News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
A New York man, Philip A. Contos, was motorcycle riding without a helmet as part of a protest against state helmet laws. He had an accident, hit his head on the pavement, and died. State troopers say he most likely would have survived if he’d been wearing a helmet.
Link: http://dailycaller.com/…
The linked page generates highly random passwords and delivers them in a secure manner. It’s probably a bit of overkill, but it’s better to trust Steve Gibson, a well-known and reliable source, than some unknown password generator you find via a Google search.
Thanks to Josh for this link.
Link: https://www.grc.com/…
Did you know there’s a new field of research called spamalytics? It’s the study of email spam. The researchers in the linked article did everything they could to receive spam, and they actually replied to and paid for some of the products. One interesting fact is that the vast majority of spam purchases went through only three financial companies worldwide. This could make it quite easy for authorities to disrupt the flow of money to the spammers. Another tidbit from the article: it takes about 12.5 million spam messages to sell $100 worth of that ED medicine whose name starts with a “V”.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/…
(via The Consumerist)
Remember a few years ago when e-book readers started to hit the mainstream? Well, they’ve definitely arrived. Last May, Amazon announced that it was selling more e-books than printed books.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Television manufacturers and the motion picture industry are pushing 3D technology, even though many consumers don’t want it. For me, it’s the glasses and the eye strain that are the kiss of death. I already wear glasses, so putting another pair on over top of them is awkward and uncomfortable. The linked article also lists reduced picture quality as a reason to abandon 3D.
Certainly it’s much less expensive to offshore your manufacturing to Asia, but some US businesses have said, “Enough!” due to quality problems, production delays, intellectual property concerns, and the large lead time from prototype approval to delivery. These businesses have returned to domestic manufacturing sources. Note that this situation mainly applies to small businesses with relatively low manufacturing volumes—apparently the Asian companies don’t consider them important enough to worry about. But it’s not just small companies. The linked article also explains how Chinese wages are not as low as they used to be, and that offshoring, which used to be a no-brainer, is not necessarily the best business decision to make.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Following in the footsteps of AOL, Myspace has seriously tanked from its days of glory and has pretty much lost relevance. It had an operating loss of $230 million last year, prompting its parent company to sell it at a mere $35 million (when it was originally purchased for $580 million).
Thanks to Josh for this topic.
Link #1: http://allthingsd.com/…
The linked article explains how the number of bars on your cell phone is determined. It’s not nearly as standardized as you’d think. Comparing bars between different carriers, or even different phones, can be a poor indicator of relative signal strength.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
These two cartoon strips by Dan and Tom Heyerman of Pants Are Overrated are spinoffs of the classic Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. They take place when Calvin and Susie are married and have a daughter nicknamed Bacon. Very well done, and they leave me wanting MORE! MORE! MORE!
Link #1: http://www.pantsareoverrated.com/…
Link #2: http://www.pantsareoverrated.com/…
MIT researchers have developed a computer program that’s capable of reading and understanding the instruction manual for the computer game Civilization. Without any prior programming on how to play, the computer read the manual, then was not only able to play the game but went on to win 79 percent of the time.
Link #1: http://www.extremetech.com/…
(via TechRepublic)
Link #2: http://web.mit.edu/…
Adobe Flash is used all over the worldwide web and will continue to be popular for years to come. That being said, however, Flash will eventually be replaced by HTML5 (and its successors). This process is being hastened, in part, because Apple refuses to allow Flash on the iPhone or iPad. Even Adobe has seen the future and is embracing it—they recently released the beta version of a animation development tool that uses HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s called Adobe Edge.
Link: http://www.zdnet.com/…
(via TechRepublic)
I’ve never understood the US government’s reluctance to retire the $1 bill in favor of the $1 coin. The GAO estimates this would save $5.5 billion over 30 years. And while we’re discussing money, wouldn’t it make sense to kill the penny as well—inflation has made them pretty useless, and they cost more than a cent to manufacture.
Link: http://consumerist.com/…
