So what is Siri?
Siri is the hot search on Google now, so what really is Siri.
It’s an application Apple provided in the newly launched Apple iPhone 4S, it is a voice assistant for iPhone 4S, you can control the iPhone with your voice of course it is still in beta, but the results are great, user’s response has been pretty good. Users are happy with what Siri can do, such that they can’t stop playing with their iPhone + Siri.
Take for example Danny Sullivan, editor SearchEngineLand.com he has been playing with Siri a lot and posting the same on his Google Plus stream here are a few posts he made on his Google Plus account:
So when did this all begin? Wikipedia entry for Siri says
Siri was founded in December 2007 by Dag Kittlaus (CEO), Adam Cheyer (VP Engineering), and Tom Gruber (CTO/VP Design), together with Norman Winarsky from SRI International’s venture group.
Siri lets you send messages, set you calender, make calls it is a natural voice recognition software which can understand natural accent, it can talk back too.
It can search for information when you ask a question to it and then answers back! Like say apple has this example:
So when you ask “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri will reply “I found a number of burger restaurants near you.” Then you can say “Hmm. How about tacos?” Siri remembers that you just asked about restaurants, so it will look for Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood. And Siri is proactive, so it will question you until it finds what you’re looking for.
Siri is such a proactive topic that people who have android based phones are looking for Siri for android, Google recorded “siri android, siri for android, siri 3gs, siri funny” terms to have been in trends.
So you still have your iPhone 4? iPhone 4 might get Siri says this Engadget post Siri ported to an iPhone 4, old phone learns a new trick (Update: Better performance!)
It says “thanks to the efforts of developer Steven Troughton-Smith and the folks at 9to5 Mac” iPhone 4 might get Siri as well.
Current hack is missing the a GPU driver which is keeping iPhone 4S’s Siri performance so smooth, although iPhone 4 doesn’t have dual core processor its successor has but due to efforts of Mr. Steven Troughton-Smith he has vastly improved the performance of Siri on iPhone 4.
TLC dumps Kate Gosselin and ‘Kate Plus 8′
Kate Gosselin
The dream Kate Gosselin expressed recently on the Today show about her reality show, Kate Plus 8, built around her life raising teenagers has been dashed. TLC cancelled the show ‘Kate Plus 8′ originally began as ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8′ but name changed after sixth season. In a statement TLC announced that the show would not be renewed, the network said: “By the end of this season Kate Plus 8 will have hit the 150 episode mark (including Jon & Kate Plus 8), an exceptional milestone.” It was being produced by Figure 8 Films, a reality TV show featuring Jon , Kate {parents} and their 8 kids
Kate Gosselin however reacted in a series of eight tweets {Kate Plus 8} on her twitter account:{twin daughters and sextuplets}, the show documenting Kate Gosselin’s trials raising her eight children.
The show began as ‘Jon and Kate Plus 8′ but during fifth season due to allegations of cheating on both Jon and Kate when Jon was spotted with a women named Deanna and was alleged of cheating they denied it later Kate was reported having an affair with one of her bodyguards, Steve Neild. Kate denied allegations and said she needed bodyguard for her protection. This melodrama was to be sorted in the fifth season they both denied allegations and stated they are devoted to their children and rejected any cheating allegations but they agreed they didn’t know where their relationship was going. On June 22, 2009 legal proceedings underwent and their ten year old marriage ended in a divorce! thus the show became “Kate Plus 8″.
Criticism has been raised about the exploitation of their children and the mental distress, but Kate denied such allegations and reported the children were healthy and happy.
An investigation by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Labor Law Compliance found that“The activity being filmed was spontaneous. However, children introduced episodes of the television show and transitions. DVDs and other merchandise were sold involving the children’s appearance. Lighting was placed in the home for the show and there was product placement in some episodes.” And due to the reasons stated the kids were considered to be working on the show, and thus the show was required to obtain work permits for the kids, which it did not do.
The Gosselins drew huge viewership and ratings to the network when the cheating allegations were made especially when Jon and Kate divorced. After that the ratings dwindled as viewers watching Kate go on trips and receive the VIP treatment with her eight children.
The show’s last episode is set to air September 12th and the Gosselin family is expected to still make appearances on the network in the future. “TLC hopes to check in with Kate and the family periodically with specials in the future,” “We didn’t want Kate to completely freak out on us.”the statement said.
Kate Gosselin however reacted in a series of Eight Tweets {Kate Plus Eight} on her twitter account:
Robots sent into Fukushima Daiichi nuclear station
TEPCO, Tokyo Electric Power Co. has sent two iRobot Corp. robots to assess the situation inside the plant facilities.
Radiation levels were very high as detected by the robots sent in, found radiation levels as high as 49 millisieverts per hour inside the No. 1 unit, and up to 57 millisieverts in the No. 3 unit, NISA said.
Another robot was sent into the reactor No. 2 building on 18th April and recorded levels of 4.1 millisieverts per hour
TEPCO to transfer high level radioactive wastewater to the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility
TEPCO announced on 15th April that a large quantity of radioactive wastewater exists inside the turbine building of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Wastewater in Unit 2 is highly radioactive. That they have been planning to transfer this wastewater to the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility once measures to prevent leakage were implemented inside the facility. After transfer to the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility, the wastewater will be stably stored.
On April 10th, they reported to have received direction from Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to report on matters in connection with transfer of high level radioactive wastewater to the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility, such as necessity, assessment of safety, plans on permanent safety storage of wastewater and treatment facilities.
And now that they have completed implementing measures to prevent leakage in the facility buildings, they have compiled the details based on the direction given and reported to Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The content of the report has been confirmed by Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
At 10:08 am on April 19th, based on the method described in the report, TEPCO has started transferring high level radioactive wastewater to the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.
Status of TEPCO’s Facilities and its services
[Nuclear Power Station]
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 3: shutdown due to the earthquake
Units 4 to 6: outage due to regular inspections
On April 18th, hoses, which were being used to inject water into the reactor of Unit 1 to 3 were replaced, (Injection temporarily suspended). After restarting the pump, they confirmed that no significant changes existed with regard to the operation of each pumps and plant parameters.
Operation cooling of spent fuel:
Water spray by the concrete pumping vehicle to the fuel spent pool of Unit 3 was started and finished at 3:02 pm on 18th April.
On April 18th, they conducted spraying dust inhibitor in order to prevent diffusion of radioactive materials onto the ground. They attempted this on trial basis around the Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility in the range of approximately 1,200 m2.
Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1 to 4: shutdown due to the earthquake
Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Station:
Units 1, 5, 6, 7: normal operation
Units 2 to 4: outage due to regular inspection
[Thermal Power Station]
Hirono Thermal Power Station Units 2 and 4: Shutdown due to the earthquake
Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Unit 1: Shutdown due to the earthquake
Kashima Thermal Power Station Unit 6: Shutdown due to the earthquake
[Hydro Power Station]
Power supply has returned to normal and facilities damaged by the earthquake are now being handled in a timely manner.
[Impacts on Transmission Facilities]
Power supply has returned to normal and facilities damaged by the earthquake are now being handled in a timely manner.
[Avoidance of further Implementation on Planned Rolling Blackouts and Request for Conserving Electricity Consumption]
TEPCO reported
Currently, we are working to restore electricity supply after our nuclear and thermal power facilities were severely damaged by Tohoku-Chihou-Taiheiyou-Oki Earthquake. The widespread understanding and cooperation of our customers to conserve electricity have contributed to the improvement of this tight power supply-demand balance situation.
Amidst this backdrop, since the electricity supply will be able to balance with the demand for the time being, we have decided not to
implement further rolling blackouts in principle. However, we must sincerely ask for your continued cooperation in reducing
electricity consumption due to the possible increase in demand caused by warmer weather or unexpected trouble at power stations that are currently being restored to service. In case the electricity supply-demand balance becomes tighter than expected, as stated, we may reluctantly restart the implementation of rolling blackouts. We kindly ask for your cooperation.
We will do our best to maintain this policy of avoiding further implementation of rolling blackouts during the summer.
Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station
TEPCO reported that on April 17th, power supply to the a common spent fuel pool was discontinued due to a breaker released upstream because of an electrical short circuit caused by a non treatment of the end of the unused cable which happened to be connected to the power source of the common spent fuel in parallel. However, after removal of the cable, fixes and checkups, the power supply was restored to the spent fuel pool.
They opened and closed the double doors to conduct a survey and measured a dose of radiation, via a remote control robot.
Operation for cooling the spent fuel pools
On April 17th, they had sprayed water to Unit 4 by a concrete pump vehicle. And on April 18th, the reactors of Unit 1 to 4 are in cold shutdown.
On April 18th, they opened and closed the double doors, measured a dose of radiation for taking note of the situation of the inside of the nuclear reactor building of Unit 2, via a remote control robot.
They suspended operations regarding injection of water to the reactor of Unit 1 to 3, and replaced hoses for injecting water, to the brand new ones.
Kelly Clarkson: Why is she trending on Google? Who is Kelly Clarkson?
Kelly Clarkson is an American Pop and Rock singer and songwriter, and she featured in a few films too so an actress too.
That’s what everyone knows but what’s new?
Yeah there is a lot in news section about Kelly Clarkson! So what’s that?
Kelly Clarkson's Twitter profile image
She is heading back to American Idol, yeah She won 2002 inaugural season of the American Idol. And later she was runner-up in World Idol in 2003. But news doesn’t end there she would be singing Don’t You Wanna Stay with country singer Jason Aldean on 14th April, Thursday’s results show! The same song the two sang in November that went on to become number 1 on the Billboard country music charts. Rihanna will also make an appearance on Thursday’s results show.
Here is a bonus fact from Wikipedia, Clarkson is the only American Idol participant to become No. 1 in UK.
Born April 24, 1982 Clarkson announced via her Facebook page that her fifth studio album would hit stores in September and she went on to say that it is “influenced by Prince, Tina Turner, Sheryl Crow, Radiohead and there’s a little bit of a country vibe/influence on a couple of songs.”
She sang in a charity gig “You Still Won’t Know What It’s Like”, a new track which she described “so breathtaking that it doesn’t even need a melody and lyrics”.
Her producer, Rodney Jerkins gave an idea as to what to expect from her in the album “A called “I Forgive You” that me and Lauren Christy did is just crazy pop-rock. The first person who came to mind to sing it was Kelly Clarkson, so I sent it immediately and got a response that night.” “She came out to record,” he told. “The energy was great and I just finished mixing it. She nailed it.” “I think we can get back in the studio to do a couple more things,” he told.
Clarkson revealed that her favorite track from the upcoming album is called ‘You Love Me’, and hinted a possible duet too.
Kelly Clarkson revealed in a tweet that she “might have a bit of a crush” on American Idol contestant Casey Abrams. Abrams retweeted her message, which then of course appeared in his own tweet stream. She wrote “I might have a bit of a crush on Casey on American Idol this season. He’s super cute and obviously super talented. Great job tonight man!”
In another note she visited an orphanage during a charity trip to Cape Town, South Africa, the singer met the residents of the House of Hope, an organisation, which looks after abused and abandoned children from HIV. She wrote her experience on her Facebook page “I just got back from Africa and had so much fun! I got to hang with the House Of Hope kids and go on a mini safari with some friends and family. I love South Africa! I love those kids even more.”
“If you don’t know, House of Hope is an orphanage in South Africa that I got involved with a little over a year ago. They house around 30 kids right now and have had a rough life but you wouldn’t know it because they are the greatest kids with the best hearts, laughs, and smiles!”
Kelly Clarkson at Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night XVII (Photo Courtsey: contactmusic.com)
Earlier in March she hit the stage on Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night XVII, held at JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. and wrote on her Facebook page “I had such an amazing weekend! I got the chance to be a part of Fight Night in Arizona and I had such a great time! I can’t wait to come back next year! I made some new friends with some big hearts and it was just a very inspiring weekend. Please find a few charities and/or causes and give your time, heart and/or money because we are all so blessed even when we think we’re not 
have an awesome day everybody!
TEPCO to dump 12,000 tons of radioactive water into Pacific ocean from Fukushima plant
Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO), the Corporation operating the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said on Monday that it plans to release the radioactive water from the plant into the seas to help speed up the process of containment of the crippled plant.
The amount of water to be released into the oceans is 11,500 tons and the contaminated water is estimated to contain radioactive matter 100 times the legal limit. The water to be released is said to be of low level contamination. Japan and TEPCO have maintained that the water wouldn’t cause any damage to ocean and humans depending on coastal waters.
A company official said they would release the water into the oceans “as soon as we are ready”.
The water is about 10,000 tons being stored at the facility and 1,500 of underground water which is said to have been contaminated with radioactive matter near reactors 5 and 6.
The water has limited the effectiveness of workers doing the repairs at plant due to the radioactivity of water.
12,000 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima to flush into ocean
Risks entailing radiation exposure
Radiation exposure raises risk of cancer, even small amounts over a long time period can cause cancer. It can cause mutations in genes which can pass on to next generations of yours.
A lot of radiation in a small period of time can cause burns or even radiation sickness, symptoms of radiation sickness include nausea, weakness, hair loss, skin burns, and reduced organ function, if exposure is large it can cause premature aging or even death. You can take medicine to reduce the radioactive material in the body.
Radiation causes ionization of molecules in cells, these ionizations remove the electrons off atoms resulting ions/ charged particles. Ions thus formed react with other atoms causing the cell damage.
At lower doses/ lower exposure the cells can repair the damage, but when doses go high up to 100 rem, cells can’t repair themselves and may permanently change or may eventually die, cells that die can be replaced by the body, but the permanently changed cells can divide to produce abnormal cells, these cells thus produced can become cancerous, this is the initial stage of cancer. At an even higher dose >100 rem the body can’t replace the cells fast enough and tissue fail to function causing radiation sickness. Damage to intestinal lining is that much that it can’t function normally, intake of water and nutrients can’t be performed. This leads to general weakness nausea, and diarrhea. with a whole body doses more than 300 rem body’s immune system fails and can’t protect the body against the infections. At doses more than 400 rem if no medical care is provided 50% of people are expected to die within 60 days of exposure due to infections mostly.
A whole body dose more than 1,000 rem, can cause vascular damage of critical blood providing routes for nervous tissue, such as the brain. At such high a dose, 100% of the people will die, from the affects caused to cells, intestinal lining, blood providing systems, and infections combined.
10,000 people tested for radiation exposure in Fukushima Prefecture
Around 10,000 persons were tested who have visited medical facilities and community shelters for radiation exposure local Prefectural officials reported.
Those living near Fukushima Prefecture nuclear plant no. 1 have been tested along with those who were affected by quakes and tsunami and were forced to community shelters according to local reports.
6 persons were treated for exposure to radiation following the outbreak at Fukushima Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Tests were conducted at 26 screening centers, no-one has to go through full body scrub down those affected had their hands and faces washed.
- as reported by Xinhua
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