LOTD for February 29

The Chairman of the National Intelligence Council described the WMD report for Iraq with an analogy about “having your year-book photo taken on the worst bad hair day ever”

Click to access 20080214_speech.pdf

The Drudge Report violated a news blackout and revealed that Prince Harry had been serving in Afghanistan for the past 3 months. The UK Army got him out of the country once the information was revealed due to concerns that he would be targeted by the Taliban:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/28/prince-harry-fighting-in-_n_88920.html

Ricin was in a Las Vegas hotel room and a man who stayed there is in critical condition:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/29/ricin.hotel/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Pretty cool that these robots are being designed to rescue survivors in disaster areas:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/304728/Robots+in+the+rubble.htm

Interesting discussion about whether or not robots can commit war crimes:
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/02/military-turing-test-would-make-war.html

The Air Force is planning to spend $81 mil to increase its popularity in the US:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/24/AR2008022402083.html

Here is one of the Air Force’s ads:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/video-air-force.html

Robots sentrys made by General Dynamics have been tested at a Nevada base since 2005 and now the Army has ordered 24 robot sentrys in a deal worth up to $40 mil:
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/32325-1.html

According to this study, Phishing attacks in the US last year caused $3.2 BILLION in losses:
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/9291

Verizon’s $60 “unlimited” plan will change on Sunday to a 5 GB limit:
http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=4252

Looks like a 3G iPhone is coming around June, with a chip made by Infineon:
http://www.intomobile.com/2008/02/28/usb-next-generation-iphone-to-use-3g-infineon-chipset-in-mid-2008.html

Amazing that Google’s ad revenue is up 40.1% at this time. Google’s stock price took a hit when a report predicted that their paid clicks were the same as last year…but it appears that the actual figures show that paid clicks are up 45.7%!
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/search/e3i0055cabe5256398ae481a9c1e255b87c

Google launched Google Health, which will keep patient’s health records available to the patients. X-Rays, CAT scans, and other health data will be able to be accessed online by patients. I really hope that they make everything as secure!
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9881631-7.html?tag=nefd.lede

Google’s Google Sites will make it easy for people to put things on their personal webpages, with lots of free tools for web site creation:
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20080228&id=8254520

NSF, Google, and IBM created a strategic relationship for Internet-scale computing:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5644

Microsoft cut the price for Vista to get people to upgrade to it:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2859398120080229?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Disturbing photos from Abu Ghraib, which comes from a talk on how good people can turn evil:
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/multimedia/2008/02/gallery_abu_ghraib?slide=2&slideView=9

LOTD for February 28

It is disturbing that an asteroid (Apophis) is expected to hit Earth in 2036, having an impact similar to that which caused the dinosaurs to become extinct. The direction the asteroid takes as it nears Earth in 2029 will determine if it hits our planet in 2036. We cannot nuke the asteroid, but Israeli students are working on a model spacecraft to solve the problem:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5629

Interesting how this study found that protein in human skin was altered by radiation after just 1 hour of cell phone use:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/9/77/abstract

Boeing is having so many problems with the “virtual fence” border project that the first phase completion just got delayed by at least *3* years:
http://www.fcw.com/online/news/151763-1.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2851016220080228

Obama is launching a ground-breaking political website, first to incorporate video to this extent:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003716760

T-Mobile wants to make its own 3G network in Canada:
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C14695/

The European Union just fined Microsoft $1.35 bil for anti-trust violations, total EU fines for Microsoft now total $2.3 bil:

http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42748&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news

The ITC ruled in favor of Nokia over Qualcomm in their patent dispute:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120416050778298239.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs

Google is launching Google Sites to complete with Microsoft collaboration software SharePoint. SharePoint brings in $1 bil per year for Microsoft and Google is making Google Sites available for free:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/google-goes-after-another-microsoft-cash-cow/index.html?ref=technology

Disney is creating the Guitar Hero-like game called Ultimate Band for the Wii and DS:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/gaming/e3i3e30f0f7322aa07ca70c46fe3ad46f0a

LOTD for February 27

Hawaii has been selected as 1 of the 2 new Department of Homeland Security research locations…that is a great place to have a customer!
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/27/news/story04.html

Report states that the U.S. is losing ground on the Global War on Terror, with the U.S. presence in Iraq fueling the worldwide Jihadi movement:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/by-far-the-grav.html

The Marines have stopped the study that is critical of the bureaucracy that delayed MRAPs being sent to Iraq. The guy writing the report has filed for whistle blower status:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-02-26-marines_N.htm

It is interesting to hear what each of the top Presidential candidates have said about H-1 Visas:
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2008/02/the_three_presi.html?source=NLC-REALITYCHECK&cgd=2008-02-27

Study found that solar energy costs outweigh their benefits right now and new technology is needed:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/02/20_solarpanels.shtml

Solar panels may become the largest semiconductor market ever:
http://rfdesign.com/military_defense_electronics/news/solar_largest_market_0227/index.html

China is building the world’s first 3rd-generation nuclear power plant:
http://www.china.org.cn/china/national/2008-02/27/content_10838764.htm

UK study found that colorless and odorless liquids brought on a plane can be used to create a bomb:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5630

The Air Force is blocking access to blogs:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/air-force-banni.html

Space is apparently filled with nanometer diamonds:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000100~ISSUE~0802~RELTYPE~CS~PRODCODE~0000000~PRODLETT~LY.html

Qwest dumped Sprint yesterday and today admitted that they have been in talks with Verizon:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120405539428194337.html?mod=yahoo_hs&ru=yahoo

YouTube outage globally is blamed on Pakistan’s efforts to take down a specific YouTube clip:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42738&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news

iTunes is now the second biggest music retailer in the U.S.:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42739&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news

It looks like the iPhone hasn’t hurt Blackberry sales much and Apple may not reach their iPhone target sales figure:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42742&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10&view=news

It is sad that Maxim magazine published a review of the Black Crowes album without actually hearing the full album. They initially defended their review by saying it was an “educated guess”, but the backlash has forced an apology now:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_en_ot/music_black_crowes_maxim

It is interesting how certain movie studios signed exclusive deals (totalling $150 mil) to release their HD movies only on HD-DVD, so now that HD-DVD is going away they are unsure if they can release Blu-ray movies:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2651290220080227?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews&pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

Playboy has a national model search contest for “Miss Playboy Mobile 2008:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/playboy-mobile-launches-national-model-search-miss-playboy-mobile-2008-0

LOTD for February 26

Distinguished panel of Engineers says that solar power will scale up to produce ALL of the world’s energy needs in 20 years! There is 10,000x more sunlight than needed to provide for all of the world’s energy needs:
http://www.livescience.com/environment/080219-kurzweil-solar.html

The AIr Force Times reports that U.S. nuclear safety has been declining for years. In 2003 only 50% of Air Force units passed the nuclear safety inspection!
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/02/airforce_250208_nukesafety/

UK officials are concerned about airport security after Greenpeace activists were able to easily get onto the airport tarmac and climb on an airplane…all without ANY security folks noticing them!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/25/nplane425.xml

Interview with the commander of the cruiser that shot the missile that hit the failing spy satellite:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/02/25/the-satellite-shootdown-behind-the-scenes.html

Michigan congressman played “God’s James Bond”, with the outspoken evangelist taking strong anti-gay, anti-abortion fundamentalist positions. He’s under indictment for raising cash for an Al-Qaeda connected group:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/indicted-congre.html

Moth eyes inspire a new way to coat solar cells to make them more efficient:
http://www.physorg.com/news122899685.html

Google is partnering with 5 telecoms to build an undersea cable to Internet traffic between the US and Japan:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/broadband/e3i2d43ffe73a1c42a7c399287424436c19

Update on the ongoing Qualcomm/Nokia feud:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120399179747592515.html

Qwest is dumping their Sprint deal and looking for a stronger partnership for their cellular business:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/26/qwest-ceo-sees-1b-opportunity/

Apple’s iPhone deal in Australia could be illegal there:
http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/02/019220.htm

Verizon’s SDK will be released on schedule apparently (Apple’s is delayed for 3 weeks or so):
http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/verizon-wireless-issue-device-specs-open-development-device-conference-0?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Mobile music revenue is projected to hit $17.5 BILLION by 2012:
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/forecast-mobile-music-revenues-to-17.5b-by-2012/2008-02-26?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

EA is trying to buy Take Two (Grand Theft Auto) for $2 bil:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6dc900a4-e33a-11dc-803f-0000779fd2ac.html

Local Indian casino is building an All-comp hotel. Nobody will be able to pay for a room at the casino!:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20080226-9999-1n26hotel.htm

LOTD for February 25

This special coating that improves solar cell performance will be amazing if they can get it to work properly. In theory, the energy from sunlight falling on only 9% of the Mohave Desert could provide the electricity needed for all of the US!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080222125628.htm

Interesting how the Defense Department prepared their PR campaign for shooting down the spy satellite:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/operation-rog-1.html

Analysis of the B-2 crash on Guam. The U.S. went from 21 B-2s to 20 B-2s after the crash:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/b-2-crashes-on.html

Really sad but thought-provoking story on Afghanistan operations and collateral damage. I would hate to be in the position of having to decide when to accept the killing of innocents and the responsibility of trying to figure out who is a civilian and who is an insurgent:

Article about how technology caused a lot of our operating problems in Iraq. It is interesting how insurgents threaten or blow up the cell phone towers of communities who provide tips for the U.S.:
http://www.wired.com/print/politics/security/magazine/15-12/ff_futurewar

The Taliban is demanding that cell phone service is turned off at night or they will blow up the towers in Afghanistan:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jh7x1H6VJijlNHrYs2HYK5_5yFwwD8V17N880

Debate over whether or not lasers or missiles would be better to defend against rockets. While I was at JPL were shot lasers at satellites in LEO orbit that were rapidly going from horizon to horizon, hitting every time…but that was for communication, not to destroy the target. And the laser we used was huge!
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/israelis-demand.html

Unfortunately, there appears to be a lot of security gaps in the design for the new World Trade Center. I hope they fix this before they start construction on Ground Zero:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/02/24/2008-02-24_pros_fear_new_towers_at_world_trade_cent.html

New tool released to enable hackers to use Google to hack websites easier:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/23/AR2008022301481.html

Information about Intel’s 6-core Xeon and Nahalem CPU have been leaked:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/25/intels-6-core-xeon-and-nehalem-cpu-info-leaked/

Covad and Cisco have given hope to the Silicon Valley WiFi effort:
http://www.mercurynews.com/vindu/ci_8332979?nclick_check=1

The White Spaces Coalition denies that their device failed in FCC testing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/24/AR2008022400990.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080224/tc_pcworld/142762;_ylt=AsA.xOSDSbFAlO0Bu3re.xAjtBAF

The first biofuel-powered flight took place yesterday:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080225/news_1n25biofuel.html

Intel has apparently reneged on its pledge of investment in Taiwan’s WiMAX development, but the Taiwan Economic Affairs Minister says they don’t need Intel:
http://www.digitimes.com/telecom/a20080221PD220.html

Japan successfully launched a high speed satellite to cover Asia in the case of any internet outage in Asia. Max bandwidth to homes is targeted for 155 Mbps and 1.2 Gbps max for businesses:
http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/winds/index_e.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080223/tc_afp/japanasiaspaceinternet;_ylt=AswaAkOME6Dn6OXUkGwV5eAjtBAF

Motorola very cleverly is trying to take advantage of the new law in Thailand that requires drivers to have a hands-free device…Motorola is happy to introduce two new bluetooth headsets in Thailand. California has a similar law to Thailand, but I do not think that they confiscate cell phones!:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42721&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

An Australian team created GiFi, a single chip with 5 Gigabits per second data throughput at 10m range, operating in the 60 GHz band:
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=42727&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10

Interesting how Microsoft has a website set up to battle against negative views of Vista…they offer prizes if you get everything correct in their quiz, but their quiz questions make you parrot the Microsoft marketing and any negative perception of Microsoft is considered wrong in the quiz:
http://apcmag.com/8017/microsoft_battles_vista_perception_issues_15_000_prize#comment-45074

The NY Times launched ShifD, which lets readers who go to their website move content from their computer to their cell phone/smartphone/PDA:
http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/the-new-york-times-company-launches-shifd/2008-02-25?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

Crest added tartar protection to their white strips to give people an excuse for using them to whiten their teeth:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003714573

LOTD for February 22

FEMA is in charge of recovering the debris from the shot-down satellite:
http://ph33r.org/updates/2008/2/19/us-193-space-object-rentry-state-leadership-briefing.html

3 square miles of desert outside of Phoenix will be turned into the world’s largest solar power plant (280 MW). It is interesting to me how they are using the HEAT instead of sunlight to generate energy…I can attest that the Phoenix area can get hot!
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20080221&id=8228289

Australian researchers came up with a way to get cleaner water via nanotechnology:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5597

Google and the nonprofit Cleveland Clinic partner to try to give patients more access and control over their medical records:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120356207523882041.html

Sprint will make its WiMAX an open platform with an SDK and open APIs:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=578

China is going to combine its current 6 telecom companies into 3 large telecom companies:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120361698304583369.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs

Drunk driver parked at a police station and walked into the lobby!
http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2139418520080222?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

I can’t believe that a worker at the Honolulu Zoo left both doors open in the Tiger enclosure and then went somewhere else…they Tiger just walked out and was free for 10 minutes!
http://starbulletin.com/2008/02/22/news/story02.html

Debate over whether or not cell phones/smartphones should come with a warning label (like those on cigarettes) because they can be addictive:
http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2008/02/warning-this-technology-may-prove.html

LOTD for February 21

Article about the successful shot at the failing spy satellite:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UUMHJO1&show_article=1

Analytic Graphics software (I think I learned how to use the program they used!) was used to simulate the shooting of the failing satellite:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/this-week-the-n.html

Here is a video of the satellite being hit:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/video-pentagon.html

The FAA is warning all planes to stay away from Midway Island, as that is where the debris is predicted to fall over the next 2 days. However, nobody has warned the people who actually live on Midway Island:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02202008/news/worldnews/a_fear_of_flying_98441.htm

The kickbacks and bribes that have gone on in Iraq is just amazing and shameful…especially when they actually didn’t care if they put U.S. soldiers at risk:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kbr-war-profiteers-feb21,0,195925,full.story

Scientists are working on a project called “Green Freedom” that converts carbon dioxide in the air into fuel (gas, jet fuel, etc.). If this works, this could mean that cars will not contribute to global warming in the future:
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000100~ISSUE~0802~RELTYPE~MS~PRODCODE~0000000~PRODLETT~IU.html

Rising oil prices is resulting in more and more cellular base stations going green–often using BOTH solar and wind energy to power a base station:
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb20080220_277413.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

$1.6 bil is the estimated cost to bring the US’s “failing infrastructure” to “good condition”. It is interesting that the study found that each $1 bil invested in infrastructure creates between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs and generates $2 bil in U.S. economic activity:
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/business-labor-and-bipartisan-officials-urge-action-to-re-build-nations,284025.shtml

Looks like national security and political concerns are causing a big problem for the Bain/3Com/Huawei deal:
http://www.crn.com/networking/206800794

Sprint is expected to respond to Verizon’s flat-rate unlimited plan by undercutting Verizon’s prices by up to 40% ($60 for unlimited voice/data!)…this would definitely lead to the price war speculated in yesterday’s news:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200802201539DOWJONESDJONLINE000781_FORTUNE5.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2034154420080220?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Ericsson expects mass LTE deployment to take place in 2012:
http://gigaom.com/2008/02/19/ericsson-expects-mass-lte-deployment-in-2012/

The writer’s strike cost LA an estimated $2.5 bil:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i5e7b06bed1aab019b11dde57ba3ea495

Nintendo and Microsoft both now have game services for independent game developers:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2039589620080220?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

LOTD for February 20

Google, Soros (billionaire investor), and Omidyar (investment fund from the founders of eBay) set up a venture capital fund for small and medium size businesses in India:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSBOM5204120080220

Microsoft had to pull the Vista Service Pack 1 update due to problems it was causing:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-6231299.html

Looks like the failing spy satellite is part of a bad defense program–Boeing burned through $10 bil (including $5 bil or so of cost overruns) before the government took the contract away from them and gave it to Lockheed…but Lockheed has also had problems:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/that-satellite.html

Cell phone service on the MOON is being planned by the US and UK, full 4-bar coverage is planned for 2020:
http://www.news.com/Mobiles-on-the-moon-NASA%2C-Brits-dial-up-a-plan/2100-11397_3-6231167.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

Startup uses balloons 20 miles up as mini-cell towers to provide coverage in rural areas, Google may be interested in buying them:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120347353988378955.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs

AT&T and T-Mobile kind of matched Verizon’s flat-rate unlimited plan:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120344410359277287.html?mod=telecommunications_primary_hs

There is a worry by investors that the Verizon plan will result in a price war between cellular carriers that will hurt profits of each company:
http://www.news.com/2100-1039_3-6231235.html?type=pt&part=inv&tag=feed&subj=news

Uranium smugglers were caught on the India-Nepal border:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5579

The technology reviewer really likes his Roomba!
http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitycheck/archives/2008/02/high_tech_or_hi.html?source=NLC-REALITYCHECK&cgd=2008-02-20

LOTD for February 19

Big shortage of engineers is expected due to increased demand, retiring of the baby boomers, plus the 3% decrease in Engineering students getting bachelor’s degrees (while there has been a 50% increase in overall bachelor degrees)
http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000100~ISSUE~0802~RELTYPE~MS~PRODCODE~0000000~PRODLETT~GK.html

Fingerprint scanner installed at a UK nursery…increasing safety of the kids with little privacy objections so far:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7247103.stm

15-year-old girl apparently caught the bird flu from her mother, person-to-person transmission of the bird flu would make things much more dangerous now:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/13/content_7594866.htm

Apparently US Customs officials can copy any files from a hard drive going through customs and even seize laptops or cell phones:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/06/AR2008020604763_pf.html

Terrorism analysts say that Europe has a much bigger terrorism threat than the US, with the people in Europe planning terrorist attacks in Europe citizens of the country they are plotting against:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/13/AR2008021303816.html

The US is planning to distribute comic books (contract goes to a private contracting company) to get the Iraqi public to like the Iraqi forces better:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/the-latest-io-c.html

These guys did the math and concluded that the risk of the dying satellite is minimal even if it is not shot down:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/spy-sat-risks-w.html

The attempt to shoot down the satellite will occur tomorrow night, with the debris cloud going over Canada, Africa, and Australia:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/sat-shoot-down.html

More U.S. Government employees could telecommute, which would save money, time, and help the environment:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/19/More-government-workers-can-telecommute_1.html?source=NLC-GOV&cgd=2008-02-19

$500k prize offered for technology to speed up the airport lines:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5575

Physicist came up with a better way to board a plane–he suggests 10 people at a time in every other row:
http://hsdailywire.com/single.php?id=5565

Intel Capital to invest $2 bil to revive the Sprint/Clearwire deal?
http://www.thestreet.com/s/sprint-clearwire-near-new-wimax-deal/newsanalysis/technology-stories/10403584.html?puc=_googlen?cm_ven=GOOGLEN&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA

WiFi-WiMAX roaming agreements are starting to take off in Europe, with WiMAX at 3.5 GHz and WiFi at 2.4:
http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=OTG3SKXI0IQGAQSNDLPSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=206501777&articleID=206501777

Chinese company is leading an effort to try to cover the entire Beijing area with WiFi, hopefully before the Olympics:
http://www.muniwireless.com/initiatives/2008/02/18/wireless-beijing-an-olympian-effort/

The 700 MHz spectrum auction seems to basically be over…so everyone will find out who got what pieces of the spectrum and they will try to figure out why one block’s auction failed:
http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/259878.html

“Unlimited” mobile data plan in Canada actually has a lot of caps on usage:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/12/rogers_new_unlimited_data_plan/

Verizon is now offering a flat-rate, all-you-can-talk (and text message and surf) plan, the first from a 1st-tier US provider:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10403884/1/verizon-offers-will-rattle-wireless-world.html

400,000 unlocked iPhones may currently be in use in China!
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9873327-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Lots of free software from Microsoft for college students or graduates:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6202f720-de7b-11dc-9de3-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/Products.aspx

Toshiba apparently will not make the HD-DVD players anymore:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTKB00294420080219?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Microsoft doesn’t expect the HD-DVD news to hurt XBox 360 sales:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1819764820080218?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

Microsoft won’t talk about the expected drop in price of their HD-DVD drives for the XBox 360 and their expected future support of Blu-ray:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/02/19/Microsoft-stays-mum-on-Blu-ray-Disc-support_1.html?source=NLC-GOV&cgd=2008-02-19

This person feels that Microsoft is coming out ahead because they can easily add Blu-ray support to the XBox 360 while Sony lost a lot of money by putting it in every PS3:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/65115-is-blu-ray-actually-microsoft-s-victory

This article points out that Sony putting the Blu-ray in every PS3 was critical in Blu-ray beating out HD-DVD:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7252506.stm

MTV owns Nickelodeon and just went for an even younger demographic…they just bought a network of web sites for expectant mothers:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/digitaldownload/broadband/e3i975331243e08d74cc2824355ee1908b2

McDonald’s, Sam Adams, and White Cloud have really improved their brand perception:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003711787

Pepsi and Coke are very concerned about the slowing of bottled water sales, so they are responding via celebrity endorsements and charitable causes:
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003711920

LOTD for February 17

Nice summary of the latest information on the mission to shoot down the failing spy satellite:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/operation-rogue.html

The American Apparel CEO really seems out of control to me…the sexual harassment was bound to happen:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charney17jan17,0,6365222,full.story

Interesting study found that people think that wine tastes better when they are told it is more expensive. It seems our tongues mistake price for quality:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/baba_wine.html

Interesting (and sad) study about some people who never admit mistakes at work…even planning in advance who they will blame when the project fails:
http://www.livemint.com/2008/02/01000707/Why-learn-and-grow-on-the-job.html

This study seems to have found a link between air pollution and sperm mutations that lead to birth defects:
http://www.medicineonline.com/news/10/2680/Air-Pollution-May-Alter-Sperm-DNA.html

http://www.environmenthamilton.org/reports/defects_smog.htm

UCLA researchers found a link between air pollution in LA and birth defects. Apparently, exposure to air pollution in the second month of pregnancy (when baby’s organs begin developing) significantly increases the chance of birth defects:
http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/Urban-air-pollution-linked-to-birth-defects-for-first-time-3B-UCLA-research-links-two-pollutants-to-increased-risk-of-heart-defects-8576-1/

This study found a similar link in a 3-year study in Texas:
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/162/3/238

This paper summarizes the research done on air pollution and birth defects:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/502466

This study links pollution in the 20 biggest cities in the US to shortened life times:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/343/24/1742