Quite a while ago we showed you how to integrate the Widgetop webtop into your Windows desktop or your Linux desktop with the help of Mozillas Prism platform. While you can use Prism to add Widgetop to your Mac there is a much better alternative - Fluid. Its current version is much better integrated into the Mac desktop then Prism (but requires Leopard though).

Just download Fluid, run it and create a new entry for Widgetop. You will get:

• A link to Widgetop in your Programs folder.
• Run it and you will see the Widgetop icon appear in the dock like any other Mac application. Just login to your desktop (or create a new account) and your Widgetop desktop is just a click away.
• By choosing Convert to Embedded SSB from the Widgetop menu you can even put your widgets on the Mac desktop itself.

Hints:

• In addition to your own Widgetop desktop you can run one or many of the shared desktops from http://www.widgetop.com/shared.html. Just give them a distinct icon for better differentiation.
• If you want to use better icon you can download and use this:
  

I was reading through RollingStones magazine a couple weeks ago and I saw an interesting add for something I've never seen before.  Its called the MyVu Person Media Viewer, it pretty much plays a movie for you in a pair of sunglasses.  They are pretty chic in terms of style (NOW we know why Jordy LaForge wore them in Star Trek!), and apparently MyVu uses certain crystal viewer technology in their devices.

 These things certainly look like the next wave in future personal media.  The price at the moment is pretty steep ($300 USD), but as they come down within the next couple of years I'd expect to see more people on planes, trains, and buses with them.  Now even though you can't exactly see through this device, one thing it does offer is the ability to look down at the video playing on your viewer, so when you look straight ahead you can see what is going around you still.  They can be plugged into almost any brand name portable media device, which gives it some great utility. 

However cool these things are though, some people may take it too far, as stated on their website “When you own a pair of Myvu Crystal glasses, you can get up close and personal with the action on your Apple iPod's screen.”- Cincinnati Enquirer " ...how up close and "personal" do you really need to get with your ipod...seriously?  What the hell is going on in your ipod that makes it so friggin awesome you need to use this device to get "up close and personal" with it?  We've got enough people touching themselves at library computers thank you, lets not spread it to planes and buses (I omitted trains because...well, lets face it, the battle for trains was lost along with libraries).

Overall though these do seem like some pretty awesome gadgets to take care of some of lifes dullest moments, and we'll probably be seing lots of them sooner rather than later.  Eventually we'll probably see computers in the form of crystal view devices as well, but that might be a tad farthur off...or is it?

I´m all for anything that increases my efficiency when using a computer. When you spend eight hours a day using one, even the smallest time saving improvements made to a user interface can make a huge difference. A few months ago I talked about keyboard shortcuts which I have found useful for many years and this week I plan to introduce you to mouse gestures.

Popularized by the Opera browser, the mouse gesture is slowly but surely gaining support from both software developers and users. The idea is that rather than having to click on an icon or use a keyboard shortcut, the user instead holds down a mouse button (usually the right) then moves the mouse in a certain gesture (for example from right to left) and then released the button. This gesture is then converted in to relevant command, for example the commend `go back´ in a browser window. Whilst still not big in personal computing, gestures are already very popular on devices such as a PDA´s (Personal Digital Assistants) as the omission of a keyboard means that conventional keyboard shortcuts aren´t available as an alternative to laboriously clicking icons.

As an example of how mouse gestures could be used, let´s take a look at a few of those already built in to the Opera browser. All of these gestures require you to hold down the right mouse button and then make the movement indicated:

Previous Page - Move mouse left
Next Page - Move mouse right
Home Page - Double click right mouse button
Open New Document - Move down
Reload Page - Move up, then down
Maximise Window - Move up, then right
Minimise Window - Move down, then left
Close Document - Move down, then right

For those of you that missed my review of this popular and capable browser check out www.computerarticles.co.uk to download a copy.

Opera has had mouse gesture support since way back in 2001 and unfortunately as of yet neither Firefox nor Internet Explorer include support straight out the box. Both applications can be upgraded through with the use of add-in applications; those using Firefox should head to http://optimoz.mozdev.org and for Internet Explorer check out www.ysgyfarnog.co.uk. Of course, both these utilities are very small downloads, completely free and don´t include any advertising.

Software support outside of the browser market is quite limited due to the fact that whilst most people use an Internet Browser in a similar fashion, most other applications are used in a very individual fashion and as such shortcuts for repetitive commands aren´t as relevant. I´d like to see more Operating System support for mouse gestures and I´m surprised that Vista didn´t have anything significant included; it wouldn´t revolutionise the user interface but would have been a nice touch.

I will also admit that I think the potential number of commands that can be accessed in this fashion is limited but once you´ve got used to using mouse gestures, it´s undeniable that they can reduce the amount of time taken performing repetitive tasks.

Home deaths from drug errors soar

• Deaths from medication errors at home are up dramatically in last 20 years
• Increase steepest in death rates from mixing meds, alcohol, street drugs at home
• Researchers cite dramatic rise in home use of prescription painkillers
  

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Deaths from medication mistakes at home, such as actor Heath Ledger's accidental overdose, rose dramatically during the past two decades, an analysis of U.S. death certificates finds.

Prescription drug abuse plays a role in the rise in fatalities, but it's unclear how much, researchers said.

The authors blame soaring home use of prescription painkillers and other potent drugs, which 25 years ago were given mainly inside hospitals.

"The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient's shoulders is going up," said lead author David P. Phillips of the University of California, San Diego.

The findings, based on nearly 50 million U.S. death certificates, are published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine. Of those, more than 224,000 involved fatal medication errors, including overdoses and mixing prescription drugs with alcohol or street drugs.

Deaths from medication mistakes at home increased from 1,132 deaths in 1983 to 12,426 in 2004. Adjusted for population growth, that amounts to an increase of more than 700 percent during that time.

In contrast, there was only a 5 percent increase in fatal medication errors away from home, including hospitals, and not involving alcohol or street drugs.

Abuse of prescription drugs plays a role, but it's unclear how much. Valid prescriptions taken in error, especially narcotics such as methadone and oxycodone, account for a growing number of deaths, said experts who reviewed the study.

The increases coincided with changing attitudes about painkillers among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Multiple prescription drugs taken at once -- like the sleeping pills, painkillers and anxiety drugs that killed "Dark Knight" star Ledger -- also play a part, experts said.

"When we see overdoses, we're seeing many more mixed drug overdoses," said Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and director of autopsies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Jentzen said autopsies are much more likely to include toxicology tests today than 25 years ago, which would contribute to finding more fatal medication errors as cause of death.

But Phillips said there were no significant increases in other poisonings, such as suicidal overdoses or homicides, so more testing doesn't explain the huge increase. The analysis excluded suicides, homicides and deaths related to side effects.

The increase was steepest in death rates from mixing medicine with alcohol or street drugs at home; that death rate climbed from 0.04 per 100,000 people in 1983 to 1.29 per 100,000 people in 2004.

Many patients ignore the risk of mixing alcohol with prescriptions, said Cynthia Kuhn of Duke University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.

"They think, 'Oh, one drink won't hurt.' Then they have three or four," Kuhn said.

The increase in deaths was highest among baby boomers, people in their 40s and 50s.

"We're sort of drug happy," said boomer Dr. J. Lyle Bootman, the University of Arizona's pharmacy dean, who was not involved in the research. "We have this general attitude that drugs can fix everything."

People share prescriptions at an alarming rate, Bootman said. One recent study found 23 percent of people say they have loaned their prescription medicine to someone else and 27 percent say they have borrowed someone else's prescription drugs.

Kenneth Kolosh, a statistics expert at the National Safety Council, praised the study but said improved attention to coding location on death certificates may account, in part, for the huge increases the researchers found.

Phillips countered that home deaths from any cause increased relatively little during the time period, so better coding doesn't explain the change.

Michael R. Cohen, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, said more states should require pharmacists to teach patients about dangerous drugs and insurers should pay pharmacists to do so.

Home deaths from drug errors soar

• Deaths from medication errors at home are up dramatically in last 20 years
• Increase steepest in death rates from mixing meds, alcohol, street drugs at home
• Researchers cite dramatic rise in home use of prescription painkillers

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Deaths from medication mistakes at home, such as actor Heath Ledger's accidental overdose, rose dramatically during the past two decades, an analysis of U.S. death certificates finds.

Prescription drug abuse plays a role in the rise in fatalities, but it's unclear how much, researchers said.

The authors blame soaring home use of prescription painkillers and other potent drugs, which 25 years ago were given mainly inside hospitals.

"The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient's shoulders is going up," said lead author David P. Phillips of the University of California, San Diego.

The findings, based on nearly 50 million U.S. death certificates, are published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine. Of those, more than 224,000 involved fatal medication errors, including overdoses and mixing prescription drugs with alcohol or street drugs.

Deaths from medication mistakes at home increased from 1,132 deaths in 1983 to 12,426 in 2004. Adjusted for population growth, that amounts to an increase of more than 700 percent during that time.

In contrast, there was only a 5 percent increase in fatal medication errors away from home, including hospitals, and not involving alcohol or street drugs.

Abuse of prescription drugs plays a role, but it's unclear how much. Valid prescriptions taken in error, especially narcotics such as methadone and oxycodone, account for a growing number of deaths, said experts who reviewed the study.

The increases coincided with changing attitudes about painkillers among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Multiple prescription drugs taken at once -- like the sleeping pills, painkillers and anxiety drugs that killed "Dark Knight" star Ledger -- also play a part, experts said.

"When we see overdoses, we're seeing many more mixed drug overdoses," said Dr. Jeffrey Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and director of autopsies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Jentzen said autopsies are much more likely to include toxicology tests today than 25 years ago, which would contribute to finding more fatal medication errors as cause of death.

But Phillips said there were no significant increases in other poisonings, such as suicidal overdoses or homicides, so more testing doesn't explain the huge increase. The analysis excluded suicides, homicides and deaths related to side effects.

The increase was steepest in death rates from mixing medicine with alcohol or street drugs at home; that death rate climbed from 0.04 per 100,000 people in 1983 to 1.29 per 100,000 people in 2004.

Many patients ignore the risk of mixing alcohol with prescriptions, said Cynthia Kuhn of Duke University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.

"They think, 'Oh, one drink won't hurt.' Then they have three or four," Kuhn said.

The increase in deaths was highest among baby boomers, people in their 40s and 50s.

"We're sort of drug happy," said boomer Dr. J. Lyle Bootman, the University of Arizona's pharmacy dean, who was not involved in the research. "We have this general attitude that drugs can fix everything."

People share prescriptions at an alarming rate, Bootman said. One recent study found 23 percent of people say they have loaned their prescription medicine to someone else and 27 percent say they have borrowed someone else's prescription drugs.

Kenneth Kolosh, a statistics expert at the National Safety Council, praised the study but said improved attention to coding location on death certificates may account, in part, for the huge increases the researchers found.

Phillips countered that home deaths from any cause increased relatively little during the time period, so better coding doesn't explain the change.

Michael R. Cohen, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, said more states should require pharmacists to teach patients about dangerous drugs and insurers should pay pharmacists to do so.

There are some technologies that really do make me say, "gee, I wish they had that when I was a kid", and one of them is the hand-held document scanner.

A hand-held document scanner is pretty much exactly what it sounds like it is; a portable device that allows you to "scan" text and images into digital form so you can store them on your computer... and thus access them for later study.
It's kind of like having your very own pocket Xerox machine.

This is simply a "must have" if you are a researcher, or a student, as it replaces hand-writing out your notes, or carrying pockets full of coins to feed into the library's copy machine.

When you find a relevant passage in a book, or other document, you simply pass the device over the text, much like you would use a highlighter. Later, you attach the device to your PC via a USB cord, and thanks to OCR, you can open your scanned passages in a text editor, like Word.

Hand-held document scanners (generally) come in two flavors; a true "pen" style -- as pictured above -- and a "wand" style.

The "pen" style makes it easier to capture just the lines of text that you are interested in. However, you must pass it in a fairly straight line, and wobbling it high or low may cause you to have to rescan the sentence (most have a preview window).. and some people use a plastic ruler as a guide.

I prefer the "wand" style, even though it (usually) means capturing a whole page. The color versions of these devices are pretty good at scanning images. Another advantage of the wand is if you are scanning tables and charts-- the included software allows you to open the scanned tables in Excel.

Tip of the day: A simply fantastic Back To School gift (either for yourself, or someone you love) is a hand-held digital note taker. They're quite reasonably priced.
My personal reco is to go with the slightly pricier wand scanner, and to go with the pricier-yet color model.

I won't say which one's "best", but I will say that I agree with this PC Magazine review (read it here).

Today's free link: SyncBack is a backup program that also functions as a file synchronizer, such as keeping your thumbdrive files and desktop files updated. From ZDNet:"Easily backup, synchronize, or restore your files to another drive, FTP server, ZIP file, networked drive, or removable media."

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Le son peut rapidement devenir un probleme sous nunux, bien que les versions récentes de ubuntu ( par exemple ).

• Pourquoi ?

la plupart des cartes sons intégrés à la carte mere ou bas de gamme ne sont pas capable de faire du hardwaremix / multiplexage sans faire appel à un serveur de son.

Liste des cartes supportés par alsa ( + HW mix )

• Serveur de son ?

(more...)

About half and a year ago I bought a Motorola Krzr. I really liked it at first sight. The design was stunning. I liked the blue glass finish. The folder seamed to work precise even after frequent use and I felt somehow attracted to the fact it was of a company I never used before. A few moths went by without any complains. I even taught others how great this phone would be. From today, I am not quite sure what made me this satisfied. Maybe, I was a little fanboish or bohemian about having a Motorola, because people around me preferred Nokia's and Sony Ericsson device's, obviously. When time went on I started to realize how creepy this phone really was. It just bugged me with its non-usability. I never got used to the way the menus were organized. The fact it did not use T9 for text messaging and did not have an effective aquivilant was allways a downer. Worse, a bit of googling told me, Motorola just improved the usability of their hand sets. I thought about how annoying it had to be to use a V3 or so on. To cut long things short I just dropped the phone on eBay and returned to my good ol' Nokia 3510i.
It is not, I liked this phone more, but I was just sick of the Krzr. And at least, I could remember how to change settings even after I didn't used the phone for quite some time. An relaxing difference to my former device.
Three weeks ago, I decided to have a new hand set. Since I started to trade short text messaging for email I liked to have an affordable smartphone. I would have really loved to buy an iPhone since the 3G was just about ti release but it was out of my financial range. I now have a Nokia E51, a S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 device. The build quality is outstanding in its range. The metal finish at the front and back has some distinctive looks. The functionality is of high level to. I tried out different applications on the phone and everything worked fine. The S60 platform really is a working horse. Email and text messaging is fun (Even if I still have problems using MobileMe as IMAP Push service and didn't manage to configure Mail2Web properly. Pull mail just works fine and satisfing.). The keypad is pure joy. But, what is disappointing is with S60 you trade functionality with usability.
And this eventually reminds me of my former Motorola Krzr. The Nokia E51 really has it all, but no usability. Everything, from slightly changing the start screen to configuring ringtones, opening the gallery etc takes so much afford it bugs me. I can't see the point in having to click about seven times to change the short cuts on your home screen. You may find that exaggerated but have a look at this. It's hilarious.

Anyway, I still like the phone but I am off age when I liked a device just for its name. I prefere it for its functionality and small dimensions. But it makes me wonder about today's worth of usability. Have those people at S60 overseen the need for usability?

But it would not end up with the clicking and searching menus to navigate to the right setting. To me, it is also annoying to be force to search for a VPN Client in the internet instead of having it preinstalled on a so called smartphone? It is ridiculous. When I was searching some forums an boards I got advised to use an older VPN Client that was just off an Nokia N80? End if I tried to install it, I also needed to set back the systems clock since the certificate of the software was out of date.
I eventually send a mail to the Nokia costumer service which quickly replied with something like: Search the NokiaforBusiness website. Well, I never found anything suspicious to be a VPN Client for my phone until yesterday. That is, what I call good news. Unfortunately, I would not need it for the next two moths and so I can't test it. Oh my. I am not sure if I just overlooked it, but that would mean a whole community overlooked it. Don't want to point a finger on this one, anyway. I just got frustrated I had to care for it myself. I would have expected such piece of software preinstalled on a smartphone.
Sure, some are arguing this is what makes Symbian a good platform. You just can personalize the device the way you want it. But well, have you ever used more than one VPN Client on a handheld? This is basic stuff.
Also, what happened to Access point groups? Is this a joke you have to choose you Access point manually every time you leave the building? It would be easy to set up UMTS/GPRS to be you one and only access point but this can be expensive, too. Where is the problem to integrate Access point groups that would always try to connect to the primary service. If not available, go try the next one. This really seams to be a way to justify extra software you pay for. Pay for a pretty basic service. Software I tried for this one did not even work out as good as I would expect it. I even would like Access point groups to be scheduled. This would make things even more easy to have activated different groups over the day (Or to make a difference between week and weekend).
It goes on with text messaging. The utilized T9 software to fasten typing works great, but why wouldn't it give any proposal which word you are likely to type in? Then you just go type left to complete the word if the proposal would have fit your demand. This is something basic on Motorola and I think Sony Ericsson Devices to. (I heard there would be software to add this feature. If you know names, please tell me.)
I will stop complaining here. The Nokia E51 still is a nice phone and I am happy with it. It just fits my personal needs for today. I'm just wondering how the S60 platform can compete with others in the future.

Edit: I just found some information about a T9 extension for S60. Unfortunatly, due to some problems in developement, the beta version has been removed. A new one should follow soon.

• Video that shows 'usability' of a S60 Phone on YouTube
• Nokia VPN Client for S60 Phones with documentations
• T9 extansions adding feature to choose a predicted word without typing all characters

Techcrunch is asking its readers to help building a Web Tablet For $200

It basically a web-computing device for on your couch. Something like an Iphone with a bigger screen. Or a tablet PC but than plain, simple and much cheaper.

There is a long history of attempts to make a web computing come true, starting in the 90s with Go Pen Computer, wireless monitors in 00's or recent products by Nokia (N810) or Pepper. Wacom's Cintiq12 could even be considered here, although it is targeted for design-related work.

So why has it been so difficult to build a device for which there seems significant demand (within days, Techcrunch received hundreds of responses of people that want to buy it now)?  One of the biggest factors is that technology has not been ready for an affordable price point (yet?). Display and battery are the biggest issues. On top comes the user interface (how to surf the web without keyboard, for instance), although with Iphone a pure touch interface might be more acceptable now than it was a few years ago.

Will Techcrunch community succeed where others failed? They will run into the same hardware issues (display and battery). Typically, a $200 device may have a bill-of-material of let's say $65. That seems pretty aggressive considering the size of the display.  But maybe they could strech this budget by allowing for a higher device price (up to $400) and lower margings (community works for free)?

It will be interesting to see how they will organize such an initiative. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication for many people that will need to be coordinated. Also, how does decision making work in such a community? Does anybody have some examples or ideas of how this could work?

BiCOM Inc., and FarbaC Biomedical, a distributor of ophthalmic equipment in Mexico, will reveal an advanced trans-scleral Diaton tonometer (Glaucoma Eye Test) to Mexico at XXVIII Congreso mexicano de oftalmología. Diaton Tonometry is a unique approach to measuring intraocular pressure (IOP) THROUGH THE EYELID - no contact with the cornea, no anesthesia or sterilization is required. BiCOM’s pen-like, hand-held, portable diagnostic device is perfect for measuring eye pressure and helps in diagnosis and prevention of blindness caused by glaucoma. Tonometer Diaton is irreplaceable for mass glaucoma screenings in children and adults.

Demo Video and Clinical Trials are available at http://www.TonometerDiaton.com

FDA, CE, Health Canada and now Health Mexico approved - this new trans-palpebral and trans-scleral methodology has received the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Innovation Research and New Technology - “Brussels Eureca” & the Gold Medal at the International Exhibition of Research and new Technology in Geneva.

Diaton tonometer was initially launched at Pan American Congress of Ophthalmology Cancun, Mexico 2007, where it has raised a lot of interest to the new transpalpebral and transcleral technology within the eyecare community.

XXVIII Congreso mexicano de oftalmología is a perfect entry point for BiCOM to introduce the unique tonometer Diaton to the thousands of participants arriving from México, Trinidad & Tobago, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Brasil, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Panamá, Bolivia, Guatemala, República Dominicana, Haití, Perú, Honduras, Nicaragua y Argentina.

BiCOM is currently evaluating ophthalmic and medical device distributors for each country in Latin America.

Diaton Tonometer is intended for use by Inpatient & Outpatient Clinics such as Hospitals, Emergency Rooms, Nursing & Elderly Homes, General & Specialty Practitioners as well as Ophthalmologists and Optometrists.

Portability, safety and simplicity make Tonometer Diaton ideal for a wide range of applications: for mass glaucoma screening of the population, at the patient’s bedside, in geriatrics homes, in children hospitals, for the military and for home use.

Says Mr. Boris Kun, President of BiCOM Inc: “Diaton tonometer is a revolutionary device and signifies a new stage in Optometry and Ophthalmology!”

Tonometer Diaton is the perfect solution in the following cases when the use of other devices is problematic or impossible:

* mass prophylactic screening of patients;

* IOP control during clinical observation of glaucoma patients;

* ortoclinostatical probe, as an additional test to diagnose glaucoma and during select the adequate hypotensive therapy;

* ophthalmotone monitoring (even at night time);

* IOP measuring during contact correction (lenses are not taken out),

* IOP measuring in immobilized patients;

* IOP measuring in children.

* on patients with the following conditions: chronic conjunctivitis, cornea pathology, including keratitis, keratotone, cornea dimness, after penetrating keratoplastics, keratoprosthesis, laser refractive correction of the eyesight, high degree of ametropy, astigmatism;

* on patients with medicinal allergies;

* Lasik/ LASEK / PRK (recent clinical trials have proved that Diaton is the only device that can be used for IOP measurement right after these surgeries)

Diaton tonometer is a perfect device for mass screenings for glaucoma for any age group. Undiagnosed and untreated, glaucoma can cause blindness. Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in all age groups - from babies to senior citizens. Everyone needs to get diagnosed to preserve eyesight.

Besides determining the potential for glaucoma onset, Tonometer Diaton can also be used for monitoring treatment effectiveness throughout the day. Unlike other tonometers, Diaton can be used repeatedly during the day with no effect on the eye.

FarbaC Bimedical in Mexico covers the full scope of customer service, which involves client training, follow ups, hotline support, sales support, etc. To get more information on the device or to make a purchase, visit http://www.FarbaC.com , or call FarbaC at 52-55-5488-2360

About FarbaC Biomedical:
FarbaC Biomedical is the result of more than 16 years of experience and specialization in ophthalmology. FARBAC BIOMEDICAL, distinguishes in pre and after sale customer service. FarbaC has nationwide distribution channels with a response time of maximum 24 hrs. FarbaC counsels for sales or delivery of services such as disposable plugs lacrimal, taking advantage of messaging services with national coverage and our office in Mexico City. http://www.FarbaC.com

About BiCOM Inc:

BiCOM, with its 15 years of tradition and global clientele, has proven to be the enterprise of the highest level of professionalism, integrity and financial solvency. A unique team of engineers, medical, legal and business experts makes BiCOM Inc. the right place for global talent to find support and guidance. BiCOM Inc. sees its mission in bringing to market innovative products developed and manufactured worldwide. http://www.TonometerDiaton.com

BiCOM represents and supports Diaton tonometer in over 30 countries and growing.

BiCOM Inc.

website: http://www.tonometerdiaton.com

Contact: Roman Iospa / CEO

email: Contact@TonometerDiaton.com

phone: 1.877.342.8667 ext. 777

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