Dvorak News Blog

MSFT Poaches again

By John C Dvorak Tuesday July 21, 2009

9 Comments

Yahoo profits up 8-percent while revs go down 13-percent.
Government wants to ban all cell phone use in cars.
Barnes and Noble will release 700,000 public domain books. So what?
Intel SSD’s improve.
Worker commits suicide over lost Apple iPhone prototype.
Can Amazon spy on Kindle readers?
MSFT to kill soapbox, another thing never given a chance.
MSFT poaches Apple real estate picker.
Out today – Kingston 256 GB thumb drive.
Show promoted by Squarespace.com. Use code word Tech for a fat discount.

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Jupiter Hit by Comet Again?

By McCullough Tuesday July 21, 2009

22 Comments

Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first impacts by the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact. New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

“We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn’t have planned it better,” said Glenn Orton, a scientist at JPL. Orton and his team of astronomers kicked into gear early in the morning and haven’t stopped tracking the planet. They are downloading data now and are working to get additional observing time on this and other telescopes. This image was taken at 1.65 microns, a wavelength sensitive to sunlight reflected from high in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and it shows both the bright center of the scar (bottom left) and the debris to its northwest (upper left).

“It could be the impact of a comet, but we don’t know for sure yet,” said Orton. “It’s been a whirlwind of a day, and this on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Apollo anniversaries is amazing.”

The timing couldn’t be stranger. Apparently these impacts aren’t as rare as we would like to believe.

Vegetarianism… a Different Perspective

By McCullough Tuesday July 21, 2009

25 Comments

Coppers Taser perp – he bursts into flames

By Eideard Tuesday July 21, 2009

30 Comments

Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan says the Taser was the best choice

A man in Western Australia was engulfed in flames when police officers fired a Taser stun gun at him.

Police say they used the Taser on Ronald Mitchell, 36, when he ran at them carrying a container of petrol and a cigarette lighter.

They said that Mr Mitchell, who lives in a remote Aboriginal community, had been sniffing petrol. They suggested the cigarette lighter started the fire.

Mr Mitchell is in a critical condition in hospital with third degree burns.

The Police Commissioner told reporters: “The only other choice they would have had is to use a police-issue firearm, and the consequences would almost certainly have been far more grave.”

I hadn’t realized that police departments are down to only two choices when it comes to conflict with a suspect: taser – or shoot ‘em?

The Fight To Not Buy Unneeded F-22s

By Uncle Dave Tuesday July 21, 2009

42 Comments

Cutting spending! By Obama! Every Republican should be for this!

With a vote set for high noon on Tuesday, the political tide in the Senate has shifted to now favor the White House and Pentagon in their pivotal fight to strike new procurement funds for the F-22 fighter.

Just last week, conventional wisdom held that the $1.75 billion authorization would easily survive a challenge on the floor. But fearful of embarrassing President Barack Obama, Democrats appear to be moving back toward the White House, which has mounted its own late-breaking campaign to win the last votes.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is the public point man for the administration, making calls to senators and delivering a toughly worded speech last week in Chicago. But as the political stakes have become more evident, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has also begun working the phones, and Vice President Joe Biden last week even called his old friend, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), an ardent F-22 backer.

It’s a fight some Democrats would argue that Obama was foolish to make, raising the stakes unnecessarily with early veto threats. But the F-22 termination is Gates’s signature issue in changing the Pentagon budget.

Go Off on a Lying Dog Telemarketer… Go to Jail as a Terrorist

By McCullough Tuesday July 21, 2009

34 Comments

An Ohio man, fed up with deceptive junk mail, made the mistake of losing his temper while on the phone with a St. Louis company pitching an extended auto-service contract. Now he finds himself behind bars, where he is charged with making a terrorist threat. According to court documents, Charles W. Papenfus, 43, allegedly told a sales representative during a May 18 telephone call that he would burn down the building and kill the employees and their families. He was indicted for making a terrorist threat, a Class D felony; and he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison if convicted.

Papenfus’ wife, Tracie, said she hasn’t seen her husband since his arrest on June 27, when he was lured to a Fostoria, Ohio, police station with a false story about being suspected in a tavern fight there. Charles Papenfus, a self-employed mechanic who sometimes works on the department’s police cruisers, dropped by the station to clear his name, she said.

Tracie Papenfus said she still can’t understand why her husband is held 450 miles from home at the St. Louis workhouse on a $45,000 bond she can’t afford to pay. (That amount could be lowered at bond-reduction hearing scheduled for Monday.)

“He shouldn’t have mouthed off on the phone, but this is overkill,” Tracie Papenfus said. “He just can’t handle it in there. He’s not a criminal. … They make it sound like he’s a terrorist, and he’s far from it.” The Better Business Bureau recently accused the firm of sending mailers to consumers that incorrectly state factory warranties on their vehicles either have expired or will run out soon. Christopher Thetford, a spokesman for the BBB in St. Louis, said he isn’t surprised to hear of a consumer threatening a service-contract broker.

“While it’s not something we condone, it is something we can understand,” Thetford said. “Oftentimes, consumers feel pushed and pushed. … It’s a frustration we hear from consumers every day when they talk about the extended-service contract industry.”

Read the article…familiarize yourself with this con. A few months ago, one of these guys called to say the warranty was about to expire on my vehicle and would I like to extend the warranty? I asked which vehicle and they didn’t have a clue. And yeah, I went off on the guy.

Blackberry update from Telco = spyware

By Eideard Tuesday July 21, 2009

6 Comments

An update for Blackberry users in the United Arab Emirates could allow unauthorised access to private information and e-mails.

The update was prompted by a text from UAE telecoms firm Etisalat, suggesting it would improve performance. Instead, the update resulted in crashes or drastically reduced battery life…

Etisalat is a major telecommunications firm based in the UAE, with 145,000 Blackberry users on its books.

In the statement, RIM told customers that “Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application… independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorised access to private or confidential information stored on the user’s smartphone”.

It adds that “independent sources have concluded that the Etisalat update is not designed to improve performance of your BlackBerry Handheld, but rather to send received messages back to a central server“…

The update has now been identified as an application developed by American firm SS8. The California-based company describes itself as a provider of “lawful electronic intercept and surveillance solutions”…

Etisalat issued a brief statement calling the problem a “slight technical fault”, saying that the “upgrades were required for service enhancements”.

RIM has issued a patch allowing users to remove the application. Phew!

Monkey Business in Texas Burglary

By McCullough Tuesday July 21, 2009

6 Comments

NBC — It’s a crime caught on camera that has the owners of a north Texas business going bananas. They have security camera video of what appears to be a monkey burglarizing their business.

Ellen Goldberg has more on the bizarre break-in. “Definitely never been robbed by a monkey before,” says store co-owner Jerry Duncan.

Yes, a primate is the prime suspect in the latest break-in at this Richardson, Texas nursery. “I said no way until I look at it and said this is crazy,” said store co-owner Shelley Rosenfeld. The owners of “Plants and Planters” are convinced that’s a monkey in the bottom left hand corner of the security camera tape.

“You can see the back legs the front arms and the white head,” observes Duncan. And with the help of a human accomplice, Shelley Rosenfeld believes the monkey was trained to steal several hundred dollars worth of her merchandise.

“He went out in this section out here and handed plants over the gate,” she says. About 40 plants were missing the next morning. There were also pieces of concrete shattered in the parking lot. “They need to train him better if he is going to do the big jobs,” Duncan adds with a laugh. For now, Richardson police are stuck with the job of figuring out who or what this is.

“I wouldn’t think there would be too many monkeys in this city,” Duncan says.

There are no bad monkeys… just bad owners.

Black professor busted by cops – in his own home – with ID – because they suspected he broke in!

By Eideard Tuesday July 21, 2009

77 Comments

The Cambridge Police Department view of a Black scholar

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.

Police arrived at Gates’ Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed.

He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist.

Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver’s license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody…

The Cambridge Police will no doubt come up with whatever they feel is justification for arresting a man standing on his own property – telling the coppers to get off that property – when it’s already been established there is no crime in progress.

Dipshit British Police helicopter squad busts up simple Birthday Party

By John C Dvorak Monday July 20, 2009

19 Comments

BBC | Police helicopter sent to ‘rave’ — Is this what all the surveillance amounts to? Dumb incidents like this?

Action to prevent an “illegal rave” in Devon last week has been defended by police, despite claims the event was merely an organised birthday barbecue. Locals feared a rave was to take place at Sowton, near Exeter, on Saturday and called the police, who closed the event down. A force helicopter was deployed.

Andrew Poole, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, claimed police riot vans turned up before any music was played. But police said it had been advertised on the internet as an all-night party. Mr Poole, a coach driver from Sowton, said 15 family and friends had come to the event, where they were watched by a police helicopter for about 15 minutes. What effectively the police did was come in and stop 15 people eating burgers

He said before they had turned on the music, four police cars and a riot van arrived and demanded the barbecue was shut down and everyone leave.

The event was closed down under section 63 of the Criminal justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Nokia Goes Mega

By John C Dvorak Monday July 20, 2009

6 Comments

Learn to program the iPhone in college.
Barnes and Noble unveils digital book store.
MSFT offering free trials of Office. Meanwhile the company getting into developing Linux code.
Amazon screws over Kindle users.
My advice to companies: do not remove programs remotely from people’s machines.
Carl Icahn trying to get Yahoo-MSFT deal going again.
Gateway into neat netbook.
Toshiba into Blu-ray.
YouTube 3D web videos? Why? How?
Palm SDK weak on games.
New Nokia phone.
Qwest doing 40 Mbps VDSL.
Google wins lawsuit.

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Video – John Glenn Lecture Series 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

By Gasparrini Monday July 20, 2009

20 Comments

On the eve of the fortieth anniversary of Apollo 11’s first human landing on the Moon, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum welcomes the Apollo 11 crew, as well as Mission Control creator and former Johnson Space Center director Chris Kraft as the speakers for the Museum’s 2009 John H. Glenn lecture in space history.

Video – Apollo 11 Moon Landing

By Gasparrini Monday July 20, 2009

45 Comments

Celebrating 40 years of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.

Lawsuit links Apple to Mafia

By Eideard Monday July 20, 2009

24 Comments

A new lawsuit from a Beverly Hills, Calif., man alleges that Apple conspired with the Italian mafia to secretly track him, transmit threatening messages to his iPod, and insert the word “herpes” into the song “Still Tippin'” by Mike Jones.

Not just his iPod, Gregory McKenna is convinced that many things in his life were bugged, including his bedroom, living room, upstairs bathroom and Toyota Camry. McKenna alleges in his lawsuit that two iPods he owned – an iPod shuffle bought on eBay and an iPod mini purchased in an Apple Store – were affixed with receivers that allowed the Mafia to transmit threats to him…

“The recording of death threats and other evidence,” the suit reads, “prove that APPLE INC. conspired with the Mafia and other Defendants to manufacture, distribute, and sell illegally bugged iPods and other electronic equipment to Plaintiff to perpetuate the stalking, extortion, and torture.”

Filed Wednesday in a U.S. District Court in Missouri, the 124-page complaint lists Apple among a host of other defendants, including the St. Louis County Police Department, a local auto mechanic, and “unknown agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

He claims the Mafia wants to coerce him into working as a male model.