Not for nothing, but experts who do side-by-side comparisons — here, here, and here [UPDATE: and here] — seem to think that Android is the way to go. Of course, it depends on what one uses their smartphone for. But the general consensus is that Android wins out because it is more open. In other words, with iPhones, you get … Read More
Google on Caffeine
Not that you will have noticed, but Google totally revamped the way it indexes the web. The relatively geek-free explanation of the new indexing system (called Caffeine) is here. What does it mean? It means web content gets into Google quicker, which means it gets to you quicker. Or, put another way, better searches.
Life In This Solar System (Not On Earth)?
Something is consuming the hydrogen and acetylene on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. What could it be? Some scientists believe it might some sort of life form (or precursor to life). Acetylene is a necessary element for methane-based life forms. (Just so you know, everything on Earth is a water-based life form).
Dumb Lawsuit of the Day
A woman sues Google because she used Google Maps to walk to her destination and got hit by a car. Apparently, Google Maps didn't warn her that cars might be, you know, on the roads. Rosenberg, a Los Angeles California native, is suing Google because Google Maps issued directions that told her to walk down a rural highway. She started … Read More
Bad Marketing Idea
Take a look at this ad, which has appeared on websites and billboards: Mr. Davis's company, Lifelock, advertized that it could protect one's personal information. So confident was Mr. Davis in the company's product that he advertised his social security number prominently. Well, guess what: LifeLock CEO Todd Davis, whose number is displayed in the company’s ubiquitous advertisements, has by now … Read More
Don’t Expect A Verizon iPhone Soon
CNN confirms that AT&T has exclusivity on the iPhone until 2012. Of course, it may be a moot point, since Android phones are now outselling iPhones.
Porn on the iPhone
Apple keeps a very close eye on its app store, and it rejects anything “controversial” or “pornographic”. For example, it banned a cartoonist Mark Fiore’s app, and reversed that decision only after Fiore won a Pulitzer. And it recently banned a bunch of “overt sexual content” from second-tier publishers, while retaining apps from Playboy and Sports Illustrated. Here are Steve … Read More
The Sun…. Up Close
NASA launched a sun probe last February. It was an important mission, purporting to help our understanding of the Sun in the same way the Hubble helped our understanding of deep space. Some cool images (looped here) have come back from the probe. [NOTE: If it isn't showing up, go here] What you are seeing here is a solar flare … Read More
Supreme Court Justices Unprepared To Enter 21st Century
Recently — like Monday — the Supreme Court settled a First Amendment case involving videos depicting animal cruelty. Animal cruelty is illegal throughout the country, but the Court essentially held that the First Amendment makes it impossible to legislate against depictions of animal cruelt. (This makes distinct from child molestation, which is not only illegal, but depictions of it are … Read More
When Stupid Meets Stupider
The brain trust that encompasses the Georgia State House Judiciary Committee held hearings today surrounding a proposed Georgia state law seeking to ban forced microchip implantation in humans. That's right — forced microchip implantation in humans. Because this is a huge problem? Well, apparently, some of the lawmakers actually believed that this might come about as a result of ObamaCare, so the … Read More
The Current State of Robotics
This Univ. of California video of their robot folding five pieces of cloth is pretty amazing. Clearly the robot has to inspect the item to determine its edges and length, then find the half-way points of each edge, and proceed to fold. On the other hand, this video is running at 50X normal speed, which means it took over an … Read More
Cellphones
Very cool infographic, but it's kind big, so I'm putting it below the break…. My favorite stat: only 50% of young adults in America use a traditional land line phone.
Blow For Net Neutrality
Ask yourself one question: What's to stop your Internet Service Provider (ISP) — such as Time Warner, Comcast, etc — from starting its own search engine services, and then blocking your access to Google so that you are forced to use the search engine they provide? Is there anything out there that prevents that? A law or something? It's not … Read More
.Com Is Twenty-Five
Twenty-five years ago today, the first dot.com URL was registered. It was symbolics.com.