Weekly Tech News - Facebook + FriendFeed = FaceFeed

If you are in the know, you may be aware of the take-over, be it not a hostile one by Facebook of the 'online aggregator' FriendFeed earlier in the week. I have used FriendFeed to keep up with friends for quite some time, however it is a more passive system of interaction when compared to Facebook. In FriendFeed, when you follow somebody, all his tweets, blogpost, Facebook updates, pics uploaded into flickr etc will be alerted to you (fed to you) on a single convenient web page. It certainly have potential, but compared to the active interaction that you can have in Facebook, you will realise it needs an acquisition similar to this.

In another news, everyone on twitter would have realised how slow the system was, and on a few occasion, it did not even function. Apparently it was due to an attack on the servers by botnet, causing flooding and capacity issues.

Just to add to the confusion

A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the Government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.

The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, has been leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.

It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.

Oh dear!

Update on Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 6:55PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Jonathon Wong alerted me of this link on reading my initial post. You may want to read this article.

Palm Pre launch imminent - Walt Mossberg

In the new era of hand-held computers — super-smart touch-screen phones that run sleek, compelling software — Apple’s iPhone has been king. A new, improved iPhone is expected to be announced on June 8.

But on June 6, Apple will get a powerful competitor in this category. It’s a beautiful, innovative and versatile hand-held computer that’s fully in the iPhone’s class. It’s called the Pre, and it comes from Palm, the company that pioneered the hand-held computer in the 1990s.

Click on the reference to read more!

Got a new Camera?

Idlan and Irfan enjoying ice-cream at Tasik Titiwangsa. Photo taken on EOS 400d, post-processed in Adobe Lightroom, converted into black white using Nok Software's excellent Silver Efex Pro.

I bumped into one of my junior colleague earlier today. She bought the Canon G10, an excellent camera a couple of month back. However she is still finding it difficult trying to get the hang of things. I suggested she first surf the net for the many excellent site offering advice and tips. One that springs to mind is photo.net. I remember actually reading it's forum since 1997 in one incarnation or the other. Read Bob Atkin's review on many a camera. I actually bought the Canon EOS 5 at the back of his advice. The forum pages are very intriguing with many lively discussions. My favourite part was the writings on travel photography. The pages has been revamped over the years, but I still enjoy reading it. If you are into travel photography, make sure that you read the chapters on 'Travels with Samantha'. Samantha being a guy's Apple Macintosh notebook rather than a girl!

Another site worth checking out is Flickr. A lot of photos to enjoy and learn from, and the forum are also very good. There are many helpful tips specific to your gear written by people like you and me. Better still, participate in a flickr group and take part in their many activities. Only last night I signed up for the 2nd Annual Scott Kelby walkabout. The local KL flickr group also meet at a weekly basis, exchanging ideas and sharing their kung-fu!

Even Eton is closed due to the flu

Public school Eton will close for a week after a pupil tested positive for swine flu, a school spokesman has said.

The Berkshire boys school, which was attended by Princes William and Harry, was informed on Wednesday that a 13-year-old boy had tested positive.

Health authorities advised the school to shut until 7 June.

Atrial Fibrillation linked to Alzheimer's

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a condition where the heart pacemaker is not functioning effectively causing the heart rhythm to become erratic and irregular. Left alone, blood clot can form in the heart chambers. This clot then in turn can be pushed out from the heart, ending up of all places usually in the brain circulation and may result in a stroke. It is a common condition especially in the elderly. It can also be caused by thyroid problems, longstanding hypertension and damaged heart valves.

A group in Utah however found that patients with AF have more incident of Alzheimer disease - in Malay-speak nyanyok!. However it cannot conclude if this is a direct relation or rather due to coincidence as both condition are more common in the elderly. More research are needed though but the trend is interesting. I thought it is more likely that the patient become forgetful due to small strokes occuring over time.

Folic acid is also good for the unborn babies heart!

I have always learnt that folic acid in pregnancy prevents babies from having problem with their spinal chord. Its deficiency has been linked to a condition called spina bifida, in which the baby were born with part of their spinal chord exposed to the outside, or in some cases not fully developed causing the babies to have weak limbs.

According to a study from Canada, it also reduces the incidence of babies born with congenital heart deformities, a condition always feared by all mums and dads as soon as they see their babies for the first time. This includes 'hole in the heart' and the likes.

So mothers, munch on those folic acid tablets as told, or take plenty of bread ....

One Small Tweet for a Man, One Giant Leap for Twitter!

NASA astronaut Mike Massimino made twitter history yesterday by beaming the first tweet from space. It was a simple message reading;

From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!

You can actually follow him via tweeter on @astro_mike if you're keen. He will have his hands tied up in the next few days however as he is suppose to be doing some fixing on the Hubble telescope.

Taking too much vitamins is not good after all!

Everything ought to be taken in moderation, and it certainly also applies to taking vitamins. Read this article.

Taking vitamins after exercise may undo some of the beneficial effects of the workout, research suggests.

Some advocate taking antioxidants like vitamin C and E to help protect the body from harmful chemical by-products it creates in breaking into a sweat.

But German scientists now believe these "free radicals" may actually be good for us and even buffer against diabetes, PNAS reports.

And mopping them up with antioxidants may do more harm than good.

Webby Award Winners Announced

I know that Malaysians are not quite there yet to win the thing judging from the competitions on offer. The Webby is essentially the Oscars for the Internet content providers. Most of the winners were expected, including flickr, digg.com. There are also ones that I was surprised with, guardian.co.uk for example. The full listing is on this link.

By the way, United just thumped The Arse 3-1 just now!