As Aaron wrote earlier today, the US Government has launched Distraction.gov, a website aimed to educate citizens about the dangers of texting or otherwise using a cell phone while driving. Here’s the video they posted. And, oh yeah: If you text while you’re driving in my neighborhood, I will not be happy.
Recently the Atlantic published an article by Hanna Rosin about the role the prosperity gospel had in creating the financial crisis. In the piece she wrote that evangelical churches serving Latino and other minority communities have based their theology on the prosperity gospel.
Among Latinos the prosperity gospel has been spreading rapidly. In a recent Pew survey, 73 percent of all religious Latinos in the United States agreed with the statement: God will grant financial success to all believers who have enough faith. For a generation of poor and striving Latino immigrants, the gospel seems to offer a road map to affluence and modern living. Garays church is comprised mostly of first-generation immigrants. More than others Ive visited, it echoes back a highly distilled, unself-conscious version of the current thinking on what it means to live the American dream.
Rosin shows that this underlying belief tied directly to the number of subprime loans that were made to communities under the Bush policy that tied the Ownership Society to the Faith-based Initiatives.
One theme emerging in these suits is how banks teamed up with pastors to win over new customers for subprime loans.
…The idea of reaching out to churches took off quickly, Jacobson recalls. The branch managers figured pastors had a lot of influence with their parishioners and could give the loan officers credibility and new customers. Jacobson remembers a conference call where sales managers discussed the new strategy. The plan was to send officers to guest-speak at church-sponsored wealth-building seminars like the ones Bowler attended, and dazzle the participants with the possibility of a new house. They would tell pastors that for every person who took out a mortgage, $350 would be donated to the church, or to a charity of the parishioners choice. They wouldnt say, Hey, Mr. Minister. We want to give your people a bunch of subprime loans, Jacobson told me. They would say, Your congregants will be homeowners! They will be able to live the American dream!
Rosin points to the role the Christian Right has in creating the financial crisis, but she missed tying it directly to the philosophy and financial backing that underpinned the Bush faith-based policies.
Max Blumenthal reports in his book, Republican Gomorrah, that the intellectual underpinnings for this initiative came from the Religious Right through the writings of Marvin Olasky who came up with the Bush theme of “compassionate conservatism.” Olasky was funded by Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr., the financier for most of the conservative, stealth religious campaigns in the 1990s and during the Bush years.
In 1992, Olasky wrote The Tragedy of American Compassion, an argument for transferring government social welfare programs to the church, which he claimed was the traditional and most effective approach until the New Deal – the very policy Rushdoony and his acolytes had long advocated. In this work, Olasky cited his “conservative Christian” friend Howard Ahmanson as proof that faith can cure poverty, describing how Ahmanson “found that poverty around the world is a spiritual as well as a material problem – most poor people don’t have faith that they and their situations can change.”
How many of those newly minted foreclosed upon who believed that it was their faith that allowed them to buy a home are aware that they were being staked out to fleece in the world’s latest con-game?
What is clear is the prosperity gospel was made for the Bush years because what it delivered was remarkable prosperity for the select few.
Now that the aughts are behind us, we can start the new decade with a bang. So many new technologies are ready to make a big impact this year. Some of them will be brand new, but many have been gestating and are now ready to hatch. If there is any theme here it is the mobile Web. As I think through the top ten technologies that will rock 2010, more than half of them are mobile. But those technologies are tied to advances in the overall Web as well.
Below is my list of the ten technologies that will leave the biggest marks on 2010:
Chrome OS
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I’m in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee for Christmas and on a drive between Memphis and Nashville I noticed that every $30/night hotel offered free wireless Internet access. Further, when we got to Nashville and checked into the relatively low-frills Holiday Inn Express we had better wireless Internet access than I’ve had in hotels around the US and the world—some of which I paid double to stay in.
What gives with hotel WiFi?
This is a ten-year-old technology that has improved in speed and quality nearly everywhere—in homes, in offices, in public spaces, in coffee shops, in airports—even on planes. You can even get free WiFi at Krystal, a fast food chain that’s on par with White Castle and sells hamburgers for less than $1 each. Over the past two years I’ve stayed at more than two-dozen hotels around the United States and the emerging world. I’ve noticed a trend that seems to fly in the face of basic economics and technology adoption: The pricier and fancier hotel, generally the worse quality the WiFi, if it exists at all.
On a trip to Boston two years ago my fancy downtown, five-star hotel had no wireless access. The brand new W in Santiago, Chile has no wireless access. In India, Rwanda and Argentina I’ve had to buy expensive 24-hour WiFi passes, which can add up to hundreds of dollars per stay, for a connection that was just OK. But I knew better than to complain: The quality of the connection is almost always better in emerging markets than Western Europe.
London is hands-down the worst: I’ve stayed at the Sanderson in London twice and always had a hard time getting online, and I’ve also stayed at the Malmaison where even the wired connection didn’t work. I had to go down to the lobby to get a signal. Even then it was like the early days of wireless where you wandered around holding your laptop looking for bars like you were panning for gold.
Arrington may have his silly germaphobe, fist-bump movement. MG may be determined to hold AT&T accountable for its embarrassingly bad iPhone service. Here’s my outrage: Why in 2010 do so many hotels have zero, unreliable or outrageously expensive wireless Internet access?
This is clearly not a cost issue when economy hotels like Holiday Inn and Days Inn have no problem offering free wireless access from the middle of nowhere in the South. (Not to mention Krystal.) This is an issue of greed or tech ignorance on the part of luxury hotels and consumers and business travelers need to start showing some outrage.
On the greed point, Paul Carr—whose parents are hoteliers and lives in hotels now—says the sky-high prices are largely the result of hotels losing fees from business travelers making phone calls, now that we all have mobile phones. The only way to make up the cost was to start charging for Internet access. I wouldn’t have a huge problem with that if the access was good. But I get angry when you charge me $20 a day for a connection that barely works when I can get a better connection at a coffee shop next door for free.
Why not do what the Royal Orchid in Bangalore does? They offer a basic connection for free, and offer a paid rate if you want a faster speed. That still allows a way for the hotel to make money off business travelers with expense accounts, gives guests who need a high-speed connection an in-room option and offers price-conscious guests a way to do the basics like checking email for free.
The other issue is technology. A lot of hotels—deeming themselves too tech-ignorant to install and manage wifi networks themselves—entered into pricey service relationships with third party providers. Hotels say it’s those providers who saddle us with the high fees, and in my experience, not very good connectivity.
If hotels feel they absolutely can’t manage these networks themselves, there have to be better options. What about big Web portals and search engines like Yahoo and Google, or for other countries the local equivalents? Google was ready to wire up all of San Francisco for free access in exchange for ad placement and a Google start page, why not do that for, say, a chain of boutique luxury hotels instead? Or at a minimum, outsource to a service like Boingo that is pretty consistent in service and that many travelers already have a subscription for anyway. It makes the fees hurt less when you can buy an annual pass that’s also good at coffee shops, airports and other public spaces.
These are just a few ideas, and no doubt those of you with more experience setting up networks for big spaces have more. The Internet is fully woven into our lives now. It is the primary way people stay in touch, work and entertain themselves. There is no reason we shouldn’t expect a decent—and preferably free—connection when we pay upwards of $150/night for a hotel if a $30/night hotel can offer it. I, for one, would forgo the pillow mints, free HBO and mini-shampoos if that helps with the margins.
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Frank Gruber, Aol’s Principal Product Manager of Lifestream Platform, has just announced that today will be his last day with the company. Gruber’s official role at Aol included planning and building products like its lifestream, but he was also one of the company’s few public faces, making regular appearances at tech events. He’s also known for regularly writing about the tech industry on his blog Somewhat Frank (he has contributed to TechCrunch as well).
Gruber has been at Aol for over three years now, working in a variety of roles. Here’s a recap from his post:
It has been just over 3 years since I joined Aol to help bring some “Web 2.0 & social media” perspective and expertise to the Aol team. In Internet years that is about 10 years. My first task was to join the product development team responsible for the myAOL triple threat including a personalized homepage, a feed reader with bookmarking and an innovate recommendation engine. We then went on to launch it in 28+ countries before it turned one. More recently with the launch of AIM Lifestream I saw about 18 months of planning and strategy come to fruition which included work on AIM buddyupdates and the acquisition of SocialThing.
Gruber tells us that his decision wasn’t affected by the new direction that Aol is taking (he says he likes it). Rather, he wants to pursue his own ventures. In his post, Gruber writes that some of his attention will now be spent on further expanding TECH Cocktail, which holds events across the country to help connect local startup communities.
He’ll also be working on Shiny Heart Ventures, his startup that’s “focused on building products that remind us of the joys of life”. In September the company launched a site called ThankfulFor, a microblogging service for sharing the things you’re most thankful for. And last week it launched Shiny Maine Lobster, a site for a family-owned lobster business that ships lobsters direct by mail to its customers.
Other recent Aol departures include Chief Lifestreamer David Liu, who left the company in October.
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Dear 2010, you’ll bring the iSlate, Android 3, Natal, iPhone 4, and whatever other cool things we can’t foresee now. But now you’re too short, young, and cute. Don’t worry, you’ll get there. Happy New Year, everyone. [Thanks David Keyes]
Man, nothing saps my motivation to write like smart people I agree with writing about the same topic. But my feed has turned brown once again in NetNewsWire, so something has to be done. Rather than waxing philosophical about everyone’s favorite mythical product, I’m going to take a more pragmatic approach: bold, concrete prediction!
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This is a solution to a problem I definitely have—I often find myself wrestling with coffee and a few gadgets, without enough hands to hold it all. This DIY sleeve takes at least the coffee off your hands.
It’s basically one of those coffee sleeves you get to keep from burning your hands, but with a few strong magnets embedded inside. So if you need an extra hand to tie your shoes, fiddle with a smartphone or PMP, you can just stick your coffee to the nearest streetlamp. And it looks like it might be even more protective for our delicate nerd hands than those wimpy cardboard ones. [Lifehacker]
Everyone is making their new year’s resolutions about now, chances are some are wondering how they will add more family time with their kids.
You know, not just how to fit in 10 minutes to help them with their homework after coming home from a long day at the office, but more time….fun time. Here’s a few quick ideas:
IMG: Eliza Ferree
Play with them! That’s right, get right down on the ground if you have a baby and explore the world through their eyes. Play games like peek-a-boo, crawl around (they’ll laugh up a storm), laugh, roll a ball to them, etc.
Older children love board games, go out and buy a bunch of them and sit down and play. You could even do a family game night every week that way no matter what you have it scheduled in. But don’t take the game too seriously, this only makes children resent game time and you want everyone to enjoy it.
Teens also love game night, or you could purchase the Wii or something equal to it, I know there are cheaper versions out there. Grab a few family games, you know the type where everyone gets to play and have fun!
Once the weather warms up head outside and play football, tag, soccer or even basketball with your kids. If you aren’t fit, start walking with the family. Getting everyone involved could be a lot of fun and they’ll surely have memories. If the weather is cold and snow on the ground, head out and make snowmen, throw snowballs (lightly), etc. Playing with your kids could be a lot of fun, but it’ll take you getting down and dirty to do it. Sometimes you don’t even have to get dirty.
Post from: Blisstree
While everyone is going “ga-ga” over Apple’s dynamic tactile feedback keyboard patent, Microsoft has quietly filed a patent for several methods of controlling a computer using Electromyography (EMG). The technique would record the electrical activity of muscles and translate those signals into instruction sets which would control a computer. EMG technology is not new, it is used in some advanced prosthetic devices and is the technology behind the military’s research into EMG-controlled flight systems which allows a pilot to control his plane using EMG-based gestures. The Microsoft patent takes this technology and applies it to consumer devices describing, in one example, how a driver could interact with a vehicle navigation system without taking his/her hands off the steering wheel. The electrodes necessary for this EMG-driven interaction would be applied on the forearm for local control or on the head, chest, arms and legs for full body control. Though there are many practical purposes for this technology, the most exciting application would be in gaming. Think of Project Natal on steroids where you would don special gaming clothes embedded with EMG sensors and use your muscle movement to control your onscreen character. We are not alone in conjuring up this entertaining application, Microsoft’s own research labs has put together a quick demonstration video showcasing the EMG-based control of Guitar Hero. Hit the jump to preview the future of gaming.
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Since its initial release less than two days ago, development has proceeded apace on the webOS port of classic FPS DOOM. The latest news, however, has implications beyond just this particular port itself. For starters, the game no longer requires any fooling around in the Terminal to get it started: you can now load it from an icon in your launcher, just like any other app. You can also fire up multiple instances of the game in multiple cards – possibly useless in of itself, but it’s great for that geek cool factor.
The technology being employed to make all this possible is the interesting part. WebOS Internals is now piggy-backing on Upstart (the Ubuntu startup manager, included with webOS) to allow webOS apps to punch in (via pre-defined scripts installed by signed, trusted apps) Linux commands on their own, which is how the Terminal has been bypassed. This new method will also enable dependencies in Upstart scripts, which will help homebrewers save precious memory on their webOS devices by not requiring all the back-end services to be running all the time. But the real kicker is that this now paves the way for all manner of SDL applications to be ported to webOS with very little effort at all – and there’s hundreds out there… not to mention it can also be used to control the 1600+ Optware command-line applications available for Linux.
The end of the year is typically the time for list-posts. Ten biggest business mistakes, top 5 sexiest women of 2009, 5 most retweeted tweets, stuff like that. So, I thought, I should do it too, make a list of the 10 most popular posts on iCan’t Internet for 2009. But, it wouldn’t be me if I would do it the normal way, so I decided to pick the 8 most read posts of 2009, and make it my first post of 2010 instead of my last post of 2009.
I hope you enjoy reading them again!
So, after reading all these posts again, or even ALL posts of 2009, which one was your favourite? Please, do tell us in the comments!
Related posts:
Too often it’s seemed like a Bluetooth headset could be tiny, or it could sound good, but few headsets have blurred those lines like the Motorola H790 Bluetooth Headset. This silvery thin headset not only looks great, but it sounds great too. Combine that with a surprisingly comfortable design and none-too-high price tag and you’ve got a winning combination of a headset.
Filed under: Sedan, Tesla, Electric
Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com and erstwhile founder of Weblogs Inc. (of which Autoblog and AutoblogGreen are a part) is a big fan of Tesla, and now he’s announced that he’s giving one away. Calacanis is already the owner of an early Tesla Roadster which he let us drive in late 2008. Even before he took delivery of his Roadster, Calacanis announced his intention to buy the company’s second vehicle, the Model S. When Tesla unveiled the sedan last spring, Calacanis made good on his promise and put down deposits on two of the upcoming electric car, including serial #1.
Now Calacanis wants to give away his second Model S by getting his newly established Twitter account @auto to number 1 on the micro-blogging service. That position is currently held by actor and cougar-catcher Ashton Kutcher who has over 4.2 million followers. As this is written, @auto is up to almost 1,000 followers after only one hour. If you want a crack at a free Model S, just follow @auto.
Gallery: Tesla Model S in motion
[Source: Jason Calacanis]
Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis giving away his Tesla Model S (you know, when he gets it) originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Himec 9910 B REX uses the heavy duty Normet Superboom and work platform capable of lifting a loads up to 1000 kg.
The 2,4 m boom extension enables maintaining the platform distance from the face during its entire vertical travel. Max. 9,0 m platform height allows a working reach up to 11 m.
The working area of the hydraulically extendable Himec 9910 B REX-platform provides variable area up to 2,40 x 4,70 m. Platform rotation permits lining up parallel to the face when slewing the boom through a 60° slewing range.
A large working area of the platform allows simultaneous work by operators, thus making the product favourable for manual charging of large tunnel faces. High lifting load and large coverage have made it popular for installing ventilation and other heavy equipment.
The ultimately stable construction permits use for sampling, measuring, surveying, roof bolting and other installations.
Normet provides demanding solutions for selected customer processes in underground mining and tunnelling.
For over 40 years we have developed, manufactured and marketed equipment and vehicles for mining and underground construction. In addition we provide a comprehensive range of Life Time Care services e.g. maintenance, service programs, spare parts and training around the equipment and the processes they are used for. With over 7000 delivered machines we have became one of the market leaders in our product areas.
Palo Alto, CA — Varian, Inc. (NasdaqGS: VARI) announced today FT-IR solutions for Polymer and Materials Applications that reduce analysis times and reveal more detailed information. FT-IR (Fourier Transform – Infra Red) spectroscopy is an essential tool in the analysis of polymer films and other materials. Applications range from quality testing of raw materials to failure analysis of large objects. The solutions feature Varian’s high performing 600-IR Series spectrometers and microscopes, software and accessories.
Energy throughput often limits the amount of information that can be gathered or greatly increases the time required for analysis. Varian’s FT-IR systems offer the highest energy throughput available under real world conditions to deliver more data, faster. For users that need to detect contaminants in multi-layer laminates or silicon wafers, for example, Varian’s 610-IR microscope provides the best range of spatial resolution options available making visible what other systems cannot.
Varian’s standard software makes QA/QC analysis simple. It provides the ability to search in-house as well as commercially available spectral libraries to assess the purity of raw materials or finished product. For routine measurements customers can increase productivity by taking advantage of unique features in Varian’s FT-IR software to turn systems into dedicated analyzers.
The 600-IR Series accommodates a variety of polymer and material sample types — spray-on liquids, pastes, resins, plastics, and coating materials. ATR (Attenuated Total Reflectance) is the easiest method as it typically requires little to no sample preparation. With Varian ATR or grazing angle accessories, users can investigate changes in polymer surfaces such as functionalization or weathering.
“Whether for research or routine analysis, Varian FT-IR spectrometers and microscopes make it easy for polymer and materials scientists to get the information they need,” said Martin O’Donoghue, Senior Vice President, Scientific Instruments, Varian, Inc. “The combination of speed, resolution and ease of use ensure that they can see more, see it clearly and see it faster.” For more complete information about Polymers and Materials Applications, please view our electronic brochure at www.varianftir.com/ebrochure-pm.html. This document provides detailed data on polymer applications and highlights the features and benefits of our FT-IR systems with informative 3D animations.
The new Contrinex color sensors are well suited for color control as well as for use in color sorting processes. The devices feature 3 teachable color channels with independent 200 mA outputs, which allow for three color tones to be programmed. In addition, the teach process offers a choice of 5 different switching tolerance levels. Whereas small tolerances allow for minimal color differences to be recognized without fail, larger tolerances permit a certain color variation.
Due to the unique optics of the Contrinex color sensor, color detection within the operating range of 30 … 40 mm is virtually independent of target distance. Furthermore, the devices feature a high switching frequency of up to 4 kHz as well as an adjustable pulse delay and stretching.
The sensors are built into compact glass-fiber reinforced PBTP standard housings (40 x 50 x 15 mm) featuring insulation class II, a glass window and a connector adjustable to 0°, 45° and 90°. In addition to conventional methods of fixation by means of mounting brackets, these sensors can also be fixed with the help of a clamp bracket (dovetail groove).
Hot-tap technology is an established method of connecting sections of sub-sea pipelines without stopping production. Once limited to relatively shallow installations, the technology is now achievable to depths of 150m, a breakthrough that greatly extends its scope. Developing innovative inspection techniques to complement such engineering achievements is the commercial role of Sonomatic. For example, it recently perfected a system for checking the integrity of welds for a deep hot-tap project in the North Sea, a breakthrough in the field of pipeline NDT (non-destructive testing).
With its roots in nuclear engineering, Sonomatic is a worldwide organisation whose expertise in ultrasonic inspection design, development and application dates back more than 25 years. It is focussed mainly on the sub-sea oil and gas industry as well as nuclear and power generation but also extends into work for general refineries and the chemical processing industries.
Many of the pipeline projects in which Sonomatic is involved are of significant economic importance and carry environmental implications. As a result the design and production of its bespoke NDT systems are often to a tight time scale and outsourced components and systems need to be right first time with no room for error. Elements for a recent sub-sea hot-tap project were no exception.
Sonomatic was contracted to perform an ultrasonic ovality inspection of a key area on a high profile pipeline which would be used for a sub-sea hot-tap. A ring slide was required as the main medium to manoeuvre ultrasonic probes around the pipe and a HepcoMotion® product was selected for the job. “We needed a high precision geared ring to fit existing automated sub-sea equipment and to accommodate new features that were specific to this project,” explained Sonomatic’s Chris Krugel. “The quality and ready availability of the HepcoMotion® ring made it a clear choice.”
The order comprised a standard ring slide and stainless steel slide, supplied as an assembled bearing. In situ it is driven by the scanner for 1500mm to produce radial scans every 250mm on the full 360 degree section with a positioning accuracy of 0.5mm. “It fitted in exactly as planned from the early concept stages of the project,” Chris Krugel concluded. “The main drive unit needed no modification and this allowed us to move swiftly on to more important issues.”
Mount the ultrasonic sensor on the outside of a pipe and this new PDFM 5.0 Portable Doppler Flow Meter shows flow rate instantly. Use it for flow troubleshooting, spot checks or balancing flow. Simply enter pipe diameter with the 5-button keypad and the PDFM 5.0 will display, totalize and data log in your choice of gallons, liters or any engineering units.
This compact, hand-held flowmeter includes 4-20mA output and 320,000 point data logger with USB output and Windows™ software. The rechargeable NiMH battery powers the unit for at least 24 hours continuous operation. Push button sleep mode extends battery life for long periods of operation. New features include a large backlit display, reverse flow measurement and menu language selection.
The new Greyline PDFM 5.0 is recommended for wastewater, sludge, slurries, chemicals and abrasives. It works from outside metal or plastic pipes.
