Google has the flu

in its crosshairs. I know this is old news by now but Google has a plan to track the flu based on web searches in its search engine that indicate an incident of the flu. For example when someone types "flu symptoms" into the search bar Google logs it and if there are enough of these searches then it registers as a breakout of the flu in that area (Google can see where you are when you search). Turns out that this method is much faster than the CDC's tracking and also very accurate. Nowadays people search the internet to find a solution before going in to see a proffessional. The CDC's method can only know after a doctor is consulted and someone reports it. Google's method is "up to two weeks faster than traditional systems".

http://www.google.org/flutrends

apples and circles

Today I got my computer back from the Apple store after a week of repairs. Imagine how excited I was to get it back after not having my music and internet for a week. First thing that happens though when I get home is that it won't recognize my previous Time Machine backups on my external harddrive. Right now it's creating a full backup which takes a long time when there's 76GB to backup.

Apparently when the computer is restored or something drastic happens to the system it won't accept previous Time Machine backups and must create an entire new backup set. For some reason Time Machine can't just continue with a previous backup, after whatever they did. It's not like it can't backup after not having backed up for a week. I've backed up to a previous external hard drive after 4 months on my new one.

So, that's what I learned today, Time Machine doesn't work logically after they replace your Main Logic Board.