Coalition airstrike accidentally killed 9 Afghanistan soldiers in what they think was a case of mistaken identity. This has further strained the relationship between the relationship with Afghanistan’s government and gives the Taliban some propaganda material:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/world/asia/23afghan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Raytheon is going after the $250 mil Navy market for small, long-endurance battlefield and maritime surveillance UAVs with its “blended wing” KillerBee UAV:
http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/contractor_eyes_market_1022/index.html
The DoD plans to raise its FY2010 budget request from $527 bil to $587 bil. The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are not included in that amount and adds approximately another $150 bil:
http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/dod_adds_millions_1022/index.html
DARPA is funding a program that looks to develop a suite of tools to enable our military to see inside homes and apartment buildings–blueprints and possible even the people moving around in the building:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/darpa-see-throu.html
The budget crunch has resulted in the cancellation of a spy satellite program, in addition to delaying the Transformational Satellite program:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-10-21-cognress-satellites_N.htm
The collapse of the Transformational Satellite program may kill the Army’s Future Combat Systems program:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/trouble-for-arm.html
Looks like the high-tech Batman-like ship has some problems but also some big operational successes:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/high-tech-bat-s.html
ICO was awarded $371 million plus a disputed $91.6 mil from its lawsuit against Boeing for breach of contract and fraud for satellite pricing:
http://investor.ico.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=342330
There is much speculation over the microsatellite that China launched earlier this month:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1235/1
India’s moon mission plans to create a high-resolution map of the moon’s surface and the minerals below:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081022/news_1n22india.html
Scotch tape is actually an x-ray machine?
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=014&ACCT=1400000101&ISSUE=0810&RELTYPE=PSC&PRODCODE=00000000&PRODLETT=BA&CommonCount=0
iPhone sales have surpassed Apple’s estimates–the goal was to sell 10 million iPhones this year but Apple has already sold 13 million and the Christmas season hasn’t started yet! iPhone sales passed Blackberry sales–impressive, especially when considering that there are so many Blackberry models available on all the different cellular carriers while the iPhone is only available for AT&T:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44027&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
AT&T sold 2.4 million 3G iPhones last quarter, helping it add 2 million customers last quarter…unfortunately, the $900 mill in iPhone subsidies from AT&T actually reduced AT&T’s operating income to 22.8% when it was 26.4% in the year-earlier quarter:
Press release
Article about the G1 launch today from C-Net:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10072545-94.html
Article about the G1 launch today from Wired:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/10/t-mobile-stor-1.html
The Blackberry Bold will arrive in AT&T stores on November 4, priced at $299 with a 2-year contract:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/t-customers-enter-bold-new-wireless-world?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FW&dest=FW
The Blackberry Storm will be out for Verizon on November 16, and a screenshot shows that it will cost $700 at Best Buy. Note that this is the non-subsidized price and the price to people with 2-year contracts will be much less. For comparison purposes, the Blackberry Bold costs $680 at Best Buy, but people who sign a 2-year contract will pay $299:
http://www.berryreporter.com/rumors/blackberry-storm-release-and-pricing-for-best-buy
Vonage got a refinancing agreement that it says will keep it afloat:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=44023&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news
Customer found a racial slur printed on his receipt from a shoe store!
http://www.kmbc.com/news/17768390/detail.html#-
Man tried to shoplift several bags of frozen shrimp by hiding them in his pants!
http://www.nbc6.net/news/17759902/detail.html?rss=ami&psp=news
