SanDisk Sansa

Fuze 4GB MP3 Player with 4GB Micro SD Card

Guess what? I already own this!

The Online Databases that Define Our Planet

If you want to simulate the Earth, you'll need data on the climate, health, finance, economics, traffic and lots more. Here's where to find it.

Internet and historical snapshots
Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the most famous cooperatively edited encyclopedia. Since every change is stored, Web pages' history can offer a detailed subject-based overview of the most important references of the past.
Whenago
Whenago provides quick access to historical information about what happened in the past on a given day.

Information retrieval engines
Freebase
Freebase is an open, Creative Commons licensed repository of structured data of more than 12 million entities. It provides collaborative tools to link entities together and keep them updated.

Text mining on the Web
Google Trends
Google Trends shows visual statistics about how often keywords have been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most.

Social data sharing
Linked Data
Linked Data is about using the Web to connect related data that was not previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods.

Data in economics and finance
Bloomberg
International real-time data provider for decision makers in finance, business and government.

Scientifific collaboration data
ISI Web of Knowledge
Comprehensive source of information in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. It encompasses several datasets, among which the following are maybe the most noteworthy:
Journal Citation Reports. It allows one to evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from over 7,500 scholarly and technical journals; Web of Science. It consists of seven databases containing information gathered from thousands of scholarly journals, books, book series, reports, conferences, and more.

Traffic data
NGSIM
The Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM) program was initiated by the United States Department of Transportation (US DOT). The program developed a core of open behavioral algorithms in support of traffic simulation, and collected high-quality primary trac and trajectory data intended to support the research and testing of the new algorithms.

Open maps
Google Maps
World-famous map service. It offers several additional services such as: Street View, user-uploaded content (photos, comments and ratings) and personalized overlays through service apis.

Climate data
Julich

Climate data from Julich Research Center.

Google.org

Google introduces its data-driven philanthropic projects, among which two environmental satellite observatories: 

the Earth Engine: for monitoring trends in world deforestation;

the Crisis Response: for monitoring the oil spill from the Deep Horizon sank platform.

A different picnic...

Rock Excavation point...

Kamal Rocks...

Nothing compared to this...

SQL Azure Raises the Bar On Cloud Databases

Over the past year, since the release of SQL Azure, we’ve been focused on delivering the highest quality database in the cloud. SQL Azure builds on the already strong SQL Server platform, but delivers a multi-tenant cloud based relational database, which is truly unique in the market. 
SQL Azure as a leader in the rapidly emerging category of cloud databases and writes that it “delivers the most innovative, integrated and flexible solution.”

Key advantages identified include:

•Low-cost acquisition and use

•Minimal effort for administration and configuration

•Easy to provision, on-demand capacity

•High availability at no extra effort or cost

•Scale-out capacity growth via a sharded data platform

•Transparent data access for applications and tools

There are also great customer testimonials, such as:

•“We did our cloud ROI analysis, and SQL Azure clearly stood out when it comes to offering a database platform at an attractive price. We are now considering more apps on SQL Azure.” (Andy Lapin, director of enterprise architecture, Kelley Blue Book)

•“Getting a database that’s 24x7 at a fraction of the cost, even if only for our less-critical applications, is a dream come true. Previously those less-critical apps went down too often because we did not have budget for highly resilient servers and databases. SQL Azure definitely changes the game.” 

(Database administrator, telco)

NASA concept art

Some of the most interesting images available on the NASA.gov website are artist renderings of space exploration concepts. Here are a few of my favorites...

NASA N+3 Supersonic

This artist's rendering shows an advanced concept design of an environmentally friendly supersonic airframe and propulsion system.

Stardust

Artist's rendering of the Stardust capsule's return to Earth. The Stardust spacecraft will bring back samples of interstellar dust, including recently discovered dust streaming into our Solar System from the direction of Sagittarius.

Odyssey Detecting Ice

This artist's rendering portrays ice-rich layers in the soils of Mars being detected by instruments aboard NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

Lunar exploration

An artists's rendering gives a possible preview of 21st century lunar base activity. A lunar surface crane removes a newly arrived habitation module from an expendable lunar lander.

International Space Station

Computer-generated artist's rendering of the International Space Station as of May 29, 2009.

Hypersonic Flight Vehicle X-43B

Air-breathing, hypersonic X-43B, the third and largest of NASA's Hyper-X series flight demonstrators, which could fly later this decade. 

Dusty Beginnings of a Star

A glimpse into a cosmic nursery as a star is born from the dark, swirling dust and gas of this cloud. Stars form when dark dust from the cloud begins to clump together under the influence of its own gravity. The infalling material forms a disk as it spirals inward, which feeds material onto the forming star at its center. Jets of material that shoot from the inner disk and protostar herald its birth.

Mars exploration

Planners feel the microscopic formations in Mars meteorite ALH84001, found in Antarctica, and the highly diverse samples of rocks believed to have been strewn about by ancient rivers seen at the Mars Pathfinder landing site, provide a strong motive for sending human exobiologists and geologists to the Red Planet.

Constellation Program

NASA's Constellation Program is getting to work on the new spacecraft that will return humans to the moon and blaze a trail to Mars and beyond.

Lunar vehicle

A concept of possible activities during future space exploration missions. It depicts a crew traverse at the lunar south pole.

Eclipsing Pulsar Promises Clues to Crushed Matter

Astronomers using NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have found the first fast X-ray pulsar to be eclipsed by its companion star.

Sailing Among the Stars

A four-quadrant solar sail propulsion system, with payload. NASA is designing and developing such concepts, a sub-scale model of which may be tested on a future NMP 
mission.

Subsonic fixed wing aircraft

The potential design for a subsonic fixed wing aircraft that could enter service in the 2030-2035 timeframe (N+3).

21st Century Aerospace Vehicle

Advanced concepts NASA envisions for an aircraft of the future. Called the 21st Century Aerospace Vehicle, and sometimes nicknamed the Morphing Airplane, the concept includes a variety of smart technologies that could enable in-flight configuration changes for optimum flight characteristics.

Prehistoric Black Hole

Lunar Meteor Strike

Small but powerful meteor strike on the surface of the moon demonstrates a key concern for future lunar explorers -- mitigating potential risks from impact "ejecta," or the spray of debris that follows an impact, unimpeded by gravity or atmosphere.

Alien World

A gas-giant exoplanet transiting across the face of its star.

Birth of an Earth-like Planet

Neutron explosion

The IC 10 X-1 black hole

The IC 10 X-1 system, the black hole lies at the upper left and its companion star is on the right. The two objects orbit around a center of gravity once every 34.4 hours.The stellar companion is a type known as a Wolf-Rayet star. Such stars are highly evolved and destined to explode as supernovae. The black hole companion is shedding its outer envelope in a powerful wind, and some of this gas is captured by the black hole’s powerful gravity.

An American Lunch- LA Burger

Mouth watering stuff...

Here is the recipe:

Shape 6 ounces of 80 percent lean ground beef chuck into a uniform patty, no more than 3/4 inch thick (don't overwork the meat). Make a depression in the center with your thumb so the burger won't bulge; the indent will rise as the patty cooks. Preheat a grill or cast-iron grill pan to high. Brush the burger with canola oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill until golden brown and slightly charred, turning once (7 minutes for medium-rare). Avoid pressing with a spatula! Add cheese for the last minute of cooking.

Cheese

Your pick: Monterey Jack is a California favorite, but Bobby loves this burger with cheddar, too.

Avocado Relish

Avocado is one of Bobby's favorite ingredients. He mixes 2 chopped Hass avocados with 1/2 diced small onion, 1 minced jalapeno, the juice of 1 lime, 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, and salt and pepper.

Watercress

L.A. doesn't do iceberg lettuce, so Bobby tops off the burger with this peppery green instead.

Tomato

One thick, juicy slice takes the place of ketchup.

Bon Apetit !

10 gifts to give your development team this holiday season

Show your developers how much you appreciate their hard work and loyalty by choosing from this list of gift ideas. Some are more tangible than others -- and some won't cost you a dime. view