In theory, Microsoft Research developed a new, free, high-quality mean for live TV distribution over the internet. In practice, Livestation will play only content that Windows Media Player already plays on your computer, and you will have to install Silverlight to figure that.
Yet another use of fMRI is documented on a recent news item published by the BBC. In both the people with diagnosed OCD, and their relatives, the amount of activity (in a specific area of the brain, the orbitofrontal cortex - my note) was much lower. In an interview, the author declares What it could do is help test the effectiveness of interventions for OCD. Does it mean that this method can also measure the effectiveness of interventions against familial history of OCD?
I recently read with interest the FT article on recent developments at CME (”Communism to risktaking”, July 10). Adrian Sarbu, a Romanian manager in the company, gets a well-deserved praise from his boss, Michael Garin. However, I found intriguing the inset mentioning that Pro TV, the main CME channel in Romania, “broadcasts 24 hours a day online”. Visiting the ProTV website today is an experience no different than many years ago: three-minutes news and new book reports, five-minutes show fragments, and a huge amount of 30-seconds promos. The horoscope is broken down into signs, probably to save bandwidth or on a need-to-know basis. The station still does not stream live at all and does not to offer full records of any but a few shows, while the two main competitors offer both these services freely. This hardly makes an “internet virtuoso”. It is true that another CME station, ProTV International, a niche channel for the diaspora, streams over the internet, but it is not much of a technical accomplishment, when looking at a price tag starting at 9.50 dollars a month for a program including soaps that were on ProTV two years ago. One theory would be that ProTV uses geographic filters in order to prevent access me and anybody outside Romania from viewing for free its most valuable programmes. That is uncommon in Romanian market, but resembles iPlayer’s unavailability outside UK. Another, more likely, interpretation is that we are witnessing a return to practices from Communist times. During the last years of the Ceausescu regime, rationing and hour-long queues for bread were common across the country; at the same time, a large majority of the state-owned farms’ managers reported to “the Centre” and bragged on TV about yields of more than 20 tonnes of wheat per hectare, in order to be awarded medals as “Heroes of the New Agrarian Revolution”. We know the outcome of that “revolution”: the Centre saw it as a success, the deprived citizens - less so. In December 25, 1989, a more real Revolution, supported by millions of New Agriculture unsatisfied consumers, lead to the execution of Ceausescu. Oblivious, until his last moment, the man at the Centre did not believe there were bread shortages. Alas, with the fall of communism, that is a trial the London-based CME Centre and the credulous Mr. Garin will not have to go through.
A reading of the interview of the AOL Europe chief manager, Dana Dunne, makes your day. I will not delve into the long passages which describe at great length his life experiences, as they indeed sound very well and also boring at times. More interesting is what AOL pretends to be.
The interview, edited in the FT manner, says AOL is a well-established, well-respected brand whose name, in the US at any rate, is practically synonymous with service provision over the internet. No, in US AOL is known an internet provider, not as an internet-borne services provider - and a cheap and lousy if we get to that. Also AOL is a CD provider - they will send you a CD right away, too bad it will be already written.
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After 69 years of Romanian radio, BBC decides to withdraw from Romania. Official reasons are the loss in general radio audience and BBC market share (less than 3%). There is no mention of how the Bucharest office became the playground of the Romanian government, and how inconvenient journalists were dismissed at the request of Romanian authorities. (Citing US State Dept: In November [2003], the Romanian service of the BBC did not renew the contract of a long-serving reporter, Traian Ungureanu. Ungureanu was respected for his political analyses and known for frequent criticisms of PSD policies. Press colleagues believed Ungureanu’s removal was linked to these criticisms; the BBC responded by saying that Ungureanu, a 14-year veteran, had failed a routine voice test. Several reporters and an editor at the BBC resigned to protest the dismissal. This happened in the same era when Tony Blair pressured the Romanian PM to sell a huge state-owned steel mill to Mittal.)
All other 31 localized, foreign-language services, will be maintained until these pesky Iranians will learn what democracy is.
A recent article from Microsoft’s website writer sdfJuliaasdasd Francis shows how "Office XP is great for Home users". From the Knowledge Base article 556099, summarized "Office is so handy, I love it", one may learn that in fact "sadf asdf" and various other things that one can type with only four keys. This makes sense especially when read backwards, or upside down.
A stupid idea which essentially makes me to reject any call from unknown phone numbers: US mobile phone customers pay for mobile phone calls, no matter whether they called or were called. A worse idea is that one has to pay for a received text message (SMS), and there’s no straightforward way to reject these messages. Armed with a plan like mine (unlimited free texts), one could send you thousands of text messages, until you go bankrupt, and there’s nothing you can do about it. EU telecom comissioner, Viviane Reding, declared for the FT that she thinks this double-charging practice is fit for European customers too. After inflating hundreds of millions of cell bills, Ms. Reding must feel very satisfied.
I am on my way to write a series of blogs from the train. A horribly hot/humid day which beats hands down all horrible weather I have witnessed in NJ/NYC in the recent years triggered power shortages which affected computers and trains alike. According to the conductor of the train that I am riding just now, no train moves between Philly and NYC. I shall be stuck somewhere midway along with some other hundreds of late commuters. NJtransit.com confirms that, Amtrak.com does not publish such information about the lines they own and operate.
Later edit: Only 40 minutes delay! That’s almost normal business. 
Even later: The other Newark - New York City train, the PATH, just announced 20 minutes delays, after cancelling its other line for the whole day. With the whole 4 dollars a gas gallon fuss keeping leisure drivers away from the wheel, it will soon be faster to drive into Manhattan.
According to Livescore.com, in a game featuring Romanian and French national teams in Zurich, “the home team have had 45% of possession compared to the away team’s 55%.” That probably meant that Swiss players were on the field too.
In a slightly uninspired article published in today’s The Guardian,
Lembit Opik gives his five reasons to support Romania at the Euro 2008. The less convincing of them is that a much inspired goalkeeper from his constituency, standing no chance to be capped in the Welsh team, might find his place in the Romanian team. Quoting: "Unfortunately a goalkeeper from Montgomery Town FC is never going to be signed in the UK, but Goodwin is certainly good enough for an audition with Romania. I think if we support Romania, the least they can do is give Steve Goodwin a chance to be one of the most impressive goalies in a former Soviet Union country."
I am afraid that he only confirms a general stereotype about the disconnection between Gabriela Irimia and her birthplace, since Romania was never part of USSR, yet the cheeky girl might not have noticed. Alternatively, may I suggest that an MP with such deficiencies on contemporary history should not be capped in a national diplomatic team - be it UK’s or the Estonian one.