Nanodesktop (previous version here) is updated once again with several additions such as support of TrueType font and compression/decompression of zip files. If you're a PSP homebrew developer you should check out pegasus2000's Nanodesktop. The changelog in the full article.


Download: Nanodesktop 0.3.4
Visit: QJ PSP Development Forums

Bees make honey, everyone knows that. But more often than not, everyone overlooks their other, more important function in the food chain: natural and effective pollinators of plants. If bees were not around to pollinate, the world would definitely be a hungrier place - and such is the reason why we should be scared that plants are bees are now currently being killed off. The details in the full article.

Researchers from UC San Francisco have finally found some solid evidence that points to a potential cause of the widespread Colony Collapse Disorder that is affecting bees in the U.S. And no, it's not mobile phones.

According to the LA Times, a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae has been found in affected hives from across the country. This fungus was responsible for widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia and may be playing a crucial role in the disappearance of bees in the U.S.

The fungus was also found in some hives where bees had survived. Two other fungi and half a dozen viruses have also been found in the dead bees.

Researchers have cautioned though that the results are still "highly preliminary" and are from only a few hives found in Le Grand in Merced County. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved," said UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi. Entomologist Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University echoed DeRisi's caution, noting that by itself, N. ceranae "is probably not the culprit ... but it may be one of the key players."

Bee researchers haven't ruled out other factors such as pesticide exposure and inadequate food resources following a drought. "There are lots of stresses that these bees are experiencing," said Cox-Foster, noting that a combination of these factors could be responsible.

If the N. ceranae is found to play a role in CCD, there is still some hope for the bees, which are used to pollinate a third of the country's agricultural crops. There is evidence that the antibiotic fumagillin, used mainly against a closely related parasite called Nosema apis which also affects bees, will also work on N. ceranae.

They're tireless, they're noisy, and they're always in a bad mood. If you hate bees, whip out your mobile phone and start using it like mad. New studies show that the most potent weapon against bees may be your handset.

In recent years, scientists have documented a phenomenon known as CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder. This happens when a bee hive is abruptly abandoned by members of the swarm for reasons previously unknown. The disappearance of workers and drones leaves a hive defenseless against predators. The food supply is also cut, so if bears and rival hives don't finish off the queen, hunger will.

Scientists now have a theory that may help explain why CCD happens. They say that it's quite possible that the radiation emanating from mobile handsets interferes with the guidance systems of bees. When that happens, they are rendered unable to go back home and they die off far from the nest.

People may not care about the fortunes of such insects, but they better start to. Bees are, in large part, responsible to the pollination of crops. If they are absent, fertilization among plants is hard-pressed to take place. That means the agricultural sector will take a nose dive, creating economic impacts and food shortage.

The CCD phenomenon has been reported in the U.S. west coast, The United Kingdom and Europe. Significant death tolls to hives have been reported, averaging 40 percent of hives abandoned per beekeeping facility.

Aside from environmental concerns, cellular phones have also been reported to cause brain tumors and neuron death. Neurons are essentially brain cells. Symptoms include premature memory loss in a matter of years. Medical experts fear that today's teens may be senile by the time they hit 30.

Bees are as interesting, as well as they're useful, but now, they're mysteriously disappearing and researchers and farmers are baffled as to why this is happening. Around a 50 percent loss in the bee population has been reported in 22 states already.

Recently named Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has decimated commercial beekeeping operations all across the country. But what really sets off this mystery from other bee die-offs in the past are the following clues:

1. Usually, the bodies of dead bees are often littered around their hive, but with the CCD, no dead bees are to be found littered around to give clues about this mysterious ailment. Scientists think they've flown from the hive before dying.
2. Hives look normal from the outside, but when investigated, there are few mature bees to be found taking care of the young.
3. Weakened colonies do not get overrun by the stronger ones. They remain untouched for at least two weeks.

Researchers are convinced that CCD is a real abnormality. They suspect that pesticides, or mites, or poor management by bee farmers must be the reason why the bees are dying the way that they are.

Bees are very important. They gather pollen from the blooms of fruits, vegetables, nuts, melons and many other food crops for the production of honey in wax combs, in turn pollinating plants. Bees pollinate a total of one third of the world's food supply.

With CCD threatening honey and food production, as well as the livelihood of bee farmers, researchers are scrambling to find the culprit behind this mysterious phenomenon.

This holiday season just keeps getting better for PSP homebrew users. Obviously, listing all of them would just be considered as wasting time, so I'll get right to the purpose of this post. Dark_AleX has just released the much anticipated update to his earlier custom firmware, 3.02 OE-A. And as promised, the new version will allow you to play your own PlayStation titles, rather than waiting for Sony to release them.

The only new feature in this release is the ability to play your own PlayStation titles, so I won't write up a changelog. Secondly, you can only get 3.02 OE-B on your PSP by upgrading from 3.02 OE-A, which means that if you're one of the few who haven't upgraded to 3.02 OE, it's time to do it now! Once you're on 3.02 OE-B, it's best to check out the readme.

The instructions for converting your PlayStation games to the POPS format are included in the popstation folder inside the archive. Here is a list of FAQs that Dark_AleX has included in the readme:

• Q: My game generated is a lot bigger in size than the same one from the PS3 Store.
• A: They use compression. Because the algorithm of compression is not still cracked, compressed isos are not supported yet.
• Q: I have my game in bin/cue.
• A: Use the bin as the ISO while converting.
• Q: I have my game in img/ccd...
• A: Use the img as the ISO while converting.
• Q: The savegames have the icon of Hot Shots 2!
• A: It's normal. Don't worry.

The only problem right now is that the emulator isn't 100% compatible with all the games out there. That's something you'll have to wait for Sony to fix. For the full instructions on converting your games to the POPS format, refer to the readme inside the popstation folder. In case any of you are having problems with the popstation converter, it's probably something to do with the file cygwin1.dll. Not to worry though, you can download the file from the link below and place the cygwin1.dll file in C:/Windows/System32/ folder. That should fix it. I'm already busy converting my small collection of PSX games to the POPS format. Have fun!

Download: [3.02 OE-B by Dark_AleX]
Link: [Cygwin1.dll]

Oki Electric Industry Co. has integrated its original FIFO (First-In First-Out) memory and image processing circuit into a single chip and significantly reduced CCD camera noise in dim light. It launched two types noise-reduction image processing LSIs: the ML87V2107 and the ML87V21071. They're marketing these to manufacturers of imaging electronics like TVs, video recorders, monitoring cameras, and network cameras.

What does it do? There are two versions of the new chip. The ML87V2107 has a noise reduction function and a frame synchronizer; it's good for DVR (that's digital video recorder like the TiVo or the Monolith MC) equipment because it prevents MPEG encoding errors. The ML87V21071 is also equipped with noise reduction and functions to eliminate digital cross colour, which makes it an excellent choice for the use in highly functional CCD cameras and TVs.

Lower prices for gadgets. Well, noise reduction, frame rate conversion, and other functions are traditionally done by two chips: one for image processing and one for FIFO memory. Oki managed to merge the image processing chip and the FIFO chip. This means less cost (manufacturers only have to pay for one chip), and we're hoping that this means lower prices for us consumers (hey, if the manufacturers are saving money, maybe they don't need to charge us so much!).

Watch out for Panasonic's release of the very first 3CCD DVD movie camera, VDR-D400. The 3CCD feature of the camera enables it to capture image data by assigning one color to each chip, resulting in more accurate color information as compared to one CCD cams currently available.

The new Panasonic VDR-D400 boasts of 800,000 pixel with its 20x Leica optical zoom. It also has 2.7 inches LCD, which displays crisp and clear pictures, a joystick control for easier navigation and a 16:9 widescreen recording capability. Other features of this new hot gadget is the SD/Sdhc card slot, O.I.S, built-in LED color enhancement light, a video editing software, Hi-speed USB 2, and MPEG-2 recording in XP/SP/LP modes.

The slick design and the eye-catching silver color of the new Panasonic VDR D400 makes it the perfect gadget to show off to your friends on your next vacation or reunion. It weighs 720g (including the batteries) and measures 70x149x90mm. It is poised to take over the market on 1st of September for a hefty price of ¥120,000 (about $1050). But hey, you wouldn't mind spending that much after you see the envious looks from your friends.

Fujifilm has came up with a new contraption being packaged as a digital camera that is blessed with advanced simplicity. Advance and simplicity may be contradictory to you but for some reason, Fujifilm might be able to pull it off. The FinePix S6000fd joins the growing family of FujiFilm Finepix.

The camera is blessed with 6.3MP with 6th generation Super CCD-HR Technology, 10.7x optical zoom with manual control, dual shot mode, movie recording with sound at 30 fps, 2.5 inch LCD, and 10MB internal memory.

If you think that the digicam is pretty simple to be an advanced contraption, well, the features do not end there. The S6000fd has a feature called the Face Detection Technology which is a new technology designed to significantly improve your picture taking by identifying human subjects' faces in the frame (up to 10 faces) and in real time, determining the optimal focus and exposure settings for the absolute best results possible in any shooting conditions.

Also, the digicam's picture stabilization technology is something to talk about. Perfect for taking pictures of moving objects. This easy to access feature (selectable on the mode dial) lets the FinePix S6000fd choose the correct light sensitivity and best-matching shutter speed automatically, for the highest quality digital pictures. It goes with well with its i-Flash Intelligent Flash. It recognizes scene conditions and determines the optimum flash output to ensure superb results.

If you ain't so sure if you want to use the cam's flash or not, then let the S6000fd decide for you with its dual shot mode. Dual shot mode will take two pictures with one press of the S6000fd's shutter button; one with flash to capture a bright, vivid image; and the other without flash, to capture the natural ambiance of the shot's environment.

It will be available this coming September, and the price tag will be divulged in the coming weeks.

VPC-E7	VPC-S7

At first glance you'd think that they are actually the same camera, and Sanyo got all confused themselves and released it with different names. Their similarities in design also transcend to the kind of features that they have. Both only have minor differences, that would be dependent on the buyer to deem them important or not.

The E7 offers a red-eye correction function while the S7 doesn't. It is also lighter than than the S7 by 34 grams, coming in at 132 grams compared to the 166 grams of the S7 with the battery. Aside from those very minute discrepancy, the two cameras offer a 7.1 Megapixel CCD, 3x Optical Zoom, 2.5 inch LCD monitor, VGA-Size (640x480) video clips and compatible with a 4GB SDHC Memory card.

If you're considering buying one of these cameras, think about the features you're looking for or what you're going to use it for. It might be better to have them side by side for better comparison. Both cameras will drop on September and is rumored to be priced at roughly around $353 USD.