The Thinkpad gets a downsize
One always wonders when the big boys will decide to get in on the new game, with the launch of the EEE PC a distant memory and more competitors are eyeing the market we were asking when the top players will get in on the action.
We can officially stop questioning and look forward to the arrival of the Lenovo Ideapad S10. Lenovo is not a new kid on the block when it comes to laptops, having been under the IBM umbrella until a few years ago, it has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to laptops.
The Ideapad S10 is aimed at two competitors, namely the EEE PC 10 series and the MSI Wind. It does this by offering a choice of either a 3-cell battery like the Wind, or a 6-cell battery like the EEE PC 10. The hard drive choice is great, with either a 80GB or 160GB you won’t find space an issue.
Throw in the Intel Atom 1.6GHz, up to 2GB RAM, an Intel GMA 950 GPU, Ethernet port, ExpressCard WWAN slot, webcam, and a 4-in-1 card reader, all nicely bundled with a 10 inch screen.
Expect to see a 9 inch version appear as well.
Michael Reed
From : http://www.pcformat.co.za/
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Intel's Awful Code Names
Apple's relationship with Intel (NSDQ: INTC) has done wonderful things for both companies. When Apple's engineers were managing the complicated transition from PowerPC chips to Intel silicon, Intel engineers were there to help. No doubt computer buyers are better off for this intermingling of talent.
If only Intel's marketing department engaged with Apple's sales personnel in the same way.
Apple has a pretty good track record in terms of coming up with engaging product code names. Jaguar, Tiger, and Leopard may not be brilliant wordplay, but they're pretty good. The words are evocative and not particularly open to ridicule, as might be the case if Apple chose a code name like Shrew or Vole. Likewise, even for code names intended for internal use, like Dulcimer, the iPod's working title, Apple does well.
Intel, on the other hand, has some of the worst product code names ever, based on place names. Consider Harpertown, Penryn, Conroe, or Merom. It's like Intel's marketing people are just throwing darts at a map.
Back in the early '90s, Intel's 486 and Pentium chips had formidable-sounding code names: Triton, Mercury, Aries, and Saturn. Compare those to more recent ones that don't so much evoke anything as make you scratch your head: Whitney, Tehama, Colusa, and Canterwood. These aren't the sort of names that generate excitement. Sure, if you live in Colusa, it may be nice to get the nod from Intel. But in the wider world, the name isn't fraught with meaning.
Intel archrival AMD has done a bit better, having moved from the excessively whimsical names of dinosaurs in The Land Before Time (Sharptooth and Chomper) and the blandness of its K-series chips to code names like Mustang, Corvette, Sledgehammer, and Spitfire.
Granted, Intel has had a lot of chips to name -- Wikipedia has a rather lengthy list. But surely Intel can put a bit more effort into giving its chips distinct identities. The company is calling its new "many-core" architecture "Larrabee."
It's a great name ... for a mule, or maybe for a necktie designed to double as a bib.
# # #
"What's that?"
"It's a 'Larrabee.' "
(Puzzlement.) "It's sorta wide for a tie."
"It's not just a tie. It's also a bib." (Silence.) "You know, for eating lobster and such. They advertise them on TV."
# # #
Next time, Intel, how about a code name that aims to convey something that might actually make you want to buy the product?
(I know your legal team is telling you to stay away from trademark territory, where all the interesting words live, but you've got to take some risks. And what better publicity could you get than a lawsuit?)
VIA OpenBook mini-note prototype vs Asus Eeee PC 1000H
Today we have a new video titled “VIA Nano VS Intel Atom” for you, we found the comparison video on YouTube.
Its basically a side by side comparison of a VIA OpenBook mini-note prototype with a VIA Nano 1.3 GHz processor playing a 1080p HD video as compared to an Asus Eeee PC 1000H with an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor.
The VIA Nano plays the HD video smoothly and delivers power efficient performance without compromise while the Intel Atom stutters and renders the video unwatchable.
You can view the YouTube video on this page below, have a watch and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
You can read other news about the Asus Eeee PC here or laptop news in this section. Also remember to join our RSS feed to keep updated.
Survey: Mac laptops in high demand for higher ed
In the next month or so, students will leave behind swimming pools, beaches, and other settings of summer fun to head back to school. And when they arrive on campus, a large chunk of those students will tote new Mac laptops—at least according to a new survey conducted by a research firm focusing on higher education.
The study, conducted by Student Monitor, polled 1,200 full-time four-year undergraduates in the U.S. and found that the 84 percent who plan to purchase a computer in the next 12 months will buy a notebook. Among that group of students, 43 percent plan to buy a Mac.
That figure is nearly double Apple's closet competition, according to the Student Monitor survey. Among students planning to buy a notebook in the next 12 months, 22 percent said they would buy one from Dell, followed by Sony (8 percent), HP (6 percent), and Gateway (3 percent).
The Mac's popularity may not be that much of a surprise given Apple's reputation for thriving in the education market. In its most recent quarter, Apple’s education division saw its best quarter ever for K-12 sales as well as well as the best June quarter for higher education Mac sales.
Still, the numbers in the most recent Student Monitor survey mark something of a turnaround for Apple from recent trends noted by the research firm. Three years ago, Dell was the preferred laptop maker among college students, with 46 percent of those surveyed planning to buy a Dell machine. In contrast, just 17 percent were planning on buying a Mac.
It’s not just the laptops that are making the difference for Apple’s resurgence among higher education students, Student Monitor says. The company's entire product line is appealing to students."
“Apple computers seem to have a cachet with college students that other brands of computer don’t have and this cachet has been re-enforced by students’ adoption of iTunes, iPhone, and iPod,” Eric Weil, managing partner at Student Monitor, told Macworld.
While notebooks clearly make up the majority of intended purchases for students, there are still a number of students that will purchase desktops. In this category, Dell leads the way, according to Student Monitor's survey. But Apple is gaining ground.
In 2008, 31 percent of desktop buyers plan to purchase a Dell desktop, while 19 percent will buy a Mac. Gateway and HP round out the list with 3 percent each.
In 2005, Dell lead the desktop segment with 39 percent intent to purchase, with Apple was in second place at 12 percent. HP had 16 percent and Gateway had 9 percent.
New version of Mac OS X will be faster for SSDs
After the recent controversy over claims that solid-state drives might not be as beneficial to computer systems as was first thought, it makes a welcome change to report that the next version of the Mac OS X operating system could be optimised for SSDs.
According to MacRumors.com, OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard to its friends, will use the ZFS file system in at least the server edition. The consumer version is likely to follow suit, but why should this affect SSDs?
Windows in on act too
Apparently, recent news that Samsung and Sun Microsystems are working to boost SSD performance in Windows also includes the hint that ZFS will get an SSD tweak too.
In other words, when the new file system eventually filters down to the version of OS X on home-use Macs, they'll be sitting pretty and ready to make best use of the bigger and cheaper solid-state disks that will inevitably be available by then.
From : http://www.techradar.com
Yahoo to let users opt out of ad tracking
Yahoo to implement ad-tracker opt out
Facing privacy pressure from Congress, Yahoo Inc. said Friday that it will institute a system to let consumers opt out of ads on its site that target their Web browsing behavior.
Behavioral targeting is a technology that seeks to deduce consumers' interests by tracking what sorts of Web sites they visit.
The change, which will take effect in a few weeks, was announced in response to a hearing held last month by the Internet subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has looked into behavioral targeting and other online advertising practices.
Previously, Yahoo had offered the opt-out choice on ads that it runs on other sites. With Friday's announcement, the company pledged to extend that option to ads displayed on its own pages. "Yahoo understands that the trust of our users is our greatest asset," Anne Toth, the company's vice president for policy, said in a statement.
Yahoo said consumers will be able to access the opt-out feature by visiting its privacy center, which is linked on the home page and nearly every page on its network. Those who do opt out of targeted ads will instead see generic ads.
The Associated Press reported that the policy change does not affect Yahoo's other targeted ads, such as those tied to search terms or location, nor stop the collection of the data that had been used to target ads. Yahoo said it still needs such information for such uses as fraud detection.
Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Microsoft Corp. also allow users to opt out of targeted ads on their sites, while Google Inc. generally does not use the sort of targeting that had aroused congressional interest.
For more details about the initiative, or to read Yahoo's response to Congress, go to links.sfgate.com/ZEMA.
Plane folds its wings and drives off
The not-yet-air-tested Terrafugia Transition is designed to fold its wings and be driven down the highway in bad weather.
Sausalito native Carl Dietrich visited Google headquarters Friday to show off the prototype for a light sport aircraft that can fold its wings after landing and then drive off, like a car, at highway speeds.
Dietrich, 31, an MIT-trained aerospace engineer, has named this road-ready plane the Terrafugia Transition. In a telephone interview, he said he expects to sell it for about $195,000, assuming it passes its flying tests. He said the prototype displayed at Google has an engine and should be flight-worthy, but won't take to the air until the end of the year.
Assuming the Transition flies true, it would join a new category of two-seat, light sport aircraft that can be piloted by anyone with a valid state driver license and 20 hours of flight training.
Like the ICON A5 aircraft, designed by two Stanford business school graduates, the Transition can fold up, be loaded onto a trailer and towed like a boat.
But Dietrich said the Transition does the ICON A5 one better, because once it folds its wings it will also be capable of being driven down the road at highway speeds.
Why make the plane drivable? Dietrich said two of the leading causes of small plane accidents are running out of gas, often due to flying around bad weather, or crashes caused by bad weather. He said pilots who encounter bad weather will be able to land the Transition at any one of approximately 5,000 small airfields scattered across the United States and continue the trip, more safely, on the ground.
From : http://www.sfgate.com
Wall of Sheep: Coming to Your Company?
The Wall of Sheep has become a fixture of the Defcon hacker conference: a wall with a long list of details showing who at the conference has sent readable data using insecure wireless connections.
For Brian Markus, better known to conference attendees as "Riverside," it just may become a line of business.
Last month, Markus and three of his fellow volunteers incorporated a company called Aries Security, which they bill as an education and security awareness consultancy that can come in and identify risky behavior on corporate networks.
The company is still in an experimental state, meaning that none of the partners have actually quit their day jobs, Markus said.
They don't expect companies to start projecting their own Wall of Sheep displays in their lobbies, but they say the network analysis tools they've developed could be helpful when aimed at corporate networks. "We can go into a company if they need help with a security awareness program," Markus said. "There are an amazing amount of things that we could see by watching the traffic go by."
Wall of Sheep got its start in 2002, when Markus and friends were sniffing wireless LAN traffic at Defcon. It turned out there were plenty of people putting their data out on those networks. "We were saying there are so many of them, they are everywhere." Inspired by a T-shirt, they decided to call the people they could spy on "sheep," and they started sticking paper plates on the wall with some of the user details they'd found. They list login names, domain or Internet Protocol addresses and partial passwords.
Hotel management wasn't crazy about the idea of paper plates being stuck to the walls, so the Wall of Sheep was soon using a projector.
They've seen some pretty crazy stuff revealed on open wireless LANs over the years, including fake usernames and passwords, brand-new computer attacks, a tax return and what Markus calls "nontypical adult material."
Today the project attracts dozens of volunteers at the conference who spend hours hunched over computers analyzing data before it's put up on the wall. "It's a tremendous amount of human labor," Markus said.
Wall of Sheep made its first appearance ever at Defcon's less chaotic sister conference Black Hat this year, and it got a lot of attention when French journalists tried to post sensitive information on the wall that was culled from a Black Hat network set up for reporters.
Because the journalists had illegally sniffed the Black Hat network without permission, Markus refused, and eventually the journalists were ejected from the conference. "We said, 'No way,'" he said. "It's completely against what all of us are trying to do."
From : http://www.pcworld.com/
New Asus 10 inch Ultimate S101 Eee PC in brown coming soon?
Apparently, ASUS Eee PC family is all set to introduce a new member to its clan. The new 10″ Eee PC sporting a brown color is supposedly called Ultimate S101.
Jerry Shen, Asus’s president has personally unveiled this brown beauty. The new Ultimate S101 reveals some of its specs including a 1.6 GHz Atom N270 processor, 945GME chipset, approx 10 inches, 16:9 aspect LED backlit display an extra SSD capacity of 32 GB and 64 GB. Weighing less than 1 Kg, its battery life is about 4-5 hours.
The new Asus Eee PC is expected at a retail price of $700 (approx Rs. 29,497) for the 32GB SSD PC and $900 (approx Rs. 37,803) for the 40GB SSD PC.
The Asus Ultimate S101 Eee PC is expected to be officially released during mid-September.
From : http://www.techgadgets.in/
Nokia will double fund with additional $150 mil
Nokia Corp. is more than doubling the size of its direct-venture investment fund with an injection of $150 million, with a view to putting some of the money to use in India and China.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Nokia Growth Partners was set up in 2004 to manage $100 million of Nokia's money. Its investments have included Bitboys, a Finnish developer of graphics chips that was bought by ATI in 2006 for $44.5 million, and Global Locate, a U.S. maker of GPS chips that was bought by Broadcom Corp. for at least $146 million last year.
Apart from seeking a financial return, the fund hunts for startups with technologies that are useful to Nokia. Some areas of focus include mobile payments and camera technology.
Venture funds have become a standard accessory for companies in the cell-phone arena, though the approaches vary. Qualcomm Inc. has a venture fund with a broad portfolio, much like Nokia Growth Partners. Research in Motion Ltd., which makes the BlackBerry, announced in May that it had set up a $150 million fund with outside partners to invest in companies creating software for BlackBerrys and other mobile devices.
Yahoo offering refunds for music downloads
NEW YORK - Yahoo Inc. is offering coupons or refunds to users who find songs they bought inaccessible after Sept. 30, when the company shuts its music-download service.
The decision to close the Yahoo Music Store had added fuel to criticisms over copy-protection measures known as digital-rights management, but Yahoo promised it won't entirely abandon loyal customers.
The company said Wednesday that it is offering coupons on request for people to buy songs again through Yahoo's new partner, RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody. Those songs will be in the MP3 format, free of copy protection.
For people who bought songs outright - paying a one-time fee for a specific track rather than a subscription for unlimited music - Yahoo will shut down the servers needed to verify eligibility. Copy-protection measures placed on the tracks require access to those servers when users buy a new computer or upgrade their operating system.
Internet overhaul gets $12 mil funding boost
NEW YORK - A massive project to redesign and rebuild the Internet from scratch is inching along with $12 million in government funding and donations of network capacity by two major research organizations.
Many researchers want to rethink the Internet's underlying architecture, saying a "clean-slate" approach is the only way to truly address security and other challenges that have cropped up since the Internet's birth in 1969.
BBN Technologies Inc. is overseeing the planning and design of the Global Environment for Network Innovations, or GENI, a network on which researchers will test new ideas without damaging the current Internet.
The $12 million in initial grants from the National Science Foundation will go to developing prototypes for the GENI network.
Craig Partridge, chief scientist at BBN Technologies, said the commitments amounted to an important endorsement of GENI.
Construction on GENI could start in about five years and cost $350 million. Congress still has to approve those funds.
From : http://www.azcentral.com/
Nokia N85 clears FCC
The Federal Communications Commission this week approved a version of the Nokia N85 with support for U.S. 3G bands. Only the most passionate cell phone geeks know that the FCC holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.
Alcatel OT-S120A
Huawei Vodafone 724FM
Kyocera K33BI-01
Nokia 6210 Navigator
Nokia N85
Nokia RM-385
Motorola Razr2
Pantech C530
Samsung SGH-508E
Sharp SH8010C
Sony Ericsson W760a
From : http://news.cnet.com/
Evolution or revolution? Suspense builds for Wii 2
Nintendo fans rejoice: there may well be a new arrival in the group's family of consoles sooner than you think. Satoru Iwata, president of the Japanese computer games group that has been lauded for its ability to attract new waves of gamers, has admitted that the company is hard at work on a follow-up to the motion-sensing Wii.
Mr Iwata said this week: "The hardware team started work on the next thing as soon as they were done with their previous project, but what they think up doesn't necessarily become a product."
However, the speculation that has followed Mr Iwata's hint demonstrates the interest in Nintendo's next offering.
Fans around the world are salivating over how far the concept of motion-sensitive accessories might go: a full body suit that would capture a player's every movement is one suggestion, as is the possibility that Nintendo would dispense with the television as its chief means of displaying games and favour projecting everything on to the inside of a mask. There is even talk of a mind-controlled console that could take the form of a claw-like unit strapped to the head, which would translate brain activity into movement.
The Nintendo gaming world awaits another Mario
After Shigeru Miyamoto developed a love of puzzles, the "brain-training" software that has proved to be an international "killer application" on the Nintendo DS console was born.
He became interested in taking more exercise, and Wii Fit was created. He took up music lessons, and Wii Music was the result.
Now, according to sources at Nintendo, the games designer has been banned by the company from speaking publicly about his hobbies.
It's not that they are naughty, illegal or even nerdish, it's just that any glimpse inside his head could be worth billions. Particularly so now: the Wii still sells strongly around the world, but its successor is the talking point. Unfortunately, the only place where the discussion has any grounding is inside Mr Miyamoto's head.
Having managed to lure millions to games with the inventiveness of characters such as Zelda and Mario, it became Mr Miyamoto's hobbies that shifted gears for Nintendo in the next-generation console era. And as Nintendo's Wii games console approaches its second year, even the most fleeting insight into how Mr Miyamoto is spending his work or play-time is creating huge interest.
In short, the gaming and investment communities are wondering which of his current pastimes will be translated into a virtual rendition that will attract millions of sales five years from now.
Keeping Gray Matter Sharp
Remember when it was enough to merely tease your brain with puzzles? No more. In the 21st century, it's all about brain training. Giving the ol' noggin a fierce workout. Pumping up the gray matter.
A growing variety of electronic products are targeting consumer anxiety over the aging mind. And we're buying what they're selling: The "Brain Age" game program alone has sold at least 17 million copies worldwide since its launch nearly three years ago in Japan.
The simple answer: While the science attached to many such games points to immediate stimulation of the brain, there's little if any evidence indicating long-term results.
"It's hard for anybody to say that a specific amount of exposure to any of the things on the market is going to benefit them many years down the line," says Marilyn S. Albert, a professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She helped pioneer studies, dating back to the mid-1990s, on the maintenance of cognitive function.
"But there's no downside to being mentally active. Nobody thinks (brain games) are going to do anyone harm."
And that includes the old-fashioned, pencil-on-paper kind of brain teasers.
"I do crosswords a little bit, but my daughter does them more than I do. So does my mother -- and she's about 95," Albert says.
Hoping you'll be as sharp when you reach that age? Here's a look at the various types of products aiming to catch your mind's eye; any of them are bound to at least keep you busy in the meantime.
Among the handheld video games are:
Get smart: Since the monster success of "Brain Age," Nintendo's pocket-size, touch-screen DS system has gained a small stable of games aimed at brain-building. "Big Brain Academy" (also available in a version for the home Wii console), "Brain Age 2," "Flash Focus," "Your Word Coach" and other titles promise activity to keep your mind agile.
-- Upside: Great portability -- perfect for tucking into your carry-on bag when flying -- and sharp, engaging graphics. Hard to beat these for the fun factor. Based on your performance, the "Brain Age" games calculate -- yup -- the age of your brain; it probably won't surprise you that this varies from day to day.
-- Downside: The trouble lies in the daily "training" these games encourage: Familiarity breeds boredom.
-- Cost: about $120 for the DS Lite system, $20 to $30 for most game titles.
The Web-based applications include:
Get smart: If you have a PC with Internet access, you have all the equipment you'll need to access mental exercises at such sites as happy-neuron.com and lumosity.com. Rather than buying a game system or software, you're paying a monthly or yearly subscription to access the multimedia puzzles and exercises.
-- Upside: Although not as playfully designed as the Nintendo DS titles, they're still fun. Typically, the sites offer a wider variety of games than individual video-game titles. You'll probably find your PC monitor screen easier to read than that of a tiny handheld device. Subscriptions can be given as gifts. Try them out online before paying anything.
-- Downside: When you're without Web access, you're without your training gear. And if your Internet connection is slow, you may get frustrated when switching between games.
-- Cost: Happy Neuron, $9.95 monthly, $99.95 yearly; Lumosity, $24.95 for a three-month membership, $79.95 for a one-year membership.
Computer software:
Get smart: A one-time purchase gets you some serious brain training, with games tailored for various cognitive functions. "MINDFIT" is specifically aimed at ages 45 and up; "Brain Fitness Program 2.0" was the overall winner of a recent Wall Street Journal product test.
-- Advantages: No need for an Internet connection; wide variety of stimulating exercises. Test games online before buying.
-- Disadvantages: Playing these feels a bit more like taking your medicine than enjoying a puzzle. They're not cheap.
-- Cost: "MindFit," $139 for download, $149 for CD-ROM, e-mindfitness.com; "Brain Fitness Program 2.0," $395, positscience.com.
Puzzles in print:
Get smart: Look for the crossword puzzle in today's paper. If you're looking for a different style of brain-busters that you can curl up with at night, try "The Big Book of Brain Games: 1,000 PlayThinks of Art, Mathematics & Science," by Ivan Moscovich.
-- Advantages: Old-fashioned portability and no need for batteries or an Internet connection
-- Disadvantages: No motion or sound, unlike the computer-based products (though some people might find that an advantage)
Contact Jay Dedrick of the Rocky Mountain News at www.rockymountainnews.com.
A growing variety of electronic products are targeting consumer anxiety over the aging mind. And we're buying what they're selling: The "Brain Age" game program alone has sold at least 17 million copies worldwide since its launch nearly three years ago in Japan.
The simple answer: While the science attached to many such games points to immediate stimulation of the brain, there's little if any evidence indicating long-term results.
"It's hard for anybody to say that a specific amount of exposure to any of the things on the market is going to benefit them many years down the line," says Marilyn S. Albert, a professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She helped pioneer studies, dating back to the mid-1990s, on the maintenance of cognitive function.
"But there's no downside to being mentally active. Nobody thinks (brain games) are going to do anyone harm."
And that includes the old-fashioned, pencil-on-paper kind of brain teasers.
"I do crosswords a little bit, but my daughter does them more than I do. So does my mother -- and she's about 95," Albert says.
Hoping you'll be as sharp when you reach that age? Here's a look at the various types of products aiming to catch your mind's eye; any of them are bound to at least keep you busy in the meantime.
Among the handheld video games are:
Get smart: Since the monster success of "Brain Age," Nintendo's pocket-size, touch-screen DS system has gained a small stable of games aimed at brain-building. "Big Brain Academy" (also available in a version for the home Wii console), "Brain Age 2," "Flash Focus," "Your Word Coach" and other titles promise activity to keep your mind agile.
-- Upside: Great portability -- perfect for tucking into your carry-on bag when flying -- and sharp, engaging graphics. Hard to beat these for the fun factor. Based on your performance, the "Brain Age" games calculate -- yup -- the age of your brain; it probably won't surprise you that this varies from day to day.
-- Downside: The trouble lies in the daily "training" these games encourage: Familiarity breeds boredom.
-- Cost: about $120 for the DS Lite system, $20 to $30 for most game titles.
The Web-based applications include:
Get smart: If you have a PC with Internet access, you have all the equipment you'll need to access mental exercises at such sites as happy-neuron.com and lumosity.com. Rather than buying a game system or software, you're paying a monthly or yearly subscription to access the multimedia puzzles and exercises.
-- Upside: Although not as playfully designed as the Nintendo DS titles, they're still fun. Typically, the sites offer a wider variety of games than individual video-game titles. You'll probably find your PC monitor screen easier to read than that of a tiny handheld device. Subscriptions can be given as gifts. Try them out online before paying anything.
-- Downside: When you're without Web access, you're without your training gear. And if your Internet connection is slow, you may get frustrated when switching between games.
-- Cost: Happy Neuron, $9.95 monthly, $99.95 yearly; Lumosity, $24.95 for a three-month membership, $79.95 for a one-year membership.
Computer software:
Get smart: A one-time purchase gets you some serious brain training, with games tailored for various cognitive functions. "MINDFIT" is specifically aimed at ages 45 and up; "Brain Fitness Program 2.0" was the overall winner of a recent Wall Street Journal product test.
-- Advantages: No need for an Internet connection; wide variety of stimulating exercises. Test games online before buying.
-- Disadvantages: Playing these feels a bit more like taking your medicine than enjoying a puzzle. They're not cheap.
-- Cost: "MindFit," $139 for download, $149 for CD-ROM, e-mindfitness.com; "Brain Fitness Program 2.0," $395, positscience.com.
Puzzles in print:
Get smart: Look for the crossword puzzle in today's paper. If you're looking for a different style of brain-busters that you can curl up with at night, try "The Big Book of Brain Games: 1,000 PlayThinks of Art, Mathematics & Science," by Ivan Moscovich.
-- Advantages: Old-fashioned portability and no need for batteries or an Internet connection
-- Disadvantages: No motion or sound, unlike the computer-based products (though some people might find that an advantage)
Contact Jay Dedrick of the Rocky Mountain News at www.rockymountainnews.com.
Test your skills
Ready for a quick workout? Here are two mind puzzles from "The Big Book of Brain Games." The first is easy, rating 1 on a difficulty scale of 10; the second is trickier, with a 6 rating.
-- Ahmes' Puzzle: Seven houses each have seven cats. Each cat kills seven mice. Each of the mice, if alive, would have eaten seven ears of wheat. Each ear of wheat produces seven measures of flour.
How many measures of flour were saved by the cats?
-- Lottery Draw: If you draw the lucky ticket, you win the lottery jackpot. You are given the option to draw one ticket out of a box of 10, or draw 10 times out of a box of 100. Which choice gives you the better odds?
"BRAIN GAME" ANSWERS
-- Ahmes' Puzzle: 16,807 measures of flour. That's 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7. This puzzle, which comes from the ancient Egyptian "Rhind Papyrus," was written by the scribe Ahmes in 1850 B.C. Perhaps the world's oldest puzzle, it has inspired a great many variations over the thousands of years since its creation.
-- Lottery Draw: The choices offer identical odds. But in a psychological experiment, about four in 10 people preferred the single draw and held to this view even when the other choice was altered to provide 50 draws from the box of 100.
From : http://www.kypost.com/
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