Fancy spiting for DNA test party

Last week New York was hosting the first ever glamorous spiting party for the Fashion Week. A party where apart of the founders you could find people like Wendi Murdoch, Rupert's wife, or Yvanka Trump who was so happy to know she wasn't prone to obesity. No need to mention that such an event required even martini-shaped spiting tubes, as you can see on the picture.

The party organized by 23andme, a DNA test company, was charging just their new reduced price for a test, 288euros. Something affordable for a large range of people.

23andme founded by Linda Avey y Anne Wojcicki - This last one wife of a Google founder - not offering you particulary relevant information about your genes but a divertimento. What they can do is help you creating support groups like a psoriasis-specific community or a Slow Caffeine Metabolizers group.

The company is offering this comprehensive DNA tests as a normal part of medical care, and as far as I can tell it looks like so. However, even if in the future this becomes a must-do, having information about your gens which may not be at all as helpful as one may think may be psychologically traumatic, specially if insurance companies have access to it.

Don't be surprised if DNA tests are the next popular present on Christmas.

Picture from The New York Times.

World Web Map - Find you website!

Here is a funny idea, maybe is not really useful but you can spend some useless time here. The website e.maps have elaborated a map where the biggest websites are distributed as different countries depending on it's size in the earth. There is no real relation between the websites and the contries so far. I post a link to the map so you can have a closer look.

Picture from e.maps.

Google earth getting precise with GeoEye

Google is going to have soon the best imagery of earth available online. Thanks to the succesful launch of GeoEye-1 this company have signed a deal with the SE to offer exclusively this images. Also rumor says Google is considering buying the company to own a satellite service.

Many think this is not profitable enough but Google Earth is one of the better ways, rather than being a money maker, to drive loyalty and afterwords a revenues for the SE and Google Docs.

Let's see how this improvement on the images for Google Earth affects privacy around the world.

Soon we will see colourful Google logo on the face of the moon. Dixit.

McCain, The Prince and Macchieveli

Macchieveli wrote a really methodical - many would say mean - essay about politics which describes the art of ruling a state by a prince (a ruler). Needless to say, most of his precepts are still applicable today. I am going to sum up some of it while comparing them to Republican behaviours.

I The kingdom and how to get it, II The inheritance principles: In my personal opinion, Repulicans feel they are bourgeoise. Since the Democrats can not be eliminated out of the equation and they are going to change laws the only possibility Macchieveli offers is tax cuts ... isn't that exactly what the Democrats promised?

V How to rule cities with their own laws prior the conquest. More than one choice in this chapter, one of them is lead them to bankrupt and then reinforce tax and law control... Oh! Wait! Isn't what happens when you decide to lead big wars on the other side of the world?

XVII Cruelty and Mercy, better to be loved or to be feared? Maquiavel points out that it's better to be feared and loved simultaneously, which is actually easy to do... Just get the vice president to do the dirty work and you'll be above good and bad... as in God itself! Have you heart Sarah Palin lately?

XVIII Prince's fidelity to the given word. The concept says the prince have to appear as somebody who never lies, but it doesn't matter if he does. So if you tell a lie, just stick to it no matter if everybody knows you are lying. "There is mass destruction weapons in Iraq".

Machiavelli dixit.

Picture from The Boston Herald.

Today Google Chrome. Tomorrow Google OS?

When you are a company like Google Inc. or any technology company, you have products that everybody uses but nobody understands, however when you create new ones, or you improve the old ones, you may come to realize how difficult it is to make explanations about your new or improved product, and how worth for you is to use it. This, I am sure is a headache when it comes to promote a product.

Yesterday I decided to go to Google Blog to read about their new browser. They have an explanation with a comic layout that not only explain the futures Google thinks are good on their new browser (I don't like all of them) but will probably help many people understand how a browser works.

As a curiosity, the name Chrome honour Netscape, from whom Mozilla uses lots of code and then Google re-uses it too.

Google has a wonderful PR and Advertising, dixit.

Picture from Google Blog.
Thanks to Inside Out IT.