Antennagate for a Windows Phone 7 handset?

HTC echoes Apple in defense of HD7 ‘death grip’ issue
[Via AppleInsider]

Using language reminiscent of Apple’s stance on the iPhone 4 antenna problem, Taiwanese handset maker HTC issued a statement Thursday defending its Windows Phone 7 HD7 smartphone from criticisms that it suffers from weakened signal strength when gripped.

[More]

Not really. Mainly because web sites do not get nearly the number of hits when a problem with HTC arises as when they mention Apple at all. I have seen this, with a large number of hits occurring almost anytime I mention Apple.

Apple gets so much attention not only because of its innovation but because the audiences out there follow anything that mentions Apple, either positively or negatively.

HTC could only dream that it could develop an antennagate. That would indicate that its problems drive enough traffic for tech sites to quibble over.

Hans Rosling does it again

The Joy of Stats: Combining Hans Rosling with Holographic Infographics
[Via information aesthetics]

It was only a matter of time before the mind-changing talk of Hans Rosling would find its way to the television medium. A reincarnation of this talk will be part of “The Joy of Stats“, a new television documentary that soon will appear at BBC. This documentary will explore various forms of data gathering and statistical analysis, such as a new application that mashes police department data with the city’s street map to show what crime is being reported street by street, house by house, in near real-time; and Google’s current efforts at the machine translation project.

In the 4-minute movie snippet available below, “superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling” tells “the story of the world” in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers – in just 4 minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine.

While still absolutely great, his holographic stunts are not the same as the sports commentary spiel he did at the TED talk.

[More]

Nobody makes displaying numbers so alive as Hans Rosling. This trek through 200 years of numbers tells us much about our world. How much healthier the world is today is pretty astonishing.

Here is the video:

[Listening to: Odalisque from the album "Castaways and Cutouts" by The Decemberists]

Are TSA scaneers safe? No one realy knows for sure.

by wseltzer

Feature: The physics and biology of the TSA’s backscatter security scanners
[Via Ars Technica]

The recent deployment of backscatter scanning devices meant for airline passengers has caused controversies focused on both the privacy issues of the scans and the safety of the devices themselves (not to mention the unpleasant alternative of an aggressive frisking). The discussion of safety issues has been clouded by two competing narratives. On one side, there’s radiation exposure that’s comically low compared to what comes from simply boarding the aircraft and being lifted above a lot of the Earth’s atmosphere. On the other, there are arguments that the sort of exposure generated by backscatter devices is somehow different.

To provide a better perspective on matters, we’ll explain why both of these arguments are right.

[More]

A very nice article but the upshot is that the safety of these machines is based on physics calculation not medical ones. There has not been a lot of work with the effects of low energy X-rays delivered like these machines do.

And there is still no convincing word on the calibration of these machines, the energy source or much of the inner workings of the machines. As this NYT article shows, there can be thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of safe exposures to radiation.

But if you happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, you die. And that is with exposure where there are clear benefits for the risks. Here there are none.

I’ll probably be asking for a pat down instead of risking this device. I’ll just ask them to change their gloves since i really so not want the glove that handled someone else’s groin and butt to handle mine.

At least they can agree on the important stuff – loud commercials

by angelrravelor

CALM Act passed, will quiet loud TV commercials within a year
[Via Ars Technica]

Though Congress still bickers over net neutrality, spying on Americans, and universal health care, at least Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: TV commercials are too damned loud. After approval by the House, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act is now on its way to President Obama’s desk. It was passed by the Senate earlier this year.

Rep. Anna Eshoo’s (D-CA) bill will require commercials to be at the same decibel levels as programs during which they play. Once signed, the CALM Act will give the FCC a mandate to regulate and enforce volume limits on commercials, ensuring that their maximum loudness does not exceed the average maximum loudness of the program they’re accompanying. Advertisers will have one year to implement technology to keep the volume levels in check.

Rep Eshoo noted that the FCC has received complaints about loud commercials since the 1960s, and that the issue has been the number one consumer complaint about TV in 21 of the last 25 FCC quarterly reports.

“Consumers have been asking for a solution to this problem for decades, and today they finally have it,” Rep Eshoo said in a statement. Thanks to the CALM Act, “consumers will no longer have to experience being blasted at—it’s a simple fix to a huge nuisance.”

[More]

Of course, I imagine we will hear complaints about over regulation by the government but quieter ads will be nice. NBC Universal opposed the legislation.

And it will take some time for the FCC to get the details together. But we do have a bill that both houses and both parties agreed on.

It’s a Christmas miracle.

[Listening to: Only of You from the album "1,039 / Smoothed Out Slappy Hours (Deluxe Version)" by Green Day]

House passes tax extension

by Kamoteus (A Better Way)

So the Democrats in the House have passed legislation to extend the tax cuts for those making under $250,000. The Republicans voted no and luckily lost. Why would the GOP in the House be against extending tax cuts for the vast majority of Americans? Why do they want our taxes to go up? They have said that will want the 2% who have the most income to get extra money.

The GOP has demonstrated that it will oppose this in the Senate. If this fails to pass the Senate it will be because the GOP wants the rest of us to be hurt economically so that they can give extra money to the richest 2% of Americans. They will hurt the other 98% in order to help their rich friends. The very wealthy will get, on average, an extra $98,000 under the Republican’s plan than under the Democrat’s. And for extra measure, the GOP wants to add over $1 trillion to the deficit in doing this, a debt we all will have to pay.

The GOP’s plan: Give more money to the wealthy and make the rest of us pay for it. Or nobody gets anything. Such is partisan politics today.