. That is a step up from the Droid’s Android 2.0.

Android 2.1 will likely be snappier and have an improved user interface. Among the enhancements are a new widget for weather and news, a power control widget and a redesigned media gallery, says HTC Source, an unofficial site that tracks HTC news. It also includes support for multitouch, but that’s a feature that’s reportedly missing in the Nexus One.

Still the 2.1 version has largely consisted of “bug fixes.” At this point, we hope there’s more to the latest version of the OS than what we know so far.

Pricing

The Nexus One will be available on the T-Mobile network. Leaked documents suggest that the device will retail for $530 unlocked (though according to Engadget, it will not work on AT&T’s 3G network). The subsidized price of the Nexus phone will be $180 and customers will have to commit to a two-year contract. T-Mobile is expected to offer just one monthly plan for the phone — $80 for 500 minutes, free weekend and in-network calls and unlimited text messages and data.

The phone could start retailing as early as Tuesday through either T-Mobile or the Google website.

Overall, the Nexus One seems underwhelming. Sure, the phone is likely to be sleeker and faster than its peers, but there’s little to suggest that it will set a new standard for smartphones. Unless Google has a few surprises up in its sleeve — either in pricing or device capability — the Nexus One could get lost in the flood of Android devices currently hitting the market.

Age of Solar System Needs to Be Recalculated

2010-01-05T06:37:00.000-08:00

“Since the 1950s, or even before that, no one had been able to detect any differences” in the quantities of uranium, says Gregory Brennecka of Arizona State University, coauthor of a paper describing the work published online Dec. 31 in Science. “Now we’re able to measure slight differences.”

A trusted equation for calculating the age of the solar system may need rewriting. New measurements show that one of the equation’s assumptions — that certain kinds of uranium always appear in the same relative quantities in meteorites — is wrong.

Those differences could mean that current estimates of the age of the solar system overshoot that age by 1 million years or more. Historical estimates place the age at about 4.5 billion years—a number that is not precise enough to show a difference of one million—but more finely honed recent calculations place the age at more like 4.5672 billion years. One million years is still an eyeblink at this scale, representing the difference between 4.566 and 4.567, but this difference is important in understanding the infant solar system.
“The building blocks of planets all formed within the span of 10 million years at most,” says coauthor Meenakshi Wadhwa, also of Arizona State. “When you start to try to unravel the sequence of events within that 10 million years, it becomes important to resolve the time scales within a million years or less.”

The study also finds evidence bolstering the idea that a low-mass supernova exploded nearby shortly before the solar system was born, providing heavy elements to build planets.
Geochemists measure the ages of rocks by measuring the abundance of radioactive isotopes — versions of the same element that have different atomic masses — in parts of meteorites called calcium-aluminum–rich inclusions. These inclusions are thought to be the first solids to have condensed from the cooling cloud of gas that gave birth to the sun and planets.
Because a radioactive element decays from a parent isotope to a daughter isotope at a specific rate, scientists can infer the age of a rock by comparing the amounts of each isotope.
The currently accepted calculation of the solar system’s age is derived from comparing lead-206, a daughter isotope of uranium-238, to lead-207, a daughter isotope of uranium-235.
That comparison relies on knowing the ratio of uranium-238 to uranium-235. Earlier calculations of the ratio all came up with the same number, 137.88. The assumption that the ratio was constant simplified calculations greatly — it allowed scientists to combine both uranium values into a single number, eliminating one variable from the equation. Lead isotopes are easier to measure with high precision than uranium isotopes, so an age-estimation system based only on lead values was thought to be extremely precise.
“Everybody was sitting on this two-legged stool claiming it was very stable,” comments Gerald Wasserburg, emeritus professor of geology at Caltech who was involved in much of the early work in measuring uranium ratios. “But it turns out it’s not.”
There were reasons to doubt that the uranium ratio was constant. For one thing, no theoretical reasoning supports the assumption. What’s more, measurements that relied on other, less precise radioisotopes disagreed with the age derived from lead — but agreed with one another.
“It’s kind of been a black eye for a few people in geochronology,” Brennecka says. “To really say we know the age of the solar system based on the age of the rock, it’s essential that they all agree.”
To test whether the uranium ratio really was constant, Brennecka and colleagues took samples from calcium-aluminum–rich inclusions in the well-studied Allende meteorite and measured how much uranium-235 and uranium-238 they held. Technological innovations made their measurements more precise than previous efforts.
Measurements at Brennecka’s lab and at a collaborator’s lab in Frankfurt, Germany, both showed an excess of uranium-235. This excess means that future geochemists will have to first measure the quantities of uranium-235 and uranium-238 in early solar system materials before determining their ages.
“It’s not as if this age-dating process doesn’t work anymore,” says coauthor Ariel Anbar, also of Arizona State. “But if you want to push this isotope system to get ages that are really precise, suddenly we realize that there’s this variation you need to take into account.”
The team also determined that the extra uranium-235 comes from trace amounts of a radioactive element called curium present in the early solar system and formed only in certain types of supernova explosions.
“It’s an important step forward,” comments Andrew Davis of the University of Chicago. “There have been so many unsuccessful experiments in the past, but this one succeeded. I think it will be an important piece of the puzzle.”

Decision Looms on iPhone Hack

2010-01-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

The geek masses are anxiously awaiting the unveiling of the next wonder gadget at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. What’s more, Apple is expected to drop the tablet bomb in San Francisco this month.

But overlooked and lurking behind this gadget envy is an important regulatory decision -– one expected in weeks on whether to authorize an iPhone jailbreak.

Apple said sanctioning an iPhone operating system hack would gut its business model. That plan has given way to more than 2 billion app downloads, in addition to an expected and much-rumored iPhone-like tablet.

“This would severely limit our ability to continue what we are doing as well as innovate for the future,” Greg Joswiak, an Apple marketing czar, recently told regulators considering the jailbreaking proposal before the U.S. Copyright Office.

At stake for Apple is the very closed business model the Cupertino, California-based electronics concern has enjoyed since 2007, when the iPhone debuted.

The proposal, brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, would pave the way for third-party apps on the iPhone — hence turning the iPhone into a blank slate to run whatever its owner wishes. That would be a huge financial blow, as Apple earns 30 percent for every App sold from its proprietary iTunes store, Joswiak said.

The proposed hack is part of the exemption process under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Every three years, the Librarian of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office entertain proposals for exemptions to copyright law.

Over the decade, a handful of other exemptions have been granted.

They include circumvention of anti-copying restrictions on DVDs for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in a classroom. Another was directed at the blind, allowing the circumvention of an e-book’s shuttered read-aloud function. Another allows the circumvention of access controls on CDs to research for security flaws.

But it’s unclear whether regulators would approve the EFF proposal. The government has repeatedly denied consumer-friendly oriented fair use changes, such as requests to make up backup copies of DVDs or video games, as well as requests for exemptions to enable copying DVDs to laptops and portable devices.

The content industry has also lobbied against the jailbreaking proposal alongside Apple. While opening up the iPhone’s OS would lead to the pirating of sanctioned iPhone apps, it would create a giant iPhone platform to play and copy infringing content like movies and games.

That said, approximately 10 percent of the 40 million iPhones and iPod touches already might be jailbroken, according to Jay Freeman, the operator of underground app store, Cydia. He told Gadget lab that about 470,000 people were connecting to the Cydia store on a recent day, up from 350,000 a day months ago.

Underground encryption-exploiting technology is available to unlock most locked-down content, including DVDs. Apple, echoing Hollywood, fears unlocking iPhone software would become elevated from the underground to the mainstream if sanctioned by the government.

Here are the nine DMCA exemptions under consideration. A decision is expected within weeks.

Video Boxes, ‘Notbooks’ and E-Books to Dominate Gadgets in 2010

2010-01-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

As the economy sputters back to life, gadget makers are preparing a whole raft of hardware for you to buy in 2010.

Some of it will even be worth purchasing.

Among the highlights: set-top boxes and TVs that will let you kiss off the cable company, 3-D televisions, increasingly powerful device “platforms” enhanced by massive app stores, e-book readers, a new crop of netbooks, and tiny projectors crammed into everything from cameras to netbooks.

Many of these devices will be on display at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, where more than 110,000 members of the electronics industry will gather to show off their wares and give the world a preview of what gadgets are coming out this year. It’ll be the second straight year of declining attendance for CES, where attendance topped 130,000 last year, but it’s still a major event in the gadget world. And Wired’s Gadget Lab team will be there, bringing you the highlights from the show, complete with photos and video.

“CES has been hit by the one-two punch of the general economic travails and the demise of Circuit City, which has led to further retail consolidation,” says Ross Rubin, an executive director at The NPD Group. However, Rubin says, it’s still a big show — and there will be lots there to appeal to gadget lovers.

It’s unlikely that there will be a single standout star of the show, the way the Palm Pre was at last year’s CES.

“It is such a vast show that it is rare that one product ’steals’ it the way we might see at a small technology conference such as Demo.”

And then there will be the tablets. Most industry observers, including Gadget Lab, expect Apple to release a tablet device, possibly called the iSlate or iGuide, sometime in 2010. Other major manufacturers, including HP, Dell, Intel, Nokia and HTC have been rumored to be working on tablet-style devices. Smaller companies including Fusion Garage, Notion Ink and ICD have announced plans for tablets in 2010. And many publishers, including Wired’s parent company, Conde Nast, are already working on the software to display e-magazines and other content on tablet devices.

But don’t expect much news on the tablet front this week. Whether their products aren’t ready yet or they’re just waiting for Apple to make the first move, most companies rumored to be working on tablets haven’t let any details slip yet (and they aren’t expected to say much more in Vegas, no matter how many martinis we ply them with).

Until then, we’ll have to content ourselves with imaginary visions of what an Apple tablet might look like — like the one above?

Read on to find out what we do know about the biggest gadget trends of 2010. – Dylan Tweney

Illustration: Courtesy Gluepet

So Long, Cable Company

Historians may look at 2010 as the year that gadget technology finally destroyed the cable companies. And it’s the rise of internet video that is making this happy day possible.

If you’ve seen an episode of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long then you know that the web is actually a decent place to get high-quality, original content — much of it free. As anyone with a high-speed connection and a faint knowledge of Google will confirm, in addition to the aforementioned Dr. Horrible, you can easily check out snippets of 30 Rock on Hulu, take in full episodes of The Office on ABC.com, or watch the latest episodes of The Daily Show on Comedy Central’s site.

TV manufacturers have noticed this trend, and have rapidly made web-connected TVs de rigeur. We noticed this trend a few months ago, and the latest crop of web-ready TVs that will be announced at CES 2010 will push the trend even further. Expect streamlined user interfaces, thinner LCD displays and lower prices. And most importantly, more models to pick from. Big-name TV makers like Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Vizio will offer web connectivity over a larger line of their products. We’re calling it: If a TV can’t access the internet directly in 2010, it might as well be sitting next to an exhibit of Neanderthals at the Natural History Museum.

When the free video grows a little tiring, for-fee services, led by Netflix, will save the day. The Xbox 360, the PS3 and a vast smattering of Blu-ray players all have the capability to stream media from Netflix’s catalog directly to a TV. Click a button, watch a movie. It’s that simple. And the majority of Blu-ray players, gaming consoles and media devices released in 2010 will have Netflix streaming capabilities.

The final stone atop cable TV’s pyramid? Video-streaming appliances like the Boxee Box. On it, you’ll be able to watch any piece of non-DRM-restricted media on the internet, share movies or TV shows with your pals, and stream videos cached on your computer’s hard drive. And then there’s the Sony PS3 (read on for our take on that).

For lack of a better word, we’ll call these multifeatured, internet-connected, media-streaming set-top boxes “video boxes.” Expect them to pop up everywhere in 2010.

Unless you like paying exorbitant prices and enjoy terrible service and smarmy service reps, there’s very little reason to keep your cable provider this year.

HACKS and TRICKS in Windows XP

2008-09-18T23:15:00.002-07:00

HACKS and TRICKS in Windows XP

Windows Xp Tricks and Hacks.

change start menu:

http://angusj.com/resourcehacker/

Make Shutdown Icon:

New|Shortcut

shutdown -s -t 60 -c " "

Make cmd open heaps of times:

start

slow.bat

start

slow.bat

start

Make command messages:

@echo off

echo TYPE WHAT THE HELL YOU WANT

pause

echo AS MUCH AS YOU WANT

pause

echo AND ADD 'PAUSE' IN BETWEEN LINES.

dir/s

goto 1

Hidden Stuff:

C:\windows\clock

C:\windows\System 32\oobe\images\title

Star Wars in Command Prompt:

In cmd type 'telnet' then 'o' then towel.blinkenlights.nl

change users password:

Type net user

Then net user administrator *(or the user you want to change)

then choose a password

Win Solitaire:

alt+shift+2 to win

Shortcuts:

start menu + d = show desktop

start menu + e = my computer

start menu + f = windows search

start menu + r = run

start menu + u = utility manager

start menu + l = show user screen

Here are more google network cameras (search these in google)

inurl:"viewerframe?mode=motion"

intitle:"snc-rz30 home"

intitle:"WJ-NT104 Main"

inurl:LvAppl intitle:liveapplet

intitle:"Live View / - AXIS"

inurl:indexFrame.shtml "Axis Video Server"

# nurl:"ViewerFrame?Mode=

# intitle:Axis 2400 video server

# inurl:/view.shtml

# intitle:"Live View / - AXIS" | inurl:view/view.shtml^

# inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=

# inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=Refresh

# inurl:axis-cgi/jpg

# inurl:axis-cgi/mjpg (motion-JPEG)

# inurl:view/indexFrame.shtml

# inurl:view/index.shtml

# inurl:view/view.shtml

# liveapplet

# intitle:"live view" intitle:axis

# intitle:liveapplet

# allintitle:"Network Camera NetworkCamera"

# intitle:axis intitle:"video server"

# intitle:liveapplet inurl:LvAppl

# intitle:"EvoCam" inurl:"webcam.html"

# intitle:"Live NetSnap Cam-Server feed"

# intitle:"Live View / - AXIS"

# intitle:"Live View / - AXIS 206M"

# intitle:"Live View / - AXIS 206W"

# intitle:"Live View / - AXIS 210?

# inurl:indexFrame.shtml Axis

# inurl:"MultiCameraFrame?Mode=Motion"

# intitle:start inurl:cgistart

# intitle:"WJ-NT104 Main Page"

# intext:"MOBOTIX M1? intext:"Open Menu"

# intext:"MOBOTIX M10? intext:"Open Menu"

# intext:"MOBOTIX D10? intext:"Open Menu"

# intitle:snc-z20 inurl:home/

# intitle:snc-cs3 inurl:home/

# intitle:snc-rz30 inurl:home/

# intitle:"sony network camera snc-p1?

# intitle:"sony network camera snc-m1?

# site:.viewnetcam.com -www.viewnetcam.com

# intitle:"Toshiba Network Camera" user login

# intitle:"netcam live image"

# intitle:"i-Catcher Console - Web Monitor"

Please rate and comment.

IP & Batch File Tricks & Hacks

2008-09-18T23:15:00.001-07:00

IP & Batch File Tricks & Hacks

IP Address Tracers Links:
http://www.tracemyip.org
http://visualiptrace.visualware.com
http://www.ip-adress.com

Domain Name Tracer Links:
http://whois.domaintools.com
http://www.whois.net

- Lag Computer with CMD
1. Create a new notepad file and type in the folowing code:
[bat1.bat]
@echo off
start bat2.bat
pause

[bat2.bat]
@echo off
start bat1.bat
pause

2. Go file: Save As and name it bat1.bat (make sure .bat and NOT .txt) and from the drop down menu choose 'all files'.
3. Right Click: Copy and then paste the file and rename the new file bat2.bat
3. Place those files into a folder and hide somewhere eg. C drive. Then create a shortcut of it somewhere else eg. the desktop and change the icon and name.

- Blue Screen of Death Prank
1. Create a new notepad file and type in the folowing code:
@echo off
cd /
cls
color 17
echo A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage
echo to your computer.
echo.
echo The problem seems to be caused by the following file: SPCMDCON.SYS
echo.
echo PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
echo.
echo If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen,
echo restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow
echo these steps:
echo.
echo Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
echo If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer
echo for any Windows updates you might need.
echo.
echo If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware
echo or software. Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.
echo If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart
echo your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then
echo select Safe Mode.
echo.
echo Technical information:
echo.
echo *** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xFD3094C2,0x00000001,0xFBFE7617,0x0000 0000)
echo.
echo.
echo *** SPCMDCON.SYS - Address FBFE7617 base at FBFE5000, DateStamp 3d6dd67c
pause :nul
cls
echo Downloading viruses . . .
ping localhost -n 5 :nul
dir /s
pause :nul

NOTE! Replace :nul with the arrow on the full stop button on the keyboard (youtube won't allow me to add that symbol in the description.) following by the word nul (with no spaces).

2. Go file: save as and save it hidden somewhere eg. C:/ naming it WHATEVER.bat and choose 'all files'.
3. Create a shortcut of it on the desktop and go to properties and change the icon and file name. Also in one of the tabs find 'full screen' so it will open full screened.
4. Take a screenshot using ctrl+printscreen and paste into paint and save as an image file. Use that as a screensaver or delete all icons on the desktop and set it as the wallpaper.

- Track IP Address of someone over MSN.
1. Send a file to someone on msn or receive a file from them.
2. Go to start menu:File:Run and type CMD and in command prompt type netstat.
3. Find in the code something with 'messenger, hotmail or live' in it.
4. A few lines down or below it should be an IP address, copy that into http://www.ip-adress.com

- Reset IP Address in CMD
1. Open command prompt
2. Type in ipconfig /release and then hit enter
3. Type in ipconfig /renew and then hit enter
- Enable CMD and registry editor:
1. Type the following code into notepad:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindo wsCurrentVersionPoliciesWinOldApp]
"Disabled"=dword:0
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindo wsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem]
"DisableRegistryTools"=dword:0
Delete Desktop Icons:
2. Save it as unlock.reg and open it to enable cmd and reg editor.

- Email IP Address Tracing
1. Visit http://www.ip-adress.com/trace_email/
2. Go to the email client you use and view the email source.
3. Copy the source and paste it into the box from the website.

Computer Pranks can be found here:
http://www.computerpranks.com/downloa...

And a .bat to .exe converter can be found here:
http://www.download.com/Bat-To-Exe-Co...
please rate and comments.

GOOOOOOOOOOGLE

2008-09-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

GOOOOOOOOOGLE HACKS AND TRICKS

Go to google and search the following:

- Access LIVE Network Cameras:

inurl:"Viewerframe?Mode="

SNC-RZ30 HOME

inurl:"viewerframe?mode=motion"

intitle:"Live View / - AXIS"

- View hidden web pages:

"robots.txt" "disallow:" filetype:txt

- Find encrypted passwords:

inurl:_vti_pvt "service.pwd"

- Upload and view other people photo albums:

inurl:"phphotoalbum/upload"

- Access network printers:

inurl:"port_255" -htm

Use Google as a calculator, converter etc. Just type what you need to find out e.g 'half a cup in tablespoons' or 567+234 then do a google search.

- Hidden google game!

google easter egg

- Weird calculator answer:

answer to life, the universe and everything

- Interesting facts:

google zeitgeist

- View ALL previous Google logo's

google holiday

- Access Admin accounts for php websites:

intitle:phpMyAdmin "Welcome to phpMyAdmin ***" "running on * as root@*"

Search media files online:

-inurl:htm -inurl:html -inul:asp intitle:"index of" (wmv|mpg|avi) starwars

Type the following codes in the address/URL bar...

- Make website photo's fly around the page

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName("img"); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+ "px"; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+" px"}R++}setInterval( 'A()',5); void(0);

- Edit/re-arrange any website (isn't permanent and only YOU can see it)

javascript: document.body.contentEditable = 'true'; document.designMode = 'on'; void 0

Also visit this site for a few more tricks I didn't get to mention/had to edit out because went over the 10 minute limit:http://www.marcandangel.com/2007/07/2...

Thanks for watching, Please rate and comment.

Honey Bee Fact Page

2008-07-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

The honeybee, one of man's oldest insect friends, gives us honey, beeswax and most important of all, the fertilization of many of our cropbearing plants. The honeybee is a social insect living in large colonies of from 20,000 to 80,000 individuals. There are five species of honeybees known: Apis mellifera (common honeybee); Apis dorsata (giant honeybee); Apis laboriosa (giant honeybee); Apis cerana (Indian honeybee) and Apis florea (dwarf honeybee).

The common honeybee is found worldwide and consists of a number of races or subspecies. There are four subspecies of the common honeybee occurring in Europe, three oriental subspecies and 12 African subspecies. These races vary in their nature. Italian bees are generally gentle creatures, whereas German bees are agressive. However, it should be noted that even the normally gentle Italian bee, when provoked, will try to sting you. The weather often affects the temper of bees, and on windy, cloudy days, when they are unable to search for nectar, pollen, etc, they are somewhat angry or frustrated, and they may "take it out" on some innocent passerby.

One honeybee with a nasty disposition is the hybrid Brazilian honeybee. This hybrid resulted when African bees brought to Brazil in 1956 escaped and bred with native bees. The African bees were imported to improve production in the bee keeping industry. African bees are very industrious, foraging, or searching for food, earlier in the day and working longer in the evening. They also can work at higher or lower temperatures and thus produce more honey per year than the European species. However, they are very aggressive, sting with little provocation and chase their victims up to 328 feet. (Italian bees will normally only chase about 33 feet). Right now the Africanized bees are widespread in South Africa. They have become established in Mexico, and should already be established in Texas. A swarm of them were transported to Southern California in 1985, but they were destroyed. The effect of this bee on the United States beekeeping industry is uncertain. Also uncertain is how far north they will be able to survive.

The Castes. Three types of individuals, or castes, can at one time or another be found in a honeybee colony, including the queen (a fertile female), workers (infertile female) and drones (male). There is only one egg-laying queen in a hive. Most of the colony is made up of workers who build and repair the hive, search for nectar and pollen, produce wax and honey, feed the young and protect the hive against enemies. Worker bees are unmated females. The males have but one purpose in life and that is to mate with virgin queens. Once they have done this they die. Drones buzz ferociously, but lack a sting and are entirely harmless.

The Bee Sting. Most people who fear bees, do so because of their painful sting. When the bee stings, the stinger, poison sac and several others parts of the bee's anatomy are torn from the bee's body. It soon dies, a fact that offers little relief to the person who is stung. The action of the sting takes place almost instantaneously. The sting has barbs on it, and if it is not immediately removed, the reflex action of the muscles attached to the sting drive it deeper and deeper into the skin. This gives more time for the discharge of poison from the poison sac. The pain from the sting is increased by the discharge of toxin.

Different individuals are affected in different ways by bee stings. Some of the things that cause the differences are the part of the body that is stung, the amount of poison that has entered into the system and the natural immunity of the individual. The actual pain from the bee sting doesn't last long and it is the after effects - the swelling and itching - that are the most disturbing. Some individuals are naturally immune and do not swell, while others are so badly affected by bee sting they may be confined to bed for a number of days. In some instances, the sting of a bee may result in red blotches on the skin, nausea, fainting and even death! The stinger of a bee, as was previously mentioned, has barbs on it, and thus remains in the skin. At times, complications may result from the sting being embedded in the skin. For this reason, an effort should be made to remove the entire stinger.

The western honeybee, or hivebee, also builds its nest of many combs in sheltered places and is found in the United States, Europe, and Africa. Colonies kept in hives yield an average of 23 kg (50 pounds) of honey.

Unlike other bees, honeybees do not hibernate during cold weather. They last out the rigors of northern winters by feeding on stored supplies and sharing their body heat, clustering together in dense packs.

Socialization is most advanced in honeybees. As new, young queens are about to emerge in an established hive, half of the colony leaves with the old queen and clusters on a nearby bush or tree while scout bees search for a new home. When the scouts appear to agree on a new location, the swarm departs. At the old nest, meanwhile, the first queen to emerge disposes of the other queens (by stinging them) before they have a chance to emerge. Within a few days, the virgin queen will fly to where drones assemble, and mate with 6 to 12 drones. The sperm from these drones is stored in a sac (spermatheca) and used during her egg-laying life of from two to five years or a maximum of nine.

DRONES AND WORKERS

Drones develop by parthenogenesis from unfertilized eggs that the queen produces by withholding sperm from the eggs laid in large drone cells. Drones lack stings and the structures needed for pollen collection; in the autumn they are ejected by the colony to starve, unless the colony is queenless. New drones are produced in the spring for mating.

Both queens and workers are produced from fertilized eggs. Queen larvae are reared in special peanut-shaped cells and fed more of the pharyngeal gland secretions of the nurse bees (bee milk or royal jelly) than the worker larvae are. The precise mechanism for this caste differentiation is still uncertain. Although workers are similar in appearance and behavior to other female bees, they lack the structures for mating. When no queen is present to inhibit the development of their ovaries, however, workers eventually begin to lay eggs that develop into drones.

PHEROMONES

The integrity of the colony is maintained by chemical secretions, or PHEROMONES. Workers secrete pheromones from the so-called Nasanov gland at the tip of the abdomen when they cluster, enter a new nesting site, or mark a source of nectar or water. The colony scent is recognizable by bees of the same colony because of its unique combination of components derived from the colony's particular collections of nectar and pollen.

When queens fly to mate, a mandibular-gland pheromone attracts the drones. The same gland produces another pheromone, called queen substance, which workers lick from the queen's body and pass along as they exchange food with one another. The eaten pheromone inhibits the ovaries of workers; when the queen's secretion is inadequate, the colony produces queen cells to supersede her.

The mandibular, or mouth glands of workers produce an alarm odor, which serves to alert the colony when it is disturbed. Workers also produce a sting odor, which is released at the site of the sting and serves to direct other bees to the sting area. Stingless bees bite leaves at intervals along their flight path to provide a scent trail of mandibular secretions.

DANCE LANGUAGE

The ability of honeybees to communicate direction and distance from the hive to nectar sources through dance "language" has received widespread attention. In 1973, Karl von FRISCH received a Nobel Prize for deciphering the language, which consists of two basic dances: a dance in a circle, for indicating sources without reference to specific distance or direction; and a tail-wagging dance in which the exact distance is indicated by a number of straight runs with abdominal wagging--the fewer runs per minute, the farther away the source. Wing vibrations produce sounds at the same rate as the tail wagging and are detected by organs in the legs of other bees. Researchers have developed a robot "bee" that can communicate with other bees in this way.

The various species of Apis, and races of honeybees, indicate a particular distance by a different dance tempo. This may lead the individuals in colonies with a mixture of races to misunderstand messages about the distance to a feeding site. Stingless bees communicate only by sounds.

The direction, or azimuth, to the food source is indicated by the angle of the wagging dance to the Sun. That is, bees use the Sun as a compass, orienting the dance angle to the plane of polarization of the sunlight. Even when the Sun is obscured by clouds, bees can detect its position from the light in brighter patches of the sky. Ultraviolet designs in flowers serve as nectar guides to blooms in areas as small as 4 sq m (43 sq ft2).

Honeybees also have a little-understood, built-in clock that appears to be synchronized with the store of nectar in flowers. Hence, honeybees making the rounds of flowers in search of nectar always seem to be at the right place at the right time.

Honey Treats Coughs Better Than Drugs That Spoonful of Honey May Beat Over-the-Counter Remedies

2008-07-26T09:40:00.002-07:00

There may be hope for parents looking for alternatives to drug-laden cough syrup to calm their children's coughs -- and help might be as close as that golden nectar in the kitchen. Honey can soothe throats and calm coughs, according to a new study.

Content

The study, published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, found that children who received a small dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime slept better and coughed less than those who received either a common over-the-counter cough suppressant (dextromethorphan) or nothing at all.

"This is the first time honey has been actually proven as a treatment," says lead study author Dr. Ian Paul, a researcher at Penn State College of Medicine. He adds that honey has been recommended for ages by grandparents in certain cultures.

The researchers enrolled 105 children, between ages 2 and 18, in their randomized, partially double-blind study. On the first night of the study, the children received no treatment. Parents then answered questions about their children's sleep and cough, as well as the quality of their own sleep. The second night, the children were given either honey-flavored cough syrup or honey -- or nothing at all. Parents then reanswered the questions in the survey.

Parents whose children received the honey rated their kids' sleep and symptoms as better -- and their own sleep as improved as well.

Healing Powers of Honey

Paul says that the type of honey plays a role in the treatment.

"Darker honeys have more antioxidants than lighter honeys, and we wanted the best chance to see improvements," he says, noting that lighter honeys would probably also benefit kids. "At least locally [buckwheat honey] is available. I can get it here at the local supermarket."

Honey is also generally less expensive than over-the-counter medications, he says, and bring none of the side effects like dizziness or sleepiness.

The current study was inspired by an earlier investigation by Paul and his group. In 2004, they showed that the two most common active ingredients in cough syrup, dextromethorphan and diphenhydramine, had the same effectiveness in treating cough symptoms as a placebo ingredient.

Some of the kids who took honey did experience side effects, according to the study. The parents reported slightly more hyperactivity when their kids took honey, compared with when they took cough syrup.

But it's also interesting to note that this is not the first time the sweet stuff has been looked to as a remedy. Honey has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to treat everything from wounds to insect bites. This usefulness can perhaps be attributed to the idea that an enzyme that bees add to the nectar produces hydrogen peroxide, an antibacterial agent.

A Conclusion That's Easy to Swallow

For coughs and sore throats, it may be the stickiness and viscosity of honey that makes it work well.

"It has long been known that demulcents [like honey] can soothe irritated mucous membranes and thereby remove the irritation that is fueling the cough reflex," says Paul Doering, co-director of the Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center at the University of Florida.

"This explains the popularity of the so-called 'cough drops' that we all were given as children," he says, adding that the cough syrups serve a similar purpose: they lubricate the throat, thus reducing irritation. "The immediate relief that one experiences when swallowing that dose of cough syrup is attributable to the viscous vehicle and not the medicine itself."

Other pediatricians warn that there is a minimum age when honey is appropriate. Only children 2 and older participated in the study.

"Pediatricians do not recommend using honey in any situation -- whether it be to eat or to relieve a cough in children younger than 1 because of the risk of botulism," says Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in private practice in Austin, Texas, explaining that botulism spores in honey can harm infants.

Brown says that even if honey is eventually shown to have little effectiveness, it certainly will not hurt -- and it can make parents feel as if they're doing something.

"It's benign, and as opposed to standard cough medicine, it tastes good," she says. "But the authors admit that the improvement in symptoms may simply be attributable to the length of time a child has symptoms of cough and that the common cold will improve over time anyway."

Doering says that since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent recommendation that cough and cold medicines not be given to children under 6 years old, this new research may calm the nerves of parents who wonder what to give their children.

"I believe that recommending honey as a cough medicine has merits. It provides a safe option to using chemical based options," he says, adding that honey is part of a trend of recommending more commonplace traditional remedies for ailments.

"We are in an age of newfound caution when it comes to dosing our kids for minor illnesses," says Doering. "Personally, as a pharmacist, I always feel uncomfortable recommending a chemical solution to every ill that comes along."

Use Honey to Soothe That Cough

2008-07-26T09:40:00.001-07:00

A recent study compared the effectiveness of honey to expensive cough medicines, as well as to no treatment at all, and found that the folk remedy worked better than any other option. Honey may work by coating and soothing an irritated throat, according to the study's authors.

"Many families are going to relate to these findings and say that grandma was right," Ian Paul, lead investigator and an assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University's College of Medicine, told the Associated Press. Researchers recruited 105 kids that suffered from upper respiratory infections from a clinic in Pennsylvania. Parents were given a paper bag with a dosing device that contained nothing at all, a dose of honey-flavored cough medicine that contained dextromethorphan, or a similar dose of honey.

After parents observed their children's sleep and cough systems, both before and after treatment, they were asked to rate the symptoms using a seven-point scale. And although all the kids recovered, honey scored the best performance across the board.

"Give them a little time and they'll get better," said Pat Jackson Allen, a professor at Yale University School of Nursing.

We should note, however, that the study was funded by the National Honey Board, an industry-funded agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though Paul said that the organization in no way influenced study design, data, or results