dean

Meet the "apparatus for treating obesity by extracting food." That's what Dean Kamen's stomach pump is called in a recently granted U.S. patent, and it looks a lot less fun than Kamen's most famous invention, the Segway.

The good part is you can eat anything you like. The bad part is you have to get a tube put into your stomach and then suck the food out with a gadget called the AspireAssist.

Kamen and a team of physicians developed the pump as an obesity treatment that's reversible and, as they describe it, "minimally invasive." … Read more

Paul Ceglia has chased away his lawyers before and now another one is begging to get off the case. But, Ceglia doesn't want to let him go.

Ceglia, who is suing Facebook with the claim that he owns half of the social network, is up to his neck in legal woes. But, his lawyer Dean Boland, has said he can no longer represent Ceglia because of threats he's received, according to the Associated Press.

Boland has filed a motion to withdraw from the lawsuit but Ceglia has opposed the motion.

"I appreciate the fear for his own … Read more

One of the IBM engineers who designed the first IBM PC says the venerable device is going the way of the vacuum tube and typewriter. He made this pronouncement on the eve of the IBM PC's 30th anniversary, coming up on August 12.

First a little background on Mark Dean, currently the chief technology officer for IBM Middle East and Africa. Dean was chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 and 80, and the Color Graphics Adapter in the original IBM PC. He holds three of the nine patents … Read more

For the past couple of months Pioneer DJ (a division of Pioneer Electronics) has been traveling the East and West coasts with the DJ Art Mix Tour, raising funds for VH1's Save the Music Foundation, to restore music education programs in public schools.

The event enlisted some of the top DJs, urban artists, and designers to create original works of art using a unique canvas: the Pioneer CDJ-2000 digital music player.

August 2 through August 23, everyone will have the opportunity to bid on one of the 12 original art pieces created by Steve Aoki, Tommy Lee and DJ Aero, BT, The Crystal Method, Jesse "Dean" Graves, Joe Hahn of Linkin Park, Bob Haro, Man One, Victor "Marka27" Quinonez, Ritzy Periwinkle, Rost Arr, and George Thompson.

Bidding will begin at $400, with final bids being accepted until noon ET, on August 23. All the information you'll need about each individual work of art and the artist(s) can be found on the Pioneer DJ Art Mix page on charitybuzz. To boot, 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

We had the opportunity to check out the Pioneer DJ Art Mix show held at Twelve21 in New York on June 23.… Read more

Microsoft released a second "platform preview" version of Internet Explorer 9 on Wednesday with faster JavaScript and better Web standards compliance--plus an argument for how future Web technology should develop.

Central to the second IE9 preview (download) is progress toward matching rivals in SunSpider, a speed test of Web-based JavaScript programs, and Acid3, a test of adherence to some Web technologies. On the first, Microsoft improved from 590 to 473 milliseconds; on the second, from 55 to 68 out of a possible 100. But there's more to the story than benchmarks.

The new platform preview, arriving seven … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Dean Kamen, who best known as the inventor of the Segway scooter, has come to realize that people pose much tougher challenges than machines.

Kamen, who heads design and engineering company Deka Research and Development, said that in his many years of working in technologies, he has found that the time it takes to develop new products is often eclipsed by the time it takes to bring something to market. Among his many credits, Kamen lists many medical devices, including machines for home dialysis, Pap tests, stents, the iBot wheelchair, and its offshoot, the Segway.

But even though … Read more

Segway has been bought by British millionaire Jimi Heselden, an investor in the company's U.K. dealership.

Heselden is chairman of Hesco Bastion, a company that makes "Concertainer" units for flood and blast protection, as used by the military and humanitarian agencies. Segway, which makes high-tech scooters, made the deal public in a blog post Thursday, although it said it took place on Christmas Eve.

The blog post describes Segway's buyer as "a company that is based in the United Kingdom" and said the company is backed by Heseldon, although it is not clear … Read more

Dean's Law Dictionary provides an impressive collection of legal reference materials suitable for any practicing attorney or law student. Its organizational tools and in-depth data make this a great daily tool and a fine educational program, too.

The program's interface provides a simple menu and command icons that feel natural to operate. It's a bit annoying that a few of the program's commands are locked during its trial period, but for the most part the dictionary is easy to use and yields fast results. The program's heart is the Law Dictionary, a great source of … Read more

Vomit throws up viral views.

At least that is the conclusion of the strangely anal examiners of viral video at Visible Measures.

Perhaps some of you may have avoided the splashback from the Internet Explorer 8 vomit ad, featuring a husband, a wife, and former Superman Dean Cain.

The ad was slipped online and was pulled shortly afterward, as some people thought watching a housewife throwing up in the kitchen after seeing something untoward on her husband's laptop was not entirely edifying.

However, the Visible Measurers have offered some pleasantly risible measurements.

Apparently, 57 percent of all the views … Read more