Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:52:38 GMT

iPodiWay — Yahoo Maps on Your iPod.

Filed under: iPod Family, Tips and tricks, Internet

Now, I love
Google Maps. Since its inception, it’s been my default online maps site. I view it as the logical evolution of the
industry which started with MapQuest and melded into Yahoo! Maps which gave rise to Google Maps. At various times of my
Internet chronology, I’ve been an enthusiastic user of each.

LifeHacker has given us instructions for putting
Google Maps on
your iPod Photo and now Yahoo a third-party programmer has answered with a web application that
allows you to enter directions between two points, then zips the results into a .zip file for download. All you do then
is unzip the file and place the images in your Photos library for it to upload to your iPod. Yahoo This
service is being called iPodiWay. It’s really not a bad idea.

[Edit:
Corrected mistaken Yahoo affiliation].

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[The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

I love my new video iPod and here is another use.

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:51:45 GMT

The Most Expensive iPod Speakers Ever!.

Filed under: iPod Family

If
you thought those $600 speakers for your iPod were
expensive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Hammacher Schlemmer has released the Studio-Quality Triode-Tube iPod Speakers at
a mere $3999.95. No, that’s not a typo, they want you to spend four thousand dollars on a speaker set for your iPod.

Okay, take a minute and breathe. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Better?

Now, at least for the $4000 you
get a nice device. From the product description:

“…the system consists of an aluminum-encased amplifier housing four powerful
Class-A tubes which glow gently as they generate warm, low-octave sound that is virtually distortion-free, considered by
audiophiles to be the most pleasing to the human ear. The tube amplifier smoothes over distortions found in modern
digital recordings while helping to compensate and minimize the quality loss inherent in compressed audio such as
MP3s.”

So it’s not like it’s a $100 “antique” chair marked up to $5000 and being sold
in some Upper East Side furniture store. There’s some real tech involved.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned
living in NYC (and consulting for the rich and famous), it’s that some people will buy anything if it’s marked up high
enough and perceived as a “luxury” item. I have to believe that this falls clearly in that category.

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[The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

$4000 speakers for an iPod. Right.

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:40:36 GMT

German Press reports Bush getting ready to attack Iran. Should get interesting when 350,000 Irani army members come swarming across the boarder into Iraq as a counterpunch.

This is why you don’t start frivolous wars, so you’re ready and able to fight the ones that matter. I don’t necessarily have a problem taking out Iran’s nuclear facilities, but for one itty bitty catch. Iran’s army was half a world away, now it’s literally on our border (i.e., By noemail@noemail.org (John in DC). [AMERICAblog]

I have to hope this is wrong. Iran is a very different country than Iraq and could cause real problems, considering we do not have the troops to deal with 67 million people who will be quite upset if we start blowing things up. Iran also has a long coast line with the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz. seems they could really muck up oil supplies if they wanted to. According to the CIA factbook, they export about 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. For comparison, the Saudis export about 9 million barrels per day.

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:31:10 GMT

Bush to stonewall spying investigation. So, the Department of Justice is investigating to find out who leaked the illegal spying story, but the Bush White House will work to prevent and impede the Congressional investigation according to the New York Times. If they weren’t breaking the law, they’d have nothing to hide:Though Mr. Bush made no mention of the subject in his radio address, some of his advisers and national security By noemail@noemail.org (Joe in DC). [AMERICAblog]

Hard to have a debate when one side will not talk.

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:30:33 GMT

Yeah, Kevin Madden, we all believe you. John posted the huge story which the Washington Post broke today further linking DeLay and Abramoff. Now, DeLay’s spokesperson, Kevin Madden, is defending the integrity of his boss:A spokesman for embattled Rep. Tom DeLay on Saturday disputed any assertion that donations to a nonprofit group linked to the congressman influenced his legislative agenda.

So much money. So much corruption. But, really, just trust these guys. They would never use their power for personal profit, only to stop terrorists.

Those donations, to a now-disbanded By noemail@noemail.org (Joe in DC). [AMERICAblog]

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:13:37 GMT

DrugReporter: Justice, Texas Style. Reporter Nate Blakeslee’s new book describes what can happen if you’re arrested in Tulia, Texas — and you’re young and black. [AlterNet.org: Coverage Areas]

Just a small reminder what can happen when those in power are corrupt and believe they are immune. So, why should we expect the Executive branch to be immue, especially when we have such amble evidence of their previous lies and misleading statements?

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 05:09:40 GMT

Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax Set Free.

Why is it not bigger news that those infamous Iraqi female scientists once routinely referred to in the media as “Dr. Germ” and “Mrs. Anthrax” have been quietly released from imprisonment in Iraq without any charges being brought by their U.S. captors? Don’t the newspapers and TV networks that all but pre-convicted them of crimes against humanity owe them – and us – the courtesy of an explanation for the sudden presumption of their innocence?

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

[Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines]

As with so many terrorism suspects, they are arrested with great fanfare, then released when no one is looking. Why should we trust these guys, again?

Thu, 29 Dec 2005 04:55:54 GMT

G. K. Chesterton. “It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.” [Quotes of the Day]

Bob Hope. “If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play at it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.” [Quotes of the Day]

Cary Grant. “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” [Quotes of the Day]

George Carlin. “Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.” [Quotes of the Day]

I’m sure there is a message there. I’m just too tired to see it.

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 12:13:23 GMT

Diebold Drops Out Of North Carolina… Again. It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for voting machine maker Diebold. After getting kicked out of one Florida county and all of California, the company has announced that it’s withdrawing from North Carolina, as it cannot meet the election integrity standards in place by state law. The main complaint from Diebold is that it can’t hand over all the source code, because not all of it belongs to them. In fact, Diebold claims that no vendors could possibly comply with the law, though the one remaining candidate in North Carolina, Election Systems & Software, doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. Even more amusing is that Diebold has offered to help the state rewrite the law so that “all vendors will be able to comply with the state election law,” which made the EFF crack: “Funny. I didn’t realize that the purpose of election integrity laws was to ensure that an equipment vendor could do business with the state.” Of course, don’t count Diebold completely out yet. Remember they were dropping out of North Carolina a month ago too — only to get certified anyway. What’s really scary is that Diebold still doesn’t seem to recognize why there’s so much concern about their equipment. Instead of making jokes and trying to rewrite laws, maybe they should focus on building better voting equipment that isn’t easily hacked, adding in a verifiable paper audit as a backup, and then letting people really attack the security so that everyone feels more comfortable that any election using their equipment is as fair as possible. If they really believe in their ability to make accurate and secure equipment, why would they possibly keep avoiding those things?

[Techdirt]

The apparent easy hackabilit of Diebold machines should give anyone pause. Why in the world are we permitting the voting process to be guided by rivate companies that want to keep their inner workings hidden? If we can not see the software to make sure hacks are fixed, then we should just do it the same way Canada does – fill out paper ballots.

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 12:09:17 GMT

Glass shape ‘affects drink size’. People are more likely to pour extra alcohol into short, wide glasses than tall, narrow glasses, a study says. [BBC News | Health | World Edition]

Is this because a short, wide glass is less likely to be spilled by a drunk? Here, the students said that they thought the tall ones held more, so they compensated by putting more in the shor ones. Weird.

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 12:06:16 GMT

Studying the fate of drugs in wastewater. Acetaminophen is the most widely used pain reliever in the United States, and a study of 139 streams by the US Geological Survey found that it was one of the most frequently detected man-made chemicals. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have found that the drug readily reacts in chlorine disinfection to form at least 11 new products, at least two of which are known to be toxic. [EurekAlert! - Biology]

The presence of pharmaceuticals in our environment will become a much more question over the next few years. People will be getting drugs in ways that we do ot expect. And these drugs will also be altered in ways that are hard to predict.

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:46:10 GMT

So can Bush assassinate New York Times reporters?. Seriously. I’d like to know what limit, if any, there is to Bush’s commander-in-chief powers. Bush said that the New York Times jeopardized national security and the war on terror by publishing its story revealing that he broke the law by spying on Americans. So, can Bush have New York Times reporters arrested and executed for treason? Or at the very least, when the NYT executive editor met By noemail@noemail.org (John in DC). [AMERICAblog]

Where does executive power end? How will these guys feel when a Democrat is President and can use these powers? Are we going to see a replaying of ‘Becket’ before this is done.

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 00:42:41 GMT

Molly Ivins: The Constitution Does Not Apply. Bush is not above the law, so why is he acting like a God-appointed king? [AlterNet.org: Columnists]

Always like Molly. Glad our government is checking out those terrorists hiding in the Quakers and vegans. Makes me sleep better at night. Why do some conservatives distrust what the government does with their money but has no distruct that surveillance will be abused? Why is the government incompetent in one area but not the other?

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:54:32 GMT

Steyn, oblivious [Pharyngula]

One of the nice thigs about the Internet and blogs is seeing people with knowledge destroy the arguments of those with little knowledge. That is one reason I like to read Pharyngula.

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:48:10 GMT

Cattle not helped by UK badger cull. Latest findings show that killing badgers causes more cattle tuberculosis than it prevents [News from The Scientist]

The transmission of infectious diseases is not simple. These non-intuitive results demonstrate that. This is why ‘conventional wisdom’ must be viewed with a skeptic’s razor until actual facts emerge.