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Correction PCPP#160

Tue, 9 December 2008
by: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it | source: PCPP | thanks: Anyware

Thermaltake Xpressor RSC100

In PCPP#160, page 88, we published a review of the Thermaltake Xpressor RSC100.

Unfortunately, due to a proof-reading oversight, this review carried information for an unrelated Cooler Master product.

The correct distributor of this product is Anyware - www.anyware.com.au. The correct RRP is $1200.

PCPP apologises for any confusion caused.

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Web searching is healthy

Wed, 15 October 2008
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It may add years to your life...

What does granny get up to online?

Researchers say that web searching may help people keep their memories sharp when they come to old age.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles studied people doing web searches while their brain activity was recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging scans.

"What we saw was people who had internet experience used more of their brain during the search," said Dr. Gary Small, a UCLA expert on aging.

"This suggests that just searching on the internet may train the brain — that it may keep it active and healthy," said Dr Small, whose research appears in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

- news.com.au

All that random Googling just might pay off.

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'Muslim Massacre': A Misunderstanding?

Sat, 13 September 2008
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Stab or Satire?

You gotta fight for your right to party

Muslim Massacre, a video game by Brisbane-based Sigvatr, has been blasted worldwide for being culturally insensitive.

Muslim Massacre is promoted as taking place after the US "declares war" on the religion of Islam and encourages players to wipe out followers.

The targets appear as bearded men wearing normal clothes or characters in black outfits with facemasks. Later levels include suicide bombers and a "boss" opponent resembling Osama Bin Laden.

Mr Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the UK Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, said the game was unacceptable, tasteless and deeply offensive.

Those who have played Muslim Massacre provided mixed feedback to Mr Vaughn [Sigvatr].

"I think it’s brave, because it’s the kind of satire that many people will misunderstand, especially in America and in Islamic countries," said a comment posted on Mr Vaughn's website.

- news.com.au

The Ramadhan Foundation has asked the British government to conduct an inquiry into the game and is pleading with internet service providers to block access to the game.

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Dead Sea Scrolls Online

Fri, 29 August 2008
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But you'll have to wait two years to see them

How's your Hebrew?

Israeli scientists are taking digital photos of the 2000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls to put online for the world to see.

Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the scrolls that shed light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said on Wednesday it would take more than two years to complete the project.

A team of specialists has taken 4000 pictures of some 9000 fragments that make up the scrolls, which number 900 in total.

- SMH

This is also being done as an act of preservation - scientists are concerned that heat and humidity may be causing deterioration in the scrolls.

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World's first robot with a biological brain

Fri, 15 August 2008
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Artificial intelligence not so artificial...

Introducing...Frankenrobot!

Scientists from the University of Reading unveiled the world's first robot controlled by living brain tissue on Wednesday.

Gordon, as the robot has been named, is being used to explore the fundamental building blocks of memory and learning, according to one of the researchers.

"Observing how the nerve cells cohere into a network as they fire off electrical impulses, he said, may also help scientists combat neurodegenerative diseases that attack the brain such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

"If we can understand some of the basics of what is going on in our little model brain, it could have enormous medical spinoffs," he said."

- SMH

Gordon, with his brain made up of cultured rat neurons, is able to learn by habit. His 'brain' is housed in a special temperature-controlled unit, which is controlled via Bluetooth. Through this robot, scientists are much closer to determining how memories are actually stored in a biological brain.

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