News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
The mineral zinc, which can be purchased inexpensively in pill form, is very effective at treating the common cold. Take it as soon as symptoms start to appear. This will reduce both the length of the cold and the severity of the symptoms.
Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/…
(via Lifehacker)
Here at the Chad’s News network command center, we use OpenDNS and have previously written about using Google’s DNS resolver instead of the one provided by your ISP. Google and OpenDNS are recommended because of their reliability, speed, and features, but it may not always be advantageous to use them. Akamai is a content delivery company with web servers around the world. They deliver content for their customers using algorithms to determine which Akamai server is physically closest to the location of the person downloading the material. This significantly speeds up the delivery and also balances the load across multiple sources. But it appears that one of the ways Akamai determines your physical location is via the DNS resolver that you’re using. And as the linked article explains, this creates bottlenecks for OpenDNS and Google DNS. By switching back to his ISP’s DNS resolver, the author was able to shorten a 2+ hour iTunes video download into less than 20 seconds.
Link: http://joemaller.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Long-time Chad’s News readers will recall this post, where we learned that a dog’s tongue bends down instead of up when drinking water. If that wasn’t weird enough, the linked article explains how a cat drinks—turns out that its tongue doesn’t even penetrate the surface of the water.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Microsoft has released Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. It will be available via the normal Windows Update mechanism or, for power users, via direct download.
It appears that Duke Nukem Forever, the poster child for vaporware, will finally be released on May 3rd, 2011. The game has been in almost continuous development since 1997, and was awarded a Vaporware Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 by Wired.
Link: http://www.gameinformer.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Rhymes With Orange is an offbeat, syndicated comic strip that periodically comes up with some real gems. The December 31st strip gives a peek at how children view books in the age of the Kindle and iPad, and the January 2nd strip spoofs life in the age of Google.
Regular Chad’s News readers already know that the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority has been close to running out of IP address blocks. Well, it’s finally happened. As of February 3rd, the last free Class A blocks were allocated to the Regional Internet Registries. It will take at least a few months for the RIRs to run dry, but it will happen.
This doesn’t mean that the internet will suddenly come crashing down or that people will not be able to connect. There are workarounds for the lack of IP addresses, and the long-term solution, switching to IPv6, has been around for years. Network engineers have long known this day was coming, but have been putting it off because it takes time and money to upgrade. Now that we’re close to running out of IP addresses, however, the need is more pressing and we may see more action.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
The AutoRun feature in Windows is a significant security risk (as illustrated in this Chad’s News post), and Microsoft has finally decided to take action. With the latest Windows Update, there’s an optional update to disable AutoRun in Windows XP and Vista (it is already disabled in Windows 7). Some types of media, such as CDs and DVDs will still use AutoRun, but executable files on most removable media, e.g., USB drives, will no longer be run without the user’s knowledge.
Link: http://www.computerworld.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
IBM’s “Watson” computer wiped out the human competition in the first match of Jeopardy (aired on Tuesday, Feb. 14th). Watson scored $35,734 compared to Ken Jennings at $4,800 and Brad Rutter at $10,400. Keep in mind that Jennings won the most consecutive games, staying in for 74 matches, and Rutter is the all-time money winner at more than $3 million. Long the stuff of science fiction, Watson is a significant step on the road to computers that can respond to natural speech.
Link: http://dailycaller.com/…
The author of the linked article is a man who writes customized academic papers for pay. He’s practically a machine when it comes to researching a topic and pounding out the paper, and his work runs the gamut from English 101 to graduate theses. I know that cheating happens, but what surprised me the most is how blatant it is. The article is lengthy but well worth the time spent.
Link: http://chronicle.com/…
(via Neatorama)
If you’ve recently purchased a computer or motherboard that uses an Intel Sandy Bridge processor, your system may have been recalled. The problem is not with the CPU; rather, it’s with the motherboard chipset that provides connectivity to the CPU. The chipset in question is the 6 Series, also known as Cougar Point. The recalled chipset will cause SATA performance to degrade over time.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
The linked article has an amazing picture of a supercell thunderstorm over Montana. It’s so good that it looks fake.
Link: http://apod.nasa.gov/…
