'Milk consumption may increase risk of fractures, overall mortality'

An eating regimen rich in dairy items, especially drain, is elevated to lessen the probability of osteoporotic cracks. In any case, another study distributed in the BMJ proposes that a high admission of milk is connected with a higher danger cracks and a higher rate of death in men and ladies.

Milk contains 18 out of 22 crucial supplements. The relationship between the element twosome of calcium and vitamin D in milk and their imperativeness in keeping up bone wellbeing has long been advanced in nourishing training, particularly as far as tyke advancement.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) propose an every day measurements of 3 containers of dairy to help great wellbeing and enhance bone mass. An admission of three or four glasses of milk a day has been proposed to spare no less than 20% of health awareness expenses identified with osteoporosis.

Milk is likewise exhibited to have numerous different profits, including:

• Keeping up solid pulse

• Lessening the danger of cardiovascular malady and sort 2 diabetes

• Assurance from colorectal malignancy

• Giving regular, astounding protein for bulk

Observational examination led in Sweden, headed by Prof. Karl Michaëlsson, question a percentage of the medical advantages of milk, specifically giving clashing information to the most refered to association in the middle of milk and delayed bone wellbeing.

The analysts conjectured that a high utilization of milk may, actually, expand oxidative anxiety, prompting an impact on the danger of mortality and bone break.

The speculation is focused around the evidence that drain gives the fundamental dietary wellspring of D-galactose. Galactose makes up 50% of lactose, the sugar found in milk.

Exploratory confirmation in different creature species shows that an unending presentation to D-galactose is unfavorable to wellbeing, a wellspring of maturing and abbreviated lifespan. These outcomes are because of oxidative anxiety harm, ceaseless irritation, neurodegeneration, diminished safe reaction and quality transcriptional changes.

To test the speculation, the agents utilized two group based associates to dissect the relationship of milk utilization and mortality and crack rates:

• The Swedish Mammography Cohort: a gathering of 61,433 ladies, matured 39-74 in 1987-1990

• The Cohort of Swedish Men: a gathering of 45,339 men, matured 45-79 in 1997.

In response to a survey, the members reported their normal utilization of up to 96 regular nourishments and drinks, including milk, aged drain, yogurt and cheddar. Way of life data, weight and stature were assembled and elements identifying with training level and conjugal status were additionally considered. National registers were used to track break and death rates.

Three or more glasses of milk a day could prompt an expanded danger of death

The specialists utilized the underlying reason for death from the Swedish reason for death registry to characterize mortality from all reasons.

The Swedish Mammography Cohort

Over the 20 years that the ladies were followed:

• 15,541 kicked the bucket

• 17,252 had a break; of these, 4,259 had a hip crack.

No diminished danger of crack with higher milk utilization was watched. Ladies who drank more than three glasses of milk a day (normal 680 ml) had a higher danger of death than ladies who drank short of what one glass of milk a day (normal 60 ml).

The Cohort of Swedish Men

Over the span of the 11 years that the men were followed:

• 10,112 kicked the bucket

• 5,066 had a break; of these, 1,116 had a hip crack.

Albeit less proclaimed than in the female gathering, men additionally had a higher danger of death with higher milk utilization.

Further examination was embraced to figure out if milk was connected with oxidative anxiety and aggravation. The results demonstrated positive in both genders. Be that as it may, utilization of matured milk items, yogurt and cheddar showed a negative connection with both the oxidative anxiety and the provocative markers and was connected with decreased rates of mortality and break, especially in ladies.

The specialists say:

"Our results may question the validity of recommendations to consume high amounts of milk to prevent fragility fractures."

The examination presumes that a higher utilization of milk in both genders is not joined by a lower danger of crack and may rather be connected with a higher rate of death. There may additionally be a connection between the lactose and galactose substance of milk and hazard as recommended in the theory, in spite of the fact that causality has yet to be tried.

Should dietary proposals in regards to drain utilization be changed?

The analysts note that given the observational outline of the study, the results ought to be translated carefully. They call attention to that the study can just demonstrate an affiliation and can't demonstrate circumstances and end results, including that further replication studies ought to occur before the results can be utilized for dietary suggestions.

In a going with publication, Prof. Mary Schooling, at City University of New York, remarks:

"As milk features in many dietary guidelines and both hip fractures and cardiovascular disease are relatively common among older people, improving the evidence base for dietary recommendations could have substantial benefits for everyone."

She closes, As milk consumption may rise globally with economic development and increasing consumption of animal source foods, the role of milk in mortality needs to be established definitively now."

Medicinal News Today as of late reported that a glass of milk a day may postpone knee osteoarthritis in ladies. In spite of the fact that the degenerative infection at present has no cure, scientists say drinking drain consistently has been joined to decreased movement of the illness

Adapted From : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284530.php

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Google Calendar gets smarter with automatic events, iPhone version coming

Google Calendar is turning into a closer partner to Gmail via consequently pulling in occasions from clients' inboxes.

The most recent redesign develops Gmail's capacity to perceive affirmation messages for flight reservations, show tickets, and restaurant reservations. Notwithstanding appearing in Google Now, these occasions will likewise begin showing up in Google Calendar. This gimmick is empowered of course, and clients will get an affirmation email the first occasion when it happens. It can be crippled through Google Calendar settings.

The redesign likewise includes auto-complete recommendations for new occasions. Case in point, clients who begin writing the expression "Birthday" will see things like "Birthday dinner" or "Birthday party for..." as proposals. Clients can likewise see proposed contact names and addresses as they write.

Google is providing for its Agenda see a visual update also. Presently known as Schedule view, this rundown of approaching occasions is all the more tastefully satisfying with representations, area photographs, and guide reviews.

The overhaul is accessible now for gadgets running Android 5.0 Lollipop, (for example, the new Nexus 9 tablet) and will land on gadgets running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher in the nearing weeks. Google is likewise guaranteeing to dispatch a local variant of Calendar for the iphone. That bodes well, as its the main way iphone clients would have the capacity to revel in the new peculiarities.

Why this matters: It's difficult to recollect the last time Google Calendar got a considerable peculiarity overhaul like this, however falls in accordance with the late dispatch of Google Inbox. Both are an endeavor to expand upon the old, pattern involvement with things like robotized activities and shrewd proposals. It's an alternate sign that Google needs every last bit of its administrations working all the more nearly together, hence making it harder to live without any of them.

adapted from pc world

source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2842378/google-calendar-gets-smarter-with-automatic-events-iphone-version-coming.html

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Cheap, fast 'paper strip' test for Ebola, other infections, steps closer

Scientists working in the field of man made biology are usually bringing together science, anatomist and precessing to understand and content this ins and outs regarding natural living with brand new ways to attain remarkable strides. A pair of research released with Cell phone demonstrate just how advances in this subject could some day lead to cheap, dependable diagnostics for ailments such as Ebola -- checks that may be carried out rapidly inside the subject using only sheds regarding blood vessels or saliva with whitening strips regarding paper stuck along with man made biology circuits.

Inside the primary review, this experts, from Harvard University's Wyss Initiate for Biological Influenced Architectural with Boston ma, MUM, summarize how they brought lab-testing capacity to pocket-sized slips regarding paper by simply embedding them along with man made gene sites. Additionally, they clarify how they developed numerous diagnostics, "including sugar devices and strain-specific Ebola malware devices. "

Till not long ago, improvement with man made biology continues to be hampered since experts have got merely had the oppertunity to formulate man made mechanisms inside existing tissues.

Nevertheless, the study explains what sort of Wyss workforce had taken a huge leap by simply developing a process exactly where they could design man made designs regarding natural mechanisms away from tissues.
Paper-based, man made biology methods can be freeze dried out and kept

Medical professional. Keith Pardee, steer publisher of the primary paper and staff members scientist from Wyss, explains:

"We've harnessed the genetic machinery of cells and embedded them in the fiber matrix of paper, which can then be freeze dried for storage and transport - we can now take synthetic biology out of the lab and use it anywhere to better understand our health and the environment."

Medical professional. Pardee and friends have got built numerous paper-based diagnostics and biosensors. These integrate proteins that fluoresce and change coloring to indicate these are working.

Once freeze-dried, this paper-based methods can be kept for a year; these are triggered with the help of water.

The tools doubles inside the lab in order to save time and expense compared with traditional procedures that make use of existing tissues and cells.

"Where it would normally take 2 or 3 days to confirm a power tool inside of a full time income mobile or portable, this can be carried out utilizing a man made biology paper-based software with as few as ninety moments, " affirms Medical professional. Pardee.

Inside their review, he or she and his or her friends summarize how they examined numerous paper-based man made biology methods. They triggered innate buttons, easily made and produced difficult gene circuits, and programmed diagnostics that will check for antibiotic-resistant microbes and strain-specific Ebola malware.
'Toehold switch' employed to build Ebola sensor

The Wyss workforce developed this Ebola sensor by using some sort of "toehold swap, " a new process for curbing gene term that's very adaptable and remarkably programmable. This is the issue of the second review.

The toehold swap was initially meant to function on the inside existing tissues, though the workforce were able to transport it's function for the freeze-dried paper procedure.

The toehold swap can be programmed to modify about the output of an distinct protein following just discovering a great RNA trademark regarding every variety. RNA signatures are usually sequences regarding innate program code that can be used to distinguish a broad choice of infectious agents, including microbes, infections, yeast and parasites.

The workforce affirms it is also probable to url numerous toehold buttons with each other, developing a difficult signal that could be programmed to carry out a few methods, for instance detect some sort of pathogen after which produce a suitable remedy.

Peng Yin, associate mentor inside the Team regarding Techniques Chemistry and biology from Harvard Health-related College and Wyss Primary Faculty Fellow member, can be senior publisher of the second paper. He explains that traditional man made biology simply just normally takes recent natural components and rewires the crooks to attain a new goal. But this kind of complicates accuracy and efficiency.

Alternatively, while toehold swap can be motivated by nature, it can be totally re-designed from damage, he or she contributes, observing that the review explains how they produced a device that "is a truly 'synthetic' gene regulator along with 40-fold far better capacity to control gene term in comparison with traditional regulators. "

Inside Sept 2014, Health-related Media Nowadays mastered just how scientists are working with methods to deal with drug-resistant pathogens with their own "gene-editing" process. In a paper released with Characteristics Biotechnology, this workforce explains how they utilised CRISPR -- some sort of gene-editing process that microbes make use of to defend against invasion by simply infections -- to a target this superbugs independently.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD.

source : Here

Readmore → Cheap, fast 'paper strip' test for Ebola, other infections, steps closer

Caramel Apples Recipe

Caramel Apples Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 40 minutes
• Yield: Makes 6 caramel apples.

You can undoubtedly twofold the formula, in the event that you do, utilize a 4-quart pot to make the caramel sauce.

On the off chance that you don't have admittance to molasses, you can substitute the one mug of white sugar and tablespoon of molasses with one container and one tablespoon of dull tan sugar, pressed.

Why the corn syrup? Corn syrup is a "reverse sugar" that will help keep the sugar in the caramel from solidifying. It likewise serves to mollify the caramel.

Fruits from the store regularly have a wax covering on them which ought to be uprooted before endeavoring to layer them in caramel. To uproot you can plunge the fruits in bubbling water blended with a sprinkle of vinegar for a couple of seconds, evacuate and altogether dry.

Spare Recipe

Fixings

1 container white granulated sugar

1/2 measure (1 stick) unsalted spread

3/4 container overwhelming whipping cream

1/2 container dull corn syrup

1 Tbsp dim molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla concentrate

1/2 teaspoon salt (preclude if utilizing salted margarine)

6 strong candy sticks or chopsticks

6 medium fruits (flushed and tapped dry, room temperature)

Grouped designs, (for example, hacked nuts, cleaved raisins, small scale M&m's and confection sprinkles)

Supplies required one exact sweet thermometer.

System

join caramel add-ins and hotness on medium low until dissolved brush drawbacks with cake brush

1 Place sugar, margarine, cream, corn syrup, molasses, vanilla, and salt (discard if utilizing salted spread) in a thick-bottomed 3-4 quart pot. Warm on medium to medium low high temperature and blend gradually with a wooden spoon until the spread has dissolved and the sugar has broken down. In the event that you see sugar precious stones on the edge of the skillet, brush them down with a wet cake brush.

Bring to a moving bubble Pour hot caramel sauce into metal dish

2 Let the caramel mixture go to a moving bubble, altering the high temperature so that the caramel doesn't bubble over the dish. Keep on mixing in a moderate figure-eight example with a wooden spoon. Screen the temperature of the caramel with a treat thermometer. At the point when the temperature of the mixture achieves 240°f (after around 15 minutes or thereabouts of bubbling), expel from hotness and put into a metal dish.

Let the hot caramel mixture sit in the dish until the temperature cools to simply beneath 200°f, at which indicate you are prepared dip the pieces of fruit.

Push stays into pieces of fruit through center Sticks in fruits, prepared to dunk into caramel sauce

3 While the caramel sauce is cooking and cooling, line a heating sheet with either Silpat or buttered aluminum foil. Embed the sticks (either candy stays, thick wooden sticks, or chopsticks) into the core of the fruits through the stem end.

plunge fruit in caramel sauce swirl the fruit in the caramel sauce and haul out, letting the overabundance sauce trickle off

4 When the caramel sauce has cooled sufficiently, meeting expectations each one in turn, dunk the fruits into the sauce. Swirl every fruit around in the sauce so that the caramel sauce totally layers the fruit, with the exception of the extremely top close to the stick. Pull the fruit up from the sauce and let the abundance caramel tenderly dribble go into the vessel. Place the covered fruit onto the lined preparing sheet. Some caramel sauce will structure a little pool at the base of every fruit. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Caramel pieces of fruit cooling overlap the caramel that has pooled at the bottom of the fruits back onto the fruits

5 Once the caramel has chilled a couple of minutes, expel from the cooler and press the caramel that has pooled at the bottom of the fruits up against the side of the pieces of fruit. On the off chance that you are utilizing coatings, for example, sprinkles or slashed nuts, roll the caramel fruits in them now. At that point furnish a proportional payback to the icebox and chill for at any rate an alternate hour.

In the event that giving as endowments, after the fruits have totally chilled, wrap them in plastic wrap.

source : http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramel_apples/

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Apple releases OS X Yosemite

The free upgrade runs on all Macs sold since 2009, as well as some even older models 

Apple today (16/10/2014)  launched OS X 10.10, aka Yosemite, as a free upgrade for most Mac owners.

Mac users running last year's Mavericks, 2012's Mountain Lion, 2011's Lion and even 2009's Snow Leopard are able to download Yosemite from the Mac App Store starting today. The no-older-than-Snow-Leopard limitation was due to the App Store, the only distribution channel for Yosemite; versions of OS X that preceded Snow Leopard cannot access the online mart.

During a news conference today -- which Apple live-streamed -- Craig Federighi, who leads iOS and OS X development and has taken the roll of Jerry Lewis to Cook's Dean Martin straight man, spent considerable time summarizing the new features of Yosemite.

He also boasted that a million users had registered for the public beta, the first OS preview from Apple since 2000.

Of the new features in Yosemite, the most prominent -- the Continuity collection that includes task hand-off from an iOS device to a Mac, or vice versa, requires iOS 8.1, which Apple will release on Monday, Oct. 20.

The free Yosemite will be accompanied by upgrades to the also-free iWork suite -- Pages, Numbers and Keynote -- which are also available today, said Federighi.

OS X Yosemite tips the virtual scale at 5.2GB, slightly less than last year's Mavericks but still a massive download for customers with slower or metered Internet connections. It can be downloaded by choosing "Software Update" from the Apple menu at the far left of a Mac's menu bar.

Macs compatible with Yosemite include iMacs as old as mid-2007, MacBook Pro notebooks from late 2007 on and MacBook Air laptops from late 2008 going forward. All Macs sold from 2009 and later are able to run Yosemite, said Apple.

source : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2834999/apple-releases-os-x-yosemite.html

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Honey Mustard Chicken Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4-6.

If you don't want to eat skin-on chicken, still cook the dish with the skin-on, even if you don't eat it. The skin will protect the meat from drying out.

Ingredients

• 1/4 to 1/3 cup smooth Dijon mustard
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 pounds chicken thighs (or legs)
• Salt
• 2 sprigs rosemary (or a generous sprinkling of dried rosemary)
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix mustard with the honey, and olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and taste. Add more salt and mustard until you get the flavor where you want it.
2 Salt the chicken lightly and lay the pieces skin-side up in a shallow casserole dish. Spoon the honey mustard sauce over the chicken. Place the rosemary sprigs in between the pieces of chicken.
3 Bake for 45 minutes, or until the thighs read 175° on a meat thermometer, or the juices run clear when the meat is pierced with a knife. Remove the casserole pan from the oven, use a spoon to spoon off any excess chicken fat that has rendered during the cooking.
Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper over the chicken before you serve.

source : http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/honey_mustard_chicken/

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Free at last: After Windows 10, consumers won't pay for updates or upgrades

Ironically, businesses will probably have to pay to keep Windows from changing

 

Microsoft will have no choice but to give consumers free Windows upgrades once it launches Windows 10 and kicks off its fast-fast-fast tempo, an analyst asserted.

"If Microsoft wants consumers to update and keep up to date, it really means that Microsoft is going to have to give those consumers those updates for free. There's really no other way to do it," said Michael Silver of Gartner at the research firm's annual technology conference.
"A consumer isn't going to give Microsoft a credit card and say, 'Charge me for a new release whenever one comes out,'" Silver added. "It's very likely that consumer releases will be free."
That will affect Microsoft's bottom line: With Windows 10 expected to be the nameplate for the OS for years longer than the usual three-year cycle between major upgrades -- from Windows 7 to Windows 8, say -- free means that consumers will never again have to pay to upgrade their PC's OS.
A constant trickle of free updates and upgrades will also put computer makers in a bind, as historically they have relied on new editions to spark sales, particularly to consumers.
Silver's argument that Windows 10, if not free itself, must offer free updates to consumers, came during a 45-min. presentation where he and a colleague, Stephen Kleynhans, discussed the future of Office and Windows before a standing-room-only crowd at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2014. The research firm lets anyone view up to three on-demand video recordings of conference sessions free of charge, including the one with Silver and Kleynhans.
The two put Microsoft's Windows 10 and Microsoft's promise of a steady stream of updates in context for businesses, which have shied away from Windows 8 and are being coaxed back into the fold with promises that Windows 10 will be all that its predecessor wasn't.
"A lot of enterprises were expressing concern that they couldn't keep up with that faster cadence [of Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Update]," said Kleynhans. "So, Microsoft decided to change things about the cadence. They've come up with a new, new cadence. Because you couldn't keep up with annual updates, they're going to go to monthly updates."
That last line got a laugh from the audience, but it was more dark humor than levity: Businesses have balked at an accelerated update cadence. Microsoft got an earful last April from IT professionals, for example, when it told them they had just 30 days to install Windows 8.1 Update.
Microsoft has, however, made allowances for corporations. Rather than adopt what Silver and Kleynhans called "consumer speed" updating -- a tempo that could be as frequent as monthly -- businesses will be able to delay deployment with a pair of alternate tracks.
The most conservative of those tracks, which Gartner has labeled "long-term servicing," will be of interest almost exclusively to enterprises.
"They're going to introduce the concept of a long-term serving update," said Kleynhans. "They'll take all of those [consumer speed updates] and roll them into a single release and that will be a stake in the ground. That stake in the ground will stay there for 10 years or so, we expect. And you'll be able to stay on that stake in the ground, that long-term servicing update, for as long as you need to. It will continue to get security updates, but features are going to be pretty much locked down and not change."

For those who have been around Windows a while, the long-term servicing update cadence is analogous to how Windows was dealt out pre-Windows 8.
According to Silver and others, that slowest temp will also impact how Microsoft profits from its venerable OS: Corporate customers will have to pay for it.
"We expect that organizations that want the longest-term support, the one with no changes, are going to have to pay for that by buying a Windows Enterprise Upgrade license," said Silver in an interview last week. "They going to have to pay more."
Wes Miller, of Directions on Microsoft, wasn't as certain as Silver about Microsoft charging for an unchanging Windows. "I'm curious about that, but I think it's definitely possible," Miller said in a recent interview. "We saw that with XP, support isn't free."
"The ironic thing is that enterprises used to buy Software Assurance and pay a fee to stay current," Silver said. "Now they'll pay a fee to stay static."

Source : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2825116/free-at-last-after-windows-10-consumers-wont-pay-for-updates-or-upgrades.html

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Dell pushes laptop chip clock speed to 4.4GHz in Alienware 18

Dell is cranking up laptop performance with an overclocked 4.4GHz Intel Core i7 chip in its new Alienware 18 laptop, which is targeted at gamers. The company on Thursday also announced an Alienware 17 laptop with optional Core i7 chips with clock speeds surpassing the 4.0GHz threshold. Processors running at that frequency are rare in laptops, though they can be found in gaming desktops.
Higher clock speeds boost PC performance, and gamers typically overclock CPUs to run faster. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices consistently crank up desktop CPU clock speeds in an ongoing battle to gain the desktop performance crown.
Over the past decade, chip makers reverted to adding more cores instead of cranking up clock speeds to balance system performance and power consumption. Laptop chips mostly operate at frequencies between 1.4GHz and 3GHz, and most users won't need 4GHz laptops. But gamers love the extra performance to run intense games.
Dell overclocked the fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4940MX processor in the Alienware 18 to run at 4.4GHz, making it the chip maker's fastest mobile processor. An optional Core i7-4910MQ processor in Alienware 17 has a frequency of 4.1GHz.
The 4.4GHz chip could generate a lot of heat, and Dell did some tweaking to fit the processor in the laptop's small frame.
"Alienware engineers really got creative and developed a new thermal solution to ensure reliable and cool operation in such a small system," Intel said in a blog entry.
The laptops use chips based on the Haswell microarchitecture.
The customizable Alienware 17, which has a 17.3-inch screen, starts at US$1,399, and is also available with slower Core processors and an Nvidia graphics card. A 3D display is optional.
The Alienware 18, which has an 18.4-inch screen, is priced starting at $2,099. It supports dual-graphics Nvidia or Advanced Micro Devices graphics cards.
The laptops support 32GB of RAM. Battery life of the laptops wasn't immediately available, but expect it to be just a few hours.

Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com

Readmore → Dell pushes laptop chip clock speed to 4.4GHz in Alienware 18

Hot chocolate may prevent memory decline

Researchers at Harvard Medical School recommend drinking two glasses of hot chocolate a day may keep the mind solid and forestall memory decrease in more seasoned individuals by saving blood stream in living up to expectations territories of the cerebrum.

They expound on their discoveries online in the August seventh issue of Neurology.

The group was exploring the impact of cocoa utilization on speculation and memory execution, and something many refer to as neurovascular coupling, where blood stream in the cerebrum changes because of nearby mind movement.

Farzaneh A. Sorond, lead creator and part of the American Academy of Neurology, told the press:

"As distinctive regions of the mind require more vitality to finish their errands, they additionally require more noteworthy blood stream. This relationship, called neurovascular coupling, may assume a paramount part in maladies, for example, Alzheimer's."

For their examination, the group enlisted 60 without dementia more seasoned individuals of normal age 73 and solicited them to drink two mugs from hot cocoa a day for 30 days.

A large portion of the members drank hot cocoa high in cell reinforcement flavanol, while the other half drank flavanol-poor hot cocoa. (There is generous confirmation that expending cocoa flavanols helps flow and heart wellbeing.)

The members were asked not to expend whatever other items containing chocolate amid the study.

The group tried the members' memory and speculation aptitudes prior and then afterward utilizing a set of standard tests.

Utilizing ultrasound, they additionally measured neurovascular coupling (the blood stream reaction to mind action) as the members finished the mental tests.

At the begin of the study, 18 of the 60 members had debilitated neurovascular coupling. Before the end of the study, it had enhanced by 8.3%.

These members additionally enhanced their scores on a working memory velocity test. At the begin of the study, it took them 167 seconds to finish the test, while at the end they destroyed it 116 seconds.

In members with normal neurovascular coupling at the begin of the study, there was no change either in blood stream measures or working memory.

A subset of 24 members additionally experienced MRI outputs to search for modest territories of harm in the white matter of the mind. These can happen when there is a confinement in blood stream.

The MRI outputs demonstrated that the members with debilitated neurovascular coupling were the ones destined to have these little zones of cerebrum harm.

There was no contrast between the members who drank flavanol-rich cocoa and the ones who drank flavanol-poor cocoa.

In their study paper, Sorond and partners close:

"There is a strong correlation between neurovascular coupling and cognitive function, and both can be improved by regular cocoa consumption in individuals with baseline impairments. Better neurovascular coupling is also associated with greater white matter structural integrity."

In a publication going with the group's study report, Paul B. Rosenberg, an Alzheimer's master at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD, says the study is a paramount first step, however:

"More work is required to demonstrate a connection between cocoa, blood stream issues and cognitive decrease."

An examination survey of 20 trials that was distributed in The Cochrane Library in 2012, found that expending dull chocolate or cocoa may diminish circulatory strain by a little sum.

source : http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/264551.php

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Google's Physical Web wants to link all the smart 'things'

Google has divulged another undertaking called the Physical Web, which it portrays as "a methodology to unleash the center super force of the Web: collaboration on interest."

What sort of connection on interest? From the subtle elements given, exchange between a cell phone prepared client and suitably modified brilliant gadgets. "Individuals ought to have the capacity to stroll up to any brilliant gadget - a candy machine, a notice, a toy, a transport stop, a rental auto - and not need to download an application first [to interact]. Everything ought to be simply a tap away."

The center thought is to make a standard by which keen gadgets can apportion Urls to other close-by gadgets. For instance, stopping meters could give a URL that connections to a tap-to-pay framework, or a transport stop could give a connection to an up-to-the-moment course plan.

The expert presentation report for the Physical Web, as gave on the Github webpage to the venture, goes into further detail. One key segment is that the receipt of anything telecasted is naturally completely detached. "No proactive notices," the documentation says. "The client will just see a rundown of close-by gadgets when they ask." in principle, somebody could compose a customer that heartily tells clients as a matter of course, however the thought is to situated a decent, non-obtrusive illustration for potential future designers.

A specialized review of the Physical Web depicts how Urls are telecast to gadgets by means of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). As presently concocted, there isn't much room in the showed parcel for the URL itself - a most extreme of 18 bytes - so a URL shortener or comparable administration would be required. A verification of-idea customer, composed for Android and ios, gives the client a rundown of close-by gadgets television in this manner, sorted by sign quality.

Scott Jenson, who drafted the diagram (and whatever remains of the Physical Web documentation), notes there may be numerous approaches to telecast the information. BLE is utilized within this specific incarnation of Physical Web simply because of its omnipresence in cell phones. "This ought not be the main remote arrangement," he notes, "however it is the least demanding to use right now so we can test and model this framework."

source : http://www.infoworld.com/article/2690878/internet-of-things/google-weaves-physical-web-for-on-demand-interaction-with-iot-devices.html

Readmore → Google's Physical Web wants to link all the smart 'things'

Chicken and plum sauce stir-fry

LOW IN SATURATES...especially important if
you have high cholesterol

PREP 10 min COOK 5 min SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS
• 325g medium egg noodles
• 1tsp sesame or olive oil
• 100g green beans, trimmed and halved
• 100g sugar snap peas, trimmed
• 175g broccoli, trimmed and cut into 4cm lengths
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 400g chicken breast fillets, cut into thin strips
• 5tbsp plum sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• ½ bunch of fresh coriander, to garnish

METHOD

1 Cook the noodles according to the pack instructions, then drain.
2 Meanwhile, heat a large non-stick frying pan and add the oil. Add all the veg and the chicken and stir-fry for 3–4 min until the chicken is golden and cooked through.
3 Stir through the plum sauce, lime juice and drained noodles
and toss to combine. Scatter with the coriander and serve.

PER SERVING
• 264kcal • 13g sugar • 43.5g protein • 2.6g fibre • 3.1g fat
• 0.9g salt • 0.8g saturates • 138mg calcium • 15.1g carbs
• 1.8mg iron

Readmore → Chicken and plum sauce stir-fry

A First Look at Microsoft's Windows 10

SAN FRANCISCO—Microsoft introduced Windows 10 here on Tuesday as the successor to Windows 8, with an emphasis on going back to basics.
The operating system formerly code named Threshold is still in its very early stages, but Redmond has built enough new features into its prototype all-devices software platform to generate some buzz. Those include a revamped Start menu, some smooth new multi-tasking tools, and better modern app display parameters for full-screen PCs. From a technical perspective, the most interesting addition is probably virtual desktops, which let you run independent, partitioned desktops at the same time—to keep business separate from pleasure, for example.


I got a chance to tool around a bit with Windows 10 at Microsoft's small press gathering here, and also got some eyes-on demos from Microsoft reps. I'll give you my impressions in a second, but first, a quick rundown on what Windows 10 is and what it isn't.
The Beginning of the Beginning
The important thing to know is that this isn't a finished operating system. Windows 10 in its current incarnation isn't even the beginning of the end of the beginning of what we'll eventually load onto our PCs, tablets, and other devices sometime in mid-2015.
Microsoft is releasing what it calls a technical preview build on Wednesday. That barebones version of what will eventually become Windows 10 will be available to the public for download at preview.windows.com.
The idea here is to get Windows users—and crucially for Redmond at this stage, its enterprise customers—to test out the new software and tick off boxes for what they like and don't like about it. One Microsoft rep told me it would be the "biggest experiment ever" in crowd-sourcing an OS build, which ... well, let's just say it'd be fun to hear Linus Torvalds's response to that claim.
At any rate, this process will be a new experience for Microsoft. And the software giant is betting big on Windows 10 as the first major iteration of its "One Microsoft" initiative to produce a single OS that works across all devices, first championed last year by former CEO Steve Ballmer.
So Windows 10 will be the software platform for not just PCs and tablets, but also for smartphones, wearables, IoT devices, entertainment consoles, and embedded systems. To be clear, that doesn't mean there will be one vanilla flavor of Windows 10 that works across all those different devices, but that the basic platform will be relatively easy to tweak to create different versions that do.
Windows 10 will be "one product family, with a tailored experience for each device," Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsoft's Operating Systems group (pictured above) wrote in a blog post.
Old Is the New Windows
For now, the flavor we have to play around with is Windows 10 for the PC, and specifically a version that's aimed at Microsoft's enterprise customers. According to many early returns, including those of my colleague Matthew Murray and Microsoft partner Todd Swank of Equus Computer Systems, the promise of a return to the traditional Windows UI is the big news here.
I'm in that camp as well. As I messed around with the early Windows 10 build, the refurbished Start menu was like having an old friend back on the screen, though I also appreciated the way the Live Tile experience was still easily accessible, and how app browsing and launching can now be conducted with a more traditional Windows feel.


I was also a fan of how Microsoft has brought the decades-old alt-tab command to the forefront, leveraging a long-standing tool of Windows power users to make cleaning up and quickly getting a read on a desktop full of open applications a lot easier and more intuitive. Another cool multi-tasking tool that should boost productivity in Windows 10 is Snap Assist, which lets you "snap" up to four apps at once to get suggestions for other open apps that may help you with a given task.
Seeing virtual desktops in action—well, it's not like fireworks going off or anything, but the integration of these kinds of security and management layers into a Windows OS are clearly aimed at Microsoft business partners like Swank, senior director of product marketing at Equus.
It's not clear that this new stab at desktop virtualization will be a hit with Equus customers, however. Microsoft's existing VDI product is a bit unwieldy for the small- to mid-sized businesses the Minnetonka, Minn.-based system integrator serves, he said.
Ahead of Tuesday's announcement, Swank told me he thought Microsoft had been "extremely reactionary for the last three or so years," following the herd as the BYOD movement heated up and mobile devices supplanted PCs as consumer favorites.
"I've asked them straight, why did you abandon your Windows 7 marketing and make Windows 8 entirely a consumer thing," he said.
But at least getting back to keyboard-and-mouse basics with the desktop PC version of Windows 10 is a step in the right direction, according to Swank. More importantly, opening up the development process to partners like Equus and other elements of Redmond's vast ecosystem is encouraging, he added.
"Microsoft needs to get back to that, to enabling the little guy to build successful products off of their platform. Like the app store is for Apple developers, like building websites with Google ads, it's time they go back to being a platform company," Swank said.
Another thing to like about Windows 10, which Murray also highlighted, is that Microsoft seems committed to truly tailoring Windows 10 to different screen sizes and device types, instead of trying to fit the touch-based tablet UI experience onto the desktop, as happened with Windows 8.
Windows 10 is "a better, more usable, bridge between the desktop and touch worlds," my colleague wrote. My all-too-brief experience with the new OS has encouraged me to agree with him, though of course, it must be noted that we haven't actually seen how Windows 10 works in a touch interface yet.
These are all early findings. We'll report back with more on Windows 10 in the coming days, beginning with the availability of the early build starting tomorrow.

source : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2469539,00.asp

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Easy Poached Eggs Recipe

Fresh eggs work best for poaching. Their whites hold together better than older eggs. Some people put a little vinegar in the poaching water—the vinegar helps the proteins in the egg whites coagulate. But the vinegar does affect the taste. I usually skip it.

Save Recipe

Ingredients

• Fresh eggs

Equipment needed

• Saucepan with cover
• Slotted spoon

Method

1 Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water. Heat the water on high until it reaches a bare simmer and bubbles start appearing at the bottom of the pan, or bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat until the water is at a bare simmer (just a few bubbles coming up now and then).

2 Working with the eggs one at a time, crack the egg into a small bowl or cup. Place the bowl close to the surface of the hot water and gently slip the egg into the water. If you want, use a spoon to push some of the egg whites closer to their yolks, to help them hold together. Add all of the eggs you are poaching to the pan in the same way, keeping some distance between them.

3 Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Set a timer for 4 minutes (or count out loud to 60, four times). At this point the egg whites should be completely cooked, while the egg yolks are still runny. Note that the timing depends on the size of the eggs, and if you are cooking at altitude, so adjust accordingly. If you are at altitude, or want firmer egg yolks, you may need to cook them longer. If you try 4 minutes and the eggs are too cooked, reduce the time.
4 Gently lift the poached eggs out of the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a plate to serve.
To help the eggs keep from spreading too much some people have good results by placing a mason jar ring in the pan. Put a mason jar ring in the bottom of the pan and fill the pan with water to just above the mason jar ring. Slip the raw egg into the water over the mason jar ring and let it settle in the ring. Then turn off the heat and cover the pan.

Using a Fine Mesh Sieve

One way to help your poached egg whites stay together is to remove some of the thin wispy egg whites before you add your eggs to the hot water. An easy way to do this is with a fine mesh sieve.

1 Place the raw egg into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. The very thin egg whites will drain out through the sieve. Then gently pour the raw egg into your pot of hot water.

2 Notice how there is much less stray egg whites with this method. Turn off the heat and cover the pot (or just lower the heat to low), and cook for 4 minutes until the whites are cooked through. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon.

Using an Egg Poacher

If you don't want to futz around with trying to keep the eggs from spreading or bumping into each other, the easiest way to make poached eggs is with an egg poacher. The "poacher" is actually coddling the eggs, not truly poaching them, but if what you want is an egg with a cooked white and runny yolk, this is an easy way to do it.

To use an egg poaching pan, remove the cups from the pan that you intend to use. Fill the pan with only 1/2-inch of water and bring it to a low boil. Put a drop or so of olive oil in each of the egg cups you are using and spread around. (The cups are stick-free, but the oil helps.) Crack the eggs into the egg cups, one egg per cup. Place the egg filled cup back in the slot for it in the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully lift the egg cups out of the pan. Slide the cooked eggs out of the cups onto serving plates or bowls.

source : http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_poached_eggs/

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PayPal will let you pay with Bitcoin, sometimes

First Braintree, and now PayPal. Ebay's popular online payment system recently announced that merchants selling digital goods can opt to start accepting Bitcoin payments via PayPal's payment portal, if they're based in North America.
That means you may soon be able to pay for non-physical goods such as music and comic book downloads with Bitcoin via PayPal.
Sort of.
For now, PayPal will be keeping Bitcoin at arms length, and won't be fully integrating the payment method into its services.

PayPal is the latest major company to take a ride on the Bitcoin bandwagon.

Instead, the company chose three companies to process BitCoin for PayPal merchants including BitPay, Coinbase, and GoCoin. PayPal says it picked these three companies because "all three companies have taken steps to ensure...customers are offered certain protections." That's likely a nod to guarantees that Bitcoin prices are locked in on the day of purchase and aren't subject to fluctuations before processing.
To pay for online purchases with Bitcoin via PayPal, merchants will have to elect to accept the crypto-currency using the PayPal Payments Hub.

PayPal offers several third-party payment options that merchants can offer.

If you don't know what the PayPal Payments Hub is, you've probably seen it in action. This is when you click a PayPal Buy now button on a website and get taken to PayPal's site. There you'll see third-party payment options below the PayPal sign-in window such as credit and prepaid cards.

A cautious approach

Given the potential pitfalls with Bitcoin such as the virtual currency's questionable legal status worldwide and its dramatic pricing swings, it's no wonder PayPal is taking it slow.
With third-party partnerships, PayPal can offer the option to pay with Bitcoin, but PayPal users won't be able to integrate Bitcoin wallets with their PayPal account.
Nevertheless, it does mean you get the familiarity of PayPal, and the option to pay with Bitcoin at the same time. It's not clear if buyers will also need a U.S. or Canadian PayPal account.
PayPal's pre-selling option, where you pay now via PayPal and get your product later, also won't be eligible for Bitcoin payments. The company said it decided against Bitcoin pre-selling, because if a business disappears before your purchase is shipped but after the buyer protection period expires, you could be left empty handed.
Consider this, then, an early trial for Bitcoin payments via Paypal.

source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2687456/paypal-will-let-you-pay-with-bitcoin-sometimes.html

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Sugar

When it comes to healthy eating, so much is about context. I’ve been reminded of this in the wake of the recent Nigel Latta documentary on television about sugar.
View the documentary here. In the show, Latta highlighted the abundance of sugar in our food supply, and the potential harm this is doing to our health. He showed the heart-breaking reality of the thousands of toddlers who require general anaesthetic to have decayed teeth removed every year. And he made the link between sugar and obesity and related diseases. This clearly resonated with a lot of viewers.
In the same show, Latta went through the supermarket showing how much sugar is in various foods, including obvious things like cereal and less obvious ones, like Marmite. I’ve had some correspondence from readers, alarmed at this, declaring they are clearing their cupboards of all the sugar and tossing out the Marmite along with anything else with sugar in the ingredients list.
It’s certainly a good idea to keep an eye on the added sugar in your diet. That’s because it’s often in highly processed foods, many of which are not ideal for our health. In these foods, sugar comes packaged up with other things that are not good for us, like saturated fat and salt. And some foods, like sweet fizzy drinks, are really just sugar delivery systems which none of us really need at all. Sugar can also lurk in foods where you wouldn’t expect it to be. Peanut butter, tomato sauce, bread, stir-fry sauces – they all contain sugar, sometimes at quite high levels.
The idea of ‘quitting sugar’ has had a lot of airtime in the past year or so, and there are certainly people who’ve made careers and presumably a lot of money out of this idea. I don’t have a problem with this – it’s a simple message and if it gets people eating a little bit healthier, that’s good. But I do have a problem with the direction some of the more extreme advice in this area might lead vulnerable people.
If cutting sugar from your diet means you replace the processed sugary foods with whole, fresh, healthy foods like vegetables and fruit (I don’t think fruit should be demonised for its sugar content), that is great. It can only be a good thing for your health. But if the desire to cut sugar leads to obsessive thinking – checking every label, being preoccupied with what is and isn’t ‘allowed’ – then I question whether that is good, healthy or sustainable long term. One of the things that really breaks my heart is when (non-allergic) people talk of food in terms of what they can’t eat.
And don’t forget context. Yes, that jar of Marmite contains seven teaspoons of sugar. But no-one’s eating the whole jar in one sitting! There’s less than a fifth of a teaspoon of sugar in the smear on my toast. I can live with that, just like I can live with the delicious (small) piece of sweet slice I ate this morning for a colleague’s birthday.
Likewise, don’t be fooled by ‘no added cane sugar’ treats. Just because something doesn’t have white sugar in it, doesn’t make it calorie-free, or a health food. I’ve seen recipes for ‘raw’ and ‘natural’ cakes lately, full of cashew nuts, dried fruit and coconut oil, which pack a meal’s worth of energy into a slice. So remember the context and if you’re going to enjoy these things, remember they’re still a treat.
Part of enjoying life is finding a balance that works for you. If the ‘rules’ of your diet stop you from doing things or enjoying life in a normal way; if you find yourself asking “Am I allowed to eat that?” – it’s time to re-evaluate.

source : http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/blogs/niki-bezzant/2014/september/16/sugar-dont-forget-the-big-picture

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Alibaba's IPO could be 'open sesame' for global expansion

Alibaba, an e-commerce giant in China, wants to make new friends in the U.S. Especially friends with money.
The firm is expected to begin offering shares Friday for $68 a pop on the New York Stock Exchange, in one of the biggest IPOs ever. At that price, the company could raise almost $22 billion, on par with the Agricultural Bank of China's record-setting $22 billion 2010 offering, and handsomely beating Facebook's $16 billion in 2012.

Outside of the investor community, Alibaba is also making nice with a growing number of U.S. consumers and tech companies, as part of an international expansion that could accelerate following its listing.
Don't expect any consumer-facing store ready to steal Amazon's or eBay's thunder. At least not yet. The Chinese company certainly has its eyes on becoming a global Internet player, according to industry analysts and close observers. The path to its goal, however, may not depend only on e-commerce, but also on carving different niches in countries including but not limited to the U.S.
"The IPO claims Alibaba's stake as a global company," said Kelland Willis, an analyst at research firm Forrester who studies e-commerce.
"So much of the world's transactions take place in the U.S.," echoed Scott Strawn, an analyst with research firm IDC. "If you want to compete on a global stage you need to be competing in the U.S."
Earlier this week, the company's founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, told reporters in Hong Kong that Alibaba plans to "strongly expand" in the U.S. and European markets after its U.S. listing.
Despite its international ambitions, Alibaba's short-term plans will probably target the low-hanging fruit -- growing its existing e-commerce websites in its home market by attracting more foreign merchants and overseas Chinese to them.
Two of Alibaba's biggest consumer-facing sites are Tmall and Taobao, which although dominant in the Chinese market, still have plenty of room to grow and must fend off competition from local e-commerce firms.
"I don't think they have a global plan yet," said Bryan Wang, an analyst with Forrester, adding, "Alibaba's marketplace model may not work in every single country, especially the U.S."
The U.S. has its own entrenched e-commerce companies in Amazon and eBay, and analysts don't envision Alibaba competing with them head-on. The probability of success is low, and meanwhile the Chinese market is still teeming with business opportunities.
Nevertheless, Alibaba has been active in the U.S. Most recently, it launched 11Main, an invitation-only marketplace offering specialty goods, that went online as a beta this past June.
In 2010, it founded AliExpress, an English e-commerce site designed for foreign customers who want to buy retail goods from Chinese merchants. The site is growing, especially in Russia, Brazil and the U.S., the company said in a recent securities filing.
AliExpress and 11Main aren't exactly designed for mainstream American consumers. But Alibaba also has been investing in U.S. tech companies, and not just in the e-commerce sector. It's funded ShopRunner, an online retail site with free two-day shipping, as well as messaging app Tango and ride-sharing service Lyft, among several others.

That activity drives speculation that Alibaba is ready to buy its way into the U.S. market. But Alibaba's recent investments suggest that it is more interested, at least for the time being, in learning how things are done in the U.S. tech sector, rather than outright buying companies, said Michael Clendenin, managing director for consulting firm RedTech Advisors.
"I think they want to take those experiences and apply it back to the home market," he said, pointing to Alibaba's recent investment in U.S. mobile gaming company Kabam as an example. "They are looking at how they can be more competitive in their own domestic gaming market."
Alibaba is already generating more sales in gross merchandise volume than Amazon and eBay combined. And in its 2014 fiscal year ended in March, the company posted sales of $8.46 billion, up more than 50 percent from the previous year.
Sales are expected to grow, even though Alibaba's business is still largely focused on China. The country itself has 632 million Internet users, who are increasingly relying on the Web to make purchases, even as half of China's population still remains offline.
But the country only offers so much growth, and inevitably Alibaba will have to tap foreign markets to keep earnings strong, analysts say.
In the short term, the IPO will undoubtedly help the Chinese company generate international public awareness among consumers, businesses and investors. Funds raised may also let Alibaba make capital investments globally in the areas of infrastructure, data centers and cloud computing.
Further out, Alibaba may be looking to compete more with Google than with Amazon or eBay. As the firm attracts new users and businesses to its sites, and becomes active in more areas outside of e-commerce, the real gold for the company could be consumer data. It's already been trying to expand in China, by launching its own mobile operating system, search engines and messaging app, although they've all struggled to take off among the country's users.

"If you provide people with more reasons to come and visit your sites, then you're able to collect more information about who they are and what their interests are, and you can direct their activities toward things that will drive transactions," said IDC's Strawn.
Analysts are also not ruling out the possibility that Alibaba could use the IPO dollars to make an acquisition or two, but it's not clear what those might be.
Alibaba, like Google or Facebook, is broadening its scope, "branching out into all aspects of the Internet," said Strawn. The Silicon Valley giants want to own people's time online, and now Alibaba's trying to get into the mix.

source : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2686194/alibabas-ipo-could-be-open-sesame-for-global-expansion.html

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Windows 9 leaks: How to get its best new features today

Brad Chacos @BradChacos

• Sep 12, 2014 2:20 PM
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Update: This article was originally published on April 16, 2014 but was updated with virtual desktop information and tweaked language on September 12, 2014 when leaks of the Windows 9 Technical Preview appeared. The Windows 9 Technical Preview is expected to be announced in late September or early October.
Between the release of the PC-friendly spring update for Windows 8.1 and the newfound introduction of universal “buy once, play anywhere” Windows apps, Microsoft is doing all it can to spur the One Microsoft vision while, well, letting a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet. But, sadly, the most anticipated improvements have yet to arrive.
At Build 2014, Microsoft operating system head Terry Myerson teased bringing the Start Menu to Windows 8, along with the ability to run universal Metro apps in desktop windows rather than the full screens they consume today. (See screenshot above.) Myerson didn’t say when the features were going live, however—only that they’d eventually appear in a later update for Windows 8.1 users. Does that mean later this year? The Windows “Threshold” update rumored for April 2015? Windows 9, which is rumored to be announced in Technical Preview form in early October? No one knows.
But you don’t have to wait to get those killer features. With the first universal apps hitting the various Windows Stores this week, here’s how to bring a Start menu, windowed Metro apps, and virtual desktops to Windows 8.1 today.

The return of the Start Menu

A slew of Start menu replacements hit the web the second the Start Menu-less Windows 8 hit the streets, but when it comes time to put your cash on the line, the decision boils down to just two programs: Stardock’s Start8 and Classic Shell.

Stardock

Stardock’s polished Start8 Start Menu matches the color of your taskbar. (Click to enlarge.)

Those reviews have all the nitty-gritty details, but you’ll probably want to start with Classic Shell since it’s donationware. Classic Shell includes options for both Windows XP- and Windows 7-style Start menus, along with numerous customization options. You can tinker with what’s listed in the Classic Shell Start Menu, or even change the look of its Start button to an icon of your choice. Cool stuff, indeed.
Start8, meanwhile, offers either a Windows 7 Start Menu or a Modern UI-tinged Windows 8 Start Menu that’s more in line with what Microsoft itself is cooking up. The $5 Start8 app is more polished and easier to use than the open-source Classic Shell, which is chock full of ugly buttons. Start8 still offers plenty of options and features, though, and you can’t go wrong with either program.

Windowed desktop Metro apps

Sure, the recent update to Windows 8.1 adds plenty of mouse-friendly features, but it still doesn’t let you use Modern apps in desktop windows. If you want that capability today, you only have one place to turn: The utterly superb ModernMix software.

ModernMix in action. Seriously, buy it today.

Again offered by Stardock—do you get the feeling that the folks at Stardock weren’t impressed by Windows 8?—ModernMix exists solely to let you run Windows Store apps in desktop Windows. It’s wonderful if you use Windows 8’s native apps, such as email, calendar, and Music, all of which stick to the Modern UI.
ModernMix runs like a charm even with the updates recently introduced to Windows 8.1. It’s well worth the $5 admission price.

Virtual desktops

WinFuture.de

The virtual desktop functionality that appeared in a leaked build of the Windows 9 technical preview.

Windows has long limited you to a single desktop interface. OS X and Linux operating systems, on the other hand, support virtual desktops—essentially multiple, configurable, virtual desktops you're able to switch between, so that you can have completely separate desktop interfaces for work and play or whatever.
But Windows 9 appears destined to ditch that one desktop frame of mind. While anything can change before now and the official release of the next version of Windows, rumors and outright leaks reveal that yes, Windows 9 may just include virtual desktop support.

One PC, many virtual desktops, courtesy of Dexpot.

Why wait? If you want to start using virtual desktops on Windows today, just download Dexpot. It's not only free for personal use, it's chock full of UI hints that remind you that new desktop experiences are just a click away. Dexpot is insanely customizable and so finely polished that it makes virtual desktops feel like a native part of Windows—which they may soon be.

Bringing it all together

There you have it: For less than the cost of a pizza, you can have Windows 9’s most-anticipated improvements right now. Give yourself time to get used to Dexpot and you'll wonder how you ever managed to work without virtual desktops. And once you’ve welcomed a Start Menu replacement and ModernMix into your workflow—especially paired with the Windows 8.1 spring Update’s tremendous tweaks—you might just be surprised how well those newfangled Modern apps translate to the familiar desktop experience.

source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2144540/dont-wait-for-windows-9-how-to-get-a-start-menu-windowed-metro-apps-today.html

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Blackberry Shortcake

Who says strawberries have an imposing business model on shortcake treats? In genuine dissent with respect to the end of August and the sunlight hours that get shorter and shorter, I purchased a tremendous bushel of blackberries at the business today. I threw them with a little lemon squeeze and sugar and let them macerate while I made a cluster of margarine and cream bread rolls.

Obviously the issue with making shortcake rolls is that I can't resist the opportunity to call my father to let him know about it. Which obviously implies that before I'm even done capturing the completed work, he's thumping at the entryway. (I think he headed to get here quicker. He exists seven houses down the road. It takes 5 minutes to walk.)

Father attempted to leave with 50% of the rolls, however stayed to talk so we wound up consuming a few and he scarcely escaped from here with enough to take home to mother.

Blackberry Shortcake

As to berries, for this group we utilized berries from the business sector. They weren't as tasty as the wild berries that I single out searching outings, or as tart. So I added lemon squeeze and get-up-and-go to heighten the flavor. On the off chance that you are utilizing wild blackberries, or you have an especially decent cluster of business berries, you could most likely effortlessly skirt the lemon. Berries fluctuate in their sweetness. Begin light with the sugar and add more to taste.

The scone formula is one we've adjusted throughout the years from an old (2003) issue of Fine Cooking. We've diminished the measure of spread from the first formula. With the majority of the cream, you could most likely decrease it significantly further on the off chance that you needed, or substitute a portion of the cream with buttermilk.

Blackberry Shortcake Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: Serves 6

Spare Recipe

Fixings

Blackberries:

2 to 2 1/2 pounds of blackberries (6 to 8 glasses), tenderly flushed if new, defrosted if solidified (spare any squeezes that originate from defrosting!)

1/4 glass to 1/2 container of sugar (to taste, contingent upon the pungency of the berries)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon get-up-and-go

Rolls:

3 containers flour

3 Tbsp sugar

4 teaspoons preparing powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

8 Tbsp chilly margarine, cut into little 3d squares

1/2 containers substantial cream

1 teaspoon vanilla concentrate

Whipped Cream:

1 container substantial whipping cream

2 teaspoons powdered sugar

A couple of drops of vanilla concentrate

Strategy

1 Put the blackberries into an extensive vessel, sprinkle with sugar, and throw to layer all the berries with sugar. Utilize a potato masher to delicately crush about a large portion of the berries, discharging their juices. Blend in lemon squeeze and get-up-and-go. Let sit for 20 minutes to a hour to macerate, permitting the sugar to help discharge a greater amount of the juices from the blackberries.

blackberry-shortcake-1 blackberry-shortcake-2

2 In a substantial bowl vivaciously whisk together the flour, sugar, heating powder and salt. Include the chilled margarine 3d shapes and utilize your fingers (or a fork, baked good cutter, or sustenance processor) to split the spread and blend with the flour until the biggest bits of spread are the extent of peas.

blackberry-shortcake-3 blackberry-shortcake-4

3 Make a well in the focal point of the flour mixture and spill in the cream and vanilla. Utilize a fork to blend the flour and the cream until the batter simply meets up. It ought to have a fairly shaggy appearance. Unfilled on to a clean surface and manipulate a couple times to structure a detached ball. Don't over blend or over work!

blackberry-shortcake-5 blackberry-shortcake-6

4 Place ball on a little tray or heating sheet and structure into a 8-inch by 8-inch square. Spread with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 15 to 20 minutes.

blackberry-shortcake-7 blackberry-shortcake-8

5 Preheat broiler to 425°f. Once the mixture has chilled sufficiently, expel it from the cooler and cut it into 9 even squares. Organize them on a preparing sheet with an inch or two between each one square.

Heat at 425°f until the scones are pleasantly cooked, around 18 minutes.

6 While the bread rolls are heating place the substantial whipping cream into a huge chilled dish (I generally put a metal blending vessel into the cooler for a couple of minutes in the event that I know I'm going to be making whipped cream.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla concentrate. Utilize a hand blender to beat until you have tops that to some degree hold their shape. Chill until prepared to serve.

7 When the bread rolls are prepared, expel them from the stove and let them cool for a couple of minutes. To serve, put one in a dish or pastry plate, pull it separated down the middle. Place an expansive scoop of berries and the juices from the berries over the lowest part half. Top with the other a large portion of the roll and a liberal spot of whipped cream.

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Saving files to memory is something that's supposed to be mostly invisible for the end user. We don't need to think about it; it just has to work. But whether it's a solid-state or hard disk drive, conventional storage solutions have their limitations -- namely, speed, rewritability and durability. A team at IBM Research's Almaden facility in California has a cure for all of that and it's called "racetrack memory."
Stuart Parkin, an IBM fellow heading up research into the field of magnetoelectronics andspintronics, is the man overseeing the creation of this new storage solution that's poised to kill your hard drive. Which is ironic because IBM invented the HDD back in the mid-1950s. So what exactly is racetrack memory? Imagine a series of tiny magnets, all built one atomic layer at a time by Parkin's team, that can be moved up and down along a (figurative) racetrack "in a highly coherent fashion" with the application of a simple current. That arrangement not only guarantees increased read/write speeds, but it's also cheaper to produce, is incredibly resilient due to the lack of moving parts and boosts storage capacity significantly.
Already, Parkin's team has been able to demonstrate the advantages of this new storage solution by applying it to existing flash memory chips. His team was able to generate about "250 of these magnetic domain walls in one racetrack" which, when applied to flash, could increase storage capacity by a factor of 100. And, what's more, it won't ever wear out, meaning it'd be infinitely rewritable. That's something flash memory simply cannot do in its current state.
Watch as Parkin explains how racetrack memory could pave the way for more efficient, more compact computing devices.
Stay tuned for part two of our inside look at IBM's Almaden research facility.

source :  http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/ibm-wants-to-kill-the-hard-drive/

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