Today in Techland

First Amendment Conflict

2011-09-28T02:19:00.000-07:00

Hossein Derkhshan, a popular Iranian blogger, was sentenced Tuesday after being convicted of several offences, including spreading propaganda against the ruling establishments and insulting Islamic thoughts and religious figures. His former wife says she’s stunned by the ruling, a sentence of more than nineteen years in prison for his provocative writings.

I think this is an interesting topic to discuss. Often people debate where to draw the line between free speech/expression, and slander or propaganda that would be dealt with legally.

Texas Gay Law is unconstitutional

2011-09-15T23:50:00.000-07:00

Eight years after Texas deemed its anti sodomy act unconstitutional, "homosexual conduct" is still listed in the penal code as a criminal offense. More than one bill has been introduced to the state to rid the penal code of any language that makes homosexual activity an illegal offense. However, Republican representatives wont let the bills even come to a vote, making them practically nonexistent.

Constitutionality of drug trafficking law

2011-09-09T00:50:00.000-07:00

In Panama City, Florida (which is in north-western Florida, south of Tallahassee) is the only region in America with a drug trafficking law that doesn't require a prosecutor to prove that a defendant knew he or she was trafficking drugs. There have been numerous accounts where someone didn't know he or she was trafficking drugs, in countless contexts. The fact that someone can be prosecuted for this is unconstitutional.

Libyan militas may centralize

2011-09-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

According to the Washington Times, there are talks of the possibility of Libyan militas centralizing. The Libyan National Transitional Council Chairman, Mustafa Abdel Jalil believes it is a good idea. He believes it will help Libya rebuild itself. Some believe that it would put the government in a more tyrannical position. This has happened before in other Arab countries.

I think that if the militas want to accomplish the most they can, it could be smart to centralize, if they do it the right way. Find a leader who truly represents their cause, and they may have an effective means of changing their country.

New Kindle?

2010-05-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

Amazon is scheduled to release the next Kindle this summer. What new advancements will be made with this newer model? We're not sure. They've commented that the new Kindle will still be black and white, and will remain to not be touch sensitive. Although, looking even more foward to the future, they may be working on touch sensitive surfaces for a later product, most likely a future model of the Kindle.

The neurobiology of music.

2010-05-31T13:01:00.000-07:00

Aniruddh D. Patel has been studying the relationship between music and the brain. He hypothesizes that humans have a neurobiological capacity for music, much like we do with language, or auditory communication. Interesting. . .

Two Million iPads Sold!

2010-05-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

Since its release nearly two months ago, the iPad has sold two million copies. This statistic absolutely screams that this product has been a success, going against the congjecture of some who belived the price, mixed with an unclear identity/purpose of the iPad would prevent its popularity. Considering that the iPhone took 74 days to reach ONE million sales, it's a no brainer that the iPad has struck a chord with the masses.

Apple: the world's most valuable technology company

2010-05-31T01:42:00.000-07:00

Last week, Wall Street valued Apple at 2.94 billion dollars more than Microsoft. This is the first time in history that Apple has been more valuable than Microsoft. The pioneer and inventor of the personal computer has finaly become the most powerful technology company. It's been long time coming, but the virtue of patience has finally paid off. The tables have turned.

At long last!

2010-04-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

The iPad was released on April 3rd. We'll see if it lives up to it's expectations.

The New Yahoo

2010-03-31T23:56:00.000-07:00

Yahoo has hired almost 12 journalists from online and elsewhere business department in Washington to push original conten and increase it's popularity.

Bejing rights activits get email hacked.

2010-03-31T23:40:00.000-07:00

In Beijing, the email accounts of more than 12 rights advocates and journalists have been intruded upon. Their email addresses were hacked. Interesting. . .

YouTube mimicks Starbucks

2010-03-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

YouTube is trying to keep their watchers online longer. Just like how Starbucks keeps their customers at their facilities by offering a friendly, accessible environment, YouTube is going a similar route.

The polar opinions on Apples new iTouch

2010-03-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Interestingly, tech geeks hate the Apple iPad, while average consumers love it. Techies complain that it is nothing more than an oversized iPod touch, and that it's potentiality of replacing computer needs is low. Consumers, on the other hand, have conveyed that they may never go back to their computers after using an iPad.

You'll just have to get one to see.

Truck-driver text-ban

2010-03-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

It was proposed by the Transportation Department that texting while driving interstate commercial buses and trucks should be illegal. The intention of this is obviosly crash prevention.

3rd Party eBook sellers

2010-03-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Apple eBook store may have some competition once the iPad is released. 3rd party stores may be offering cheaper deals with eBooks. iBook apps are free, so the only profit they make is off their books. 3rd party apps will also be offering the same crisp text and pain free "flick" page turning as Apple will be. Interesting. . .

2010-03-12T11:51:00.001-08:00

There is a rumor that formspring will be revealing the identities of people who posted anonymous questions. This is said to be happening on April 1st. Interesting. . .

Cricket Warnings

2010-02-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

It has been discovered by researchers from the University of South Carolina, that pregnant crickets can warn their soon-to-be offspring of dangerous predators in their presence. They can forewarn. How they go about doing this is yet to be discovered. One theory is that the mother cicket transmits a hormone to her unborn offspring. Interesting. . .

The new approach to online privacy

2010-02-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

Many things on the internet have changed over the years. One thing that has stayed relatively constant, is its approach to online privacy. Although, this may very well soon change. Recently, policy and privacy experts have agreed that the long written policies written to safeguard privacy are impractical. One big reason, is that these policies are rarely read. Because of this, experts claim that users don't have much understanding of the usage of their online information.

Are e-books taking over?

2010-02-28T23:01:00.000-08:00

Statistically, it doesn't look that way. Last year, less than two percent of books sold were e-books. This trend however, could rapidly change. With the new interest in digitized books, (and of course, the soon-to-be released Apple iPad), e-books may soon get their foot in the door, so to speak.

After a flirt with bankruptcy, Sirius XM pulls through

2010-02-28T22:48:00.000-08:00

A company that seems to be doing well during the recession, is Sirius XM. Their stocks have sharply risen since last year, when they came close to bankruptcy. This may be due to sales of new cars and their cheeper prices. In the forth quarter, Sirius XM added 257,00 new customers and ended the year with 18.8 million. We are all very happy for our pals at Sirius XM.

Will we be able to purchase shopping items with our phones?

2010-02-28T22:34:00.000-08:00

Soon, shoppers will be able to stand outside designer Norma Kalami's store in Manhattan, point their phones at merchandise of their interest, and purchase it. Although this will obviously be limited to shoppers at this boutique, could this be the start of a new age of shopping? Interesting. . .

Microsoft redoes Phone software

2010-02-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

After some fumbles, Microsoft has now "perfected" their phone software, which uses tiles instead of icons. The Microsoft phone is scheduled to be released late this year. Will this phone make it big? Probably not. Something people tend to oversee is that Microsoft is a software company, not a hardware company.

Harvesting Body movements as electricity?

2010-02-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

A Doctor from Princeton is developing a way to capture human movements, and turn them into electricity. They're taking piezoelectric crystals (which produce an electric current when bent), and printing them on a flexible, rubber material. They'll first try by putting them in shoes, but eventually intend to implant them in the chest, and elsewhere. Interesting. . .

Avatar for the win!!!

2010-02-10T12:16:00.001-08:00

Avatar, as of last week, is the highest grossing film of all time! It is the first film in history to gross more than $2 billion, and it's still in theaters. Interesting. . .

Pearl Jam tweet deal

2010-01-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

Pearl Jam is offering a free, live recording of their new single "Just Breathe", in exchange for one tweet. Just go to justbreathe.pearljam.com, connect to twitter, tweet about Pearl Jam, and presto.

Soundgarden Reunite

2010-01-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Grunge gods Soundgarden reunited as of this year. It was said that talks of the reuinion started at a Pearl Jam show in L.A. (a show that I attended). At the show, Pearl Jam (whose drummer, Matt Cameron is also the Soundgarden drummer), welcomed guests Chris Cornell (Soundgarden frontman), and Jerry Cantrell (guitarist for Alice in Chains), to play. Apparently the rest of Soundgarden (guitarist Kim Thayil and bassist Ben Shepherd), attended the show, and talks of the reunion ensued.

Here's the website where you can sign up and get updates:

http://www.soundgardenworld.com/

Goodbye Crunchpad

2009-12-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

TechCrunch has announced that their product, the Crunchpad, will not hit stores, atleast for a long time. This is supposedly due to contract disputes; red tape stuff. Interesting. . .

YouTube closed captioning

2009-11-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

Uploaded YouTube videos will automatically be subtitled, using technology similar to Google voice. You can also read subtitles in different languages. Interesting. . .

Aol layoffs

2009-11-30T00:09:00.000-08:00

Aol has interestingly sent out a memo to its employees that requests 2500 to voluntarily quit. If you are one of the 2500 who quit you will recieve a larger severence package than someone who would later be layed off.

Dvd to Blu

2009-11-29T23:59:00.000-08:00

If you want to augment your Blu ray collection without emtying your bank accounts, you should be happy to hear that Warner Home Video has announced the online service Dvd to Blu, where you can send in used Dvd's of select titles and recieve the Blu ray versions. This costs between $8-$10, which is much cheaper than average Blu ray prices. Interesting. . .

YouTube Journalism

2009-11-29T23:34:00.000-08:00

YouTube has just launched YouTube Direct, where TV and online news editors can request and make use of YouTube videos uploaded by amateur reporters. Interesting. . .

YouTube 1080p!!!!!

2009-11-29T23:14:00.000-08:00

YouTube users rejoice!!! Video's can now be uploaded at full 1080 progressive resolution. Yay!

Russia Bans Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

2009-11-29T01:36:00.000-08:00

Russia has banned CODMW2, due a part of the campaign where you have to kill Russian civilians.

That's understandable, huh? I'd say so. That's why I stick with Halo. Who the hell cares about aliens?

First iPhone virus!!!

2009-11-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

The iPhone has been infiltrated by its first virus! An Australian hacker made the virus, which only affects Australian iPhones. It changes jail-broken iPhones' wallpaper to a photo of 80's pop sensation, Rick Astley. Interesting. . .

iTunes TV?

2009-11-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

Apple is working on a potential new $30 a month iTunes TV subscription that allows unlimited TV access. Interesting. . .

The U.S. is designing CYBORG BEETLES!!!

2009-10-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

That's right, cyborg beetles! Remote controlled beetles!

Microsoft Poaching Apple employees

2009-09-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

It has been revealed that Microsoft would "model", (which is a nice little euphemism for "rip off") Apple's retail stores and "adopt" (another euphemism) some (all) of their features. For example, Microsoft's version of the awesome Apple Genius Bar will be called the Guru Bar. But that's not all, apparently they have poached Apple employees (traitors) to work for them, giving them appealing deals (appealing enough to sell their souls.

DC Entertainment

2009-09-11T12:08:00.003-07:00

DC comics owner Warner Bros.

has announced a complete restructuring of DC with DC Entertainment, which is aimed at exploiting such characters as Superman & Batman better across different media mediums.

iTunes 9!

2009-09-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Apple released iTunes 9 yesterday. The biggest iTunes update since September, 2008.

It consists mostly of layout and visual changes, but there are some new features.

There's iTunes LP, which allows you to view albums with extra info, photos, cool art

work and photography. Things that would be packaged with physical LP's are being

digitally packaged with select albums on iTunes.

New player :

As you can see, the volume slider has changed.

Here are some other changes:

The iTunes store layout has changed completely:

You can watch the Apple keynote from yesterday by clicking HERE

Iron Man 2. . . to 3D, or not to 3D?

2009-09-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

Iron Man 2 has been rumored to be in 3-D. That would be pretty cool. I would see that.