HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

I saw this Technewsworld article linked from Slashdot. Quote from the article:

Enterprise computer maker Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) announced its first-ever laptop yesterday, saying the machine was designed to let engineers and scientists perform demanding computer tasks away from their desks.

Sun, which has seen sales fall for the last four years, said that it was also lowering prices for some of its computers by up to 40 percent.

However, when I browsed Sun’s products web page, there’s no links or pictures to the laptops. I would definitely want to see how they look like.

Update: Found the laptop page here. Must say that it is disappointingly plain looking

Believe it or not, scientists at Pittsburgh’s Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research has developed a resuscitation technique in which the subject’s veins are drained of blood and filled with an ice-cold salt solution. Three hours later, they replaced the dogs’ blood and brought it back to life with an electric shock.

The best part is that they will try applying this method of resuscitation on humans within a year. Any volunteers?

For those who are interested in SEO, or are just plain curious on how Google calculates the PageRank™ for web sites, you should read its recent patent application for the ranking process.

If the patent application appears overly legalese for your tastes, you might want to read this article on Buzzle.com instead. It uses a more “normal” tone to basically analyse the more important details to pay attention to.

Reading through the patent application, it gives me the impression that many of the ranking weights are not really rocket science anyway. However, I’m very impressed that somehow, the good people at Google can actually come up with an algorythm to calculate some of the seemingly unmeasurable criterias. I’m happy to know that lots of “weights”, are measured just to identify spam sites and lower their rankings.

If you are serious about getting high ranks in Google search results, you should read the patent application thoroughly. There are priceless gems of information in it. Thanks to Ookami Snow for the link to the Buzzle.com article.

PCWorld and Techworld are among those who did a coverage on Gartner’s lambasting of what it terms as overhyped security risks.

The chosen five are:

• The fear of mobile malware.
• The perceived insecurity of VOIP.
• Concerns about wireless hotspots.
• The equation of regulatory compliance with security.
• The “superworm that can spread on the Internet in a matter of minutes” theory.

Are all these perceived risks really overhyped? Well, to each his/her own.

Missed me? Heh, anyway, I just got back from KL a few hours ago… actually my time of arrival is precisely 1530 @ GMT+8. By 1730, I’m at the office and being briefed by my MD on what has been happenning for the past three days (my leave period)… ah the challenges of business in these trying times It just makes me feel alive.

Soon after that, I went to a Proton Savvy launch at a close friend’s dealership. Seems bloody obvious that Proton has its eyes focused on the compact car market which has always been dominated by local rival Perodua. BTW, Perodua launched their latest model, Myvi roughly three weeks ago.

The two not only looks, but are priced similarly too… hell, even their names are almost the same! Both companies have gone on a totally different direction with their naming schemes. Nevertheless, from my first hand view of the two, I still prefer the Myvi over Proton’s new offering. The rear passenger legroom for Myvi is still much spacious compared to Savvy. But heck, both cars look much better than their predecessors. Finally, Malaysian compact cars that look modern and stylish.

Now back to my vacation story. I went for a swimming-cum-picnic-trip at Sungai Tekala, Selangor. Nice cold water, trees everywhere. I bet you can tell that I’m not really a nature lover, heh. I took a few pics, probably will upload them here later.

As promised, I also went to Times Square… and no, I didn’t stalk Lainie, nor did I go to any blogger convention. Like I said, I had totally zero interaction with the Internet whilst I was away… so I didn’t even know that there was such a blogmeet planned. My loss, I guess.

I did have fun on the rides at the indoor theme park in Times Square. I must have been a pilot in my previous life because not a single one of the rides made me puke… But I sure as hell had some long missing, g-force induced, adrenaline rush. For those with a weak stomach, stay the hell clear of DNA Mixer! It looks innocent enough when sitting idle, but when the ride starts… it’s really scary… heck, I rode the thing a few times and every time, someone pukes right after the ride! Definitely not recommended for those with weak stomaches.

Catching up on the latest tech news, I noticed that Apple finally confirmed that they do have plans to develop OSX for Intel chips (is it also safe to assume that it’ll be x86 compatible?). Never thought the day would come… heh, not that I’m actually pining for OSX on x86 anyway. And as usual, the paranoid “Linux is now oh so dead” crowd, will have something to say about it.

On a more personal note, I’m starting to have a feeling that vacations actually stresses me out more than working. I missed the challenges of operating a business severely. Heck… maybe I’m just a bloody corporate bastard… and proud of it too