Doctors Warned of Facebook Flirting

Doctors in Britain were warned not to respond to sexual advances from patients made through social networking sites such as Facebook, as such contacts could breach their ethnical duties.

The Medical Defence Union (MDU), which provides legal advice and assistance to medics, said it was aware of several cases where patients propositioned doctors through the sites – and said doctors should stay well clear. In one case, a female doctor was asked out for a drink by patient as she left the surgery.

She refused, but the patient continued the requests via Facebook and sent her a bunch of lilies, learning through the site that they were her favourite flowers. “The pitfalls posed to doctors using social networking sites by inadvertently breaching confidentiality or posting unprofessional content, such as photos, have been well documented,” said Dr Emma Cuzner, MDU medico-legal advisor.

“But doctors may be less prepared for patients using sites like Facebook to ask them out on a date.” She added that doctors must keep relationships with patients “on a professional footing,” saying; “This is in line with doctors” ethical duties not to pursue improper relationships with patients.”

Digital Format Affecting Artistry?

Top asian cinematographer has expressed his distaste for digital cameras in a recently released book, complaining about having to use them to shoot an adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s hit novel Norwegian Wood.

Cannes-winning Taiwanese cameraman Mark Lee Ping-bing says in an interview published in A Poet of Light and Shadow – a collection of his still photographs that shooting in digital format takes away the artistry of camera work and lighting because you can immediately see your work on a display monitor and fix it – as opposed to waiting to develop the film. Lee, best known as a frequent collaborator with his countryman, director Hou Hsiao-hsien, also complained that digital technology allows filmmakers to fix flaws by computer afterward instead of doing things right on the set.

“Film is unknown, uncertain. It’s a chemical reaction. To be frank, it’s a little bit like painting. So if your technical skills and experience aren’t up to part, you’ll think that HD (high-definition digital video) is very easy to use,” Lee said in the book. “But HD is different. There is a monitor. It shows what you have shot. You’ll know if it’s a little dark in one part and you need to add a bit of light. Everything is on the monitor. Everything is OK if you have the monitor. All the expectation and the texture is gone,” he said.

Facebook Tops 350 Million Users

Facebook is enhancing privacy controls and eliminating its regional frameworks for online communities as the Internet’s most popular social networking service tops 350 million users. Facebook founder Mark Zuckergerg announced the changes and the milestone in a blog post, saying new privacy features will let users determine who gets to see pictures, comments, videos and other material in profiles.

“We’re adding something that many of you have asked for – the ability to control who sees each individual piece of content you create or upload.” Zuckerberg said.

“To make this possible, we have focused on giving you the tools you need to share and control your information.” When Facebook launched in early 2004 as an online network for college students to stay connected, the model centered on sharing information with “networks” of school friends.

Google Adds Translation to Search Engine

Google began weaving an automated language translation feature into its universal search service. A new “translated search” tool lets people direct Google to seek results from webpages written in an array of languages and then deliver results in a searcher’s preferred tongue.

The feature has been available at the Google Translate service, but is becoming part of the California-based Internet firm’s popular main search engine.

“Now, when you search on Google for something in your own language, you can use this tool to search the web in another language,” Google technical lead Maureen Heymans and product manager Jeff Chin said in a blog post. “We’re integrating it fully into Google search, making it easier for you to find and read results from pages across the Web, even if they weren’t written in a language you speak.”

Gaming On the Go

Asus is literally adding another dimension to its G51J3D notebook as it allows users to enjoy games in 3D. Users will be able to view games in 3D with the help of nVidia’s 3D Vision software and active-shutter glasses which will be bundled with the notebook.

Gamers will experience a new level of immersion with recently released games such as Resident Evil 5, Dorderlands and Batman: Arkham Asylum when using the 3D glasses, claimed Asus. Also, with 15.6in LED backlit display (1,366×768 pixels), they will have plenty of screen space to surf the Web, watch videos and play games.

The notebook is powered by an Intel Core i7-720QM (1.6GHz) processor and has up to 4GB RAM. It also has an nVidia GTX 260M graphic processor for handling 3D games. To complete the overall gaming experience, it has a pair of built-in Altec Lansing speakers. The G51J3D notebook can be configured to include a DVD writer or a Blu-ray combo drive. It also features a 2-megapixel webcam.

Fall In Love Again

Adamo stands for “to fall in love” in Latin and that’s what Dell hopes to achieve with it’s second Adamo notebook. The Adamo XPS is as thin and stylish as its predecessor. The slick and slim notebook measures little more than 9.99mm thick and it’s also very light as it weighs just 1.3kg.

Adamo’s new design raises the body of the notebook when it’s fully opened which pushes the keyboard at an angle so it’s more comfortable to use. This also helps in cooling the notebook. The machine’s tiny frame houses a 13.4in widescreen, a full-size keyboard and a touchpad that supports multi-touch.

The notebook, which is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo (1.4Ghz) ULV processor, has 4GB DDR3 RAM and a 128GB SSD (solid-state drive). It runs on Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). The Adamo XPS retails for RM6,799. www.adamobydell.com

Computing In the Kitchen

Having a laptop in a kitchen can be incredibly helpful, not only for displaying recipes from the Internet and other electronic cookbooks, but for entertaining the cook between prep sessions with music, news and video. With so many substances in liquid and powder form potentially flying around, it is important to shield the laptop’s screen and keyboard.

A clear plastic screen protector can help defend the laptop’s LCD against batter splatters, and a thin silicone keyboard cover can help keep loose ingredients from clogging up the machine. Putting electrical tape over the computer’s ports can keep out clouds of flour or sugar. Just be sure to leave the laptop’s air vents unblocked so that heat doesn’t build up inside and cause crashes and other problems.

Heat and consumer electronics don’t often mix well, so keep the laptop away from the stove, too. Although more expensive than a cheap laptop or netbook, a tablet or touchscreen computer may be more convenient for the kitchen. The idea of a kitchen computer has been around since at least 1969, with the expensive Honeywell H316 (pictured on the Computer History Museum’s site at www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/X579.85).

A French touch-screen PC called the Qooq (qooq.com) is one of the more recent attempts at a dedicated kitchen computer.