Apple Worth More Than Poland

For the first time ever, in early morning trading, Apple's stock (AAPL) value reached over $500 billion. This makes Apple one of only five countries to ever be worth half a trillion dollars. This causes Apple to have a net worth higher than that of several third world countries' GDPs, even such countries as Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan . Apple even has more cash-on-hand than the United States government. Despite the sheer size of the companies wealth Apple is still one of the world's fast growing companies growing 73% last year, a feat better than any tech company in history and second most of any U.S. company ever. To put this in perspective Apple was only worth $10 billion at the beginning of the last decade. Along with being one of the U.S. markets fastest growing companies, Apple is also relatively undervalued as compared to projected earnings  for 2012, even at it's current $543 per share. Much of this is in part to the companies innovative i-product line. iPods, iPhones, and iPads have set industry standards and are the highest selling among their product lines. Mp3 players were largely unheard of until the release of the ipod. For a look at other things Apple is worth more check out Things Apple Is Worth More Than.

Mobile World Congress Unveils 41 Mega Pixel Phone

It seems the mobile industry is falling over itself this year to release the most cutting edge phones to date and the results are impressive from 41 megapixel phones to phones with quad-core processors and built-in projectors. The event is The Mobile World Congresses Expo in Barcelona, Spain. The 41 mega pixel phone belongs to cell manufacturing giant Nokia, it is their 808 PureView and boasts technology rival to digital cameras in the thousands of dollars (and here I thought my measly 8 mega pixels was awesome). Priced at about $600 the phone will be released in May. Other ground breaking devices include the Samsung Galaxy Beam which includes a built-in projector, which seems a little overkill but it beats trying to watch movies and YouTube videos on a tiny phone screen. Other groundbreaking technologies include water and shock resistant phones, so no more worries when you drunkenly drop your brand new phone in the toilet...well almost no worries. Many major retailers are also upgrading their Point Of Sale Terminals to include paying simply by a tap of the phone rather than the swipe of a  credit card and keep up to date with all your purchases through a secure app. Tapping is also a major feature being worked on by the people at Google, allowing you to easily trade information by simply bumping phones together be it business cards, songs, games , or anything else. The chip sets are also greatly increasing with many retailers opting for quad-core processing phones putting that laptop you got for ChristmaHanaKwanzikka to shame. So to quote the Professor Brothers "It's Gettin' Sweeter!"

Planetary Alignment Tonight

 So before I leave everyone for the night I thought I mention to those of you who don't already know tonight will be one of the first nights to view the alignment between Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. The event will be visible all over the world. So even if you're reading this in Saudi Arabia, The Philippines, Russia or the U.S. (these just happen to be my biggest audiences) you'll be able to see it. However, if it's a little too cold to watch the event you can see it here as well complete with commentary. On March 5th you'll actually be able to see Mars rising in the East and later on that evening Saturn will be able to be seen. So over the the next few weeks everyone should have a pretty interesting view of the night sky enjoy.

Court Rules Hard Drive Decryption Violates 5th Amendment

 In a story I've been reporting on for sometime now, a Federal Appeals Court has ruled that forcing the defendant to decrypt their hard drive would be a violation of their 5th Amendment right. Stating that it would be a kin to forcing an individual to release the combination to a safe. This is the first ruling of it's kind and is a win for 21st century civil liberties which, in my view, have been under attack since the beginning of the century.

 The Atlanta court released in a statement:

   "First the decryption and production of the hard drives would require the use of the contents of 'Doe's' mind and could not be fairly characterized to a physical act that would be non-testimonial in nature. We conclude that the decryption and production would be tantamount to testimony by Doe of his knowledge of the existence and location of potentially incriminating files; of his possession, control and access to the encrypted portions of the drives; and of his capability to decrypt the files."

 As of late several similar cases have cropped up and hopefully the Atlanta Appeals court has put the issue to rest. In my mind this seems like a no brainer from a judiciary stand point, a clear cut case of 5th Amendment right. Yet, the judge in the preliminary case decide to violate the rights of said defendant "Doe." I applaud the Atlanta Appeals Court for making the right decision. Now if only a judge could rule against warrantless wiretapping of American citizens as unconstitutional.

Your Data: Going To Highest Bidder

If you're logging into a free website chances are you're not the customer. Since the advent of Facebook more and more online companies, especially social networking sites, are using a new found concept to make money. The concept is called data mining. What these companies do is collect your personal information and sell this information to advertisers. The increase in this type of direct style "ad tailored" marketing has actually caused the White House to step in with the Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights. This, however, does not end the process of these companies using your personal information as a way to monetize their sites and sell your information to advertisers. It just ensures the process is safer and slightly less intrusive. Their are some benefits to tailored ads, like not having to set through ads that do not apply to you. Gone will be the days of me sitting uncomfortably while suffering through another Tampax commercial or listening to Wilfred Brimley talking about his "dibetis." However, in this continuing battle some sites are putting the data mining back in your hands by allowing you to actually monetize your personal information through advertising, how well those work remain to be seen. If you have any comments or reactions I would love to hear them. I leave you with Wilfred Brimley talkin' bout' the 'betes.

US Military Embraces The Cloud

In the face of budget restrictions the US Army is moving all emails into cloud computing. The measure is in line with a group of other efficiency measures to make a leaner more efficient Armed Forces. The Army has described this a Lean Six Sigma style process. It has been reported that by making this move the Army would be cutting costs of email communication by 75% by moving to a cloud by DISA. Last year Under Secretary of the Army, Joseph Westphal, noted it to be ",especially important for the Army to embrace process improvement methodologies given the declining budgets and the need to do more with less," according to the Army's website. With news of deficits and a poorly performing economy the US Military has been continuing with the goal of attaining a much leaner military, focusing on cost effectiveness. All branches have made similar statements to that of the Under Secretary of the Army and it would not be a surprise if the entire military converted DISA's cloud concept. I for one was witness to much of these cutbacks during my time in the Navy just two years ago.

Planet May Be Fighting Back Against Global Warming

According to Wired.com NASA satellite data has shown that the height of clouds over the last decade have continued to decrease. No one is sure, as of yet, what this means for the planet or how it may have been caused. Some have hinted that it could be caused by changing weather patterns. It may even be a planetary mechanism for fighting global warming, as the globe heats clouds get shorter allowing the Earth's atmosphere to release heat faster thus cooling the planet. Again, no one is quite sure these are just a few hypotheses from scientists more data is needed. Over the last ten years the clouds on Earth have shrank about 1% that's roughly about 30 to 40 meters. Leading researcher Roger Davies has said ", While the record is to short to be definitive...it must be due to a change in the circulation patterns that give rise to cloud formation at high altitude." If it is found that the planet does have mechanisms for maintaining temperature balance the answer may open a Pandora's box of questions as to why and how it does this or how it even knows to regulate weather patterns. Much more data is needed before a deeper understanding of the cause and effect is known.

NSA Warns Of Impending Anons Attack On Grid

You may have heard the hype, Gen. Kieth B. Alexander Director of the NSA claims that famed hacker group Anonymous is planning to hack the American security grid. The question is why now after two years on the scene and why would a self proclaimed "hacktivist" organization seek to attack the infrastructure of the United States. For those of you not familiar with Anonymous, the group is a loosely associated collection of hacker groups who often act in collaboration to disrupt media sites and have been instrumental in online protests around the globe. The meme was originally coined on the 4chan site. Recently Anonymous has been in the news for hacking a FBI email and gaining access to a phone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard. Since 2008 Anonymous has become more and more active in politics and their protests have come to more and more focus on Anti-piracy legislation, the group was instrumental in keeping SOPA and PIPA from being passed. In my personal opinion the group has done nothing to warrant such accusations of conspiring to commit any terrorist acts. I don't see any attacks on American infrastructure anytime soon. This is likely a ploy by the U.S. government to instill fear into citizens of the group. I guess with Al-Queda on it's way out they need another boogeyman to rally people around some other pointless "war," war on drugs, war on terrorism, war on piracy, coming soon war on the American people themselves.

Taco Bell To Release Doritos Flavored Tacos

In a mind boggling decision, Taco Bell has announced it will release Doritos flavored Tacos starting March 8th. The decision was made in part to boost Taco Bell sales against competition McDonald's and newer competitor Chipotle. Yet, instead of taking the McDonald's route of boosting profits by offering a healthier menu or modeling after Chipotle's trademark of offering wholesome all natural food to it's menu executives at Taco Bell have decided to push Doritos flavored Tacos. That's not to say I don't see the gimmick boosting sales in the immediate term, I myself will likely partake in the new tacos. However, as more and more Americans are becoming increasingly health conscious I think the measure could actually backfire. Taco Bell's branding issue comes from two things and the new Doritos taco is part of it. Taco Bell since the early 80's has been known for having the cheapest fast food prices in the industry but because of it they have often times skipped on quality. Taco Bell has been reported to use low-grade meats, even reports of Kangaroo meat in their tacos, as well as using an excessive amount of filler. If Taco Bell seeks to re-brand their image they need to focus on more quality products. Using identifiable meat and real cheese might be a start. I don't pretend to be some sort of branding expert but I don't see cheap gimmicks and continuing to provide low quality products as solving the company's profitability and competitiveness problems.

Obama's New Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights

Today the Obama Administration is set to release it's new Consumer Privacy Bill Of Rights. The "Bill Of Rights" is being billed as a "comprehensive blueprint to protect individual privacy rights and give users more control over how their information is handled." The following is text from within the bill:

1. Individual Control: Consumers have a right to exercise control over what personal data companies collect from them and how they use it. Companies should provide consumers appropriate control over the personal data that consumers share with others and over how companies collect, use, or disclose personal data. Companies should enable these choices by providing consumers with easily used and accessible mechanisms that reflect the scale, scope, and sensitivity of the personal data that they collect, use, or disclose, as well as the sensitivity of the uses they make of personal data. Companies should offer consumers clear and simple choices, presented at times and in ways that enable consumers to make meaningful decisions about personal data collection, use, and disclosure. Companies should offer consumers means to withdraw or limit consent that are as accessible and easily used as the methods for granting consent in the first place.

2. Transparency: Consumers have a right to easily understandable and accessible information about privacy and security practices. At times and in places that are most useful to enabling consumers to gain a meaningful understanding of privacy risks and the ability to exercise Individual Control, companies should provide clear descriptions of what personal data they collect, why they need the data, how they will use it, when they will delete the data or de-identify it from consumers, and whether and for what purposes they may share personal data with third parties.


3. Respect for Context: Consumers have a right to expect that companies will collect, use, and disclose personal data in ways that are consistent with the context in which consumers provide the data. Companies should limit their use and disclosure of personal data to those purposes that are consistent with both the relationship that they have with consumers and the context in which consumers originally disclosed the data, unless required by law to do otherwise. If companies will use or disclose personal data for other purposes, they should provide heightened Transparency and Individual Control by disclosing these other purposes in a manner that is prominent and easily actionable by consumers at the time of data collection. If, subsequent to collection, companies decide to use or disclose personal data for purposes that are inconsistent with the context in which the data was disclosed, they must provide heightened measures of Transparency and Individual Choice. Finally, the age and familiarity with technology of consumers who engage with a company are important elements of context. Companies should fulfill the obligations under this principle in ways that are appropriate for the age and sophistication of consumers. In particular, the principles in the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights may require greater protections for personal data obtained from children and teenagers than for adults.


4. Security: Consumers have a right to secure and responsible handling of personal data. Companies should assess the privacy and security risks associated with their personal data practices and maintain reasonable safeguards to control risks such as loss; unauthorized access, use, destruction, or modification; and improper disclosure.


5. Access and Accuracy: Consumers have a right to access and correct personal data in usable formats, in a manner that is appropriate to the sensitivity of the data and the risk of adverse consequences to consumers if the data is inaccurate. Companies should use reasonable measures to ensure they maintain accurate personal data. Companies also should provide consumers with reasonable access to personal data that they collect or maintain about them, as well as the appropriate means and opportunity to correct inaccurate data or request its deletion or use limitation. Companies that handle personal data should construe this principle in a manner consistent with freedom of expression and freedom of the press. In determining what measures they may use to maintain accuracy and to provide access, correction, deletion, or suppression capabilities to consumers, companies may also consider the scale, scope, and sensitivity of the personal data that they collect or maintain and the likelihood that its use may expose consumers to financial, physical, or other material harm.


6. Focused Collection: Consumers have a right to reasonable limits on the personal data that companies collect and retain. Companies should collect only as much personal data as they need to accomplish purposes specified under the Respect for Context principle. Companies should securely dispose of or de-identify personal data once they no longer need it, unless they are under a legal obligation to do otherwise.


7. Accountability: Consumers have a right to have personal data handled by companies with appropriate measures in place to assure they adhere to the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.Companies should be accountable to enforcement authorities and consumers for adhering to these principles. Companies also should hold employees responsible for adhering to these principles. To achieve this end, companies should train their employees as appropriate to handle personal data consistently with these principles and regularly evaluate their performance in this regard. Where appropriate, companies should conduct full audits. Companies that disclose personal data to third parties should at a minimum ensure that the recipients are under enforceable contractual obligations to adhere to these principles, unless they are required by law to do otherwise. 

Spectrum Crunch: The Plot Thickens

Late yesterday wireless company T-mobile filed a complaint with the Federal Government urging them to block a deal of Verizon buying cellular spectrum space from a collection of cable companies. Previously I had reported about the impending spectrum crunch as there is not enough space for all the wireless data users and the space could reach deficit levels by next year. Well it appears that the all out war between the phone companies for competing spectrum space is on. Verizon was slated to have a deal in the works with cable giants Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications to purchase a portion of their allotted spectrum within the TV spectrum. T-Mobile claims that this deal would give Verizon an "Excessive concentration" of the wireless spectrum. The deal was a potential $3.6 billion deal between Verizon and before mentioned cable companies. Those in the FCC and congress had raised issue with the agreement especially between the relationship between Comcast and Verizon. Senator Al Franken even released a statement saying "These joint-marketing agreements will turn these rival companies into partners, rather than competitors." Just last year it was T-mobile who was barred from merging with AT&T as it would have created an unfair advantage in the marketplace, now it seems T-mobile is casting those accusations at Verizon. Likely the FCC will bar the deal from taking place, however, this does not mean future deals on a smaller scale will not take place. As the wireless companies scramble to figure out how they are going to deal with the impending spectrum crunch look for the big four wireless companies at each others throats jockeying to secure as much spectrum space as they can get.

New London Ad Knows Your Sex

An ad in London went up today using facial recognition technology and can gear ads toward the sexes. This is all a new development in Ad 2.0 mania. You may have noticed recently Google has been using cookies to track the sites you view so as to better market ads towards you. They are not alone Facebook and other websites do this. Now the technology is coming to the analog world. This isn't the first time an ad like this has been tried, the ads were actually tried in Japan first, not surprisingly. The ads in Japan, however, attempted to establish ones age to market their product. With more and more advertisers pushing toward direct marketing in the new age of web 2.0 and User Verification, an idea unknown before Facebook, expect these ads to more and more prevalent. In fact in a previous post I discussed a leaked Microsoft project in the works which seeks to use facial, vocal and spacial recognition software, similar to that found in the Kinect for the Xbox 360, to create an entirely new user experience for windows users. It seems this technology is just on the brink and the future could be very interesting.

Social News Reader Knows What You Like

Retickr, a news reader app for Macs, is revolutionizing the way you read news. By customizing it to what you want to read. The app does this in several ways, combining your RSS feeds, social network updates and news you like to read. Consider it like a Pandora for news stories. The idea may also be gaining ground according to TechCrunch which has reported the company has just ",received a big update today, as well as a new round of funding. The startup just closed its Series A of $1.5 million led by the Lamp Post Group , the investors who had previously put $150,000 into the company's seed round." The app which became available at noon today on the Mac App store allows you to integrate your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader feeds and then add those streams into playlists. The previous Retickr did not allow for the syncing process. The news of the product actually makes me wish that they had an alternate version for Windows users, especially as someone who scours through tech industry news on a daily basis to bring my readers up-to-date, interesting and mentally stimulating news. You're welcome. All joking aside I do hope they bring something out for windows users or a competitor comes out on windows. It really does become a hassle scouring Twitter, RSS feeds, Technorati, among other websites just to look for interesting stories to peak my as well as my readers interest.

Could Xfinity's New Streampix Put A Damper In Netflix

This week Comcast is set to launch it's new Streampix for current Comcast users. Will this be enough to challenge Netflix's current dominance in the streaming market? As of late Netflix has made some flops with their current business model, Qwikster anyone, but with the new Streampix with cable giant Comcast behind it could this put a damper on Netflix? Likely not, at least not immediately. The new Streampix will be available only to existing customers and not those not currently subscribed to Comcast services. Furthermore, the company will not offer their product on gaming consoles until next year when it will be available exclusively on the Xbox. The service will be similar in scope to Hulu So yes, Netflix users may be shaking their fists at Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings a little while longer waiting for a legitimate competitor to the current online streaming video service crown.

Anti-Global Warming Groups Smear Campaign Revealed

According to DeSmog Blog  The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank, has been implementing a strategy aimed at discrediting and attacking scientists associated with climate change research and was well backed by a long list of corporate sponsors such as RJ Reynolds and other notable high carbon producing corporations. the information was leaked by scientist Peter Gleick according to the UK paper The Guardian. Gleick admits to tricking The Heartland Institute into handing over confidential documents detailing plans to discredit the teaching of science to school children. Further adding to the insult of the new information discovered,  The Heartland Institute has released a statement that they can not "confirm or deny" the statements of the leaked document.

The Impending Spectrum Crunch

Is your cellphone dropping calls, internet getting slower? This may be due to a problem known as Spectrum Crunch, as more and more people get on the smart phone band wagon it reduces the amount of airwaves available and it have reached critical mass. The wireless spectrum, the infrastructure over which all wireless transmissions travel is a finite resource, well we might be quickly approaching that wall. For the average cellphone user this may get very expensive. As smart phone technology has gotten cheaper and cheaper it has allowed more and more people get access to wireless data, now this may cause a massive slow down of wireless devices as we are forced to share a finite amount of airwaves with more and more people. The U.S. still has a slight surplus, however, with current growth rates it could reach deficit levels by the beginning of next year according to the FCC. Some fixes may be available like satellite providers actually selling their allotments to cellphone companies but this again will not be cheap for cellphone users.

Want Your Own Death Star? Cough Up $852 Quadrillion

So according to Centives, Lehigh Colleges blog for Economics Majors, it would cost upwards of $852 Quadrillion just to get a piece your own personal Death Star. That is roughly 13,000 times the worlds gross domestic product. However, it would still be doable according to the site as the amount of iron found on the Earth would allow you to build about 2 billion Death Stars only each would take about 833,000 years to build, maybe even longer since Obama's cancellation of the manned space program. Though the article is somewhat of a joke it does bring the question to mind about the future of space travel on earth. The Galactic Empire in the Star Wars movies was a collection of about 2,000 planets, so to build the Death Star it was an accumulated effort of about 2,000 planets and their collective resources. We on Earth have only ever been to our closest moon and even that may be up for debate. This causes you to wonder about the future possibilities of human beings if we were to colonize other planets and moons and the feats we could achieve given a much larger population spread throughout the solar system with access to the resources of other planets and moons. There are 166 known moons in our solar system and about 366 natural satellites. This may not be 2,000 planets but with access to the resources on those moons and some of our planets humans could very well build our own Death Star in the not so distant future. 

Sony Vita To be Released Next Wednesday

So you probably heard the hype. Well it's all true, maybe. Sony is releasing the Vita next week and it sounds awesome. The system is supposed to be a mix of the current PS3 console with a portable touch-screen interface. With Sony's recent troubles with the company and restructuring under the helm of CEO Kazou Hirai this could be make or break for the once dominant company. Problems with the PlayStation network as well as costs to produce the system took a toll on the company as did the lack of communication between the companies separate arms. Projections hold that Sony may not be profitable again until 2013 and the company is hoping the new console, and possibly an E-reader in the future may be enough to get the company back in the right direction. If reviews do it any justice the Vita may be just what Sony needs. Cnet gives the device 4 out of 5 stars with an excellent review rating. Stating " The PlayStation Vita delivers amazing visuals on its 5-inch OLED touch screen that look almost as good as PS3 graphics." the negatives being some hidden fees in relation to apps and requiring a purchase of a separate memory card to play any games. I do look forward to getting my hands on one of these, look for my PSP on Ebay next week.

Foxconn Raises Pay And Improves Working Conditions Amid Scrutiny

As a follow up to a previous post of mine about the company Foxconn, one of China's largest manufacturers of electronics,they announced Saturday that they would raise pay for their workers and end some practice that Apple among other electronics companies found to be inhumane. The rise in pay and reduction of overtime and other practices were caused by a recent public outcry from both the Chinese and abroad. Last year Wired covered a story in which it reported that several employees had committed suicide at the company due to working conditions.  I for one am overjoyed by the news of better pay and working conditions for the employees. Foxconn has been in the news most recently due to threats from employees that they would commit mass suicide if pay demands were not met, talk about a collective bargaining tool. It appears that the company has finally caved to the pressure of employees as well as Apple who is a major purchaser of the companies services and the technology industry media who reported it. I for one reported these atrocities and called on Apple to stop working with the company if company practices were not changed. Hopefully this we be the last we have to hear of Foxconn and their draconian practices. On the bright side Foxconn caving to outside pressure is a win in a long string of wins on the side of social justice garnered by social media and the so-called "web 2.0".

Is Internet Privacy A Thing Of The Past?

With regular breeches of security to websites, as well as blatant disregard of privacy rights by internet companies it has many wondering whether privacy may indeed be a thing of the past. Yesterday Google was reported, according to Wired.com, as having "intentionally circumvented the default privacy settings of Apple’s Safari browser, using a backdoor to set cookies on browsers set to reject them, in the latest privacy debacle for the search and advertising giant." The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the incident. Three other companies were also found doing the same thing, Vibrant Media Inc., WPP PLC's Media Innovation Group LLC and Gannett Co.'s PointRoll Inc. It all begs the question what were these companies thinking and furthermore why are these practices not illegal? Even the government these days are up to their dirty trick trying to circumvent the bill of rights, arguing that technology is not protected by the Fifth Amendment even. In a recent case in Colorado defendant Ramona Fricuso  was not permitted to use the fifth amendment to bar prosecutors from attempting to have the files on her computer decrypted, when the team failed Ms. Fricuso was ordered to type in the password which she had forgotten. For this she was held in contempt. i'm not going to sit here and recite the Fifth Amendment, it's linked above actually, but it clearly states that we do not have to say or do anything that might incriminate ourselves or allude that we had committed a crime. It is my opinion that we as internet users push back against these tyrannies being imposed upon us. Yes, the internet maybe a new medium but that does not give companies or governments, specifically the American government, the right to strip or violate freedoms that have been granted to us long before they came around. Furthermore,  who the hell does Google think it is? Being one of the largest companies on the internet does not give them the right to violate the privacy of users, especially users who had set their browsers to not accept cookies or tracking of any kind. Those people obviously did so for a reason. In Google's ever evolving quest for continuing profits they must have forgotten their motto "Don't be evil!"

17 Year Old Creates Fusion Generator

17 year old, Taylor Wilson is not your typical teenager. When other kids were spending their time playing with toys he was busy experimenting with his grandmother's radiated urine and creating mushroom clouds in the backyard. Taylor currently lives in Reno, NV and attends the Davidson Academy of Nevada and boasts the title to be the youngest person ever to create nuclear fusion as well as the 31st person ever to achieve such a feat. Taylor began his fascination with creating a nuclear reactor when he came to the epiphany, while do experiments in his parents garage, that creating radioactive isotopes on sight in hospitals rather than miles a way would be cheaper and save many more lives. His late grandmother had succumbed to cancer and it was his experiments with the radioactive urine samples she had allowed him to use which caused the epiphany. the isotopes in cancer medications decay quickly this allows the radioactive material to attack the cancer cells and quickly decay thereby affecting less damage on the rest of the body and it's healthy cells. With help of his professor and another physicist the young boy went on to develop a small, cheap reactor that could be used in medical procedures. To think when I was 16 I just smoked pot in my grandma's basement.

Santorum, Romney both get Pwnd

So in utter hilarity, the two top republican candidates are getting pwnd by the internet. Typing either man's name will bring you search results that are not related to their campaigns. Santorum was the first victim, even crying about it with the statement "the company could get rid of the sexual references to his name on the search results if it wanted to -- and perhaps would do so if he were a Democrat."  The site originally popped up on the Web after the then-senator angered gay-rights advocates in 2003 with a comment that compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, though it wasn't until the current presidential campaign that he made any formal complaints to Google and yes he did lodge a formal complaint. Romney has not been saved either, though the definition of his name is a little tamer and he has not had such a hissy fit over the sight and has been largely ignored by the campaign. Coming soon spreading Gingrich. lol

Is Myspace Back?

After years of suffering set backs and playing second fiddle to Facebook Myspace may be back. The site has been revamped and refocused, instead of competing with Facebook the site now let's you link with the social networking giant. Myspace is now focusing more on music and boasts more free music than any other site on the internet (suck on that Spotify). Much of Myspace is still the same, however, customized profile pages and the like. Though those too have been slightly revamped and gone are they day with those annoying pages with 20 videos that don't even load and slow your computer. The site released Monday that over the last month it had gained over a million new users which it is crediting to it's new music player. Another note worthy mention is it's huge music library boasting over 42 million songs and now limit to how many songs you may listen to (again suck it Spotify). The news is a much needed boost to the company which had been seen as dead on arrival to most. However, since it's buyout by a team of investors, including Justin Timberlake, and restructuring the company seems to be making headway. I myself just recently re-created a profile to see if the new site really did stand up to the hype. So far I've really enjoyed it and if you have a Facebook the site actually exports all of your likes and creates a music playlist for you to start with. It also makes sharing on other social networking sites really simple, though I have not yet attempted to link it with my Google+. It also offers other features, such as linking your favorite blogs to your page...you know like this one. All in all it seems like a vast improvement over the Myspace of old and will be interesting to see how the company progresses.

Amazon Breaks Into The Movie And TV Biz

Amazon is branching out with its new company Amazon Studios, in partnership with Warner Bros. The site studios.amazon.com allows users to submit scripts, screen plays, and test movies to be reviewed by other users. It allows the online community to give ideas and critique writers and filmmakers on their work, as well as be chosen to have their work be made into a feature film. Not to mention get paid a good chunk of change, in fact Amazon  awarded two movies 12 Princesses and Origin Of Species $1.1 million collectively. The goal of the site apparently is to get movie green lighting out of the hands of major studios, though a major studio is involved, and into the hands of the people. Many on the site have collaborated with one another to develop scripts and screenplays and $2.2 million in total was awarded last year. Though they have, in the last year, been involved in movies they also seem to be branching out into TV according to Wired. As reported by wired.com, "Amazon is looking for television executives to develop original half-hour kids' and comedy series for both online and traditional distribution, according to two new job postings at Amazon.com." I find all of this to be fascinating hopefully this can usher in a new era free of MPAA control over movie production, as well as the end of really crappy movies released by major motion picture studios. As always I'd love to hear your take on it.

Cars That Drive Themselves Coming Soon

No this is not a science fiction movie, or some MIT college project. BMW, Google and GM, in partnership with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Association and Segway, as well as some other major car companies are all testing models in prototype that could be the fore-bearers of autonomous vehicles . GM may even be slated to release their Chevy model the En-V in the Chinese city of Tianjin Eco-City, currently under development and expected to be completed by 2020. With the near collapse of GM, prompting a government takeover, the company is now shifting directions towards more green 21st century style vehicles. According to Larry Burns, VP of Research and Development at GM, “We were the S.U.V. company, and we accept that. We want to become the U.S.V. company — known for ultra-small vehicles.” Burns' statements are in response to the size of of the En-V, but with the release of the Volt and development of the En-V this displays a marked departure from the gas guzzling SUVs  of the American car-maker. Likewise, The German manufacturer is jumping into the game. As always the car company is putting their famed German engineering to the forefront, "BMW's self-autonomous system uses four types of sensors, radar, cameras, laser scanners and ultrasound distance sensors and can even change lanes to zoom past a slowpoke car." Unlike BMW, Google is "using artificial-intelligence software that can sense anything near the car and mimic the decisions made by a human driver."


Many of the articles I have read show these companies using differing technologies, and sizes of vehicles all the way from the tiny segway like En-V to a Sedan sized BMW. They all seem to have a few things in common, however. Most of them share information between other cars, speed, location, etc; this enables the cars from crashing into one another. Likely these vehicles will also communicate with traffic lights, and other driving related infrastructure in the future as well. Safety and convenience also seem to be highlights of these automobiles. Self-driving automobiles may usher in a new era without driving accidents, DUI and DWI related driving fatalities, and less tickets for their owners. That long walk to the car or being late picking up the kids from school because you had to work late may also become a thing of the past, as cars wouldn't even need a driver present in the vehicle just call them up and they pull up right in front of you ready to take you anywhere you want to go.