Gemini - Monday, 31st December 2007

Monday, 31st December 2007


GEMINI
(May 22 - June 22)
If you keep on forcing an ever greater quantity of air into a balloon, there will come a moment when, without warning, bang! Even professional balloon blowers find it hard to predict when that moment will come. Geminis are a bit like balloons. Emotionally, psychologically, they take on board a lot. You can treat them badly, demand vast amounts from them, put them in endless unreasonable situations and they will somehow accept it all. Welcome to 2008. The year you say enough is enough.

Relationships get a bit weird or at least take an unexpected turn. The need for more freedom, independence, or novelty on your part, or on the part of someone close to you, may disrupt the status quo in an important relationship. Expect the unexpected in your relationships!

Weird: Today, Sonia, with no explanation, emails this:

I will pay you back on payday and then I don't think we should see each other anymore.
I'm sorry.

She could have at least supplied an explanation.

Best of Salon 2007

Best of Salon 2007: "Tinky Winky on Jerry Falwell, Carlos Castaneda's dark legacy, the CIA's torture teachers, the scourge of plastic bags, and more only-in-Salon articles you shouldn't miss."

Salon - http://www.salon.com/?source=rss&aim=/

Data Theft Soars to Unprecedented Levels

Data Theft Soars to Unprecedented Levels: "The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers is soaring to unprecedented levels, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Arts & Letters Daily (30 Dec 2007)

Arts & Letters Daily (30 Dec 2007): "

Giving to charity can induce an endorphin high not unlike sensations people get from drugs such as morphine or heroin... more

If you want to know how humans learned to create pleasure by building beautiful things, just look at the birds and the bees... more

Yes, classical music really is addressed to people with certain independence of mind, individuals with a capacity to think, to sense, to imagine... more

"

Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate - http://aldaily.com/

Apple’s iPhone 1.1.3 to bring Locate Me, Home customization/additions, Google Maps update, more

Apple’s iPhone 1.1.3 to bring Locate Me, Home customization/additions, Google Maps update, more: "Gear Live has posted a 'iPhone 1.1.3 firmware feature gallery' which shows that Apple's amazing multi-touch device is soon due to get even better..."

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

OSS 3D 2.3b7 - Real-time enhancements of sound in OS X. (Shareware)

OSS 3D 2.3b7 - Real-time enhancements of sound in OS X. (Shareware): "

OSS 3D 2.3b7

OSS 3D utilizes state of art DSP technology allowing addition of bass spatialization, 3D surround and various other real-time enhancements of the sound played through your system.

OSS 3D greatly improves audio quality in movies and music throughout all of the OS X applications. It provides non-destructive spatial expansions similar to Spatializer or QSound, with additional functionality of Speaker Resonance Correction, Virtual Subwoofer, Automatic Gain Control, Brainwave synthesis, High Frequency Restoration, Center channel control, and more. Also included a studio quality N-band equalizer with built-in peak limiter.

More information

"

MacUpdate - Universal Binary - http://www.macupdate.com/macintel.php

Fluid 0.4 - Place your fave webapps on your desktop. (Free)

Fluid 0.4 - Place your fave webapps on your desktop. (Free): "

Fluid 0.4

Fluid... Give your favorite webapps a home on your Mac OS X Desktop.

Are you a Gmail, Facebook, Campfire or Insert_Your_Favorite_Webapp_Here fanatic? Do you have 20 or more browser tabs open at all times? Are you tired of some random site crashing your browser and causing you to loose your (say) Google Docs data in another tab?

If so, Site Specific Browsers (SSBs) provide a great solution for your webapp woes. Using Fluid, you can create SSBs to run each of your favorite webapps as a separate desktop application. Fluid gives any webapp a home on your Mac OS X desktop including Dock icon, menu bar, and logical separation from your other web browsing activity.

How does it work?

Fluid itself is a very small application. When launched, Fluid displays a small window where you specify the URL of a webapp you'd like to run in a Site Specific Browser. Then provide a name, click 'Create' and you'll be prompted to launch the new native Mac app you've just created.

Use Fluid to run YouTube, GTalk, Flickr, Basecamp, Delicious, .Mac webmail, or any other webapp as a separate desktop application.

Anytime you click a link to another site in an SSB, the link is opened in your system default web browser, keeping your SSB dedicated to the original site you've specified.

More information

"

MacUpdate - Universal Binary - http://www.macupdate.com/macintel.php

2007, the Year in Freeware - Our Picks

2007, the Year in Freeware - Our Picks: "Merry Christmas! Happy New Year ! It's time for another Freeloader look back on the best freeware of the year.

We have picks and runner's up in categories including Best on the Web, Best App Killed by Apple and Best iPhone app. Join me for a perennial favorite: the Year in Freeware!"

MacMerc - http://www.macmerc.com

Arts & Letters Daily (29 Dec 2007)

Arts & Letters Daily (29 Dec 2007): "

Giving to charity can induce an endorphin high not unlike sensations people get from drugs such as morphine or heroin... more

Web 2.0 is an echo chamber. No debate, no conversation - they're bloggers just listening to themselves... more

West Germany's Red Army Faction robbed banks, assassinated politicians, and bombed U.S. military bases and the tabloid press. Why?... more

"

Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate - http://aldaily.com/

"Musharraf has much to answer for"

"Musharraf has much to answer for": "After Bhutto's death, the press in South Asia and Europe fear for democracy's future in Pakistan, which could go up in 'turbulent smoke and bloody dust.'"

Salon - http://www.salon.com/?source=rss&aim=/

Apple’s ‘hobby’ poised to disrupt entire movie rental industry

Apple’s ‘hobby’ poised to disrupt entire movie rental industry: "One thing Apple has proven in recent years is that it often can succeed where others have foundered..."

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Astrology - Horoscopes - Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts

Astrology - Horoscopes - Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts: "Benazir Bhutto - On December 10, I said Comet Holmes could signify the 'demise of a great leader'. I was hoping this would be wrong. Or that the leader in question would be great, as in 'terrible'. Or that it would be someone elderly whose departure was hardly unexpected. While it may signal the sudden loss of some other political giant, it's spooky how Holmes flared up out of nowhere so soon after Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan. It strongly suggests her legacy will be profound and powerful, not just in her homeland... but across the whole world."

-

Visualization of names and words used by Presidential candidates

Visualization of names and words used by Presidential candidates: "

By Jesse Robbins

The New York Times has a really interesting Circos/Clusterball style visualization of the names used by US presidential candidates to refer to opponents in the debates preceding the Iowa caucuses. (Link)

A graph of common words used by candidates in the debates is available as well:

Link (via information aesthetics & visualmethods.blogspot.com)

"

O'Reilly Radar - http://radar.oreilly.com/

TenDown Bowling Center opens its doors

TenDown Bowling Center opens its doors: "The new entertainment center opens, sports bar will open soon"

KPIC - News - Local & Regional - http://www.kpic.com/news/local

Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep

Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep: "Scientists are reporting that a nasal spray of a key brain hormone cures sleepiness in sleep-deprived monkeys. With no apparent side effects, the hormone might be a promising sleep-replacement drug.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Top of the Swaps: P2P's Most-Traded Movies, TV and Songs of 2007

Top of the Swaps: P2P's Most-Traded Movies, TV and Songs of 2007: "Who was tops on the file-trading circuit in 2007? To find out, Wired News and BigChampagne teamed up to compile the lists of the most-traded movies, music and TV shows among the peer-to-peer underground.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

More blood on Apple iTunes Store’s play button: Wal-Mart pulls plug on movie download store

More blood on Apple iTunes Store’s play button: Wal-Mart pulls plug on movie download store: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. quietly canceled its online video download service less than a year after the site went live..."

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Steve Jobs’ Apple: One of the most dramatic corporate turnarounds ever achieved

Steve Jobs’ Apple: One of the most dramatic corporate turnarounds ever achieved: "A Christmas rally in Apple’s share price made it the world’s third most valuable new technology company..."

MacDailyNews - http://www.macdailynews.com/

Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007

Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2007: "Wired News names the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2007.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Teens banned from using cell phones while driving

Teens banned from using cell phones while driving: "Starting New Years day chatting and driving will be a thing of years past. A new law aims to keep the roads safe by banning cell phones from teen drivers."

KPIC - News - Local & Regional - http://www.kpic.com/news/local

Amazon MP3 adds Warner Music Group catalog

Amazon MP3 adds Warner Music Group catalog: "Amazon MP3 has added Warner Music Group artists like Madonna, Metallic and Red Hot Chili Peppers"

Macworld - http://www.macworld.com

Gaps in local care a concern

Gaps in local care a concern: "Carol Halley has been diagnosed with more mental illnesses over the last few decades than she can list."

News Review - News - http://www.newsreview.info

Apple Stock Breaks the $200 Barrier for First Time

Apple Stock Breaks the $200 Barrier for First Time: "Riding the tide of its popular iPhone and a new line of iPods, Apple shares hit the nice round number before dropping back a few cents. The Wall Street boys are bullish.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

2007 in review: The year in music

2007 in review: The year in music: "From the dying days of DRM to the emergence of a legitimate iTunes Store competitor, Christopher Breen reviews all the major happenings in digital music in the past year."

Macworld - http://www.macworld.com

Too Much E-Mail Leaves Workers Disoriented, Inefficient

Too Much E-Mail Leaves Workers Disoriented, Inefficient: "Endless streams of e-mail actually harm worker productivity by drawing people away from their immediate tasks and screwing up their focus, says the research firm that names 'information overload' its problem of the year.

"

Wired News - http://www.wired.com/rss/index.xml

Make the iPhone say who's calling

Make the iPhone say who's calling: "Now with the ability to create new ringtones in GarageBand, just record yourself saying the names of the people calling you most, then create ringtones with you saying that name, and add a ringtone following that in GarageBand. Share that as ringtone, and then assign the ringtones to the respective people on your iPhone. And voila, suddenly the iPhone will audibly announce the boss is calling or it's mommy!.

"

Mac OS X Hints - http://www.macosxhints.com