Android phones text the wrong person without you knowing it

by kamshots

Android still has horrible text messaging bugs that’ll get you fired, busted, or otherwise embarrassed
[Via Engadget]

Pardon us if the headline is a little sensational, but this is one that we’ve personally experienced — and it’s not pretty. For at least the last couple versions, Android has been plagued with a couple extremely serious bugs in its text messaging subsystem that can ultimately end up causing you to text the wrong contact — even contacts that you’ve never texted before. There appear to be a few failure modes; the one we definitely experience on the Gingerbread-powered Nexus S involves being routed to the wrong thread when you tap it either in the Notifications list or the master thread list in the Messaging application, so if you don’t notice, you’ll end up firing a message to the wrong person.

More seriously, though, there’s also an open issue in Android’s bug tracking system — inexplicably marked “medium” priority — where sent text messages can appear to be in the correct thread and still end up being sent to another contact altogether. In other words, unless you pull up the Message Details screen after the fact, you might not even know the grievous act you’ve committed until your boss, significant other, or best friend — make that former best friend — texts you back. There seem to have been some attempts on Google’s part over the year to fix it; we can’t confirm that it still happens in 2.3, but for what it’s worth, the issue hasn’t been marked resolved in Google Code… and it was opened some six months ago.

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Well, if this is something that happens at all, it raises real concerns. Texting stuff to the wrong person really reduces the entire benefit of an Android phone. The fact that they have not fixed it yet is also of concern.

This just plays into the meme that everything Google does is really Beta at best.

This also makes Antennagate look quite tame.

Cool case for iPhone – it measures your heart

iPhonECG case monitors your heart rate to make sure you’re appropriately excited about CES
[Via Engadget]

CES isn’t just about incrementally thinner or faster hardware, you know. Some people like to bring legitimately innovative ideas to the show, such as this iPhonECG case, which does what its name suggests: it takes an ECG (electrocardiogram) reading of your heart’s activity through a pair of electrodes and then communicates its findings to an iPhone 4 it can be attached to. We say it can be attached to an iPhone as communication is done wirelessly, so you’ll probably be able to monitor your ticker’s rhythm without the Applephone pressed against your bosom. Then again, maybe you like that. It’s a free world, we don’t judge. We’ll be sending out our most hairy-chested editor to give this thing a proper test at the Las Vegas convention next week. Until then, scope out the video after the break.

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I imagine we will see a lot of these sorts of devices that permit us to measure all sorts of health data. we can then store or transmit that data for medical officials.

Shatner’s ‘singing’ kind of grows on you

William Shatner performs “It Was A Very Good Year”
[Via Boing Boing]

William Shatner performs “It Was A Very Good Year” on The Mike Douglas Show, 1969.

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Not much like Sinatra’s version but Shatner’s bombastic, smug version has its merits. He got the audience to laugh at one point. Luckily, this version edits out Shatner’s reading of Hamlet’s soliloquy that proceeded it.

I think only Christopher Walken could top this version. His version of Lady Gaga’a Poker Face shows the potential:

Of course, many people know of Shatner’s version of Rocket Man:

Here, the smugness and arcane phrasing are less affective, which probably explains why Family Gut skewered it

Weather happens

by NASA Goddard Photo and Video

Weather happens
[Via CEJournal]

Winter does too

People made their way through Times Square on Sunday evening as the Northeastern blizzard pushed into New York. (Photo courtesy of asterix611 via Flickr Creative Commons)

Global warming causes an increased chance of snowstorms like the one that has been pummeling the Northeast?

That was the red meat thrown out by the New York Times today Christmas Day in an Op Ed column by Judah Cohen, director of seasonal forecasting for Atmospheric and Environmental Research. Not surprisingly, the climate contrarians are gnashing and feasting.

Cohen’s theory is actually pretty interesting. But I have no idea whether he’s right — and his theory is not the point of my post today. (If you’re interested in what other climate scientists have to say about it, check out Andy Revkin’s post today at DotEarth.)

Update 12/27/10: Deja vu all over again? Last February, there was snow in all 50 states, and frigid conditions extended all the way down to the Gulf Coast. I wrote about it in this article, and I mentioned that the Arctic Oscillation was in a particularly intense negative phase. When that happens, the Arctic tends to be warmer and lower latitudes tend to be colder than normal. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? And guess what’s happening with the Arctic Oscillation right now? It has been in a persistent negative phase since November — and it reached quite a low level just eight days ago.

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The picture above shows the snow on the ground after the Christmas Storm of 2010. Here is another nice one showing the cyclonic shape of the storm, explaining the very high winds seen along the coast.

This was a nasty storm brought on by an Arctic phenomenon seldom written about, the Arctic Oscillation. When it is in a negative phase, the East Coast often gets some very cold weather.

I commented on the Arctic Oscillation the CEJournal mentioned last year, when the East got hit with a lot of cold weather. The AO was even lower this year:

I think the East Coast should start looking at which phase the AO is in when deciding what the weather will be like. And, not surprisingly, Greenland temperatures are much warmer than normal, just like last year when the AO was negative.

And Sea Ice Extent is lower this year than in the record year of 2007-2008.

Meanwhile, the West Coast is getting hit with a lot of rain. Climate change puts more water in the atmosphere. We are seeing this right now, with the moisture as snow where it is cold and as rain where it is not.

What people here may not be aware of is that parts of Australia are mostly underwater, after getting hit by a Tropical Cyclone. 400 cm of rain in 24 hours! Some of the largest rainfall in 150 years.

And this was after it had sustained its wettest spring in over 120 years.

The US is not the only part of the world seeing unusual amounts of precipitation.