Cruel but true

Hey everyone this is a story that I was told from a close friend of mine R.C. We were standing around work late one night and we were talking about cruel jokes that we played on friends/family members when we were growing up well let me tell you, his story just about killed me with laughter. Imagine if you will, my friend R.C. and his brother were driving late going to Arizona I believe it was, anyways R.C. was the driver and his brother was the co- driver and they had been drinking earlier in the evening. So they are driving along hours go by and its dark outside probably around 2-3 in the morning well never the less R.C.'s brother had fallen asleep with the seat laid back so as time was passing by R.C. had gotten bored and started wondering what he could do to keep his brother awake well shortly their after the ideal hit him like a ton of bricks, R.C. pulled off into this truck stop where their were some truckers parked for the night to get some sleep well R.C looks for a rig with the biggest shinyiest grill and slowly pulled up to it and got extremely close then he then proceeded to turn on his brights so the car lights would shine back into the car he then slowly backed up about 20 feet and then put the car in drive then into neutral real qucik so he could cost R.C. then pushed down on his car horn and started to scream at the top of his lungs yelling OMG were going to die, by this time the car was closer to the truck lights shining into the car and his brother wakes up out of a dead sleep and sees this truckers grill coming straight for him and starts screaming as well and trys to crawl as fast as he can into the back seat of the car. And R.C's brother is about 6'5". Well never the less R.C. started to laugh so hard. It was then when his brother realized what was going on. R.C. brother started to kick his ass which R.C. says he deserved. So just picture that coming out of a dead sleep to awake to an on coming big rig coming straight at youand thinking your about to die. Talk about a heart pounding experience.

CEDIA EXPO 2004

My Top Ten Favorites at CEDIA 2004
By Dawn Gordon Luks

The Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA for short) holds a once a year EXPO in September. This trade show is the most important event for custom installers and as many as 24,000 of these "whiz kids" gather from all over the country to see the latest and greatest in home theater and home automation. Below are my favorites.

Fujitsu LPF-D711WW ($25,000)
Designed as a high-end home theater front projector, the new Fujitsu LPF-D711WW takes away Sony’s title as the best home theater projector in the under $30,000 price category. This product was jaw-dropping amazing. For only $25K you get three high-resolution,1080p LCD imaging chips, ultra pure colors and a very high contrast ratio of 3300:1. The projector delivered a very bright image on a 130" screen. Definitely on my wish list, but it’s still in the prototype stage. Expect to see a real product in about 6-8 months.

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Denon AVR-5805 ($6000.00)
Denon has a new flagship AV receiver, and it’s huge, and I don’t mean just its feature-set. This monster receiver is a foot tall, weighs a back-busting 90 pounds, and features 10 channels of 170 watt amplification. The 5805 can run two complete surround sound systems, or act as a whole-house AV system with control of up to 4 separate zones/rooms. The receiver features all the inputs and outputs you might expect including the newest: HDMI, DVI, Fire-Wire, Serial, and Ethernet.

Control4
Finally, a manufacturer who actually understands the affordable whole house control concept. Control4 has managed to design a control system that can be used in both existing and new construction, both wired and wireless. You can start out with just a few dimmers, a couple of lights, and add more whenever you like. The light controls actually talk to each other. Want to control more stuff? Go ahead. Add a wireless thermostat, multi-room audio and video control, wall touch-pads, a wireless handheld remote, security integration, and web control. The list goes on, and it’s a fraction of the price of existing systems. The company expects to be shipping their first products this November.

coNEXTion Systems z600c Ceiling Speaker ($700.00 ea.)
With the introduction of the zc Series of ceiling speakers, start-up company coNEXTion Systems is now on the map. The zc Series use a Direct Axis Extending Tweeter, that maintains a 50° angle and also can be extended approx 1’ slightly below the ceiling to actually point down and towards the listening position. While other companies have aiming/tilting devices for their ceiling speakers, no one currently on the market has the ability to really get the ceiling image "down in to the room". When combined with the 20° angling woofer, installers and consumers have the option of up to 70° of acoustic focusing control for the best "out-of-the-ceiling" image available today from ceiling speakers. Even more interesting is the use of a three-way design in the top-of-the-line z600c. Most ceiling speakers feature a tweeter and a midrange/woofer. The z600c actually has a separate, tweeter, midrange and 8" carbon fiber woofer.

Sim2 HTL40 LCD Display ($9000.00)
With their sleek-looking front and rear video projectors the folks at Sim2 have created electronic pieces of art, and now they bring us an ultra-chic, 40-inch, tabletop LCD display. Not only is the outside stunning, but as usual, so is the picture. The HTL40 LINK is a new masterpiece by the award-winning designer Giorgio Revoldini. Every component speaks of attention to details: from the front crystal glass, to the refined wood or matt silver back panels, to the crystal or Matt Silver tabletop support (optional). The HTL40 LINK back panel is available in either Matt Silver (standard) or two types of refined woods: Rosewood or Whitened Oak Wood.

NHT Xd Speaker System ($5500.00)
NHT has introduced a DEQX Calibrated(TM), DSP-corrected, powered speaker system that reduces distortion and offers impeccable frequency and phase response, regardless of placement or listening position. NHT Xd is the result of the combined efforts of three companies -- NHT, DEQX (Digital Equalization and Crossover), and PowerPhysics -- that pooled their respective core technologies to develop a system that removes virtually all possible distortion from the audio signal path while providing a much wider sound-field that remains accurate, even when listening far off axis. A fortunate few of us had a sneak preview of this system, and it was impressive. You could actually walk anywhere in the room -- even behind the speakers -- and hear a cohesive stereo image.

Sony Grand Wega ($10,000)
Sony’s newest flagship TV borrows SXRD imaging technology from the company’s Qualia 004 projector (last year’s best front projector at CEDIA). This model produces a stunning picture using three 1080p imaging chips. If’ you’re in the market for a 70-inch rear-projection TV, this is the best so far.

Martin Logan Voyage and Passage In-Wall Speakers ($749-$1995.00 ea.)
If you’re an audiophile at heart and your environment calls for in-wall speakers then the new Martin Logan Voyage and Passage speakers deserve a look. Feeling more like precision componentry from a formula-one vehicle than an in-wall loudspeaker, these speakers, when installed, assume the grace and elegance of fine architecture. If you like your in-wall speakers hidden, then these models are not for you.

Goo Systems Goo Screen ($160+)
Screen Goo is a specially formatted, highly reflective acrylic paint, designed specifically for the video projection industry. Screen Goo acrylic paint allows one to transform any smooth paintable surface into a high performance projection screen. I saw it, and it works very well. Great way to hide a projection screen, but you’ll have to like the color white.

d-Tools Version 4
Finally, if you’re buying a home theater system from a custom installer you’re proposal should have the detailed system layout provided by D-tools. For those custom installers who want to expand their business, this is a tool you can’t be without. Version 4 ships within the next month.

Dawn Gordon Luks is a veteran consumer electronics journalist. In addition to her writing schedule, Dawn also designs home audio, home theater, and home automation installations in South Florida. Send an email to Dawn Gordon Luks.

Biz Travel Gadgets

6 Picks to Make Life Easier On the Road
By Dawn Gordon Luks

If you're like any self-respecting business traveler, you know important it is to stay in touch on the road. So, with PDA, cell phone, and laptop in hand, you're ready for your next meeting anywhere on the planet. You may think you have everything covered, but there are a few gadgets available that will come in handy to make your life much easier.

D-Link DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router ($99)
The DWL-G730AP is a portable and convenient wireless solution for road warriors, offering 802.11g wireless connectivity anywhere there's an internet connection. The product can be used as an access point, router, or wireless client. Use it in conference rooms, hotel rooms, or even at hotspots. Includes a convenient travel case, and supports power over USB.

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Kensington PocketMouse™ Pro Wireless ($49.99)
This little mouse was designed with innovative features, including a USB receiver that stows inside the mouse, battery-saving technology, and a 3 ft wireless range. Other niceties include: auto turn off when receiver is stored; DiamondEye™ optical technology that tracks precisely on any surface and a Rotating USB receiver that fits any port configuration.

Canon i80 Color Bubble Jet Portable Printer ($249)
The Canon i80 Color Bubble Jet Printer delivers a combination of high performance and portability. It's capable of printing up to 14 ppm in black and up to 10 ppm in color, while achieving a resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 dpi. Canon's advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology uses a nozzle system that ejects consistent prescribed-volume droplets as small as 2 picoliters.

• Wireless printing capable from select devices
• Direct photo printing from PictBridge-compatible digital cameras and DV camcorders
• True borderless photo printing (4 x 6, 5 x 7 & 8.5 x 11 in.)

Targus USB Notebook Light & Bonus Fan ($12.99)
Two products for the price of one, the Notebook USB Light illuminates your notebook and the included USB Bonus Fan keeps you cool. Lightweight, small and flexible, they're the perfect travel companions. LED light is rated for 8,000 hours; the fan features compact vinyl blades. PC or Mac compatible, both are USB (no batteries required).

Garmin GPS 18 ($162.50)
Turn your laptop PC into a powerful street navigator with the GPS 18 -- a GPS sensor bundled with nRoute™ and City Select software that automatically guides you with turn-by-turn directions and voice prompts to get you safely to your destination.

The GPS 18 ships with MapSource® City Select® CDs, which provide full coverage of the entire United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico (North America version) or major metropolitan areas throughout Western Europe (Europe version). Map detail includes highways, interstates, business and residential roads, with turn restrictions, speed categories, and other navigation features. It also features more than five million points of interest including restaurants, lodging, attractions, shopping, emergency services, post offices, and more. Available in USB and serial versions.

Migo USB Thumb Drive ($99.00 - $499)
Carry and access your Outlook Email, Desktop, Favorites and Files on any computer, wherever you go with the Migo Thumb Drive. Migo captures your desktop wallpaper and Internet Favorites as well, so you will always have your personal look-and-feel wherever you go. Password protected to ensure security. Migo leaves no files behind, keeping your information secure, regardless of the system you're using.

Perfect on a keychain, Migo is small enough to fit in your pocket or purse and large enough to carry your entire computer environment and is available in sizes from 64MB through 1GB.

It's easy to use. Simply synchronize your computer with Migo and go. Then plug Migo into any other USB-enabled computer. Login to your computer using Migo; Return Migo to your computer, click synchronize and Migo updates your computer with the changes made while you were away.

For additional information: Canon D-Link Garmin Kensington
Migo Targus

Dawn Gordon Luks is a veteran consumer electronics journalist. In addition to her writing schedule, Dawn also designs home audio, home theater, and home automation installations in South Florida. Send an email to Dawn Gordon Luks.

FOLDING AT HOME

Leoville Folding@Home Team

Date of last work unit	2004-11-04 10:08:58
Active CPUs within 50 days	174
Team Id	35054
Grand Score	1323599.9 (certificate)
Work Unit Count	19574 (certificate)
Team Ranking (incl. aggregate)	113 of 34154
Home Page	http://www.leovilletownsquare.com
Fast Teampage URL	http://vspx27.stanford.edu/teamstats/team35054.html

Our goal: to understand protein folding, protein aggregation, and related diseases

What are proteins and why do they "fold"? Proteins are biology's workhorses -- its "nanomachines." Before proteins can carry out their biochemical function, they remarkably assemble themselves, or "fold." The process of protein folding, while critical and fundamental to virtually all of biology, remains a mystery. Moreover, perhaps not surprisingly, when proteins do not fold correctly (i.e. "misfold"), there can be serious effects, including many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, and Parkinson's disease. What does Folding@Home do? Folding@Home is a distributed computing project which studies protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases. We use novel computational methods and large scale distributed computing, to simulate timescales thousands to millions of times longer than previously achieved. This has allowed us to simulate folding for the first time, and to now direct our approach to examine folding related disease.

Results from Folding@Home simulations of villin See Prof. Pande's lecture on F@H at Xerox PARC

How can you help? You can help our project by downloading and running our client software. Our algorithms are designed such that for every computer that joins the project, we get a commensurate increase in simulation speed. One can also help by donating funds to the project, via Stanford University. What have we done so far? We have had several successes. You can read about them on our Science page, Results section, or go directly to our press and papers page.

Since October 1, 2000, over 1,000,000 CPUs throughout the world have participated in Folding@Home. Each additional CPU gives us an added boost in performance, allowing us to tackle more difficult problems or solve existing research faster or more accurately.

Want to learn more? Click on the links on the left for downloads or more information. You can also download our Executive Summary, which is a PDF suitable for distribution.

Fans Mourn Death of Sergei Zholtok

RIGA, Latvia (AP) - Latvian hockey players, officials, and fans were saddened Thursday after national star Sergei Zholtok died while playing in Belarus.

Zholtok left the game between Riga 2000, the club he was playing for during the NHL lockout, and Dinamo Minsk about five minutes before it ended on Wednesday night. He went back to the locker room where he collapsed and died, Riga 2000 president Viesturs Kozioles told The Associated Press in Riga.

Paramedics at the arena tried to revive him but were unsuccessful. Zholtok, who was known to have an irregular heartbeat, was 31.

An autopsy was scheduled for later Thursday.

Zholtok missed games twice last year while playing with the Minnesota Wild, and suffered from dizziness and fatigue.

After leaving a game in January 2003, he was kept in a hospital overnight for observation. He was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, or arrhythmia. After missing seven games, he was cleared to return to the lineup.

Zholtok was a key forward for the Wild during their unexpected playoff run that spring.

``Sergei was a great competitor and a valuable member of our organization for almost three years and will be greatly missed by his teammates and his fans in the hockey world,'' said Wild general manager Doug Risebrough.

Everyone associated with Latvian hockey was shocked and saddened by the news, said Kozioles, who broke down crying while talking about the star forward's death.

``I was really honored to have him on the team,'' Kozioles said. ``He was a patriot for his country and for hockey who never took a shift off and always devoted time to trying to make our young players better. He was one of the best players Latvia ever had, and he was a brilliant person, a brilliant character.''

Zholtok was popular with Latvian fans, who are among hockey's most passionate. While many NHL players skip the World Championships that are held each spring, Zholtok regularly suited up for Latvia.

Zholtok, along with goaltender Arturs Irbe and defensemen Sandis Ozolinsh and Karlis Skrastins, was one of a handful of Latvians to have a lengthy NHL career.

``He was one of the greatest all time players in Latvian hockey history,'' said Guntis Keisels, a sports reporter with the country's leading newspaper Diena. ``Ten years in the NHL is quite an achievement. He was the best goal scorer, the best forward, Latvia ever produced.''

Called Zholi by his teammates, Zholtok scored 111 goals and had 147 assists during his NHL career. He had a career-best 26 goals for the Canadiens in 1999-2000.

Zholtok was a member of the Latvian team that won silver at the 1994 world championships, and in subsequent tournaments helped his country retain its position in the top flight of international hockey. He was on the Commonwealth of Independent States team that won gold at the 1991 world junior tournament.

Zholtok was traded from Minnesota to the Nashville Predators in March. He was drafted by Boston in 1992, 55th overall, and played 588 NHL games with the Bruins, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Minnesota and Nashville.

``We are all saddened and shocked to hear of Sergei's sudden passing,'' Nashville general manager David Poile said in a statement released by the club. ``He was a hardworking player who was well-liked by his teammates and coaches.

``We extend our deepest sympathies to the Zholtok family, his wife, Anna, and his sons, Edgar and Nikita.''

The Predators originally announced that Zholtok had died in Latvia.

Three years ago, Zholtok and Irbe helped set up an online auction of hockey memorabilia to benefit abused children in Latvia. They arranged to have pucks, sticks and equipment autographed by more than 115 NHL players sold to the highest bidders.

Compact Digital Cameras

In the world of bigger is better a few exceptions still exist. Compact size and reduced weight make the latest breed of point-and-shoot digital cameras the way to go -- especially if you’re on the go. So, take a look at my favorite three mini’s, starting with the smallest.

Casio Exilim EX-Z4U ($399.00) 4.5 ounces 3.43 x 2.24 x .93
Packing a 2-inch color screen, 4 Megapixel imager, 3X optical zoom, and voice recorder into a package barely an inch deep, the EX-Z4U is super portable. Highlights include:

The Audio Snapshot feature lets you add comments or other audio to your still images. You can record audio as you record the image, or add it later, and play it back on the camera’s built-in speaker

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Voice Recording lets you keep audio records of meetings or create voice memos while on the go. The camera's built-in memory (10MB) provides enough capacity to record approximately 40 minutes of audio.

7-point Multi AF means you never need to worry about focusing again. The camera automatically selects one of seven focus points based on which one is aligned with the nearest subject, and focuses on that point. This helps to avoid loss of foreground subjects and minimizes the chance of the image being out of focus.

The Macro Mode of the EX-Z4U lets you move in to distances ranging from 19.7" to as close as 2.7" for close ups of everything from jewelry to portraits to flowers, pets, food, and more.

Canon Powershot S500 ($599.00) 6.5 ounces 3.43 x 2.24 x 1.09
Sleek, powerful and eminently portable, the PowerShot S500 offers the ultimate in contemporary style. Memorable images are a click away, with a high-resolution, 5 Megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens, and impressive capabilities that are as easy to use as they are advanced.

Canon's exclusive DIGIC Image Processor revolutionizes how you shoot by allowing the camera to process images faster and improving the accuracy of the autofocus. DIGIC also reduces the effects of noise in your images.

iSAPS Technology is an entirely new scene-recognition technology developed for digital cameras by Canon. Using an internal database of thousands of different photos, iSAPS works with the fast DIGIC Image Processor to improve focus speed and accuracy, as well as exposure and white balance.

No matter where your subject appears in the frame, 9-point AiAF ensures crisp, fast focus with every shot.

An Intelligent Orientation Sensor automatically rotates images to the correct orientation when you view them on the LCD screen or your computer.

PowerShot S500 lets you capture exciting 30-second movie clips (10 fps) with sound at high quality VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels). For longer movies up to 3 minutes (15 fps), QVGA (320 x 240 pixels) and QQVGA (160 x 120) resolutions are available.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1 ($499) 6.3 ounces 3.58 x 2.36 x .83
Sony’s DSC-T1 features 5.0 Megapixel resolution, 3X Optical Zoom, and a 2.5" Hybrid LCD Monitor, all in a package the size of a credit card. The T1 also includes the extra features you would normally expect on a camera twice its size, such as a high-quality Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® Lens, Sony’s high-speed Real Image Processor, 5 Area Multi-Point Focus. It’s even able to capture full screen VGA (640x 480) video at an astounding 30 frames per second.

The 2.5" Hybrid LCD Monitor features a high resolution 211K pixel design that provides excellent viewing and image playback clarity. The Hybrid system consists of a transmissive LCD combined with a reflective LCD. By turning off the LCD backlight, it will capture more ambient light virtually eliminating a washed-out image. Images will be visible in the LCD even in the most challenging outdoor lighting conditions.

Smart Zoom intelligently uses the full CCD to let you zoom into the portion of interest by cropping the image size-thus avoiding the image degradation of Digital Zooms.

Briefly lighting the scene in low- or no-light conditions, AF Illuminator insures a positive focus lock, allowing you to accurately establish and maintain focus in difficult situations.

To maintain accurate focus lock with fast moving subjects, Continuous AF keeps focusing until the moment of exposure.

Captures VGA (640 x 480) high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second) audio/video clips with length limited only by the capacity of the media. Video mail mode captures smaller file sizes suitable for email.

For additional information: Canon Casio Sony

Turn Tapes Into DVDs

Whether your videotape library consists of family movies or all five seasons of The A-Team, it’s time to convert those clunky old tapes to DVD. Discs take up less room, and the video won’t degrade over time as it does with tape. You can even edit the footage and create menus just like those on prerecorded DVDs. And prices on both set-top and PC-based DVD recorders just keep falling. Here’s a quick primer on the two ways to make a disc.

Option 1: Use a set-top DVD recorder

Set-top DVD recorders can both play discs and record onto blanks from a TV, VCR or camcorder. Just plug in your source, hit “record,” and follow the onscreen instructions. Most DVD recorders insert chapter breaks at set intervals (say, every five minutes), but you can create your own by pausing the recorder and source. At these break points, an onscreen keyboard allows you to type a short title with the remote control. You can also perform simple linear editing—cutting out scenes but not moving them around—by pausing the recorder or by deleting chapters using the onscreen menu. Oh, and always use the best connection method available (in descending order of quality): FireWire, S-video or RCA.

Option 2: Use a pc with a DVD burner

A PC-based DVD recording system opens up far more editing options—rearranging scenes or adding fancier titles and a photo slideshow. [Look for reviews of video-editing software in next month’s H2.0.] But if your PC is more than a few years old, you may want to consider an upgrade. It should have at least a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, a decent video card and USB 2.0, FireWire or traditional A/V inputs. The DVD recorder can be either external or internal (the latter is less expensive). Since you’ll be temporarily storing the video on your PC—and an hour uses 13 GB of space—you may want to invest in a second hard drive (100GB 7200rpm external drives can be found for less than $100 on dealnews.com).

Unless your PC has analog- video inputs, you’ll also need a video-capture device—a black box that connects your video source to your PC and converts the video from analog to digital as it’s being imported. Entry-level boxes, such as ADS Tech DVD Xpress 2.0, often sell for less than $100 (search streetprices.com). Better models offer more connection and encoding options. HP’s $300 DVD Movie Writer even has a built-in DVD-burner (hp.com).

Tips:

Data-transfer rate: Use the best (or one-hour) mode when transferring home movies, which are likely to have scenes with camera shake and low light. A higher compression rate will allow you to fit more video, but scenes with those defects can end up looking worse than they do on the original tape.

Data conversion: If you’re recording with a PC, import your footage to the hard drive in DV format, which is uncompressed and gives you access to individual frames for editing (unlike compressed MPEG-2, the format you’ll convert it to for burning the DVD). Even if you don’t plan to do any editing, don’t use the “direct” or “on the fly” burning option, which bypasses the hard drive completely—copies made that way are more susceptible to errors such as skipping, dropped frames and pixelation.

Formats: Blank DVDs come in three formats: DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and the less common DVD-RAM. There’s no real difference between DVD- or DVD+, but the write-once discs (-R, +R) will last two to three times as long as the estimated 30-year life of the rewriteable kind (-RW, +RW, -RAM).

Archiving: To get maximum archival life from your DVDs, store them upright in cases in a dark, cool, dry area. Use only a non-solvent-based felt-tip permanent marker to write on them, and don’t use adhesive labels. Ink-jet printing systems specified for optical discs are also fine. Finally, back up your library: With high-quality discs as cheap as 50 cents each, it doesn’t hurt to make one or two extra copies.

Brand-name vs. generic discs: Buy blank DVDs from established brands, not cheapie blanks from no-name suppliers, whose lower quality-control standards may reduce the price but make the discs more likely to contain one of two flaws. The first is poor substrate coating (and any contamination by debris), which can leave “dropouts” in the disc’s recording media, leading to data loss when burning—not a big deal with analog waveforms (say, on audio/videotape), but deadly in the digital world of zeros and ones. Second is so-called laser rot: pinholes or poor edge bonding and sealing in the clear protective coating above the recording media substrate can admit air and moisture over time, spoiling the dyes themselves or making the disc less reflective and thereby not readable.

By Stephen A. Booth