Archive for January, 2009

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Microsoft releases Web Sandbox under open source

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Microsoft has made source code for its Live Labs Web Sandbox project for securing Web content through isolation available via open source under the Apache License 2.0, according to a report this week on Microsoft’s Port 25 site.

Web Sandbox features technology for mashing up code while maintaining process isolation, quality of service protection, and security. It is intended to address a problem in which Web gadgets, mashup components, advertisements, and other third-party content on Web sites either will run full trust alongside content or are isolated inside of IFrames. This results in many Web applications being intrinsically insecure with unpredictable service quality.

Since announcing the technology preview at Professional Developer Conference 2008 in Los Angeles in October, Microsoft has open-sourced the Web Sandbox framework and is partnering with industry leaders to evolve Web Sandbox into an industry-wide solution, Microsoft said.

Microsoft is looking for developers to experiment with Web Sandbox, even including samples so developers can try to break the Sandbox.

“Since the initial release of Web Sandbox we have received a great deal of feedback from the Web security community. We have also been collaborating with a number of customers, partners, and the standards communities that would like to adopt the technology when it is ready. Our goal is to achieve widespread adoption of Web Sandbox and to help foster interoperability with complementary technologies like script frameworks,” Microsoft Live Labs said on its Web Sandbox Web page.

Although Microsoft is using an Apache license for the project, it is not sponsored or endorsed by the Apache Software Foundation, Microsoft said. The company last year became a sponsor of the foundation.

Web Sandbox builds upon Microsoft’s experience with DHTML, Windows, Windows Live Web-based gadgets, and the Microsoft BrowserShield project, which leverages JavaScript virtualization through rewriting.

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Zoloft, Lexapro the Best of Newer Antidepressants

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

Sertraline (Zoloft) and escitalopram (Lexapro) are the best of 12 new-generation antidepressants, while reboxetine is the least effective, a new analysis shows.

The Italian researchers reviewed 117 studies that included more than 25,000 patients with major depression to come to this conclusion.

The drugs tested in the trials were bupropion (Wellbutrin/Zyban), citalopram (Celexa), duloxetine (Cymbalta), escitalopram, fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (Luvox), milnacipran (Savella), mirtazapine (Remeron), paroxetine (Paxil), reboxetine (Edronax/Vestra), sertraline, and venlafaxine (Effexor).

Based on their analysis, the review authors concluded sertraline and escitalopram were the best antidepressants overall in terms of efficacy and patient acceptability. Sertraline was found to be more effective than duloxetine by 30 percent, fluvoxamine (27 percent), fluoxetine (25 percent), paroxetine (25 percent), and reboxetine (85 percent). Escitalopram was more effective than duloxetine by 33 percent, fluoxetine (32 percent), fluvoxamine (35 percent), paroxetine (30 percent), and reboxetine (95 percent).

Mirtzapine and venlafaxine were as effective as sertraline and escitalopram. But the latter two drugs had the best patient acceptability, which meant significantly fewer patients stopped treatment.

The review was published online Jan. 29 and was expected to be published in an upcoming print issue of The Lancet.

“The most important clinical implication of the results is that escitalopram and sertraline might be the best choice when starting a treatment for moderate to severe major depression, because they have the best possible balance between efficacy and acceptability,” Dr. Andrea Cipriani, of the University of Verona in Italy, and colleagues said in a news release from the journal.

“Sertraline seems to be better than escitalopram because of its lower cost in most countries. However, in the absence of a full economic model, this recommendation cannot be made unequivocally, because several other costs are associated with the use of antidepressants,” they added.

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Microsoft releases Web Sandbox under open source

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Microsoft has made source code for its Live Labs Web Sandbox project for securing Web content through isolation available via open source under the Apache License 2.0, according to a report this week on Microsoft’s Port 25 site.

Web Sandbox features technology for mashing up code while maintaining process isolation, quality of service protection, and security. It is intended to address a problem in which Web gadgets, mashup components, advertisements, and other third-party content on Web sites either will run full trust alongside content or are isolated inside of IFrames. This results in many Web applications being intrinsically insecure with unpredictable service quality.

Since announcing the technology preview at Professional Developer Conference 2008 in Los Angeles in October, Microsoft has open-sourced the Web Sandbox framework and is partnering with industry leaders to evolve Web Sandbox into an industry-wide solution, Microsoft said.

Microsoft is looking for developers to experiment with Web Sandbox, even including samples so developers can try to break the Sandbox.

“Since the initial release of Web Sandbox we have received a great deal of feedback from the Web security community. We have also been collaborating with a number of customers, partners, and the standards communities that would like to adopt the technology when it is ready. Our goal is to achieve widespread adoption of Web Sandbox and to help foster interoperability with complementary technologies like script frameworks,” Microsoft Live Labs said on its Web Sandbox Web page.

Although Microsoft is using an Apache license for the project, it is not sponsored or endorsed by the Apache Software Foundation, Microsoft said. The company last year became a sponsor of the foundation.

Web Sandbox builds upon Microsoft’s experience with DHTML, Windows, Windows Live Web-based gadgets, and the Microsoft BrowserShield project, which leverages JavaScript virtualization through rewriting.

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Markets extend lead in afternoon trade

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Indian equities markets built on their morning gains Wednesday even as some big corporates posted disappointing third quarter results. Nearly an hour before the closing bell, a key index was ruling 2.04 percent higher than its previous close.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was at 9,187.56 points, up 2.04 percent or 183.48 points.

At the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,825.85 points, 2.07 percent higher than its Tuesday close of 2,771.35 points.

Broader market indices were also up with the BSE midcap index trading 1.1 percent higher and BSE smallcap gaining 0.8 percent.

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Obama Details Recovery Plan but Short on Broadband Goals

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Barack Obama used his first weekly address as U.S. president to provide more details of his proposed US$825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that, among other things, will upgrade classrooms, invest in renewable energy and expand broadband Internet access.

Obama stated his intention to invest in these areas during the presidential debates in September and came back to the issue in a December address that he issued as president-elect, but over the weekend he added concrete goals to the plan.

“It’s a plan that will save or create three to four million jobs over the next few years,” he said adding that its more than a plan to boost short-term employment. “It’s one that will invest in our most important priorities like energy and education; health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century.”

Among the details, Obama said the plan will renovate and modernize 10,000 schools thus creating “state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries, and labs” for 5 million pupils. The plan also hopes to spur students on to careers in science by tripling the number of undergraduates and graduates studying in this area.

Renewable energy is also a focus. The plan will double energy-generating capacity over three years so that 6 million homes are powered by renewable means. He also plans to modernize the electricity grid and install 40 million “smart meters” in American homes.

The plan also aims to accelerate adoption of health IT systems.

“To lower health care cost, cut medical errors, and improve care, we’ll computerize the nation’s health record in five years, saving billions of dollars in health care costs and countless lives,” he said.

But on one aspect of the recovery plan — expanding broadband access — he offered no concrete goals and a supporting document issued by the White House doesn’t mention the word “broadband” once..

The broadband expansion is part of the infrastructure portion of the plan that will also invest in the road network, mass transit, ports and emergency communications system for law enforcement.

“It means expanding broadband access to millions of Americans, so business can compete on a level-playing field, wherever they’re located,” he said without offering any goals.

Obama pledged to spend at least 75 percent of the package in the first 18 months after the legislation is enacted and for all spending to be transparent and detailed in a new Web site.

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Orion Dominates Winter Night Sky

Monday, January 19th, 2009

once wrote of the Great Hunter or Celestial Warrior, Orion, that he shines “like a gigantic piece of celestial jewelry through the frosty winter air.”

Indeed, Orion is by far the most brilliant of the constellations and is visible from every inhabited part of the Earth.  As darkness descends, he clearly dominates the southeast sky. Three bright stars in line in the middle of a bright rectangle decorate Orion’s belt, which point northward to the clusters of the Hyades and Pleiades of Taurus, and southward to the Dog Star Sirius.

Within Orion we find two immense stars, Rigel and Betelgeuse, apparently at two entirely different periods in a star’s existence.

A tale of two stars

Rigel (the “Left Leg of the Giant”), is a blue-white supergiant star, one of the rarest breeds in our galaxy; it’s one of the most intrinsically luminous of all stars and one of the hottest, apparently just reaching the prime of its life in the time span of a star and literally “burning the candle at both ends.”  It has been computed that Rigel’s luminosity is something like 36,000 times that of the sun.  Our best estimates currently place it at 773 light-years away.

In contrast, red supergiants like Betelgeuse (”The Armpit of the Giant”) are gigantic bloated globes of cooler gas.  If such a star were to replace the sun in the solar system, it might extend beyond Mars’ orbit.

Betelegeuse is near the end of its career, some 522 light-years away, but not shining with a steady light.  It is a “pulsating” star, expanding and contracting spasmodically with a diameter that varies from 550 to 920 times that of the sun, but so irregular are these pulsations that no one can predict exactly when it will expand or contract.

In trying to describe Betelegeuse many years ago, a lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium noted that it is “like an old man with his strength almost entirely spent, panting in the asthmatic decrepitude of old age.”

Stellar genealogy

Stars produce their energy by fusing hydrogen into helium deep within their cores.  When a star accumulates sufficient helium in its core, its energy output increases significantly, and it swells into a red giant or supergiant, like Betelgeuse.

This is what Rigel will become in a few million years.  In such stars, the core produces successively heavier elements to balance the incessant crush of gravity.  But once the core begins creating iron, a star’s days are numbered; the formation of elements heavier than iron consumes rather than produces energy.  Eventually, since the core can no longer support the star’s vast weight it collapses, triggering a cataclysmic supernova explosion.

Betelgeuse is in its final stage and could explode in only a few million years.

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Wii console sales break US record in 2008

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Nintendo sold 10.17 million Wii consoles in the United States in 2008, setting a new video game record despite dismal economic conditions gripping the country, according to NPD Group statistics.

Nintendo’s DS handheld game devices sold nearly as well, with US consumers snatching up 9.95 million of them last year, the NPD figures released Thursday indicate.

“There is no longer a question that if you offer consumers an expanded definition of what a video game can be, and deliver that idea with quality and affordability in mind, millions of new people will start playing video games,” said Nintendo of America executive vice president of sales and marketing Cammie Dunaway.

“Concepts like ‘Wii Fit,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ and ‘Rock Band‘ never would have seemed feasible just a few years ago, and now they’re driving growth for our the entire industry.”

NPD reported that 55 percent of new-generation video game consoles sold in the United States last year were Wii devices, known for motion-sensing controllers and family-style play.

The four top-selling video games last year are Wii titles, and Nintendo’s retail success is credited with helping video game industry revenues in 2008 rise 19 percent from the previous year.

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Ordering a Slot Machine Online

Friday, January 16th, 2009

If you are thinking about buying a slot machine, then you should really look into online sources to find one. There are a number of benefits too this. You will be able to find the perfect one a lot faster if you utilize a number of full catalogs from online suppliers and you will probably be able to find a better deal thanks to the large number of used slot machines for sale.

You can’t ignore the obvious benefit to having an entire catalog at your fingertips. Online brokers have a full selection that usually covers just about everything that the casino world has to offer. If you really want to have the theme that is just perfect for you, you can look online and see if you spot something that just fits right. You might be surprised to know about the variety you will find if you look at the specialty stores with slot machines for sale.

The final benefit is obviously the price break though. As casinos rotate in new machines, a number of older models become available at reduced prices. If you just want to have a fun addition to your room, then any one of the many used slot machines on the market should be just fine. It might even be a bit better for atmosphere, knowing that you have a slot machine that once graced the floor of a real casino.

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Googling also damages the planet: Report

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate the same amount of harmful carbon dioxide as boiling an electric kettle for a cup of tea, according to a new research quoted on Sunday.

A typical search generates about seven grams of CO2 whereas an electric kettle generates about 15 gm, The Sunday Times quoted a Harvard University physicist as saying.

“A Google search has a definite environmental impact,” says Alex Wissner-Gross, whose research due out soon.

The newspaper said Google is “secretive” about its energy consumption and carbon footprint, and refuses to divulge the locations of its data centres.

“However, with 200 million Internet searches estimated globally daily, the electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers and the Internet is provoking concern,” the newspaper said.

A recent report by information technology analysts Gartner said that the global IT industry generates as much greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming, as the airlines industry.

The Google system, which sends search queries to several competing servers that may be thousands of miles apart, “minimises delays but raises energy consumption”.

Wissner-Gross has submitted his research for publication by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and has set up a website.

“Google are very efficient but their primary concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra capacity that burns energy,” the physicist said.

Google said, “We are among the most efficient of all internet search providers.”

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Colts coach Dungy retires

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

NEW YORK: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts took a back seat on Monday. The first black coach to win the Super Bowl and one of the most respected figures in the sport, retired.

colts-coach-dungy-retires Colts coach Dungy retires

The 53-year-old had been with the Colts since 2002, having previously spent six seasons as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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