webWROTE Blog

2011-02-16T13:40:00.001-05:00

Phone runs Android and Ubuntu!

http://ping.fm/1Vyu9

2011-02-16T13:20:00.001-05:00

OpenOffice vs LibreOffice

http://ping.fm/JT4uL

2011-02-16T07:38:00.001-05:00

TiVo to Brick All Remaining PVRs in UK

http://ping.fm/mU2Wj

2011-02-16T07:35:00.001-05:00

1000Memories Funded By Greylock Angels

http://ping.fm/78Ks0

2011-02-16T07:33:00.001-05:00

Use a Tablet, Save a Tree

http://ping.fm/GleL9

2011-02-15T22:02:00.001-05:00

Facebook on a SIM, and other Facebook related info

http://ping.fm/tO36c

2011-02-15T15:49:00.001-05:00

Bell vs. Teksavvy's George Burger on the facts on Bandwidth

http://ping.fm/Y39eF

2011-02-15T14:10:00.001-05:00

Google’s Schmidt: We Would Have Loved to Have Nokia Adopt Android

http://ping.fm/EMThy

2011-02-15T14:00:00.001-05:00

Nokia Shareholders Fight Back: Plan B

http://nokiaplanb.com/

2011-02-15T12:27:00.001-05:00

Google Shows off Movie Studio, a Tablet Video-editing App

http://ping.fm/rJoxK

2011-02-15T09:58:00.001-05:00

Don't Use Google - Glenn Beck

http://ping.fm/qOHmi

2011-02-15T09:57:00.001-05:00

Buy or Walk Away: There's an App for That!

http://ping.fm/ci07c

2011-02-15T09:56:00.001-05:00

Apple Unveils Subscription Plans for App Store

http://ping.fm/Xry6I

2011-02-15T07:42:00.001-05:00

3G or 4G, wireless still Sucks

http://ping.fm/y2bFi

2011-02-15T07:38:00.001-05:00

HTC TAblet, Android Phone with FaceBook button and more

http://ping.fm/5tEzi

2011-02-15T07:20:00.001-05:00

Tablet Deployment: 51% of CIO's say Yes

http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20110215/tk-4/

2011-02-15T07:19:00.001-05:00

Mobile Payments Coming for Physical Goods, Sooner Than You Think

http://ping.fm/WtLOG

2011-02-15T07:17:00.001-05:00

Linux Goes Live at London Stock Exchange

http://ping.fm/yBpXj

2011-02-15T07:16:00.001-05:00

CRIA Files MAssive Lawsuit against IsoHunt

http://ping.fm/8gge0

2011-02-14T20:17:00.001-05:00

Three iPhone 5 models

http://ping.fm/0hIAX

2011-02-14T15:13:00.001-05:00

RIM Buys Contact Manager GIST

http://ping.fm/MN6P3

2011-02-14T15:09:00.001-05:00

How Your User Name may Betray You

http://ping.fm/Vg8tW

2011-02-14T14:53:00.001-05:00

E-Book Lending

http://ping.fm/wI11d

2011-02-14T14:37:00.001-05:00

Microsoft Paid Nokia Billions to use WP7

http://ping.fm/h44eM

2011-02-14T14:34:00.001-05:00

The World's Largest TouchScreen

http://ping.fm/98YXg

2011-02-14T11:34:00.001-05:00

Apple and Samsung Hammering Out $7.8 Billion Display Deal

http://ping.fm/BkzOh

2011-02-14T10:41:00.001-05:00

The Cyberweapon That Could Take Down the Internet

http://ping.fm/pB6rB

2011-02-14T10:14:00.001-05:00

Microsoft to Add Multitasking, Internet Explorer 9 to Windows Phone Later this Year

http://ping.fm/x2SeI

2011-02-04T17:26:00.001-05:00

New Android Market web store could open backdoor for phone hackers

http://ping.fm/6E4Dw

2011-02-04T17:24:00.001-05:00

Giant archaeological trove found in Google Earth

http://ping.fm/60HsD

2011-02-04T17:21:00.001-05:00

‘Dating’ Site Imports 250,000 Facebook Profiles, Without Permission

http://ping.fm/iYHnL

2011-02-02T13:49:00.001-05:00

15 Scientifically-Proven Things That Will Make You Happier

http://ping.fm/MWyu2
http://ping.fm/zsm4n

2011-02-02T12:44:00.001-05:00

Google's Honeycomb Designer: Humans Shouldn't Have to Do a Computer's Work

http://ping.fm/KcFNR

2011-02-02T12:19:00.001-05:00

BlackBerry PlayBook: Looks Good on Paper, But...

http://ping.fm/tyU33

2011-02-02T09:13:00.000-05:00

Harper Orders Review of Internet Billing

http://ping.fm/G8fg4

2011-01-31T12:10:00.001-05:00

Prediction: In Two Years, Apple Will Have Less Than 50 Percent of the Tablet Market

http://ping.fm/70oHZ

2011-01-29T21:42:00.001-05:00

Internet Kill Switch Back On the US Legislative Agenda

http://ping.fm/kTAot

2011-01-27T08:25:00.001-05:00

Netflix Takes Aim at the Cable Guys, With a Promise to Start Firing Tomorrow

http://ping.fm/YPeHZ

2011-01-26T16:07:00.001-05:00

Counting Tablets, Apple Is Third in Global PC Sales

http://ping.fm/gKOZM

2011-01-24T14:08:00.001-05:00

Study Finds More Young Kids Can Work a Smartphone Than Tie Their Shoes

http://ping.fm/ZoZpR

2011-01-24T14:06:00.001-05:00

Web Tool on Firefox to Deter Tracking.

http://ping.fm/mbnUM

2011-01-13T16:43:00.001-05:00

Apple to Remove the Home Button on the Next iPhone and iPad!

http://ping.fm/xf8ze

2011-01-11T15:43:00.001-05:00

Some interesting stats on Wal-Mart

http://ping.fm/vo77x

HOW BIG IS WALMART?

2011-01-11T15:30:00.003-05:00

Some Interesting Stats

1. At Walmart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.

2. This works out to $10,000 profit every second!

3. Walmart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Walmart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.

6. Walmart is the largest company in the history of the World.

7. Walmart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, keeping in mind they did this in only 15 years.

8. During this same period, 31 supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.

9. Walmart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Walmart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.

11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart.

13. The value of product for Walmart passing through the port of San Diego each year is a larger sum than 93% of ALL countries' Gross National Product (GNP) and that is only ONE port. One way that Walmart gets it's stuff.

14. Of the 1.6 million employees, only 1.2% make a living above the poverty level.

15. Walmart's head office is located and centralized in Bentonville, Arkansas. Due to this fact, there are more millionaires per square mile there than any place on Earth.

16. The official U. S. Government position is that Walmart's prices are 'no lower' than anyone else when compared to a typical family's weekly purchases. That's the view of the statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) responsible for calculating the consumer price index (CPI).

17. 92% of everything Walmart sells, comes from China. Another 4% comes from Chinese owned companies in the U.S. or in 3rd world countries. (Yes, China is in charge here alright) SCARY.

18. Walmart and MOST large companies, take out life insurance on it's employees, without their knowing. If an employee dies, ALL the insurance moneys go to the companies (i.e. An employee making $18,000 per year, dies, and the company might make as much as $1 million). Most often these moneys, coming from what is commonly referred to as "Dead Peasant Life Insurance Policies", is paid out to executives as bonuses. (A common practice)!

19. Walmart now averages a "profit" (not sales) of $36 billion per year.

The Mysterious Case of The 'iPad 2' Cases

2011-01-02T10:49:00.002-05:00

Protective cases purportedly made for a new version of the iPad, posted for sale on Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba.com, have fueled some of the latest speculation about the rumored sequel to Apple’s red-hot tablet computer. In fact, they drew enough attention that someone with pull appears to have objected to the listings.

Screenshot of a listing on Alibaba.com offering protective cases purportedly for an Apple iPad 2.

Apple has yet to publicly disclose any plans for an iPad 2. But gadget bloggers in the last week seized on pictures from Alibaba.com, a trading platform for smaller businesses in and outside China, as evidence of the new features that a second-generation iPad might have. In particular, they said the cases proved that the iPad 2 will include a camera on its back surface, since circular holes were depicted on the backs of the mostly silicon cases in the Alibaba listings. The cases were priced at a few dollars or lower and available in colors including bright pink and green.

But someone—it’s unclear who—doesn’t seem to appreciate all the attention: Alibaba.com was asked to remove the listings. “We do not know whether these products are what they say they are, but we have received a legitimate takedown request and are removing the listings,” Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said Wednesday.

Mr. Spelich declined to comment on the source of the request, and Apple did not reply to a request for comment.

Several listings for iPad 2 cases had been removed by Friday, but at least two were still accessible as of Friday afternoon in Beijing. Mr. Spelich said the company is in the process of removing all the listings.

It’s unclear what the specific objection was to the listings on Alibaba, and who the overzealous merchants that posted them are. The companies listed southern China phone numbers in their Alibaba.com profiles, suggesting they’re based there. A man who answered the phone at one of the companies, called Fullchance Industrial Co., claimed that it works with Hon Hai Precision Industry and said Fullchance possesses firsthand material regarding the features of a new iPad, making the design of their case “extremely accurate.”

The man declined to give his name or to elaborate, saying the matter was “very serious.”

Hon Hai, which assembles Apple’s iPhone and iPad, among other gadgets, is the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer by revenue. The Taiwan-based company, whose main factories are in southern China, is known for carefully guarding its customers’ trade secrets.

A spokesman for Hon Hai said he saw no connection between Hon Hai and the listings on Alibaba.com. A second Hon Hai spokesman called remarks such as those made by the man from Fullchance “hostile.”

Asked how they knew the design details of the iPad 2, other merchants selling the cases on Alibaba declined to comment, or simply hung up immediately.

–Owen Fletcher

http://ping.fm/XVNqJ

2010-12-23T23:32:00.001-05:00

The Real Truth?

http://ping.fm/P7guN

US Regulators Partly Follow Canada's Net Neutrality

2010-12-22T18:38:00.002-05:00

The U.S. regulator of telecommunications has adopted Internet neutrality rules allowing traffic management that in some ways look remarkably like those of Canada.

In a 3-2 decision on Tuesday, members of the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules forbidding wireline broadband providers from engaging in “unreasonable discrimination” in the way they give subscribers access to legal Web content.

That’s similar to wording the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRCT) used in 2009 when it said providers can’t be “unjustly discriminatory nor unduly preferential.” One big difference is that the CRTC has a big stick – the non-discrimination rule is backed by federal law, the Telecommunications Act, which for years has prohibited carriers from discriminating in the delivery of services. The act gives the commission clear authority to regulate carriers.

[Read the entire CRTC decision here]

Also like the CRTC policy, the FCC says American wireline Internet providers must spell out to subscribers details of their traffic management rules.

http://ping.fm/P47OR

The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time

2010-12-22T18:37:00.002-05:00

This Tuesday is an important day in the fight to save the Internet.

As a source of innovation, an engine of our economy, and a forum for our political discourse, the Internet can only work if it's a truly level playing field. Small businesses should have the same ability to reach customers as powerful corporations. A blogger should have the same ability to find an audience as a media conglomerate.

This principle is called "net neutrality" -- and it's under attack. Internet service giants like Comcast and Verizon want to offer premium and privileged access to the Internet for corporations who can afford to pay for it.

The good news is that the Federal Communications Commission has the power to issue regulations that protect net neutrality. The bad news is that draft regulations written by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski don't do that at all. They're worse than nothing.

That's why Tuesday is such an important day. The FCC will be meeting to discuss those regulations, and we must make sure that its members understand that allowing corporations to control the Internet is simply unacceptable.

Although Chairman Genachowski's draft Order has not been made public, early reports make clear that it falls far short of protecting net neutrality. [...]

Read The Rest Here: http://ping.fm/fb5WR

2010-12-22T18:36:00.001-05:00

The Most Important Free Speech Issue of Our Time

http://ping.fm/9aMR6

2010-12-21T19:48:00.001-05:00

Watching TronLegacy, in 2D. Can't wait to see it in 3D!!

The FCC Votes. A New Internet Dawns. Like it or Not.

2010-12-21T18:11:00.002-05:00

There is only one point of consensus that has emerged from today’s imminent 3-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission on network neutrality rules proposed by Chairman Julius Genachowski: All concerned are dissatisfied with the result.

Even those who are voting in favor are doing so holding their noses. Of the five voting members of the commission, only one, Democrat Michael Copps, had been considered remotely likely to vote with the two Republicans who had pledged to vote against it. When he announced he would vote in favor yesterday he said he was doing so with reservations. [...]

Read The Rest of the Article Here: http://ping.fm/Scq2H

We Should Remember this All year, not just at Christmas

2010-12-17T14:17:00.002-05:00

Better bundle up - the goose bumps will freeze you!! I think I need to read this every year at Christmas.

Pa never had much compassion for the lazy or those who squandered their means and then never had enough for the necessities. But for those who were genuinely in need, his heart was as big as all outdoors. It was from him that I learned the greatest joy in life comes from giving, not from receiving.

It was Christmas Eve 1881. I was fifteen years old and feeling like the world had caved in on me because there just hadn't been enough money to buy me the rifle that I'd wanted for Christmas. We did the chores early that night for some reason. I just figured Pa wanted a little extra time so we could read in the Bible.

After supper was over I took my boots off and stretched out in front of the fireplace and waited for Pa to get down the old Bible. I was still feeling sorry for myself and, to be honest, I wasn't in much of a mood to read Scriptures. But Pa didn't get the Bible, instead he bundled up again and went outside. I couldn't figure it out because we had already done all the chores. I didn't worry about it long though, I was too busy wallowing in self-pity. Soon Pa came back in. It was a cold clear night out and there was ice in his beard. "Come on, Matt," he said. "Bundle up good, it's cold out tonight." I was really upset then. Not only wasn't I getting the rifle for Christmas, now Pa was dragging me out in the cold, and for no earthly reason that I could see. We'd already done all the chores, and I couldn't think of anything else that needed doing, especially not on a night like this. But I knew Pa was not very patient at one dragging one's feet when he'd told them to do something, so I got up and put my boots back on and got my cap, coat, and mittens. Ma gave me a mysterious smile as I opened the door to leave the house. Something was up, but I didn't know what..

Outside, I became even more dismayed. There in front of the house was the work team, already hitched to the big sled. Whatever it was we were going to do wasn't going to be a short, quick, little job. I could tell. We never hitched up this sled unless we were going to haul a big load. Pa was already up on the seat, reins in hand. I reluctantly climbed up beside him. The cold was already biting at me. I wasn't happy. When I was on, Pa pulled the sled around the house and stopped in front of the woodshed. He got off and I followed. "I think we'll put on the high sideboards," he said. "Here, help me." The high sideboards! It had been a bigger job than I wanted to do with just the low sideboards on, but whatever it was we were going to do would be a lot bigger with the high side boards on.

After we had exchanged the sideboards, Pa went into the woodshed and came out with an armload of wood - the wood I'd spent all summer hauling down from the mountain, and then all fall sawing into blocks and splitting. What was he doing? Finally I said something. "Pa," I asked, "what are you doing?" "You been by the Widow Jensen's lately?" he asked. The Widow Jensen lived about two miles down the road. Her husband had died a year or so before and left her with three children, the oldest being eight. Sure, I'd been by, but so what?
Yeah," I said, "Why?"
"I rode by just today," Pa said. "Little Jakey was out digging around in the woodpile trying to find a few chips. They're out of wood, Matt." That was all he said and then he turned and went back into the woodshed for another armload of wood. I followed him. We loaded the sled so high that I began to wonder if the horses would be able to pull it. Finally, Pa called a halt to our loading, then we went to the smoke house and Pa took down a big ham and a side of bacon. He handed them to me and told me to put them in the sled and wait. When he returned he was carrying a sack of flour over his right shoulder and a smaller sack of something in his left hand. "What's in the little sack?" I asked. Shoes, they're out of shoes. Little Jakey just had gunny sacks wrapped around his feet when he was out in the woodpile this morning. I got the children a little candy too. It just wouldn't be Christmas without a little candy."

We rode the two miles to Widow Jensen's pretty much in silence. I tried to think through what Pa was doing. We didn't have much by worldly standards. Of course, we did have a big woodpile, though most of what was left now was still in the form of logs that I would have to saw into blocks and split before we could use it. We also had meat and flour, so we could spare that, but I knew we didn't have any money, so why was Pa buying them shoes and candy? Really, why was he doing any of this? Widow Jensen had closer neighbors than us; it shouldn't have been our concern.

We came in from the blind side of the Jensen house and unloaded the wood as quietly as possible, then we took the meat and flour and shoes to the door. We knocked. The door opened a crack and a timid voice said, "Who is it?" "Lucas Miles, Ma'am, and my son, Matt, could we come in for a bit?"
Widow Jensen opened the door and let us in. She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. The children were wrapped in another and were sitting in front of the fireplace by a very small fire that hardly gave off any heat at all. Widow Jensen fumbled with a match and finally lit the lamp.
"We brought you a few things, Ma'am," Pa said and set down the sack of flour. I put the meat on the table. Then Pa handed her the sack that had the shoes in it. She opened it hesitantly and took the shoes out one pair at a time. There was a pair for her and one for each of the children - sturdy shoes, the best, shoes that would last. I watched her carefully. She bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling and then tears filled her eyes and started running down her cheeks. She looked up at Pa like she wanted to say something, but it wouldn't come out.

"We brought a load of wood too, Ma'am," Pa said. He turned to me and said, "Matt, go bring in enough to last awhile. Let's get that fire up to size and heat this place up." I wasn't the same person when I went back out to bring in the wood. I had a big lump in my throat and as much as I hate to admit it, there were tears in my eyes too. In my mind I kept seeing those three kids huddled around the fireplace and their mother standing there with tears running down her cheeks with so much gratitude in her heart that she couldn't speak.

My heart swelled within me and a joy that I'd never known before, filled my soul. I had given at Christmas many times before, but never when it had made so much difference. I could see we were literally saving the lives of these people.
I soon had the fire blazing and everyone's spirits soared. The kids started giggling when Pa handed them each a piece of candy and Widow Jensen looked on with a smile that probably hadn't crossed her face for a long time. She finally turned to us. "God bless you," she said. "I know the Lord has sent you. The children and I have been praying that he would send one of his angels to spare us."

In spite of myself, the lump returned to my throat and the tears welled up in my eyes again. I'd never thought of Pa in those exact terms before, but after Widow Jensen mentioned it I could see that it was probably true. I was sure that a better man than Pa had never walked the earth. I started remembering all the times he had gone out of his way for Ma and me, and many others. The list seemed endless as I thought on it.
Pa insisted that everyone try on the shoes before we left. I was amazed when they all fit and I wondered how he had known what sizes to get. Then I guessed that if he was on an errand for the Lord that the Lord would make sure he got the right sizes.

Tears were running down Widow Jensen's face again when we stood up to leave. Pa took each of the kids in his big arms and gave them a hug. They clung to him and didn't want us to go. I could see that they missed their Pa, and I was glad that I still had mine.
At the door Pa turned to Widow Jensen and said, "The Mrs. wanted me to invite you and the children over for Christmas dinner tomorrow. The turkey will be more than the three of us can eat, and a man can get cantankerous if he has to eat turkey for too many meals. We'll be by to get you about eleven. It'll be nice to have some little ones around again. Matt, here, hasn't been little for quite a spell." I was the youngest. My two brothers and two sisters had all married and had moved away.
Widow Jensen nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Miles. I don't have to say, May the Lord bless you, I know for certain that He will."
Out on the sled I felt a warmth that came from deep within and I didn't even notice the cold. When we had gone a ways, Pa turned to me and said, "Matt, I want you to know something. Your ma and me have been tucking a little money away here and there all year so we could buy that rifle for you, but we didn't have quite enough. Then yesterday a man who owed me a little money from years back came by to make things square. Your ma and me were real excited, thinking that now we could get you that rifle, and I started into town this morning to do just that,but on the way I saw little Jakey out scratching in the woodpile with his feet wrapped in those gunny sacks and I knew what I had to do. Son, I spent the money for shoes and a little candy for those children. I hope you understand."
I understood, and my eyes became wet with tears again. I understood very well, and I was so glad Pa had done it. Now the rifle seemed very low on my list of priorities. Pa had given me a lot more. He had given me the look on Widow Jensen's face and the radiant smiles of her three children.
For the rest of my life, whenever I saw any of the Jensens, or split a block of wood, I remembered, and remembering brought back that same joy I felt riding home beside Pa that night. Pa had given me much more than a rifle that night, he had given me the best Christmas of my life.

BMW uses bright lights, subliminal messages to sell motorcycles

2010-12-16T10:50:00.002-05:00

BMW uses bright lights, subliminal messages to sell motorcycles (video)
ENGADGET | 16 DECEMBER, 2010

http://pulsene.ws/wEer

The BMW S1000R is fast enough and sexy enough (other than that one lazy eye) to sell itself, and you'd think a commercial ..

Forecast: 19 Million Notebooks Lost to Tablet Cannibalization in 2011

2010-12-15T08:09:00.002-05:00

http://ping.fm/3DX1z

Year of The Mac? How About "Years of The Mac"

2010-12-14T11:37:00.002-05:00

Year of The Mac? How About "Years of The Mac"

http://ping.fm/UNiIP

iPhone Still Kicking Droids Butt!

2010-12-13T22:43:00.002-05:00

http://ping.fm/qAcEb

What's Really Wrong with Blackberry (and what to do about it).

2010-12-13T16:30:00.002-05:00

http://ping.fm/t0C0H

Verizon's Cure for Crackberry Addiction: Android!

2010-12-10T09:30:00.003-05:00

Another handful of worrisome data points for Research in Motion, which appears to be slipping down carriers’ priority lists as the BlackBerry struggles for purchase in an increasingly sophisticated market. New Verizon sales metrics from ITG Investment Research analyst Matthew Goodman paint a picture of RIM that, while not yet dire, describe a worrisome trend. According to Goodman, 80 percent of smartphone sales at Verizon in November were Android devices (46 percent of those were DROIDs). Which is astonishing for two reasons. 1.) That’s a huge percentage for a relatively new mobile OS in a very competitive market. 2.) In December of 2008, RIM was touting the BlackBerry as Verizon’s best-selling device. In two years, it’s gone from a flagship to johnboat [...]

Read The Rest of the Article Here:
http://ping.fm/KRWvG

RIM: In a Four-Horse Race. For Third Place

2010-12-08T08:47:00.002-05:00

Research in Motion may be a global leader in the mobile email market, but in the fast developing smartphone sector it’s just another company battling for the right to third place. That’s Gleacher & Company analyst Mark McKechnie’s take on the BlackBerry maker and, frankly, after RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis’s strained–and at times nonsensical–performance at D:Dive Into Mobile yesterday, it’s perhaps easier than it should be to agree with him.

In a pessimistic note to clients Tuesday, McKechnie said he expects RIM to lose share in the smartphone market, as the company’s growth, which has not paced that of the broader industry, slows further. RIM’s battle now is not a battle for smartphone dominance, but a battle for relevance–the same one being fought by Nokia, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard’s Palm unit.[...]

Read The Rest of The Article Here:
http://ping.fm/SeEow

The Shameful Attacks on Julian Assange

2010-12-06T13:02:00.003-05:00

Julian Assange and Pfc Bradley Manning have done a huge public service by making hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. government documents available on Wikileaks -- and, predictably, no one is grateful. Manning, a former army intelligence analyst in Iraq, faces up to 52 years in prison. He is currently being held in solitary confinement at a military base in Quantico, Virginia, where he is not allowed to see his parents or other outside visitors.

Assange, the organizing brain of Wikileaks, enjoys a higher degree of freedom living as a hunted man in England under the close surveillance of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies -- but probably not for long. Not since President Richard Nixon directed his minions to go after Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg and New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan - "a vicious antiwar type," an enraged Nixon called him on the Watergate tapes -- has a working journalist and his source been subjected to the kind of official intimidation and threats that have been directed at Assange and Manning by high-ranking members of the Obama Administration [...]

Read the rest of the Article here:
http://ping.fm/v326W

2010-11-30T11:43:00.001-05:00

Carpet guys are here! Painting done! Photos tomorrow! Listing by weeks end! Hoping 4 early close.

Another Amazing video from Danny MacAskill

2010-11-24T13:48:00.002-05:00

http://ping.fm/1BVqO

Where are the Android Killer Apps?

2010-11-23T08:07:00.002-05:00

Every few weeks or so, I reiterate my wish for an Android analog to the iPod Touch — something more or less comparable to state-of-the-art Android phones in terms of performance, software, and quality, but costing, say, $250 (or less) with no contract.

There are some maybes out there already, I know.¹ But why do I even care? Basically it’s that I’d like to stay up to date on Android, and on Android apps. Sort of like how if my primary interest were console video games, I’d almost certainly own both a PS3 and an XBox 360. I have this notion in my gut that if I want to stay current on mobile app platforms, I should have at least one Android device to go along with my iPhone and iPad.

But, the thing I’ve noticed, eight months after returning a Nexus One I borrowed for six weeks from a friend, is that, well, I don’t seem to be missing much. [...]

Read The Rest of The Article Here:
http://ping.fm/MZRaD

Archos 101 now shipping, Android tablet game really heating up

2010-11-18T22:21:00.002-05:00

We were really digging this 10-inch Android tablet when we spotted it back in August, and now it's shipping for a totally palatable $300 pricetag. It's powerful enough to play 720p video, has a 1024 x 600 screen, HDMI out, 802.11n WiFi and even a front facing camera. Plus there's even the somewhat comforting notion that this isn't Archos' first time to the Android tablet rodeo. Of course, the big drawback is the lack of Android Market, but there are always hacks to solve that, and Archos preloads some good apps to get you started. The tablet is shipping with Android 2.1, but Archos pinky swears it'll be getting 2.2 by the end of the month. Can't handle 10 whole inches of Android? Try the 7-incher Archos 70 on for size. You can't say they aren't trying.

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Phys Ed: The Workout Enigma

2010-11-17T12:09:00.003-05:00

Recently, researchers in Finland made the discovery that some people’s bodies do not respond as expected to weight training, others don’t respond to endurance exercise and, in some lamentable cases, some don’t respond to either. In other words, there are those who just do not become fitter or stronger, no matter what exercise they undertake. To reach this conclusion, the researchers enrolled 175 sedentary adults in a 21-week exercise program. Some lifted weights twice a week. Others jogged or walked. Some did both. Before and after the program, the volunteers’ fitness and muscular strength were assessed. At the end of the 21 weeks, the results, published earlier this year in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, were mixed. In the combined strength-and-endurance-exercise program, the volunteers’ physiological improvement ranged from a negative 8 percent (meaning they became 8 percent less fit) to a positive 42 percent. The results were similar in the groups that undertook only strength or only endurance training. Some improved their strength enormously, some not at all. Others became aerobically fitter but not stronger, while still others showed no improvements in either area. Only a fortunate few became both fitter and more buff. As the researchers from the University of Jyvaskyla wrote with some understatement, “large individual differences” exist “in the responses to both endurance and strength training.”

Hidden away in the results of almost any study of exercise programs is the fact that some people do not respond at all, while others respond at an unusually high rate. Averaged, the results may suggest that a certain exercise program reliably will produce certain results — that jogging, say, three times a week for a month will improve VO2max (maximal oxygen capacity) or reduce blood pressure; and for almost any given group of exercisers, those results are likely to hold true. But for outliers, the impacts can be quite different. Their VO2max won’t budge, or it will fall, or it will soar.

The implications of such wide variety in response are huge. In looking at the population as a whole, writes Dr. Jamie Timmons, Ph.D., a professor of systems biology at the Royal Veterinary College in London, in a review article published last month in The Journal of Applied Physiology, the findings suggest that “there will be millions of humans that cannot improve their aerobic capacity or their insulin sensitivity, nor reduce their blood pressure” through standard exercise.

But what is it about one person’s body that allows it to react so vigorously to exercise, while for others the reaction is puny at best? One answer, to no one’s surprise, would seem to be genetics, although the actual mechanisms involved are complex, as a recent study by Dr. Timmons and others underscored. In that work, researchers accurately predicted who would respond most to endurance exercise training based on the expression levels of 29 different genes in their muscles before the start of the training. Those 29 genes are not necessarily directly associated with exercise response. They seem to have more to do with the development of new blood vessels in muscles; they may or may not have initiated the response to exercise. Scientists just don’t know yet.

In other words, this issue is as intricate as the body itself. There is a collection of compelling data that indicate that about half of our aerobic capacity “is genetic,” Dr. Timmons wrote in an e-mail. “The rest may be diet,” or it could be a result of epigenetics, a complicated process in which the environment (including where you live and what you eat) affects how and when genes are activated. “Or it could be other factors,” he said. Although fewer studies have examined why people respond so variously to strength training, “we have no reason to doubt,” he said, that genetics play a similar role.

But none of this means that if you once took up jogging or weight lifting and didn’t respond, you should take to the couch. It may be that a different exercise regimen would prompt beneficial reactions from your particular genome and physiology, Dr. Timmons said. (Although scientists still have a long way to go before they can say, definitively, who needs what exercise, based on genetic and other differences.) In the meantime, Dr. Timmons stressed, even low responders should continue to sweat. Just as scientists don’t yet understand the complicated underpinnings of the body’s response to exercise, they also don’t necessarily understand the full range of exercise’s impacts. Even if you do not increase your VO2max, Dr. Timmons said, you are likely to be deriving other benefits, both big and small, from working out. Exercise does still remain, “on average,” he said, “one of the best ‘health’ treatments we have.”

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Creating a Cohesive Online Publication in the Age of the Link

2010-11-17T11:59:00.002-05:00

Here's a surprising datapoint from the Newsweek-Daily Beast tie-up: Newsweek.com had roughly double The Daily Beast's traffic. The Beast seems like the big digital part of the deal, but it's actually the other way around.

That's no knock on The Beast, which is a great publication. They were fighting an uphill battle for brand recognition in an environment where it's exceptionally difficult to build loyalty. And that's one reason that I'm not as down on the deal as everyone else seems to be.

I have a theory (more like a hypothesis) that the print brands created during the 20th century are special. They reached a level of national awareness and cohesion that I don't think will be equaled. A simpler way to put this: they knew what they did and so did everyone else. Even when they go online, they are trusted and known in ways that other sites -- even well-funded, high-profile ones -- can't match.

While Newsweek.com's people certainly earned their traffic, as one disgruntled (soon-to-be former) employee noted, they were also standing on the shoulders of decades of other reporters' hard work. Maybe publications have to be grandfathered in. So, take a website (The Beast) with a ton of editorial energy and marry it to a shaky, but salvageable print brand and maybe you're on to something. [...]

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The Great Cyberheist

2010-11-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

One night in July 2003, a little before midnight, a plainclothesN.Y.P.D. detective, investigating a series of car thefts in upper Manhattan, followed a suspicious-looking young man with long, stringy hair and a nose ring into the A.T.M. lobby of a bank. Pretending to use one of the machines, the detective watched as the man pulled a debit card from his pocket and withdrew hundreds of dollars in cash. Then he pulled out another card and did the same thing. Then another, and another. The guy wasn’t stealing cars, but the detective figured he was stealing something. [...]

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The One Question All Innovators Need to Ask

2010-11-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

Innovators always want their offspring to be faster, better, and/or cheaper. Successful innovators constantly push novelty to create new value. But the innovators who reap the most rewarding results understand the importance of asking:

What does this innovation want you to become?

Facebook wants you to become someone who attracts, wins, and manages a social network of friends and acquaintances while becoming more sharing and open about your own life. Google wants you to become someone always willing to take a few moments to tap a few keys to explore any question you might have around any topic you might be interested in. The iPad wants you to become someone who's willing to touch and stroke your way to digital entertainment and information anywhere and anytime. The Kindle wants you to become a bookworm extraordinaire; a textually-tropic annelid who loves to read, annotate and share books and magazines. [...]

Read The Article at the link below:

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Is plagiarism always bad?

2010-11-10T15:43:00.002-05:00

It's easy to become attached to your words, claiming ownership to their arrangement on the page and to the phrases you create. But how much do you really own what you write? How much have you, technically, plagiarized?

Back at the end of 2004, writer Malcolm Gladwell tackled the issue of plagiarism as it pertained to him, having felt that a stageplay called Frozen liberally lifted text from an article he wrote. He initially began his thoughts on plagiarism as most do:

Words belong to the person who wrote them. There are few simpler ethical notions than this one, particularly as society directs more and more energy and resources toward the creation of intellectual property. In the past thirty years, copyright laws have been strengthened. Courts have become more willing to grant intellectual-property protections. Fighting piracy has become an obsession with Hollywood and the recording industry, and, in the worlds of academia and publishing, plagiarism has gone from being bad literary manners to something much closer to a crime. When, two years ago, Doris Kearns Goodwin was found to have lifted passages from several other historians, she was asked to resign from the board of the Pulitzer Prize committee. And why not? If she had robbed a bank, she would have been fired the next day.

Gladwell wrote the author of the play to let her know he felt that she'd stolen his text for use in her work and immediately regretted it: [...]

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Why The Book Business May Soon Be The Most Digital Of All Media Industries

2010-11-09T13:40:00.002-05:00

Consider it an inauguration of sorts, a celebration of the e-book industry becoming a member of the major media club just as digital music and online video have before them. When you influence a billion dollars, people have to take you seriously. In the book business, it means that traditional publishers can no longer live in deny-and-delay mode; meanwhile, digital publishers get invited to better parties and people in other media businesses like TV and magazines look over and wonder if they could cut a slice of this new pie just for them. [...]

Read The Rest of The Article at the Link Below:

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World's most "notorious" piracy market: the Internet

2010-11-09T13:37:00.002-05:00

Once a year, the US government engages in an odd exercise: calling out the world's "notorious markets" for copyright infringement and counterfeiting, often without any evidence that the markets in question are breaking either local or US law. Instead, the list is compiled from rightsholder complaints, and the US government then puts its imprimatur on them. And this year, the "notorious markets" list will be more prominent than ever.

The US Trade Representative has published such a list for years as part of its abominably named "Special 301" process, in which intellectual property rightsholders complain to the government about how other countries have terrible IP laws. This year, the notorious markets list will become a separate report and will focus not on laws but on private companies, and peer-to-peer file-sharing hubs now top the list. [...]

http://ping.fm/rr9Nk

Kno Prices It's Student Tablets at $599 and $899 to Ship by End of Year.

2010-11-09T07:54:00.002-05:00

Kno, the high-profile Silicon Valley start-up trying to jumpstart a market for tablets focused on students, announced tonight that it will have a limited number available by the end of the year for sale at prices of $599 and $899.

The lower price is for its single-screen device, while the clamshell, double-screen version is more expensive. [...]

http://ping.fm/PfMUs

Will NetFlix Destroy the Internet?

2010-11-07T18:44:00.003-05:00

On Sept. 22, Netflix began offering its streaming movie service in Canada. This was Netflix's first venture outside of the United States, and because the company wasn't offering its traditional DVD-by-mail plan to Canadians, its prospects seemed questionable. How many people would pay $7.99 per month (Canadian) for the chance to watch Superbad whenever they wanted?[...]

http://ping.fm/7AURB

Should we call it the "Roman Army Knife"?

2010-11-06T20:13:00.002-05:00


	Click on image(s) for larger view
Category	tool/implement
Name	compound utensil
Description	eating implement, folding, with three-pronged fork, spatula, pick, spike and knife.
Dimensions	height 88 mm width 155 mm
Production Place	Mediterranean
Period	Middle Roman
Date	A.D. 201 — A.D. 300
Documentation	Sherlock, D. (1988) A combination Roman eating implement (1988) Source title: Antiquaries Journal ( [comments: 310-311, pl. xlix] Vassilika, E. (1998) Greek and Roman Art (1998) [comments: p.128-129, no.62] Sherlock, D. (1976) Roman folding spoons (1976) Source title: Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society ( [comments: p.128-129, no.62]
Material/s	iron (knife) silver
Accession Number	GR.1.1991 (Antiquities) (Reference Number: 70534; Input Date: 2003-03-25 / Last Edit: 2010-11-01)

Related Image/s

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Water Balloons without the Balloons!

2010-11-06T20:12:00.004-05:00

Edward Horsford's high-speed photography freezes the spherical innards of water balloons — just as the balloon skins break open, and just before they splash to the floor. He works at night in his garden in London, using flashes to light the action. Amazingly, he works alone. So how does he do it? And doesn't he get soaked? [....]

http://ping.fm/MQ12E

2010-11-06T13:31:00.001-05:00

Looking forward to a fresh, single-dad, start, with the best daughter in the world!!

Inside the Google Books Algorithm

2010-11-02T07:28:00.002-05:00

Google is famous for the brilliance of its algorithm for searching web pages. While the company looks at dozens of factors in determining which results to display, the heart of the search engine is using links between pages to rank their relevancy. We have come to depend on Google to give us exactly what we want.

But what about when the company has to reach outside the web? The printed volumes represented on Google Books form a completely different kind of problem. Google's famous algorithm can't be deployed to search through books because they don't link to each other in the way that webpages do. There is no perfect BookRank corollary for PageRank.

All of which made me wonder: How does Google Books work? What makes it tick? It turns out that it's actually a great place for the company's engineers to learn how to function in a linkless, physical world.[...]

http://ping.fm/Ge6AF

Real Men Use Android: Special Forces Favor Google Phone

2010-11-01T07:01:00.003-05:00

The Army is 20 years and a half-billion dollars into a star-crossed effort to build custom communications and digital-mapping gadgets for its soldiers. Special Operations Command, on the other hand, is taking a simpler approach: They’re planning to use Android phones.

Last week, the SOCOM asked coders to create a suite of applications for keeping commandos linked up while they’re out on missions. The software should include chat functions, file transfers, video display and “multi-touch whiteboarding aka John Madden tool.”

SOCOM calls it the Tactical Situational Awareness Application Suite, or TactSA, and it has to work in low-connectivity areas — the middle-of-nowhere places you’d expect to send the military’s most elite troops. It’s got to be peer-to-peer, encrypted “at the application level” and able to recover from “network outages and substantial packet loss.” [...]

Jon Stewart's Speech at the Rally for Sanity

2010-10-31T21:48:00.002-05:00

Well, I enjoyed it! The full text is below: Courtesy of AllThingsD.com

http://ping.fm/0E1Pe

“I can’t control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

But unfortunately one of our main tools in delineating the two broke. The country’s 24 hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.

If we amplify everything we hear nothing. There are terrorists and racists and Stalinists and theocrats but those are titles that must be earned. You must have the resume. Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams or Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate–just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe, not more. The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything we actually get sicker–and perhaps eczema.

And yet, with that being said, I feel good–strangely, calmly good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a fun house mirror, and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin and one eyeball.

So, why would we work together? Why would you reach across the aisle to a pumpkin assed forehead eyeball monster? If the picture of us were true, of course, our inability to solve problems would actually be quite sane and reasonable. Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own? We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is–on the brink of catastrophe–torn by polarizing hate and how it’s a shame that we can’t work together to get things done, but the truth is we do. We work together to get things done every damn day!

The only place we don’t is here or on cable TV. But Americans don’t live here or on cable TV. Where we live our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done, not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done. Most Americans don’t live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do–often something they do not want to do–but they do it–impossible things every day that are only made possible through the little reasonable compromises we all make.

Look on the screen. This is where we are. This is who we are. [points to the Jumbotron screen which shows traffic merging into a tunnel]. These cars–that’s a schoolteacher who probably thinks his taxes are too high. He’s going to work. There’s another car-a woman with two small kids who can’t really think about anything else right now. There’s another car, swinging, I don’t even know if you can see it–the lady’s in the NRA and she loves Oprah. There’s another car–an investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah. Another car’s a Latino carpenter. Another car a fundamentalist vacuum salesman. Atheist obstetrician. Mormon Jay-Z fan. But this is us. Every one of the cars that you see is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear–often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers.

And yet these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze one by one into a mile long 30 foot wide tunnel carved underneath a mighty river. Carved, by the way, by people who I’m sure had their differences. And they do it. Concession by concession. You go. Then I’ll go. You go. Then I’ll go. You go then I’ll go. Oh my God, is that an NRA sticker on your car? Is that an Obama sticker on your car? Well, that’s okay–you go and then I’ll go.

And sure, at some point there will be a selfish jerk who zips up the shoulder and cuts in at the last minute, but that individual is rare and he is scorned and not hired as an analyst.

Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together. And the truth is, there will always be darkness. And sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t the promised land. Sometimes it’s just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together.

If you want to know why I’m here and want I want from you, I can only assure you this: you have already given it to me. Your presence was what I wanted.

Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.”

2010-10-29T12:32:00.001-05:00

George is now on Facetime - you may contact me via my gmail account(s). It's better than skype for video chat. IMO

What Smartphone Makers can Learn from the Sewing Machine Patent Wars

2010-10-28T14:44:00.002-05:00

The smartphone market is highly lucrative, has many competing players, and involves countless patents. In other words, it’s a recipe for lawsuits. In the last month alone, Microsoft lobbed a suit at Motorola, who in turn sued Apple. Nokia and HTC both have sued Apple, and Apple has sued both Nokia and HTC.

The web of competing claims on smartphone technology might seem a uniquely 21st-century problem. But according to legal scholar Adam Mossoff, the smartphone woes are reminiscent of a forgotten 19th century legal melee: the Sewing Machine War......

Read The Rest on The Original Site Here: http://ping.fm/tJ3OB

Google Chrome App Store: Coming in December

2010-10-27T21:19:00.002-05:00

You probably haven’t heard of it, and you’re very unlikely to be looking for it. But if you are wondering when you might see the Chrome app store Google is working on, here’s the answer: December. Probably.

That’s the word from developers who are building apps for Google’s new store-to-be, which is supposed to work like iTunes, but for Web-based applications instead of ones designed for mobile handsets...

Follow the Link below to red the rest of the Article.

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Apples Anti Sexting App is Just a Censor in a Velvet Glove!

2010-10-14T06:58:00.002-05:00

What's the real purpose behind Apple's patent request: parental control or censorship?

Today, a number of Web sites are praising the new Apple patent that is designed to, apparently, create a parental control mechanism for the iPhone to prevent the kiddies from the onerous practice of sexting. Apparently, sending lewd and lascivious messages over the phone has become a plague amongst teens who are generally goofballs between the ages of 13 to 19. Yes, the entire teenage moment in time.

http://ping.fm/RopvL

Broken Links

2010-10-10T15:16:00.001-05:00

I apologize to anyone that has tried to get at the links. Apparently they have been breaking. I did not realize it, as they work fine on this end. It was only when I tried accessing a link from my phone that I realized it was not working. We will be fixing the problem and insuring the links work correctly from this point forward.

George.

GooDobe?

2010-10-08T07:17:00.002-05:00

Investment bankers and stock markets can calm down–Microsoft and Adobe are not in talks about an acquisition.

Spurred by a story in the New York Times that Microsoft was eyeing the software company for purchase, Adobe (ADBE) stock went wild today, up 11.5 percent to $28.69.

Except, according to numerous sources at both companies with whom I talked today, it’s “nonsense.”

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MS and Adobe hold Secret Summit on Apple and Mobile

2010-10-07T16:41:00.002-05:00

So Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dropped by Adobe recently for a secret hour-long meeting with Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen, the New York Times reports. It lasted about hour and covered a number of topics, among them how to better compete against Apple in the smartphone market and a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft.[...]

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Is RIM's Business - Targeted Tablet Strategy, Good Business?

2010-10-07T16:29:00.002-05:00

Research in Motion’s decision to gear its forthcoming PlayBook tablet to enterprise might seem a savvy one given the company’s prowess in that market and the BlackBerry’s standing as the de facto smartphone in business. But some analysts wonder if it might be a bit shortsighted, particularly if the tablet market evolves in a manner similar to the smartphone market. [...]

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Microsoft, Adobe Hold Secret Summit

2010-10-07T15:59:00.002-05:00

Trading in Adobe shares was briefly halted Thursday afternoon after they surged 17 percent on a report that the company recently met with Microsoft to discuss how to better compete against Apple in the smartphone market and “a possible acquisition of Adobe by Microsoft.” [Details to follow]

Read The Article Here

The Real Cost of Free

2010-10-07T07:38:00.002-05:00

Last week, my fellow Guardian columnist Helienne Lindvall published a piece headlined The cost of free, in which she called it "ironic" that "advocates of free online content" (including me) "charge hefty fees to speak at events".

Lindvall says she spoke to someone who approached an agency I once worked with to hire me for a lecture and was quoted $10,000-$20,000 (£6,300-£12,700) to speak at a college and $25,000 to speak at a conference. Lindvall goes on to talk about the fees commanded by other speakers, including Wired editor Chris Anderson, author of a book called "Free" (which I reviewed here in July 2009), Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde and marketing expert Seth Godin. In Lindvall's view, all of us are part of a united ideology that exhorts artists to give their work away for free, but we don't practice what we preach because we charge so much for our time. [...]

Read The Full Article Here

iPad, from Luxury to Necessity

2010-10-02T15:16:00.002-05:00

If netbook sales are in decline, Apple’s (AAPL) iPad isn’t to blame–not yet, anyway.

According to a new survey from NPD, only 13 percent of iPad owners bought the device in lieu of a PC. For the other 87 percent, it was an incremental purchase, a luxury purchase. [...]

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Android Apps Transmitting Private Data

2010-09-30T13:52:00.002-05:00

A new study shows that many popular Android apps transmit private user data to advertising networks without the user’s consent or knowledge. Researchers from Duke, Penn State and Intel Labs developed an application called TaintDroid that detects such transmissions, and tested 30 apps from the Android Market–half of which were found to be sending GPS coordinates to remote servers. The developers of the TaintDroid application plan to make it available to the public to enable user awareness of data collection.

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RIM Needs More Fart Apps, Not Fewer

2010-09-30T07:34:00.002-05:00

There are some 10,000 apps in Research in Motion’s Blackberry App World, and while that’s a pittance compared to the 250,000 in Apple’s iTunes App Store and 70,000 in Google’s Android Market, RIM is in no big rush to raise the number, particularly if it means bolstering it with a bunch of throwaway apps that are going to drag their staid enterprise brethren into the gutter.

Or the toilet. [...]

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UNIX's Revenge

2010-09-30T07:29:00.003-05:00

With QNX now firmly roadmapped at RIM and Android spreading among vendors like a virus, I wanted to point out that these operating systems share one ancestor: Unix.

A technical triumph

Technically Linux, which underlies Android, among others, is walled off from Unix from an IP point of view, but the philosophical and architectural lineage goes back to 1969′s Unix. It was an amazingly well thought-out operating system which has stood the test of time mostly due to its modular architecture. It was not always clear that Unix would make it this far, and in many ways it was written off.

There is some poetic justice in its comeback. Unix could have become a default for desktop computers. When Windows emerged from the shadow of DOS, Microsoft had the option to base NT on a flavor of Unix. But Bill Gates, no doubt motivated by license fee considerations, hired a group of developers from Digital Equipment Corporation and many elements of the NT design reflect earlier DEC experience with VMS and RSX-11. Microsoft went with that new architecture rather than Unix and that code lives on even in the current Windows 7. [...]

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Rim's Playbook Scoring in Garbage Time

2010-09-29T07:24:00.002-05:00

You wouldn’t know it from Research in Motion’s share price today–down 3.35 percent at $46.74–but analysts were generally impressed with the PlayBook, the “professional tablet” the company announced at its developer conference Monday.

“This set of hardware specs beat anything available to date on the tablet market,” Steven Li at Raymond James said in a research note issued today. “We believe the PlayBook tablet shows RIM is starting to compete effectively on hardware specs.” [...]

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Conde Nast's iPas Apps are too Portly. Blame Adobe!

2010-09-29T07:22:00.002-05:00

The Wired iPad app has a weight problem.

The first one came in at about half a gigabyte of memory, and it hasn’t shrunk that much since.

And Condé Nast’s newest iPad app, from the New Yorker, isn’t much better: It takes up 173 megabytes–but that’s for a weekly issue. If Condé can’t slim the app down, a month’s worth of New Yorkers will be much heavier than the first monthly Wired app.

And at that rate, a year’s worth of issues would consume more than seven gigabytes–that’s close to half of the smallest iPad’s 16-gig memory capacity. [...]

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For Facebook, Movie Damage Control

2010-09-24T16:03:00.002-05:00

Facebook Inc. executives have sought to discredit a new film's unflattering portrayal of Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, even as they worked behind the scenes to influence the movie.

Those efforts range from attempting to massage the script, according to one of the film's producers, to promoting an alternative corporate history. [...]

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FCC to Rebuild Using Drupal

2010-09-22T17:03:00.002-05:00

FCC Managing Director Steven VanRoekel announced today that–following in the footsteps of Whitehouse.gov, Commerce.gov and Ed.gov–the Federal Communications Commission will be rebuilding its Web site using the open source content management system Drupal. In the announcement, VanRoekel states that “This decision is a significant step towards modernizing our own underlying online infrastructure.”

http://ping.fm/qqslw

iPad: Tonight We Feast on Laptop Flesh!

2010-09-17T15:52:00.002-05:00

Notebook sales are on the decline and the iPad appears to be responsible.

That’s the word from Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty, backed up by some recent comments by Best Buy (BBY) CEO Brian Dunn.

In a research note issued this week, Huberty points out that retail notebook growth in the United States fell four percent year over year in August after six months of decelerating growth. It did the same thing in the first week of September. And to Huberty, that’s the beginning of a trend. “We expect tablets to continue to pressure PCs as more vendors launch products (e.g., Dell Streak and Samsung Tab) and Apple expands its iPad distribution (e.g., China and five Latin American countries by September 17),” she wrote, adding that her model currently assumes the iPad is cannibalizing about 25 percent of notebook sales. [...]

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S@#T Your Google CEO Says!

2010-09-17T06:56:00.002-05:00

We are usually lenient toward the peccadilloes and strange propensities of our technological demigods. They provide us with indispensable widgets, apps, and search engines; we let them let their fly freak flags fly. That's why Steve Jobs is allowed to engage in late-night flame wars with Valleywag. And why nobody looks sideways at PayPal creator Elon Musk when he talks about colonizing Mars. Okay, so maybe their eccentricities are protected less by an unspoken pact with consumers and more by soundproof fortresses and endless wealth. But however you explain it, among this elite club of titans, Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been running a steady campaign recently to make the strangest public statements. [...]

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VMWare in Talks for Novell's Linux Unit

2010-09-17T06:53:00.002-05:00

Novell Inc. is in advanced talks with at least two buyers, including VMware Inc., to sell the software company in separate pieces, people familiar with the matter said.

VMware is pursuing Novell’s SUSE Linux operating system business, these people said. Attachmate Corp., a private-equity backed software company, could end up buying some or all of the remaining assets, including NetWare, Novell’s network operating system. Attachmate, which is owned by buyout investors including Golden Gate Capital and Francisco Partners, sells software to companies running older IT applications.

Novell (NOVL) is most likely to sell its Linux business to VMware (VMW), although the two sides still differ on valuation, the people familiar with the matter said.

(This is the extent of it, the link below will take you to a pay wall. G)

http://ping.fm/Jmsm9