Category: News

Hey, look here—turns out AT&T and following Verizon in the decision to raise early termination fees for smartphone customers. The new fee will be a whopping $352 if you opt to cancel your contract early, although for each month of active service, that will decrease by $10. Technically, AT&T says this change is for customers who select “advanced, higher-end devices, including netbooks and smartphones.” Hold up, so now netbooks are higher end devices? The most ridiculous part of all this is that today the current ETF is “just” $175, so this is a marked and significant increase. If you are instead opting for a basic feature phone, the ETF will actually be less, dropping to $150. Now, if you are a current customer, your contract won’t just flip over, but you can bet your bottom dollar than when you next upgrade your phone, or if you pick up that iPhone Pro next month, you’ll pick up the new terms. A conspiracy theorist might say that this is AT&Ts method of locking customers in, what with the iPhone heavily rumored to be hitting Verizon this fall. Interested in seeing how the company is spinning this one? Click on over to their “open letter to valued customers” that we have linked below.

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Hennessey 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS HPE800

While many will be satisfied with the 426-hp coming from under the hood of a stock 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS, Hennessey Performance engineering is offering upgrades for those who won’t.

Known as the HPE800 Camaro, Hennessey’s upgrade package adds a pair of turbochargers that help pump a total of 847-hp and 801 lb-ft of torque from the 6.2L V8. The modification comes with a complete set of forged innards, customized camshafts, a high-flow oil pump, ported heads, a large throttle body, ported intake manifold and an upgraded fuel-system and injectors.

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS.

The HPE800 upgrade for the Camaro SS can be mated to either a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Hennessey Performance Engineering offers the package backed by a one-year/12,000 mile limited warranty. No pricing details have been released.

Click through to see a video of the HPE800 Chevrolet Camaro SS on the dyno.

Hennessey HPE800 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS:

– By: Omar Rana

In the 1st District, Ann Brickley of Wethersfield wins GOP endorsement to run. District. Mark Zydanowicz of West Hartford gained enough delegate votes to force a primary, but has not said what he will do.

In the 2nd District, Daria Novak of Madison, a former Asia specialist for the U.S. Department of State, wins party’s backing after three delegate ballots. Janet Peckinpaugh and Douglas Dubitsky both had enough delegate votes to wage a primary.

In the 3rd District, Jerry Labriola Jr., receives the GOP nomination to run.

In the 4th District, Dan Debicella wins GOP nomination to run.

In the 5th District, Waterbury state Sen. Sam Caligiuri won the endorsement of the state Republican convention Friday, besting Justin Bernier of Plainville, but there will be a primary on August 10.

Read the full story here.

With Froyo, Google’s latest dessert-themed update to its Android mobile OS, they added even more features users were clamoring for, like wireless syncing and hotspot support. But what about future updates? We think we’ve got it figured out. More »

Months after the announcement was made, the Federal Trade Commission has approved Google’s purchase of AdMob, and it appears that Apple’s plans worked in their favor.  Who would have thought it?  Clearly referencing the Cupertino company and their upcoming “iAd” service, the FTC stated that the Google/AdMob deal “is unlikely to harm competition in the emerging market for mobile advertising networks.”

The official statement, posted on AdMob’s website:

We are extremely pleased with the FTC’s decision today to clear Google’s acquisition of AdMob. Over the past six months we’ve received a great deal of support from across the mobile industry – and we deeply appreciate it.

We are excited to get to what’s next and to start working with Google to develop new products and services for our advertisers, developers, and publishers. We share a commitment to helping our customers navigate and take advantage of the mobile opportunity. Together, Google and AdMob will be able to bring a whole host of new products and capabilities to mobile advertising.

I have to pause to acknowledge the AdMob team.  It takes a tremendous group to stay focused and remain productive during a process like this review.   The Google deal was announced in November of last year.  Rather than sit idle for six months, we’ve launched 15 new products, updated 11 more, and continued building a phenomenal business that is serving an ever growing base of customers.  I couldn’t be more grateful for all this group has done

We will now work with Google to close the deal. Once that happens, we will finally get to the fun part – connecting our teams and products to find ways to better serve our customers. Stay tuned.

Good news for Google, and I’ll be excited to see what comes out of the combined company in the coming months.

Via FTC, AdMob, Engadget

Next week will mark the end of “American Idol” season nine and the exit of Simon Cowell on American Idol. The Brit judge appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last Thursday. Oprah asked Simon what is his reason for leaving the show, he answered boredom.  “After a while, you start to go on automatic pilot. Too many times I was sitting there [at the judges’ table] bored. The audience deserves more than that … and I can’t hide when I’m bored.”

However Simon also plans to make a US version of “X Factor” talent show which may be similar to Idol but would have several differences. Simon explains “It’s different because there’s no upper age limit. … Singing groups can enter the show. I have no idea whether it’s going to work or not, but I’ll put its success and failure on whether we can find a star.” When asked by Oprah why would he move on to another talent show when she is bored with “Idol”, he replied “I actually like doing it, funny enough,” he said. “I remember Fantasia singing ‘Summertime,’ and for three minutes, I lost myself. I like the buzz it creates. You want to be part of something people are talking about. I love that feeling.”

Simon told Oprah “The final night will be quite emotional. I’ve had a great time. I love working over here [in the U.S.] and never thought I would.”

Related posts:

1. Ellen DeGeneres Could Not Fit into the Shoes of Paula Abdul!
2. Lee DeWyze succeeded with Hallelujah on American Idol 2010, Goodbye Casey James.
3. American Idol 2010: Goodbye Casey James

Fox News’ Maggie Kerkman files dispatches on the latest action from the Texas Board of Education as it nears final approval of social studies textbook guidelines that could affect what winds up in the lessons of students around the country.

UPDATE – 4:50 p.m. local time (5:50 p.m. ET):

Debate on postponing vote on high school guildines until July.

Terri. Don’t see what postponing would do.

Mercer. Sounds rational to wait till July.

Bradley. Been on long enough to remember last ss vote. Vote is gonna go party lines 10-5. Just like last time but other way. We need to finish today

Hardy. I still have concerns about product. How would this impact staff?

Hs subchapter c postponement.

Kright issue is quality of doc.

knight. not behave like spoiled brats bc we don’t get our way

Craig. Generally doc is good. Make 6 experts review it in next two months. Even better. Don’t need to postpone 2011. Might be worth taking a little bit of time.

Allen. Us History not ready to move forward. Overrun with too many expectations.

Agosto. We are rewriting history. If. We do this in July, and we all come together. There’s this side/ vs that side. Feels like two boards.

Vote fails 6-8

4:19 p.m. local time (5:19 p.m. ET):

Not in heating room but doc unit Ayse Weiting says they are splitting curriculum so they can vote only on HS social studies curriculum. Will revisit k to 8  later. Doing final heated arguments now.

Filed under: Etc., Europe, Technology, Humor

There’s no denying that Google StreetView has made our lives easier. There’s always a difference between knowing where something is on a map and seeing the surrounding landmarks with your own virtual eyes, and Google Maps has gone a long way toward bringing the world to our living room. Of course, StreetView has also helped to remind us of just how entertaining the human race can be. Creative souls the world over have staged pranks – both elaborate and otherwise – to have themselves immortalized in the annals of Googledom.

While we’ve seen our fair share of superheroes, unique vehicles and the like, our hats have to go off to the crew in the animated GIF seen after the jump. There is no elaborate set up or costume, just two guys who really wanted to be on Google StreetView. Go ahead – see it for yourself.

[Source: Make Use Of]

Continue reading Best reaction to an oncoming Google Street View car ever

Best reaction to an oncoming Google Street View car ever originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 21 May 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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by Jonathan Hiskes

Are Congressional
Republicans moving beyond blanket opposition to the Obama administration? Here’s
an interesting signal: Four GOP House members signed a letter praising
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for putting bikers and walkers on equal footing with autos in transportation
planning.

Reps. Cathy McMorris
Rodgers (WA), Michael McCaul (TX), Jack Kingston (GA), and Steven LaTourette
(OH) joined 24 Democratic colleagues in giving a shout-out to LaHood’s
newsmaking policy shift:

We recognize, and appreciate, that your statement was not
about providing equal amounts of funding to all forms of transportation, or
prioritizing bicycling and walking over other transportation modes such as
trucking, freight or public transit. Instead, your commitment to consider all
modes clarified that to give citizens a choice, rather than forcing them into
their car, we must make sure that bicycling and walking are as safe and
convenient as other modes. [Full text]

We’ve reported on LaHood’s March statement the auto-only era of federal transportation planning
is finished. (“People across America who value bicycling should have a voice
when it comes to transportation planning,” he said.)

He drew a flurry
of comments from ticked-off reps in auto and transport industries, so it’s
encouraging that these GOP lawmakers are taking a more nuanced view.

Oh, and happy Bike to
Work Day, y’all.

(Hat tip to Elena Schor
at
Streetsblog.)

Related Links:

In wake of Gulf spill, should this be the summer of energy reform?

U.N. study calls for economic changes to save biodiversity

Electric-car company Tesla gets infusion of cash from Toyota

A Wall Street Journal article today draws attention to yet another unexpected way in which Facebook’s privacy practices have not complied with its public statements and have disregarded users’ privacy rights. Just last week, when asked about Facebook’s privacy practices with advertisers, Facebook executive Elliot Schrage wrote:

We don’t share your information with advertisers. Our targeting is anonymous. We don’t identify or share names. Period.

As the Wall Street Journal report shows, this was not true. In fact, Facebook’s architecture at the time allowed advertisers to see detailed personal information about some Facebook users.

The article identified a security flaw concerning referer URLs, a basic part of the web’s architecture. For readers who aren’t web gurus: A “referer” is a piece of information sent whenever you click on a link. It tells the site you’re visiting what URL you’ve just come from. (The term’s strange spelling is one of the web’s many historical in-jokes.) In some instances, the referer URL will also include a “query string” that reveals additional information.

Ordinarily, the query string doesn’t reveal anything sensitive. In fact, it’s a maxim of web engineering that sensitive information (like passwords) should never be placed in the query string, exactly because doing so can cause security and privacy problems.

It’s a maxim that Facebook apparently forgot. A paper published last August by researchers at AT&T Labs and Worcester Polytechnic (blogged by EFF here) showed how Facebook’s referers revealed information to advertisers that could be used to personally identify visitors. The problem was made far worse by the changes Facebook made in December and April, which designated radically more user data as “publicly available information” and created new tech tools for mining that data.

Yesterday, facing the pressure of the impending Wall Street Journal article, Facebook fixed the worst aspects of that loophole. They say they’re in the process of fixing the rest.

The fixes come not a moment too soon. The flaws were not only in conflict with Schrage’s public statements, but with Facebook’s own privacy policy, which states that “We don’t share your information with advertisers without your consent.”

Beyond the fixes Facebook has already made, what steps can be taken to prevent this kind of data leakage in the future? There are some steps Facebook could take, like moving users to HTTPS, which can limit transmission of referer URLs. And users can protect themselves by using plugins like Firefox’s RefControl. We also encourage both social networking services and web browsers to adopt emerging standards like ‘noreferrer’, which would allow sites much simpler control over how referers are handled.

Of course, as demonstrated in the AT&T/WPI paper, referer strings are not the only path by which social networks leak personal information to advertisers. That paper found that 11 of the 12 social networking sites it examined leak personal information to advertisers by one method or another. Hopefully, today’s WSJ article is a sign that all of these methods will soon be receiving closer scrutiny.

Durante uma travessia de rio feita por um grupo de jipeiros, um jipe Suzuki que tinha seu motorista e mais um acompanhante a bordo é levado rio abaixo, quase transformando um dia de aventura numa completa tragédia.

Uma das principais providencias para que a tragedia não ocorresse foi a rápida intervenção de membros do grupo, que ao verem a gravidade da situação pediram desesperadamente que os ocupante abrissem a porta do Suzuki, com o intuito de que a água entrasse em seu interior e não fosse levado rio abaixo.

E como podemos ver, a experiencia o grupo foi essencial, pois caso essa medida não fosse tomada o jipe com seus ocupantes iriam descer e afundar no rio, já que cada vez mais o jipe Suzuki era levado para o fundo do rio, que segundo moradores da região possui mais de 4 metros de profundidade. Depois disso, o jipe com seus ocupantes foram salvos pelo homem super-cueca, que mergulhou e conseguiu conectar o veiculo com o cabo e reboca-lo.

Fonte: YouTube

Left to right: Jesse Lee, Robert Abban and
Chris Lau prepare their solar furnace
for an afternoon test.

Four recent graduates who majored in aerospace and mechanical engineering lined an old satellite TV dish with hundreds of squares of aluminum-coated Mylar.

At the end of a 3-foot pipe that rises from the center of the dish, they clamped a box made of a steel bottom and furnace insulation bricks for the sides and top.

In the heat of a spring Cleveland sun, the reflected light striking the steel panel pushed temperatures inside the box a past 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

“We’re shooting for 700 degrees Celsius on a really nice day,” said Chris Lau, from Houston. That would be 1,292 degrees on your backyard thermometer, if it registered that high. Or, to put it in another perspective, easily enough heat to melt aluminum.

Lau, Jesse Lee of Dublin, Ohio, Robert Abban from Columbus and Jason Presutti of Pittsburgh, built the solar furnace as their senior project.

They built on the cheap, on purpose, taking the first step toward creating a model that could be used in developing countries. For less than $500, they’ve produced a prototype: 75-square-feet of mirror aimed at a vessel that can safely handle the heat. Aim the mirror at the sun and the temperature in the box climbs rapidly.

For everyday use, the sunlight concentrated from the 10-foot-diameter dish could be used to cook by hanging a black pot where the brick box is, or to distill water – a key feature for areas where water and power supplies are poor.

“Simply boiling water can take care of biological contamination but may not remove chemical pollutants,” Lee said. “But if you boil water and catch the steam, that’s 100 percent pure water.”

He suggested a reflective trough, which could concentrate heat on a water pipe running down the center, would likely be more efficient and less expensive for water uses.

But, this set up may be a better option for generating electricity. Aim the energy at a heat engine, such as a Stirling engine, which turns a generator. The result could be as much as 2,000 watts of power, or enough to keep four standard refrigerator-freezers running while the sun is bright, they’ve calculated.

Beyond household uses, the solar furnace was meant to prove the maximum temperature that could be reached simply by concentrating and storing the energy, Lee said. It’s more of a “green” and “sustainable” approach to high temperature materials processing.

In the last month, the group has found how clear the day is, the wind and the outside temperature all affect how much heat can be generated, Abban said.

Some members of the team may continue to fine-tune the design and experiment more this summer. After that, they’ll leave the project for succeeding classes willing to improve the furnace.

For more information contact Kevin Mayhood, 216.368.4442.

A guest post by Ben Tulchin, President and Founder of Tulchin Research, a leading polling and strategic consulting firm.

Yesterday the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released poll results about the California water bond. These results vary wildly from the poll Tulchin Research conducted back in February.

Our February 2010 poll showed the water bond losing big—with 55 percent of likely voters indicating they would vote no on the proposed $11 billion bond.

To me, this was an indication that the water bond is in deep trouble. No California bond measure has ever won statewide that started with a majority against it. The poll surveyed 600 likely voters across California, asking respondents to share their opinions after reading the official title and summary as it will appear in voters’ handbook*.

Recently, the PPIC poll asked a question about the water bond which we believe has been misinterpreted to suggest there may be majority support for the water bond, so we wanted to set the record straight.

PPIC found that seven out of 10 voters (70%) feel that a “water package”, which includes general reforms as well as the water bond, is “important”, with 42 percent saying it is “very important” and another 28 percent indicating it is “somewhat important”.

Why do these polls vary so much? Well, it's all in how you ask the questions…

While the PPIC results are interesting, this question fundamentally differs from the question we asked in our own survey.

The Tulchin Research poll asked about the bond as it will appear in voters’ official handbooks, with the real price tag ($22 billion – principal and interest) and whether or not they would vote yes to support the bond or no to oppose it. This is a true ballot test that we have done hundreds of times to measure support for a ballot measure and have found it to be a very accurate measurement of how voters will vote for an initiative.

In contrast, the PPIC poll asked about a “water package” that includes water conservation, clean up and recycling, and restoring the Delta, with the bond thrown in at the end. Here is the question, with conservation listed up front and the price tag at the end:

“The governor and legislature recently passed a water package that includes water conservation requirements and plans for new water storage systems, water clean-up and recycling, and a council to oversee restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This package includes a proposal for an $11.1 billion bond measure to pay for water projects. How important is it that voters pass the bond measure?”

Note that the question goes on to ask, “How important is it to pass the bond” – not whether people support or oppose the policy package or the bond.

The bottom line is that it is hard to interpret what exactly the results for the PPIC survey question mean, since the question has so many different components. At the least, it suggests to me that Californians feel water is an important issue facing the state, particularly water conservation, clean up and recycling. However, I don’t think the PPIC poll question tells us anything about how voters are, in fact, going to vote on the water bond, since it does not measure support or opposition directly.

In sum, in assessing these different polls on the water bond, I believe that voters do feel water is an important issue facing California, but, based on our poll results, they do not feel prepared to spend $22 billion and put our state deeper in debt at a time when California continues to face a budget deficit.

*Tulchin Research conducted the survey on behalf of the campaign opposing the bond measure.

SwipeLife was lucky enough to catch Copenhagen based Frost Birgens at the last Capsule show in NYC. According to the label, “Frost Birgens dresses the urban confident man in subtle cuts balancing the familiar with the astounding.” This is particularly true with all their collections and at real life glance, we knew that something was astoundingly different to what this label brings to the industry. For Fall/Winter 2010, expect a combination of sweats, flannels, and long johns to paired up with items such as jackets, roll neck sweaters, plaid shirts, cardigans and more.

Continue reading for more images.

Since our own Jim is finalizing his Master’s degree in Columbus today, there’s no other song to help us celebrate than this classic from Mr. Hetfield and friends:

Even though it’ll be final next week-ish, congrats are in order!!

Bike summit needed to save lives, livelihood of trails

Editor, The Times:

Friday was Bike to Work Day. [Bike to work with care: key danger zones,” page one, May 21.]

Last Friday as I was doing just that, I saw my life flash in front of me. I was on the Burke-Gilman Trail just past the bumpy part (in Lake Forest Park) when I spied a huddle of spandex on bikes heading toward me.

As I got closer, the spandex decided to pass another rider. Suddenly, I was faced with three bicyclists riding abreast; the choice of a head-on collision or the ditch to my right was all I had.

I closed my eyes. I made it, but spent the rest of my ride muttering to myself about why we couldn’t be more like the Europeans, who do not mix training for the Tour de France with commuting to work.

I love the Burke-Gilman Trail. It’s a gem in our community and I appreciate that it is multipurpose. But everyone who has ridden it has a story of seeing some older couple leap off the trail as a snaking line of racers zooms by or hearing the sometimes aggressive, “on your right” directed at a young child trying to learn to ride.

I don’t know what the solution is — we don’t want bike cops or big regulatory signs. Education seems to be preaching to the choir. There aren’t enough trails around.

Somehow we need to figure out how to coexist on our bike trails. We need a bike summit with smart people representing different interests all at the table.

— Barbara McGrath, Kirkland

If you trekked down to the local Verizon store for an early morning camp-out in order to pick up an LG Ally yesterday, you might have left a bit upset — and empty handed. While Verizon initially said that they’d have’m in stock by the 20th, they were a no show.

If this note purportedly being sent out to pre-orderers rings true, would-be Ally owners might have right around another week (or more) of waiting.

According to the note, first posted by the folks over at the oh-so-focused LG Ally Forums , the phones initial availability has been pushed back until “on or after May 27th”, with pre-orders now running until the day before.

I blame Iron Man. Damn you, Tony Stark! Damn you!

Dear Valued Customer,

This notification is to inform you that Verizon Wireless has received your pre-order of the LG Ally. We have extended the pre-order period for the LG Ally until May 26th.

Since you have pre-ordered, you will be the first to receive the phone upon initial availability on or after May 27th.

We appreciate your business, and we will send you another confirmation email as soon as your LG Ally ships.

Sincerely,

Verizon Wireless

Better problems to solve

What grandstanding — pushing a bill to legalize online gambling when it doesn’t have a chance of passing [“McDermott says don’t ban Internet gambling, tax it,” NWThursday, May 20]. This is no different then when Rep. Jim McDermott pushed re-establishing the military draft a few years ago.

All legal gambling is currently heavily regulated to protect the gambler from shenanigans of the house. This is true federally, on every reservation and in every state where gambling is legal. Further, there is no way to currently regulate online gambling.

So how could you tax something you can’t regulate?

In the scheme of things and standing alone, online gambling is a minor issue. McDermott has tried to make it more of an issue by tying it to foster kids.

Making the health and well-being of foster kids dependent upon what amounts to a sin tax that results in an unclear revenue stream is perverse. If foster kids need more resources —and I bet they do —is this really the best that could be mustered?

We need to fix our core economic inadequacies. We need to get to the bottom of what doesn’t work. We need to deal with the big issues, such as global warming. There is a host of other must-fixes, yet the old guard just keeps dabbling in minutia. No wonder the county is so upset with Congress.

— Bill Hoffman, Seattle

Gambling with the future

Rep. Jim McDermott’s proposal to legalize Internet gambling is dangerous, unenforceable and hypocritical. If Internet gambling is offshore now, how could it be taxed?

Does McDermott need closet gamblers to fund his overspending?

Internet gambling competes with our lottery, cardrooms and casinos; it puts Washingtonians out of work and reduces our tax revenue.

Although foster programs need more funds, shouldn’t gambling taxes be used to rehabilitate the addicts who pay those taxes?

If McDermott really wants to raise revenues, he would support legalization of marijuana, which is easier to regulate, would save more than 6,000 lives in Mexico, raise more revenue and free up our police, courts and prisons to deal with violent crime.

McDermott is gambling with our future. Re-electing him would be a bad bet.

— Cliff Godwin, Seattle

Crime and punishment for all

If anyone were to assault a police officer, they would be arrested and put in jail immediately [”Group wants cops in video fired,” NWWednesday, May 19]. Why then were police officers — who were caught on video and audio assaulting an innocent citizen — not given the same treatment?

This is unacceptable and inexcusable. This tells me that police are exempt from the laws of the land and that there is an obvious and unmistakable double-standard here, which needs to be addressed.

Someone who is involved in a crime, but did not actually do something directly is often charged as an accomplice for aiding and abetting. The sergeant in charge could have intervened and taken action against the offending officers. His failure to act is no different from being a partner in crime. He is just as guilty as the cops who assaulted the Latino man.

Only after significant outcries from the public did Interim Police Chief John Diaz finally decide that he should do something. Why did Seattle Police simply do an investigation when the officers were caught red-handed violating the law?

This is another example of why we need a commission made exclusively of civilians who have complete authority over Seattle Police. Officers should get the same treatment as anyone breaking the law or should be held accountable to an even higher standard, just as a criminal who gets a longer sentence for a repeat violation because he should have known better.

— Brian Luther, Seattle