Microsoft has begun showing off bits and pieces of Windows 8, the next version of the most popular computer operating system in the world. The question: Is this an operating system you should plan to install on your current PC, or wait until it comes preinstalled on the next computer you buy?
What's Different About Windows 8
The headline with this operating system — it's not just for desktops and laptops, but also for touch devices, namely the increasingly popular tablets. If not revolutionary, this certainly represents a major advancement. Until now, tablets have used a different operating system from their desktop and laptop cousins. But as hardware evolves, Microsoft is working hard to be ready for the inevitable merging of laptop and tablet technology.
Hybrid Laptops
Microsoft envisions a day when your average desktop computer has a touchscreen, and when your laptop can convert into a tablet. That day is coming soon. At this year's International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a Chinese company called Compal unveiled a prototype laptop with a removable touchscreen — and that screen becomes a tablet. Very cool. Lenovo also unveiled their Lenovo Yoga hybrid. At first glance, the Yoga looks like a traditional laptop, but the hinge that connects the screen to keyboard can rotate 360 degrees, enabling you to tuck the keyboard flat behind the screen and transform the device into a tablet shape. At 3.2 pounds, I find it a little too bulky to use regularly as a tablet, but the innovation is one of those "Well, duh" ideas — why doesn't every laptop do this? My guess is that plenty of other manufacturers will soon follow suit — and that's Microsoft's bet as well.
Touchscreen Controls
Windows 8 will let you type with a keyboard or with an on-screen virtual keyboard. Like any tablet, menus and apps appear with the swipe of a finger. To get to the main menu, you swipe from the right edge. To see other open applications, swipe from the left hand side. Menus for the application at hand are all found by touching the bottom of the screen.
You may have seen the snap feature in Windows 7, where you can put two windows on the screen and multitask. This works the same in Windows 8, only better. In addition to being able to move windows around with your mouse, you can do it with touch.
Joining the App Craze
Microsoft has set up their own app store, and they're eager for you to buy. So Windows 8 is designed to integrate virtually all of the apps we love — games like Cut the Rope and social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and photo-sharing sites — right on the start screen. You can customize what's on this display, and the information — whether is news feeds from your friends or the weather report — updates automatically.
Buy or Wait
Back to the big question: should you buy Windows 8 as soon as it comes out? Well, the vast majority of its new features are designed to maximize the touch screens that many future computers will have. So while Windows 8 will work on your existing PC, I wouldn't go to the expense and hassle of upgrading a current device that doesn't have a touchscreen. One caveat, that's based on the initial look we've gotten at the Beta version of Win 8, and as with all things tech, new developments may alter the decision making process for consumers.
Microsoft hasn't committed to an official launch date, but company insiders have hinted at an October release.
This blog contains lots of articles and world news. Its aim is to be a source of knowledge for people to read and think, and thus make an intuitive decision on how to lead their lives fruitfully in every-day livings.Under the concept of Today-Readers are Tomorrow Leaders.' The world will be better because we begin to change for the best.
วันศุกร์ที่ 27 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2555
Accumulating 'microplastic' threat to shores
Concentrations of microplastic were greatest near coastal urban areas, the study showed Earlier research showed plastic smaller than 1mm were being eaten by animals and getting into the food chain.
The findings appeared in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
"Research we had done before... showed that when we looked at all the bits of plastic in the environment, about 80% was made up from smaller bits of plastic," said co-author Mark Browne, an ecologist now based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
"This really led us to the idea of what sorts of plastic are there and where did they come from."
Dr Browne, a member of the US-based research network National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, said the tiny plastic was a concern because evidence showed that it was making its way into the food chain.
"Once the plastics had been eaten, it transferred from [the animals'] stomachs to their circulation system and actually accumulated in their cells," he told BBC News.
In order to identify how widespread the presence of microplastic was on shorelines, the team took samples from 18 beaches around the globe, including the UK, India and Singapore.
"We found that there was no sample from around the world that did not contain pieces of microplastic."
The smallest fibres could end up causing huge problems worldwide Dr Browne added: "Most of the plastic seemed to be fibrous.
"When we looked at the different types of polymers we were finding, we were finding that polyester, acrylic and polyamides (nylon) were the major ones that we were finding."
The data also showed that the concentration of microplastic was greatest in areas near large urban centres.
In order to test the idea that sewerage discharges were the source of the plastic discharges, the team worked with a local authority in New South Wales, Australia.
"We found exactly the same proportion of plastics," Dr Browne revealed, which led the team to conclude that their suspicions had been correct.
As a result, Dr Browne his colleague Professor Richard Thompson from the University of Plymouth, UK carried out a number of experiments to see what fibres were contained in the water discharge from washing machines.
"We were quite surprised. Some polyester garments released more than 1,900 fibres per garment, per wash," Dr Browne observed.
"It may not sound like an awful lot, but if that is from a single item from a single wash, it shows how things can build up.
"It suggests to us that a large proportion of the fibres we were finding in the environment, in the strongest evidence yet, was derived from the sewerage as a consequence from washing clothes."
Burma's transformation: Many challenges still lie ahead
The recent release of many high-profile political prisoners by the Burmese government has been hailed as a firm step on the country's path towards democracy.
While the effects of many reforms have not yet trickled down tangibly to the masses and remain largely confined to major cities and Burmese-majority areas, noticeable changes have undeniably occurred.Initial responses to the 2010 general election and subsequent developments were generally dismissive. Yet the Thein Sein administration has surprised many who had set the bar very low. However, it does not mean that Burma's transition to democracy will be an easy task.
Firstly, fears of a backlash from hardliners - those uncomfortable with the pace of reforms or the military-affiliated government rolling back reforms after they have got positive international responses - have remained unfounded.
Secondly, there' are a number of challenges that could hinder Burma's prolonged and precarious process of reintegrating the country and revitalising the economy, which requires re-establishing long-dormant ties with the West.
The most pressing challenge remains Burma's long-running civil wars, which have taken on new dimensions. The Thein Sein administration needs to work carefully to achieve a lasting, mutually beneficial arrangement for an inclusive peace by meeting the various long-held grievances of the many ethnic minorities. Some have predicted that Aung San Suu Kyi might be given a crucial role in brokering peace and negotiations once she is elected into the Burmese parliament in an upcoming coming by-election.
The government has entered into regional ceasefire agreements with two major rebel groups - the Shan State Army (SSA) south and the Karen National Union (KNU). Discussions with these groups and others such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) now focus on political, economic and administrative integration - aspects noticeably absent in past dialogues. The top government negotiator has even optimistally announced that Burma would achieve "everlasting peace" within three years.
The notable exception is the ongoing conflict with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the resource-rich north, where government forces have suffered high casualties. Clashes continue despite President Thein Sein's orders for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
KIA supporters have also become strongly secessionist in their views, fuelled by growing ethnic and religious nationalism. Unlike the SSA and KNU, the KIA had been in a ceasefire agreement with the government until relations broke down in 2008 after the KIA refused to integrate into the centrally-controlled Border Guard Force and because of Burmese military presence around Chinese-backed infrastructure projects. These contentious points make it harder to rebuild trust between the government and the Kachins. However, the government and the KIA's political arm have held regular meetings since then to resume negotiations.
The internal dynamics of the new government poses another obstacle. This challenge does not stem from the much-vaunted tug-of-war said to be occurring between reformists and hardliners. While there certainly are hardliners who may be uncomfortable with the pace of reforms, they have so far stood behind the president. The two shadowy supra-governmental state and security councils have also not done much, if anything, to curtail the reform process.
The national parliaments, although dominated by the military's proxy, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), have become scenes of lively debates and discussions, even between the military representatives. However, constitutional and institutional safeguards do not yet exist to prevent these actors from rolling back reforms, hence they cannot be discounted from any power equation.
The government sees the immediate internal challenge in the new power structure, which is still in its infancy. Despite its flaws, the 2008 constitution gave rise to a relatively decentralised form of administration and decision making. As the authoritarian grip is gradually loosened, parliaments and parliamentary committees are exploring their new powers and testing their limits. These new parliamentary positions and committees may cause feet-dragging in the reform process, as some MPs attempt to carve out new niches of power.
Another challenge is members of parliament discovering what a parliamentary position really entails, as Burma has not had a democratic legislature since 1962. MPs have been given crash courses in parliamentary procedures and are required to support their opinions with relevant information. Many were unprepared for the workload, prompting a few to relinquish their seats. The new uncertainties concerning power relations and inexperienced MPs could become an issue in the parliaments' proceedings on reform.
A major challenge is reform of the financial sector. Decades of isolationism and the cultivation of a crony and state-dominated capitalistic system, compounded by sanctions, have ossified Burma's financial sector. Burma will have to hurriedly modernise its economic and financial sectors, particularly before the Asean Economic Community comes into existence in 2015. There are only a few private banks, with a small bank credit, operating in Burma, and the economy remains largely cash-based. Even if crippling Western sanctions were immediately repealed, investors might not readily flock in as they wait for financial reforms to bring the economy up to speed. Should investors decide to enter Burma, they will find its financial system under-equipped to handle many aspects. The International Monetary Fund has been invited to tackle the problem of four different exchange rates, while Parliament is drafting new investment laws.
Yet this would only tackle the tip of the iceberg, as other aspects need to be worked out. Budgetary constraints, particularly as the military enjoys a quarter of all government spending, could impede economic reforms and infrastructure projects badly needed to uplift Burma's economy. Increased environmental awareness also translates into more opposition to large-scale projects such as the now-halted Myitsone dam in Kachin state, the trans-Burma Sino-Burmese pipeline, and the Dawei special economic zone in the south.
While the world reacts positively to the recent release of political prisoners and other reforms, Burma still faces daunting challenges. The two key fronts are promoting national unity and institutionalising a constitutional form of government that strikes a balance between the civilian administration and the military, even as it revitalises the neglected economy.
Kyaw San Wai, a Burmese national, is a research analyst with the External Programmes at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests include ethnic politics and civil society in Burmese politics.
RSIS Commentaries.
วันพุธที่ 25 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2555
A Scientific Look at the Dangers of High Heels
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
Illustration by Henrik SorensenSome observers, particularly women, might have winced in sympathy or, alternatively, wondered where she’d bought stilettos. But the three researchers, men who study the biomechanics of walking, were struck instead by the scientific implications of her passage. “We began to consider what might be happening at the muscle and tendon level” in women who wear heels, Dr. Cronin says.
How shoes affect human gait is a controversial topic these days. The popularity of barefoot running, for instance, has grown in large part because of the belief, still unproven, that wearing modern, well-cushioned running shoes decreases foot strength and proprioception, the sense of how the body is positioned in space, and contributes to running-related injuries.
Whether high heels might likewise affect the wearer’s biomechanics and injury risk has received scant scientific attention, however, even though millions of women wear heels almost every day. So, in one of the first studies of its kind, the Australian scientists recruited nine young women who had worn high heels for at least 40 hours a week for a minimum of two years. The scientists also recruited 10 young women who rarely, if ever, wore heels to serve as controls. The women were in their late teens, 20s or early 30s.
The scientists asked the heel-wearing women to bring their favorite pair of high-heeled shoes to the lab. There, both groups of women were equipped with electrodes to track leg-muscle activity, as well as motion-capture reflective markers. Ultrasound probes measured the length of muscle fibers in their legs.
It was obvious, as the scientists had suspected watching the woman during their coffee break, that the women habituated to high heels walked differently from those who usually wore flats, even when the heel wearers went barefoot. But the nature and extent of the differences were surprising. In results published last week in The Journal of Applied Physiology, the scientists found that heel wearers moved with shorter, more forceful strides than the control group, their feet perpetually in a flexed, toes-pointed position. This movement pattern continued even when the women kicked off their heels and walked barefoot. As a result, the fibers in their calf muscles had shortened and they put much greater mechanical strain on their calf muscles than the control group did.
In that control group, the women who rarely wore heels, walking primarily involved stretching and stressing their tendons, especially the Achilles tendon. But in the heel wearers, the walking mostly engaged their muscles.
That biomechanical distinction is important, says Dr. Cronin, who is now a researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland. “Several studies have shown that optimal muscle-tendon efficiency” while walking “occurs when the muscle stays approximately the same length while the tendon lengthens. When the tendon lengthens, it stores elastic energy and later returns it when the foot pushes off the ground. Tendons are more effective springs than muscles,” he continues. So by stretching and straining their already shortened calf muscles, the heel wearers walk less efficiently with or without heels, he says, requiring more energy to cover the same amount of ground as people in flats and probably causing muscle fatigue.
The obvious question raised by the findings, though, is so what? Does it fundamentally matter if a woman’s calf muscle fibers shorten and she neglects her tendons while walking, especially if she loves the looks of her Louboutins?
That question is difficult for a biomechanist to answer, Dr. Cronin admits. Aesthetics are outside the realm of his branch of science. But the risk of injury is not. “We think that the large muscle strains that occur when walking in heels may ultimately increase the likelihood of strain injuries,” he says. (This risk is separate from the chances that a woman, if unfamiliar with heels, may topple sideways and twist an ankle or bruise her self-image, which is an acute injury and happened to me only the one time.)
The risks extend to workouts, when heel wearers abruptly switch to sneakers or other flat shoes. “In a person who wears heels most of her working week,” Dr. Cronin says, the foot and leg positioning in heels “becomes the new default position for the joints and the structures within. Any change to this default setting,” he says, like pulling on Keds or Crocs, constitutes “a novel environment, which could increase injury risk.”
It should be noted, he adds, that in his study, the volunteers “were quite young, average age 25, suggesting that it is not necessary to wear heels for a long time, meaning decades, before adaptations start to occur.”
So, if you do wear heels and are at all concerned about muscle and joint strains, his advice is simple. Try, if possible, to ease back a bit on the towering footwear, he says. Wear high heels maybe “once or twice a week,” he says. And if that’s not practical or desirable, “try to remove the heels whenever possible, such as when you’re sitting at your desk.” The shoes can remain alluring, even nestled beside your feet.
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 22 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2555
President Hu joins public to celebrate New Year
Updated: 2012-01-23 09:53
(Xinhua)
Chinese President Hu Jintao sets firecrackers with villagers in Tianxianyu Village of the Huairou District in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 22, 2012. Hu visited grassroots urban and rural areas in Beijing on Sunday, the eve of the Spring Festival, extending greetings to the people and celebrating with them the Chinese traditional lunar New Year.[Photo/Xinhua] |
Hu arrived at the old style Qianmen shopping street, south of the Tiananmen Square, waving hands to the passersby, who were surprised by Hu's appearance and then responded with jubilancy.
The street was once a busy commercial center in the old days and the government rebuilt it for the 2008 Olympic Games as a sightseeing and shopping destination with Beijing's characteristics. The street has more than 20 time-honored brands and stores, and an antique-style trolley car.
Hu walked into a 270-year-old store famous for braised pork, praising its long-term high quality produce and honesty in doing business. Hu said he hoped the store would promote its fine traditions so to better serve the people.
Hu then inspected the whole street aboard a trolley car, and urged officials of Beijing Municipality to develop the service industry in the city to meet the people's material and cultural needs.
After that, Hu went to a food processing and delivery company in Shunyi district in the city's northeastern suburb, where he inspected the processing line and food safety check laboratory, urging the company to make strict checks on food safety.
At the last stop of his tour, Hu went to a small village of Tianxianyu near the Great Wall in the city's northern mountainous area, experiencing the traditional rural New Year circumstances which feature red lanterns, Chinese knots, and New Year scrolls on the gate of every house.
Visiting the home of Shao Qicheng, an 85-year-old army veteran, Hu listened to Shao's war experiences, praising Shao and other veterans' contribution to the country and the people, and promised that the authorities will take care of their livelihood, in a bid to let them spend their remaining years in comfort.
Hu then joined the crowd on the village square while villagers were watching Chinese traditional opera. The atmosphere went into a climax when villagers were performing dragon dance to welcome the Year of Dragon.
"Fellow villagers, today is the eve of Spring Festival, I wish you a happy New Year!" Hu told the crowd. "I'm happy with the improvement of your living standard!"
Hu added that the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee attaches great importance to the issues concerning agriculture, rural area and farmers, and will continue to strengthen the related favorable policies.
Before leaving the village, Hu set firecrackers with children in the village.
Spring Festival is the most important festival in China and an occasion when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. This year Spring Festival falls on Monday, January 23.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (C) walks out of the residence of army veteran Shao Qicheng (L) in Tianxianyu Village of the Huairou District in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 22, 2012, after extending Chinese lunar New Year greetings to Shao and his family. Hu visited grassroots urban and rural areas in Beijing on Sunday, the eve of the Spring Festival, extending greetings to the people and celebrating with them the Chinese lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua] |
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 15 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2555
The Si Phan Dhon region has become a new mecca for young travellers. Photo: Getty Images
Sunset in Don Det ... enthusiasts opt to swim out to a sandbar marked with a solitary branch planted by travellers past. Photo: Elise Kuszlaba 
Breakfast venue ... the Bakery. Photo: Elise Kuszlaba Seeds of hope in Cambodia
Asia Golden Rice diversifying to help it meet challenges of tougher global trade.
- Published: 16/01/2012 at 12:00 AM Asia Golden Rice Co, Thailand's second-largest rice exporter, has mapped out a 1.5-billion-baht rice investment in Cambodia in a bid to expand regionally.
"Rice farming in Cambodia shows promising growth. The country produces about eight million tonnes of paddy a year and a lot of it has been secured by Vietnam for re-export," said Asia Golden Rice (AGR) president Sombat Chalermwutinan.
The investment is in the form of a joint venture between AGR and a leading Cambodian business group, which he asked not to be named for now.
The facilities will take about 18 months to build in the southern province of Kampot, which is also the location of a cement plant run by Thailand's top industrial conglomerate, Siam Cement Group.
Mr Sombat said the joint venture was also considering further activities including contract farming to ensure steady supplies locally.
The co-operation will help both countries to improve the rice industry and strengthen the region as a major supplier in the global rice trade. Countries in Southeast Asia are forecast to account for half of the global rice trade volume of 31.85 million tonnes in 2012, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
However, Mr Sombat forecast that Thailand's rice exports this year would decline to about 8 million tonnes from 10.5 million in 2011, reflecting the lingering effects of severe damage to farmland in the floods late last year.He also said that Thai rice in recent years had faced much tougher competition with products from Vietnam, Pakistan, Brazil and India.
The return of India in particular could have a big influence on exports of Thai rice this year. India has been active in the market with the plan to ship 2 million tonnes of rice in the first quarter of 2012, leaving exporters wondering whether New Delhi will extend the plan.
Mr Sombat said Thai exporters had adopted a wait-and-see strategy to see if India would continue exporting the grain.
"Considering its ample stock of over 30 million tonnes of rice, I assume that this could lead to a difficult year for Thai rice industry," he said. "Thai exporters are afraid of the competitive prices of India's rice which is also sold in the same markets as Thai rice."
The average export prices for Indian 5% grade white rice are about US$435-445 a tonne, much lower than of the $574 quoted for the same grade of Thai rice. Parboiled rice from India is also a threat considering its competitive price at $415-425, far lower than $595 a tonne sold by Thai exporters.
Besides India, Brazil has emerged as another strong rival in parboiled rice and it tends to contend in the same markets as Thai exporters, in particular in African countries.
Even exports of Hom Mali rice, the country's most prestigious fragrant grain, are now being challenged by fragrant rice from Vietnam and Cambodia, according to Mr Sombat.
Given all of these factors, local exporters believe trade will be stagnant for a few months but would be more active in the second half of the year after India's rice export policy becomes clearer, he said.
Amid all the uncertainty, Mr Sombat said it was hard for the company to set an export target but he vowed that AGR would maintain the 18% market share it had last year. Ranked just behind STC Group, AGR exported about 1.9 million tonnes of rice in 2011, with its main markets in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Despite stiff business conditions anticipated this year, the company still sees rice as a promising industry in the long term. Hence, it has a budget of 500 million baht for several plans to improve current facilities such as milling and processing plants in addition to adding new lighters for transport.
Diversifying to value-added products such as rice bran oil is also part of the company's strategy.
Mr Sombat said that the company was considering building three rice bran oil plants in areas close to its network of mills in Ang Thong, Ayutthaya and Chachoengsao.
Its fifth mill, in Phanom Thuan district of Kanchanaburi, is being built at a cost of 600 million baht and will be in operational by the middle of this year. It will add 1,000 tonnes of capacity to the 8,000 tonnes of daily production, marking AGR as the largest rice processor in Thailand.
AGR last year also teamed up with Singha Corporation to distribute packed rice under the Pundee label, which he said has received a warm welcome in Thailand's packed rice market worth over 50 billion baht.
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