Dvorak News Blog

Is Your Computer Keeping You Up At Night?

By Uncle Dave Tuesday May 18, 2010

J.D. Moyer decided recently to conduct a little experiment with artificial light and his sleep cycle.

The sleep-deprived Oakland, California, resident had read that strong light — whether it’s beaming down from the sun or up from the screens of personal electronics — can reset a person’s internal sleep clock.

So, for one month, whenever the sun set, he turned off all the gadgets and lights in his house — from the bulb hidden in his refrigerator to his laptop computer.

It worked. Instead of falling asleep at midnight, Moyer’s head was hitting the pillow as early as 9 p.m. He felt so well-rested during the test, he said, that friends remarked on his unexpected morning perkiness.

“I had the experience, a number of times, just feeling kind of unreasonably happy for no reason. And it was the sleep,” he said. “Sure, you can get by with six or seven hours, but sleeping eight or nine hours — it’s a different state of mind.”

Moyer may be onto something.

Why I Really Hate Reality Shows… and You Should Too

By McCullough Monday May 17, 2010

38 Comments

DETROIT — Police who carried out a raid on a family home that left a 7-year-old girl dead over the weekend were accompanied by a camera crew for a reality television show, and an attorney says video of the siege contradicts the police account of what happened. Police have said officers threw a flash grenade through the first-floor window of the two-family home, and that an officer’s gun discharged, killing the girl, during a struggle or after colliding with the girl’s grandmother inside the home.

But Fieger said the video shows an officer lobbing the grenade and then shooting into the home from the porch.

“There is no question about what happened because it’s in the videotape,” Fieger said. “It’s not an accident. It’s not a mistake. There was no altercation.”

“Aiyana Jones was shot from outside on the porch. The videotape shows clearly the officer throwing through the window a stun grenade-type explosive and then within milliseconds of throwing that, firing a shot from outside the home,” he said.

A&E spokesman Dan Silberman said neither he nor anyone else from the network would comment about the case, and he denied a request by The Associated Press for the footage. Fieger said the investigation into what happened during the raid “needed to go no further than the videotape.”

“The videotape shows clearly that the assistant police chief and the officers on the scene are engaging in an intentional cover up of the events,” Fieger said. He said more than one camera was recording at the scene, and that the footage includes sound.

Police arrested the target of the raid, a 34-year-old man suspected of killing a 17-year-old boy, in the upstairs unit in the two-family home. Police had warrants to search both properties, and family members of the slain girl were seen going in and out of both on Monday. The suspect has not been charged, and it was not immediately clear what relationship he had to the slain girl.

The department declined to say whether it was being paid by the television show.

Am I the only one to believe that being on camera had any influence in the cops actions? The presence of a video camera will only taint, or even drive any so called “reality”.

Jesus In A Lung MRI Image

By Uncle Dave Monday May 17, 2010

36 Comments

Images from a thoracic spine examination by Christopher Vittore and Kevin Tribble, radiologists in Rockford, Ilinois and clinical assistant professors at University of Illinois College of Medicine. MRI technologist, Deb Savala assisted with the technical data. This was performed on an open MRI machine, a General Electric Signa 0.35 Tesla MRI scanner. (Details: 40 x 40 cm field of view, sagital plane, frequency 256, phase 128, image slice thickness 5 mm with 2mm skip interval, no phase wrap.)

Predator Drone Nation

By Uncle Dave Monday May 17, 2010

28 Comments

That video is from over a year ago. And then there’s this from last week:

After years of political pressure from politicians, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar says that he expects the federal government to deliver unmanned aircraft to watch over the Texas border with Mexico by this fall.

Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, Texas, said last week that he has had discussions with top officials from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office of air and marine operations, and they agreed to the timetable, subject to Federal Aviation Administration approval to allow the surveillance planes – often referred to in the political vernacular as “Predator drones” – to fly over Texas.

The show ’24’ had drones flying over Manhattan as a normal, every day thing. Given how relatively invisible they can be from the ground, they may be flying above you right now and you don’t know it. But you have nothing to hide, right?

Could Forcing Banks To Cut ATM Fees Be A Bad Thing?

By Uncle Dave Monday May 17, 2010

24 Comments

If you ever saw the exceptional Canadian series (available on Netflix), Intelligence, you know that ATMs are an excellent method for laundering drug money. So, if this article is right and considering the fees are of little importance to the launderers, could capping fees mean the only privately owned ATMs will be stocked with drug money?

Some lawmakers have an ambitious proposal: They want to cut ATM fees. Last week, a trio of Democratic senators led by Iowa’s Tom Harkin proposed capping automated teller machine fees at just 50 cents.

Currently, banks and other ATM operators are free to charge consumers whatever they want for using their machine. And backers of the amendment maintain that those who tend feel the brunt of those fees are lower- and middle-income Americans, precisely those who can’t afford it.
[…]
But suppose it did pass – would lower ATM fees really deliver a much-needed break for cash-strapped American consumers? Not necessarily. In fact, some experts suggest that capping fees might result in more harm than good for consumers.

One likely consequence would be a reduction in the number of ATMs. […] Independent operators, as a result, might choose to operate only in locations that generated a lot of foot traffic, where a greater volume of transactions would offset the decline in fees. Some community lenders and credit unions might also rethink whether it’s worth having so many ATMs for their customers.
[…]
Operators may no longer see the value, for example, in offering the latest technology such as allowing consumers to email receipts.

Even more worrisome is the possibility that banks could decide to impose a fee on all of their ATM users in order to compensate for the costs of running their ATMs.

Wikileaks Founder Says He Was Menaced By Security At Melbourne Airport

By honeyman Sunday May 16, 2010

16 Comments

Julian Assange, the Australian founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, says he had his passport taken away from him at Melbourne Airport and was later told by customs officials that it was about to be cancelled.

Last year Wikileaks published a confidential Australian blacklist of websites to be banned under the government’s proposed internet filter.

The Age has been told that Assange’s passport is classified ”normal” on the immigration database, meaning the Wikileaks director can travel freely on it.

Assange told The Age his passport was taken from him by customs officials at Melbourne Airport when he entered the country last week after he was told ”it was looking worn”.

When the passport was returned to him after about 15 minutes, he says he was told by authorities that it was going to be or was cancelled.
[…]
Assange said half an hour after his passport was returned to him, he was approached by an Australian Federal Police officer who searched one of his bags and asked him about his criminal record relating to computer hacking offences in 1991.

No Agenda Show #200
The Deuce!

By John C Dvorak Sunday May 16, 2010

1 Comment

Bonus Mega Art Here (5Mb File)

This Episode’s Executive Producers: John Snyder, Ben Blondin
Associate Executive Producers: Jordi Ramirez, Jason Marella, Robert Mathers
Artwork by: Sir Paul T. and Sir Randy Asher
Knighthoods: John Snyder, Jordi Ramirez

Listen to show by clicking ►

Direct link to show.
Show notes here.
Donate to show here or here.
Sign up for No Agenda Show Notes Newsletter signup here.

THE 200th Show. Celebrate with us with a Deuce Club Membership here.

Caption This Photo

By Uncle Dave Sunday May 16, 2010

35 Comments

The TV That Watches You

By Uncle Dave Sunday May 16, 2010

21 Comments

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
— Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Next step: Most TV’s are now Interwebitube enabled, so route this data on who’s sitting in front of what TV to, say, the FBI. To keep us safe from terrorists, of course. Crazy? Who’d imagine 10 years ago body scanners in airports or schools watching kids via their computers. On the other hand, you’ve got nothing to hide, right? RIGHT???

The next time you fall asleep in front of the TV, someone, or rather something, could be watching you – and all in the name of saving energy.

Sony last year launched a new addition to its Bravia range of TVs, which features facial recognition technology similar to that found in the electronics giants’ most advanced cameras. As a result, the TV is able to “watch” you and can turn the picture off if you nod off in front of Match of the Day, saving the energy used by the backlight.

The Bravia WE5 also features a heat and motion sensor that similarly allows the system to turn off the picture if it is left playing to an empty room, and an ambient light sensor that reduces the output from the TV’s backlight depending on the brightness of the room.

Republican Obstructionism Via Pr0n

By Uncle Dave Sunday May 16, 2010

34 Comments

What is wrong with these people? While I certainly don’t agree with many things Obama & Dems have/are doing, this obstructionism is simply ludicrous. And too many of their Tea Party friends are worse.

In an example of Republican obstructionism rendered beautiful by its simplicity, the GOP yesterday killed a House bill that would increase funding for scientific research and math and science education by forcing Democrats to vote in favor of federal employees viewing pornography.
[…]
“For anyone that is concerned about federal employees watching pornography, they just saw a pornographic movie. It’s called; ‘Motion to Recommit,'” Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) said. “It was a cynical effort to undermine an important bill for my 9-year-old daughter, for your kids and your grandkids.”

The Dems screwed themselves with their obsession with health care instead of jobs (or more accurately, a jobs for insurance companies bill). Hopefully too late, the Republicans are realizing they may have gone too far with the ‘vote no on everything’ agenda.

Only now that their own incumbents and establishment candidates are threatened are some Republicans starting to realize the problem with their strategy of yelling, “Throw the bums out!” every time government spends a dime. As it turns out, if you demonize all federal spending, pretty much everyone who’s ever supported any of it can become political collateral damage.

Perhaps it’s time, as some of our readers suggest, to vote out all incumbents of both parties and start over from scratch. Could it really be worse than now?

Banned T-Shirt of the Day

By John C Dvorak Saturday May 15, 2010

76 Comments

So I sit down on a recent flight when a commotion erupts and a slew of airport security folks rush into the plane. Some poor black guy is escorted off the plane to reemerge a couple minutes later after retrieving his luggage and finding a shirt to put over his t-shirt which some passenger (or crew member) found offensive. He’s shown above with the offending t-shirt. At least they didn’t shoot him. I found the whole episode to be very entertaining.

Think A Monster Mosque At Ground Zero To Open 9/11/11 Will Be Controversial?

By Uncle Dave Saturday May 15, 2010

61 Comments

This almost sounds like a story from The Onion.

A mosque rises over Ground Zero. And fed-up New Yorkers are crying, “No!”

A chorus of critics — from neighbors to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 to me — feel as if they’ve received a swift kick in the teeth.

Plans are under way for a Muslim house of worship, topped by a 13-story cultural center with a swimming pool, in a building damaged by the fuselage of a jet flown by extremists into the World Trade Center.

The opening date shall live in infamy: Sept. 11, 2011. The 10th anniversary of the day a hole was punched in the city’s heart.

How the devil did this happen?

Plans to bring what one critic calls a “monster mosque” to the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory building, at a cost expected to top $100 million, moved along for months without a peep. All of a sudden, even members of the community board that stupidly green-lighted the mosque this month are tearing their hair out.

UPDATED: Dvorak Poll: Will You Upgrade To The New Version Of Microsoft Office?

By Uncle Dave Saturday May 15, 2010

56 Comments

Where your Uncle Dave works, our IT department (a group who makes Mordac look like a saint) has us use Office 2003 on XP. At home, I still use a copy of Office 2000. I’ve tried newer versions, but am annoyed at the seemingly gratuitous UI changes MS loves to make, plus I haven’t needed anything the new versions add. I’ve tried the assorted free ‘replacements’ like OpenOffice and others and found them impressive but wanting. I just find MS’ offering extremely easy to use and well designed for the things I do. For now, I’m sticking with what I have.

What do you think of Office? What version are you using? Planning to upgrade? What about the online alternatives like Google’s? Will you try out/start using MS’ online version? Given this article’s final point, why would anyone buy the upgrade?

It’s difficult to overstate the success of Microsoft Office. Calling it one of the best-selling tech products of all time is a bit like calling Michael Jackson a very popular musician—it’s certainly accurate, but it woefully misses the mark. According to Microsoft, more than 500 million people around the world use the Fantastic Four of productivity apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
[..]
Office 2010 offers lots of new features and several user-interface improvements over previous versions. […] Still, as I tested out the new version, I couldn’t help wonder about Office’s future. In its last couple of earnings reports, Microsoft has reported rare declines in revenue from sales of Office. The company blames the sluggishness on weakness in the economy—a reasonable explanation, though one that perhaps masks a larger malaise. For one thing, Office’s success has bred a kind of inertia. Once you’ve grown used to a certain version of Word—and can do pretty much everything you need to do with it—why would you ever need the next version?
[…]
So the next version of Office looks to be an improvement on the 2007 edition—and with the Starter Edition and great new Web apps, it could even succeed in staving off competition from free online rivals. That sounds great for Microsoft, except for one thing: In trying to win the war against free apps, Microsoft will have had to emulate them. You used to have to pay several hundred dollars for a copy of Office. Now, you don’t really have to. Online and in new computers, Microsoft will give away a slate of productivity apps that, for most people, will be good enough. And thus, the question remains: Does anyone really need to buy a new version of Office anymore?

UPDATE: Commenter AC_in_Mich mentioned that in the latest versions, the majority of the changes to Office relate to collaboration on documents. Exactly how often do multiple people actually work on a single document? Is this really something that goes on a lot? I’ve never seen it in the wild.