First published article on genome editing in human embryos

Most other media sources have a bias on the impact and implications of the recent publication CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in human tripronuclear zygotes by Liang et al.. If you want to read to yourself, you can download the PDF for free.

In short, the group tested the CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering tools in non-viable human zygotes.

They discovered that their genome editing occurred at low efficiency, their intended target suffered repair from a endogenous sequence (a similar sequence on another part of the human genome) rather than using their donor oligos (synthetic DNA supplied to direct the intended mutation), and off-target mutation was observed. This is the first published article on genome editing in a model that is directly applicable to human health. This technology has been used in other organisms. The problems describe highlight the need to improve efficiency and specificity if this technology is ever going to have practical use.

How to Refresh Thumbnails on Google Chrome New Tab Page

In brief, for Windows 7: If you want to refresh the thumbnails shown on your Chrome browser New Tab page for your most visited sites, you can point your Run command or navigate your Explorer to the address:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\

Then delete the file named "Top Sites." You will need to close Chrome when you are deleting it. When you re-open Chrome and open a New Tab, the thumbnails will be missing, but if you re-visit the pages, the thumbnails will repopulate.

The page at howtogeek.com describes how to do it for older versions of Chrome, but in the most recent version of Chrome (as of this posting on Windows Version 42.0.2311.90 m), the file you need to delete is "Top Sites" not "Thumbnails." This will probably also be the solution for other operating systems (Mac, Ubuntu, etc.).

Dropbox, no clutter please

Dropbox just introduced a new badge that floats around and attaches to the edges of windows in Windows OS.

Thank goodness it can be disabled, but it is an awfully intrusive design decision.

Gallery App on Android Crashes with Share

I had this problem: Every time I hit the share button anywhere using the Gallery app in Android, Gallery would crash. It made picture file manipulation quite difficult, and I just resorted to using other file managing apps. What an inconvenience!

When I searched for the answer I found this: http://inside-galaxy.blogspot.com/2013/12/samsung-galaxy-s3-how-to-fix-gallery.html.

It turns out that I had caused the problem, because in a flurry of turning off built-in apps, I turned off the "Paper Artist" app, which caused the crash on Gallery sharing.

When I Turned On the Paper Artist app, it fixed the problem.

Who would've thought that warning which stated "Turning off built-in apps may cause errors in other apps." would actually apply to anything?

Hope this is useful for anyone else with this issue.

My system for anyone who cares:
Software version: L900VPUCNE2
Hardware version: L900.09
Model number: SPH-L900
Android version: 4.4.2
Baseband version: L900VPUCNE2
Kernel version: 3.0.31-1561791, dpi@SWDD5716 #1
Build number: KOT49H.L900VPUCNE2
SE for Android statue: Enforcing, SEPF_SPH-L900_4.4.2_0016

Update (4/23/15): If the above strategy does not work, then you may want to check where your pictures are being saved and accessed.
I continued having problems with pictures on my phone, and the problem turned out to be a hardware one. The 64 GB microSD card I had installed was failing. I sent back the microSD card for a full refund, and bought a new 64 GB one (for cheaper, since the price has been dropping on memory!). Fixed a problem and made some cash, win-win.

Desired Pandora feature

I made a Pandora music station on an account that multiple people log in to and manage. I wish you could share/manage a station from separate accounts, so we wouldn't have to log out of one account and into the other to manage the station. Does anyone know a workaround, or is this a feature I don't know about in Pandora?

Thanks ahead of time internet.

Touch cell phones as a new vector for transmissible diseases.

Sitting in a hospital, tapping away on my smart phone, it struck me how robust viruses and bacteria could reside and spread using this surface that interfaces between fingers and face. How will this technology effect human health in relation to pathogens?

Blurry 2560x1080 Display

I just got a SuperWide 21:9 monitor, and when I plugged it in via the DVI cable that was running my previous monitor, I was dismayed to find that on the highest resolution (2560x1080) the display was blurry. I was barely able to read text. After some searching for answers, I found one in an unlikely place. I discovered that it wasn't a software issue, but just a cable issue.

The DVI cable that was connecting my previous monitor was "single link DVI." I had to use the "dual link DVI" cable that came with the monitor. Same plug, just more pins.

Problem solved.

Hopefully anyone else with this same issue can find their answer solved here quickly without wandering.