Recent Comments:
A few of my favorite Widgets {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Nov 21st 2006 10:00PM I keep four clocks (CST, Istanbul, Cape Town for WC 2010!, Seoul), iStat Pro, rpncalc, calendar, and weatherbug.
anyone who says it's faster to find all this info at once in a browser, i'll race ya. Plus I think my Mac Pro is doing just fine with 'em running!
Optimus-103 keyboard pre-orders start December 12 {Engadget}
Nov 19th 2006 12:55AM @embee
Actually I think they may have mac compatibility. My Russian's rusty (read: I don't know a single word), but their website has a picture with the good ol' command key.
Wii vs... the 360 HD DVD drive? {Engadget}
Nov 15th 2006 10:23PM Oh, I am definitely going to start celebrating Chrismahanukwanzakah with a colorful, candle-holding tree for 1-9 days.
Researchers turn to VR to treat phantom limb pain {Engadget}
Nov 15th 2006 1:24PM Actual you seem to be confused, though I freely admit I am no expert on this subject. However I have reviewed quite a bit of the relevant literature.
If a free nerve ending in a stump is activated, some people have suggested (and it was quite well accepted until about 15 years ago) that the AP would travel from the the stump through the A-delta and C fibers to the brain via the spinothalamic pathway, where it would terminate in the somatosensory cortex and give a sensation of pain (yes, we are now in the brain).
This is quite different from that stimulation of the somatosensory cortex coming from intracortical stimulation (see previous post, pubmed subcortical fringe and large scale reorganization of the somatosensory cortex). Thus the debate is whether or not the afferent fibers are SUBCORTICAL or INTRACORTICAL in origin.
If you define "psychologically" to mean broadly, "happening the brain," then very little of our perception is not psychological. However in this context "psychological" means from a unique CNS origin that is not intracortical (and obviously not from the PNS).
Please find an elementary neuroscience textbook to review your basic neuroscience before flaming posts. Then read Pons 1998. And then pick up Jon Kaas from Vanderbilt. My colleagues tell me that he is quite a nice guy.
Researchers turn to VR to treat phantom limb pain {Engadget}
Nov 14th 2006 10:59PM " ... all pain is generated in the brain ... "
This is not exactly precise, since it is still a point of contention in the relevant literature. In fact there are free nerve endings and mechanoreceptors that will send somatic sensations and pain sensations to the brain, and there is an ongoing debate concerning the source of the phenomenon of phantom pain.
The two major theories concern whether or not free nerve endings from the amputated limb are sending these signals or whether it is plasticity (change) within the somatotopic organization of the somatosensory cortical areas that is giving rise to the perception of the phantom limb. (Okay some people also think that it's purely psychological, but what that really means is difficult to pin down.)
In either situation, it is well understood that there are long term changes occurring in the area of the somatosensory cortex that now is deprived of input from the amputated limb. Adjacent cortical areas are known to reutilize some or all of the somatotopic space in the cortex, but what we are probably seeing is the reverting of that reorganization back to something that was closer to the "normal" case. Jon Kaas and Tim Pons have done some nice work showing this, and there is a good paper by Florence, Jain, and Kaas (1997) showing similar cortical reorganization in monkeys.
Just goes to show that the brain is yet again proving to be amazing, and it's capable of long term change - even in adults!
The stages of an exploding laptop battery {Engadget}
Nov 14th 2006 9:44AM the chinese invented fireworks ... sony of japan perfected them.
Apple should offer option of .Mac as separate services {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Oct 23rd 2006 9:14AM I tend to think that the inherent simplicity in a one price plan is important to Apple. They know there are plenty of people out there, myself included, who really hate digging through menu after menu of options.
In fact, at restaurants (in the real world), if I order anything now I have to answer twenty questions to get any food. Damn, I'm just hungry!! That's why Thai restaurants are so sweet - P32 every time, baby.
Well anyway, I think .Mac should keep the services together, though I have expressed about once a year to Apple that I would go for it if I could find out or get a monthly payment option (yet another facet of complexity, however).
Camino 1.1 Alpha 1 {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Oct 19th 2006 10:44PM I've been using Camino for several years now, and it is such a stable, great product for Mac. Does anyone know why Firefox, Mozilla (Internet all-in one suite now?), and Camino all coexist? I only wonder because I am sometimes afraid that Camino will somehow disappear one day. I really think it's the best browser on any platform, ever. Reminds me of Galeon.
New MacBook heatsinks exposed {The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)}
Oct 17th 2006 8:50AM I think this is not new but informative anyhow. Sounds to me like a recall should be in order, given how widespread this issue is.
Apple about to announce wireless video iPod? {Engadget}
Oct 10th 2006 7:43PM Well, isn't there a big gaping hole in the top end of the iPod line - the 80 GB is only 349, leaving the 399 gap to be filled by ... who knows.
