Singapore's Geylang, a place where authority/police doesn't matter

Geylang is a popular red-light district in Singapore. I've been to this place many times to eat some good food here, to look at legal & illegal prostitutes, to observe various illegal activities happening only in Geylang. Do go during night time as everything seems normal & boring during day time, it's when darkness sets in & the whole place becomes alive & exciting.

Very few local Singaporeans go to Geylang as it's a red-light area, but they don't know what they're missing out. There're more foreigners/foreign workers in Geylang than locals (can visually see that more than 85% are foreigners). Some of them live/work there & others gathered in Geylang for the food & other "activities". Geylang's very crowded during the weekends, filled with foreign workers streaming in. Take a look at the nearest Aljunied MRT train station & the open field next to this station, foreign workers everywhere!

It's good to observe how illegal activities are conducted in this place. Besides the legal commercial sex houses. There're also illegal prostitutes (mostly from China) on various streets, but most were caught. However there're still handful of these illegal prostitutes in some strategic dim-lighted places where they practised the art of cover & concealment damn well.

Police do keep close watch on illegal gambling right in the open backlane of shophouses. But once those police patrol go away, these various gambling pit stops pop up again, it's never ending. These illegal gambling have scouts watching out for police & they're well informed via their mobile phone/human networks.

Mainly young foreign runners (from Myanmar, Vietnam...) sell illegal duty-unpaid cigarettes in strategic locations all over Geylang. These young foreigners've nothing to lose, once caught & they're being sent back to their country. But the mastermind still remain at large, like loan sharks masterminds. These foreign illegal duty-unpaid cigarettes sellers (males & females) are good at what they do. They're highly mobile, they hide cigarettes in rubbish bins, behind shophouses or other well-hidden locations. They've scouts keeping a lookout for all these illegal activities. These scouts move around in Geylang, on the overhead pedestrian bridge watching for police. They communicate fast via mobile phone codes, so once the police arrive in their police cars & in uniforms, these illegal runners are long gone. These people are agile, they act fast, take risks & it's quick money for them...

Some other illegal activities in Geylang include:- illegal crap medicines/pills/lotions, DVD, clothes, etc.

Big groups of China foreign workers mainly go to Geylang to eat in those China national owned eateries & litter the ground with their leftovers. Other common foreign workers are from Bangladesh,Thai,Myanmar,Vietnam,Laos besides those from Malaysia & Indonesia... You can spot some ang mohs (caucasians) in Geylang, either go Geylang for sex, for sight-seeing, for food, some are tourists, some students.

Geylang's a place where different foreign workers mingle together, mixture of languages, cultures, behaviors, attitudes, mentalities... Really a diverse environment, but not totally a safe environment as there're bad nasty people, con man & it's smelly in some locations. But it's good to open your eyes to look at a different side of Singapore, other than the usual money-sucking tourist spots!

How Old Do You Feel? It Depends on Your Age

The older people become, the younger they feel and the more likely they are to see “old age” as a time occurring later in life, according to a national survey on aging released on Monday. “There’s a saying that you’re never too old to feel young, and boy, have older Americans today taken that one to heart,” said Paul Taylor, executive vice president with the Pew Research Center and the survey’s principal author. He said this is the broadest survey the nonpartisan research center has ever done to gauge Americans’ views on aging. Currently, about 40 million Americans, or one in eight, are 65 and older. By 2050, one in five American will be in that age group. The center surveyed about 3,000 adults 18 and older via land and cellular telephone lines in February and March of this year. The survey found not just a gap between actual age and the age people say they feel, but also that the gap between reality and perception increases with age. Most adults over age 50 feel at least 10 years younger than their actual age, the survey found. One-third of those between 65 and 74 said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and one-sixth of people 75 and older said they felt 20 years younger. On average, survey respondents said old age begins at 68. But few people over 65 agreed; they said old age begins at 75. Respondents under 30 said 60 marks the beginning of old age ...NYT

Cybercrime spreads on Facebook

Cybercrime is rapidly spreading on Facebook as fraudsters prey on users who think the world's top social networking site is a safe haven on the Internet. Lisa Severens, a clinical trials manager from Worcester, Massachusetts, learned the hard way. A virus took control of her laptop and started sending pornographic photos to colleagues. "I was mortified about having to deal with it at work," said Severens, whose employer had to replace her computer because the malicious software could not be removed. Cybercrime, which costs U.S. companies and individuals billions of dollars a year, is spreading fast on Facebook because such scams target and exploit those naive to the dark side of social networking, security experts say. While News Corp's (NWSA.O) MySpace was the most-popular hangout for cyber criminals two years ago, experts say hackers are now entrenched on Facebook, whose membership has soared from 120 million in December to more than 200 million today. "Facebook is the social network du jour. Attackers go where the people go. Always," said Mary Landesman, a senior researcher at Web security company ScanSafe ...Reuters

Global food supply far from secure-farming expert

Africa's farmers need help to access loans, fertiliser and export markets to avoid future food supply crises caused by climate change and commodities speculation, a top agricultural expert said on Tuesday. Wheat, rice and maize prices have fallen sharply from their 2008 highs, when protests broke out across the developing world over unaffordable staple foods and countries imposed export bans to ensure their people had enough to eat. Akinwumi Adesina of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, an aid group headed by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said commodity markets dampened by recession were serving to mask "the next storm". "The global food supply remains far from secure," Adesina told the U.N. Conference and Trade and Development (UNCTAD). "We have not yet tamed the forces of speculation, climate change will yet trample our farm fields, crop diversity remains under increasing threat," he said in a speech. "Global grain reserves may be replenished for the time being, but global food security remains a goal, not a reality." One of the biggest problems, according to the agricultural economist from Nigeria, is the persistently paltry harvests from Africa's farms, most of which are tended to be "without access to basic farm inputs, finance or markets" ...Reuters

Why the BRICS like Africa

There is little doubt that the BRICs — Brazil, Russia, India and China — have become big players in Africa. According to Standard Bank of South Africa, BRIC trade with the continent has snowballed from just $16 billion in 2000 to $157 billion last year. That is a 33 percent compounded annual growth rate. What is behind this? At one level, the BRICs, as they grow, are clearly recognising commercial and strategic opportunities in Africa. But Standard Bank reckons other, more individual, drivers are also at play. In a new report, the bank looks at what each of the individual BRIC countries is trying to do. To whit: – Brazil’s immediate intererest in Africa is securing access to natural resources, particularly oil. But is also motivated by a desire to create a new “Southern Axis” with itself at the forefront. – Russia is also interested in Africa’s natural resources. But it faces a problem because of the sullied reputation of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. So Moscow has also embarked on a rebranding programme within the continent by ramping up its aid programmes. – India is attracted to Africa in part because of long historic ties. Commercial engagement, however, is also motivated by a need to guarantee the natural resources it needs for its own growth. Furthermore Africa is seen politically as a key ally in the pursuit of a competitive advantage over its Asian competitor China. – For China, Africa provides a long-term partner in its ongoing bid to gain global economic ascendancy, providing it with the resources, markets, geopolitical support, and, eventually, food and social security in the form of a growing and engaging diaspora ...Reuters

Google, YouTube Give Citizen Journalists New Tools

Google has a firm grip on the news industry. With Google News, its monstrous news aggregator, and examples such as the recent explosion of citizen journalism covering the conflict in Iran, Google is giving traditional print journalism a run for its money. Now it hopes to partner with some big names in news to create a community of journalists called The YouTube Reporters' Center, a project that may result in the industry contributing to its own demise. YouTube Reporters' Center hosts video content that includes a piece on how to interview well by CBS' Katie Couric; a piece on how to document a global humanitarian crisis by The New York Times' Nick Kristof; and even a piece with tips on investigative journalism by legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward. Purpose of this endeavor is to assist citizen journalists with effective means of stepping up his/her game when it comes to grabbing information as it unfolds and presenting it like a professional... PCW

Cool Search Engines That Are Not Google

How do you find a new search engine if all you know is Google? Typing “search engine” into the usual box might lead you to Microsoft’s newly launched Bing, the combined search at Dogpile, or the former king of search, Altavista. But for those willing to dig around, searching for search engines can reveal a treasure trove: The net is rich with specialized search services, all trying to find a way to get their slice of the billions of dollars Google makes every year answering queries. For this article, we surveyed some 50 specialty search services and picked out our favorites. What follows is not a systematic ranking or review, but a general guide to a very vibrant world that few have bothered to explore in depth. The variety of search startups is mind-boggling, and hints at the challenges Google may face staying on the bleeding edge of search innovation in the coming years. (There’s even something for micro-philanthropists: Good Search donates a penny to the charity of your choice for each search you run.) None of the sites we sampled are likely to replace Google as your go-to search engine for general queries, or dent Google’s growing sway as the world’s information broker any time soon. But even a cursory tour will make you start to think differently about what’s possible in search, and show up some of Google’s shortcomings. Take mobile. Google works fine on the iPhone, but for quick searches on the go, ChaCha can’t be beat. Simply text your question to 242242 and you’ll get an answer sent back to you. In the age of Twitter, there’s fierce competition to be the quickest indexer on the net — a feature even Google co-founder Sergey Brin admits his company can improve upon. IceRocket, OneRiot and Scoopler are typical of the trend... Wired

Eye 'compensates for blind spot'

Partially sighted and registered blind people can be taught to read and see faces again using the undamaged parts of their eyes, say experts. When only the central vision is lost, as with the leading cause of blindness, age-related macular degeneration, peripheral vision remains intact. And patients can be taught to exploit this, the Macular Disease Society says. It has developed a training scheme and is calling for professionals to adopt the system across the UK. The macula is a small area of the retina at the back of the eye made up of specialist cells which process central vision as well as the fine detail of what we see. ur scheme has transformed lives - helping people to relearn basic skills they thought to have lost for good. People with macular degeneration rarely go totally blind but even those with a relatively mild version of the disease cannot drive and have difficulty reading, recognising faces and watching television. But studies show people can be taught to use their peripheral vision to fill in the gaps, using "eccentric viewing" and "steady eye techniques". When someone with central vision loss looks directly at an object it may disappear, go faint, blur or distort. But when they look above, below or to one side of it, they see it more clearly... BBC

Singapore - What costs will go up next ?

Transport costs go up... Utility costs go up... Next to go up ? PM, ministers & MPs pay to go up again next ?

Electricity tariffs up 5 cents

Tue, Sep 30, 2008

my paper

New rate is 30 cents per kWh but rebates will more than offset rise. -myp By Marcel Lee Pereira

FROM tomorrow, taxi driver Amir Hamzah will keep his water heater switched off, and take cold showers instead.

That's when the highest electricity tariffs since 2001 will kick in, and Mr Amir, 33, his wife and three-year-old son - who live in a five-room flat in Sengkang - could end up paying almost $23 more a month for electricity. "We will try and save on electricity as much as we can, and the water heater uses a lot of it," he told my paper. The latest tariffs, announced by SP Services yesterday, mean households will need to pay 30 cents per kWh of electricity, an increase of about 5 cents over the existing tariff of about 25 cents per kWh. Electricity prices have been rising every quarter since last July. The latest hike was due to higher forward fuel-oil prices for the last quarter of the year, said the Energy Market Authority (see box). With the increase, the total utilities bill for families in oneto three-room flats will go up by between $90 and $223 thi year. However, they will receive rebates of between $310 and $330 this year, which will more than offset the rise, said EMA chief executive Khoo Chin Hean. Those in larger flats will pay between $316 and $433 more in total for utilities this year, but will get rebates of between $130 and $295. Fuel costs make up 60 per cent of electricity tariffs, with the remainder coming from the cost of transmitting electricity, as well as machinery and equipment costs, among others. Since 2004, electricity tariffs have been pegged to forward oil prices, instead of spot prices as was the case before, said Mr Khoo. Pegging tariffs to spot prices makes electricity prices very volatile, he explained. Mr Khoo said that though crude-oil prices seemed to be sliding now, it is actually forward fuel-oil prices that are used to set electricity tariffs. He said: "When the spot price comes down, the forward price will follow, but after a time lag."However, he added that in a situation when fuel-oil prices are rising, pegging tariffs to forward prices means they generally will be lower than when pegged to spot prices. Tariffs are reviewed every quarter, and if forward fuel-oil prices come down next month, the tariff for the January to March quarter next year will be reduced accordingly. Mr Khoo added that about 40 per cent of households here are using more electricity than the average household, and encouraged consumers to do more to cut usage. Mr Amir, who currently pays about $90 in utilities a month, said: "I'll ask my wife not to turn on too many lights at night, while I'm out driving."

Singapore - Transport fares go up again!

Transport fares go uo in Oct 2008. Should SBS & SMRT ask themself this question - are their bus drivers & staff providing quality service to us, public taking transport daily to work... ? What do SBS & SMRT expect fare-paying public to do when drivers kept their golden mouths shut & don't even make the effort to ask people who are fearful of ghosts at the back of the bus ? When can the ghost at the back of the bus mentality be solved ? Don't the layout/design of those new double-deck buses make this problem worst ? The over crowded situation will still persist & the flood gates of this tiny island are allowing more foreign workers here. PTC, SBS, SMRT... shouldn't only just justify that transport fares need to go up because of higher oil prices. What kind of service quality these transport providers give us in the first place ?

Singapore transport fares - Why raise fares now ?

Why raise fares now ?

Mon, Sep 15, 2008

The Straits Times

Public Transport Council has announced new fares for transport from Oct 1. One journalist gets a few pressing questions answered. -ST Maria Almenoar THE Public Transport Council (PTC) yesterday announced new fares for public transport, which will take effecton Oct 1.

MARIA ALMENOAR gets the answers to commuters' pressing questions.

With inflation riding high, why must fares be raised now? Fares must be raised for the long-term viability of the public transport operators,so they can continue to make capital investments and provide the quality service expected. The amount of household income spent on public transport, expressed as a percentage of household income, dipped from 7 per cent in 2003 to 6.2 per cent last year. In other words, transport fares have remained affordable for most commuters at a time when the unemployment rate is at its lowest in five years. The PTC said, however, that it was mindful of the prevailing economic conditions and overall cost-of-living issuesthat commuters faced. By raising the transfer rebate this year and making operators absorb the bulk of the cost, thePTC said it had 'struck a balance' between the needs of commuters and the operators. Fares for nine in 10 journeys will change, ranging from about 7 cents less to 4 cents more, depending on the commuter's travel pattern. The average bus and rail fares here are still lower than those in Hong Kong,London and New York. How far do the fare changes affect the transport companies? The fare-cap formula the PTC uses puts a cap on transport operators' revenue from fares. The cap during this review was at 3 per cent but overall, the transport operators will earn just 0.7 per cent more in fare revenue. The PTC also checked the transport operators' Return on Total Assets or Rota a measure of how much profit acompany generates for every dollar of assets invested. The Rota for SBS Transit is 8.6 per cent, and for SMRT, 11.1 per cent. Holding these up to Rotas of other industries,the PTC said it did not think they were 'excessive'. A check against transport operators such as Hong Kong's Transport International Holdings and MTR, the multinational Stagecoach Group and Singapore Airlines, found them to have Rotas ranging between 2.8 per cent and 10.1 per cent. By absorbing a larger share of the transfer rebate, the operators here will jointly give up over $30 million in fare revenue. SBS will earn 0.9 per cent or $5.8 million more in revenue, and SMRT, 0.6 per cent or $4.3 million more. Why the 10-cent across-the-board increase for those who pay fares in cash? Cash fares have stayed unchanged since 2005, and the gap between them and those paid by ez-link cards have sincenarrowed. When the ez-link card was introduced,concessions were given to encourage their use because it costs transport operators more to handle cash fares. The new distance-based fares are supposed to address the current lopsidedness of making commuters who opt for transfer routes 'cross-subsidise' those who take direct routes. How does this work? Currently, a commuter who chooses a transfer route to get from Point A to Point B pays more than a commuter who takes a direct route, even for the same distance. The commuter taking the transfer route is thus being unfairly asked to keep the fare for the direct-route commuter lower than it should be. Eliminating the transfer 'penalty' will correct this imbalance. With the fare review, the transfer rebate was raised from 25 cents to 40 cents. Another 20 cents will be given in the next fare review. This article was first published in The Straits Times on Sept 13, 2008

Running can slow aging process

Regular running slows the effects of aging claim scientists who tracked 500 running grannies for more than 20 years. The study found people who run are less likely to have disabilities in old age and will on average live longer than their non running OAP friends. In 1984 researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine started following 538 over 50s who ran average of about four hours a week. Fast forward 20 years and while 15 percent of the running grannies are dead, this figure is 34 percent in a control sample of non runners. The runners - now in their 70s and 80s - were also found to be living higher-quality lives and more able to perform everyday activities.On average both groups in the study became more disabled after 20 years of aging, but for runners the onset of disability started later with initial disability kicking in 16 years later than non-runners. "The study has a very pro-exercise message," said James Fries, MD, an emeritus professor of medicine at the medical school and the study’s senior author. "If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise." The OAP runners admitted the time they spent running each week had dropped from four hours to just 76 minutes ... and for some of them it now takes that long to to put their running shoes on...NewsLite

Running May Help You Live Longer and Healthier

Run for your life! It is never too late to start running, a new study finds. Running may help you to not only live longer, but also live free of disabilities. The study, performed by Stanford University School of Medicine, studied the benefits of running. The researchers based their study on two groups of people 50 and older, a group of runners and non-runners that were monitored for over two decades. Based on the study, if you aren't running already you may want to start. Running helped to widen the gap between the abilities of those in the running group and the non-running group, researchers found. The initial onset of disabilities, were seen 16 years later in the runners, than seen in the non-runners group. The study's senior author James Fries, MD, was surprised that the gap between runners and non-runners even continued to widen as participants reached their 90's, but felt the results may have been a result of the runners' lean body mass and healthier habits, in comparison to the non-runners.Researchers collected yearly questionnaires from the 538 runners and 423 non-runners that helped to explain their ability to perform daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, and walking. The questionnaire also asked questions in regards to their ability to grip objects and maneuver out of a chair. After nineteen years into the study, when most participants would have been in their 70's, the national death records indicated that only 15 percent of the runners had passed away, but 34 percent of the non-runners had passed away. During the beginning of the study, the runners were averaging around four hours a week running and by the end of the study their time running decreased to only around a quarter of that time. Though their time spent running decreased drastically, researchers still saw benefits from running. The study's senior author James Fries, M.D., stated "The study has a very pro-exercise message. If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise." Exercise seems to be very beneficial in promoting healthy living. Many doctors recommend some form of exercise for all ages, but in the elderly it is recommended to help stay mobile and independent, as well as promote a healthy heart, lower stress, help with weight problems, and it may even help with sleep problems. The study not only determined that exercise decreased disabilities as we grow older, but running also reduced deaths caused from cardiovascular problems. Regular running also decreased early deaths from cancer, heath disease, and even Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases, the study found...HealthNews

Prescriptions for Health, the Environmental Kind

In a bright studio at New York University, Natalie Jeremijenko welcomes visitors to her environmental health clinic. She wears a white lab coat with a rotated red cross on the pocket. A clipboard with intake forms hangs by the door. Inside, circuit boards, respirators, light bulbs, bike helmets and books on green design clutter the high shelves. In front of a bamboo consultation desk sits a mock medicine cabinet, which turns out to be filled with power tools. Dr. Jeremijenko, an Australian artist, designer and engineer, invites members of the public to the clinic to discuss personal environmental concerns like air and water quality. Sitting at the consultation desk, she also offers them concrete remedies or “prescriptions” for change, much as a medical clinic might offer prescriptions for drugs. “It’s a widely familiar script,” said Dr. Jeremijenko, 41, who has a doctorate in engineering and is an assistant professor of visual art at N.Y.U. “People know how to ring up and make an appointment at their health clinic. But they don’t really know what to do about toxins in the air and global warming, right? “So the whole thing is how do we translate the tremendous amount of anxiety and interest in addressing major environmental issues into something concrete that people can do whose effect is measurable and significant?” Visitors to the clinic talk about an array of concerns, including contaminated land, polluted indoor air and dirty storm-water runoff. Dr. Jeremijenko typically gives them a primer on local environmental issues, especially the top polluters in their neighborhoods. Then she offers prescriptions that include an eclectic mix of green design, engineering and art — window treatments, maybe, or sunflowers, tadpoles or succulents. “People are frustrated by their inability to cope with environmental problems in their apartments and their neighborhoods,” said George Thurston, a professor of environmental medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Jeremijenko, he continued, “provides a service that’s needed, educating people about what they’re up against and showing them that they can do something themselves while waiting for larger societal solutions.” Dr. Jeremijenko has worked with scores of individuals and community groups since starting the clinic last fall. “I call them impatients,” she said — meaning that they don’t want to wait for legislative action...NYT

Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions

When Howard D. Schultz in 1985 founded the company that would become the wildly successful Starbucks chain, no financial adviser had to tell him that coffee was America’s leading beverage and caffeine its most widely used drug. The millions of customers who flock to Starbucks to order a double espresso, latte or coffee grande attest daily to his assessment of American passions. Although the company might have overestimated consumer willingness to spend up to $4 for a cup of coffee — it recently announced that it would close hundreds of underperforming stores — scores of imitators that now sell coffee, tea and other products laced with caffeine reflect a society determined to run hard on as little sleep as possible. But as with any product used to excess, consumers often wonder about the health consequences. And researchers readily oblige. Hardly a month goes by without a report that hails coffee, tea or caffeine as healthful or damns them as potential killers. Can all these often contradictory reports be right? Yes. Coffee and tea, after all, are complex mixtures of chemicals, several of which may independently affect health. Caffeine Myths Through the years, the public has been buffeted by much misguided information about caffeine and its most common source, coffee. In March the Center for Science in the Public Interest published a comprehensive appraisal of scientific reports in its Nutrition Action Healthletter. Its findings and those of other research reports follow. Hydration. It was long thought that caffeinated beverages were diuretics, but studies reviewed last year found that people who consumed drinks with up to 550 milligrams of caffeine produced no more urine than when drinking fluids free of caffeine. Above 575 milligrams, the drug was a diuretic. So even a Starbucks grande, with 330 milligrams of caffeine, will not send you to a bathroom any sooner than if you drank 16 ounces of pure water. Drinks containing usual doses of caffeine are hydrating and, like water, contribute to the body’s daily water needs...NYT

To Stretch or Not to Stretch? The Answer Is Elastic

They’re like one of my running partners, Claire Brown, a 35-year-old triathlete. “I always feel like, well, athletes should do yoga,” Claire said. “It’s supposed to be really good for running, and when I do it regularly, it does loosen up my hips and make me feel better for running.” Yet she puts off going to yoga. “It shouldn’t feel like an obligation, but it always does,” Claire said. “The good classes are often an hour and a half long, and I’m thinking: ‘I could be running, I could be biking. But here I am, stretching and breathing.’ “Isn’t it funny, though, that something that should be calming can actually cause stress because you think you have to do it?” For the bottom line on stretching, there is an official government review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published in the March 2004 issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Its conclusion, that the research to date is inadequate to answer most stretching questions, still holds. The best that Dr. Julie Gilchrist, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and one of the study’s authors, can offer is a few guidelines and observations about why studies have yet to answer the stretching questions...NYT

Bill Gates: Privacy a 'challenge' as software advances

As software gets more powerful, privacy issues pose an "interesting software challenge," says Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Recounting a short history of software development, Gates said innovations in natural interaction technology are making technology more pervasive. "When interaction gets more natural, computers can be everywhere to listen to you," he said, adding that "society will have to have more explicit rules" governing privacy boundaries around software as technology develops. Gates was speaking here to mark the 10th anniversary of Microsoft Research Asia, one of the software giant's research arms. Explaining the company's focus on software research and development, he said its $7 billion investment in that direction is necessary to push innovation in a market that is "increasingly software driven." "Even in a field like astronomy, it's not just looking through an eyepiece but testing theories, and software lets you do that," he said. Noting that software is extending beyond PCs, Gates said mobile software is a market that is growing rapidly in importance. He added: "Mobile phones are increasingly becoming software-driven platforms, although they were just for voice before." But it is a hardware innovation that will make mobiles more accessible for high-end functions. Amid developments in phone processors and mobile applications, it is screen technology that holds the key to bridging the divide between mobile devices and PCs, Gates noted. "As we get screens that can roll or fold out to be bigger, or mobile devices that have small screens but can project larger images on walls, that line between what's a PC and a mobile will keep getting grayer," Gates said. Another device that is expected to overlap with PC capabilities is the TV, he noted. "Software innovation will be pervasive; it will happen to other things in our lives, like our cars and our TVs," he said. Microsoft is working to place its R&D efforts in speech recognition technology to make TV watching more interactive, according to Gates. In a demonstration shortly after his address, a Microsoft executive showcased a TV that was pulling a video clip from the Internet. He performed a search through the video content by way of speech recognition. This provides more comprehensive search results beyond current methods of running a text query through a video's title and summary, Beyond these developments, more important for the developing world is in putting computers within reach, he added. "Digital access is almost becoming like literacy...Children in poor countries need to get it too," Gates said...CNET

Intel 'Turbo Memory' tries to speed up Windows

Intel's newest version of Turbo Memory is trying to do what Windows doesn't do: transparently optimize Windows for flash memory storage. At the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, Calif., Intel will be demonstrating its latest version of Turbo Memory based on flash memory to accelerate application performance in Windows. Intel is offering a "dashboard" for Windows that allows the user to choose and control which applications or files are loaded into the Intel Turbo Memory cache (based on flash memory chips) for performance acceleration. Intel calls this "User pinning." Custom pinning profiles can be created to pin applications or files that match the user's activity, according to Intel. Data intensive programs, gaming, digital media editing and productivity software are examples of applications that will see the most benefit, according to Intel. Intel is trying to address a longstanding shortcoming of Windows: its inability to take full advantage of flash storage devices. "There are issues related to taking full advantage of the speed of a (flash drive)," said Troy Winslow, marketing manager for the NAND Products Group at Intel, in an interview at the Flash Memory Summit. Avi Cohen, managing partner at Avian Securities, said he believes this should be an innate part of the operating system. "The more interesting way is to have it built into the operating system," said Cohen. "I don't think it gains much traction because I don't think users want to sit there and start selecting what goes where," he said. "It was a valiant effort by Intel to accelerate the move toward solid state on PC," Cohen added. Winslow, however, said that Intel "has shipped million of units" of Turbo Memory and that he expects some notebook makers to integrate it into high-end lines. Interestingly, Windows Vista does have a feature called "ReadyBoost" that can "use storage space on some removable media devices, such as USB flash drives, to speed up your computer," according to Microsoft documentation. This documentation can also be found in "Windows Help and Support" as part of any copy of Vista...CNET

Olympic Games take the gold in the workplace

Olympic Games in Beijing is proving to be a hit in the workplace. Traffic to Olympics-related Web sites soared Monday, the first full workday after the official opening of the games Friday, according to numbers released Wednesday by Nielsen Online. More than 2 million people visited the video section of NBCOlympics.com, up nearly 140 percent from Sunday when the site had about 858,000 visitors, according to Nielsen. Overall visits to the site increased 40 percent to 4.6 million compared with Sunday's 3.3 million. Traffic to Yahoo's Olympics site also skyrocketed, up 86 percent to 5.2 million visitors compared with Sunday's 2.8 million. Mobile usage also saw a significant boost, increasing from 210,000 on Friday to 476,062 on Monday. NBC, which said it polled users, said it was "stunned" at the number of users who were using mobile video download for the first time. Meanwhile, Nielsen Media Research reported that NBC's TV coverage averaged more than 30 million viewers for the first three days of the games, a 26 percent increase compared with the same period during the Athens Games in 2004. The opening ceremony was last week's most-watched program, attracting nearly 35 million viewers. As well as NBC is doing both on TV and on online, it begs the question of whether NBC's policy of delaying popular events online until they have run on TV in prime time was a wise move or overly restrictive...CNET