Need For Speed

A few months ago Comcast introduced PowerBoost: a temporary speed increase of up to 12Mbps downstream and up to 1,900Kbps upstream but apparently, my old modem (Motorola SB4200) was not up to the task - I never got more than 6Mbps down and 350Kbps up, so I got a rental modem (WebSTAR DPC2100) today and here are the results of a speed test! :)
Actually, the downstream went all the way up to 19Mbps and the upstream went up to 1,800Kbps when my PowerBook G4 was plugged directly into the modem, so my aging Belkin router (F5D7230-4) appears to be the bottleneck now.

U.K. Music Label Creates a Vinyl-MP3 Hybrid

From an article in Wired (emphasis is mine):

The records are beautifully packaged, double-weight vinyl discs that come with a unique code. With the code, buyers can download an unprotected, 320Kbps MP3 version of the music, to use however they like.

Publishing MP3s without the technology for digital-rights management was a deliberate choice. First Word cofounder Aly Gillani explains the DRM-free approach in terms that echo those of consumer advocate. "Once a customer has paid for the track they should be free to play it in any player," he says. "Making a legal, paid-for version of the file less useful than a copied or pirated one doesn't make sense."

Brain scans pinpoint cannabis mental health risk

According to a study mentioned in a recent Reuters article, THC (the active compound in marijuana) inhibits function in the inferior frontal cortex brain region - "area ... associated with controlling inappropriate emotional and behavioral responses to situations".

"What THC seems to be doing is switching off that part of the brain, and that was associated with how paranoid people became".

"Most users of cannabis still do not have a problem with the drug but a minority, possibly because of genetic factors, are vulnerable to long-term damage from modern skunk -- which Murray says is to old-fashioned dope what whisky is to lager."

And here's an interesting article in Forbes: The Most Exotic Brands Of Weed.
"Serious cannabis consumers often exhibit the kind of connoisseurship typical of wine lovers. The exotic varietals on the following slides are all hard to come by, and some pricey."

Hacking Your Body's Bacteria for Better Health

From an article in Wired:

Modern humans are bacteria-killing machines. We assassinate microbes with hand soap, mouthwash and bathroom cleaners. It feels clean and right.
...
And it now appears that our daily antibacterial regimens are disrupting a balance that once protected humans from health problems, especially allergies and malfunctioning immune responses.

"After the Second World War, when our lifestyles changed dramatically, allergies increased. Autoimmune diseases like diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease are increasing," says Kaarina Kukkonen, a University of Helsinki allergy expert. "The theory behind (what causes) the diseases is the same: Lacking bacterial stimulation in our environments may cause this increase. I think this is the tip of the iceberg."

Belkin Refund

According to a post in Broadband Reports:

"Apparently, if you bought one of the following models in the last 5 years, you can get all your money back as part of a new class action settlement. The lawsuit was filed against Belkin for selling hardware that did not achieve the advertised Mbps data throughput or connectivity ranges in real world environments."

Settlement claim information from Belkin website.

Luxury Trans-Siberia Train

From a Reuters article:

The Golden Eagle ... offers passengers ensuite bathrooms, underfloor heating and plasma screen TVs in every cabin along the 9,300 kilometer (5,778 miles) Moscow to Vladivostok route, one of the longest train trips in the world.

A single ticket on the Golden Eagle will cost up to 9,595 pounds ($19,235) for the 13- to 15-day journey. A ticket on a normal Russian train costs around 10,000 roubles ($400) for the seven-day nonstop trip.

InterContinental Boston

A new hotel has opened recently on the Boston waterfront. According to this article and the hotel website, it has:

• a 24-hour full-service restaurant called Miel with a 60-seat waterfront patio: "[At] 3am, eating a crepe out in the garden during July, [Miel's] going to be great"
• RumBa - a "rum and champagne bar"
• SUSHI-TEQ - a "very innovative, new concept" that "pairs sushi and vintage tequila"

I can't wait for their waterfront patio to open this spring. Boston needs more of outdoor cafes, bars and restaurants.

IN+ERACT 2

I went to IN+ERACT 2 last Friday. It was an artsy party held at Villa Victoria (former 19th century church in the South End) - a pretty cool venue with nice ambiance. There was a lot of beautiful and stylish people, DJs playing cool house music, an art show, live body painting, a fashion show and dancers from the Boston Conservatory performing behind a shadow wall set on stage to the music beats. Here are some pictures I've taken with my cell phone.

IN+ERACT 2

A Night In Tunisia

I went to a free concert at the Berklee College of Music (Recital Hall 1W) today. Walid Zairi (a Tunisian-born bassist) played five standards ("Whisper Not" by Benny Golson, "No Greater Love" by Isham Jones, "One by One" by Wayne Shorter, "Calypso Minor" by Abdullah Ibrahim and "Senior Blues" by Horace Silver) with a jazz quintet (sax, trombone, piano, bass and drums). It was a fun and interactive experience: musicians encouraged audience participation and half-jokingly asked if there was a singer in the audience for a blues song they played as an encore.

Genzyme Center tour

Genzyme is an international biotechnology company founded in Boston, MA, USA in 1981. Last Friday I went to see their new corporate headquarters building on a tour organized by the MIT Energy Club. This building has earned a Platinum certification - the highest under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™. The Genzyme Center is also pretty cool: natural light is everywhere, all workers have a view outside and there are several hundred windows that can be opened to let in the fresh air any time of the year. A virtual tour is available as well as some photos I've taken.

Genzyme Tour 2007

What Would Jesus Wiki?

From an article in Wired:

An alternative Wikipedia written by conservative Christians has become a major target of mockery on the web.

Conservapedia brands itself on its main page as "a much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American."

Conservapedia's entry on kangaroos says that, "like all modern animals ... kangaroos are the descendants of the two founding members of the modern kangaroo baramin that were taken aboard Noah's Ark prior to the Great Flood."

Herding the Mob

An article by Annalee Newitz in WIRED Magazine discusses the concept of crowdhacking or manipulating the "wisdom of the crowds":

"Today we harness the masses for everything from choosing the next pop star on American Idol to perfecting open source software and assembling Wikipedia articles. But perhaps the most widespread and vital uses for group input online are in scoring systems. In addition to eBay feedback, these are the customer ratings that Amazon.com and Yahoo Shopping post with product reviews. They’re the feedback scores that Netflix tallies to help subscribers decide which movies to order. And they’re the up-or-down votes that sites like Digg and Reddit (part of the Wired Media Group, which also includes WIRED magazine) rely on to determine which stories to feed Web surfers.

But as rating systems have become more popular ... there has been what some would say is a predictable response: the emergence of scammers, spammers, and thieves bent on manipulating the mob. Call it crowdhacking."

Marijuana, the wonder drug

An interesting article in the International Herald Tribune by Lester Grinspoon (an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School). Here is an excerpt:

"Marijuana is effective at relieving nausea and vomiting, spasticity, appetite loss, certain types of pain and other debilitating symptoms. And it is extraordinarily safe — safer than most medicines prescribed every day.
If marijuana were a new discovery rather than a well-known substance carrying cultural and political baggage, it would be hailed as a wonder drug."

First post

It took me a while but I've finally got a blog. I'll use this space to share things that interest me with my friends (and the world).