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  • Signature privacy in petitions

    Congress should protect privacy in right to petition

    In my civics classes, we learned about the sacredness of the secret ballot, which freed voters to express their opinions privately at the ballot box. [“Support signature privacy,” Opinion, April 28.]

    In my mind, signing a petition is a means of casting a vote for consideration on the proposed issue. It should be covered by this same principle.

    Secret ballots prevent exposure of one’s political preferences from public scrutiny and political pressures. The current Freedom of Information case exposes opinions on what? Gay rights? Homophobia? Democratic process?

    As a voter, I might believe that an issue should be submitted to a vote and I might or I might not be in favor of or against the issue. Signing a petition is a citizen’s constitutional right. Names and addresses are rightly given to allow checking the legitimacy of voting registration —not to provide mailing lists or exposure of signers’ identities. This checking is witnessed and certified, not copied and distributed.

    Without specific information from the voter on motivation for signing, those seeking names and addresses could quickly harass the signer for an unknown motive. What counts is not who signs a request for a legal process, but if approved for citizen consideration, the secret ballots of all voters at the polls.

    The Supreme Court should protect the secret-voting rights of its citizens, including the right to petition.

    — Roger Ferris, Shoreline

  • Pleas to felony charges could close strip clubs down for good

    Clubs still symbol of exploitation

    I was happy to see the story on the closure of local strip clubs linked to prostitution and racketeering in the Seattle area [“Proposed plea deal may close Colacurcio strip clubs,” page one, April 23].

    My question is: Why are we allowing these clubs to open? A new club opened just a month ago in Renton, an area that had remained free of this blight on our landscape. Recently, Seattle gave the OK for a new club to open near Safeco Field. This is an area that many of our children frequent. Is that the message we want to pass on to our children, that sexism is OK?

    Throughout history, women have been exploited, held down the social ladder, held as property and killed with no regard. Sexist extremism is more rampant in our history and today than racism ever was.

    Between 1400 and 1800, roughly 7 to 11 million women were killed and tortured during the European witch hunts. It is sad that in today’s “enlightened” society, the exploitation of women is allowed to continue in these clubs. How would you feel if your daughter were working in one of these clubs?

    — Timothy Finch, Renton

  • SCO Says Jury Didn’t Really Mean What It Said… And Judge Should Order Novell To Hand SCO Unix Copyrights

    SCO really is quite the zombie of a company, isn’t it? It just never dies. It’s been a month since getting smacked down yet again and having a jury declare that Novell still owns the Unix copyrights, and they were never transferred to SCO (after a judge had already said the same thing). And yet, as Slashdot alerts us, SCO has now told the judge he should order Novell to hand over the copyrights anyway. Talk about getting desperate. When will SCO finally be put out of its misery?

    Permalink | Comments | Email This Story





  • Immigration law in Arizona draws criticism

    Attention, snow birds

    This is a response to “Opposition mounts in reaction to Arizona’s immigration law” [News, April 30].

    I am fortunate to be married to a beautiful, dark-skinned lady who is a U.S. citizen of European descent. We love going to Sun City Grand, Ariz., each winter for a month or two.

    My question for Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is this: If my wife runs into a golf cart and the “Gestapo” show up, should she carry her passport or passport card every time she leaves her home? The next thing Arizona would do is give out patches that dark-skinned U.S. citizens would wear when they leave their home. The Star of David unfortunately was used once.

    — Tom McArt, Edmonds

    Peg employers hiring undocumented immigrants

    For all the heated controversy about illegal immigration, the debate should really shift to the real culprit: employers who hire undocumented immigrants.

    Congress mandated that all employers must check and verify the Social Security numbers of all new hires. Where is the enforcement? Why would undocumented workers risk crossing our borders if they knew they could not hurdle this employment roadblock?

    Corporate America, with free-trade agreements, has successfully shrouded the issue in a fog of deception and through its political power. Yes, we have a nationwide unemployment rate of more than 10 percent and it is easy to get angry and blame all those “illegals” who are taking away a good portion of those fantastic, minimally paid jobs at fast-food joints, picking agriculture, mowing lawns and cleaning hotel rooms.

    Higher-paying jobs have fled outside our borders at the great cost of keeping Americans employed manufacturing goods. The cost to hire someone in India, China, etc. is a tenth of the cost to assemble and produce many of the more expensive and technical gadgets we are consumed with these days.

    — Timm Stone, Lake Tapps

  • Raising license fees on adult-family homes

    Caretakers already trying to cope with cuts

    I am responding to The Times editorial “Raise license fees on adult-family homes” [Opinion, April 30].

    Many Adult-family homes for the disabled, such as the one my 32-year-old son resides in, have had a 4 percent across-the-board cut in Medicaid compensation this year.

    On top of that, the state Department of Developmental Disabilities has cleverly changed the assessment formula on the how it compensates for care. Suddenly, the compensation to our caretaker for the same level of care for my son and five other residents was drastically cut. There was no new fee or tax, but a loss of about $2,000 per month in cash flow to our caretaker.

    Now The Times is calling for a $900 increase in licensing fees at the same time our adult-family home is projecting a $24,000 cut per year in income. It does not sound like Olympia got outmaneuvered after all.

    With that kind of savings, the state could afford to increase its oversight on poorly run adult-family homes. While well-meaning, The Times did not do its homework and unfortunately, our disabled will be the ones who suffer from it.

    — Ken Kerr, Normandy Park

    Paying oversight costs in assisted-living arrangements drastically different

    Thanks for the editorial concerning state oversight costs for assisted living and nursing homes monitored by the state. It is too bad adult-family homes only pay 4 percent of their oversight costs while boarding homes and nursing homes pay nearly 80 percent.

    The Times did not mention or investigate what these costs actually are. If it had, we would see that adult-family homes receive significantly less in payments — most patients are usually on Medicare —than these of other types of homes, while still being required to provide similar staffing levels. Perhaps we could investigate a little more to see why these differences exist.

    — Rich Zywiak, Spokane

  • Piezoelectric Promise: Charge a Touch-Screen by Poking It With Your Finger | 80beats

    piezoelectricImagine a day in the future when you can charge your cell phone using your sneakers, or charge a touch-screen device merely by rolling up the flexible screen. New devices that take advantage of the piezoelectric effect–the tendency of some materials to generate an electrical potential when they’re mechanically stressed–are taking us one step closer to that reality.

    Ville Kaajakari of the Louisiana Tech University harnessed this effect by developing a tiny generator that can be embedded in a shoe sole. The tiny smart device is part of “MEMS” or “micro electro mechanical systems,” which combine computer chips with micro-components to generate electricity [EarthTechling]. Each time the sneaker-wearer goes for a stroll, the compression action would power up the circuits in the generator and produce tiny bits of usable voltage. “This technology could benefit, for example, hikers that need emergency location devices or beacons,” said Kaajakari. “For more general use, you can use it to power portable devices without wasteful batteries” [Clean Technica].

    For now, the amount of energy produced is very small, but the generator could theoretically be used to power sensors, GPS units or portable devices that don’t require a large amount of energy [Clean Technica]. The scientist hopes that the technology can be developed further to charge common devices like mobile phones.

    Meanwhile, Samsung and a research team from Korea have figured out a way to harvest energy from touch-screens.

    In a paper published this month in the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers describe how they combined flexible, transparent electrodes with an energy-scavenging material to produce a thin film. Their experimental device sandwiches piezoelectric nanorods between highly conductive graphene electrodes on top of flexible plastic sheets [Technology Review]. This film can be used in touch screens of common mobile devices, wherein pressing the screen would generate about 20 nanowatts per square centimeter–that is, enough power to help run part of the device. On the flexible touch-screen the researchers developed, you could help charge the batteries just by rolling up the screen.

    Scientists hope that the power produced by the touch-screen should one day be enough to toss our batteries into the bin. Study coauthor Sang-Woo Kim added: “The flexibility and rollability of the nano-generators gives us unique application areas such as wireless power sources for future foldable, stretchable, and wearable electronics systems” [Technology Review].

    Related Content:
    80beats: New “Nanogenerator” Could Power Your iPod With Your Own Movements
    80beats: The World’s Smallest Motor Could Propel a Medical “Microbot” Through Arteries
    80beats: Rubbery Computer Screens Can Be Bent, Folded, and Even Crumpled
    80beats: Nanotubes Could Provide the Key to Flexible Electronics
    Discoblog: Can Chatting on Your Cell Phone Cause It to Recharge? Researcher Says Yes

    Image: LTU


  • QUOTE: I teach the way that I wish I was taught.

    I teach the way that I wish I was taught.

    —Sal Khan, Khan Academy

  • Interpol – Lights

    Interpol fans have been eagerly anticipating new material from the band and now have it with the new single “Lights”. The track is reminiscent of the sound the band produced on their flawless debut “Turn on the Bright Lights”, dense and murky. You can download the single for free in exchange for your email address via the embedded player after the jump.

    Source: Prefix


  • OMG! Bob Rubin Sex Scandal!

    Bob Rubin

    Iris Mack, a former quant trader and one of the “Ladies of the Financial Crisis,” published a first-person account on HuffPo (via Gawker) that appears designed to destroy both her reputation and former Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin’s.

    It reads so absurdly that it really seems like a joke.  Except that both parties are quite real.

    Here’s a taste:

    I also remember teasingly inquiring as to whether he’d flown in on a Citigroup jet again. (He’d called me from one in December.) “It’s one of the perks,” he replied a bit sheepishly.

    Things were much more relaxed by the time I walked him back to the Ritz – which was along the way to my South Beach condo. When we passed a homeless man along the way he made a bit of a show of opening up his fat leather billfold and producing a dollar — “There but for the grace of God…” he remarked melodramatically — and I gave him a lot of heat for that, because who exactly did he think he was kidding? I said give the man a job. Heck, you’re the head of a bank! But when we reached the hotel entrance, the tension returned. He got this funny look on his face, and asked:

    “Do you want to go upstairs and…cuddle?”

    So that’s what this is about.     For a moment I was totally speechless and had to dig into my Harvard trained PhD brain to figure out what the hell he meant by “cuddling”! What can I say; once a teetotaling math geek, always a bit slow to pick up on signals from the menfolk. So the former Treasury Secretary had a “crush” on me! And not long afterward the former Treasury Secretary had his tongue down my throat and hands everywhere sort of like an octopus. But as soon as the thought entered my mind — the former Treasury Secretary has his tongue down my throat?! — I came to my senses a bit and awkwardly went back home before we both got too carried away. This is to say, I said to myself that there would be no other former Treasury Secretary appendages entering any other of my orifices.

    Based on the rest of the account, Bob Rubin will be able to follow the example of his friend Bill Clinton and say “I did not have sex with that woman.”  But if any of this is remotely true, life probably won’t be happy in the Rubin household for a while.

    (Headline by Felix Salmon)

    Iris Mack

    Join the conversation about this story »

  • Legal threats used to silence an inconvenient truth in Peru

    Pundit’s view: When human health, nutrition and food security is on the line, finding the truth is more important than protecting faulty ideas from criticism.

    Press Release from South America:
    The Peruvian Association for the Development of Biotechnology – PeruBiotec

    Public Pronouncement
    We warn the citizens about a serious attempt to stifle and censor scientific criticism and opinions. The Sixth Criminal Court of Lima made a grave mistake when admitting to process a criminal action for aggravated defamation submitted by Dr. Antonietta Ornella Gutiérrez Rosati, Head Professor at La Molina National Agricultural University, against Dr. Ernesto Bustamante Donayre, well-known scientist, member of this Association, who has a track record in academic and private areas both domestic and international.


    Dr. Gutiérrez felt her honor offended after Dr. Bustamante questioned, in academic forums and in the media, press and radio, the methodology, conclusion and results of a scientific investigation. Nonetheless, this criticism was not directed to her person but exclusively to the quality of her research work, which is a universal and common scientific practice. This unfortunate and unprecedented judicial act would imply the future silencing of free scientific discussions in Peru as a result of intimidation. Free criticism and discussions of scientific methods and results are a common practice among scientists in the world and constitute an essential requirement for the free development of knowledge through the continuous search for truth. It is our responsibility as scientists to defend such freedom.

    This wrongful action completely violates Article 133 of the Criminal Code of Peru, which exempts literary, artistic and scientific criticism from being characterized as defamation. The prestigious international scientific publication Nature Biotechnology published on its February 2010 issue that this occurrence affects the capacity of free scientific debate and is incompatible with the content of the American Convention of Human Rights—which Peru has signed—and with the 1995 pronouncement made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This attempt against free scientific expression is already generating the frightening effect of preventing the scientific and technical development of the country.

    We respectfully request the Judicial Power to put an end to this outrage by dropping the action, providing an absolutory resolution and filing it due to its improperness. This action would be in benefit of the whole Peruvian society, as scientists would be freed from their fears of expressing themselves due to the stifle that would be imposed on them after long and illegal criminal actions for expressing discrepancies on matters of science and technology.

    Translated versión of the Public Pronouncement of PeruBiotec published in El Comercio of Lima, Peru, on
    Monday 01 March 2010. See: http://elcomercio.pe/impresa/edicion/2010-03-01/ecas010310a24/08

    (Sent by Dr. Ing. Javier Verástegui, Member of PeruBiotec Association, Consultant – Biotechnology, Science, Technology and Innovation, Calle Severini 102, depto 302, San Borja, Lima 41, Perú.)

    [For more details see next posting at GMO Pundit]

    Pundit’s comments

    Dr. Bustamante deserve strong support from fellow scientists after becoming a victim of the legal process while making measured, normal scientific criticisms in public. It is is now a worryingly frequent occurrence world-wide for legal threats to be used to stifle inconvenient criticism of bad scientific and pseudo-scientific arguments that frequently emerge in public debate. On more than one occasion, critics of biotechnology have responded with threats of legal action when their erroneous reasoning or factual errors are displayed in public debate. Such resort to legal redress instead of logical rebuttal is scientifically unethical.

    On such issues a strong reliance on  professional peer-reviewed evidence (which entails considerable private elimination of mistakes) makes public criticism of scientific errors largely redundant. A good example of how this works out to avoid public criticism  is the 2005 CSIRO GM pea episode, where there was no public criticism of CSIRO’s dramatic findings by the scientific community at the time of its announcement. Further constructive refinement of their interpretation was carried out via measured and respectful commentary in the peer-reviewed literature.

    But when the publically silent scientifically normal process of private peer-review is completely by-passed, as it was in the case of the ill-fated Austrian mouse reproduction tests, with Dr Arpad Pusztai’s GM potatoes (first aired on the BBC), and Dr Irina Ermakova’s soybean experiments with rodents, there is a need for  public criticism of any flawed science. This is essential because robust debate minimises public harm from wrong advice and promotes scientifically robust public policy. When human health, nutrition and food security is on the line, finding the truth is more important than protecting faulty ideas from criticism.

  • Apple May Be Gunning for Open Source Codecs

    The latest indication that Apple is trying to strong-arm publishers to adopt HTML5 and H.264 came today, as Steve Jobs reportedly claimed by email that a patent pool was being assembled to “go after” Ogg Theora and other open source codecs. That news comes just a few weeks before Google is expected to release its VP8 codec as open source, and could come as a big blow to the search giant’s plans to offer an alternative to H.264.

    The whole thing began today after Hugo Roy, an intern at the Free Software Foundation Europe, published an open letter to Steve Jobs. In that letter he responded to Apple CEO’s “Thoughts On Flash,” in which Jobs wrote that the future of web video would be driven by HTML5 and H.264. Roy argued against Apple’s adoption of H.264 because the codec is not open, but covered by patents and licensed by MPEG LA.

    Well Jobs wrote back, warning that open source codecs like Ogg Theora may soon be taken to court for infringing on others’ patents:

    “All video codecs are covered by patents. A patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other “open source” codecs now. Unfortunately, just because something is open source, it doesn’t mean or guarantee that it doesn’t infringe on others patents. An open standard is different from being royalty free or open source.”

    The email comes as a fight is brewing between major players over the future of web video. For Apple, that future is driven by HTML5 and H.264 encoding, in contrast to Adobe, which is pushing its proprietary Flash player for video playback. However, while most browser makers agree with HTML5 support, not everyone is fully on board with H.264 encoding.

    Apple’s Safari, Microsoft’s IE9 and Google’s Chrome all support H.264 encoding for HTML5 video, but the Firefox and Opera web browsers refuse to get behind it, due to potential licensing issues. Even though H.264 licensing body MPEG LA announced in February that it was extending its royalty-free licensing for web video using H.264 through 2016, that was little consolation for Mozilla and others that are committed to supporting open standards.

    Google was hoping to stem that divide by making VP8 open source and thus providing a high-quality and open alternative to existing codecs. Google’s plans to open-source the codec have been widely expected ever since it announced plans to acquire On2 in August 2009, and speculation intensified after the deal closed.

    But without Apple and Microsoft on board, Google may have a tough time getting VP8 adopted by media publishers. And now that Apple’s CEO has confirmed plans for patent infringement suits against Ogg Theora and other open source codecs, Google may have even more issues to deal with.

    Related content on GigaOM Pro: What Does the Future Hold For Browsers? (subscription required)

  • State adviser wants McCormick Place privatized

    Posted by Kathy Bergen and Ray Long at 4:09 p.m.

    The General Assembly’s chief adviser on
    McCormick Place delivered a
    sweeping blueprint for change Friday, calling for privatization of
    convention center management and a state-imposed easing of restrictive
    and costly show-floor work rules. An interim legislature-appointed
    czar would oversee the transformation.





    The proposal, if ultimately approved, would lead to the ouster of Juan
    Ochoa, chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition
    Authority, the state-city agency known as McPier that owns and operates
    McCormick Place and Navy Pier. And it would reduce McPier to a
    stripped-down caretaker role, reducing its payroll from 400 to somewhere
    around 35 or 40 employees.

    "Chicago has to show it’s
    changing the way it does business in the convention and trade show
    industry in fairly major ways," said Jim Reilly, the adviser who briefed
    legislative leaders on his recommendations Friday. "There are half a
    dozen shows potentially on the bubble and they’re not going to wait …
    if another five or six left, it’s over for Chicago."



    Reilly’s
    recommendations will be studied over the weekend by a House-Senate
    committee co-chaired by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate Pres.
    John Cullerton, both Chicago Democrats. The panel is expected to propose
    legislation early next week.



    Senate Minority Leader Christine
    Radogno, R-Lemont, said she is not prepared to sign off on the measures
    because no specific legislation has been presented, and she hasn’t
    talked to her GOP caucus about the issues, said Patty Schuh, Radogno’s
    spokeswoman.

  • 4 OS X Screenshot Tools

    Taking screen captures in OS X is pretty simple and powerful. Today I’ll explain how to use the built-in screen capture functionality, the included application Grab, and a couple of third-party options that offer extra functionality.

    Built-in OS X Functionality

    • Command + Shift + 3

      This keystroke results in a full screenshot and saves the resulting file as a PNG, to your desktop. The file is named with the date and time it was captured.

    • Command + Shift + 4

      Pressing these keys initially brings up a cross hair on screen that displays the coordinates of the cursor. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture. When you release the mouse button, the capture will be saved to the desktop as previously mentioned.

      If you press the spacebar while the crosshairs are visible, it changes into a camera icon that you can position over a specific window that you may wish to capture. (That window must be visible when you initiate the keystroke.)

      During both modes you may hold the Control key at the time of capture. Doing so will save the resulting shot to the clipboard rather than a file on the desktop.

    Grab

    The Grab application resides in the /Applications/Utilities folder. It’s pretty simplistic, and essentially duplicates the functionality of the built-in OS X feature, albeit, with a couple of small differences. After you’ve taken the screenshot, it is displayed for you to review at which time you must explicitly save it, if it is indeed what you wanted. This also allows you to choose where you’re going to save the file. There’s a Preferences window where you can choose from eight cursor images to be captured in the resulting image. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same. The keystrokes are different, as you’ll see next.

    • Command + Shift + A

      This keystroke results in a crosshair on screen that displays the coordinates of the cursor. Click and drag to select the area you want to capture.

    • Command + Shift + W

      This keystroke allows you to move windows around to select the one you’d like to capture.

    • Command + Z

      This keystroke results in a full screenshot.

    • Command + Shift  + Z

      This keystroke results in a full screenshot after a 10 second timer elapses.

    Skitch

    Skitch is developed by the rockstars at Plasq. It’s super powerful and really easy to use. You get to edit size, crop, draw nondestructively, there’s multi-format export, web upload, copy to clipboard, review history and much more. The best part is, it’s 100% free to use!

    • Command + Shift + 5

      Pressing this keystroke brings up the (now familiar) crosshairs to select the region of the screen you wish to capture. The image is then opened into Skitch for further editing and use — this is the same for each key combo.

    • Command + Shift + 6

      This keystroke results in a full screen capture.

    • Command + Shift + 7

      This keystroke brings up a frame that you can resize to capture a portion of the screen. Initially this may seem to be the same as the crosshair — the difference is, the frame retains its dimensions each time, allowing you to capture uniform shots multiple times.

    LittleSnapper

    LittleSnapper is developed by RealMac Software. It approaches screenshots from an iPhoto perspective, allowing you to catalog, group, and tag your shots for later use. There’s a built-in browser for grabbing all or a portion of a webpage. The export feature allows you to save a webpage to a PDF file, or any screen capture to multiple image formats. There’s also an editor for tweaking the shots once you’ve captured them. With all this functionality comes a price — it’s $39. There’s also a free trial to see if it’s a good fit for you.

    • Command + Option + 3

      This keystroke produces a full screen capture. Once captured, it is loaded into the LittleSnapper gallery for further editing and use — this behavior is consistent with all key combos.

    • Command + Shift + Option + 3

      Similar to Grab, this gives you a short timer before the full screen image is captured.

    • Command + Option + 4

      This keystroke gives you the crosshairs to choose the region of the screen to capture.

    • Command + Option + 5

      This keystroke captures a specific window on screen. At least a portion of the window must be visible before initiating the keystroke.

    So depending on your screenshot needs, there’s an app for that (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). The built-in tools are great and produce nice results. I personally opt for Skitch almost daily as it provides the level of control I need, but can see where something like LittleSnapper would be ideal for the designer types. There are plenty of other options out there too, if you want to get your Google on. But hopefully we’ve armed you with a little more knowledge today, to get that perfect screenshot the next time you need one.

  • Detroit’s Big 3 slowly showing improvement, analysts say bumpy road still ahead

    From L to R: Alan Mulally, Sergio Marchionne, Ed Whitacre

    Compared to one year ago, Detroit’s big three automakers are showing a shocking turnaround. While Chrysler has only shown a slowing of their financial hemorrhage, Ford reported profits of $2.1 billion, and GM, despite not having yet reported a profit, has managed to pay off its $5.8 billion treasury loan early.

    Though these numbers certainly paint a promising picture, experts remain skeptical. “I think for all three, this is a fragile recovery,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for Edmunds.com. “We’re looking at an April where sales are down from March, and we don’t see the second half sales that robust. It’s going to be a little bumpy.”

    The biggest challenge now for Chrysler is their lack of products in the pipeline; GM and Ford have considerably more vehicles set to rollout, while Fiat predicts that it will be a few years before we see a relevant influx of vehicles. Ford mentioned that its debt is still a weighing factor, as it was not able to clear the debt that GM and Chrysler did by declaring bankruptcy.

    Experts agree that it is imperative for automakers to operate leaner than in the past. Recent factory closings have enabled the manufacturers to save large amounts of money, and one expert believes that Toyota’s recent problems will effect Perception of quality of domestics versus imports.

    – By: Stephen Calogera

    Source: CNNMoney


  • OIT Plans Upgrades to Campus E-Mail, Web Search

    To: UT Knoxville-area Faculty and Staff

    From: Chief Information Officer Scott Studham

    Subject: OIT Improvements

    The Office of Information Technology (OIT) launched a customer satisfaction on February 9, 2010, with the purpose of gathering input on your satisfaction with the IT services OIT provides and your ideas for improvement. I personally want to provide an update on how OIT is responding to the results and comments of this survey.

    A total of 3,287 surveys were completed (faculty, 491; staff, 937; students, 1,859). A summary of the survey results and all comments is available at http://oit.utk.edu/2010survey.

    Three areas that received the lowest overall satisfaction ratings were electronic mail (Tmail, Exchange), UT Web search engine, and online class registration (Circle Park Online). OIT is diligently working to improve all three of these areas.

    This year, OIT will upgrade e-mail for faculty/staff from the current 250MB mailboxes to 1GB, with an additional 1GB available upon request. OIT will begin migrating faculty and staff to Exchange 2010 over the summer and continue through the fall.

    OIT is working with the Office of Communications and Marketing to implement Google as UT Knoxville’s primary search engine. In May, OIT will implement Google’s custom search on the UTK.edu website. This free service will bring the power of Google search, but with certain Google-imposed limitations. Later in the summer we will implement the Google search appliance. This will remove the limitations and will bring the full power of Google search to UT Knoxville while also enabling OIT to ensure that new pages are indexed in a timely manner. Throughout this process we welcome input on how well it works and will make adjustments accordingly.

    Banner Online Services will replace Circle Park Online, starting with registration for Spring 2011. It will provide 24/7 service and will be integrated with the portal to allow single sign-on to Banner, Online@UT (Blackboard) and DARS. You will have more web-enabled access to class roster information, teaching schedule and advisee information.

    The portal (single sign-on) is being developed at the request of students via the Student Government Association (SGA) and the Technology Fee Appropriations Board (TAB). This piece is just a part of an overall UT System initiative to standardize our student information systems on a mainstream commercial product and move away from our in-house developed systems. The implementation of Banner also will allow us to retire our IBM mainframe technology for a cost savings of approximately $650,000 per year.

    In closing, I invite you to follow OIT on Twitter for IT status updates and other important information at http://twitter.com/UT_OIT.

    You also can subscribe to the IT Weekly, a brief weekly e-mail I send to keep the UT Knoxville community aware of IT developments and other timely information. To subscribe go to http://listserv.utk.edu/archives/itweekly.html and click on “Join or leave the list (or change settings).” The IT Weekly archive is available at https://utworks.tennessee.edu/oit/itweekly/default.aspx.

  • DOJ opens criminal investigation into Goldman Sachs: report

    Photo source or description

    [JURIST] Law enforcement officials on Thursday told the Wall Street Journal [media website] that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] is opening a criminal investigation [WSJ report] of Goldman, Sachs & Co. [corporate website] for possible securities fraud in mortgage trading. Two weeks ago, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website; JURIST news archive] filed civil charges [JURIST report; WSJ backgrounder] against Goldman Sachs. While the SEC referred the case to the DOJ, the criminal case will focus on different evidence. It is not certain yet whether criminal charges will be filed against Goldman Sachs.

    The German government announced [JURIST report] that it was considering legal action against Goldman Sachs just two days after the SEC filed a civil suit [complaint, PDF] against the bank. The SEC complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website], alleges that Goldman made misleading statements and omissions to investors in early 2007 in violation of the Securities Act of 1933 [text, PDF] and Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [text, PDF]. Goldman’s alleged conduct in marketing collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) [Investopedia backgrounder] to investors lies at the core of the controversy. Goldman responded [press release] to the allegations by denying all wrongdoing. The SEC is seeking “injunctive relief, disgorgement of profits, prejudgment interest, civil penalties and other appropriate and necessary equitable relief from both defendants,” remedies considered appropriate in securities fraud cases.

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  • The Motorola Shadow re-emerges

    The Motorola Shadow burst onto the scene in the waning hours of 2009 with a specs list that read like a geeks wish list and some colorful renders that further whet the appetite. Rumors abounded that it could be the follow up to the then new Nexus One. Motorola threw flames on the fire when they confirmed during their Q4 earnings call that they would be offering “at least one direct-to-consumer device with Google.

    As is often the way with these things the information dried up and the Shadow drifted back into the inky blackness of the internet with only the true die hards keeping the spark of interest alive.

    So we fast forward to yesterday when a smartphone identified as the Motorola MB810 receives its WiFi certification. That name is significant as the Motorola Sholes Tablet (or the MOTOROI as it came to be known later) is the MB710. This suggests an upgraded version of the MOTOROI which lines up nicely with everything we know about the Shadow.

    Additionally tying the MB810 to the Shadow is a tweet from @androiddevicespy on March 12th simply saying “cdma_shadow/MB810/cdma_shadow/verizon #android.” That user tweets nothing but Android device signatures like that one with the #android hashtag, but where they are originating from I don’t know.

    A few supposedly real images have been spotted that certainly match up nicely with everything that I have heard about the Shadow and also definitely reflect the Droid lineage. Those images and the original render from December are in the gallery below; they certainly share the same general dimensions and appearance.

    The specs below should not be taken as gospel by any means as they has been gleaned from some of the insiders that frequent Howard forums and obviously cannot be verified at the moment, but the users that are disseminating this information have certainly proven to be reliable in the past.

    Regarding the processor; you should check out this video demo from MWC if you were wondering how it compares to the Droid’s 550 MHz OMAP3430. Do not conclude that it is underpowered just because it isn’t 1 GHz or above.

    • Slate form factor
    • Verizon
    • 4.1″ AMOLED screen
    • 720 MHz OMAP 3630 Processor
    • 1-2 GB of internal storage
    • 8 MP Camera
    • 720p Video Recording
    • mini-HDMI out
    • Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
    • Bluetooth 2.1
    • MicroSD support up to 32GB
    • ~9mm at the bottom of the device flaring somewhat at the top
    • Launch window: Late June – late July

    Obviously a lot of this rumor and speculation, but taken as a whole the evidence becomes fairly compelling that the Shadow is out there and possibly coming soon.



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  • Khadr boycotts preliminary hearing over mistreatment allegations

    Photo source or description

    [JURIST] Canadian Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Omar Khadr [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] on Friday refused for the second straight day to attend preliminary hearings relating to his pending murder and terrorism charges [JURIST report], claiming he is being mistreated by military guards. On Thursday, Khadr refused to attend the proceedings, stating [WP report] that the blackout goggles required by military protocol were aggravating an eye conditions which needed medical attention. Khadr did appear for hearings on Thursday afternoon after Judge Patrick Parrish indicated he would be brought by force if he did not present himself willingly. Khadr did not attend Friday’s hearings after refusing to submit to a search prior to being transported. He contends that the search was meant to intimidate and humiliate him. Parrish indicated that he would not question security protocols and ruled that Friday’s proceedings would continue without Khadr because he had voluntarily chosen not to attend. This week’s hearings are being held in order to determine if statements made by Khadr during his interrogation should be suppressed [JURIST report]. They are to be the last preliminary hearings before his US military commission [JURIST news archive] trial in July.

    Khadr’s lawyers filed an emergency motion [JURIST report] in February in the Federal Court of Canada [official website] challenging the decision of the Canadian government not to seek his repatriation from the United States [JURIST report]. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled [JURIST report] in January that the government was not obligated to seek Khadr’s return to Canada despite having violated his rights under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [text]. Khadr has allegedly admitted to throwing a hand grenade [JURIST report] that killed a US soldier in Afghanistan.

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  • Pneu inteligente da Pirelli pode chegar em 2013

    Cyber Tyre

    Uma das novas tecnologias no mundo automotivo, o pneu inteligente, poderá estar disponível no mercado a partir de 2013, de acordo com as ultimas noticias. Adotado de sensores, o chip Cyber Tyre conversará com o modulo central dos veículos e além de informações dos pneus e será capaz de fornecer dados das condições da pista onde o pneu estiver em contato.

    De acordo com a Schrader Eletronics, fabricante de sensores eletrônicos, a companhia vem desenvolvendo em conjunto com a Pirelli o sistema, que também possibilitará o acionamento mais preciso e antecipado dos sistemas de controle eletrônicos, como o ABS, ASR e o ESP, que atualmente entram em ação após o motorista já estar perdendo o controle do veiculo.

    A maior precisão do sistema é obtido através de um sensor acelerômetro triaxial que é capaz de medir as forças que atuam nos três sentidos dos pneus. Apesar de ainda estar em uma fase prematura, uma versão mais simples do chip já estará no mercado a partir desse ano e suas funções estarão limitadas em medir apenas a pressão, temperatura e características de construção do pneu.

    Fonte:4WheelsNews


  • Report: GM cancels plan to sell Chevrolet Orlando in U.S.

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    Chevrolet Orlando – Click above for high-res image gallery

    Rumor has it that General Motors won’t be selling the new seven-passenger Orlando here in the United States come 2011, or ever for that matter. According to Automotive News, GM has said that it will be skipping the people-mover in order to focus its attention on the models Chevrolet currently sells. Margaret Brooks, Chevrolet’s product marketing director for small cars and crossovers, said that the company’s current portfolio easily takes care of any family’s needs.

    While buyers in Canada, Europe and Asia will still be able to buy the new Orlando as scheduled, GM has decided to increase production of the Equinox, Traverse and Malibu here in the U.S. to make up for the missing model. The move is still somewhat of a shock, especially considering how hard GM was pushing the Orlando as part of its new product lineup just one year ago.

    The decision to drop the Orlando does make sense, though. Despite the fact that the vehicle was based on the much smaller Cruze platform, it would be elbowing its way into an already packed showroom dominated by the likes of the popular Equinox. Those needing a little more space for their brood or luggage can still easily step up to a Traverse.

    Meanwhile, Automotive News reports that the Cruze is still scheduled to begin production later this year.

    Gallery: Detroit 2009: Chevrolet Orlando Concept

    [Source: Automotive News]

    Report: GM cancels plan to sell Chevrolet Orlando in U.S. originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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