Over the weekend Sony announced that more than 50,000 files were illegally downloaded from the company’s music archives. Of those files, reports indicate that a majority are part of (if not entirely) the back catalogue of the late king of pop.
In 2010, Sony Music acquired the rights to Michael Jackson’s catalogue from his estate for a whopping $250 million. To date, this purchase holds the record for the largest recording deal in history. The catalogue, containing all of Jackson’s recording work supposedly included unreleased material from recording sessions and collaborations with artists such as will.i.am and the late Freddie Mercury. Who knows where these recordings might pop up now, if ever. Continue Reading
Just about anything that you would want to watch these days can be found online. Whether it’s through legitimate online offerings like Netflix and Hulu, or through less than reputable means (i.e. torrents), paying to get the content that you want on the main screen in your living room shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg. On average, cable TV service costs somewhere between $30 to $50 a month, and that’s before you start adding on extra services. Installation on multiple screens, DVR, premium movie channels, specialty foreign channels… they can all add up to a bill that claws its way into the hundred dollar range. For those of you that would rather dispose of the their not-so-disposable income on different pursuits, there are plenty of alternatives out there to get your televised entertainment fix (you just have to jump through a few hoops to get there). Continue Reading
Anyone following this blog will see a bit of a difference in the content of the last couple of posts. Prosthetics this and that. What?
This past fall semester I took a science writing class. Along with some work responsibilities and other classes, I ended up working on another blog to get a taste for writing about more science oriented articles. Those recent posts are from said blog. Since the class is now over, I’m going to close down the site (I’d rather not contribute to the excess junk on the internet). Though the site is closing down, I wanted to save the articles I wrote. So here they are now, saved from the oblivion of deletion. Hope you guys enjoy!
Earlier this year Yvonne Ashley, avisiting homecare nurse from Jersey City, New Jersey, had to have her right leg amputated above the knee because of diabetes. 34 years ago in Haiti, Pierre Guy Theodore was born with a congenital birth defect that left him a double above the knee amputee. He was abandoned by his mother, but was saved by Sister Joan Margaret, an Anglican nun who had set up the first school in Haiti for handicapped children. On December 6th, the two amputees met during Ashley’s first attempt at walking with a new and advanced prosthetic leg at Ortho Remedy, a prosthetics center located in Cliffside Park, New Jersey. This is the story of Ashley’s second set of first steps. How the good people at Ortho Remedy helped take those steps. And how a fellow amputee inspired her. Continue Reading
Someone out there has probably had this idea already: I use my phone everyday. I just wish there was a more convenient way to carry it around. Pockets and belt cases be dammed there’s got to be a better way! Why can’t I just embed it into my arm?A prosthetic arm at least.
Pictured up top is Trevor Prideaux, born without a left forearm, he’s had a bit of a pet peeve when it came to using his phone comfortably. This became especially true with the popularity explosion of more complex smartphones . Without having to otherwise occupy his good hand, Prideaux would usually be stuck awkwardly balancing his phone on his shoulder or have to sit it down on a flat surface to talk over speakerphone. Well not anymore. Continue Reading
Just to be clear, these prosthetics aren’t actually drawing power from lasers beams. In fact, the possible prosthetics that WIRED is reporting on haven’t even been made yet. The possibilities are certainly there though. With further research (and funding) a future of highly advanced human augmentation is upon us.
According to research done at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University in 2008, nerves can actually be stimulated by infrared light. Using short pulses of infrared light researchers were able to successfully stimulate the sciatic nerve of a rat. While using electricity to stimulate that same nerve has been possible for quite some time, the use of infrared light was found to have: ”improved spatial selectivity, lack of a stimulation artifact in the recorded response, and noncontact stimulus delivery.”
