Category: News

One Android feature that our readers have been asking for is the ability to update all applications and games to the latest release.   It’s not uncommon for the average user to see 15 or more notifications a day indicating new versions of downloaded apps.  As phones get bigger and allow for more applications, the headache will only get worse.  It appears Google understands this and has taken steps to address the situation.  Rather than a full blown “update all” option, the Market found in Android 2.2 appears it will give users the option to automatically update apps in the background.

Would you use this feature? Are the total opt-in type?  Do you only trust specific developers?

Source: 4chan via Phandroid

Might We Suggest…

• Canadians Finally Get Paid Android Apps!
  

  Attention Canadians: Now you can buy paid Android Apps! That’s right, now you will be able to get all those pro apps, Americans have been buying for quite sometime. Check out this Android Guys art…

Kate Sheppard has some big news on the Senate climate bill, expected to drop Monday, following a conference call with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), one of three senators working on the bill.

The good news for environmentalists: Three of the country’s big five oil companies have agreed to support the bill, as has the Edison Electric Institute, the leading utility industry group. While EEI did eventually support the House climate bill that passed last June, the oil industry was largely in opposition, so this news could help bring oil-state senators like Mary Landrieu (D-La.) on board, particularly since Kerry thinks the American Petroleum Institute will stop running ads bashing the legislation.

The bad news for green advocates: This new support comes at a steep price, with heavy concessions to oil, agriculture, industry and dirty energy. Kate has the rundown:

• The bill would remove the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, and the states’ authority to set tougher emissions standards than the federal government.
• There will be no fee—or “gas tax”—on transportation fuels. Instead, oil companies would also be required to obtain pollution permits but will not trade them on the market like other polluters. How this would work is not yet clear.
• Agriculture would be entirely exempt from the cap on carbon emissions.
• Manufacturers would not be included under a cap on greenhouse gases until 2016.
• The bill would provide government-backed loan guarantees for the construction of 12 new nuclear power plants.
• It will contain at least $10 billion to develop technologies to capture and store emissions from coal-fired power plants.
• There will be new financial incentives for natural gas.
• The bill would place an upper and lower limit on the price of pollution permits, known as a hard price collar. Businesses like this idea because it ensures a stable price on carbon. Environmental advocates don’t like the idea because if the ceiling is set too low, industry will have no financial incentive to move to cleaner forms of energy.
• The energy bill passed by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year will be adopted in full. This measure has sparked concerns among environmentalists for its handouts to nuclear and fossil fuel interests.

Most of this isn’t terribly surprising, although environmentalists had been hoping — without much optimism — that the preemption of EPA and state regulatory authority wouldn’t be included in the final bill. As Kate notes, enviros also hate the Bingaman-Murkowski energy bill that will now be incorporated in full.

Is this enough for some liberal groups to withhold their support? Probably — although the mainstream of the environmental movement is likely to bite the bullet and throw its weight behind the country’s best chance to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

There has been a rumor around the web that Google will be adding free navigation to the iPhone. Google has denied such claims but left the door open slightly by stating that it may come to multiple mobile platforms in the near future. Also, other Maps features could make their way onto the iPhone.



Navigation was first introduced on the Droid, it was a feature of Android 2.0. After complaints from many non-2.0 users, it was made available to every device that has 1.6(maybe this was already in the works). This free navigation service gives Android a leg up on many other platforms that charge for such services, often they are not as good as Google Maps Navigation. A feature of Maps that most of us may not be aware of, routes are cached after the directions are found so even if you lose your data connection while on the go, you will still have accurate navigation information to rely on.

A Google spokesperson said:

“We did not say we would bring it to iPhone, we said to date we’ve had it on Android and that in the future it may come to other platforms but did not confirm this will be coming to iPhone at all,”

[via pcworld]

The oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico is finally out, as the Deepwater Horizon sank into the sea yesterday and hope for finding 11 missing workers began to fade. The damage assessment for the oil spill, however, has just begun.

Oil from an undersea pocket that was ruptured by the rig, which was leased by the energy company BP, has begun to spread outward. The spill measures 10 miles (16 kilometers) by 10 miles, about four times the area of Manhattan, and is comprised of a “light sheen with a few patches of thicker crude,” U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Cheri Ben-Iesau said today [BusinessWeek]. Whether or not the 700,000 gallons of diesel on board Deepwater Horizon is part of the spill remains unknown. Transocean, the company that owns the rig, admitted that it failed to “to stem the flow of hydrocarbons” before the rig sank.

The biggest concern this morning is that the spill could be headed for the coast of Louisiana, less than 50 miles away, which would maximize the environmental damage. Ed Overton, an LSU environmental sciences professor, said he expects some of the light crude oil to evaporate while much of it turns into a pasty mess called a “chocolate mousse” that ultimately breaks apart into “tar balls,” small chunks of oily residue that can wash ashore. “It’s going to be a god-awful mess for a while,” he said. “I’m not crying doomsday or saying the sky is falling, but that is the potential” [AP]. Once oil hits land it’s far more difficult to clean up; even 21 years after the Exxon Valdez accident, its oil can still be found in Alaska beaches.

Now the task is to stem the tide. Fearing a potential environmental disaster, BP announced Thursday that it was dispatching a flotilla of more than 30 vessels capable of skimming more than 170,000 barrels of oil a day to protect sea lanes and wildlife in the area of the sunken platform [The New York Times]. According to the AP, BP had put down 6,000 feet of containment boom by last night, with 500,000 more feet en route. The company is also preparing to dig a secondary well to try to plug the ruptured oil deposit with concrete and mud.

The scale of disaster remains to be seen. Energy experts at first estimated a worst-case scenario of more than 300,000 gallons of oil leaking into the sea per day. However, the size of the oil pocket remains unknown. If it’s a small one, the containment would be far easier. And in a bit of hopeful news, the Coast Guard said it found no new leakage yesterday.

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Related Content:
80beats: Obama Proposes Oil & Gas Drilling in Vast Swaths of U.S. Waters
80beats: 21 Years After Spill, Exxon Valdez Oil Is *Still* Stuck in Alaska’s Beaches
80beats: 20 Years After Valdez Spill, Eagles Are Healthy; 7 Other Species Still Hurting
80beats: “Nanosponge” Could Soak Up Oil Spills

Images: United States Coast Guard

In case you are not aware, Windows 7 has inbuilt support for multi-touch. Of course, you will need to have a touch sensitive monitor for this to work. Although adoption of touchscreen monitors has been slow, manufacturers are slowly warming up to the idea. Major manufacturers like Dell, Asus, Fujitsu, HP and Lenovo have already jumped on the bandwagon. In spite of this, awareness about Windows 7’s touch abilities is still fairly low. Perhaps to remedy this, Microsoft has released Touch Pack for Windows 7.

Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7 is a collection of utilities and games, which makes use of Windows 7’s multi-touch capabilities. The applications included in the Touch Pack are:

• Microsoft Blackboard: An intricate game of physics in which you solve a puzzle by creating a fanciful machine on a blackboard.
• Microsoft Garden Pond: A tranquil game that takes place in serene Japanese water gardens.
• Microsoft Rebound: A game in which you use your fingertips to control Tesla spheres with an electrical field between them to catapult a metal game ball into your opponent’s goal.
• Microsoft Surface Globe: A program that you can use to explore the earth as a flat 2-D map or as an immersive 3-D experience.
• Microsoft Surface Collage: A program that you can use to explore and interact with your photos and arrange them as a desktop background.
• Microsoft Surface Lagoon: A screen saver and interactive water simulation, complete with a meditative rock arrangement and playful, shy fish.

You can download the Touch Pack for Windows 7 from here.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• Microsoft Releases Windows Experience Pack for Windows XP/Vista/7
• Microsoft Spills Details About Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• Rumour: Windows 7 SP1 Beta to Be Released in January 2010
• Windows 7 Family Pack Being Removed From Retail
• Microsoft Releases New Windows 7 Themes

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By Matt Holdridge

Via the DailyCaller:

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law is getting a mixed verdict in the first comprehensive look by neutral experts: More Americans will be covered, but costs are also going up.

Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the health care remake will achieve Obama’s aim of expanding health insurance — adding 34 million to the coverage rolls.

But the analysis also found that the law falls short of the president’s twin goal of controlling runaway costs, raising projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years. That increase could get bigger, since Medicare cuts in the law may be unrealistic and unsustainable, the report warned.

It’s a worrisome assessment for Democrats.

In particular, concerns about Medicare could become a major political liability in the midterm elections. The report projected that Medicare cuts could drive about 15 percent of hospitals and other institutional providers into the red, “possibly jeopardizing access” to care for seniors.

This comes as no surprise to those who follow free market economics. However, as we’ve seen time and time again, government involvement will only beget more government involvement which causes further distortions in the market.

The healthcare roller coaster we’re on is far from over. 

Looking for the manliest links on the web? You found ‘em! Enjoy.

Top 10 party schools [Playboy]

Eliot Spitzer’s former girlfriend [Playboy]

8 smoking hot poker TV Hostesses [PokerJunkie]

All about Earth Day (actually more about hot chicks) [Gunaxin]

10 worst cities for a bachelor party [EgoTVOnline]

One night stand advice [Coed Magazine]

Workout Tips [MadeMan]

Sweet MotorBike [CoolMaterial]

A big wreck on the oval [AllLeftTurns]

Top twitter accounts to follow  [AskMen]

NFL draft is back  [BleacherReport]

Some hot girl pics [Double Viking]

How to navigate those crowded bars when you’re thirsty [Art of Manliness]

Unintentional Porn [Holy Taco]

What’s up with Tiger [Tastybooze]

Helping you find some at the beach [TSB Mag]

Top guy movies [BroBible]

Related posts:

1. Your Mantelligence Briefing for February 11th
2. Your Mantelligence Briefing for April 1st
3. Your Weekly Mantelligence Briefing for July 23rd

Growing up in the early 1990s, I heard a lot of buzz about acid rain and its damaging effects on our forests and aquatic environments. It wasn’t until I started interning in the Clean Air Markets Division of EPA that I began to investigate how sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), the emissions that cause acid rain, could also harm my health.

Since the Acid Rain Program began requiring SO2 and NOx reductions from power plants, the drop in emissions has improved air quality around the country, preventing some negative health impacts and leading to a higher quality of life for many Americans.

In fact, the greatest benefits are the 20,000 to 50,000 lives saved per year because of cleaner air and lower pollution levels. SO2 and NOx emissions can lead to the formation of fine particle pollution and smog, also called ground level ozone. Smog and particle pollution have been linked to health problems including aggravation of asthma and increased risk of premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

Even though I’m relatively healthy and am not considered particularly sensitive to these effects, I can still feel the impact when I’m playing or working outdoors. I spend a lot of time outside with my two dogs, Bella and Lucy. I love taking them hiking near the Occoquan River in northern Virginia. Even though I’m not affected by asthma, the hills are a lot harder to climb on bad air days. Fortunately for me (and my dogs), the good air days far outnumber the bad and we don’t have to cut our adventures short because of polluted air.

It’s pretty amazing that a program originally designed to fix the environmental problem of acid rain saves so many lives every year! EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment, and the Acid Rain Program is doing both.

Interested in learning more? Join our Discussion Forum and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

About the author: Elyse Procopio was an intern in EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. She recently graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Management.

Setting aside talk about potential buyers, a stock downgrade, a departing executive and a disappearing act at Radio Shack, there was some upbeat news for Palm.

On Tuesday, SFR and Palm announced Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus would be arriving soon in France: On 27 April on SFR’s online store (www.sfr.fr) and on 11 May in all SFR stores and in retail.

On Friday, Palm’s Developer Days kick off. You can see the agenda here. PreCentral will be there!

read more

With the red-hot Brazilian economy set to grow at 6% this year and its central bank already behind the curve on inflation that is expected to climb above 5%, RBC Capital Markets is warning that Brazil is overheating.

This will likely lead to growing imbalances, asset bubbles and inflation with “deep momentum that could be difficult and risky to correct,” Nick Chamie’s emerging markets research team said in a report.

RBC forecasts inflation in Brazil will rise to 5.4% and 5.6% in 2010 and 2011, respectively. This red-hot performance will be driven by the government’s efforts to expand public-sector bank credit growth, a dramatic expansion government-led investment initiatives, activities related to the 2014 World Cut and 2016 Olympics, more public-sector social progams, and the “Bolsa Familia” family allowance.

RBC’s forecasts suggest that Brazil’s output gap will close by the third quarter of 2010. So within six months, the lead of actual GDP is expected to widen over potential GDP thereafter. Other measures of spare capacity, such as unemployment and industrial capacity utilization, also warn of disappearing slack.

The threat of overheating means the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) needs to tighten aggressively, RBC said. However, anchoring inflation expectations will be an enormous challenge given how high inflation has risen and the speed at which it has done so.

“Given we are 6-9 months away from the output gap closing (according to our estimates) and monetary policy tends to work with a 12 to 18 month time lag, it is fair to say the BCB is already behind the curve, as reflected in the rapid rise in inflation expectations and the sizeable steepening of the yield curve observed recently,” the analysts said.

The degree of uncertainty has risen in recent weeks following the departure of two key members of the central bank’s COPOM rate-setting panel. Both monetary policy director Mario Toros and economic policy director Mario Mesquita were considered very strong technically and generally hawkish, which served to bolster the BCB’s credibility.

“However, their departure and subsequent replacement has left policy deliberations somewhat uncertain with anecdotal evidence, in out view, pointing to an increase in the dovish voices on the COPOM,” RBC said.

This apparent preference for lower interest rates may serve to limit the chance of a 75 basis point increase to beging the rate hiking cycle.

“This would raise the odds of a larger and lengthier rate hiking cycle needed to contain inflationary pressures,” the analysts said. They currently forecast a 400 points of rate hikes in the next 12 months.

Jonathan Ratner

Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:

The New York Times discusses how a belladonna hallucination could have been the start of alcoholics anonymous.

Dream rehearsal helps remembering, according to a study covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The Times covers breezy people who go around saying yaka-wow. Some yaka-wow socks are also in progress.

An interesting in-scanner set-up for live face-to-face interaction during brain imaging experiments is covered by the BPS Research Digest.

The Smithsonian Magazine has an in-depth article on the neuroscience of how our brains make memories.

There’s an excellent discussion how to delay instant gratification and offset delay discounting with future thinking over at The Frontal Cortex.

Nature News covers genetic evidence suggesting that neanderthals may have interbred with humans.

To the bunkers! New Scientist covers the development of robots with sensing skin.

Neurophilosophy covers an interesting embodied cognition experiment where body movement influenced memory and emotions.

How should we explain the origins of novel behaviors? asks American Scientist.

Neurotopia discusses the neuroscience of ‘photic sneezing‘ or why we sometimes sneeze when we look at the sun.

Evidence on the link between obesity and dementia is discussed in The New York Times.

PsyBlog has an absolutely fascinating post on our tendency to be over-cynical about trusting other people and how it can be overcome through accurate feedback of others’ trustworthiness.

Is there search for extra-terrestrial life missing the most likely signs of http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15905827″>alien intelligence? asks The Economist.

Minds of the Edge is a powerful documentary and online resource about mental health in the states. You can view all online.

I keep forgetting how good BrainBlogger is. Note to self: remind me more often please.

New Scientist has an article on Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, the ‘predictioneer‘, whose game theory based model of political prediction has been remarkably accurate.

Visions of the brain. The Beautiful Brain blog has a fantastic podcast that talks to three artists about their approach to visualising inner landscapes.

Popular Science have video of the autonomous garbage collecting ‘dustbot‘ designed to wander your neighbourhood. To the bunkers!

Is memory for music special? Asks Dr Shock. Apparently it is not.

Wired has excellent piece on the history of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and how the scientific research organisation stands in relation to the drugs counter-culture.

KNOXVILLE – Recent changes to the way the federal government distributes and manages student loans will affect how University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students receive financial aid.

The changes, which recently passed into law, shift the processing of federal student loans away from private lenders and to the U.S. Department of Education. UT Knoxville students should see few, if any, changes, although many of them will need to complete additional paperwork:

• Students currently receiving federally backed student loans must complete a new master promissory note (MPN) to cover the new direct loans from the government.
• Current students with existing federally backed loans managed by private lenders will have the option to consolidate their loans into the direct loan program.
• New loan recipients, including incoming freshmen and transfer students, now will complete forms directly from the Department of Education to receive their loans.

The changes go into effect beginning with the summer term.

Students can find information on the new process and links to the online MPN at the UT Knoxville financial aid website.

More than 12,000 UT Knoxville students receive some form of federally backed student loan, totaling more than $110 million each year.

Students or parents with questions about the changes are encouraged to call the UT Knoxville Office of Financial Aid at (865) 974-3131.

—

C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, [email protected])

The volcano crisis shut down European air traffic for a week, and as you can imagine a lot of stocks were murdered. A report from Data Explorers details the carnage (via FT Alphaville).

First of all, short selling exploded for airlines and logistics companies. For instance: funds sold 6% of shares in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and 1% of shares for tour group Go-Ahead (GOG).

As the same time, shorts ran screaming from cars, trains, and hotels, since these were industries which benefited. For example, investors added shares in Hertz Global (HTZ) and Accor SA.

So far it all seems predictable.

Yet the report also found unintuitive patterns, like a bullish move for one airline. Air France (AFLYY) sailed through the crisis by increasing flights from Madrid. Investors also poured into British Sky Broadcasting (BSY), hoping that the disaster would increase TV ratings.

Oddly, among the losers were marine transport and pharmaceutical companies. Data Explorers did not specify how these industries were related to the volcano, perhaps it was just noise.

While long-term effects of the volcano are unknown, and could be substantial if eruptions continue, any contrarian worth his or her salt should pick through the wreckage. You can see more from Data Explorer here.

Don’t miss: 20 Winners And Losers From The Volcano Crisis

Join the conversation about this story »

Big Fish Caught By Electrocution

A CLEVER California fisherman, Capt. Guy Silva, has perfected a novel and efficient method of landing 200 and 300 pound fish with the minimum amount of labor.

He electrocutes them!

Although the method devised by Captain Silva took him several years to perfect, the device is comparatively simple and can easily be made by anyone.

The accompanying sketch shows the construction of the device and illustrates how the big fish are electrocuted. Voltage needed is 120 volts DC, taken off either a generator or a battery. The generator must be 3 K.W. capacity, as it takes at least 30 amperes 50 seconds to kill a big tuna, though ordinarily they are only stunned when brought to gaff.

The 14 foot pole is of ordinary bamboo about two inches through at the butt end, with a metal contactor on the tip end connected by cable to the positive side of the 120 volt system. This cable should be insulated, as shown in the accompanying drawing.

The negative side of the system is grounded in the water through a copper plate susspended by a wire from the boat.

When a fish takes the bait on the hook, he pulls the copper block into the copper contactor, thus making the contact and closing the circuit completely. This administers 120 volts to the tuna or other big game fish and kills or stuns it instantly. Thus the fish actually kills himself by closing the switch on the tip of the pole when it gobbles the hook. The largest fish which Capt. Silva has hooked, electrocuted and landed by this method is a 500 lb. shark, which gave up without a struggle.

There’s nothing like a Vespa

For the happiest time of your life. The fun way to go places… and save money too.

See your local Vespa Dealer. He’ll be happy to take the entire family out for a thrilling test ride. For an illustrated brochure showing all three Vespa models send ten cents in coin to cover handling and mailing to:

Vespa Distributing Corporation
3 East 54th Street, New York 22, New York

The original OCR output for this was much cooler before I fixed it. Who doesn’t want a Bacon Beam?

Beacon Beam Tells Hours of Night

A GIGANTIC nocturnal sun-dial, using light instead of shadow to tell the time, is to be installed by the municipality of Guayaquil, Republic of Ecuador. The light source will be an electric searchlight which, revolving once every 12 hours, will indicate the time by illuminating surrounding landmarks at the same time each night.

Guayaquil is at present constructing beautiful gardens along the waterfront of the port. In the center of these gardens, a Moorish tower is being erected to hold an old historic clock dating back to 1841. A large airport beacon will be mounted on top of this tower and will make one complete revolution every twelve hours.

The beacon, a 24-inch unit with a 1,000-watt lamp, will be operated by impulses from a telecron electric clock, the current being transmitted to a solenoid-operated turning mechanism every five seconds through the medium of a standard traffic timer. Thus the beacon, as it turns, will indicate the time by illuminating various landmarks at the same time each night.

The powerful light directing the beams toward the landmarks will be automatically^ thrown into operation at sunset and turned off at sunrise, being out of service during daylight hours.

In late February of this year, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein sent an early report to Wall Street giving them advanced warning that revenues for Q3 2010 as well as the fiscal year would be lower than expected.  He likened the deficiency to slower than expected consumer adoption of Palm devices.  And as things unfolded he put a portion of the blame on Verizon for not backing the Palm Pre Plus or Pixi Plus in the same way they did the Motorola DROID.

It seems like an eternity since all that went down, and in the months following the big (albeit unfortunate) announcement most conversations revolving around Palm have had to do with whether they will completely dissapear or be bought out by another entity.  Several companies have been named as potential buyers – HTC, Huawei and Lenovo to name a few (people have also made mention of a possible Google buyout, but not much has come to light on that front).  HTC, which has recently come under fire from a major Apple lawsuit, has been thought of as the most probable suitor, if for nothing more than to obtain Palms huge portfolio of patents, presumably assuring a triumph against Apple.

But from the looks of things, Palm may be running out of options.  This morning Engadget is reporting that HTC has removed themselves from contention, stating that there “just weren’t enough synergies to take the deal forward.”  This could mean a number of things, but I’m wondering if WebOS and Sense UI just don’t get along?  Additionally, Palm’s patents seemed to be the most poignant reason for an HTC-Palm buyout.  Should we consider this a bold/confident move from HTC?  These are the types of questions, unfortunately, that will probably receive more speculation than answers.

If you’re a die-hard Palm fan don’t get worried too quickly, you know John Rubinstein’s not going down without a fight.  Yesterday, not long before news of HTC backing out of the Palm purchase (coincidence? Unlikely), Rubinstein told the Financial Times that he still believes “Palm can survive as an independent company.”  But Rubinstein is also being realistic, and isn’t completely throwing away the idea of some sort of acquisition, stating that “if someone comes to the board with a reasonable offer of course it’s something [they’d] have to consider.”

On an exciting note, Rubinstein made mention of a feat many thought impossible due to Palm’s financial situation.  He said they’re actually working on bringing new (yeah, I said new!) handsets to the market at a “fast and furious” pace.  He’s also reportedly open to the idea of licensing webOS, stating “if there’s an appropriate strategic relationship or business deal that makes sense to us then of course we would license webOS because obviously the more scale we get the more the benefit there is to us.”

So, it looks like we’ll be seeing a new Palm device coming down the pike (whoda thunk?), and hey, we might even see webOS running on Sony Ericsson phones – crazier things have happened.  I say bravo to Palm and Rubinstein for giving it their all.  My only concern is that with the limited amount of time they have to turn things around, and the “fast and furious” pace in which they need to get solid devices on the market, I really hope they don’t run into the same hardware issues that they have been notorious for in the past.

Who’s got Palm’s back on this one?  Leave your thoughts in the comments!  

Via Engadget

Are you one of the VERTICAL DEAD

This man stands . . . he walks . . . he talks … he goes to work … he supports a wife and children . . . BUT HE IS DEAD!

Most of us start out in life full of hopes and plans and ambitions. We are going to be a great success. But somewhere along the way we start settling into a rut… a low-paying rut. What’s the reason? Fate? Perhaps. More likely, though, the reason for our limited success is quite commonplace. We start out by taking a job that we really don’t want, we get married, buy a house perhaps, have children. And there are bills to be paid, emergencies to be met, and one year follows another pretty fast, and we’re still not on the road to any real goal. We know we have the ability to do better things. We just don’t know where to start, what to do. If that is true of you, and if you really want to do something about getting ahead, here is a book that will show you exactly what steps to take right now . . .

HOW TO TURN YOUR ABILITY INTO CASH by EARL PREVETTE

Here is a practical, tested formula for success that even now is bringing dollars-and-cents results for those who have used it to better their lot in life. It will help you turn dissatisfaction into triumph, enrich your life, and above all—put more cash into your pocket. Just look at the kind of down-to-earth, money-making techniques you get: HOW TO INCREASE YOUR OWN POWER TO THINK AND TO BUILD Even as you read this there is within you a hidden power that you must recognize and develop if you hope to increase your income.

YOU UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OWN ABILITY! WHY?

How to take stock of yourself and uncover the latent and unique abilities you possess.

HOW TO GET MONEY FOR YOUR IDEAS Once you get a good idea, there are 5 simple rules you must follow if you hope to turn it into money.

HOW TO DOUBLE YOUR ENERGY A basic 5-second “exercise” you can perform that will help you relax both your mind and your body, help you feel less tired.

HOW TO FIND YOUR PLACE IN LIFE How to find out what kind of job or business will bring you the greatest wealth and happiness.

HOW TO SET YOUR GOAL AND WORK YOUR PLAN How much money do you want? What would you consider “success?” This book gives you a workable, step-by-step Plan that will guarantee success.

HOW TO USE FAITH TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN HOW YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR ENEMIES CAN HELP YOU HOW TO SELL YOURSELF TO OTHERS THE KEY TO A FORTUNE

TESTIMONIALS

“This book is just loaded with ideas that I am using and turning into cash every day.”
—E. W. Wanner, Austin, Texas

“One chapter in this book is worth the price. It is a practical formula.”
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“The contents of this book will enrich your life and line your pockets with gold.”
—G. Rittenhouse, New York, N. Y.

EXAMINE FREE!

We will send you a FREE-TRIAL COPY of HOW TO TURN YOUR ABILITY INTO CASH. Read it … use it for 10 days. If you are not convinced that it can put more cash in your pocket . . . return it within 10 days and it costs you not a cent. If you keep it, send only $3.95, plus few cents postage in full payment.

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Without obligation, send me a copy of “HOW TO TURN YOUR ABILITY INTO CASH,” by Earl Prevette, for 10 days’ FREE TRIAL. At the end of 10 days I will either send $3.95 (plus postage) in full payment—or return the book and owe nothing.

The above headline might seem like a joke. It isn’t. Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission were surfing Internet pornography when they should have been policing the financial system. A deeply disturbing SEC memo to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) exposing this problem was reported Thursday night by ABC News. Here are some highlights via the Associated Press:

_A senior attorney at the SEC’s Washington headquarters spent up to eight hours a day looking at and downloading pornography. When he ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to CDs or DVDs, which he kept in boxes around his office. He agreed to resign, an earlier watchdog report said.

_An accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a month from visiting websites classified as “Sex” or “Pornography.” Yet, he still managed to amass a collection of “very graphic” material on his hard drive by using Google images to bypass the SEC’s internal filter, according to an earlier report from the inspector general. The accountant refused to testify in his defense and received a 14-day suspension.

_Seventeen of the employees were “at a senior level,” earning salaries of up to $222,418.

_The number of cases jumped from two in 2007 to 16 in 2008. The cracks in the financial system emerged in mid-2007 and spread into full-blown panic by the fall of 2008.

On one hand, two cases in 2007 means that either it wasn’t that widespread of a problem or it hadn’t yet been detected. On the other hand, the fact that this behavior seems to have been so prevalent among senior level employees is particularly troubling. They’re the ones who should have been closely watching the financial industry and leading the way to help prevent the system from collapsing.

A few things should be concluded from this revelation. First, government computers must need better firewalls to block out this content. Second, this is a pretty grim verdict on the effectiveness of regulators. When on the verge of the most major economic crisis in around 80 years, they were watching porn instead of the financial system.

This certainly isn’t the kind of publicity the SEC needs as it begins to prosecute its high-profile case against Goldman Sachs. This memo damages the credibility of the regulator. Though, it does begin to explain why it took the SEC more than three years to bring the complaint against Goldman: its employees had other things on their minds.

By Carmi Levy, Betanews

If you’re like me, and you’re among the dozen or so who still watch the nightly half-hour of American commercial broadcast TV news, you’ve probably noticed that about a quarter of that time is devoted to ads. Two-thirds of those ads are devoted to drugs, and half of those drug ads are devoted to warnings about the many gruesome, horrid ways in which you might unexpectedly die. The unspoken reason why these ads appear there in the first place is because advertisers reason that if you’re still watching the Evening News, you must be afraid to touch your computer or your smartphone to read the real news from TMZ, which makes you (wait for it…) old. (Meaning, above 29.)

Samsung’s Australian unit doesn’t want the drug companies to have all the fun. Barely a month after releasing its 3D television offerings on an unsuspecting world, the company has published a warning on its Web site down under that outlines a list of risks so serious that those network news drug spots seem tame by comparison.

A new dimension of illness

If you’re perfectly healthy and have a hankering to spend money on still-evolving technologies, stop reading here and head down to the electronics big box store immediately. What I’m about to say won’t interest you because you clearly need to feel the shockwaves from the depths of James Cameron’s aquamarine cinematographic soul whenever he sinks a ship or blows up a planet. If, however, you’re bothered by the potential of getting seriously ill by simply watching television, you may want to hold off on signing up to become a 3D household. Because if any of the following applies to you, Samsung recommends against watching 3D TV:

• You’re in bad physical condition
• You need sleep
• You’ve been drinking alcohol

* Possible side effects of ignoring this advice and watching anyway include the following laundry list of entertainment-related fun: epileptic seizure, altered vision, light-headedness, dizziness; involuntary movements such as eye or muscle twitching, confusion, nausea, loss of awareness, convulsions, cramps and/or disorientation.

Funny, I didn’t see convulsions or loss of awareness in the first wave of ads for this technology. I guess they were hoping sleep-deprived drinkers who don’t exercise would stay away from the 3D TV aisle.

This isn’t the first time that a technology comes with some health-related caveats. Nothing in life, after all, is without risk. Emissions from cell phones have long been suspected of being related to certain forms of cancers. Excessive smartphone use can cause repetitive stress injuries (RSI) for thumb typists. Watching too much conventional television, or doing so in badly lit rooms, won’t do wonders for your vision. Despite this, the Samsung warning breaks new ground in terms of relative risk and reward. That’s some scary language to digest before sitting down with a bowl of fat-free-buttered popcorn, and it’s way more than would fit into the average 30-second television spot.

Does the reward justify the risk?

So do you really want to see Avatar in your living room in 3D so badly that you’d risk seizures, convulsions, and loss of awareness? I can’t decide for you, of course, but I’m voting no for myself for two reasons: A good HDTV signal is more than good enough for me, and I don’t want to have to avoid open stairwells, or balconies every time I watch a movie.

When I first wrote about 3D TV last month, I lamented the lack of content, distribution, affordability, and relevance. I tagged it as a solution in search of a problem, and I advised readers to wait. A long time. This latest health scare only reinforces what I originally said, and galvanizes my belief that the industry is so focused on pushing next-generation technologies on often-unsuspecting consumers that it’s willing to overlook the risks in the relentless pursuit of profit.

If Samsung and its fellow 3D TV vendors had any sense of right and wrong, they’d pull their products from the market until the health implications can be more thoroughly — and independently — validated. I believe, now as then, that anything that requires high-tech $250 glasses that act like virtual shutters in concert with the screen is way over the top for the average consumer. The impracticalities and costs associated with this kind of prematurely deployed technology were bad enough for the average consumer. The overt risks associated with the use of these still-expensive, still-cumbersome glasses merely sealed the deal. 3D simply won’t fly until manufacturers can deliver the immersive effect without resorting to trick, health-damaging glasses. And any vendor that continues to sell these obviously interim solutions is putting the bottom line ahead of its customers.

There is no free ride, but…

I can accept that every technology carries a certain degree of risk. We always play the compromise game whenever we make the investment in any new gadget. But the risks with 3D seem to extend well beyond the usual aches and pains inherent in most modern devices. It’s yet another sign (to me, anyway) that this is one technology that needs a few more years of baking before it’s ready to be served.

Until then, if I want to be scared when I watch television, I’ll simply watch the Evening News with Katie and wait for the inevitable drug ads to come on. And if I want to have a drink and hang out on my balcony, I’ll be able to do that, too. Some things, like 3D TV, just aren’t worth the risk, and should have been held back while manufacturers ironed out a clearly disturbing set of bugs.

Poster from the terrifying 3D movie “Eyes of Hell” from the historical Web site WidescreenMovies.org.

Carmi Levy is a Canadian-based independent technology analyst and journalist still trying to live down his past life leading help desks and managing projects for large financial services organizations. He comments extensively in a wide range of media, and works closely with clients to help them leverage technology and social media tools and processes to drive their business.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010