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Regular readers will know my affinity for Apple products. In general, they’re high quality, and I’m willing to pay a bit more for that. But a lemon is a lemon, regardless of who it’s made by, and must be labeled as such. These new 27-inch iMacs? Lemons.

In case you haven’t heard yet, the screens on these massive things are failing left and right. Granted, not all of them seem to be affected, but 110 pages worth of support questions/rants on Apple’s Support page for the issue tells me the problem is pretty widespread. That’s 1,640 replies, so far. And that thread has been viewed an incredible 264,630 times. The next closest recent page with that many views has 26,852 — and guess what? It’s also about a problem with the 27-inch iMac screen.

Two days ago, Apple issued a fix for the issue. The only problem? The fix doesn’t appear to work.

It did look like the fix was working for a little while, but today I’m back with the same constant flickering and random screen shutoffs that have plagued many of us. It basically makes the machine unusable. The support board is already filling up with users who applied the fix and still have the same problem. And, in fact, the only other TechCrunch writer with the new 27-inch iMac also has had the same issue and the fix hasn’t worked for him either.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Apple was delaying further shipments of the 27-inch iMacs until it could get to the bottom of the screen issue. Many believed the fix two days ago was the solution, but it’s not. And so Apple appears to have a very big problem on its hands, literally. If I have to send this bad boy back, it will be the second time I’ve done so. The first time, it shipped to me with a crack in the screen. A problem which is also not an isolated one.

Perhaps you read about how the FDA delayed the replacement one because it thought it was a piece of fruit. I was mad, but I shouldn’t have been. The truth is, these new iMacs are a piece of fruit. They’re lemons.

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State budget deficit should not affect safety guidelines

Editor, The Times:

Our police are being killed because of Washington state’s failure to keep violent criminals behind bars [“Attack on deputies stuns weary region,” page one, Dec. 23].

Violent criminals need to be locked up and the key thrown away. The state of Florida has a 10-20-life law for gun crimes.

Let’s get that law here, also. Washington’s budget deficit should not be what guides our safety.

— Reno Raines, Auburn

Sheriff’s attitude out of line?

I found the attitude as projected by Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor’s statement prominently displayed on the front page of The Seattle Times to be astonishing — “This should underline and make clear that people who wear badges risk themselves for perfect strangers.”

What does the sheriff think the role of the police forces is?

Sheriff Pastor gets paid for putting his tail on the line. And, yes, having dedicated more than 32 years of uniform service to our country, I well understand sacrifice for the good of the cause.

Take a good look in the mirror Pastor and ask yourself: “Do I deserve to be wearing this uniform in service of the good people of Pierce County?”

— Charles Bickel, Poulsbo

Winners and losers

As the health-care bill is near completion, we see there are winners and losers [“GOP drops delays on health-care vote: Those states who get the bill for the health-care legislation and those states that have received special considerations because of their status in the Senate.

Again our state suffers from a lack of representation in Washington, D.C. We received none of the special considerations that were given out there.

This has happened over and over again.

We misjudged Boeing with our politicians telling us that they will stay in our state without any more negotiations, even after Boeing gave fair warning by moving their headquarters and Internet business to Chicago years ago.

We see Microsoft threatening to leave unless the business environment changes for the better; Verizon sent their data support to another state.

We are so locked into the political correctness and party affiliation that we will continue to lose business, and the economy we once had will be replaced for a South Carolina-style economy, which these same congressional legislators continue to mock.

— Larry Lundquist, Bellevue

Lower the estate tax? Poor policy

“Put health care aside and fix the economy” [Opinion, editorial, Dec. 20] stated, “[Congress] needs to lower the estate tax.”

That line is an amazing non sequitur to all other lines prior to this sentence. What is implied is that changing a tax policy, the effects of which would have minimal impact over the next two or three years, would be an important move to fix our very current ills.

I can’t imagine how this country operated so very well for years on an estate-tax level under a million dollars.

Small business thrived at times and at times it did not. The country went through cycles of prosperity and recession. During the Clinton administration, the amount that was excluded was raised by a factor of about five times.

Perhaps the exclusion level should be continuously adjusted for inflation, but to cite lowering the estate tax as a panacea for our sluggish economy is pure nonsense.

Wealth concentration is and was a contributor to our current problems. Simplistic change in tax policy is poor policy.

— Jerry A. Brownfield, Bellingham

A step backward in the wrong direction

As a doctor who provides a wide range of reproductive health care to patients, I watch Congress debate health-care reform with a cold shudder.

Their political arguments about what should be covered have overtaken the discussion about who should be covered.

The task we’ve given Congress is to find a way to serve the nearly 47 million Americans who are currently without health insurance. Their job is not to make personal medical decisions for women, for men, or for families.

I’m encouraged that the Senate last week voted down the Nelson/Hatch amendment that would have restricted women’s access to abortion coverage in the private health-insurance market, even if they paid for the premiums with their own money.

It’s a step backward that American women can’t afford to take.

Let’s hope such draconian measures continue to be avoided in health-care reform.

It’s been a long run, but the finish line for historic health-care reform is in sight. All citizens deserve access to our medical-care system. Leave the personal medical choices to Americans.

— Anna Kaminski, MD, Seattle

The four of you who have been eagerly awaiting an update to MSN Messenger will have to wait a few more months, according to a post on the Office for Mac Team Blog, Mac Mojo. The update, which will bring A/V support, has hit some speed bumps along the way, causing a longer than expected delay in beta deployment. Apparently the trouble is in connecting to “the most current A/V code running on the Windows Live servers”.

The news might be somewhat of a disappointment to those of you who remember a post on the very same blog from last year detailing the team’s plan to get A/V support running sometime in 2009. The Microsoft employees went as far as to say that they hoped to have a demo with A/V working at this year’s Macworld Expo. 

The team is stating that the new version will be available in March and will be a “top quality experience.” Frankly, we didn’t know anyone still used MSN Messenger, or that it hadn’t been updated with A/V capabilities yet. Are any of you waiting on this update? Let us know in comments.

What is a “Brief” post?”

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A class action suit filed against Apple over iMac G5 displays that eventually went south after the warranty expired has been dismissed by a federal judge. However, the judge left open options to amend certain claims in the suit if sufficient detail surrounding Apple’s alleged concealment of foreknowledge of the problem can be explained.

Aram Hovsepian originally sued Apple at the beginning of this year, accusing Apple of concealing knowledge that displays on some iMac G5 models would fail, displaying random vertical lines across the display. “Apple remained silent knowing its iMac display screens would malfunction while consumers purchased iMacs, made warranty claims arising from the vertical lines on display screens, and made out of warranty repairs related to the vertical line problem,” Hovsepian claimed in his complaint.

In the motion, District Judge Jeremy Fogel noted that the plaintiff did not meet the necessary “heightened” requirements for statutory fraud claims in his pleadings to sufficiently establish a cause of action. Furthermore, Judge Fogel also noted that Hovsepian did not define the proposed class narrowly enough—as described in his second amended complaint, the class would include anyone who bought an iMac G5, and not necessarily those affected by the alleged problem. However, the judge noted that Hovsepian could amend his complaint to address a claim of common law fraud if he could offer “further elaboration as to whether such a duty [to publicly disclose the problem] existed and as to the means by which Apple actively concealed a known defect from its customers.”

The iMac G5 display issues describe in the lawsuit aren’t the only complaints about iMac displays Apple has had to deal with recently. The lawsuit’s dismissal comes just after Apple released a firmware update for 27″ iMacs to address problems with flickering LCDs. A number of other display issues have been detailed on Apple’s support forums, and those screen issues may have been at least part of the cause for weeks-long shipping delays of the gargantuan iMac.

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Democrats will happily accept responsibility

GOP’s Michael Steele says he will hold Democrats responsible for their health-care votes in the upcoming elections [“Next health-care vote today,” News, Dec. 22].

Democrats should be happy to be held responsible for their votes on this monumental legislation.

Republicans also fought tooth and nail to stop both Social Security and Medicare when they became law.

I thank God that the Democrats are again accountable for their votes, and that we will look back at this legislation as doing the right thing for the public, while the Republicans again were on the wrong side of this important issue.

— Jim Brown, Wenatchee

Dino Rossi

Dino Rossi didn’t want to tell us what the acronym GOP stands for.

But now we know: Grand Obstructionist Party.

— Gerry Esterbrook, Seattle

Only downtown Seattle will benefit

The Times editorial “Needed: tunnel vision on viaduct,” [Opinion, Dec. 22] recommended tunnel vision for the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

I have just the opposite conclusion.

Given a view of all events in the past eight years, a tunnel is the peak example of tunnel vision. First, last, and always, a tunnel benefits only organized and/or powerful interests of downtown Seattle.

None of the studies and associated factors initiated by the combined agreement of the governor, mayor and King County executive in December 2008, gave any specific option leader.

This decision can best be described as instant gratification for downtown.

Lost in the decision was the permanent impact on anyone outside downtown Seattle, including approximately the western third of the entire city. Particularly galling is the need to charge a toll for tunnel operation and maintenance.

To those impacted, a toll appears to be a tribute for passing downtown. Revising state legislation to pay for any project overruns would be a gift to only downtown Seattle.

— John Storz, Seattle

Similar to Bridgewater sewage-treatment plant debacle

Every time I see coverage of the viaduct replacement tunnel, I think of all the problems that are occurring with the Brightwater sewage-treatment project [“Deep inside King County’s big dig,” page one, Dec. 11].

The construction and machines are similar in nature to the proposal along the waterfront. Does this not concern our elected officials?

I’m sure that plenty of feasibility studies were run prior to drilling, yet the drills in the Brightwater tunnel are broken and the whole thing is way behind schedule.

No one is sure who is going to pay for the repair and cost overruns associated with downtime, or when that tunnel will actually be functional.

And as for that [earthquake] video, which set us back more than $80,000 and was deemed too scary to be released, I think 90 percent of area residents are smart enough to have predicted that same scenario without the huge expense.

If they were not, simple video footage of the double-decker bridge that collapsed after the earthquake in the Bay Area would have been far cheaper and much more chilling. While not exactly the same, I think any reasonable person could extrapolate that being near the viaduct and sea wall during an earthquake would be life threatening and very damaging.

I, like Mayor Greg Nickels once quipped, increase my speed when I’m on the viaduct. It is an accident waiting to happen. But is the road we plan to go down with this project ever going to be open?

— Shauna Bellamy, Seattle

MICRO FARMING HOW-TO — SEEDS/ANIMAL SOURCES: The urban, backyard and small scale farming of heirloom tomatoes continues to be profitable for many involved in micro eco-farming. Different varieties grow best in different regions, making the crop of heirloom tomatoes in your tomato garden unique. And if desired, the value-added possibilities with crops from a tomato garden are almost endless and very adaptable to food trends.

Below are some great newly released heirloom tomato varieties available in 2010 and two favorite resources for learning the deeper specifics on growing very large amounts of organic heirloom tomatoes in a small market tomato garden. (About 1.3 billion tons of tomatoes are imported to the USA just from Mexico alone. Those grown in our country are trucked for thousands of miles to neighborhoods, cities and rural areas which could easily be nurturing their own market tomato gardens and selling them locally.)

One of our favorite producers of heirloom seeds is Baker Creek Seed Company out of Missouri, with a recent new store in California. They have both an online catalogue and a beautiful print catalogue. Here are some new heirloom tomatoes from them: Monomakh’s Hat from Siberia — described as honey-sweet and so delicious you almost can’t stop eating them. Beduin – described as meaty and rich. And Gypsy, a purple tomato with one of the best colors of all those in this color category. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Peruse Baker Creek’s and other heirloom seed catalogs and start enticing your customers with late winter farm newsletters or blogs on new tomato varieties you’ll be trying for the upcoming season.

The first favorite book (the second resource is below) on growing literally hundreds of pounds of tomatoes organically from one plant is How to Grow World Record Tomatoes. (This link leads to our Amazon affiliate for it. Don’t forget to shop locally, though!) One of our editors bought this book for her dad who was an avid tomato grower. I think the title can be deceptive. “World Record” to many means individual tomatoes grow very big, maybe winning blue ribbons. By “World Record” in this case, the author of the book means amounts: sometimes more than 300 pounds of tomatoes from one plant, whereas commercial tomato plants grow only about 8 pounds. The author has a slight Christian slant to his writing which even those who aren’t Christian don’t seem to find offensive, though some might a little. His growing region is a relatively hot area, though, so more northern small scale farming tomato garden efforts may get less than his record of about 340 pounds per plant, but even 200 as compared to 8 is a huge advantage.

The other resource we recently affiliated with for those who prefer instantly downloadable books is called Organic Tomato Magic. It has the criteria we’re looking for: organic (or sustainable) growing methods, focused on creating exceptional flavor, and producing much larger-than-commercial quantities in smaller tomato gardens – which are the needs of the urban, backyard and small scale farming community. The author comes from a long generation of farmers and offers methods such as a special grooming of the number of leaves on the tomato plant to produce flavor that your customers can’t resist, such as delicious tomato aroma even before slicing the tomatoes open, something that certainly helps roadside and farmers’ market sales, and keeps CSA customers and u-pickers loyal to your small scale farming venture. (We always want to hear from you if you have a problem with a third party resource we recommend. We can’t change third party resources, but we can certainly stop recommending them if they don’t live up to our standards. Our contact is on the home page of the Micro Eco-Farming Center.) Also see our full length article overviewing heirloom tomatoes in our “Crop Library” on the first home page of the Micro Eco-Farming Center, and we always suggest that micro eco-farmers go even deeper with how they farm the soil than what even some organic book methods suggest. Use their above ground spacing and pruning ideas, but add the goal of creating deep, live, humus-rich soil with the full spectrum of trace minerals from the sea or from very deep rooted cover crops, and see just how much more productive you can be. Our article at the Center on nurturing the soil is a good starter for small scale farming of any crop, including a first market tomato garden: – www.MicroEcoFarming.com

Next time you want to illustrate a flow or concept with a diagramming tool, throw away the source file as soon as you export the PNG or PDF. If you’re afraid to throw the source file away, you spent too much time on it.

Indiana-based startup ChaCha was founded in 2006 as a cross between Ask.com and the Mechanical Turk: Users would ask a question, and they’d be connected to another human being who would provide an answer in a real-time chat session. In short, it didn’t work out.

In early 2008, ChaCha ditched that business and reinvented itself as a question-and-answer service for mobile phone users. Text ChaCha a question, and they’ll text you an answer. The company ran a promotional campaign to provide election-year research that fall. (You can use ChaCha from a desktop, too, but their business focus is on text messages.)

The company claims substantial funding for its efforts. In January of this year, they announced $30 million from unnamed investors. Today, ChaCha says they’ve added another $7 million from anonymous lenders, bringing the company’s total funding to $69 million.

That’s a hefty pile of loans for a startup. What I’m hoping the company will get back to me on is: How will they make money? The company sells ads served with its answers. Does that bring in enough revenue to make what seems like a labor-intensive business profitable? Is there some tech trickery that automates the answers?

And since when do late-stage investors in a startup — ChaCha has already gone through rounds A, B, C and D — not want everyone to kn0w about the smart investment they’re making? For seed funding it’s typical to be coy, but not so much closer to a hopeful IPO or acquisition.

I couldn’t find a designated press contact, so I texted my questions to ChaCha’s SMS address, 242242. I’ll update here if they write back. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

(Update: ChaCha sent this reply to my BlackBerry: “Thanks for you Q, we are experiencing temporary network problems. Please try again later!”)

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When Nokia first sued Apple for patent infringement over the iPhone, we noted that it appeared like yet another case of a company getting beat in the market suddenly whipping out some patents to sue over. This seemed to anger the usual bunch of patent system defenders — along with a group of Nokia defenders — but it appears that others are noticing as well. The NY Times has an article discussing Nokia’s sudden aggressiveness in the patent realm, noting that the company has been facing some business troubles, and it’s notable that its patent aggression seems to have shown up at just the same time as its own performance trouble. Funny that.

Of course, this is a major issue. As with so many high tech areas today, there are giant patent thickets. It’s effectively impossible to launch a product that doesn’t violate dozens, if not hundreds, of patents. And (despite claims to the contrary) it’s got absolutely nothing to do with companies “stealing” from each other. It’s got plenty to do with companies making the next logical step in the innovative process, and coming up with products that meet what the market wants. But with patent offices around the world being willing to hand out patents on minor changes, it’s impossible to actually build a useful product that doesn’t violate patents. This has nothing to do with innovation. At this point, patents are just a weapon that can be flung against anyone who does innovate if you can’t compete.

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Indiana-based startup ChaCha was founded in 2006 as a cross between Ask.com and the Mechanical Turk: Users would ask a question, and they’d be connected to another human being who would provide an answer in a real-time chat session. In short, it didn’t work out.

In early 2008, ChaCha ditched that business and reinvented itself as a question-and-answer service for mobile phone users. Text ChaCha a question, and they’ll text you an answer. The company ran a promotional campaign to provide election-year research that fall. (You can use ChaCha from a desktop, too, but their business focus is on text messages.)

The company claims substantial funding for its efforts. In January of this year, they announced $30 million from unnamed investors. Today, ChaCha says they’ve added another $7 million from anonymous lenders, bringing the company’s total funding to $69 million.

That’s a hefty pile of loans for a startup. What I’m hoping the company will get back to me on is: How will they make money? The company sells ads served with its answers. Does that bring in enough revenue to make what seems like a labor-intensive business profitable? Is there some tech trickery that automates the answers?

And since when do late-stage investors in a startup — ChaCha has already gone through rounds A, B, C and D — not want everyone to kn0w about the smart investment they’re making? For seed funding it’s typical to be coy, but not so much closer to a hopeful IPO or acquisition.

I couldn’t find a designated press contact, so I texted my questions to ChaCha’s SMS address, 242242. I’ll update here if they write back. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

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The TP2 has been known to do many things(except scratch my &%$ from space) but the guys over at WME found another thing you can use it for. Apparently while driving home, one of the editors took his TP2 and his new Ebay bought car kit and used it to record him self driving through a blizzard—which is nothing compared to what I am going through over here in MN with 8ichs of snow at times. Watch the video and maybe the quality will persuade you to head over to eBay and get your own kit.

by Anna Fahey

Editor’s Note: Anna finished this post (and a few
more) before she went on maternity leave. She gave birth to a healthy
girl, Audrey, on December 13.

One year ago, just before Christmas, it snowed in Seattle. Not our usual short-lived dusting, but a real dump that lasted a few solid days and, because we’re not prepared for such events, veritably shut down the city (at least for cars).

For Seattle, it was real snow. Some say it was enough snow to shift the outcome of the mayoral race in 2009. And as former Sightliner Elisa Murray noted, it was enough snow to blanket the city in good-heartedness, in a renewed sense of community and sharing. In short, the snow boosted Seattle’s social capital: people were out and about in their neighborhoods, talking to one another and not isolated in their cars; holiday shoppers frequented local retailers rather than anonymous malls; neighbors gave neighbors a helping hand; folks helped each other get to work; great conversations with strangers were struck up as never before. In short, people slowed down, rediscovered their legs and their neighborhoods, and focused on the ultra-local.

I bring this up not only because snow season is upon us once again, but also because another event in my life has practically bowled me over with social capital—the strength of ties to friends, family, and community. Being pregnant and having babies, it turns out, brings out a spirit of community that rivals, or even surpasses, the snow-day phenomenon.

It occurs to me (and I’m not just speaking from a misty-eyed,
pregnancy-induced, idealized day dream magnified by the holiday
spirit), that this is the kind of social capital that we could learn
from even when no one around is pregnant and the streets are bare. It’s
the kind of sharing, swapping, and community exchange that’s
sustainable, cost-saving—and fulfilling to boot.

I’ve never been showered with so much useful,
practical hand-me-down stuff. I’ve never before been offered home
cooked meals during a busy or trying time. I’ve never been asked by so
many what help or assistance I need, from doing my laundry to cleaning
my house to baby-sitting to dog-sitting, to rides around town. I’ve
been offered all kinds of quality cast-off stuff from the obvious (baby
strollers) to the less obvious (a microwave oven). That’s the big
stuff. There’s little stuff from strangers that’s just as touching: the
genuine conversations at the bus stop about parenting and the joys of
raising children; the way people offer up their seat or go out of their
way to hold open doors or reach for the high shelf at the grocery
store; neighbors I never talked to before checking in on us. Even just
smiles and knowing looks as I walk down the street.

I won’t miss being pregnant, but I will miss this often unspoken
sense of community and fellowship that comes with an absurdly inflated
belly. 

Suddenly, we find ourselves in a new world of sharing and networking. We’re now eligible for
previously unknown mechanisms for redistribution of used consumer
goods and shared services. There are neighborhood parenting groups for us to join,
listserves for sharing information about events, items for sale, free
stuff, community politics, nanny share opportunities, neighborhood
co-op day cares, private high-chair and stroller swaps… Who knew?

It all makes me wonder why we don’t share things—clothes, food, errands,
household items, ideas, advice, and our time—with our friends and
neighbors more often, or even to a fraction of the degree that people
are sharing those things with me and my husband now that we’re
expecting.

Maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough to seek out this kind of community and now it’s easier to find.

There are people out there doing this stuff who aren’t connected just
because they’re parents. Three cheers to the clothing swap party hosts
and to anybody who mows their elderly neighbor’s lawn (my husband Gus)
or organizes carpools. Even garage sales and Craig’s list trading are ways to recycle stuff back into the community instead of
tossing it away, but there’s not always a strong personal connection
that goes with these activities. 

What will get us out of our houses, out of our cars, and into each
other’s lives in the way that snow days and babies seem to magically do?

Image courtesy: Slightlynorth, Flickr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slightlynorth/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

This post originally appeared at Sightline’s Daily Score blog.

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Sugar and Spice and…Lead and Mercury

A womb of one’s own

Growing up green: Breathing for two

After rising for a decade, the U.S. homeownership rate peaked at 69 percent in the third quarter of 2006. Over the following two and a half years, as home prices fell in many parts of the country and the unemployment rate rose sharply, the homeownership rate declined by 1.7 percentage points. The current decline in the homeownership rate is approaching in magnitude the 2.3 percentage point decline observed in the early 1980s. How much more will it fall? To address this, a trio of New York Federal Reserve Bank economists — Andrew Haughwout, Richard Peach, and Joseph Tracy — propose the concept of the “homeownership gap” to gauge the downward pressure on the homeownership rate.

They define it as the difference between the official homeownership rate and a recomputed rate – the “effective homeownership rate” that excludes owners who are in a negative-equity position, meaning that the value of their houses is less than their outstanding mortgage balance. Such homeowners are likely to become renters soon, the economists reason.

Their estimate of this gap suggests that the measured homeownership rate will likely experience significant downward pressure in the coming years. “The current severe house price cycle, combined with borrowers who had little or no equity at origination of their mortgages, has led to a dramatic rise in homeowners with negative equity and, therefore, a large gap between the measured and effective homeownership rates. In some of the worst hit metropolitan areas, effective homeownership rates are 25 to 45 percentage points below the measured rate.”

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Government/Legal, Bugatti, Luxury

The question of whether or not Volkswagen will decide to put the Bugatti 16C Galibier into production is still unanswered. While we’ve heard rumors that the German automaker was leaning towards the affirmative, the green light has yet to be lit.

Still, Bugatti is making sure all of its ducks are in a row… just in case. Evidence of such can be seen in a trademark filing with the World Intellectual Property Organization that seeks to keep other automakers from stealing the car’s design and shape. After all, it’s happened before.

With Veyron production scheduled to come to an end after the 2012 model year, Bugatti only has a little bit of time to decide if it’s moving forward on that supercar’s successor, and if so, whether or not the front-engine, four-door Galibier is the direction it needs to go. We should know soon enough.

[Source: Carscoop]

Bugatti trademarks 16C Galibier shape, production decision coming soon? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re like many of us, you’re home for the holidays. Rather than complaining about the springs in the pullout couch or watching endless television reruns, consider rediscovering your hometown. Featured on today’s Flickr blog, Noticings is a location-based game similar to Foursquare that forces you to discover new gems in your old haunts.

Sponsor

Each day Flickr users upload three geotagged photographs with the tag “noticings”. From here they receive points for game-related activities including finding misspelled signs, being the first to tag a photo in a particular neighborhood, or for noticing something everyday for a week. Users upload photos via the $3 Noticings iPhone application or through Flickr’s regular desktop, web and iPhone tools.

Just imagine the possibilities of capturing your hometown. Document the visual parfait of the abandoned fish cannery, drink in the chaos of the strip mall parking lot, and of course, don’t forget to snap the fine public art displayed in your local pub latrine. This service is a great way to keep you sane in your hometown while literally putting it on the map for its unique features.

ReadWriteStart’s Chris Cameron recently profiled Stalqer – a service that maps your friends based on their geotagged Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare status updates. In a similar vein, Noticings leverages an existing service to create a completely new experience. Coupled with augmented reality mobile applications, location-based services like Noticings and Stalqer have done much to get geeks out of their homes into the real world. To join Noticings, check out the game rules at http://noticin.gs/rules.

Discuss

Sustainable solar charging station is demonstrated in New York City. …

… “The drive-in station was built by Beautiful Earth (using recycled shipping containers) on land it owns just blocks from company headquarters. ” …

Via New York Times: Solar Car-Charging