Nerdy News Round Up 05-12-08

Here are some of the science and technology news stories I've been sneaking a read of at work.

Broadband speed regulations hit UK: Yey! At last. At the mo about 25% of homes are not getting the broadband speed they pay for. It's like going to the pub, buying a pint, only getting half a pint and the barman saying, "Read the small print. There are other people on this bar which means I only have time to serve you less."

Waste could fill many of nation’s wants: This was shocking. Apparently we can make energy from out waste water. What a feeling of warm pride within as you know your last poo could help light a small villiage.

TomTom launches route planner with traffic info: The Sat Nav people have launched a web site to plan your routes. Even though I thought the whole point of sat nav was that you didn't have to mess around planning your routes these days. And if the website is anything like real sat nav, it'll plan you a route that includes making a U-turn where you shouldn't and eventually driving you into a river.

Just click the links (and follow the landing page) to have a read for yourself.

Facebook

Here's technology working at its best.

The story of Georgina Hobday, who's parents Sylvia and Michael agreed to give their little Georgie a birthday party.

So she mentions it on Facebook and the next thing you know hundreds of people turn up and wreck the place.

Good. If there's something that can get teenagers of Facebook, it's a good thing.

People spend ages on that site. And it's not just the teenagers. Lots of people I work with waste most of their workday on it. If someone invented Facebook 100 years ago none of the great inventions we enjoy today would've been made. Apart from penicillin. That was discovered by someone not doing the dishes for a while. They'll be plenty of that happening.

But I suppose if we had Facebook 100 years ago we wouldn't have had the bad things either. If Hitler spent all day playing Scrabble we might not have had the Second World War. Just an update saying, "Hitler is... making plans for world domination". Or "Hitler invited you to join the Third Reich". Or even better, "Hitler has installed Super Wall... in Berlin."

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Good News

Here's the good news. My GF is no longer my GF. No, we haven't split up, she's gone from GF to F. No, that doesn't mean she's no longer a girl. As far as I know she hasn't had any gender reassignment work done. She's not the fiancée.

We go the ring sorted. It's white gold, so basically it looks like Silver, and the same will be true of the wedding ring.

And now the planning begins. It has meant I have learned of a Wedding Planning website WeddingChannel.com that has interactive planning tools to help you sort out the big day, it has advice sections on the site and lots more.

I'll keep you posted as and when I get more.

BBC, ITV And Channel 4 Are Anti-Competitive

Here's something in the world of tech news that I don't understand.

A plan by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 to jointly create a competitor to YouTube may be blocked because it is anti-competitive.

Creating a competitor to a main provider who has a massive share is anti-competitive. But, erm, it's being competitive.

How can something that is competitive be anti-competitive? And is it like matter and anti-matter? Will there be a big bang and we all disappear?

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Holiday Glasses

If you wear glasses I hope you know that you have a lot of range to choose from these days. The options for the glasses-wearer these days are amazing. So much so, you could get yourself some new glasses this holiday time.

Have a look at the Holiday Glass Frames From Zenni Optical

For Xmas, these would be my fave. They're very festive...



The website is zennioptical.com and it is The popular online eyeglasses shop. The prices are great because they have eliminated the overheads. For example, look at their $ 8 Complete Rx Eyeglasses. With prices like that, you'll have a lovely time this Holiday time.

Ants

Spotted this in the news:

"A new ant which was discovered less than 20 years ago could be on the way to wreak havoc in parks and gardens of Northern Europe including Britain."

Ants? It's hardly going to be the next summer blockbuster is it? We get invaded and the scariest thing they could send is an ant.

They are the Lasius neglectus ant and when they move into a new area they quickly exterminate its local rivals.

So, it's an ant that invades but by doing so gets rid of the other ants that you were having problems with. That's almost quite kind of it.

It resembles the common black garden ant but the number of workers crawling around is between 10 and 100 times greater.

So it will look like a kid has dropped an ice lolly on the floor even when they haven't.

Maybe I should be more scared, but I'm not, and here's why. Dr Sylvia Cremer said: "We found that invasive garden ants developed from species in the Black Sea region that have natural populations with small networks of interconnected nests with many queens that mate underground and don't fly."

As long as they don't fly they can come round here any day. It's the flying ones that freak me out.

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Unusual Gadgets

You know me, I like my tech. So I mention some gadgets that have caught my eye.

Well this one certainly caught my eye. Here's the apparatus...



Anyone know what they does? I'll tell you.

It's the MaleEdge penis enlarger from www.maleedge.com.

What goes where? What do you press, and then what happens?

It's non-invasive and available in a variety of colours and sizes.

And hopefully it comes with instructions.