How Many Silicon Valley Startup Executives Are Hopped Up On Provigil?
Is someone you work with taking Provigil to give them an extra competitive edge? Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com have spoken with one executive who says he uses it regularly to work twenty hour days, and the buzz lately is that it’s the “entrepreneur’s drug of choice” around Silicon Valley. Over the last week two separate entrepreneurs have mentioned it casually in conversation, and one said he tried it once and loved it.Provigil (aka Modafinil) is marketed by Cephalon in the United States and is available by prescription only. It’s only approved use in the U.S. is to treat narcolepsy, a sleeping disorder. But since the main effect of Provigil is to keep you awake and able to concentrate, a lot of people who get their hands on it use it to be able to work longer hours, even though it has not been deemed safe for that kind of use.
Recreational Provigil user testimonials are all over the web. Not only are people able to work with little or no sleep, the drug has the advantage of spurring weight loss and some users report a general mood enhancing side effect. The U.S. military has also reportedly tested it on helicopter and F117 pilots to see if they remain effective for up to 88 hours without sleep.
There are few side effects to Provigil compared to stimulants and it is supposedly not habit forming. That, of course, doesn’t mean it’s safe to take it just to be able to stay awake for 20 hours a day.
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A Baby’s Smile Is a Natural High
The baby’s smile that gladdens a mother’s heart also lights up the reward centers of her brain, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears in the journal Pediatrics today.
The finding could help scientists figure out the special mother-infant bond and how it sometimes go wrong, said Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM and Texas Children’s Hospital and a research associate in BCM’s Human Neuroimaging Laboratory.
“The relationship between mothers and infants is critical for child development,” said Strathearn. “For whatever reason, in some cases, that relationship doesn’t develop normally. Neglect and abuse can result, with devastating effects on a child’s development.”
To study this relationship, Strathearn and his colleagues asked 28 first-time mothers with infants aged 5 to 10 months to watch photos of their own babies and other infants while they were in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. The machine measures blood flow in the brain. In the scans, areas of increased blood flow “light up,” giving researchers a clue as to where brain activity takes place. In some of the photos, babies were smiling or happy. In others they were sad, and in some they had neutral expressions.
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Microsoft Still Keen on Yahoo Bid
Software giant Microsoft says it would be willing to re-open talks with Yahoo about a possible takeover if the search firm had a new board of directors.
Microsoft had offered to buy its rival’s search business but was rebuffed by Yahoo last month. A number of investors have criticised Yahoo’s decision. Yahoo shares closed up 12% at $23.91. Microsoft said it could start talks with a newly elected board after Yahoo’s August shareholder meeting.
‘Immediate proposal’
The software giant said in a statement it would be interested in discussing two options - buying the “search function with larger financial guarantees” or “purchasing the whole company”.
Shareholder Carl Icahn is trying to oust Yahoo’s board, including the internet firm’s co-founder and chief executive Jerry Yang. US billionaire Icahn, who has amassed a 5% stake in Yahoo, has been in talks with Microsoft over the past week about a possible deal. The corporate raider has said that replacing Yahoo’s nine directors at the firm’s annual meeting on 1 August is the only way to salvage a deal with Microsoft. But Yahoo said the push by Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer and Mr Icahn to force it into selling its search business was not in the best interests of shareholders.
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Male Biological Clock ‘Ticks Too’
Scientists say they have found more evidence that men as well as women have biological clocks and that they start to tick in their mid-30s.
A French study of over 12,200 couples having fertility treatment suggests the chance of a successful pregnancy falls when the man is aged over 35. It adds that the chance is significantly lower if he is over 40. Previous studies have shown that both natural and assisted conception is more difficult if the man is over 40.
The researchers told a European reproductive health conference that it was likely the problems were caused by DNA damage in sperm.
Miscarriage risk
The researchers studied couples who had sought treatment for infertility at the Eylau Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Paris between January 2002 and December 2006. All were given intrauterine inseminations (IUI), also known as artificial insemination, where sperm is inserted into the womb when the woman is ovulating. It is given to couples where the woman has no fertility problems and is less invasive than IVF. The men’s sperm were examined for quantity, their ability to move and swim and their size and shape. Rates of pregnancy, miscarriage and births were recorded. In addition, the researchers analysed detailed data on the pregnancies, which allowed them to pinpoint factors associated with the man and the woman.
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AMD Has an Ace Up Its Sleeve
Taipei (Taiwan) - AMD has pulled a rabbit out of its hat to increase the performance of its existing Phenom triple-core (8000-series) and quad-core (9000-series) processors. Six “hidden pins” on the processors and chipsets are the secret, which, our sources told us, will enable simple overclocking through the southbridge – and accelerate the current processors on demand.
The name of the game is called “unlocking the multiplier”, which will be played with the SB700 and SB750 southbridge chips. If you are running an upcoming 2.8 GHz Black Edition CPU, a motherboard with the old SB600 model (RD690) will keep the processor cores operating at 2.8 GHz. However, if you have a motherboard with the SB700 chipset, you will receive a free upgrade to 3.0 GHz. And if you get a motherboard with a SB750 chip, your processor will run at 3.2 GHz, which matches the clock speed of the Athlon X2 6400+ - the highest clocked processor AMD ever offerred.
We have seen motherboards with 780G, 790FX and 790GX chipsets in ATX and mATX form factors, which all support this feature. Now it is up to AMD to execute and deliver a compelling user processor.
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Thermalright’s Computer Case is Basically a Huge Radiator
Taipei (Taiwan) – The guys at Thermalright hate computer cooling fans with a passion and have developed a case that’s basically a huge radiator. Consisting of aluminum paneling, ribbed with heatpipes, this case doesn’t need any cooling fans (well, with the exception of the fan in the power supply unit).
Loren Hrabak, a sales engineer with Thermalright, told us the HSC-101 case dissipates up to 150 watts of heat per side. One side of the case is for the processor while the other side is for the graphics card and other components.
The company is still finalizing what water blocks, tubing and other parts to include with the case. There is also no specified price, but it will probably be a bit expensive as the tooling costs required for the side panels must be astronomical.
Thermalright also showed off another case with six huge fans in the front and back. This is accomplished by moving the motherboard a few inches away from the back. Extender cables connect the i/o ports on the back of the motherboard to ports in the case.
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IBM Aims to Cool Chips With Water
A network of tiny pipes of water could be used to cool next-generation PC chips, researchers at IBM have said.
Scientists at the firm have shown off a prototype device layered with thousands of “hair-width” cooling arteries. They believe it could be a solution to the increasing amount of heat pumped out by chips as they become smaller and more densely packed with components.
The technology was demonstrated in IBM’s 3D chips, where circuits are stacked one on top of the other. Laying chips vertically, instead of side by side, reduces the distance data has to travel , enhancing performance and saving critical space.
“As we package chips on top of each other….we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don’t scale,” explained Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory. In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling.”
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