Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.

Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.

Even if Oswald was the shooter, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a conspiracy.

Kennedy conspiracy theorists appear to have one less bullet in their arsenal. Hany Farid, a computer science professor and expert in digital forensics at Dartmouth College, spent two months evaluating a photograph of John F. Kennedy shooter Lee Harvey Oswald.

“You can’t really authenticate a photo in all honesty,” Farid said of the image, which shows Oswald holding a Marxist newspaper and a rifle. “But I can say pretty definitively that the things that people thought made the photo a fake, well, those people are wrong. And it doesn’t make them stupid. I was wrong too. But that photo is not the proof they think it is.”

It’s long been the contention of conspiracy theorists that photos of Oswald were doctored as part of an elaborate cover-up after the President’s Nov. 22, 1963, assassination.
[...]
He used a computer program Facegen, to build a virtual 3D model of Oswald’s head. Once that was completed, he added in the background features of the photo. Through a series of computations, he figured out where the camera had to be, the trajectory of the sun and where Oswald was in relation to the camera.
[...]
Farid said given the technology available 46 years ago, there is no way someone would have been able to get the internal and external elements of the photo just right in order to fabricate not only the one photo, but two others in the series.

I’m thinking about taking another shot at replacing my old Palm 700p cellphone and am looking for something that is at least as good as what I bought 5 years ago. As many of you know, I tried the HTC Touch Pro2 and ended up returning it because it was so dysfunctional. I went to a Verizon store and was somewhat impressed. The thing actually seems to work. I didn’t see any kind of stylus with it which may be a good thing. Perhaps you don’t need one.

So – should I buy this phone or is there yet a better one about to come out? Should I wait for the Droid 2?

This app demeans us both

Phone Application Translates Babies’ Howls – Wired

The Cry Translator listens to a whining child and analyzes the pitch, volume, tone and inflection of his nerve-jangling noise. Ten seconds later, it provides you with one of five “translations”: hungry, sleepy, stressed, annoyed or bored.

The idea of this $30 iPhone application, apart from preying on the anxieties of new parents, is to help teach you the meanings of the distinctive sounds and to help out babysitters who might otherwise try to feed your three-month old (hunger) instead of just switching over to the Family Guy from American Idol (bored). The application even gives advice on what to do, depending on the translation.

According to the seller, Biloop Technologic, clinical tests have proven the app to be accurate 96% of the time, and it will “continue to translate crying regardless of the age of the child”.

Can’t be bothered trying to understand your baby? There’s an app for that. Seriously, I’d be interested to hear from anyone who’s tried it.

The brave and the foolish. My 5 year old XP laptop is dying today so I went to Fry’s to get a new laptop. I was thinking that the Vista laptops would be heavily discounted but the Windows 7 computers were both newer and cheaper. Generally I don’t buy a Microsoft OS until at least service pack 1. But I’m taking a chance here so let’s see how it works. I’m using my Acer netbook to write this and going to do the install live and blog about it while it happens. So if it works then that’s what I’ll write. If it doesn’t then it gets slammed. So refresh this article today (Oct 24) because this is a live review.

Slashdot – October 17, 2009:

“Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of well-known computer security company Kaspersky Labs, is calling for an end to the anonymity of the Internet, and for the creation of mandatory ‘Internet passports’ for anyone who wishes to browse the Web. Says Kaspersky, ‘Everyone should and must have an identification, or internet passport … the internet was designed not for public use, but for American scientists and the US military. Then it was introduced to the public, and it was wrong … to introduce it in the same way.’ He calls anonymity ‘the Internet’s biggest security vulnerability’ and thinks any country that doesn’t follow this regime should be ‘cut off.’ The EFF objects, and it’s likely that they won’t be the only ones.”

Slashdot – October 17, 2009:

“New Canadian anti-spam and anti-spyware legislation is scheduled for a key vote on Monday. Michael Geist reports that the copyright lobby has been pushing to remove parts of the bill that would take away exceptions which currently allow spyware to be installed without authorization. ‘The copyright lobby is deeply concerned that this change will block attempts to track possible infringement through electronic means.’ There have also been proposals to extend the exemptions granted to telecom providers to include the installation of programs without the user’s express consent, which Geist says will ‘leave the door open to private, surreptitious surveillance.’”