E-Cigarette: The Future of Smoking ??

Just when you think you're through with huffing and puffing and quitting smoking ... here comes another Devil's Advocate trying to lure you to more huffing and puffing with ... Hark! its pseudo-nicotine flavor to boot!

So you muster enough guts, tear your hair and gnash your teeth, as you say to yourself and to the whole world: "No! No! No more smoking for me! No more smo..." And suddenly you find yourself melting, melting and melting: all your mustered guts and chutzpah giving in, yielding to this come-hither-dither advertising come-on.

And the seductive drop-dead come-on entices you, you Weakling you... As you finally give in: Okay, just one puff. The e-cigarette, you say, eh?

Check out Gamucci E-Cigarette's advertising pitch :

"Gamucci is essentially an electronic smoking device or an electronic cigarette as it is sometimes referred to. It is a completely non-flammable product that uses state of the art sophisticated micro-electronic technology to provide users a real smoking experience without the tobacco and tar found in real cigarettes. It looks like, feels like and tastes like a real cigarette, yet it isn’t, it is so much more. It is truly a healthier alternative. We at Gamucci really believe this is the future of smoking."

The future of smoking. Good Lord.

Meantime, Chinese manufacturers are saying the same of their product: looking much like a cigarette, feels like a cigarette, but " isn’t as bad for your health as its cancer-causing counterpart."

At least that’s what its Chinese manufacturer wants us to believe.

Scott Fraser, Vice President of SBT Co. Ltd., the Beijing-based corporation that allegedly is "the original" which developed the electronic cigarette technology back in 2003, says that the e-cigarette is a battery-powered device that —when smoked— will emit vapor and feed your nicotine-riddled body its addiction.

“In many ways, smoking the e-cigarette is like an actual smoking experience, and that’s what makes us different,” Fraser told media.

The e-cigarettes currently sell for approximately 1600 Yuan apiece (around $208 U.S. dollars) and are available in China, Israel and many European countries.

While they haven't reached Philippine shores, and have neither reached the US and Canadian markets, the heart-pounding media mileage that this latest technology receives could send the product endorsers hurling their brands for the eternally puff-hungry chainsmokers in different parts of the globe.

So do we say "Cheers" to this?

Latest Biomedicine News From Technology Review

Check out the latest in Biomedicine news from TechnologyReview.com

Freeing Up Stem-Cell Research By Emily Singer Tuesday, February 10, 2009 Scientists get ready for the end of federal restrictions on embryonic-stem- cell research.

Lighting Up Cells in 3-D By Courtney Humphries Monday, February 09, 2009 A new technique pushes the boundaries of super-resolution light microscopy.

Predicting Cancer Drugs' Impact By Katherine Bourzac Friday, February 06, 2009 New imaging probes show whether cancer drugs will work.

Finding Early Signs of Arthritis By Lauren Cahoon Thursday, February 05, 2009 Atomic-force microscopy could advance osteoarthritis drug development.

New Hype on Skype 4.0

Thanks Ms. Gilda (Las Vegas futurist and Manila Futurists Society founder ) for this post from The New York Times, posted at our futurists' online community www.themanilafuturists.tk ...

State-of-the-art communications technology in the 21st century simply gets better and better.

During my not-so-distant youth :) , I remember my childhood friends sharing these home-made tin can "telephones" which we would stretch over our backyards, and exchange mindless inanities that our parents would roll their eyes over. We got giddy over it, excited that we have "invented" a communications device after we got tired of using our analogue phones then ( way back in the 1970s). Now it's the 21st century, and we are gung-ho over digital technology in the field of communications.

Funny that most of my childhood friends and I have now lost touch, when communications is now easier ?!?!?

Meantime, read on: http://www.nytimes. com/2009/ 02/05/technology /personaltech/ 05pogue.html? pagewanted= 1&em

Loves You, Loves You Not This Valentine's Day

Hey, hopeless romantics and romanticists !


Crunchgear.com suggests something that will make you go more bonkers this Valentine's Day -- if you're one who's heart beats gush over these stuff on this so-called Red-Letter Month.

This watch , supposedly cashing in on this season's Valentine's Day celebrations, may alternately send you to high heavens, and next second would give you an all-time low. If I were you, you can just get on with your life and do what you have to do, or twiddle your thumbs as you let the mushy Valentine's Day pass you by.

But, if you can stand the metamorphosing emotions taking you for a rollercoaster ride, and if you think you can keep your sanity even with such "profound pronouncements" of "She loves you" and "She loves you not" the next sec ... go ahead, buy the watch ... purchase at your own risk!

Loves me watch

by John Biggs

The seconds tick off the awful truth… one second she loves you. The next she does not. Again - she loves you. Good god. She loves you not. Will this madness never end?

Friend, it never had to start. You’re the one who paid $145 for this crazy watch.

The design of this watch is inspired by the game of Effeuiller La Marguerite in which “loves me, loves me not” is spoken while plucking the petals of a flower.

Loves Me acts as a never-ending, animated flower that answers love dilemmas: pulling up the winding crown stops the mechanism and reveals cupid’s verdict.

Smart Robotics Building

Imagine entering a mall , or a building, and you get greeted by a robot "host". as you move further to visit each room, each floor, and each hallway, more robot "hosts": checking your pulse rates as you check out the pricey goods, checking your blood pressure or blood sugar level -- if you are diabetic. and as you get into the cashier, don't be surprised, a robot takes your goods and tell you what you have to pay.

So futuristic? that's what Japanese scientists are cooking.
Check out this story at www.crunchgear.com

Robots will soon start conquering buildings, Japan says

by Serkan Toto on February 6, 2009

Japan-based tech powerhouses Shimizu and Yasukawa Electric think that robots can make life easier for all of us and initiated the “Smart Robotics Building” project to prove it - even if at this point, a show room must do.

In the so-called “Smart Showroom”, a guide robot called SmartGuide (pictured below) gives tours around exhibitions. He greets, guides and sees off guests. In the room, networked robots are being used instead of human guards, receptionists, guides, cleaners and delivery men.

Obama: "I Screwed Up"

Geez... This early, media scrutinizes, lambasts , and throws all initial gushing hype fresh from the inaugural celebrations... And now this.

Hey, give Barack a break!

I'd say it shows how much of a roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on, take-charge guy he is: saying he takes responsibility from two successive withdrawals/ nixes from his own appointees, turning down his offer for government seats. Unflinching, he says that yes, he screwed up on this one. But still, that's a thumbs-up for in-your-face bravery. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for the mistakes of others, and more so of your own .

So, is the honeymooon over ? That fast? Whew.

Obama: 'I screwed up'

Posted: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:00 PM by Mark Murray

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
In his interview with NBC's Brian Williams, which will air this evening on Nightly News, President Obama discussed the withdrawal of Tom Daschle's nomination, the economic stimulus, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Video: In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, Obama talks about making mistakes and trying to usher in an "era of responsibility."

















Obama said he was "angry and disappointed" to lose Daschle and Nancy Killefer, who also withdrew her nomination today over a failure to pay some taxes. And the president also took part of the blame. "I appointed these folks. I think they are outstanding people. I think Tom Daschle as an example could have led this health-care effort ... better than just about anybody," the president remarked.

"But as he acknowledged, this was a mistake. I don't think it was intentional on his part but it was a serious mistake. He owned up to it and ultimately made a decision that we couldn't afford the distraction, and I've got to own up to my mistake which is that, ultimately, it's important for this administration to send a message that there aren't two sets of rules -- you know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes."

Obama later added, "I'm here on television saying I screwed up, and that's part of the era of responsibility. It's not never making mistakes; it's owning up to them and trying to make sure you never repeat them and that's what we intend to do."

He also offered one more mea culpa: "[S]o, did I screw up in this situation? Absolutely and I'm willing to take my lumps, you know that's part of the job here. But I think it's important not to paint a broad brush here, because overall, not only have we gotten in place a -- functioning government in record time -- but overall the quality of [the other appointments] are outstanding."

On the economy and his stimulus plan, Obama told Williams, "I'm waking up everyday thinking, 'How do I make sure that ordinary families are able to survive, thrive, send their kids to college, keep their homes, keep their jobs?' And there's no magic bullet. We dug a deep hole for ourselves, and because of some bad decisions that we made, we have the worst economy since the Great Depression."

And Obama also spoke about his consultations with the joint chiefs on Iraq and Afghanistan: "The encouraging thing is that there's actually I think a convergence between myself and the joint chiefs and my national security team about what we have to do. I think there's a general view that we've got to drawdown our troops from Iraq; that we've got to do it responsibly; that we've got to do it carefully. I think the timeframe is closer than it may have appeared during the campaign. I think there's also a shared view that Afghanistan is getting worse, not getting better. And that we have to have a comprehensive strategy that not only deals with the military side but also the diplomacy."

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