Dvorak News Blog

No Moon for You

By John C Dvorak Monday February 1, 2010

19 Comments

NASA Moon program dumped.
Google business app store coming.
iPad still in the news.
Yahoo back in bed with AP.
Flash memory improved.
Bots are different.
MSFT screws US customers.
Attacks on Facebook and Twitter triple.
Windows 7 is a winner.

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Almost Darwin Winner. Just Missed.

By John C Dvorak Monday February 1, 2010

11 Comments

Man nominated for Darwin by DU FYI

The man is thought to have constructed the backpack from a used automotive muffler, which he filled with gasoline and gunpowder, “trying to get a rocket-launch effect,” McCabe said.

“He asked another person to light a wick and then began to sled down a hill. At some point during the ride, the device exploded,” he said. The man suffered second-degree burns to his face and right side of his body, and possible eye injuries, according to a police memo. He was rushed to POH Medical Center in Pontiac where he was in stable condition today, McCabe said.

Found by Otis in Detroit.

Power-frugal Intel Chips to Spawn New Laptops

By hhopper Monday February 1, 2010

6 Comments

Sony Vaio Y series uses Intel ultra-low-voltage processors.

CNet News

The most power efficient of Intel’s new series of mobile processors will start appearing in new laptops in February, according to the chipmaker.

The Core i3, i5, and i7 processors are slated to replace most of Intel’s older generation of Core 2 processors. Intel introduced, for the first time, mainstream mobile processors based on the Core i design–the Core i3 and i5–at the Consumer Electronics Show last month.

Though laptops using Intel’s standard-power Core i mobile processors have already hit store shelves en masse, systems using the chipmaker’s ultra-low-voltage, or ULV, Core i processors will begin to appear “in early February,” according to an Intel representative. These new processors include the i5-520UM and i7-640UM. Because ULV chips consume relatively little power, they are used in laptop designs in order to offer longer battery life.

Government Missile Fails at Defending Against Test Mimicking Possible Iran Strike

By Jacob Galt Monday February 1, 2010

30 Comments

I usually like to point out that it is the government that causes other countries to hate the U.S, but I love this story because it shows that even if other nations/terrorist groups really wanted to try strike, the government sure as hell wouldn’t be the one defending us. Here’s the Reuters report:

A U.S. attempt to shoot down a ballistic missile mimicking an attack from Iran failed after a malfunction in a radar built by Raytheon Co, the Defense Department said.

The abortive test over the Pacific Ocean coincided with a Pentagon report that Iran had expanded its ballistic missile capabilities and posed a “significant” threat to U.S. and allied forces in the Middle East region.

I don’t think Jack Liberty is completely right on his “let’s get rid of the military” view, but I do agree with him that the U.S. government presence in the region is causing a lot of problems.

What do you think?

Video – Who Knew He Could Be a Swedish Hero?

By Gasparrini Monday February 1, 2010

28 Comments

I know what he would say: ‘Oh, brother…’

Need a Very Dry, Boring, Economics Pep Talk?

By Eideard Monday February 1, 2010

10 Comments

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Companies in the U.S. expanded in January at the fastest pace in more than four years as orders and employment increased.

The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc. said today its business barometer climbed to 61.5, the highest level since November 2005, from 58.7 last month. Readings greater than 50 signal expansion.

Government stimulus has spurred gains in demand here and abroad that are reducing inventories, paving the way for manufacturers to step up output. Ford Motor Co. is among companies that are beginning to hire again, setting the stage for stronger spending in coming months…

The group’s gauge of orders climbed to 66.4 from 64.4 the prior month and its measure of employment jumped to 59.8, the highest level since April 2005, from 47.6…

Economists watch the Chicago index for an early reading on the outlook for overall U.S. manufacturing…

The world’s largest economy expanded at a 5.7 percent pace from October through December, its fastest growth in six years, the Commerce Department reported today. Economists surveyed this month forecast the world’s largest economy will grow 2.7 percent this year.

Everything from planning to investing, economics to traffic management decisions depends on accurate information, useful forecasting.

People who fear learning, who distrust information sources that aren’t ideological – or ideologically friendly – probably didn’t get this far in the post.

What’s $3.8 Trillion Among Friends? A Look at Obama’s Budget

By Uncle Dave Monday February 1, 2010

58 Comments

President Obama today will propose a $3.8-trillion federal budget that includes a $100-billion jobs package, more education spending and higher taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year.

The budgetary blueprint for fiscal 2011, which starts Oct. 1, is 3% more than the government is spending this year, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

The White House envisions a $1.267-trillion deficit in fiscal year 2011, smaller than this year’s projected $1.56 trillion. That would be 8.3% of the gross domestic product, down from 10.6% this year. The White House Budget Office forecasts that it could be trimmed to less than 4% of the GDP by 2015.

“It’s not a left-wing budget. It’s not a right-wing budget,” White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a briefing for reporters Sunday. “It’s a pragmatic budget. It’s a common-sense budget.
[…]
The budget includes a freeze on the overall level of discretionary spending apart from national security and mandatory entitlements — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Watching the Super Bowl on a 55″ or Larger TV? The NFL May Send their Lawyers After You!

By Uncle Dave Monday February 1, 2010

15 Comments

Is it just me or does anyone else think the copyright laws weren’t created for this kind of use?

An offhand comment the other day by a friend caught my attention—”Did you know that you can’t watch the Super Bowl on a TV screen larger than 55 inches? Yeah, it’s right there in the law.”[…]Could it be that some of those giant flat panel TV sets now finding their way into US living rooms are actually violating copyright law?
[…]
US Code Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 110 is called “Limitations on exclusive rights: exemption of certain performances and displays,” and it lays out 12 of these exemptions to copyright restrictions. Are 55+ inch TVs mentioned specifically? They certainly are. TV broadcasts and movie showings can only be displayed so long as “no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers.” So there it is in black and white—a ban on big TVs!

Sort of. […] The exemption opens by saying that turning on a TV set in one’s house does not incur any sort of “public performance” liability under copyright law. So long as you’re using a set that can reasonably be described as “a single receiving apparatus of a kind commonly used in private homes,” you’re in the clear.

(Okay, not completely. You cannot make a “direct charge” to “see or hear the transmission,” though you can apparently ask friends to cover the cost of food and drink. You also cannot further transmit the broadcast “to the public,” so diverting a live video stream onto the Internet and streaming it to the world is right out. Otherwise, you’re fine.)
[…]
Though it was in fact written into copyright law, the NFL’s action generated such bad press that several US Senators pressured the league to change its enforcement practices, law or no law. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA, now D-PA) even introduced S. 2591, a bill which singled out “professional football contests” and allowed nonprofit groups to show the games on any size screen.

No Agenda
Flat Chested Women!

By John C Dvorak Sunday January 31, 2010

11 Comments

This Episode’s Executive Producer: Steven Pelsmaekers (on behalf of The Separator)
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Artwork by: Randy Asher

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No AMD Opterons at NewEgg? Why?

By Marc Perkel Sunday January 31, 2010

14 Comments

http://tiphut.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/newegg.jpg

Something has been bothering me for months and I’m wondering if anyone knows why. NewEgg has been phasing out all their AMD Opteron processors, selling only Intel. NewEgg does, however, carry a full line of AMD desktop processors. I’ve been thinking of building a new server with a pair of 6 core Opterons. So what’s up with NewEgg?

I wonder if there’s another use for this…

By Uncle Dave Sunday January 31, 2010

31 Comments

Kindle vs. iPad War Begins… Amazon Bans ebooks from MacMillan

By McCullough Sunday January 31, 2010

50 Comments

Publishing giant Macmillan said late Saturday that Amazon.com has pulled its e-book titles from being sold for the Kindle in a price war apparently sparked by Apple Inc.’s new iPad.

Macmillan, a unit of Germany’s Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, made the announcement in an advertisement on publishing industry Web site PublishersMarketplace.com.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) announced Wednesday that Macmillan was among a group of publishers that would sell their titles on the iBook site set up for the iPad.

Apple is allowing publishers to charge more than the $9.99 that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has set for titles sold for the Kindle, long a point of dispute with publishers.

Under the Apple arrangement, publishers set their own e-book prices, with Apple taking 30 percent of the revenue. This is expected to raise many e-book titles to $12.99 and $14.99. Instead of black and white, the iPad allows publishers to add multimedia and color to the offerings, as well.

Macmillan said Amazon pulled its titles for sale through all but third parties after CEO John Sargent visited Seattle on Thursday to discuss “new terms of sales for e-books.”

Taliban Leader in Pakistan Killed by US Drone Attack

By Jacob Galt Sunday January 31, 2010

41 Comments

The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, who was linked to the murder of seven CIA agents, has died after being wounded in a US drone attack, according to reports.

Hakimullah Mehsud died of injuries sustained in an air strike in North Waziristan earlier this month, Pakistan’s state television claimed. The state broadcaster also said the leader had been buried in the Pakistani Taliban-controlled area of Orakzai.

It is believed to have played a role in the suicide bombing of a CIA base in Afghanistan in December last year – one of the worst disasters the American secret service has suffered.

[Via Jack Liberty via Barcepundit]

Soundbite Nation: Why Do People Vote Against Their Own Interests?

By Uncle Dave Sunday January 31, 2010

64 Comments

This is a fascinating article that explains why the quote often attributed to PT Barnum about a sucker is born every minute is even more true in America today where the emotional rantings of Beck, Palin, Rush, et al work and intellectual debate of issues in full doesn’t. Read the whole article (this excerpt only touches the surface) to understand why we have become a nation of ‘sheeple’.

Why are so many American voters enraged by attempts to change a horribly inefficient [health care] system that leaves them with premiums they often cannot afford? Why are they manning the barricades to defend insurance companies that routinely deny claims and cancel policies?

It might be tempting to put the whole thing down to what the historian Richard Hofstadter back in the 1960s called “the paranoid style” of American politics, in which God, guns and race get mixed into a toxic stew of resentment at anything coming out of Washington. But that would be a mistake.

If people vote against their own interests, it is not because they do not understand what is in their interest or have not yet had it properly explained to them. They do it because they resent having their interests decided for them by politicians who think they know best. There is nothing voters hate more than having things explained to them as though they were idiots. As the saying goes, in politics, when you are explaining, you are losing. And that makes anything as complex or as messy as healthcare reform a very hard sell.

In his book The Political Brain, psychologist Drew Westen, an exasperated Democrat, tried to show why the Right often wins the argument even when the Left is confident that it has the facts on its side.
[…]
Right-wing politics has become a vehicle for channelling this popular anger against intellectual snobs. The result is that many of America’s poorest citizens have a deep emotional attachment to a party that serves the interests of its richest.

Thomas Frank says that whatever disadvantaged Americans think they are voting for, they get something quite different.