I have 2 brand new OHCM 7th Edition books for Sale. Never used, covered in plastic film. Selling for rock bottom price of RM35.
It is paper back cover.

You can collect personally from me in KL or bank in the money along with PosLaju cost, and I will send it to you by PosLaju.

Interested? Leave a message here.
Or email me –
[ d r f u r q u a n (-a.t-) gmail(-dot-)com]

also have 2 copies Oxford Handbook ok Clinical Specialities. RM35

If you buy OHCM + Clinical specialities together, price RM 60.

This is going to be very short introduction of a software I have come across and find it enormously useful, to the extent that it has made me recommend this to others who are looking for similar solutions for typing – be it notes, thesis or just typing your usual stuff.

Often you encounter you use repeated phrases and long words which you get fed up of keying in again. I used to use a smart phone based on windows mobile and they had an inbuilt autocompleter  for words as I tapped letters for a quick SMS.

Now lately before exams as I review some of my earlier notes for quick editing and some summarization of topics, i least care about formatting etc and want things really fast as I brain storm. I don’t like short hand stuff when it comes to typing on the computer, thus it made me look out for a typing solution that was similar to what I had on PDAs and Smart phones.

After trying out a few softwares, I ended up with my preferences to LetMeType, and also FastFox Expander. Initially I was quite satisfied with FastFox, but there were a few things It couldn’t do, and eventually I came across LetMeType.

LetMeType

Helps you enter text. Running in the background, it analyses what you type. After some time it has collected enough information to guess a word after you have typed the first two or three letters. The list of common words you use is shown against numbers, to follow on with you expansion just hit the number key with corresponding word of your choice.

LetMeType is an open-source free software available for download. This is cool.

Download it here

Another that I liked was FastFox.
Unlike LetMeType it does not generate a list of words but infact automatically inserts a custom expansion to shorthand text just after you hit the space after keying in the shorthand text for the word/phrase you like to insert. You can also insert preformatted text, signature, phrases to predefined shorthand text you specify in the program. It is not similar to LetMeType.
It is not free, but a free-version is available.
download FastFox here

- Twitter is a global index to ‘now’ – what people are thinking ‘in real time’;

- Twitter permits social networks to meet around a virtual water cooler in real time;

- Twitter is a virtual online town-square where people meet and provide support digitally;

- in practical terms, Twitter is open-access, unfettered, free information flow;

- a wildly easy way to stay connected with online networks @ a single point of entry;

- efficient way to see ’status updates’ of family and friends

- Twitter permits thinking ‘on the fly’; monitoring ideas & thoughts; breaking news;

- an important productivity tool; face-to-face meetings get up to speed much quicker

- Twitter is also a potentially powerful research and information dissemination tool;

- some Twitter feeds, once they ‘mature’, are mini-web conferences on the go

- News alerts and reporting events from on the scene as it happens, by the public, from different angles, different sides (as in #Mumbai Gunmen terror and the #Gaza war)

- A place to discover web, ideas and knowledge from other twitter users.

- A marketing tool to promote and market products, services etc.

- An alternative to RSS feeds, to get new additions to websites or blogs you follow. Many have their own twitter account you can follow, else there are other ways to import feeds too.

Please add in more words to describe the limitless uses of twitter.

How often have you found yourself utterly distracted, juggling a number of windows on your desktop as you multi-task with several things. Towards the end, a small little job becomes to feel like a hell of a workload and sucks up much time.
Yup! Those IMs, Social networking websites like facebook, Microblogs like Twitter, and even News website.
But you actually signed on for work to get done, have a Thesis prepared, A document write up or read some important articles be it academic or otherwise, but not wasteful.
Yet going online invariably leads to opening up of several browser windows, signing on IMs, checking emails every few minutes and doing some leisurely reading.
You think you can handle all this multi-tasking.
But its wrong! Your brain does not handle multi-tasking, every time you switch from one task to another, your brain has to switch mode. And its not as easy for you brain as you do it in computer. Invariably a 15-30 min job may extend to more than an hour or even 2 or more.

There are few tools that I came acorss online, That can actually help you stay affixed with either Writing or reading.
I have tried them and it really works amazingly. It has made my work so fast and online life much much more productive.

Before you actually jump on to these tools, like you always do, here are a few things you should do yourself before you stick yourself to a task to complete.

* Sign-off from your Instant Messenger (the best) or atleast go invisible (Appear offline)
* Close all your opened windows
* Close your Email Inbox
* Its better to turn off music or radio you are listening. But for some this is not much of a distraction.
* Try not opening Facebook, Twitter randomly at any time of the day. Keep a time for it and allot like 20 or 30 mins a day for it. Not more than that.

Coming to the tools I was talking about.

Zap-Reader is a reading tool. A Very simple program script that flashes words from the text you input at a specific rate (300wpm or more). Looks silly but try it yourself. Put in a huge article you want to read and Zap read it. You will actually notice you read it fast and understood it all. It affixes your mind on the tast, cos the words keep changing and you are forced to have full attention on reading. At the same time it maintains your reading speed.

There is another similar tool which is similar – Spreeder
Spreeder allows you to change for color, background and size apart from setting the Reading speed.

Now coming to getting productive while you are typing stuff.
There is a windows based application, which is very simple and really soothing to eyes as you type long.
DARK-ROOM . A thumbnail screenshot of it will say it all.
A neat light weight, no nonsense program just for typing. You can do text wrapping later.
A full screen dark background with cool green font.  Puts your mind entirely into typing your work.

Another online application Write-or-Die
Forces you to finish writing a task in a stipulated time,
uses various alarms and sound clips to keep your attention and speed.
Personally I havn’t treid it but it has received a good response from Writers.

Our minds continuously adapts to different environments and culture it faces.
With the rise of people who spend most of their times doing work on the internet, it has given rise to a different environment their minds are occupied with, and thus this is evolving a totally new system of mind work and will affect a lot of people in their personal development – having both good as well as drawbacks.
reflect on this article from Reuters. Following are some key highlights of it in a Snap.

• Neuroscientist arguing this is an evolutionary change which will put the tech-savvy at the top of the new social order.
• Internet searching has made brains more adept at filtering information and making snap decisions.
• Technology can accelerate learning and boost creativity
• Yet the Drawback – dramatic rise in Attention Deficit Disorder diagnoses.
• Those who excell in future – will have a mixture of technological + social skills.
• technology has altered the way young minds develop, function and interpret information.
• “The brain is very specialized in its circuitry and if you repeat mental tasks over and over it will strengthen certain neural circuits and ignore others,” ~ Gary Small.
• “Evolution is an advancement from moment to moment and what we are seeing is technology affecting our evolution.”
• Problems of multitasking, info scanning – neglecting human contact skills and losing the ability to read emotional expressions and body language, rapid scanning for new information may cause stress and disrupt neuronal circuits.

Gary Small has written his new book “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind“

iBrain reveals a new evolution catalyzed by technological advancement and its future implications: Where do you fit in on the evolutionary chain? What are the professional, social, and political impacts of this new brain evolution? How must you adapt and at what price?

While high-tech immersion can accelerate learning and boost creativity, it also has its glitches, among them the meteoric rise in ADD diagnoses, increased social isolation, and Internet addiction. To compete and thrive in the age of brain evolution, and to avoid these potential drawbacks, we must adapt, and iBrain—with its Technology Toolkit—equips all of us with the tools and strategies needed to close the brain gap.

Occupied in a busy schedule of my current Surgery posting, not having much time in keeping updated with daily dose of Tech and science news, An article sparked keen interest as I was shuffling through the The Star newspaper (a malaysian publication) in the Library. I was ecstatic to know about this fact, and already started thinking about the different innovations that can arise from this little interesting discovery that still lies unexplainable.

Following are some Highlights from some articles I read online:

• If you peel the popular adhesive tape off its roll in a vacuum chamber, it emits X-rays.
• A machine peeled ordinary Scotch tape off a roll in a vacuum chamber at about 1.2 inches (3cm) per second.
• Rapid pulses of x-rays, each about a billionth of a second long, emerged from very close to where the tape was coming off the roll.
• Researchers even made an x-ray image of one of their fingers.
• With some refinements, the process might be harnessed for making inexpensive x-ray machines for paramedics or for places where electricity is expensive or hard to get.
• Actually,  more than 50 years ago, some Russian scientists reported evidence of X-rays from peeling sticky tape off glass.

Tape measure: X-rays detected from Scotch tape (original article from AP)

When you are on the internet, there is no way you do without a web search. Most of us rarely type in the address we surf to and we many a times do not even recall the address. Googling the web has become a catch phrase. Recently I asked a friend to send me a link of a particular page he referenced me, he asked me to google a word and click the third search result – I was clearly dumbfounded. This is a reflection of the way people have become dependedent to search engines that to even relocate a page, they need its help.

Getting Paid for what one always does

I cannot envisage the amount of money these search engines generate on each search we make. They can always be a little generous in giving us some portion of it. There have been a few websites who have started paying peope for using the search. I first came across SCOUR, but it put me off after looking at the layout of its search and the way it put three search results for each from three search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN). The money it generated per search was so minuscle it would take me decades to earn some money. I could not be so patient. A trial of a day or two and I stopped it.

Then someone mentioned me of this HomePage Friends. It is a little known site and does not even feature in search results. Not many people have used it. And it pays you more for every search you make and that too in British pounds. There are some bugs though – They sometimes cancel out your search results if they suspect you are simply making searches and not following natural way of making searches. So you cannot play around. You just have to search web they way you naturally search and cannot fool them.

The other thing I did not like, they force you to use Yahoo. Whatever you search will lead you to a Yahoo search list. Its not a problems for those who are used to Yahoo but I was always with google.

Its been few months I have used it and made 870 searches, so far earning me 7 BPD. They will transfer money into your paypal or bank account after you have summued your earnings to 20 Pounds. There are people who complained about receiving money late. But in the end they did get credited the amount they earned. Whats the harm in trying it out.

The Google Android UI

iPhone has changed the way gadgets work and it has to be given credit for this new revolution that every other phone company is hooked up with in an attempt to catch on with the demands and expectations of the Mobile Phone users. What has been extremely dissapointing to me is that I could not get hold of an iPhone. I did check out my friend who purchased it from the illegal markets. Apple is struggling to meet the sales, and I have been so eagerly waiting for it, but perhaps now.. things might change. Its probably too late for iPhone to enter into Malaysia. Samsung’s Omnia made its way, and a lot of people purchased it (But it did not impress me).

So for the moment I stick with my Sony Ericsson K850, which I am quite satisfied with as far as its camera functionality goes. But it lacks a truly PDA concept and apart from a few applications like Dictionary, Twitter (Abiro Jitter application to update twitter), there is not much you can work with. I want to have my Medical books and softwares – it is so convenient to have them carried everywhere and such bulk of information accessible at the touch of your finger tips.

Google always has surprises for us. But its anticipated Android OS for the phone is not much of a surprise. It has been talked about since long and its first unofficial review videos started appearing on Youtube by August this year. Here is a video giving you a brief look into Android.

It clearly seems to be an iPhone Killer, and with this my desire for iPhone is fading as I wait for Android to hit the Malaysian shores. Android has signed up with HTC and T-Mobile (US), so its OS will be running on HTC phones (to start with), the first to be launched by the end of september.

Gone may be the days when Hospitals have to struggle to maintain a sufficient amount of blood in the blood bank, run blood donation camps, and loose patients simply because they could not get the right blood at the right time. After the discovery of the enzyme that cleaves antigen, now we may have an even better option of producing limitless amount of blood through the use of stem cell technology. Truly mind boggling progress in Medical science!

Scientists have created red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, in a step that they say could mean an infinite source of blood for transfusions.

According to the American Red Cross, 15 million units of blood are donated in the U.S. each year. Fourteen million units are transfused into Americans every year. The World Health Organization notes that people still die—especially in developing countries—because of an inadequate blood supply.

The team at Worcester, Mass.-based Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) says that if they can develop type-O negative blood—so-called “universal donor” blood because the body’s immune system will not reject it—there could be an inexhaustible supply. They were able to grow type A, type B, and type O blood, but did not make type O negative. ACT’s chief scientific officer Robert Lanza told Wired News that he doesn’t think it will be a problem to make oodles of O negative.

Susan Shurin, deputy director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md., called the new work an “important first step.”

“They’ve grown these in the test tubes and been able to get them to mature so that many aspects of these cells look like [red blood cells] that you make and I make,” she told ScientificAmerican.com. “But they haven’t given them to people and see if they survive.”

There are sugars on the surface of the cells, Shurin explains, that allow them to be recognized by the immune system. If the immune system sees them as risky, it could kill the cells. “There’s still significant work to do,” she says, “but it’s a significant step in the right direction.”

The American Red Cross agreed with Shurin’s assessment, releasing a press statement, calling the work “pioneering,” but also pointing out that the technique “has not progressed to the stage where the cultured cells are fully equivalent” to real red blood cells.

From around the Web:

‘Stem cells can lead to blood farms’ – Times of India

Skin cells produce library of diseased stem cells – Scientific American

Stem cell technology may make blood donations thing of the past – The Daily Telegraph

Human blood grown from stem cells – The Australian