Wouldn’t you just love it if your body decided to burn fat and calories on its own?
It can:1. Exercise in short, intense bursts (interval training) for effective fat burning after exercise.2. Increase the amount of resistance/strength/weight training you do, to build more lean muscle. Muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.And of course, for best results:3. Chill on the amount of food you are eating.
Technically:1. Our bodies are built to survive, so when you exercise for long periods of time (often and consistently) your body thinks it needs to hold on to fat for energy. Doing short (12-15 minute), intense exercise sessions builds strength and burns calories, but not fat, so it “feels safe” using fat stores for energy after exercise. 2. Resistance training (using extra weight) helps build lean muscle mass (and strong bones), and muscle burns more calories than fat.3. If you are obsessing over things like fat grams and not eating a nutritious diet, your body will reserve energy (store fat) to survive.
Realistically:1. Varying your exercise is the most effective and efficient way to stay lean and healthy. You must do some longer exercise to build cardiovascular endurance, burn lots of calories, and yes, even burn fat during exercise - your body will not click in to “save” mode unless you exercise for long periods of time, regularly and often. 2. You must do resistance training in order to build muscle and strong bones. 3. Nobody wants to exercise more - and we don’t want to train our bodies to need more exercise to stay fit. So exercise efficiently – two short, very intense (relative to your level of fitness) training sessions weekly, like a 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals, and two moderately long, moderately intense sessions (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or yoga, with one long day (60-90 minutes) of a moderately paced walk/hike. That’s a great five-day/week training schedule. 4. Instead of adding more days to your workout schedule, add a weighted vest to your training. I have said this before, but this is the most efficient way that I know of to build muscle while burning calories. For more information, go to http://www.walkvest.com/.5. Eat moderately - stop counting fat grams and calories and look at how much food is on your plate! And eat more nutritiously by eating foods that are natural and unprocessed.Keep it real
-Debbie Rocker
Source : http://health.yahoo.com/experts/rockertraining/1899/your-body-can-burn-fat-on-its-own/;_ylt=An_vqN.lCLMYszWHxtSCW8Ya788F
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Bedtime Snacks that Help You Sleep
One of the best natural sedatives is tryptophan, an amino acid component of many plant and animal proteins.
Tryptophan is one of the ingredients necessary for the body to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter best known for creating feelings of calm, and for making you sleepy.
However, the trick is to combine foods that have some tryptophan with ample carbohydrate. That’s because in order for insomnia-busting tryptophan to work, it has to make its way to the brain.
Unfortunately, all amino acids compete for transport to the brain. When you add carbs, they cause the release of insulin, which takes the competing amino acids and incorporates them into muscle…but leaves tryptophan alone, so it can make its way to the brain, be converted to serotonin, and cause sleepiness.
Serotonin-producing bedtime snacks should be no more than 200 calories and should be eaten at least 30 minutes prior to bed.
Here are a few great ideas:
Bedtime Snacks for Adults
--6-8 oz container of non-fat, flavored yogurt topped with 2 tablespoons low-fat granola cereal
--Sliced apple with 1-2 teaspoons natural peanut butter
--3 cups low-fat popcorn
– sprinkled with optional 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Bedtime Snacks for Teens
--One cup healthy cereal with skim milk
--Low-fat granola bar
--Scoop of vanilla or strawberry low-fat ice cream
Bedtime Snacks for Children
--1/2 cup low-fat vanilla pudding--1/2 banana with 1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
--One cup skim milk with a bunch of grapes (or other fruit)
Tryptophan is one of the ingredients necessary for the body to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter best known for creating feelings of calm, and for making you sleepy.
However, the trick is to combine foods that have some tryptophan with ample carbohydrate. That’s because in order for insomnia-busting tryptophan to work, it has to make its way to the brain.
Unfortunately, all amino acids compete for transport to the brain. When you add carbs, they cause the release of insulin, which takes the competing amino acids and incorporates them into muscle…but leaves tryptophan alone, so it can make its way to the brain, be converted to serotonin, and cause sleepiness.
Serotonin-producing bedtime snacks should be no more than 200 calories and should be eaten at least 30 minutes prior to bed.
Here are a few great ideas:
Bedtime Snacks for Adults
--6-8 oz container of non-fat, flavored yogurt topped with 2 tablespoons low-fat granola cereal
--Sliced apple with 1-2 teaspoons natural peanut butter
--3 cups low-fat popcorn
– sprinkled with optional 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Bedtime Snacks for Teens
--One cup healthy cereal with skim milk
--Low-fat granola bar
--Scoop of vanilla or strawberry low-fat ice cream
Bedtime Snacks for Children
--1/2 cup low-fat vanilla pudding--1/2 banana with 1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
--One cup skim milk with a bunch of grapes (or other fruit)
Source : http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/25128/bedtime-snacks-that-help-you-sleep/
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bluetooth Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary
Defying some incredible odds, upstart wireless technology Bluetooth has made it to the ripe old age of 10 years old.
Bluetooth began its life with the creation of the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group), which started in 1998 with just five companies looking to create a short-range wireless system for allowing personal items like cell phones, laptops, headsets, and keyboards to talk to one another. By the end of the year, 400 companies were SIG members.
2000 brought the first phone and headset to use Bluetooth to hit the market (those are them, pictured above). Laptops got Bluetooth in 2001, cameras in 2002, MP3 players in 2003. Today, the Bluetooth SIG has 9,000 member companies and has placed 2 billion Bluetooth-enabled products onto the market.
Pretty impressive for a technology that no one originally thought much of (early Bluetooth was buggy, slow, and fairly useless). But my, how things have changed. Bluetooth support is now a major selling point for cell phones; many buyers are now in love with their wireless headsets. Not having Bluetooth is almost unthinkable on all but the very cheapest of cell phones.
Today, Bluetooth's wide support threatens to keep alternatives like Wireless USB from achieving mass acceptance. In fact, Bluetooth 3.0 is slated to include technologies like Ultra Wideband (UWB) as part of its new specification. As well, an ultra-low power version is in the works for medical devices, watches, and other super-small products. When will it end?
Happy birthday, Blue!
Source : http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/65985;_ylt=AjiTisy1_eO9chEnAEmfoVQFLZA5
Friday, January 11, 2008
World's cheapest car unveiled by TATA
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Tata Motors Ltd unveiled the world's cheapest new car on Thursday, bringing car ownership closer for millions of poorer consumers in emerging markets but raising enviromental concerns.
The 4-seater Nano, with an engine around 625cc, will have a dealer price of 100,000 rupees ($2,500), about half the cost of the cheapest car on today's market, a 25-year old model from Maruti Suzuki Ltd, Tata's great rival.
The Nano will go on sale later this year, the company said.
"Let me assure you and our critics the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria," Chairman Ratan Tata said as he proudly unveiled what had been dubbed the "People's Car" at the Auto Expo in New Delhi.
"In a way it is a high point for me. There is a sense of achievement and vindication," he told reporters later.
The compact but curvy Nano stands in sharp contrast to the luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands that Tata is negotiating to acquire from Ford Motor Co.
Hundreds of people crowded into the pavilion to see the long-awaited launch, standing on chairs to get the best view as Tata introduced and then drove the car onto the stage in a media circus more worthy of a pop concert or an Oscar ceremony.
Tata planned the car years ago as a safer and more affordable alternative for the millions who often ferry families of four, plus baggage, on motorbikes and scooters.
"It's a dream come true," Ashok Singh, a constable with the Delhi Police, said at the show. "I look forward to buying that car. My wife will be really happy."
New cars are preferable to buyers in India, where the absence of an organised market for second-hand cars makes buying them a tedious and sometimes risky process.
Environmentalists are not so enthusiastic. They worry millions of the cheap cars will flood on to India's roads, many of which are already heavily congested, sending emissions levels sky high in Asia's third-biggest economy.
WAFER-THIN MARGINS
The car arrives at a time when oil has topped $100 a barrel, the move to fuel-efficient "green" cars is gaining momentum, and a wave of nostalgia has spurred sales of brands such as BMW's Mini and the Fiat 500 Cinquecento.
The car has a rear-mounted gasoline engine and travels 20km per litre, with a basic model and two deluxe variants and plans for diesel versions.
"The proof of the pudding will be in driving it, but visually it looks pretty good," said London-based auto analyst Ashvin Chotai, who was at Thursday's unveiling. "The pricing was a bit of a surprise. I thought it would be a bit higher."
Tata said costs were kept low by cutting the "size of the package", which brought about a reduction in material. Innovative processes and systems, for which the firm has filed 33 patents, also helped.
Chotai believed deluxe variants, which will include features such as air-conditioning, would account for bulk of the sales. Tata expects the car to sell well in semi-urban and rural areas as well as India's cities.
"Margins are still going to be very, very thin," he said.
Shares in Tata Motors, which has a market worth of $7.5 billion, fell 2.8 percent to 749 rupees, after having risen more than 4 percent, in a Mumbai market that ended 1.4 percent lower.
Tata Motors' stock trades at nearly 17 times forecast earnings, compared to 20.2 times for top utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra, whose shares fell 0.6 percent to 803.15 rupees on Thursday.
For additional stories, pictures and video from the Auto Expo go to http://in.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/special
Tata has said it will initially produce about 250,000 Nanos and expects eventual annual demand of 1 million units.
Global car makers -- initially sceptical that Tata could produce such a low-cost car -- are now scurrying to make their own versions to meet the needs of cost-conscious consumers in emerging economies such as China, India and Russia.
Ford this week said it would build a small car in India within two years, and the alliance of Nissan Motor and Renault, which has made a big success of its no-frills Logan sedan, plans a $3,000 car with Bajaj Auto.
Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda Motor and Fiat have also said they are looking at small cars for emerging markets where strong economic growth has made car ownership a reality for millions.
Tata said it would focus on the home market for 2-3 years before considering exporting the Nano to countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
With just 8 people in 1,000 owning a car in India, there is huge potential to upgrade bike and scooter owners, who bought about 7 million two-wheelers in 2006/07.
"Our challenge is just beginning," Tata said. "We have to deliver now on what we've promised today."
Source : http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-31331020080110
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Bill Gates says goodbye to your mouse
Bill Gates says goodbye to your mouse
Bill Gates, who built his fortune equipping the personal computer, predicts that the keyboard and mouse will soon become relics.
The founder of Microsoft Corp used his swansong to the technology industry on Sunday to spell out a vision of a “digital decade” of telephones, televisions and cars that respond to voice and touch.
“This is the area that people underestimate the most,” he said. Mr Gates, who plans to retire from day-to-day operations at Microsoft in July to oversee his $37 billion (£18 billion) charitable foundation, gave a keynote address to a packed 3,500-seat Las Vegas ballroom at the world’s largest consumer electronics show.
He predicted that high-definition video “will be everywhere” from TV to wall projections to screens built into desks. Users will be able to roam in 3-D through virtual worlds when they shop or interact online with friends. Devices will connect seamlessly so that data is transferred automatically from computer to mobile phone, for instance. “When you take a photo, it will show up where you want it to show up,” he said.
The software billionaire has used the annual Consumer Electronics Show to unveil products such as the Windows operating system and the Xbox 360 game console. But his visionary predictions have not always led to commercial success, as in the case of the touch-screen tablet computer.
In contrast, Apple Inc’s touch-screen iPhone and Nintendo’s Wii motion-sensing video game, which allows players to connect wirelessly to the screen, have won popular acclaim.
Providing a glimpse into the future, Mr Gates demonstrated a device called a Microsoft Surface that embeds a computer in a table top, showing how he could customise a snow-board in a shop. Just by running his fingers over the counter, he designed a snowboard with different colours and patterns. When he was happy with the result, he placed his mobile phone on the surface. The counter-top computer recognised the phone and wirelessly downloaded the design to the web.
Mr Gates’s presentation was met by some scepticism because of Microsoft’s failure to unveil any big new innovations at the show.
In contrast, Apple Inc’s touch-screen iPhone and Nintendo’s Wii motion-sensing video game, which allows players to connect wirelessly to the screen, have won popular acclaim.
Providing a glimpse into the future, Mr Gates demonstrated a device called a Microsoft Surface that embeds a computer in a table top, showing how he could customise a snow-board in a shop. Just by running his fingers over the counter, he designed a snowboard with different colours and patterns. When he was happy with the result, he placed his mobile phone on the surface. The counter-top computer recognised the phone and wirelessly downloaded the design to the web.
Mr Gates’s presentation was met by some scepticism because of Microsoft’s failure to unveil any big new innovations at the show.
“Part of this has to do with Microsoft being tired of announcing new stuff that doesn’t ever materialise or shows up in a form very different than what was shown,” Michael Gartenberg, a Jupiter Research analyst, wrote in a web posting.
HD-DVD v Blu-Ray, is the battle over?
HD-DVD v Blu-Ray, is the battle over?
With Warner Bros jumping sides to Sony and 75 per cent of upcoming high-definition releases on Blu-Ray, is HD-DVD a thing of the past?
Bernhard Warner
I realise it’s considered gauche to question a gift, particularly one that comes in a big box. But for those of you who received an HD-DVD player this holiday season, it would be completely understandable if you packed it up and marched it back to the buyer and demanded an explanation.
In fairness, the buyer probably had no idea the HD-DVD player would be obsolete by, oh, say, Christmas, 2008. The salesman probably made no hint to your well-meaning girlfriend that there is a winner-takes-all format war going on between HD-DVD (backed by Toshiba and Microsoft) and Blu-Ray (backed by Sony). Or maybe the buyer knew but figured it would be years before one technology proved the victor. After all, the Betamax player hung on for a string of Christmases before being pronounced dead in the late ‘80s. The good money would have suggested that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray could compete side-by-side for years.
Alas, not so. That’s because Warner Bros., the movie studio behind Harry Potter, the sci-fi classic Blade Runner (a collector’s edition is on the new release schedule) and the high-def version of the remarkable BBC series Planet Earth, jumped sides last week to Blu-Ray, saying that from May it will only produce new releases in the Sony-branded format, signalling an early end to HD-DVD.
The Warner Bros. decision “strengthens Blu-Ray’s hand considerably”, says Jim Bottoms, co-managing director of digital media consultancy Understanding & Solutions. If the Toshiba camp is to survive it will need to convince its remaining studio partners to continue supporting HD-DVD and hope to pull back to its side reluctant studios. The chances of this are bleak. As The Times reports, one of the remaining hold-out supporters of HD-DVD, Paramount, is also considering a jump to Sony.
With the about-face, Warner now joins the Sony, Fox, Lionsgate and Disney studios as exclusive adopters of Blu-Ray. In the U.S. market, the world’s biggest, the Warner switch means 75 per cent of all upcoming high-definition releases will be exclusively in the Blu-Ray format, Understanding & Solutions calculate, all but sinking HD-DVD’s chances.
“We should see an end to the format war within the year,” Bottoms declares.
There’s no denying that consumer electronics format wars are a nuisance. The rules of engagement are particularly cruel for the buying public, asking them to make an expensive bet on a technology that could be obsolete in a few years time. They emerge with remarkable frequency: 78 rpm discs verses 45 rpm in the 1940s, 8-track verses cassette in the 70s, Betamax verses VHS in the 80s, digital audio tape verses the compact disc in the 90s. Not to mention, of course, the ongoing QuickTime verses Windows Media verses RealMedia struggle.
The Blu-Ray verses HD-DVD tussle is particularly perverse. While the retail price continues to fall, high-definition players – which pack a sharper picture quality and cinema-like sound – will set you back, at a bare minimum, between £150 and £250 for the most basic machine, and hundreds more for a more kitted-out player. The average price of a high-definition optical disc, meanwhile, is around £25, a healthy premium over DVD prices. An aggressive format war would, in theory, push prices of both discs and players down as both camps try to win over a loyal base.
But if the format war is hastily called off you can forget about a price reprieve. With just one horse in the race you arrive at a scenario that is just as bad as a nasty format war: collusionary pricing. If the studios decide to back just one format – in this case, Blu-Ray – a vital price stimulus will be removed from the market. Studios need to recoup development costs for the new technology and so will price their optical discs much higher than ordinary DVDs until that initial investment begins to pay itself off. In this very likely scenario, expect high-def discs to be priced well above £20 for the near term. Only when consumers begin to protest by defiantly plodding along with the same old DVD players will we see the next generation disc and player prices begin to fall.
But for those of you now staring incredulously at your HD-DVD player, it’s too late. You’ve been drawn into this turf war under false pretences, thinking that on Christmas morning your flashy new player would be able to play all the Hollywood blockbusters on your wall-sized, high-definition flat-screen TV. Take heart: a new technology will emerge in the next few years. You won’t make the same mistake twice. Choose wisely.
Source : http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3159432.ece?openComment=true
With Warner Bros jumping sides to Sony and 75 per cent of upcoming high-definition releases on Blu-Ray, is HD-DVD a thing of the past?
Bernhard Warner
I realise it’s considered gauche to question a gift, particularly one that comes in a big box. But for those of you who received an HD-DVD player this holiday season, it would be completely understandable if you packed it up and marched it back to the buyer and demanded an explanation.
In fairness, the buyer probably had no idea the HD-DVD player would be obsolete by, oh, say, Christmas, 2008. The salesman probably made no hint to your well-meaning girlfriend that there is a winner-takes-all format war going on between HD-DVD (backed by Toshiba and Microsoft) and Blu-Ray (backed by Sony). Or maybe the buyer knew but figured it would be years before one technology proved the victor. After all, the Betamax player hung on for a string of Christmases before being pronounced dead in the late ‘80s. The good money would have suggested that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray could compete side-by-side for years.
Alas, not so. That’s because Warner Bros., the movie studio behind Harry Potter, the sci-fi classic Blade Runner (a collector’s edition is on the new release schedule) and the high-def version of the remarkable BBC series Planet Earth, jumped sides last week to Blu-Ray, saying that from May it will only produce new releases in the Sony-branded format, signalling an early end to HD-DVD.
The Warner Bros. decision “strengthens Blu-Ray’s hand considerably”, says Jim Bottoms, co-managing director of digital media consultancy Understanding & Solutions. If the Toshiba camp is to survive it will need to convince its remaining studio partners to continue supporting HD-DVD and hope to pull back to its side reluctant studios. The chances of this are bleak. As The Times reports, one of the remaining hold-out supporters of HD-DVD, Paramount, is also considering a jump to Sony.
With the about-face, Warner now joins the Sony, Fox, Lionsgate and Disney studios as exclusive adopters of Blu-Ray. In the U.S. market, the world’s biggest, the Warner switch means 75 per cent of all upcoming high-definition releases will be exclusively in the Blu-Ray format, Understanding & Solutions calculate, all but sinking HD-DVD’s chances.
“We should see an end to the format war within the year,” Bottoms declares.
There’s no denying that consumer electronics format wars are a nuisance. The rules of engagement are particularly cruel for the buying public, asking them to make an expensive bet on a technology that could be obsolete in a few years time. They emerge with remarkable frequency: 78 rpm discs verses 45 rpm in the 1940s, 8-track verses cassette in the 70s, Betamax verses VHS in the 80s, digital audio tape verses the compact disc in the 90s. Not to mention, of course, the ongoing QuickTime verses Windows Media verses RealMedia struggle.
The Blu-Ray verses HD-DVD tussle is particularly perverse. While the retail price continues to fall, high-definition players – which pack a sharper picture quality and cinema-like sound – will set you back, at a bare minimum, between £150 and £250 for the most basic machine, and hundreds more for a more kitted-out player. The average price of a high-definition optical disc, meanwhile, is around £25, a healthy premium over DVD prices. An aggressive format war would, in theory, push prices of both discs and players down as both camps try to win over a loyal base.
But if the format war is hastily called off you can forget about a price reprieve. With just one horse in the race you arrive at a scenario that is just as bad as a nasty format war: collusionary pricing. If the studios decide to back just one format – in this case, Blu-Ray – a vital price stimulus will be removed from the market. Studios need to recoup development costs for the new technology and so will price their optical discs much higher than ordinary DVDs until that initial investment begins to pay itself off. In this very likely scenario, expect high-def discs to be priced well above £20 for the near term. Only when consumers begin to protest by defiantly plodding along with the same old DVD players will we see the next generation disc and player prices begin to fall.
But for those of you now staring incredulously at your HD-DVD player, it’s too late. You’ve been drawn into this turf war under false pretences, thinking that on Christmas morning your flashy new player would be able to play all the Hollywood blockbusters on your wall-sized, high-definition flat-screen TV. Take heart: a new technology will emerge in the next few years. You won’t make the same mistake twice. Choose wisely.
Source : http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3159432.ece?openComment=true
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Largest Television
TV Innovations Rule CES 2008
It's the elephant in the living room: Panasonic's 150-inch plasma has all but stolen the show here at CES 2008. When people ask you "What's the coolest thing you've seen at the show so far?" they invariably follow that up with "Except for the 150-inch TV."
It's the elephant in the living room: Panasonic's 150-inch plasma has all but stolen the show here at CES 2008. When people ask you "What's the coolest thing you've seen at the show so far?" they invariably follow that up with "Except for the 150-inch TV."
And sure enough, the thing is a marvel to behold. It's so big, it's hard to take it in, really. With a viewing area that measures 11 feet by 6 1/4 feet and 8.84 million pixels of resolution, the TV (which has no model number and no date for being commercialized) is regularly thronged by crowds of slack-jawed onlookers, unable to comprehend the thing.
It's so big that all the other flat-panel companies have simply removed signage that might indicate how big (er, small) their sets are in comparison. There are obviously some big sets here from Pioneer, LG, and Sharp, but exactly how big their biggest sets are rem
ains a mystery. Next year I will have to bring a tape measure.Still don't think it's big? After all, maybe that woman is incredibly short, right? Wrong. Here's a picture of it next to last-year's largest, the 103-inch plasma:
With the war on screen size all but lost for 2008, a more interesting one is shaping up on thickness, with vendors battling to see just how thin they can make their displays. Virtually every vendor is offering a screen (LCD or plasma) less than 2 inches thick. LG's is 1.7 inches thick. Hitachi's plasma is 1.5 inches and its LCD is just 0.75 inch. Sharp also has a 0.8-inch-thick LCD (52 inches diagonally, too). But it's Pioneer's 0.35-inch plasma that takes the weight loss crown, even if it is a prototype.
Other TV trends continue apace: A big one is OLED, which both Sony and Samsung are moving forward impressively. Side by side, Samsung's technology demo of OLED vs. LCD is striking; the difference in color and brightness is astonishing. Meanwhile, Sony was demonstrating a 27-inch OLED set, too. (In related news, you'll finally be able to buy the 11-inch OLED here in the United States, for just $2,500.)
Also emerging: Wireless HD. While I'm not sold on the need for this technology, more and more products keep showing up with it. Will we replace HDMI cables with wireless connections? Your sense of tidiness is probably salivating over the prospect already.
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