Man dialled 999 after gluing cups to his head

Man dialled 999 after gluing cups to his headPublished on Friday 6 January 2012 11:48A MAN who glued five plastic cups to his head was among the most weird 999 calls to ambulance crews in the region.One woman dialled 999 because she had the hiccups, while a rabbit owner rang up because her pet had a sore leg, said North East Ambulance Service (NEAS).One caller even rang for help because a contact lens had become stuck in their eye.Ambulance chiefs are today reminding people that the 999 service is for genuine emergencies only, and not for trivial matters.A NEAS spokeswoman said: “All 999 calls are treated as an emergency.“That means a call- taker has to go through a series of questions to establish the facts of an incident. Handling requests which are clearly not an emergency means a call-handler is tied up, when they could be despatching an ambulance to someone genuinely in need.”The details of calls come as emergency services recover from their busy festive period.NEAS received nearly 1,200 calls to 999 on what is known as “Black Eye Friday” night going into Saturday morning – a 20 per cent increase on a normal weekend.The spokeswoman added that even the shortest calls can often divert emergency crews from genuine serious incidents, where lives may be in danger.She said: “Speed is of the essence when dealing with a true emergency, and we need to make sure that people in need can get the help they require.”

via Man dialled 999 after gluing cups to his head – Local News – Shields Gazette.

12 in 2012: Top 12 Predictions for Apps in 2012 Amish Shah

The link below has some very interesting views.

12 in 2012: Top 12 Predictions for Apps in 2012 Amish Shah.

Check out this image from NASA/JPL: Fisheye Stereo from Edge of ‘Santa Maria’ Crater, Sol 2459

Here is a really cool image titled “Fisheye Stereo from Edge of ‘Santa Maria’ Crater, Sol 2459″ that I found on my Space Images iPhone app from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Click on this link http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA13710 to see it.

McD

Katy Perry Goes No. 1 ::Katy Perry News ::antiMusic.com

http://www.antimusic.com/news/10/sep/02Katy_Perry_Goes_No_1.shtml
Sent with MobileRSS for iPhone

McD

Talking about Are You a Digitally Savvy Parent? – Lifestyle – MSN CA

 Things all parents need to know for when their children are online, whether it be at home or at their friends.

If you have any tips of your own, please let me know!!!

Quote

Are You a Digitally Savvy Parent? – Lifestyle – MSN CA
An expert shares her secrets to online safety

Don’ believe everything you read

updated 12:03 a.m. ET, Mon., Sep. 20, 2010
Facebook denies plans to build its own phone

Facebook Mobile
Facebook says it is working on projects to improve mobile phone integration but isn’t planning to build its own phone.
Alex Dobuzinskis
Reuters
Social networking website Facebook said on Sunday it is pushing deeper into the mobile phone sector but denied an Internet report that it will build its own phone.

Privately held Facebook has more than 500 million users worldwide and the company already has applications on a number of mobile phones that tie into its social networking website.

But Jaime Schopflin, a spokesman for Facebook, said the privately held company “is not building a phone.” Facebook’s current projects include “deeper integrations with some manufacturers,” he said.

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“Our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social, so integrating deeply into existing platforms and operating systems is a good way to enable this,” Schopflin said in a statement.

In a report on Sunday, the website TechCrunch.com said a source with knowledge of the project revealed that Facebook is secretly building software for a phone and working with a third party to build the hardware.

TechCrunch.com said Facebook wants to integrate deeply into the contacts list and core functions of a mobile phone, which it can only do if it controls the phone’s operating system.

Facebook, for its part, cited Facebook Connect, a service to allow members to log onto third-party websites, for Apple’s iPhone, and contact syncing on its iPhone application as projects it has already undertaken.

In May, Facebook also launched a stripped-down version of its social networking website designed for mobile phones with limited bandwidth Internet connections.

“The bottom line is that whenever we work on a deep integration, people want to call it a ‘Facebook Phone’ because that’s such an attractive soundbite, but building phones is just not what we do,” Schopflin said.

Facebook’s denial comes after Google Inc last year dismissed media reports about its plans to build a phone, and then later came out with the Nexus One.

At the time, the company said it was focusing on developing its Android mobile operating software, which works on a multitude of mobile phones developed by other companies such as Motorola Inc’s hot-selling Droid device.

But Google eventually did release in January its own smartphone called the Nexus One, manufactured by Taiwan-based HTC Corp. Google sold the device itself through an online store, but in May announced it was closing that sales outlet and said the store had not lived up to expectations.

Keep on gaming.

‘Halo: Reach’: Great story, exciting play, big bucks
Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:05 EDT [2/5]
“Halo: Reach” is a prequel that not only brings to a close the much-loved video-game series but also gives fans an outstanding solo story and new multiplayer options that make the farewell less painful.

A peek at the future of phones!

Samsung i8700 for Windows Phone 7 leaks, puts developer prototype to shame
September 9, 2010 02:39 by Chris Ziegler

Could this be the best-looking Windows Phone 7 device yet? That’s open to some personal interpretation, of course, but Sammy’s alleged i8700 is looking like quite the beast — and it should assuage any lingering fears that the Omnia HD-based prototypes floating around would be influencing final ID for the company’s numerous WP7 launches later this year. If we had to venture a guess, we’d say this is probably that unnamed model we saw not long ago, identified by its sharp, squared-off edges and the button layout below the display. The about screen reveals 8GB of internal storage and the backside shows a camera of unknown resolution paired to an LED flash, so if you’re not tied to the idea of a physical QWERTY keyboard, this might be the Windows Phone 7 handset you’ve been looking for. Question is, what carriers?

Does Wi-Fi make children ill?

Let me know what you think!

TORONTO — With parents in Barrie arguing that Wi-Fi in elementary schools is making their children sick, it appears the jury is still out among scientists on whether electromagnetic radiation from wireless routers can harm your health.

The Simcoe County District School Board is defending its decision to keep wireless internet access in classrooms, despite the radiation fears from some parents.

There is no scientific or medical evidence to show children complaining about headaches, dizziness and nausea are being made ill by the Wi-Fi in their classrooms, said the board’s director of education, John Dance, said Monday.

The board will not turn off Wi-Fi access in schools this fall, despite the concerns of critics who say there’s no evidence to prove radiation from wireless transmitters is safe for children as young as four.

“There’s been a lot of information, but there’s nothing definitive that says wireless is causing the issues, so the board affirmed its decision for wireless communications in our schools,” he said.

But that decision won’t likely satisfy the newly formed parents group, the Simcoe County Safe School Committee. Members they say they realized their children were displaying symptoms that cleared up on weekends and holidays when kids weren’t in school, said organizer Rodney Palmer. They believe Wi-Fi is to blame.

Ontario’s Education Minister Leona Dombrowsky weighed in on the messy debate on Monday, saying she’s writing federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq demanding answers for the Barrie parents.

The matter of Wi-Fi impacts on children has come up before: Professor Magda Havas of Trent University in Peterborough, who does research on the health effects of electromagnetic radiation, issued an open letter last year saying she was “increasingly concerned” about Wi-Fi and cellphone use at schools.

“It is irresponsible to introduce Wi-Fi microwave radiation into a school environment where young children and school employees spend hours each day,” Havas wrote.

And ripples from the Barrie debate are growing, with Canada’s largest teachers’ union, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, set to vote Tuesday on a proposal by Niagara Region members to lobby school boards to limit the use of wireless technologies in schools, citing possible health concerns for children.

But what exactly does the science say and are the concerns warranted?

Tony Muc, assistant professor at the University of Toronto and chief physicist at the Toronto-based Radiation Health and Safety Consulting group, insists the concerns are unwarranted.

“(Wi-Fi technology) does not come anywhere near the guidelines set for (radiation) exposure limits by various international agencies, including Health Canada. That guideline is uniformly supported by scientific consensus,” Muc said.

Both the World Health Organization and Health Canada say that electromagnetic radiation under the specified exposure limits is safe.

But Lakehead University isn’t taking any chances, and has for several years now been running a Wi-Fi free campus, until the science proves otherwise.

“It’s not a closed book. And if and when it comes to the point where there is some established effect (of Wi-Fi on health), you can be sure the guideline will be changed,” said Muc.

A Peek to the Future

Video: Engineers Turn Giant Robot Arm Into An Awesome F1 Simulator
by Rebecca Boyle

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:05:40

Ferrari Simulator This image shows the robotic arm Ferrari simulator without a steering wheel attached. The simulator includes a force-feedback steering wheel and pedals. via Cyberneum
The hot-pink industrial arm whips you around while you sit in the driver’s seat

Paolo Robuffo Giordano and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, must really enjoy their jobs. Their CyberMotion Simulator is intended to realistically replicate the experience of driving a Ferrari without actually having to buy one.

Players sit in a cabin on a robot arm about 7 feet off the ground and drive a Ferrari F2007 car around a projected track. The robot arm, a type usually found in amusement parks, whips the driver around to simulate the Ferrari’s motion, according to IEEE Spectrum. You can hear the robot whine as the driver tries to turn at high speed.

The researchers wanted to use a robotic arm as a motion simulator with the goal of understanding how humans experience the sensation of motion. They figured an F1 racing game would be a good way to do it, IEEE Spectrum reports.They presented a paper on their design at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation this spring.

As we learned earlier this week, video games can contribute plenty to real science. But this might be a case of science making a pretty awesome video game experience.

What do you think?