Date: 04/08/05     Keywords: virus, spam

US has again achieved the dubious distinction of being responsible for maximum amount of spam (35%) with South Korea (25%) at second place. What is more interesting is: According to Sophos more than 50% of all spam is sent from "zombie" PCs, computers that have been take over by hackers or virus writers. The good news is: Deborah Platt [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/us-computers-again-leader-in-worldwide-spamming-followed-by-s-korea/

Date: 04/07/05     Keywords: technology

I have been reading on and on in different feeds how they have discovered that ancient Mayan's made salt. What's the big deal about it? We make salt too. Any two year old can make salt if he is near the sea. There isn't much technology involved and it isn't rocket science to guess. The problem [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/mayans-made-salt-are-you-surprised/

Date: 04/06/05     Keywords: software

"Economies and nations need intellectual property (IP) to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I've talked to developing nations, representatives from academia and manufacturing companies that had begun to incorporate GPL software into their products, then...found they had an obligation to deliver their IP back into the world," Schwartz said. The GPL purports to have [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/gpl-is-forced-socialism/

Date: 04/06/05     Keywords: google

I am astounded by Google satellite view. You must check it out. It can provide you with hours of fun and geography lessons. I wish it was there when I was learning geography. Can you recognize the photo?

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/google-satellite-view-is-simply-amazing/

Date: 04/05/05     Keywords: no keywords

I clearly remember the day. I worked at DoubleTwist in Oakland then. That day, like any other day, I came to office without any event whatsoever. The office looked normal too from what I could tell. Then suddenly I got a bulk email from Rob, CTO that today has been declared a holiday and we [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/back-in-time-my-experiences-post-911/

Date: 04/05/05     Keywords: no keywords

According to University of Washington about 10 million US citizens have diabetes without being aware of it. Diabetes is the most insidious disease. Intially you may not get any indication of its presence, until much later, when it has already damaged your organs significantly. Things to watch out for: Are you experiencing increased thirst? Are you going for more [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/do-you-have-diabetes-are-you-sure/

Date: 04/05/05     Keywords: no keywords

It comprises a computer chip that sits in the back of the individual's eye, linked up to a mini video camera built into glasses that they wear. Professor Dagnelie said: "The retinal implant contains tiny electrodes. If you stimulate a single electrode, the person will see a single dot of light." "We are hoping this will be [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/artificial-eye-for-the-blind-invented-at-john-hopkins-university-baltimore/

Date: 04/05/05     Keywords: google

Is there a broader plan behind latest Google innovations? At first sight some of them seems random addition to the Google family (20% effort or not) and somewhat unrelated to its search focus. Lets scan Google News lately: Google Maps now has a satellite Google Ride Finder - Builds on top of Google Maps to show you [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/is-there-a-method-to-googles-madness/

Date: 04/05/05     Keywords: technology

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO) today announced publication of data that demonstrates the use of the Company's zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) technology to achieve highly efficient, permanent correction of a disease-causing gene in primary human cells. This research, published in Nature as an advance online publication, represents a significant advance in the ability to [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/sangamos-technology-zfp-for-efficient-permanent-correction-of-disease-causing-gene-accepted-for-publication-by-nature/

Date: 04/04/05     Keywords: no keywords

A diabetes epidemic is under way. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 30m people worldwide had some form of diabetes in 1985; by 2000, the number had increased to 177m. WHO projections suggest that the number of people suffering from the disease will increase to some 370m by 2030. Source: Research And Markets The [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/who-projects-diabetes-will-affect-370m-by-2030-currently-177m-worldwide/

Date: 04/04/05     Keywords: no keywords

NASH, a liver disease that resembles alcoholic liver disease but occurs in patients who drink little or no alcohol. NASH occurs most often in adults over the age of 40 who are overweight or have diabetes, insulin resistance (pre-diabetes), or hyperlipidemia (excess concentrations of fatty materials in the blood). NASH can also occur in children, [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/two-new-clinical-trials-for-nash-nonalcoholic-steatohepatitis-treatment-with-vitamin-e-metformin-and-pioglitazone/

Date: 04/04/05     Keywords: web

Previously I had posted on one of the best use of Flash. Now I have seen the second best use of Flash - as a cookie creator, cookies (persistent user information stored on client machines and accessible from the web server and are often used to track client's online activity) which are hard to delete and [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/second-best-use-of-flash/

Date: 04/04/05     Keywords: no keywords

Steven Rosen wrote an interesting article on the dangers of diabetic foot problems and the need to regularly visually inspect your feet.

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/article-on-the-dangers-of-diabetes/

Date: 04/04/05     Keywords: no keywords

It's a near certainty that black holes don't exist. - George Chapline Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory George Chapline thinks that the collapse of the massive stars, which was long believed to generate black holes, actually leads to the formation of stars that contain dark energy. In general relativity, there is no such thing as a 'universal time' [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/scientist-claims-blackholes-cannot-exist/

Date: 04/03/05     Keywords: no keywords

Since most patients with diabetes die from some vascular complication, Medical College of Georgia researchers set out to determine the effects of simvastatin on endothelial cell dysfunction, an early pivotal event in atherogenesis and a major cause of the microvascular complications in diabetics. The researchers found that in addition to lowering cholesterol levels, simvastatin also [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/research-finds-statin-simvastatin-appears-to-prevent-or-reverse-vascular-injury-in-diabetic-rats/

Date: 04/03/05     Keywords: no keywords

A bill that would allow embryonic stem cell research in Massachusetts cleared its second big legislative hurdle on Thursday with enough support to withstand a near-certain veto by the state's governor. Following impassioned argument on both sides, the state House of Representatives voted 117-37 in favor of legislation that endorses stem cell research, including stem cells [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/way-to-go-massachusetts-another-state-becomes-wiser-to-the-needs-of-stem-cell-research/

Date: 04/03/05     Keywords: no keywords

The study, by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends, ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years. Ten to 30 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened with extinction, according to [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/unprecedented-rate-of-damage-to-earth-by-humans-which-is-raising-risks-of-abrupt-collapses-in-nature-international-report-based-on-study-by-1360-experts-in-95-nations/

Date: 04/03/05     Keywords: software

Indian Outsourcing industry is increasingly turning towards software testing. In fact we have started providing software testing services to customers. Reuters reports on companies like Wipro, Infosys and Aztech who are experiencing boom in this sector. C.P. Gangadharaiah, vice-president of testing services at Wipro, said his team has jumped four-fold to 2,400 in two years. In the [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/software-testing-the-next-outsourcing-boom-sector/

Date: 04/02/05     Keywords: no keywords

According to the team, as waist circumference increased, so did the risk of developing diabetes, with the risk in men with the highest waist circumference (up to 158 centimeters) increasing by 12-fold, they report. "Our findings support the contention that the measurement of waist circumference should be used in clinical practice instead of waist-to-hip ratio," the [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/reserach-indicates-waist-circumference-is-the-strongest-indicator-of-type-2-diabetes-risk-in-men/

Date: 04/01/05     Keywords: no keywords

Most of the opposition to stem cells stem from the assumption that human embroys are required for stem cell production. However recent research indicates other viable sources (like placenta) of stem cells. The following appears to me a very promising avenue. research published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides new insight [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/science-technology-at-scientific-americancom-stem-cells-from-hair-follicles-can-change-into-neurons-study-shows-2/