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June 27, 2006

Before You Head for the Beach, Surf the Web

With summer officially under way, our thoughts turn to vacation. Whether you're planning a trek across Europe or a long weekend in Vermont, the Web is a good source for up-to-date travel information. Travelocity and Expedia are two popular sites for finding and booking airline, hotel, and car rental reservations. If you're traveling within the United States, the American Automobile Association website provides similar options, and you don't have to be a member to search the site. For international travel, the U.S. State Department's website is the place to start. You'll find tips for traveling abroad and detailed descriptions of travel requirements and travel warnings for individual countries. And if you prefer to get eyewitness travel advice, turn to realtravel, a blog-based website that provides advice from fellow travelers and restaurant recommendations, as well as lists of other travel blogs and travel-related deals.

Posted by JudyS at 01:05 AM

June 21, 2006

And I Thought Technology Was Supposed to Make Life Simpler....

Today is the first day of summer, bringing to mind thoughts of that annual ritual: the summer getaway. Unlike our parents and grandparents who just had to pack the kids, the suitcases, and the dog in the car, we citizens of the Millennium have an added challenge: preparing and remembering all our electronic devices. Our cell phones are always with us, of course, but phones won't do us much good without the chargers, so be sure to pack them—all of them! Then, there's the laptop--to bring or not to bring. Sure, we’d like to get away from it all, but can we really stand not getting our emails? Can the kids give up theirs, or their IMs, or their MySpace? Wait a minute! We’ll probably have access to a computer, won’t we??? Umm, better not take the chance, so let’s charge up the laptop before we leave, plus don’t forget to pack that charger. iPods and mp3 players, too: Can’t let them run out of juice, and don’t let me forget the earphones! The portable DVD player may come in handy during the car trip—that’s going to need batteries. Better still, let’s pick up one of those cigarette lighter chargers at Radio Shack just in case we run out. Now, what are we forgetting? Oh yes, that quaint relic from my childhood vacations: the camera. Nope, no room. Anyway, why do we need a camera? I told you I’m bringing my cell phone. Oh, that reminds me, better not forget the USB cable so I can download my snaps to the laptop. Thank goodness the car already has a TV; we may want to watch the Travel Channel during the trip.

Posted by JudyS at 05:12 PM

June 11, 2006

Help Find a Cure for Cancer

It's hard these days to find someone whose life has not been touched by cancer. Now there's a way for non-scientists to help in the search for a cure: by lending cancer researchers our idle computer time. It's the brainchild of Biochemist David Baker and his team at the University of Washington. As reported on CNN.com, Dr. Baker's computer-based biochemical research requires computational power that exceeds the computer resources available to him at UW. So he makes use of software that enables PC and/or MAC users to make their unused capacity available to the UW team. The Rosetta@home Project uses internet-connected computers located in private homes and businesses all over the world to predict and design protein structures and interactions that may hold the clue to cures for human diseases such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and Alzheimer's. In order to join the project, you need to download and install the Rosetta@home software. The Rosetta software is intense, requiring a lot of computational power, so be sure to check the system requirements before you proceed. According to the report, the software will only run when you're not using your computer, so your own daily activities will not be interrupted.

Posted by JudyS at 09:46 AM