Category: News

Apple just dumped a truckload of money at the doorstep of Siri, a startup you’ve probably never heard of, which makes a voice search iPhone app you’ve probably never used. Why? The answer, as usual, has to do with Google. More »

Filed under: Safety, Videos

In the never-ending battle to get teenage drivers to put down their cell phones while driving, Sprint has assembled an A-Team of comedic force to advocate the use of thumb socks. We’re not kidding. The ever-hilarious comedians Ken Jeong and Joel McHale have jumped on board to get teens to wrap up their opposable digits while driving. The theory is that the slick sock fabric makes it nearly impossible manipulate your phone’s buttons and cuts out using the iPhone’s touchscreen all together.

Sprint will be more than happy to send you three pairs of the socks once you sign up for an account over at the Do Something web site. The company is hoping kids will give the extra pairs to their friends, or keep a pair in the glove box.

Sounds like a good idea, to be sure. Thing is, we have a hard time believing your average teenager is going to embrace wearing something that’s four fingers short of a glove and takes effort to put on. Considering the fact that tying shoe laces is too much a stretch for most of the sub-20 population, we don’t expect to see thumb socks become all the rage all of a sudden. Hit the jump to see Jeong and McHale do their best to get the word out.

[Source: Do Something]

Continue reading Video: PSA – Ken Jeong and Joel McHale urge you to put a sock on it

Video: PSA – Ken Jeong and Joel McHale urge you to put a sock on it originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WASHINGTON–Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Wednesday there is a “civil war” within the GOP.

Kaine made his remarks at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, where he discussed the new DNC program to energize for the November mid-term elections some 15 million first time voters the Obama campaign recruited in 2008.

Republicans are wrestling with Tea Party activists, an “energy” Democrats take seriously, Kaine said. Unlike Republicans, Democrats, Kaine said are unified.

“We don’t have a civil war going on within the Democratic Party. You know, we know who our leader is, it is the President. The other side has a civil war, that is ‘who is our leader, which faction are we going to follow’ and the other side tends to have a little more of a litmus test- ‘if you are not with us, we are going to throw you out.’

“That’s not who we are. Not that we agree on everything, but we are usually at least singing in harmony, if not the same note. But there is a real battle going on on the other side.”

NEWS RELEASE
April 28, 2010                                                             Contact: Frank Murray, 542-4835

Columbia Basin College career and workforce students won 14 of 30 medals at the SkillsUSA Washington Post Secondary State Conference April 23 and 24 in the Tri-Cities.

Nine of CBC’s students qualified for the national competition in Kansas City in June. CBC medalists included:

Extemporaneous Speaking
1st Bethany Rawls – Automotive Technology
2nd Mason Ortiz – Automotive Technology

Customer Service
1st Justine De Leon – Machine Technology
2nd Carmen Quinn – Automotive Technology

Job Interview
1st Bethany Rawls – Automotive Technology
2nd Thomas Verret – Automotive Technology

Prepared Speech
2nd Mason Ortiz – Automotive Technology
3rd Eduardo Enriguez – Automotive Technology

Job Demonstration
1st Bethany Rawls – Automotive Technology

Automated Manufacturing Technology (team contest)
1st Justine De Leon, Nicole De Leon, Andrew Willis – Machine Technology

CNC Turning Technology
1st Jacob Sachs – Machine Technology

Diesel Equipment Technology
Justin Lund – AG & Industrial Equipment Technology

Automotive Service Technology
2nd Joshua Hopstad – Automotive Technology

You should probably just click this to see the whole comic. Notice I didn’t say “… see the whole joke” because, of course, it’s true. It’s also true that lobsters live in trees.

Incidentally, and no joke, this comes when a dozen astronomers are headed to Capitol Hill to make the case that astronomy is important. I hope they can do it. It is important!

David Sanger points us to a case that is so full of confusion and ridiculousness that it’s difficult to know who to support. It appears that both parties are greatly confused about the law, terms of service and what each other did. It involves news giant AFP and a photojournalist, Daniel Morel, who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake, and took some photos right after it happened. That’s when things get mixed up. In an effort to get the photos out to the world, the daughter of a friend helped him upload the images to Twitpic, and then announce them via Twitter. From there a different photographer, Lisandro Suero, based in the Dominican Republic, apparently copied those images to his own account on TwitPic and tweeted that the images were available for licensing. The AFP then used those photos, uploaded them to Getty for distribution, and credited Suero. The photos then started appearing in a variety of places credited to AFP/Getty/Suero. Morel gets upset and sends a legal nastygram to the AFP… and after some back and forth the AFP sues Morel (yes, the AFP sued Morel after using his photos without credit) asking for summary judgment that it did not infringe on his copyrights and saying that Morel’s claims that his work was infringed upon were “commercial defamation.”

You can read the (relatively short) complaint here:

And you can read Morel’s much longer response here (which, by the way, includes the photographs in question):

Where to start on the mess here? First, let’s start with AFP. This is the same organization that once sued Google for merely linking to AFP stories with the AFP’s headline in Google News. So for the AFP to pretend it’s on the moral high road here for blatantly using a photo without licensing it is pretty damn hypocritical, even if you believe it had the right to do so. Given its own actions on copyright issues, the AFP seems to think that any use is infringing.

Second, as Dan Kennedy points out, the AFP’s defense appears to be based on a bizarre reading of the Twitter terms of service. Those terms of service read:

You retain your rights to any Content you submit, post or display on or through the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through the Services, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content in any and all media or distribution methods (now known or later developed).

AFP uses this in its filing, noting:

When Mr. Morel posted his photographs on Twitter, he made no notation that he
was in any way limiting the license granted to Twitter or third parties or that he was in
any way limiting the ability of Twitter and third parties to use, distribute, or republish his
photographs. Thus, a third party would reasonably assume that based on the Twitter
Terms of Service and typical use, by posting his photographs on Twitter, Mr. Morel was
granting the requisite license to Twitter and third parties to use, copy, publish, display
and distribute those photographs.

There are two very big problems with this line of argument (though, oddly, Mr. Morel doesn’t seem to point out either problem in his response). Problem #1: The photos were posted to TwitPic, not Twitter. While many people don’t seem to realize this, TwitPic is not a part of Twitter, but is a separate company. Thus, Twitter’s licensing terms are somewhat irrelevant. Problem #2: Twitter’s terms of service are between Twitter and the user, not for a third party. Reading the terms in question should be familiar to anyone who’s set up any online user-generated content service. They’re boilerplate terms that mean the service in question has the right to post the content that the user submitted. Not some third party. Note that the terms clearly say “you grant us a worldwide…” That “us” is Twitter. Not the AFP. For the AFP to claim otherwise is really bizarre.

Of course, this doesn’t absolve Morel, either. First, once his lawyers contacted the AFP, the AFP did seek to stop distribution of the image. Yes, this was late in the process, but if it’s true that AFP was really confused and thought it had the proper license, it did appear to act to rectify the situation as soon as it was notified. Morel’s claims that AFP must have just known that he was the originating photographer seem questionable. On top of that, he immediately jumps to demanding a huge fee from AFP, even though he admits that the reason he uploaded the images was to help them get widely seen. As he said, he posted them online “in the hopes that his images would span the globe to inform the world of the disaster.” He also claimed he posted them there so that he would “receive compensation and credit as a professional photographer,” but just because you post images hoping to “receive compensation,” it doesn’t mean you’re automatically entitled to compensation.

Even worse, while I don’t think Twitter’s terms of service matter at all here (see two paragraphs up), Morel’s response to that issue doesn’t help his case at all. He claims that Twitter’s terms of service shouldn’t apply because he didn’t read them:

Mr. Morel had no prior experience with Twitter, the social networking site and did not read the Terms of Service.

While I don’t think Twitter’s terms of service apply for all the reasons above, his failure to read the terms hardly is the best reasoning in his defense.

If he should be upset with anyone, it sure looks like his real complaint should be with Lisandro Suero, who copied the images, claimed the work as his own, and offered them up to news agencies. Morel’s complaint blames AFP for not taking the time to do the “due diligence” to make sure Suero actually took the photos:

What steps did AFP take to verify Suero’s identity? From where were the
images sent? Did they call Suero and ask him where he was when the images were
taken? Did they contact other AFP resident photographers in Haiti or the Dominican
Republic to inquire whether anybody had ever heard of Lisandro Suero?

Yet, this is coming from the same guy who just pages before admits he didn’t bother reading the terms of service for the website on which he was uploading photos — and many months later still doesn’t realize that he uploaded them to a totally different service, called TwitPic, rather than Twitter? Complaining that the AFP failed in its due diligence seems a bit strange, considering the lack of due diligence on his own part.

In the end, this is a lot of arguing over nothing. Both parties seem to have screwed up in their actions. Morel admits he wanted the world to see his photos and various news agencies helped in that regards, and have helped boost his reputation as a photojournalist. It appears there are lots of ways that he could cash in on that recognition. Meanwhile, the AFP clearly mislabled the images and appears to be blatantly misreading the terms of service on a different site than the photos were uploaded to.

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Does the market know something, or is this the ultimate moral hazard trade?

We have no idea.

Join the conversation about this story »

The news of the licensing deal between HTC and Microsoft is surprising, primarily as it covers HTC’s work in the Android platform. Microsoft has provided licensing of its technology in the past, but this was the first time specifically covering the hot Android platform. Redmond wants to make it clear it is serious about protecting its intellectual property, and it is duly concerned about infringements of that IP inherent in the Android platform. We received this statement from Horacio Guiterrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing at Microsoft:

Microsoft has a decades-long record of investment in software platforms. As a result, we have built a significant patent portfolio in this field, and we have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to ensure that competitors do not free ride on our innovations.  We have also consistently taken a proactive approach to licensing to resolve IP infringement by other companies, and have been talking with several device manufacturers to address our concerns relative to the Android mobile platform.

Guiterrez recently shared his views on the Apple patent infringement suit against HTC. He feels licensing technology to third parties is vital to the growth of the smartphone segment, just as was done in the past when the main purpose of phones were “to make and receive calls.” Most interesting is his view on how the “software stack” in smartphones has replaced that important “radio stack” as the critical area in which technology licensing will play a big role.

Now, however, as a new category of ‘smart’ devices has emerged, the value proposition has moved to the software stack.  As is clear from advertising by all of the major brands – Apple’s iPhone, RIM’s Blackberry, Palm’s Prē, Motorola’s Droid, and Windows Phones – people buy smartphones because they are fully functional computers that fit in the palm of your hand.  The radio stack is still valuable, as it allows the phone to connect to the Internet.  But what is most valuable is not the connection per se, but the new things that users can do with it – find nearby restaurants and movie theaters, send and receive email, and watch video, just to name a few.  The primary driver for adoption and sales in this market is the software on and available for the device.

This situation bears watching, and it is not clear how Android will fare over time. Android phone makers may need to all make deals with Microsoft and possibly Apple to cover all bets. Microsoft is not sharing details about which other companies it is in discussions with over Android infringements.

by Tom Philpott

A soy plantation in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil. Nilton Ricardo, BrazilPhotosEveryone should listen to this BBC report (unfortunately not embedabble) on the “price of biofuels.” It digs into a key question: what does Europe’s appetite for biodiesel mean for people and ecosystems in the countries that produce the feedstocks?

Focusing on Paraguay, the BBC comes up with answers that aren’t pretty. The economic benefits of the biofuel craze accrue to large plantation owners and the global agribusiness firms that buy their soy and provide the inputs. Tracts of of the Amazon get leveled for soy production. Small-scale tenant farmers get forced off their land and into penury.  Inevitably, agrichemicals rain down and seep into streams, wreaking havoc on communities.

In short, we see not the production of a “green” fuel but rather an ecological calamity in service of the idea of green fuel: a highly profitable travesty masquerading as a “solution.”

The focus is the Europe-South America consumption-production chain, but our own corn-ethanol program is implicated. Like crude oil, agricultural commodities like corn and soy are fungible. Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill don’t distinguish between soy grown on Iowa prairie lands and, say, the the Brazilian savanna. In industrial production, soy is soy; and corn is corn. As biofuel production expands, it demands more cropland—affecting farmers’ planting decisions and make therm scramble to increase yields.

Ponder the fact that the U.S. government uses mandates and tax breaks to divert more than a third of the U.S. corn crop into ethanol—and that proportion will rise to more than 50 percent by 2015, if mandates in the Renewable Fuel Standard hold true. As recently as 2004, ethanol burned through just 13 percent of the crop.

All of that corn being diverted into our gas tanks means that somewhere, some industrial agriculturalist sees an opportunity to plow up new land for more corn production. Or switch from soy to corn, putting upward pressure on the price of soy and encouraging more soy in places like the Amazon rain forest or Brazil’s savanna.

Let’s put this into perspective. The U.S. grows 40 percent of the globe’s corn. If one third of it gets transformed into ethanol, that means that more than one out of every eight corn kernels grown in the world now goes into U.S. drivers’ gas tanks. When one half of our corn goes to ethanol, one kernel in five will help power our car fleet.

Let’s think about it another way. The mighty U.S. corn crop sucks up more than 40 percent of the synthetic nitrogen and mined potassium fertilizer used in U.S. agriculture. (Figures extrapolated from this USDA document—and a pox on that agency for presenting this key information in a rather raw Excel document, and not a thought-through HTML.) So again, given that a third of corn goes to ethanol. that means nearly 15 percent of our consumption of this those ecologically devastating, geopolitically troubling resources can be explained by ethanol.

And for what? All to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by about 6 percent. Reaching that stunningly modest level required decades of steady government support in the form of multi-billion-dollar annual tax breaks, plus research grants and mandates.  And to be clear, our ethanol habit barely——if at all—reduces the total amount of fossil fuel consumed. Production of corn-based ethanol offers a razor-thin net energy gain—and that, only if you grant a generous credit to distillers grains, an ethanol byproduct, as a livestock feed. As I’ve shown before, the mush left over from industrial ethanol production is riddled with antibiotic residues and heart-ruining mycotoxins—not the kind of stuff you’d want to feed to animals you plan to eat (even though the meat indsustry welcomes distillers grains as an “economical” alternative to whole corn).

In short, government-mandated biofuel programs, both in Europe and here, are distractions from the necessary task of reducing fossil energy consumption. They will inevitably cause the destruction of climate-stabilizing ecosystems like rain forests and seperate small-scale farmers from their land. Indeed, both are lready happening.

I can see one hopeful sign from the U.S. biofuel experience, though. It has proved that the U.S. government, even under such alleged free-market zealots as Reagan and Bush II, actually is capable of making sustained public commitments to alternative energy. (Leave aside their loyal and expensive support of the crude-oil industry).

The trick for progressives is to not just attack public support for ethanol, but also to try to shift that spirit of public investment to technologies and projects that actually conserve fossil fuel, like mass transit, dense cities, and efficiency. Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth is circulating an online petition demanding an end to “dirty corn ethanol subsidies.”

Related Links:

Watch out, Kerry—Big Ag’s not done with your climate bill

Scientists show ‘growing’ fuel is waste of energy

EPA intern offends sensitive meat-industry souls

After months of speculation Angry Aussie Russell Crowe has confirmed reports that he’s in talks to take on Kris Kristofferson’s role in the latest remake of the cinema classic A Star is Born – but in a crushing blow to “Sasha Fierce” fans everywhere, Beyonce is no longer attached to the project.

“I think she’s pulled out of it. I’m still chatting about it. It’s one of those stories that’s been made a lot, but I think it’s still quite a big focus – you can see that in terms of the popularity of things like American Idol,” Russ blabbed to TV’s Extra this week.

The Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU’s Tisch School is where all kinds of ridiculously creative techno-wizardry happens so it’s pretty exciting they’re seriously opening up the program with a Summer Camp for grown ups. Do check it out. [ITP] More »

It appears — originally based off a tweet from Robert Scoble, and then confirmed by Business Insider — that Apple has made yet another acquisition: the company who makes the Siri application for iPhone. If you’re not familiar with Siri, it functions as a personal assistant on your mobile device. While we’ve all heard this claim before from other offerings, Siri sure looks to come close.

So while Siri makes claims that sound familiar to other apps available for iPhone, its execution sure seems to raise it above the rest of the field. With an interface to type your input, as well as speak it, the user has flexibility to interact easily with Siri while on the go. (Sounds kind of like Google’s mobile app, doesn’t it?) The special sauce that Siri has in its corner is being context aware (location, time, dates, etc) as well as hooking into many web APIs to gather and present information for easy consumption. Truth be told, this mashup of information and resources reminds me of Yahoo Pipes, only with the geeky parts hidden and Voice interaction added. What’s not to like? There are great demos to be found on siri.com, but as a quick example, I could tell Siri, “I want to find a movie to watch this Thursday at midnight” and it returns a list of showtimes near my location, with links to buy tickets. Pretty neat, and super easy to use.

What could this mean for Apple? My immediate assumption is that the Voice Over capability of future iPhone operating systems will implement Siri features — at least that’s my hope. Launching an app to do the work isn’t a big deal, but how great would it be to be driving, hold down my iPhone’s home button for a few seconds, and speak my request to Siri without having to look away from the road? It also seems obvious that with this purchase Apple has decided to roll its own rather than letting market competitors such as Google provide competitive options on their device. Is Apple getting into search, as some believe? I don’t think this is search, so much as service, but who’s to say?

It’s always interesting to see what Apple is doing when it goes on a buying spree. Lately it’s been oriented toward making processors, but snatching up some effective software obviously isn’t out of the question either. Though the trend seems to be strongly along the lines of its mobile product line, which really isn’t all that surprising now, is it? Siri is free in the App Store, but only available within the U.S. currently.

See some other interesting integrations for Siri in Apple’s ecosystem? Share your ideas in the comments!

Even though Splinter Cell: Conviction is barely out the door and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is still gearing up for launch, Ubisoft is reportedly already working on two more Tom Clancy games.

Among the problems faced by chicken breeders who pack their chickens into close quarters is that the territorial birds will often henpeck each other, often to the point of cannibalism. One way to cut down on chicken-on-chicken crime is to trim the beaks of the birds. But a professor at Purdue University thinks he’s found the solution — breed nicer chickens.

William Muir of Purdue claims he’s developed a method of breeding the birds that would make for a more peaceful atmosphere in the coops and would cut down on the whole cannibalism thing.

Muir says peaceful hens would live longer and happier lives, meaning more eggs and less waste.

The big question facing those concerned with animal rights is: Does the fact that the birds aren’t killing each other as much make it okay to keep chickens in small spaces?

Purdue University scientist invents breeding method to produce peaceful chickens, reduce cannibalism

I’m proud to say that Jamati is one of the first publications to share the exclusive 2010 FIFA World Cup Hybrid T-shirt collection, designed by 54 Kingdoms, for you .

As South Africa will be the first African country to host the FIFA World Cup tournament, it has granted 54 Kingdoms the opportunity to bring it’s skills, expertise and knowledge to the global market by birthing the exclusive World Cup Hybrid T-shirt collection.

These collector’s t-shirt items for both males and females, offer an innovative product for the six African countries that have qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament.

The countries are Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast.

The pictures that are shown here are the South African men’s t-shirts which come in both black and yellow, and blue and yellow. More t-shirts for the other FIFA participating countries will premiere soon for both men and women.

For more information about these Exclusive Hybrid t-shirt Collectors items collection, please visit their website or you can e-mail your requests or inquiries to [email protected] or [email protected].  For large quantity purchases, please email their sales department at [email protected]

I’m on the road today, so I don’t have time to explain the fascinating science behind this freaky new picture of feathered dinosaurs young and old. So let me just direct your attention to fellow D-blogger, Ed Yong, and Nature’s Janet Fang for more.

[Image by Xing Lida and Song Qijin]

If you’ve been following the Nokia N8 over the past few days, you’re well aware that it was given less-than-stellar marks by Mobile Review’s Eldar Murtazin.  After a few PR plugs (including the statement that the device shouldn’t be reviewed with pre-release software), Nokia has released an unedited sample video clip from the N8.  I have to say, for a cell phone, I’m really impressed.  If you’re looking for a device with a great camera/video camera, this device appears to be the one.  Check out the clip below.

{Widget type=”youtube” id=”dzvnnkPdfs” }

Via Engadget

Posted by Rick Pearson and John Chase at 12:43 p.m.; updated at 6:10 p.m. with Quincy rally

QUINCY, Ill. — Democrat Alexi Giannoulias got a boost in his ailing U.S. Senate campaign today in the form of a public shout out and hug from President Barack Obama.



Both the White House and Giannoulias tried to downplay the political importance of today’s event as they try to keep Obama’s old Senate seat in Democratic hands following last week’s seizure by federal regulators of the Giannoulias family bank.



“I’m excited to see the president but this is not a political trip to Quincy," Giannoulias said at a rally in Chicago before heading downstate for the event.



Earlier, White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton told reporters traveling with Obama that it would not “be appropriate for the president to talk about anybody’s campaign at what are all official events.”



Yet there was no mistaking the political implications for Giannoulias and his relationship with the White House as Obama closed out a two-day three-state campaign-style Midwest tour with a town hall event at the Oakley Lindsay Civic Center.



Obama mentioned Giannoulias’ name during his remarks. Later, the president gave a departing good-luck hug to Giannoulias, his former basketball playing buddy. Obama has been close with Giannoulias, providing a vital endorsement in getting Giannoulias elected state treasurer four years ago.



Prior to Obama taking the stage, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod summoned Giannoulias out of his seat in the audience for a private backstage meeting. Axelrod said it involved “catching up” with the candidate.



A White House background sheet on the day’s activities, noting the elected officials from Illinois planning to attend the event, listed Giannoulias at the top, even though in ranking and seniority the state treasurer is last among the statewide offices.

Posted earlier…

Less than a week after his campaign was hit hard when federal regulators seized his family bank, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias said today he believes he has received appropriate backing from President Obama.

But Giannoulias downplayed his scheduled appearance today with Obama in downstate Quincy, saying he was going as state treasurer not as a candidate to fill the Senate seat Obama once held.

"The president and the White House are supportive. I’m excited to see the president but this is not a political trip to Quincy," Giannoulias said following a union rally in Chicago to support Obama’s Wall Street reform legislation.



Last week, Giannoulias said he didn’t plan to go to Quincy because he was "busy." But with questions swirling about how much Obama, a onetime basketball playing buddy of Giannoulias, is backing his candidacy, the appearance could help fend off some of those questions.



"I said (last week) I was going to try to make it, so we made myself available," Giannoulias said about what changed between last week and today.



Giannoulias at first didn’t want to take questions after the rally but acquiesced after being cornered by cameras as he cut through a post office on his way to his car.



During the rally, attended by about 150 people, Giannoulias criticized his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, saying Kirk has voted against Wall Street reform.

"As a U.S. congressman…when (the economy was) going great our national debt doubled," he said of Kirk after the rally. "So how can he talk about fiscal responsibility?"

Answering Giannoulias’ charges, Kirk spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said the North Shore congressman supports a compromise reform bill in the Senate. Kukowski also chided Giannoulias for having lost credibility on the issues of financial reform following the failure of his family’s Broadway Bank.

According to the White House, Obama will speak in Quincy about the need to approve Wall Street reforms. The advisory listed the Illinois public officials expected to attend. Giannoulias was listed first.

Also expected to attend are Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Dan Hynes and House Speaker Michael Madigan. All are Chicago Democrats.

Iraq’s Secret Torture Prison

Human Rights Watch says hundreds of detainees at an Iraqi-run secret prison outside Baghdad were electrocuted, suffocated and beaten into confessing they were terrorists.