Main Web
BitsTable of ContentsOther (older) Pages
Weather
Everett, UNITED STATES Weather :: 66F Clear
|
News & HeadlinesNYT > Home PagePalin Resigning Governor’s Job; Future UnclearGov. Sarah Palin’s move shocked Republicans and fueled renewed speculation about her presidential ambitions and criticism of her political competence.Top Reformers Admitted Plot, Iran DeclaresThe Iranian government has made it a practice to publicize confessions from political prisoners, often subject to sleep deprivation, solitary confinement and torture, rights groups say.College Stars Sue Over Likenesses in Video GamesPlayers contend the N.C.A.A. and a video game maker should pay college athletes for using their likenesses in popular electronic games.Astana Has a Leader (Maybe Two)The Astana team’s manager had a little problem: Should he designate Lance Armstrong or Alberto Contador as the team leader?Russia to Open Airspace to U.S. for Afghan WarThe move is one of the most concrete achievements in the effort to rebuild strained U.S.-Russian relations.Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debateArts & Letters Daily (03 Jul 2009)Forty years ago, when men walked on the Moon and drove their buggies over the lunar landscape, we all lived on a different earth... more Have religious people at last worked out how to serve both God and Mammon? Is ours the age of the "pastorpreneur"?... more Our very own Philosopher-in-Chief. It's been a long time, but maybe Americans are entitled to one. Carlin Romano on Barack Obama... more Arts & Letters Daily (02 Jul 2009)Stripper memoirs. It's puzzling that such promising and prurient subject matter can lead to such flat, dull books. Katie Roiphe explains... more Saturated with lachrymose melodies, dirgelike rhythms and the ghastly, fatal oompahs of sad waltzes, the songs and symphonies of Gustav Mahler... more In 1942, Simon and Schuster's well-made and beautifully illustrated Little Golden Books burst upon the American scene. It was the start of something big... more NPR Programs: All Things ConsideredMLB Calls Foul On Cape Cod Baseball UniformsThe Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts has landed in hot water with Major League Baseball, which accuses Cape Cod's league of trademark infringement by using MLB team names. Peter Troy, president of the Chatham, Mass., Anglers, formerly the Chatham Athletics, talks about the situation. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us An Afghan View Of The SurgeRangina Hamidi, CEO of Kandahar Treasures, which sells handmade embroidery, talks about the surge in Helmand province. She says that to defeat the Taliban, American troops must help Afghanistan build infrastructure and maintain security. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Marines Fan Out In Afghanistan PushSome 4,000 Marines, along with several hundred British and Afghan troops, are fanning out in the valley of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, establishing small outposts. So far, there's been little fighting with Taliban militants, although Marines did meet stiff resistance in one area. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Alaska Gov. Palin To ResignAlaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was Republican Sen. John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign, says she will resign from office July 26. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Remembering Last Reunion Of Civil War VeteransCommentator John McDonough recalls the last great reunion of Civil War veterans from the North and South. It took place July 3-5, 1938, on the 75th anniversary of Gettysburg — at Gettysburg, Pa. At the time, the whole country was almost painfully aware that the last living links to a decisive event were about to slip away. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us NPR Programs: Morning EditionIn Defense Of The Flag (Sewn For History Class)Bob Heft, who sewed the 50-state flag as a high schooler, received a B- for his project. Heft's history teacher accused him of not knowing how many states were in the union at the time. The teacher changed the grade when the design was accepted by Congress. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Reading Of The Declaration Of IndependenceTwenty-one years ago, Morning Edition launched what has become an Independence Day tradition: hosts, reporters, newscasters and commentators reading the Declaration of Independence. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Marines Press Hard Across Southern AfghanistanThousands of U.S. Marines are digging in for a drawn-out campaign in southern Afghanistan aimed at ousting the Taliban. It's the largest operation launched by American troops since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001. The immediate goal is to drive out insurgents before next month's presidential elections. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Georgia Peaches: A Ripe LegacySome have tried to challenge Georgia as the "Peach State," to no avail. For Duke Lane Jr., who runs a 100-year-old peach orchard in Fort Valley, it's hard to beat the taste of a Georgia peach. People just know to look for Georgia peaches, Lane says. » E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us Tour De France: Armstrong Ready To RideThe Tour de France starts Saturday in Monaco and finishes July 26 in Paris. The race's image has been severely damaged by numerous doping scandals in recent years. Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is back for this year's race. Armstrong has been fighting doping allegations for years. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Local NewsFisher Plaza blaze knocks out Internet serviceA fire at Fisher Plaza late Thursday night disrupted Internet service for several companies - including one that handles online credit card transactions for hundreds of thousands of businesses.Friend: Cyclist killed in Seattle 'would know and touch every life'John Leoni, the cyclist killed by a driver arrested for vehicular homicide Wednesday, is being remembered as a man who dedicated himself to helping developmentally disabled adults - and was one of the state's best in his field.Rates coming down for pricier mortgagesRates for "conforming jumbo" mortgages have only recently come close to those for standard conforming loans.King County Jail inmate dead from apparent suicideAn inmate was found dead early Friday in the King County Jail, apparently after hanging himself in his cell, according to county officials.Two UW students among science elite at German conferenceAmong nearly 600 young researchers selected from 67 countries to spend an intimate week in Germany with 23 Nobel Prize-winning scientists are two products of one chemist at the University of Washington.Seattle Post-Intelligencer: OpinionSeattle Post-Intelligencer: OpinionRead editorials, letters and op-eds from seattlepi.comBuzzworthyStill here, for nowYes, I'm continuing with seattlepi.com as it spins off into a standalone online news operation after the demise of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Secrets of navel lintAn Austrian scientist has "solved" the mystery of how belly button lint is generated, The Telegraph reports.Tech NewsSlashdotGenerating Power From Ocean Buoys and Kitescheezitmike writes "Researchers at Oregon State University are testing a new type of wave-energy converter to generate electricity from ocean waves: 'Even when the ocean seems calm, swells are moving water up and down sufficiently to generate electricity. ... For decades the challenge has been to build a device that can withstand monster waves and gale-force winds, not to mention corrosive saltwater, seaweed, floating debris and curious marine mammals. ... In the most recent prototypes, a thick coil of copper wire is inside the first component, which is anchored to the seafloor. The second component is a magnet attached to a float that moves up and down freely with the waves. As the magnet is heaved by the waves, its magnetic field moves along the stationary coil of copper wire. This motion induces a current in the wire — electricity.'" Meanwhile, researchers at Stanford are working to design "turbine kites" that operate at 30,000 feet, where air currents flow much faster than they do close to the ground. Ken Caldeira, a Standford associate professor, said, "If you tapped into 1% of the power in high-altitude winds, that would be enough to continuously power all civilization."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
UK Police Told To Use Wikipedia When Preparing For CourtHalf-pint HAL tips news of UK prosecution lawyers who are instructing police to study information on Wikipedia when preparing to give expert testimony in court. "Mike Finn, a weaponry specialist and expert witness in more than 100 cases, told industry magazine Police Review: 'There was one case in a Midlands force where police officers asked me to write a report about a martial art weapon. The material they gave me had been printed out from Wikipedia. The officer in charge told me he was advised by the CPS to use the website to find out about the weapon and he was about to present it in court. I looked at the information and some of it had substance and some of it was completely made up.' Mr. Finn, a former Metropolitan Police and City of London officer and Home Office adviser, added that he has heard of at least three other cases where officers from around the country have been advised by the CPS to look up evidence on Wikipedia."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Hawking Says Humans Have Entered a New Stage of Evolutionmovesguy sends us to The Daily Galaxy for comments by Stephen Hawking about how humans are evolving in a different way than any species before us. Quoting: "'At first, evolution proceeded by natural selection, from random mutations. This Darwinian phase, lasted about three and a half billion years, and produced us, beings who developed language, to exchange information. I think it is legitimate to take a broader view, and include externally transmitted information, as well as DNA, in the evolution of the human race,' Hawking said. In the last ten thousand years the human species has been in what Hawking calls, 'an external transmission phase,' where the internal record of information, handed down to succeeding generations in DNA, has not changed significantly. 'But the external record, in books, and other long lasting forms of storage,' Hawking says, 'has grown enormously. Some people would use the term evolution only for the internally transmitted genetic material, and would object to it being applied to information handed down externally. But I think that is too narrow a view. We are more than just our genes.'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Amazon Wants Patent For Inserting Ads Into Bookstheodp writes "Three Amazon inventors set out to correct what they felt was a real problem: that 'out-of-print or rare books ... typically do not include advertisements ... the content is fixed and, therefore, has not been adapted to modern marketing.' Their solution is spelled out in newly-disclosed Amazon patent applications for On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising and Incorporating Advertising in On-Demand Generated Content. From the patent apps, here's what the future of reading may look like: 'For instance, if a restaurant is described on page 12, [then the advertising page], either on page 11 or page 13, may include advertisements about restaurants, wine, food, etc., which are related to restaurants and dining.' So, what would a delightfully-tacky-yet-unrefined Hooters ad do for your Hemingway experience?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Fake Tamiflu "Out-Spams Viagra On Web"cin62 writes "The number of Internet scammers offering fake versions of the anti-swine flu drug Tamiflu has surpassed those selling counterfeit Viagra, reports CNN. Since the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, was declared a global pandemic last month, there has been an increase in the number of Web sites and junk emails offering Tamiflu for sale. 'Every Web site that used to sell Viagra is now selling Tamiflu. We are pretty sure that the same people are making the Tamiflu as are making the Viagra,' said Director of Policy for the UK's Royal Pharmaceutical Society." This news fits in nicely with a report Wired ran a couple weeks ago about the hysteria behind H1N1.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Wired Top StoriesPeak Oil: Bugatti Makes a Car for the AgesBugatti's convertible is the pinnacle of internal-combustion car tech -- one that will probably never be surpassed with the auto industry's focus shifting to electric vehicles. Here's what it's like to drive it.
Keeping It Reel — Five Pieces for Your Must-Have Angling KitFly fishers dread the question: "Catch anything today?" Dazzling your interrogators with cool gear might let you dodge the question. No gadget can improve your cast, but tech can surely enhance life on the water.
July 4, 1776: Preserving the DeclarationIt's one thing to declare independence, but quite another to preserve the aging document from the ravages of time.
Tour de Tweet: Follow Lance and the Boys OnlineThe Tour de France begins Saturday, July 4, in Monaco. Here's how to follow the three-week bike race using streaming audio and video, Twitter, Google Earth and other online tools.
Penguin Parents Won't Chip In to Help Handicapped SpousePenguins, famous for the lengths they go to to protect their eggs and rear their young, may not be the most supportive couples around. When one member of a penguin couple is handicapped, the other doesn't step in to pick up the slack.
PVRblogSeries 4 TiVo wishlistJustin Mecham has a fantastic wishlist for Series 4 TiVo features he'd like to see. Most of them are season pass related and I have to say I agree with them all 100%. Some of them are a bit complex, but I could picture the menu options in most cases (like setting defaults for season pass options). For myself, in addition to everything Justin mentioned (especially Hulu integration), I'd like to see the two-way CableCARD technologies implemented so that video on demand and pay-per-view content directly from cable companies could be accessed. I'd also like to see other ways to be notified by my TiVo, perhaps by RSS, when an important event is coming up. I keep a bunch of wishlists around that I don't set to automatically record, but I often forget to periodically check them for the 1 in 25 upcoming items I do want to see. If I could subscribe to a feed of upcoming keyword/wishlist items with a handy link to record, I could easily scan recent matches and ignore or record items without having to dive into deep menus on my TiVo. In addition to Hulu, I guess I'd like to see something more like boxee where I could play any media file on my TiVo (which is just a small computer capable of running anything), but given TiVo's ties to the major studios, I doubt that ever happens.
What TiVo should do after ten yearsThere's a great long post at Engadget commemorating the ten years of TiVo and along with it are five ideas for how TiVo could improve. I really like all the suggestions and would love to see TiVo try at least a few of them. When TiVo was on the ropes a few years ago I wanted to do a "100 ways to save TiVo" post (ala Wired's 101 ways to save Apple issue) but me and a few friends petered out of ideas after 30-40 of them. A lot of the ideas were similar in some ways to the Engadget ideas by basically extending the TiVo box in ways the studios probably don't want them to. Usually these sorts of posts where a blogger posts a few ideas never get anywhere, but amazingly enough, TiVo's head of marketing sent Engadget a response. It's got quite a bit of marketing boosterism in it without too much concrete plans for the future, but it's good that TiVo is at least listening to criticism.
Amazon HD video on demand released for HD TiVos, Roku players
Amazon seems to be charging about a dollar more for HD over standard definition content (HD shows look to run $2.99/episode instead of $1.99, HD movies are $4.99 per rental instead of $3.99) and strangely enough the Amazon site is telling me I have to go to my TiVo to browse and rent movies, since they can't offer HD movie playback through a browser (likely a licensing issue with the movie studios).
A lengthy interview with Margret Schmidt of TiVo
A few years ago I got to ask Ms. Schmidt a bunch of questions about the design of the TiVo remotes, how the user interface of TiVo was developed, and my personal favorite -- how they designed the audio bleeps and bloops that still to this day are the only helpful sounds I've used in a consumer device.
Vizio HDTVs with Amazon and NetflixI looked around at a lot of CES wrapups and to be honest didn't see too many impressive things. Nothing really stood out as an all-new aha! kind of gadget like I've seen in years past. The theme of this year seemed to be mostly just refinement of existing technologies. I suppose the tanking economy took the wind out of the sails of most CES news this week, but I'm still a bit surprised there weren't any wild breakthrough products unveiled.
EngadgetResearchers use Bluetooth to track festival goers, make fun of their 'hippie dancing' A team from the University of Ghent in Belgium is lacing the site of this year's Rock Werchter festival -- Brussel's equivalent of Woodstock '97 -- with Bluetooth scanners (36 total, they cover a range of 30 meters each). While you're rocking out to the likes of Bloc Party and Mastodon, the researchers will be tracking your every movement, whether it be to the mosh pit, the beer tent, or the Job Johnny. As you've probably assumed, the researchers are primarily looking for ways that retailers can monitor customer flow (read: sell you more crap) although there are certainly going to be results applicable to the world of law enforcement. Of course, this is Bluetooth: you always have the option of disabling it on your phone, and if you don't they'll only be able to discern your MAC address. Besides, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the surveillance state -- right? And if you are up to no good, well, that's why they invented the Dazer Lazer. Filed under: Cellphones Researchers use Bluetooth to track festival goers, make fun of their 'hippie dancing' originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
5-inch Android-powered Archos Internet Media Tablet landing in September [Via TrustedReviews] Filed under: Handhelds 5-inch Android-powered Archos Internet Media Tablet landing in September originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
How would you change the Palm Pre? Filed under: Cellphones How would you change the Palm Pre? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
Captain Piccard unveils Solar Impulse HB-SIA solar-powered plane [Via Gizmag] Filed under: Transportation Captain Piccard unveils Solar Impulse HB-SIA solar-powered plane originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Sneak peek at Meizu M8's new user interface Heads up, Meizu fanboys! We just got a sneak peak at the M8's new UI (said to be dropping in August when the handset gets its firmware update) and you know what? It looks like a UI. Pretty k-rad, right? Check out the other two face-melting pics after the break, if you dare. [Via Meizu Me] Continue reading Sneak peek at Meizu M8's new user interface Filed under: Cellphones Sneak peek at Meizu M8's new user interface originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
DiversionsQuotes of the DayRalph Waldo Emerson "In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty."
Johann von Neumann "In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them."
Douglas Adams "Life... is like a grapefruit. It's orange and squishy, and has a few pips in it, and some folks have half a one for breakfast."
Henry Ford "People can have the Model T in any colour--so long as it's black."
Motivational Quotes of the DayLinda Berdoll "It was reassuring to know exactly where one stood. That one stood at the end of the line was not pertinent. At least there was a line in which to subsist."
Jean Anouilh "Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself."
Deepak Chopra "Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given."
Amy Tan "You see what power is - holding someone else's fear in your hand and showing it to them!"
Dictionary.com Word of the Daydoughty: Dictionary.com Word of the Day doughty: valiant; brave.   Presented By: |
Main Web
Create New Topic
Index
Search
Changes
Notifications
Statistics
Preferences
TWiki Tip of the Day
One can create a link to a file attachment using one of the following TWikiVariables, %ATTACHURL% or ... Read on
Journal |
|
Copyright © by the contributing authors. All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems regarding TWiki? Send feedback