A standing desk can help you avoid the health risks of sitting at a desk all day and also burn more calories while you’re at it. This calorie-burn calculator from Just Stand reveals just how many extra calories. More
All winged insects look more or less the same: a main thorax that’s split into three segments, two legs on each segment, and four wings. But there’s one exception, and it’s spectacularly weird. Meet the massive “helmets” of treehopper insects. More
The ideal way to build a national broadband network for access to the Internet would be with a high-bandwidth, bidirectional cable running to each individual household. But sometimes you have to work with what you've got, and in America, what we have are cable TV networks. These networks have the bandwidth, but not the bi-directional part—they weren’t originally intended for two-way communication. Worse, the cables for many neighbors all connect together, so it's not possible to send a signal to just one household. And yet, cable companies manage to provide 100 Mbps bandwidth to their broadband customers using this flawed infrastructure, and they do it without compromising the preexisting cable TV service. The tech behind this magic trick goes by the name of DOCSIS, which stands for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications.
In this two-part series, we'll take a detailed look at DOCSIS—what it is and how it evolved. If you've ever wondered how cable TV companies manage to get progressively more bandwidth out of the same old cable lines, then this series is for you.
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Feature: Meet DOCSIS, Part 1: the unsung hero of high-speed cable Internet access
Google search engine is one of the best product by Google, but there are many other innovative products as well that Google is developing them in
Last year Dropbox announced that they have 4,000,000 users, a number which is likely to double very soon. In case you’re out of the loop, Dropbox is a cloud-based storage and file sharing service. It’s become very popular, due to its ease of use and the basic offer of 2GB of free storage space.
A new plugin is available that gives you the opportunity to put Dropbox to work for the security of your WordPress site. Here’s how you can set up automatic backups of your WordPress site to Dropbox:
If the free version is not enough space for you, you’ll need to purchase a plan that will accommodate your website backups.
It’s available for free in the WordPress plugin repository.
After installing and activating the plugin, you’ll be prompted to authenticate so that the plugin can gain access to your Dropbox account.
The plugin’s settings page will show your next scheduled backup and how much space you have available. It also allows you to specify the folder in Dropbox where you want the backup to be placed. You have the option to store the backup locally as well.
One of the most handy features of this plugin is that it allows you to specify how many backups you want to keep, so that you don’t continually go over your limit with Dropbox.
Once you have the settings configured and have scheduled your backup, wait for a zipped archive of your website’s files and its database to be dropped in your Dropbox. Backups will be prepared automatically for you, so make sure to verify that it’s working correctly before you set it and forget it.
The bottom line is that you know you should be backing up your WordPress site. If Dropbox makes that more convenient for you, then by all means, take advantage of its services. You’ll be glad to find that backup in your Dropbox folder if your hosting fails.
See more here:
How to Automatically Backup Your WordPress Site to Dropbox
Photo: Murdo Macleod
Whisky. Is there anything it can’t do? Here’s what the Scots are going to do with the byproducts of whisky-making process:
It is the spirit that powers the Scottish economy, and now whisky is to be used to create electricity for homes in a new bioenergy venture involving some of Scotland’s best-known distilleries.
Contracts have recently been awarded for the construction of a biomass combined heat and power plant at Rothes in Speyside that by 2013 will use the by-products of the whisky-making process for energy production.
Vast amounts of “draff”, the spent grains used in the distilling process, and pot ale, a residue from the copper stills, are produced by the whisky industry each year and are usually transported off-site. The Rothes project, a joint venture between Helius Energy and the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRD) will burn the draff with woodchips to generate enough electricity to supply 9,000 homes. It will be supplied by Aalborg Energie Technick, a danish engineering company. The pot ale will be made into a concentrated organic fertiliser and an animal feed for use by local farmers.
Sure gives a new spin on “drunk with power,” doesn’t it? Link via GOOD
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Generating Electricity with Whisky
From the folks at Vice Magazine comes this mini documentary on the Pakistani Homemade Machine gun market. It gives an in depth look (with photos and video) of how arms are created, bought and sold in that part of the world.
The bulk of Pakistan’s homemade automatic weapons and explosive devices are forged, built and sold at Darra Adamkhel, a village located near Peshawar where main street is an open-air arms market.
Chitin makes cockroaches blend in with pantry shelves and dark linoleum, and yet, without mixing in any new elements, it makes the gold and silver beetles of Costa Rica shine like jewelry. Find out how changing shape can change color. More
We were bowled over from the start by Intel’s Wireless Display technology, which lets you stream HD content from select laptops to an HDTV (with the help of a small adapter, of course). But while WiDi’s been good for watching The Colbert Report on Hulu and streaming flicks stored on your hard drive, it hasn’t played so nice with DVDs and Blu-rays. At last, though, Intel is supporting HDCP-protected discs (along with some online content) through a free driver update. One catch: it only applies to Sandy Bridge laptops, which just started shipping this spring. If your notebook’s a few months too old, well, using an HDMI cable isn’t the worst consolation prize.
Intel refreshes Wireless Display with support for DRM-protected DVDs, Blu-rays originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
