Adobe Media Player is a new Adobe Air application that aims to bring the TV to your desktop. Something very similar to the previously profiled Joost. Using Adobe Media Player, you can watch a number of popular TV programs from the convenience of your desktop, schedule and download your favorite episodes automatically, etc.

At the moment this service has about 25 channels, including CBS, Comedy Central (coming soon), MTV, PBS, Nickelodeon (coming soon) and Universal Music group. It’s quite likely that the number of channels will increase over time.

Media Player runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs, and the only requirement it has is Adobe Air. If you don’t have it already you will be prompted to get it while installing the Media Player.

Features
- Catalog : Browse and watch new TV shows and popular video podcasts from leading media companies in full screen mode.
- Genres: Browse videos by provider or genre (Arts & Culture, Comedy, Education, Entertainment, etc.)
- Download and save videos to your hard drive.
- My Favorites : Automatically download latest episodes from favorite shows as soon as they are out and available on Adobe Media Player catalog.
- New Episodes : Watch new shows and episodes whenever you want, in any order you like.
- Personal Videos : Upload and manage your personal video collection from your desktop.

Check out Adobe Media Player @ www.adobe.com/products/mediaplayer/

IMPORTANT WORK-AROUND: How to Watch ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS TV Streams From Outside the USA (including music sites like Pandora)
So you're a big Lost or Heroes fan who doesn't want to wait a year or more for your favorite show to be broadcast overseas, but the problem is that ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX won't let you watch the latest episodes online because you don't live in the USA. The fundamental problem you're facing is Internet censorship, and there are many tools to help you circumvent it.

What are your options (assuming you don't just give up)?

1. Use a web-based proxy in the US. As we've stated before, this almost never works because the proxy can't detect the URLs that are hidden in the Flash and Javascript files used by these video sites. Plus, proxy sites don't like to incur the massive bandwidth costs of proxying video streams. There are exceptions like YouTubeProxy, however.
   
2. Try out one of the many online video sites that host links to a virtual library of TV shows.
   
3. Use a US-based VPN, or virtual private network. We've written about VPNs before in conjunction with bypassing bandwidth throttling of BitTorrent downloads.

VPNs are probably the most general-purpose way to view video content that has been restricted online. Proxies that support video must be custom coded to support each site so, for the most part, only the biggest sites will be supported.

So, let's examine the third option a little more. A VPN essentially acts like a second ISP. You get a new IP address to show the world (including, say, ABC.com) so ABC has no idea that you're outside the US. That means you get to watch all the Desperate Housewives you want.

We have recommended SecureIX for a good publicly accessible VPN before. The free version limits you to a bandwidth of 256kbits/sec so you'll probably encounter annoying pauses while watching a video (as you can see below). The pay version at 5000kbits/sec should work better.

If you want a speedier and also free alternative, try out Hotspot Shield from AnchorFree, which operates a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots. The program encrypts your Internet traffic by setting up a connection to a VPN. Our tests showed speeds of up to 600kbits/sec, twice as fast as SecureIX. When installing HotSpot Shield, make sure to de-select the AnchorFree toolbar.

FOR CHINA CITIZENS:
Gladder is a very useful Firefox extension meant to help people get over the censorship in mainland China. It replaces URLs of links from a banned one to a visitable one. Those replacement methods are being updated from the Internet. With one click, add a site to a list then any page in the site will be opened with a web proxy. Install here.
Currently supported: Wikipedia.org & all sister projects, Google Cached Page, Secure Gmail Access (turn to https), Secure Orkut Access.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently offered adolescents the first ever "Drug Facts Chat Day." Students from high schools and middle schools across the country submitted anonymous questions online—about alcohol, the brain, addiction, and everything in between—to NIDA scientists, including some of the nation's top experts in substance abuse. The scientists then responded with personalized, nonjudgmental answers. Below is a sample of the inquiries that relate specifically to prescription drugs and other substances around the house. All the questions and answers below are unedited.

Too broke to afford iTunes Music Store? Or Don’t feel like paying for music at all? If that’s the case, here are some great websites and couple of tools that can help you download any MP3 song for FREE. If you’re going to download free music than these are the tools that can help you do it the “right way”.

	Simple windows program that auto-detects currently streaming tracks (from Imeem, Last.fm, Pandora, and many more.) and provides a one-click option to download and store them on your drive. Check out a HowTo Video here.
	From the same company as FreeMusicZilla. Although, OrbitDownloader comes with a lot more features and lets you get music (and music videos) from literally any social music or video website. It can be a Youtube video, Yahoo Music clip, or a Pandora track. Highlights: fully-integrable with all popular browsers, option to pause/resume downloads, and more.
	A very cool MP3 search engine. Just search, choose and download. Also does a pretty good job at filtering-out irrelevant results. In most cases I was able to find what I was looking for. Other useful features include: Firefox search integration and search MP3s by lyrics.
	Another MP3 search engine, unlike Cr3ation B3ta, G2P searches for MP3s using Google. For example, searching G2P for Rihanna returns all Google-indexed pages listing Rihanna MP3s. In most cases you can download these files using ‘Save Link As’ option.
	AirMP3 lets you search on multiple free MP3 sources simultaneously. Also lists lots of useful charts: MTV Europe (Top 20), UK Top 40, Top 40 France, and so on. Plus AirMp3’s “Top Searched” and “Top Downloaded” songs for the week. Quite handy if you need some guidance on what’s popular.
	Kohit is a clear and comprehensive mp3 directory. Very moderate on ads and doesn’t require any kind of registration. As in the case of AirMP3, Kohit also provides lots of handy stats i.e ‘Top Downloads’, ‘Top Searches’ and Top 20’s by country (US, UK, Japan, Spain…).
	Less-popular and smaller alternative to Kohit. But with over 140.000 MP3s in it’s index still deserves a mention.

That’s mainly it. If you know of any other similar or better apps, or just want to criticize something, go ahead and post it in the comments! Enjoy!

1) Consume in small, frequent amounts.

Between 20-200mg per hour may be an optimal dose for cognitive function.

Caffeine crosses the blood-brain barrier quickly (owing to its lipid solubility) although it can take up to 45 minutes for full ingestion through the gastro-intestinal tract. Under normal conditions, this remains stable for around 1 hour before gradually clearing in the following 3-4 hours (depending on a variety of factors).

A landmark 2004 study showed that small hourly doses of caffeine (.3mg per kg of body weight [approx 20 mg per hour; thanks digg!]) can support extended wakefulness, potentially by counteracting the homeostatic sleep pressure, which builds slowly across the day and acts preferentially on the prefrontal cortex (an area of the brain thought responsible for executive and "higher" cognitive functions).

At doses of 600mg, caffeine's effects on cognitive performance are often comparable to those of modafinil, a best-of-class nootropic.

2) Play to your cognitive strengths while wired.

Caffeine may increase the speed with which you work, may decrease attentional lapses, and may even benefit recall - but is less likely to benefit more complex cognitive functions, and may even hurt others. Plan accordingly (and preferably prior to consuming caffeine!)

Caffeine has long been known to improve vigilance, but work focusing on its more more cognitive effects - through interactions with the "frontal task network" - show less clear effects.

In tests of lateral prefrontal function, caffeine only remediates some fatigue-related symptoms. For example, in a random number generation task (a commonly-used measure of prefrontal function), caffeine increased the quantity of numbers generated to pre-fatigue levels, but did not significantly affect more demanding aspects of performance: caffeine didn't affect the likelihood of subjects generating numbers outside the acceptable range, or their tendency to perseverate on particular numbers.

Another study indicates the same is true of caffeine's effect on the medial prefrontal cortex. In that study, sleep deprivation-related decrements on the Iowa Gambling Task were not mitigated by caffeine.

The Stroop task, which a wealth of neuroimaging shows is related to functioning of the anterior cingulate, may also benefit from caffeine, but this effect may also be due to general speed improvements rather than those of cognitive control specifically.

(Interestingly, it appears that none of these studies follow guideline #1 - and there are hints in the second one that subject's performance might have shown significant improvements if another dose of caffeine had been provided about half-way through the task).

Recall from memory may be improved by caffeine (here and here), possibly due to enhancements in memory encoding rather than retrieval per se. Another study shows caffeine can actually impair estimates of "memory scanning" speed (in the Sternberg paradigm), so the failure of many studies to find recall-related effects of caffeine may reflect a speed-accuracy tradeoff at the time of retrieval.

3) Play to caffeine's strengths.

Caffeine's effects can be maximized or minimized depending on what else is in your system at the time.

The beneficial effects of caffeine may be most pronounced in conjunction with sugar. For example, one factor analytic study has shown caffeine-glucose cocktails provide benefits to cognition not seen with either alone.

Some flavonoids (such as soy) may act in the same way as caffeine - i.e., through adenosine receptor antagonism - in particular galangin, genistein, and hispidol. Evidence showing that markers of caffeine metabolism are slowed by flavonoids might suggest that ingestion of flavonoids would enhance the effects of caffeine - some studies show grapefruit juice might keep caffeine levels in the bloodstream high for longer, though others have found no such effect (thanks to commenter Matt McIntosh for this latter reference).

Caffeine's effects might be masked by green tea extract, Kava Kava or St. John's Wort - all of which contain theanine and are associated with subjective feelings of relaxation - but other preliminary evidence indicates the opposite effect: theanine might actually potentiate the benefits of caffeine on some tasks (reported in longer format here).

Similarly, nicotine may speed the metabolism of caffeine.

Because caffeine is a competitive antagonist for adenosine 1 & 2a primarily at striatal sites, it may also selectively increase the efficacy of D2 receptors, given evidence that D2 depleted mice show reduced effects of caffeination. According to theoretical computational models of D2 receptor activity in the striatum, this should increase cortico-thalamic excitability. It will be important for future work to examine caffeine's effect on tasks thought to require NoGo pathway activity.

A variety of other chemicals may work on the A2 receptor in similar (SCH 58261, ZM 241385, CSC, KF17837) or opposing ways (CGS 21680, APEC, 2HE-NECA).

4) Know when to stop - and when to start again.

Although you may not grow strongly tolerant to caffeine, you can become dependent on it and suffer withdrawal symptoms. Balance these concerns with the cognitive and health benefits associated with caffeine consumption - and appropriately timed resumption.

Long-term ingestion of large quantities of caffeine (by way of coffee) is associated with a variety of health benefits - not only cognitive enhancements but also reduction in risk for type 2 diabetes (c.f.), Alzheimer's and Parkinson's . These beneficial effects may be related to the neuroprotective role of adenosine.

However, there are some suggestions that caffeine also has adverse effects (mostly cardiovascular, which might be balanced by flavonoids - see guideline #3). And some people just don't like the thought of cultivating an addiction - or the spectre of withdrawal symptoms.

Some evidence indicates high heritability for caffeine addition (note: this is based on interviews of twins) and others are advocating the recognition of caffeine addiction as a bona fide mental disorder. Withdrawal symptoms can onset within 12 to 24 hours of caffeine consumption and last between 2 and 9 days.

There are more cognitive concerns here as well. For one, caffeine probably follows the Yerkes-Dodson law, in which a moderate dose is superior to too little or too much. In addition, there are well-established cognitive effects where recall is best when it matches the context of encoding - so if you're caffeinated when you study for the test, you better be caffeinated when you take it.

5) Finding good sources of caffeine

Despite the huge variety of sources of caffeine - including caffeinated soap, candy, and of course chocolate - the optimal use of caffeine is likely to involve small, hourly doses along with some cardioprotective agent. Given the high solubility of caffeine, absorption time should not be an issue (but if for some reason it is, try gum).

Otherwise, why not enjoy a cup of green tea (coffee-flavored, if you must), as the Chinese have for nearly 5000 years? It's hard to come by a better longitudinal study than that.

"Legalisering wietteelt en gereguleerd verstrekken harddrugs enige oplossing." Dat zegt scheidend voorzitter Hans van Duijn van de grote politiebond NPB in een vandaag gepubliceerd interview met de GPD-bladen. De aanpak van drugscriminaliteit heeft de afgelopen jaren volgens hem weinig opgeleverd, maar trekt wel een zware wissel op de politie. Door de vele uren die agenten steken in drugsbestrijding, komt de aanpak van andere vormen van criminaliteit in gevaar, aldus Van Duijn.

Eerder al bepleitten burgemeesters van grote steden als Job Cohen en Gerd Leers voor een versoepeling van het softdrugsbeleid. De Raad van Hoofdcommissarissen is echter onvermurwbaar. De politietop heeft zelfs een speciale taskforce in het leven geroepen om wietcriminaliteit te bestrijden. De regering is ook niet van plan om de wietteelt te legaliseren. Dat ligt in verband met Europese regelgeving overigens ook gecompliceerd.

De 60-jarige Van Duijn vertrekt eind mei als NPB-voorzitter.

At long, long last, Microsoft has finished work on Windows XP's third service pack. On April 29, you'll be able to snag XP SP3 via Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Center.

To say that Microsoft wants to downplay this release is putting it mildly. When Windows Vista SP1 became available last month, the company was all over tech reporters, offering interviews and making sure we knew the blessed bits had arrived.

What do we get this time? A stealth posting in a Microsoft TechNet forum:

Today we are happy to announce that Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) has released to manufacturing (RTM). Windows XP SP3 bits are now working their way through our manufacturing channels to be available to OEM and Enterprise customers.

We are also in the final stages of preparing for release to the web (i.e. you!) on April 29th, via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center. Online documentation for Windows XP SP3, such as Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and the Microsoft TechNet Windows XP TechCenter, will be updated then. For customers who use Windows XP at home, Windows XP SP3 Automatic Update distribution for users at home will begin in early summer. 

Windows XP SP3 mostly contains all the patches and fixes released since SP2 (which now number over 100!) and a handful of new features. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet details some of them:

• Improvements to "black hole" router detection.
• Network Access Protection, which is a network policy enforcement platform previously seen in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
• Enhanced Control Panel Security Options which better explains the impact of the various settings.
• Product key-free installation now possible!!!

There also have been reports from beta testers that XP SP3 provides some performance gains.

As was the case with Vista SP1, downloading XP SP3 via Windows Update is the best way to get it. You'll only receive the code you need -- Kingsley-Hughes says to expect around 70 MB this way. The full version is a 500-MB download.

You'll have to manually kick off a Windows Update session next week to get it. In June, XP SP3 will come to you via Automatic Update.

Clearly, Microsoft would much rather you make the move to Vista rather than soldier on with XP. But it's been almost four years since SP2, and a new service pack was long overdue. Because of its huge installed base, Microsoft has to do it, but I suspect the release of XP SP3 comes grudgingly.

Important Update (APR 29):
For a fuller rundown of every new feature, you can grab the XP SP3 overview from Microsoft as a PDF. Like I said, SP3 isn't the sexiest update your computer has ever seen, but if you're planning to continue using XP (and judging from our poll, that's a lot of you), then it's an update you're likely to be using for a while.

Fixing a Minor SP3 Annoyance
One reader found that his SP3 update disabled the address bar option for the Windows taskbar—a feature removed "due to legal restrictions." If you fall in the same boat, you can still get your address bar back.

I'll be adding this news to my growing list of "Reasons I want to ditch my land-line". Skype just announced unlimited long-distance calling plans that they claim reaches one-third of the world's population. On paper, that means I can call one of my three friends and talk as long as I want. Sweet! Now which one of the three will it be?

Thirty-four destination countries are included in the unlimited plans and there are no long-term commitments. However, if you nab a 3- or 12-month plan by the end of May, you'll get a 33% discount. Hey... what is it with the "one-third" theme? Check out the monthly rates and supported countries on the Skype press release right here. Looks like the bulk of the plans average around four Euros a month, although our States-side readers have a nice deal at just under two Euros a month. From a "fair use" perspective, Skype is defining "unlimited" as roughly 10,000 minutes per month, which works out to five-hours of daily gabbing.

Since I'm at a computer nearly all of my waking hours, I actually prefer using Skype to call out to people's cells and land-lines. It's much more convenient as I can be hands-free and multi-task, plus the recipient doesn't have know a whit about Skype. Meaning: it's good for all kinds of folks. ;)

Download, Play, and Save (to your online account) over 270,000 MP3 files from a wide selection of popular bands and artists. Note: Sideload is slightly overwhelming and may take some time to get used to.

Sideload Features

• Stream Songs and Create playlists.
• Search/browse by song or artist name, featured/most popular/newest track.
• Option to stream, download, email or add songs to your account ‘locker’.
• Webload feature: Grab any web audio file and stoe it in your locker.
• Media Player plugins: Access Sideload locker directly from your media player.

  Check out Sideload @ www.sideload.com
  (Update: Sideload has been acquired by MP3Tunes so some of the original features may not be there anymore.)

I’m not a Windows Vista fan. In fact, my new PC runs on XP, but uses OpenSource applications for most of my business needs. So why do I even care about a trick to get sluggish Vista browsing back to an acceptable speed? My mom uses Vista, and I love my mom.

I’m also no techie, so I’ll preface this piece by acknowledging that this won’t work for everyone. There are lots of reasons why Vista is a good choice for some; my mom has few qualms with the operating system, and I’ve even adjusted to using her PC for quick tasks when I’m away from home. One thing that just wouldn’t do for me or my mother, however, was the horribly slow browsing in Vista. Sites that should have taken little time to load were met with the white screen of death, or a notoriously lingering blue circle that signaled the page was still loading. A check of the connection supported my theory that it wasn’t anything else but Vista. Here’s how we fixed it – for good.

PC Magazine’s May 2008 issue held the key to our problems. Its Ask Neil column featured our problem, and the answer was simple: Disable Vista’s “Auto-Tuning” feature, which may not be (in our case it wasn’t) compatible with certain routers and networking devices. To turn it off:

At the Start menu type command, but don’t immediately launch the command prompt. Instead, right-click it and choose Run As Administrator. Type this command:

netsh interface tcp show global

If the line Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level does not say “disabled,” enter this command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=restricted

If this doesn’t help, do the whole process again, but this time substitute this command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

Viola! You should be cruising now! (By the way, I had to go through the whole process, using the last command to get it going good.) If it works, you should notice the difference in browsing speeds immediately. If it doesn’t work for you, and you feel the need to put things back the way they were, you can type this command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

Good luck, Vista users!

Een proef aan de universiteit van Wake Forest heeft aangetoond dat onderdanige mannetjesapen onder stress een voorkeur hebben voor cocaïne. De cynomolgusapen hebben een samenlevingsvorm waarbij dominantie belangrijk is. De onderzoekers stelden dan ook vier dominante en vier onderdanige cynomolgusapen bloot aan een stressvolle situatie. Na veertig minuten kregen ze de keuze tussen een portie eten en cocaïne. De onderdanige apen kozen voor de drug. (vsv)

Jonny Evans writes for MacWorld:

Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails made $1.6 million in a week through direct sales of the band's latest album, Ghosts I-IV.

The sales included free and paid downloads as well as orders made online for the slew of physical products the band has also made available, including boxed sets and vinyl. A special edition CD is set to ship in April in the UK.

Fans are being offered the first nine tracks taken from the album as DRM-free MP3 files at no charge. If they enjoy these they can also purchase all 36 album tracks in the DRM-free MP3 format for just $5.