What is .htaccess by the way?

Wikipedia explains this pretty nicely – “.htaccess (hypertext access) is the default name of directory-level configuration files that allow for decentralized management of configuration when placed inside the web tree”.

Ok, if that was confusing – if you look into the folder structure of your blog through cPanel or your favourite FTP program, you must have seen this file called .htaccess. This is a file which defines the configuration of different sections of your blog. For example, you can modify this file to restrict access to certain sections of your blog, such as your wp-config.php file where you have to set the password information of your blog; or you can modify it to hide the actual URL of your blog as displayed to the end user, or change the structure of your permalink (what you call URL Rewriting), etc.

For the sake of this post, I’m writing here about 5 different ways in which you can work with your .htaccess file.

If you have problems hearing the people around you because you are totally engrossed in your own world of music – especially when you’re getting a bit of leisure time in the middle of office work – you should look at this.
The S1 Audio NxSet (pronounced “neck-set”) is equipped with an embedded speaker, and can be wrapped around your neck. Connect it to your wired or wireless audio player, iPod or phone, and you’ve got your own world of music around your head. These headphones then project the music toward your ears by mean of a pair of built-in speakers and a hi-fi amplifier.

If you have been a fan of the famous Star Trek series, and are familiar with the Emergency Medical Hologram program who can substitute for the regular medical staff or treat patients during emergency, then here is something similar that you can look forward to.

Well, almost similar.

Two research teams from the Aberystwyth University in Wales have marked a major advance in the field of artificial intelligence, by creating a robotic system that has made a novel scientific discovery with virtually no human intellectual input.

[In Pic: Adam the Robot Scientist (Image courtesy of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)]