Google phone demo due next week

British chip designer ARM will demonstrate a prototype of Google Inc's Android mobile phone platform in action next week at the world's biggest wireless fair, a source close to the company said.
It was not immediately clear what the working model that ARM plans to show at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona would look like or who would supply the parts. Google plans to deploy phones and services using the Android platform commercially in the second half of this year. Google and ARM declined to comment on the report. Google established an alliance of more than 30 carriers, handset makers, software firms and chipmakers in November to develop Android, which is based on open-source software and designed to make the Internet work better on mobile phones. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile and Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp (HTC) have said that they plan to offer phones based on the Android platform this year. Internet search leader Google's entry into the wireless industry will upset established relationships between carriers, cellphone makers and customers and could challenge Nokia, Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc, among others. Google is also bidding for wireless spectrum in the United States in a move that pits it against entrenched carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Its operator partners in the Open Handset Alliance include China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI and Telefonica -- all of which have said they are working with handset makers to develop Google-based phones. Research firm Strategy Analytics has estimated that Android will be in 2 per cent of smartphones this year.

Evidence of water on Saturn's moon

Astrophysicists in Germany say they can add evidence to bolster theories that water, one of the precious ingredients for life, exists on the Saturnian moon Enceladus. A tiny satellite measuring just 504 kilometres across, Enceladus has become one of the most fiercely debated objects in the solar system, thanks to close-up pictures taken by the US probe Cassini. Enceladus has a brilliant white shell of ice that is untouched except for some strange-looking grooves and impacts from space rocks. Cassini revealed plumes of water vapour that gush from surface stripes near its south pole, shooting crystal jets upwards for hundreds of kilometres into space. Fuelling discussion about the origin of these strange "cryo-volcanoes" is the fact that icy particles of dust are also mixed in with the eruptions, but beguilingly travel far slower than the vapour.

Have Saif, Kareena tied the knot?

Actor Saif Ali Khan has denied the rumours that have been doing the rounds for the past few days that he and Kareena Kapoor have done a nikaah ceremony. Sources had said that Saif’s mother Sharmila Tagore had been witness to the nikaah. But when contacted Saif on Wednesday night, he said, “Such rumours will only upset both families.” Kareena, on her part, categorically said in an interview that took place on Tuesday, ‘‘I am not getting married for the next five years.’’ Meanwhile, industry sources insisted that a wedding had taken place. They said that the Khan family had witnessed the nikaah, but the Kapoor family has been kept out of it. Kareena and Saif had begun a relationship six months ago on the sets of Tashan. Saif has also tattooed her name on his arm in Hindi. Friends of the couple say Saif has never been more committed in a relationship. A close friend of Saif had recently said, "There's a fierce and single-minded determination in Saif to make this relationship work for keeps. And, it isn’t a defiant determination to disprove the cynics who say it won’t last. Saif doesn’t give a damn about what people say." The friend further added, "Earlier, after Rosa left, there were whispers of Saif being involved with various ladies. Saif doesn’t like the image of a casanova at all. He thinks he’s too grown up for it. He wants stability in his life and a relationship that’s for keeps. He believes he has found it in Kareena. Saif will make this relationship work." Apparently, both of them spend as much time together as possible. Lately, Kareena has also been seen in public with Saif’s kids.

Scotland Yard report on Bhutto death faces condemnation

Scotland Yard has set the cat among the pigeons by declaring that Benazir Bhutto died from banging her head after a suicide bomb attack, rather than a gunshot wound. A detailed report prepared by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) inquiry into how Bhutto died was presented to the Pakistan Government on Friday, threatening to inflame the already-febrile political situation in Pakistan as it prepares for parliamentary elections on February 18. The controversial report, which Western observers said, rather startlingly comes down heavily on the side of the Musharraf regime's official version of Bhutto's December 27 assassination, clearly states that "Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto died as a result of a severe head injury sustained as a consequence of the bomb-blast and due to head impact somewhere in the escape hatch of the vehicle". The report's conclusions were immediately and categorically rejected by Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party with a spokesperson insisting "she died from a bullet injury, this was and is our position" and renewing appeals for a UN investigation into the assassination. Dr Nathaniel Cary, a British Home Office pathologist, adds in the report that "In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device". The report was handed over to the Pakistan interior minister by the visiting Scotland Yard team's Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent John MacBrayne, accompanied by a senior official from the British High Commission in Pakistan. Despite its categorical conclusions, the report does, however, admit to widely-expressed criticism that "The task of establishing exactly what happened was complicated by the lack of an extended and detailed search of the crime scene, the absence of an autopsy, and the absence of recognised body recovery and victim identification processes". But it adds, "Nevertheless, the evidence that is available is sufficient for reliable conclusions to be drawn". Some critics say the report has been issued too speedily to be entirely credible, considering it comes just under five weeks after officers from Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command travelled to Pakistan at the government's request to support domestic law enforcement agencies investigating Bhutto's death. Doubt has also been cast on the report's findings because the British team self-confessedly faced serious difficulties in investigating the murder being unable to examine Bhutto's body and finding that vital evidence had been removed from the crime scene. Scotland Yard said on Friday that its officers spent two-and-a-half weeks "conducting extensive inquiries in Pakistan last month" and were joined by other specialists from the United Kingdom during the course of the investigation. It said that the British team's overall objective placed particular focus on "establishing the actual cause of death, and whether there were one or more attackers in the immediate vicinity of Ms Bhutto." Scotland Yard emphasised that its team placed "considerable reliance ... upon the X-rays taken at Rawalpindi General Hospital following Ms Bhutto's death...Additionally, a valuable insight was gained from the accounts given by the medical staff involved in her treatment, and from those members of Ms Bhutto's family who washed her body before burial". From this, the team concluded that the former prime minister's "only apparent injury was a major trauma to the right side of the head". The report said all the British experts consequently excluded "this injury being an entry or exit wound as a result of gunshot. The only X-ray records, taken after her death, were of Ms Bhutto's head. However, the possibility of a bullet wound to her mid or lower trunk can reasonably be excluded. This is based upon the protection afforded by the armoured vehicle in which she was travelling at the time of the attack, and the accounts of her family and hospital staff who examined her". The report said that even though pathologist Nathaniel Cary was unable, in the absence of a full post mortem examination, to "exclude the possibility of there being a gunshot wound to the upper trunk or neck", there was sufficient cause to conclude Bhutto sustained "no gunshot injury". The UK experts added that Bhutto injury "is entirely consistent with her head impacting upon the lip of the escape hatch" of her vehicle, after a blast in which high explosives were used, which typically detonate at a velocity between 6000 and 9000 metres per second. The report said that "when considering the explosive quantities and distances involved, such an explosion would generate significantly more force than would be necessary to provoke the consequences as occurred in this case. The report concludes that "In essence, all the evidence indicates that one suspect has fired the shots before detonating an improvised explosive device. At the time of the attack this person was standing close to the rear of Ms Bhutto's vehicle. The blast caused a violent collision between her head and the escape hatch area of the vehicle, causing a severe and fatal head injury".

Spider-Man Is Single Again

This morning, I read in USA Today that Spider-Man was returning to Bachelor-Land. Cool!, I thought. He's been going through a lot in the "Civil War" series, and it's finally taken its toll on his marriage. I don't think that there's been many super-hero divorces, plus it reinforces Peter's loser status, which is a big part of the character. Then I read the rest of the article, which described how it was going to happen (summary courtesy of Wikipedia):"...After his Aunt May is shot, the superhero Spider-Man searches for help in saving her life. Spider-Man meets the demon Mephisto, who offers to save her life if Spider-Man gives him his marriage. Spider-Man and his wife Mary Jane Watson agree, and the character's history is subsequently retconned so that he has never been married. The storyline serves to set-up a restructuring of the Spider-Man titles, resulting in the cancellation of 'Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man' and 'The Sensational Spider-Man', replaced by 'Amazing Spider-Man' revamped as a thrice-monthly publication."That's disappointing - a Faustian bargain, literally with the devil. Who can relate to that? I realize that there's a lot of things out there that are far more worthy of worrying about, but it's still a little annoying. It's why I prefer close-ended stories to following an ongoing title.Sigh.

Think Thin

The new Apple notebook, the MacBook Air, is about three-quarters of an inch thick at its thickest point, small enough to fit in a manila envelope, which is how Steven P. Jobs, chief executive, demonstrated it to a crowd of Apple fans at the Macworld Expo. He said the price is $1,799.
“This is the world’s thinnest notebook,” said Mr. Jobs. The new notebook features a 13.3-inch screen and a five-hour battery.
Perhaps its most interesting feature, however, is the one that is missing. The new notebook does not come equipped with an optical drive for playing CDs and DVDs, though one is available as an option for $99. Instead, Apple has equipped it with remote software that lets users play DVDs and CDs on another computer as if they were on the notebook.
On the environmental front, where Apple has received criticism, the MacBook Air uses a mercury-free display. Its circuit boards are bromide-free and PVC-free, Mr. Jobs said, and the system uses less packaging than in the past.

Gummy Woes

Do You Have Warning Signs of Gum Disease?

You may not realize that persistent sore, swollen, red, or bleeding gums as well as tooth pain or sensitivity and bad breath are warning signs of periodontal disease (gum disease) – a serious infection that, left untreated, may lead to tooth loss as well as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, respiratory diseases, and premature/underweight babies.
Periodontal disease can affect one tooth or many teeth. It begins when the bacteria in plaque (the sticky, colorless film that constantly forms on your teeth) causes the gums to become inflamed.
In the mildest form of the disease, gingivitis, the gums redden, swell and bleed easily. There is usually little or no discomfort. Gingivitis is often caused by inadequate oral hygiene. Gingivitis is reversible with professional treatment and good oral home care.
Untreated gingivitis can advance to periodontitis. With time, plaque can spread and grow below the gum line. Toxins produced by the bacteria in plaque irritate the gums. The toxins stimulate a chronic inflammatory response in which the body in essence turns on itself, and the tissues and bone that support the teeth are broken down and destroyed. Gums separate from the teeth, forming pockets (spaces between the teeth and gums) that become infected. As the disease progresses, the pockets deepen and more gum tissue and bone are destroyed. Often, this destructive process has very mild symptoms. Eventually, teeth can become loose and may have to be removed.