OmniBox

Saw the Omniverse Omni Box in the Radio Shack weekly ad.

It boasts "over 800 channels of  live TV, video on Demand, local programming and more."

Best that I can figure is that it's kind of like a Roku with a more internet capability.  There's a $24.95 monthly free which apparently pays for a hulu plus subscription (or it is PlayOn).  Which is why they can boast of featuring channels from the major networks.

Funny, I couldn't find any reviews from the usual suspects like cnet, etc.  And little on amazon.com.  Only this blurb from Radio Shack.

I did a search for Omniverse and came up with this link with this description "Watch and Record over 500 LIVE TV Channels for free! Local TV too! Bigger than Netflix and Hulu and TV Catchup and Zattoo combined!"

It looks to be pretty much the same as the filmon channel.  Here's the wikipedia article.

feeling warm?

Global temperatures are warmer than at any time in at least 4,000 years, scientists reported Thursday, and over the coming decades are likely to surpass levels not seen on the planet since before the last ice age.

Previous research had extended back roughly 1,500 years, and suggested that the rapid temperature spike of the past century, believed to be a consequence of human activity, exceeded any warming episode during those years. The new work confirms that result while suggesting the modern warming is unique over a longer period.

In the new research, scheduled for publication on Friday in the journal Science, Shaun Marcott, an earth scientist at Oregon State University, and his colleagues compiled the most meticulous reconstruction yet of global temperatures over the past 11,300 years, virtually the entire Holocene. They used indicators like the distribution of microscopic, temperature-sensitive ocean creatures to determine past climate.

Scientists say that if natural factors were still governing the climate, the Northern Hemisphere would probably be destined to freeze over again in several thousand years. “We were on this downward slope, presumably going back toward another ice age,” Dr. Marcott said.

Instead, scientists believe the enormous increase in greenhouse gases caused by industrialization will almost certainly prevent that.

***

What?  No comments?

Ah, here you go.  L.A. Times to the rescue.

tablets gaining on smartphones

As the smartphone market slows, tablets are becoming an increasingly popular way of consuming media, playing games and accessing data, according to a new report by mobile advertising network Jumptap.

Jumptap, which helps companies understand mobile audiences and cater to them, said tablets last year accounted for 18% of mobile traffic on its advertising network, which covers 134 million mobile customers in the United States and a total of 206 million worldwide. 

That represents a sharp jump from the 7% of mobile traffic on the network in 2011, the company said. Smartphones represented 78% of the network’s traffic, but their share is rapidly shrinking: Jumptap projects that tablets will make up close to one-third of its network traffic by the end of 2013.

docx files

docx is the new file format for Microsoft Word (well new to old-time users of Word).

Since I only have own Word 97 (!), I need to convert the file.

I believe I used zamzar before, but there's a number of other websites that will convert the file for you.

The one I just used was docspal.

Open Office also supports docx.

cursor jumping on laptops

I notice that when typing on a laptop, the cursor occasionally jumps to another line up the screen.  I notice it happens when I am typing in google docs.

I thought it was just me, but I see that others have this problem too.

Apparently this is a problem with Windows.

So one solutions is to not use Windows.

Another solution is to use an external keyboard.

And the author's solution was to use a program called touchfreeze.

I think I'll try it.

***

Wait, here's another solution: disable the touchpad.

It's Fn F10 on a SamSung laptop.  What is it on a Dell laptop?

Here's the Dell information.  Unfortunately none of the hotkeys worked on this Inspiron 1440.

And can't find it in control panel.

Go to Dell.com, look for Inspiron 1440 and download Alps touchpad driver

hey there it is in the control panel now

and I see there's an option to disable touchpad / pointing stick when external USB mouse is present.

OK, try that and see if the problem re-occurs.

meteor explodes over Russia

(Reuters) - A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to earth which shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 500 people.

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 950 miles east of Moscow.

The fireball, travelling at a speed of 19 miles per second according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos, had blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away.

Car alarms went off, windows broke and mobile phone networks were interrupted. The Interior Ministry said the meteor explosion had caused a sonic boom.

"There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before," said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 514 people had sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, and that 112 of them were kept in hospital.

Microsoft Surface

[2/13/13] a user review of the Surface RT

[2/9/13] Surface Pro sells out on Launch Day

[2/9/13] The Surface Pro is a hotshot

[10/27/12] The Surface is a PC, not a tablet

[10/22/12] Five reasons the Microsoft Surface will fail.

medicine via smartphone

video featuring Eric Topol

another video

one more

and one more

(not sure of the order)

I won $2 million from the Publishers Clearing House!

says a guy with an accent who cold-called me from phone number 876-863-7762

I think it was $2.5 million and a car or something like that.

The guy then asked me if I wanted to claim it or donate it to charity.  I said donate it to charity and he hang up.

Sounds like the same guy people complained about on these links.  It was the same area code anyway (Jamaica).

ios to Android?

Three weeks ago, I made the decision to stop using my iPhone 4s with the possible outcome of leaving the iPhone for an Android or Windows phone for an extended period of time.  I don’t want to use the term “never”, because that’s limiting.  As promised, I wanted to share with you my experiences with Android so that you may get a deeper insight into how other users may feel and respond to their next phone purchase and experience.

the convertibles are coming

(Reuters) - Personal computer makers, trying to beat back a tablet mania that's eating into their sales, are making what may be a last-ditch attempt to sway customers by mimicking the competition.

Many of the laptops to be unveiled around the world in coming months will be hybrids or "convertibles" - morphing easily between portable tablets and full-powered laptops with a keyboard, industry analysts say.

The wave of hybrids comes as Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp, long the twin leaders of the PC industry, prepare to report results this week and next. Wall Street is predicting flat to sluggish quarterly revenue growth for both, underscoring the plight of an industry that has struggled to innovate.

In 2013, some are hoping that will change.

With the release of Microsoft's touch-centric, re-imagined Windows 8 platform in October and more power-efficient chips from Intel, PC makers are trying to spark growth by focusing on creating slim laptops with touchscreens that convert to tablets and vice versa.

Microsoft, expanding beyond its traditional business of selling software, is expected this month to roll out a "Surface Pro" tablet compatible with legacy PC software developed over decades.

That's a major selling point for corporate customers like German business software maker SAP, which plans to buy Surface Pros for employees that want it, said SAP Chief Information Officer Oliver Bussmann.
"The hybrid model is very compelling for a lot of users," Bussmann told Reuters last week. "The iPad is not replacing the laptop. It's hard to create content. That's the niche that Microsoft is going after. The Surface can fill that gap."

Apple's iPad began chipping away at demand for laptops in 2010, an assault that accelerated with the launch of Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire and other Google Android devices like Samsung Electronics' Note.

With sales of PCs falling last year for the first time since 2001, this year may usher in a renaissance in design and innovation from manufacturers who previously focused on reducing costs instead of adding new features to entice consumers.

Facebook search tool

After years of collecting photos and personal data from its billion-plus members, Facebook Inc. Tuesday unveiled a search tool that sifts through people's profiles—and pushes the social network deeper into Google Inc.'s home turf.

The two companies are vying to become the primary gateway to the Internet. Google has long served as a destination to find websites and information; Facebook, to share gossip and photos with friends. But those distinctions are increasingly blurring, and billions in advertising dollars are at stake.

The social network said Tuesday it will enable members to conduct complex queries related to their friends' profiles, such as "tourist attractions in France visited by my friends."

In doing so, Facebook is attacking Google's core strength and its most lucrative product—search—in a bid to convince people they might not need to use Google to find information

Google generates the majority of its $40 billion in annual revenue world-wide from selling ads on its search engine. In the U.S., Google was projected to make more than $13 billion in search-ad revenue, or 75% of the entire market, in 2012, according to research firm eMarketer Inc.

Google's repository of information remains unmatched. It said it has indexed 30 trillion unique Web pages across 230 million sites. Last year, Google changed its search engine to make it easier for people to quickly get detailed information about people, places and real-world things by displaying photos, facts and other "direct answers" to search queries at the top of the search-results page, rather than just links.

Having witnessed Facebook's rise and anticipating its move into search, Google built its own social-networking service, Google+, in 2011 to obtain data about specific individuals by name, their personal interests and the identities of their friends. It then integrated Google+ with its Web-search service, so that people searching for a particular website, local restaurant or real-world product will be alerted if any of their Google+ contacts previously rated it positively or negatively.

A Google spokesman declined to comment.

But Facebook has a far larger social network and a sizable head-start after spending years encouraging its members to add photos and all sorts of personal information to their profiles, from basic data like location, employer name and interests to more sensitive details such as age, religion and romantic status.

Much of that data is now searchable using Facebook's new "Graph Search" feature after more than a year in development. Facebook began rolling it out Tuesday as a test to a limited number of users. For Web searches that Facebook can't deliver, the queries are served by Bing, the search engine from Facebook partner Microsoft Corp.

government wants more noise

DETROIT (AP) - A government safety agency wants electric and hybrid vehicles to make more noise when traveling at low speeds so pedestrians can hear them coming.

The cars and trucks, which are far quieter than conventional gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles, don't make enough noise at low speeds to warn walkers, bicyclists and the visually impaired, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday in a statement.

The proposed rule would require the cars to make additional noise at speeds under 18 miles per hour. NHTSA says the cars make enough noise to be heard at higher speeds.

Intel TV

The world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductor products, Intel Corp. (INTC), is preparing to launch its cloud-based TV service and set-top box, as per a report from TechCrunch.

Reportedly, the company has been facing difficulty in securing licensing deals with content providers. In order to avoid licensing issues with content providers, the company plans to roll the product city-by-city rather than nationwide. Intel will likely reveal the set-top box at industry trade show CES on January 7.

Intel’s TV service is expected to include content from cable TV packages as well as Internet-based content like Netflix Inc.’s (NFLX) streaming service.

The company’s intention to manufacture the set-top box (STB) was revealed in March 2012 through a Wall Street Journal report. Intel already makes chips for STBs but its decision to manufacture the entire box is the first of its kind. The company has not yet signed any deal with program providers.

The chipmaker’s foray into this segment may be considered a milestone. According to research firms IDC and Gartner, the PC industry was weak in 2012 and is expected to remain weak in 2013 due to the softness in the memory market, specifically in DRAM; the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis and weak PC demand. In order to expand the company’s bottom line, Intel has increased efforts to move beyond the computer industry.

The success of the launch of a virtual cable operator remains unclear due to the many hurdles associated with it. The high cost of TV programming channels remains the primary problem. Incumbent cable, satellite and telecommunications companies already pay nearly $38 billion per year to license TV channels. Intel may also have to bear the brunt of higher costs.

Internet bandwidth could be another hurdle. The inability to guarantee enough bandwidth for high-quality video at all times of the day could divert the interest of the subscriber.

Further, the competition expected in the field will also be fierce, with most of the large technology companies vying for a share of the pie. These companies include Google Inc. (GOOG), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).

*** [2/13/13]


(AP) - Intel Corp. said Tuesday that it will sell a set-top box that brings Internet-delivered movies and shows to a TV set this year.

Erik Huggers, general manager of Intel Media, said the company plans to sell a box that will offer "a vastly superior experience" to today's cable boxes.

There are various boxes today that bring Internet content to TV sets, with popular ones made by Roku and Apple. But Intel wants to go further and make its box and streaming service a replacement for cable.

Rumors of an Intel set-top box and video service emerged last year. Huggers didn't say what the box and service would cost, or when this year such a device would come out. He said Intel's goal is to provide quality rather than undercutting cable pricing.

The video service would also be available on non-TV devices such as the iPad, Huggers said. Cable companies have been making some content available on smartphone and tablet computers as part of their TV Everywhere initiative, but the selection of programs and channels is limited.

Intel is the world's largest chipmaker, but has little direct contact with consumers. Its chief business, making processors for PCs, is stagnating as PC sales are declining and consumers are moving to tablets and smartphones, most of which don't run Intel chips. Huggers said the company was motivated to get into the consumer business after realizing that it needed to control every aspect of the service, from chips to software, to get it right.

Shares of the Santa Clara, Calif., company rose 16 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $21.19 in afternoon trading, as other technology stocks declined.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told his biographer before his death in 2011 that he wanted to revolutionize the TV, but Apple so far hasn't revealed anything about those plans. A big obstacle is believed to be that movie studios and TV networks like the current cable model, under which TV customers can't choose to pay channel by channel, but have their choices limited to certain packages. It's a profitable model for them, and they've been reluctant to open up to more flexible programming models.

But Huggers said media companies were showing some flexibility.

"I think we can bring an incredible TV experience via the Internet, to consumers, and that is a great opportunity for programmers," he said at the "D: Dive Into Media" conference in Dana Point, Calif.

One of the features of the Intel box would be the ability to identify, through a camera, which family member is watching and offer him or her personalized recommendations, Huggers said.

101 Gadgets/Inventions that changed the world

This was/is on the H2 Channel today.

Followed by 101 inventions that changed the world.

I can google the gadgets list and it's even out on DVD.  Interesting. But radio over TV?

But for some reason, this 101 inventions list is nowhere to be found.  (Here's an alphabetical list.) Maybe because it's the premiere.  It'll probably show up in a day or three.

Anyway, here's the top five as it happens (and the number in the alphabetical list) [I rewound and got 10-6 too]

10. internal combustion engine (40)

9. bronze (not listed)

8. fire (31)

7. computer (not listed, well I guess it's partially 60, the PC)

6. lever (amazingly not listed)

5. transistor (91)

4. steam engine (not listed, see internal combustion engine)

3. light bulb (47)

2. printing press (67)

1. wheel (100)

iPhone vs. Android

why "I won't be going back to Android."

my Digix tablet

On Black Saturday (the day after Black Friday), I set out to buy an iPad.

But first I stopped at Radio Shack on the way because I remembered they had a 10" tablet on sale for $150.    It was the Digix 10" tablet.  They didn't have it in stock, but said they could order it.

Never mind.  Off to Target for the $499 iPad with Retina Display plus they were offering coupons for credit buying other stuff.  (Actually the previous generation also had a retina display too.  So what's the difference?)  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), they had sold out.

Back to Radio Shack at KSC.  They said they didn't have it, but they called the Nuuanu store and they said they had itt.  But they were closing soon.  So I zoomed over there before closing time, but the door was already locked.  When I stayed at the door, they said their cash register was locked.  Only when I mentioned that call from the KSC store, they let me in.  They forgot the call from 10 minutes ago saying a customer was coming over for the tablet.

So I got the tablet.

This is the first tablet I ever owned or used extensively.  It took a while to charge up (like overnight).  And when that was done, it took a while to boot (like over 5 minutes if I remember correctly, but it booted up faster after the initial boot maybe a minute or two).  But when I finally got it going, it was fairly intuitive to use.  I started getting used to it.  But then noticed some flaws or annoyances.

Most annoying was the web browser.  It was excruciatingly slow.  One might suspect that my home wireless internet speed is too slow, but it seems fine on my Roku box.  It wasn't as bad using the gmail app.  Or the NBA Game Time app (where's the rebound column?).  Or the Yahoo Fantasy basketball app.  So I have to mostly blame the browser app.  Maybe it was because this tablet doesn't have enough RAM so it has to thrash to the storage memory.  Maybe I should have tried installing another browser.  But even the gmail app was slow at times, especially when loading graphics email.

The second annoyance was the battery life.  It seemed to last only about 3 hours.  What was worse was the tablet would suddenly power down even when the battery indicator showed it was above 50%.

The third annoyance is that the screen is virtually unreadable outdoors.  Even on a cloudy day.  Don't know if this is the case with all tablets (as I remember it was hard to see Kahoa's iPad display outdoors).  [Maybe I should get some polarized sunglasses.]  Here I see that the new iPad (the iPad 3) seems to be readable outdoors.  And according to this review the Google Nexus 10 "performs well in direct sunlight".

So what is it good for?  Well, I used it for reading/deleting gmail when I had to step away from my computer to keep the dog company when he was barking.  Slow but mostly tolerable.  It was good for Angry Birds.  I downloaded a couple of books in pdf format and used Adobe reader.

But I found the slow browsing/non-browsing unacceptable [the wait time was often minutes, not seconds] and decided to see if I could return it.  Hey, no problem Radio Shack took it right back and credited my credit card.  So despite the return, I wouldn't be averse to buying something from Radio Shack again due to their return policy.

***

I'm sure I'm going to buy a tablet one of these months/years.  The iPad is on the top of the list.  But the Google Nexus is also a candidate.  As well as the Kindle Fire (though the lack of apps might be the deal breaker).

But maybe I'll go for a laptop first.  That laptop with touchscreen at Costco is tempting.  Though about double the price of the low-end laptops I've been eyeing.

*** [12/30/12]

Alvin brought over his iPad2.  The Safari browser was pretty responsive on my wi-fi.  Yep, it was the tablet that was slow, not my wi-fi.

10 sites

10 sites you have to check every day (but then this was written four years ago).

cnn
espn
tmz
cute overload
engadget
slate
college humor
twitter
consumerist
facebook

what's on Roku (and what's not)

[11/29/12] Well, got my Roku.  It has its good points, but far from a replacement for cable by itself.

Probably my favorite channel is a newish private channel called VideoBuzz.  It allows you to view youtube videos and playlists.  For best effect, create a custom playlist on your computer and you can now easily view it on your TV.  Youtube isn't officially supported by Roku so who knows how long this channel will last.

Among my other favorite channels:  NBC News (formerly MSNBC) has a lot of video clips, including the Today Show. CNBC  (which has a live stock ticker and newish videos).  Smithsonian has some intresting programs.  Crackle has some movies and TV shows.  KDrama has a lot of Korean Dramas.

[12/3/12 - I wanted to see if Jim Cramer's Mad Money was available on Roku.  A google search brought up Viaway. But the video didn't play when I tried it.  And the reviewer on Rokuguide was not able to link up the Roku with viaway.  So I didn't try to link it.  However the review said viaway appears to access the same podcasts as iTunes PodCasts and Nowhere TV.  And sure enough, both channels allow you to view the last few full episodes of Mad Money.  They also feature the full episode of NBC Nightly news.  And lots more.  Both now go into my list of favorite channels.  Later, I created a Viaway account and activated it, but it still didn't link up with Roku as there was a message saying "Viaway Basic service is not available on your device. We are working hard to offer it you in the near future."  (Viaway Basic is the free version of Viaway.)  OK, so forget Viaway.

Nowhere TV is pretty cool.  It's a channel created by Nowhereman.  He had created a youtube channel for Roku which was later nixed by Google.  He was so good that Roku decided to hire him.  Oddly youtube is apparently officially supported by other devices such as Apple TV.]

There are a few live streaming channels too. Two in my list ares CNN International and Huff Post.

But there's a lot more available on the computer that's not on Roku.  Here's some that I have noticed.

Bloomberg [12/3/12 - now I see a private Bloomberg Channel for Roku]
Hawaii News Now (weekdays: 430am-8am, 5pm-630pm, 10pm, weekends 5pm, 10pm)
KHON (no live video, but lots of video clips with closed caption)
ABC Chicago (at certain times)
CBS News (at certain times)
CBS New York (apparently at certain times)
Fox 5 (at certain times I assume)

ESPN

NCAA

Justin.TV (the Roku channel apparently isn't working any more)

***

Not to mention the many major video sites available on the PC, but not on Roku.  Just looking at the list below, tells you how lacking the channel selection on the Roku is in comparison to what's actually on the internet.  So I'd say you're be much better off hooking up a laptop to your TV.  (Or just don't watch TV so much, which might be the best option.)

Hulu (though Hulu Plus is)

ABC
CBS
NBC
Fox
PBS

(The five just above are available over the air live, if your antenna can catch it in your area.  But not live is actually better in many ways.)

Also:

The CW
Comedy Central
CNN
USA Today
National Geographic
Animal Planet

Throw in Netflix and maybe you got something..

What's missing from internet video?  Well the NBA game playing on TNT right now.  (I see now that the first game was on TNT Overtime.)  Other live sports (though a number available over the air and on watchespn.com).  UH sports on OC Sports, apparently only available on Oceanic and HawaiianTelcom.  [Wait, here it is.]  Plus you get HD on cable vs. very mixed quality on the internet.  Plus no closed caption.

So if you're not a sports nut, you could be tempted to cut the cable (especially when you look at the bill every month).

more:

Kim Komando
Kevin Sintumuang
Matthew Moskovciak
Barbara Thau
lifehacker (for the techie)
Yahoo! Finance: spreety

***
[3/5/13] The Roku 3

***

[4/17/13] VideoBuzz taken down :(

So I guess I'll either get a laptop or another device that supports youtube.  It doesn't appear that roku will be getting a youtube channel any time soon.

[4/18/13] workaround for watching youtube videos.  post it to your facebook page.

EDIT (February 28, 2012): While new users can no longer sign up to the Nowhere Man’s channel some commenters on this post have found a slightly complicated workaround. If you have the Facebook  channel you can post any Youtube link you want to watch to your Facebook wall and then watch it from within the channel under Newsfeed Videos. If you don’t want to spam your friends with random cat videos just set the post to be visable ‘Only to Me.’ Thanks to Paul and Meghan in the comments!

[4/22/13] or try plex or myplex

plus plex supports (free) hulu and cbs too.  ok gotta try this.

[6/3/13] nope hulu didn't work.  But what you can do is download with freemake video downloader then watch the video via plex.  Or just pony up for hulu+ (though you can't watch all hulu content on hulu+ -- however there's more stuff on hulu+ that you can't watch on hulu).

[6/3/13] VideoBuzz reincarnated.  I wonder if they're able to take down private channels?  which this sort of is.

[11/16/13] WatchESPN comes to Roku.  WatchDisney soon.

[12/24/13] Finally, Youtube has come back to the Roku.  Right now it's only on the Roku 3, but is supposedly coming to the older models (Roku 1, Roku 2, Roku LT) sometime next year.  I have a Roku HD bought last year, so not sure if it'll roll out on that model.

What's neat is that allows you to pair the Roku to your tablet and phone, so you can "beam" the youtube video to the Roku.

Here's a smackdown between the Chromecast, Roku 3, Apple TV.  Notable is that Netflix takes longer to load on the Apple TV.

Buried in the article is a way to watch videos from other countries using a proxy.  In particular, Hide My Ass.  Tried it on slice.ca but didn't seem to work.  Notice they have servers in the US, UK, and NL, but no Canada.  So doesn't appear the .ca domains will work on this.

[4/24/14]  Hey, noticed youtube as one of the featured channels on my Roku HD.  It has finally arrived!  It's apparently a pretty big application as it took a while to load.  And it's pretty sluggish.  After I activated it on my computer and logged in, it takes a while to scroll to my subscription list and playlists.  However once it got going, I noticed there is a cc icon toward the bottom right.  With the option to customize the captions somewhat.  So they're not using the Roku system captions.  But it works!  So another plus for the Roku.  The Apple TV app doesn't support captions for their youtube app.  So I assume that the youtube app on the Roku 3 would be the same.

[5/5/14] check out my Roku 3 post for more comments.  Summary:  Hulu Plus plays much better on the Roku 3, but uses their own captions.  Youtube much more responsive on the Roku 3, but captions for some videos are cut off.

the iPad 4 (and other tablets)

To no one's surprise, Apple introduced the iPad mini (lower case m, btw) at its special event last month. It also introduced a beautifully thin, new iMac, an updated Mac mini, and a 13-in version of the MacBook Pro with Retina display. All of these announcements were expected, but the major product surprise has largely been passed over, and that was the launch of what's being called iPad 4, or more accurately, the iPad with Retina Display.

I watched the event via live streaming on CNet and both CNet Executive Editor Molly Wood and CNet Senior Editor, Brian Tong, who covers Apple were more than surprised by the iPad 4, they were almost apoplectic. Coming just six months after the introduction of the new iPad (nee iPad 3), both Wood and Tong thought that Apple had completely screwed its customers. I beg to differ.

The most significant difference between the iPad 3 and iPad 4 is the addition of Apple's new A6X chip, the same one that was introduced on the iPhone 5. Suddenly, the iPad 4 has "twice the speed and graphics performance" than the iPad 3. This is important for a number of reasons: Gaming, video, FaceTime, Siri and other application function like GPS or, yes, even Apple Maps.

My son received an iPad 3 as a graduation present from his aunt and uncle back in June, and I doubt that he is upset that Apple has refreshed the iPad just four months later. He (and I since I borrowed it a lot before he left for school) loves how well the iPad functions as everything from a reader to a game platform. One of the reasons why is that the iPad 3's greatest improvement was the introduction of the Retina display as well as a faster chip than the iPad 2.

***

Here's CNet's summary:

The good: The newest iPad's faster A6X processor adds extra system speed and graphics power. Improved worldwide cellular compatibility makes the LTE model a more appealing proposition. And the iOS App Store remains best in class, with the widest selection.

The bad: The fourth-gen iPad is otherwise identical to its recent predecessor -- same size, weight, and Retina screen. It's heavy to hold in one hand, and most older accessories won't work without investing in a pricey Lightning adapter.

The bottom line: The latest iPad adds several tweaks and improvements to secure its position at the top of the tablet heap. It's better all around, but third-gen owners need not apply.

***

I kind of want to get one for mom (or a Kindle Fire) so she can read the newspaper on it for one thing.  (Or I can.)

[11/21/12] Or the new Google Nexus (hardware by Samsung).   Reviews: cnn, ZDNet, TheVerge, theguardian, techradar, ubergizmo, androidcommunity, engadget, businessinsider, cnet.

This looks pretty good.  The disadvantage to the iPad are the lack of apps.  The hardware is comparable (or better).  And it's $100 cheaper.  It's a question of whether you like Apple or Google (I like both).

Advantages: HDMI and youtube.  Disadvantage: not Apple (which is the standard), but then I work with PCs

***

Surface vs. iPad vs. Nexus 10 (Puffin browser allows you to run flash on iPad and watch hulu, but choppy)

***

I think if I were to get one device, I would get a Google Nexus 10.  But if money is no object (or not a huge object), I'd want to get a iPad 4 and a laptop running Windows 7.  I'd better go fast, don't know if they still sell Windows 7.

***

A tablet comparison: iPad mini, iPad with retina display, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD 8.9", Nook HD, Nook HD+, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Surface RT

*** [12/25/12] wound up buying a cheapie android tablet from Radio Shack on Black Saturday and returned it a few days ago

*** HP coming out with a $169 Android tablet (half the price of the iPad mini)

*** [3/11/13]

NBC News' compares the iPad Mini to the competition (it's good, but the iPad Mini 2 will be much better)

*** [3/19/13]

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 is now on sale at Costco for only $169.99.  TechRadar reviews it and others such as the Google Nexus 7 and  the iPad mini.

your slow PC

Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, yet sometimes it feels like they exist only to cause us endless amounts of frustration. Popular advice for slow computers includes antivirus, RAM upgrades, or even reinstalling Windows from scratch, but these make a lot of assumptions about what's wrong with your computer (that may not be true).

Upgrading your RAM will help if you have 1GB or less in your system. If you multitask a lot, you'll probably even notice a difference upgrading from 2GB to 4GB. You're best off checking the resource monitor(or Activity Monitor on OS X)" to see how much you use on a regular basis. If your RAM usage isn't running up against its limit, then you're probably fine.

Now let's talk about antivirus. It's not only important to have antivirus software installed, but it's important to have the right kind. Check and see if you have a trusted, updated antivirus program running on your machine. If you do, and it says your computer is uninfected, then you're probably safe. Next, find out what antivirus software you're using. Some programs, like Norton or McAfee, are remarkably slow and bloated. In fact, they're probably one of the reasons your computer is so slow. We recommend ditching other antivirus apps and using Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, lightweight, and will let you know if you download anything suspicious. (Note that Windows 8 users already have Windows Defender built-in, so they don't even need to install anything). You should never have two antivirus apps running at once.

So we've spent a lot of time telling you what not to do, but your computer's still slow and you want a solution. You can start by running a few diagnostics, but chances are, you just have too many apps running at once (especially poorly made ones). Here's what we recommend you do:

Stop Running So Many Apps at Once: Take a look at your system tray (or menu bar). If you have more than a few icons there, you have too many. If something is running that you didn't start, take it out of your startup queue. If you don't know what something is, find out if it's something you really need. If it's something you know you don't want, then uninstall it completely.

Of course, this all assumes you have a relatively new computer that can handle the work you need to do. If you're trying to run the newest version of Photoshop on a 10 year old machine, no amount of responsibility will make it run fast—you'll need a new computer (and you can repurpose that old one). But, barring really old hardware or other special circumstances, you should be able to take any computer and get it running fast again with a bit of care and common sense.

cloaking device built

Scientists have made the impossible possible, disappearing a cylinder by guiding light around it before putting those photons back on their original path -- essentially bending light around the object. This new approach achieves invisibility where others have failed. With a catch, however: It only works from one direction.

The math is incredibly complex and the materials necessary difficult to produce. And while the underpinning concepts allow invisibility in microwaves and hold promise for radar, it won't be easy to make it work at optical wavelengths, cautioned Duke University’s Nathan Landry and John Pendry of London’s Imperial College, who published their results in the journal Nature Materials.

Still, it's a breakthrough six years in the making. The team made their initial discovery in 2006, a new approach to “transportation optics”: artificially structured stuff called meta-materials designed with specific properties. In this case, they move light around in particular ways to shape an electromagnetic signature, hiding an object from radar and some types of cameras.

“We built the cloak, and it worked,” said Landy, a graduate student working in the laboratory at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “It split light into two waves which traveled around an object in the center and re-emerged as the single wave minimal loss due to reflections.”

There are drawbacks to even this research effort, of course. It can only hide objects so small they are not visible to the naked eye, and that success has predominantly been in wavelengths longer than what the eye can, see such as infrared, microwaves and radio.

creating a photo slideshow on DVD

Billy wants to show photos on a big screen TV at his office.

At first, he was going to use a computer and hook it up to his TV.  But then his computer at home was giving him problems, so he took it home.

And now the plan is to burn the pictures to a DVD and show it on the TV with a DVD player.

Sounds good, but I've never done it (nor has he).

He bought this Magix software from Amazon and got an error message.

But now I see free software that should be able to do the job (lmgtfy).

Some likely candidates are:

Smilebox (free software)

Kizoa Slideshow Maker (where you create the project online)

Windows Media Center

Windows DVD Maker (included with Vista and Windows 7)

And here's an intro from HP.

Now to actually try it.

Climate of Doubt

PBS Frontline: Climate of Doubt

featuring Coral Davenport (with a named like Coral..)

***

and the unbiased response

Frontline repeatedly implied that there is an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that our CO₂ emissions are driving us to a global climate catastrophe. They cited 97% as the fraction of the climate science community who agreed with climate alarmism.

That number is easily dismissed. It comes from a 2009 online survey of 10,257 earth scientists, conducted by two researchers at the University of Illinois. Strangely, the researchers chose to eliminate almost all the scientists from the survey and so ended up with only 77 people, 75 of whom, or 97%, thought humans contributed to climate change.

***

which mirrors Larry Bell

[so what is it?  like 90% instead?]

***

here's what skepticalscience wrote.

We should also consider official scientific bodies and what they think about climate change. There are no national or major scientific institutions anywhere in the world that dispute the theory of anthropogenic climate change. Not one.

In the field of climate science, the consensus is unequivocal: human activities are causing climate change.

***

Now, from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment, comes a fresh study on the question of scientific consensus. Its findings offer something new: scientists appear actually to underestimate the extent to which they, as a group, agree on key questions related to climate change science.

***

Wikipedia article on the scientific opinion on climate change

iPad Mini

Steve Jobs said it would never happen. Yet a smaller Apple just fell from the iPad tree.

Apple execs have finally unveiled the company's long-awaited iPad mini -- something Jobs once declared the company would never do. The new $329 product is meant to compete with smaller, 7-inch tablets from companies like Google and Amazon that are nipping at the tech giant's heals.

"You knew there'd be something called Mini in this presentation," joked vice president of marketing Phil Schiller before revealing the hotly anticipated gadget. Apple has sold 84 million iPads since their debut in April 2010, he said.

"So this iPad mini is just 7.2 mm thick. That's about a quarter thinner than the fourth-generation iPad. Thinner than a pencil," CEO Tim Cook told the crowd earlier. The new product has the same resolution as the larger display 1,024 × 768, but it should look sharper thanks to the smaller screen.

It's the iconic hardware that Apple is known for, of course, and the company wasted no time unveiling it. Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for the company, joined Cook on stage to tout the company's victories in that arena, as the pair noted that Macs are the number one desktop and notebook in the country.

To continue that momentum, Schiller revealed a new 13-inch MacBook Pro that he said is 20 percent thinner than the previous generation, and a pound lighter. The new laptop features a 2.5-GHz Intel processor, a high-resolution Retina display with over 4 million pixels, and a solid-state drive rather than a spinning disk. It will start at $1,700, he said.

Schiller also described updates to the company's Mac Mini and iMacs, the later drawing oohs and aahs from the assembled crowd. The new iMac, which starts at $1,299, is a razor-thin all in one computer that starts shipping next month, he said.

"There is an entire computer in here," he said, despite the product's incredibly tiny form.

"We sold more products in the June quarter than any PC manufacturer sold in their entire PC line," Cook said as he returned to the stage.

Bye Bye PCs

When Microsoft introduces its long-awaited Windows 8 operating system Friday, it will be the first Windows rollout to face real competition since, well, forever. Today, smartphones and tablets do almost all of the day-to-day tasks a PC does -- including sending e-mail, surfing the Web, and editing photos -- and do some of them better. Already, tech investors, long accustomed to a lift from Windows, are primed for disappointment.

At the same time, big data -- massive data centers that can marshall tremendous computing power -- is upending the traditional network, pushing information-processing into the palm of your hand. And it's happening faster than almost anybody expected, as last week's spooky earnings surprises at Microsoft (ticker: MSFT) and chip makers Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) made clear.

So who are the winners and losers in a post-PC world? Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), and Samsung Electronics (005930.Korea) certainly stand to gain, and EMC (EMC) will be a winner in the big-data world. Obvious losers include PC makers Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Dell (DELL). Intel and Microsoft, which straddle both the PC and post-PC worlds, are tougher calls. Their high dividends and cheap valuations make them hard for investors to rule out.

On-demand computing, which is to say, the cloud, will benefit Amazon.com (AMZN), and Salesforce.com (CRM). And arms merchants to cloud providers, like storage giant EMC (EMC), also will prosper.

SEPARATING GOOD INVESTMENT IDEAS from bad, however, isn't as easy as picking winners in the marketplace. Companies such as Salesforce and web-hosting outfit Rackspace Holding (RAX) may be essential to this sea-change, but their valuations are scarily high. Salesforce, at about $149, fetches 99 times fiscal 2013 earnings estimates, while Rackspace, which operates massive data centers for cloud services, trades at 86 times. Are their opportunities really that much greater than those at Apple, which fetches 11 times estimates, or at Microsoft, which trades at 10 times?

Probably not, argues Barron's Roundtable member Fred Hickey, publisher of the High-Tech Strategist. "Companies like Rackspace and Salesforce are classic story stocks," he says, "and it is very dangerous to own such stocks when everything they might produce in the way of earnings and cash flow is already priced in." Also in that boat, he argues, is Amazon.com, which stands to prosper if its Kindle Fire can elbow its way into the tablet computer market. But at 104 times earnings, that's a big if.

IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR Microsoft. Smartphones were still relatively primitive when Windows 7 was introduced in 2009, and tablet computers didn't even exist. Now, as the charts "Game On!" illustrate, they threaten the PC hegemony. Neither Microsoft, HP, nor Dell is a force in smartphones or tablets.

"It is becoming a mainstream idea that your PC is not the center of everything," says Kevin Landis of Firsthand Funds, who has owned Microsoft, off and on, for years -- and is nervous every time he does.

That said, Microsoft is putting its vast resources behind its Windows 8 operating system for phones and tablets. And at 12 a.m. Friday, it will begin selling a tablet computer of its own, known as the Surface, setting up a midnight madness event. So we'll know soon how the excitement stacks up against iPhone and iPad madness.

On Thursday, Microsoft reported flat year-over-year revenue, led by a 9% drop in the division that contains Windows. The numbers included pre-sales for Windows 8. Excluding them, sales in the Windows unit dropped by a third. At nine times next year's expected profits, Microsoft shares are very inexpensive, considering the strengths of the company's other businesses, including server software, databases, and collaboration. But unless Microsoft can show that Surface and all the other Win 8 devices will turn the tide for that part of the division, its stock will continue to suffer. Microsoft closed the week at $28.64 and yields 3.2%.

THE INEXORABLE SHIFT AWAY from PCs is causing havoc for manufacturers. This year, worldwide sales of personal computers are projected to drop about 2%, to 357 million units, according to IDC's David Daoud. In dollars, they will fall 5% to 6%. More telling: Smartphone sales are expected to surge 42% this year, to $294 billion, topping PC sales for the first time. And sales of tablets are expected to rocket 65%, to $59 billion.

To Dan Niles of Alpha One Capital Partners, this sounds very familiar. He worked in the 1980s at minicomputer titan Digital Equipment Corp., whose founder, Ken Olsen, famously said there was no reason anyone would want a computer in his home. DEC was later acquired by Compaq Computer and vanished without a trace.

Smartphones and tablets are similarly underestimated now, Niles asserts. For that reason, he's inclined to avoid Intel and Microsoft. "Go ahead, gamble they can make the leap to this new world," he says. "I don't want that bet."

As the PC market fades, Intel is trying to maintain its lead in server chips, while becoming a force in phones and tablets. Last week, it reported that PC growth had slowed last quarter and this quarter to half its usual seasonal rate, disappointing investors waiting for spiffy new "ultrabook" laptops to make a splash. At the same time, CEO Paul Otellini said Intel's new Atom chip would be in 20 tablets this quarter, including the Surface.

The problem is that Intel has more to lose from the PC decline than to gain from selling cheaper chips for tablets and smartphones. The company's shares, which closed the week at $21.27, trade at nine times next year's estimates and pay a rich 4% dividend. While Intel may never be a growth company again, it probably won't hurt investors who own it.

Apple, trading at 9.1 times this year's projected profits, after backing out $117 billion in cash and investments, is priced quite reasonably, given its expected 24% growth in revenue this year. Even as one of the world's dominant phone makers, it has just 7% of the mobile-phone market, according to Gartner, giving it ample room to grow.

Samsung, the dominant global phone producer, shows no sign of stopping its gains at the expense of smaller companies. Its stock is also undemanding, at 7.5 times next year's earnings' estimate. The Korean-listed shares traded Friday at 1.302 million won, about $1,200; its unsponsored American depositary receipts are thinly traded.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POST-PC world is the cloud. On route 101 in Silicon Valley, Wal-Mart has posted signs reading "WALMART DATA," offering jobs to engineers in its San Bruno labs. That's a sign of just how mainstream it's become for companies to sift through enormous amounts of information.

Wal-Mart's quest, and others like it, are changing the very nature of data, says Paul Saffo, a tech pundit who runs Discern Analytics, a big-data outfit in Silicon Valley.

Big data ultimately will redefine the database. To track customer information and behavior in real time, and to respond to it instantaneously, companies are turning increasingly to databases that put information in the random-access memory chips of a computer, rather than on the disk drive, as has been done traditionally. Database-giant Oracle (ORCL) is fending off new competition from SAP (SAP), which sells just such an "in-memory" database. And start-ups also are targeting the database market. Among them: MemSQL, a Silicon Valley company started by former Facebook engineers.

For the moment, Oracle's traditional databases are benefiting from the surge, but that could change by this time next year.

Google is a player par excellence in big data. Sales of smartphones using the Android OS don't make the company any money upfront—it doesn't charge for use of the system -- but ultimately, all the activity on those phones is sending back to Google real-time data from the world that makes its searches more valuable to advertisers.

Google CEO Larry Page said on last week's call that the company was on pace to generate $8 billion a year from mobile devices. And some day, Google's self-driving car will bring the company real-time readings of traffic conditions -- another way to feed Google's rapacious appetite for big data.

And what of Facebook (FB), which, like Google, is building its own computers from scratch to redesign the data center? Facebook defenders take a typical Silicon Valley attitude, trusting it will try a number of ways to monetize the increasing use of mobile technology and eventually hit on a solution. Firsthand's Landis, who's owned the stock since before its IPO and confesses that he's sitting on a loss, says, "Even if they hit one out of 10 products right, that's enough." 

Amazon.com is one of the most striking players in the post-PC world. Its Kindle Fire, starting at $159, is a truncated tablet -- little more than a means for users to feed at the Amazon trough. Two weeks ago, CEO Jeff Bezos told the BBC that the company breaks even on the hardware, preferring to "make money when people use our devices, not when people buy our devices."

Amazon has overcome many doubters over the years, but with a triple-digit P/E ratio, there's still a lot of doubt to overcome.

EMC is a less expensive way to play the cloud, says Ben Reitzes of Barclays Capital. "EMC's focus is on the hybrid cloud," he says. It has products that help enterprises shift parts of their data-processing into the cloud, reaping greater efficiencies, while maintaining full control of their critical data.

AS THIS FATEFUL YEAR for the personal computer grinds on, some investors probably will bottom-fish for stocks. One that might be worth a look is Seagate Technology (STX), which trades at four times next year's earnings, less than one times sales, and pays a 4.6% dividend. Seagate has a chance to shift from the PC world to the post-PC world, by selling devices for the cloud and tablets. Unlike HP, which has a similarly cheap valuation, Seagate has a strategy for this and the means to implement it.

A factor that's important for all technology stocks is what happens after November's elections. Any progress on tax policy could unleash massive amounts of cash held by tech companies overseas. That, says Paul Wick, portfolio manager of Columbia Seligman Communications & Information fund, could lead to increased share buybacks and higher dividends. It could also encourage mergers and acquisitions, putting some beaten-down names in play.

But unless that happens, expect PC names to struggle as they adjust to a world in which smartphones and tablets are increasingly seen by consumers as capable of providing most, if not all, of the computing power they need.

In short, the traditional economic engine of the personal computer has broken down, and it's unlikely to get back in gear.

Windows 8

[10/20/12] The release of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is a week away, and consumers are in for a shock.

Windows, used in one form or another for a generation, is getting a completely different look that will force users to learn new ways to get things done.

Microsoft is making a radical break with the past to stay relevant in a world where smartphones and tablets have eroded the three-decade dominance of the personal computer.

Windows 8 is supposed to tie together Microsoft’s PC, tablet and phone software with one look. But judging by the reactions of some people who have tried the PC version, it’s a move that risks confusing and alienating customers.

Tony Roos, an American missionary in Paris, installed a free preview version of Windows 8 on his aging laptop to see if Microsoft’s new operating system would make the PC faster and more responsive. It didn’t, he said, and he quickly learned that working with the new software requires tossing out a lot of what he knows about Windows.

“It was very difficult to get used to,” he said. “I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and they never got used to it. They were like, `We’re just going to use Mom’s computer.”’

Windows 8 is the biggest revision of Microsoft Corp.’s operating system since it introduced Windows 95 amid great fanfare 17 years ago. Ultimately, Windows grew into a $14 billion a year business and helped make former Chief Executive Bill Gates the richest man in the world for a time.

Now, due to smartphones and tablets, the personal computer industry is slumping. Computer companies are desperate for something that will get sales growing again. PC sales are expected to shrink this year for the first time since 2001, according to IHS iSuppli, a market research firm.

The question is whether the new version, which can be run on tablets and smartphones, along with the traditional PC, can satisfy the needs of both types of users.

*** [9/25/13, article from 12/22/12 retrevo email]

Windows 8 just takes some getting used to (then it's not too bad)

tablets up, PCs down (not good for Windows 8)

NEW YORK » While Microsoft is touting next week's launch of Windows 8 as the savior of the computer industry, PC makers and analysts are increasingly skeptical that the new operating system will lure consumers away from tablets and smartphones.

Even Intel Corp., which makes the processors at the heart of 80 percent of personal computers, doubts that Windows 8 will have a big impact on sales. CEO Paul Otellini said this week that he's "very excited" about the new operating system but expects the usual holiday bounce in PC sales to be half of what it usually is. Otellini suggested that PC makers are being cautious about building big stocks of Windows 8 PCs.

"We haven't had a chance to really judge how consumers will embrace this in the PC space or not," Otellini said on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Research firm IHS iSuppli expects the industry to ship 349 million PCs this year, down 1 percent from last year's all-time high. Although small, the decline would be the first since 2001.

In the U.S., a mature market where consumers are gobbling up tablets, PC sales have already been declining for two years.

Meanwhile, Apple has been doubling sales of iPad tablets every year since the first model was introduced in 2010. In the April to June period, Apple shipped 17 million iPads, while Hewlett-Packard Co., then the world's largest maker of PCs, shipped 13.6 million PCs, according to Gartner analysts.

Smartphones, which were a niche market before the 2007 launch of the iPhone, outsold PCs last year, even though PC sales were at a record high. Some 488 million smartphones were sold in 2011, according to research firm Canalys.

The PC market is still big, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the Seattle Times last month, "and Windows 8 will propel that volume."

Windows 8 is a response to the popularity of tablets. It tosses out many Windows conventions in favor of a radical new look that's designed to be easy to use on a touch screen. With Windows 8, PC makers are releasing a slew of laptops that double as tablets, either with detachable screens or with screens that fold down over the keyboard [don't they already do that?].

But Citigroup analyst Joe Yoo is even more pessimistic than Intel that Windows 8 will spur a turnaround in sales of desktop and laptop computers. It could turn out to be a "non-event" in terms of getting people to buy PCs, he said.

eMachines monitor resolution

My old 17" CRT monitor (CTX that I got from someone, Jeff?) finally went out.  It had been getting a vertical line in the middle of the screen for a while, but I always managed to get it working again by turning off the monitor or pulling out the power plug for a while and plugging it back in.

The problem would occur when I would switch off the monitor to conserve electricity and then when I tried it switch it back on the vertical line would occur.

This time the line occurred while the monitor was on.  After a few attempts to get it back, I figured it was time to let it go.

I hooked up the eMachines monitor that I used in the past (from Evelyn?).  This is a widescreen monitor that measures about 18" diagonally (16" horizontally and about 9-1/4" vertically).  But the resolution looked off.

The resolution for the old CRT I believe was 1024x768 which is a 4:3 ratio.  This other monitor I suppose should use a 16x9 ratio.  So I went to the display properties and chose the highest resolution which is 1366x768 which is pretty close to 16x9 (1.7786458 to 1.7777777).  It looks OK, but the contrast seems a little more harsh than the CRT.  I guess it's an digital picture vs. an analog picture.

The control panel detects it as a generic PnP monitor.  But the Nvidia control panel identifies the monitor as E182H.

Googling that brings up this cnet page which says it's 18.5" monitor with a max resolution of 1366x768.  OK, I guess that's the resolution to set it at.

I still don't like how the colors looks on this monitor.  Let's try some different color schemes.

(Using Vista) Control Panel.  Personalization.  Window Color and Appearance.  open classic appearance properties for more color options.  I see it's set a Windows Aero.

OK, tried that.  Tried changing the brightness and contrast from the monitor controls.  Still don't like it.  I think it's because the white background is too bright.

Tried changed the windows background color to light gray, but it's still white.  I think it might be determined by the browser.

OK, on firefox I changed the settings.  Went to options, options, content, colors, background, and uncheck allow pages to choose their own colors.  Looks less harsh, but the google buttons now look strange (just words surrounded by boxes).

[10/11/12] Changing the background color of some of the documents in google docs (or whatever they call it now).  OK, that's a little better.

cracking your PIN

If you lost your ATM card on the street, how easy would it be for someone to correctly guess your PIN and proceed to clean out your savings account? Quite easy, according to data scientist Nick Berry, founder of Data Genetics, a Seattle technology consultancy.

Berry analyzed passwords from previously released and exposed tables and security breaches, filtering the results to just those that were exactly four digits long [0-9]. There are 10,000 possible combinations that the digits 0-9 can be arranged into to form a four-digit code. Berry analyzed those to find which are the least and most predictable. He speculates that, if users select a four-digit password for an online account or other web site, it's not a stretch to use the same number for their four-digit bank PIN codes.

What he found, he says, was a "staggering lack of imagination" when it comes to selecting passwords. Nearly 11% of the 3.4 million four-digit passwords he analyzed were 1234. The second most popular PIN in is 1111 (6% of passwords), followed by 0000 (2%). (Last year SplashData compiled a list of the most common numerical and word-based passwords and found that "password" and "123456" topped the list.)


Berry says a whopping 26.83% of all passwords could be guessed by attempting just 20 combinations of four-digit numbers (see first table). "It's amazing how predictable people are," he says.

We don't like hard-to-remember numbers and "no one thinks their wallet will get stolen," Berry says.

[via scalenet]

Star Trek doodle

how to play

U.S. CO2 emissions at 20 year low

PITTSBURGH -- In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators to switch from dirtier-burning coal.

Many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't see the drop coming, in large part because it happened as a result of market forces rather than direct government action against carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State University, said the shift away from coal is reason for "cautious optimism" about potential ways to deal with climate change. He said it demonstrates that "ultimately people follow their wallets" on global warming.

"There's a very clear lesson here. What it shows is that if you make a cleaner energy source cheaper, you will displace dirtier sources," said Roger Pielke Jr., a climate expert at the University of Colorado.

In a little-noticed technical report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that total U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. The Associated Press contacted environmental experts, scientists and utility companies and learned that virtually everyone believes the shift could have major long-term implications for U.S. energy policy.

While conservation efforts, the lagging economy and greater use of renewable energy are factors in the CO2 decline, the drop-off is due mainly to low-priced natural gas, the agency said.


 The International Energy Agency said the U.S. has cut carbon dioxide emissions more than any other country over the last six years. Total U.S. carbon emissions from energy consumption peaked at about 6 billion metric tons in 2007. Projections for this year are around 5.2 billion, and the 1990 figure was about 5 billion. China's emissions were estimated to be about 9 billion tons in 2011, accounting for about 29 percent of the global total. The U.S. accounted for approximately 16 percent.

Apple TV or not Apple TV?

Remember a few months ago, when everyone was hyperventilating about the forthcoming Apple TV?

This was the magical "sheet of glass" powered by Siri that Apple was going to start selling for twice the price of a regular TV.

Apple was going to go do big deals with the TV content companies, disrupt the cable companies, and drive its stock straight to $1,000 by revolutionizing the TV business.

Well, no one talks about the Apple TV anymore.

We're not sure why.

We doubt it has been shelved completely. (We hope not, anyway). Maybe it has just been eclipsed by the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.

But now Jessica Vascellaro and Shalini Ramachandran of the Wall Street Journal bring news that might explain the recent silence about this exciting new Apple product line.

Apparently, Apple has been meeting with cable TV companies recently pitching a new idea: A cable set-top box that is built or at least powered by Apple technology.

This would presumably either be sold directly, via Apple stores, and replace cable customers' current cable boxes. Or it would be bought by the cable companies and rented to subscribers, the same way cable companies rent today's set-top boxes.

The advantages to this sort of deal for Apple are obvious: