0 New Ferrari biometric technology 'reads driver's mind' to adjust car stability

Mind reading apparently is no longer reserved for psychics: it may soon trickle down to automobiles. 

According to global patent applications recently submitted by Ferrari, the sports car manufacturer is developing technologies aimed at monitoring a driver’s mental and physical state, and subsequently adjusting traction and stability controls to suit.

"Drivers tend to miscalculate -- in particular, overestimate -- their driving skill and, more importantly, their psychophysical condition, with the result that driver-selected dynamic vehicle performance simply reflects the driver's wish, as opposed to the driver's actual psychophysical condition and proficiency," Autocar.co.uk quoted Ferrari's application as saying.

The Europe-wide and global patent applications show how Ferrari expects a range of sensors to provide the cars of the future with data on the driver, allowing it to adjust its set-up accordingly.

The application continues, "The biometric sensors may comprise a piezoelectric measuring device for measuring the driver's respiration, a device for measuring the driver's blood pressure and heart rate, a television camera for monitoring the driver's eyes (blink rate) to determine the driver's alertness, a device for monitoring the electric activity of the driver's brain, a device for recording the driver's surface temperature and a device for recording the conductivity of the driver's skin (to determine the degree of perspiration)."

A diagram indicates that sensors would be mounted in the cabin ceiling, dashboard, steering wheel and driver's seat area.

It also includes a manettino dial, indicating that Ferrari intends to continue offering the race-based driver control system.

Ferrari said, "The dynamic performance may be modified to enhance driving safety in the case of a tired or unresponsive driver, and also to enhance driving pleasure and/or performance in the case of an alert, responsive driver."

0 Nintendo warn that it's new 3DS Games May Damage Kids' Eyes

As gamers eagerly await the release of the Nintendo 3DS, a portable console featuring glasses-free 3D technology, the company has issued a warning to consumers.

Nintendo stated that viewing images in 3D may cause damage to the eyes, especially in children younger than six years old.

The disclaimer was posted to Nintendo's Japanese website along with guidelines for proper use of the 3DS device, Fox News reports.

According to a translation of the warning (via Google Translate), Nintendo says that young children's eyes are not fully developed and that prolonged exposure to 3D images could interfere with proper growth in a ways that might not affect an adult's eyes.

Engadget has details: "Nintendo [...] says that children under six shouldn't use the 3D mode at all, since their eyes are still developing, and that parents can use controls built into the 3DS to lock it into 2D mode for children."

Nintendo's warning also informed adult gamers on proper 3D gameplay. "[P]layers are advised that 3D gameplay causes eye fatigue more quickly than 2D gaming and are told to take a break after 30 minutes of play -- and you should quit immediately if you get ill," writesEngadget.

In July, Sony warned of similar issues with its PlayStation 3, amending its terms of service to offer a stark warning for users.

Some people may experience discomfort (such as eye strain, eye fatigue or nausea) while watching 3D video images or playing stereoscopic 3D games on 3D televisions," read Sony Online's amended terms.

The Escapist is now reporting that young children will be barred from using the 3DS console at the upcoming Nintendo World event, which will showcase the device.

Ophthalmologist Michael Ehrenhaus told Fox News that children as old as eight years old may be at risk of developmental damage, but he also said that Nintendo's warning may be a bit extreme. "I don't foresee it as a major issue," Ehrenhaus conceded. "[Nintendo are] just being overly concerned."

In a related report 

3D TV Health Risks 7 People Warned Not To Watch 3D TV

0 Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole forces closure of Tampa airport

Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached -- of all places -- Tampa International Airport.

The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north pole.

The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of South Tampa.

The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.

Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations.

The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth's magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the core of the planet.

Ref: Tampa Bay Online.

1 Two million UK homes to get British Gas smart meters by the end of 2012

British Gas is to install two million dual fuel smart meters in UK homes by the end of 2012, ahead of the government’s own smart meter roll-out

The race is on. Utility companies across the world are rushing to roll out smart meters to millions of consumer homes and business premises. Across the pond in the US, for example, six per cent of the population has a smart meter. Closer to home, Italian trailblazer Enel, Europe's third-largest energy supplier by market capitalisation, had deployed smart meters to its entire 27 million customer base by 2005. The UK has caught on too, with plans to install a smart meter in every home by 2020 – or three years sooner, if new prime minister David Cameron gets his way. This may all come at a cost: security experts claim that the utilities' haste to deploy smart meters ahead of rivals means that important security implications may have been overlooked.

The type of meter installed will vary from country to country and from one vendor to another, but in essence they will have certain key characteristics: they will measure how much energy a household or business uses, information which will then be fed back in real-time to the utility provider via a GPRS connection. The basic premise is that smart meters allow customers to monitor their own energy use, enabling them to make reductions in consumption and carbon emissions.

A noble intention indeed, but this is not to say that consumers' hands won't be forced somewhat: in fact, meters will be compulsory. “You don't actually have a choice,” explains Joshua Pennell, founder and president of security company IOActive. “If and when the utilities decide to deploy a meter, you cannot ask them to not install one.”

Pennell cites cases in the US where customers tried to discourage their utility provider from installing a meter in their home. “The utility basically said, ‘if you don't allow us to install one, we'll simply remove the old meter and you'll have no power to your home'.”

  

And it's no wonder that the utility companies are so keen to deploy them. The information they collate will be used to devise a series of tiered pricing models. This means, for example, that they can price energy higher at times of peak use, to encourage consumers to use less electricity or gas at these times.

As a result, thrifty customers will save money by opting to use their high-energy appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers, at off-peak times. It could spell good news for the Government too – if consumers respond to the incentives and use less energy, it may not be necessary to build new power stations. No wonder prime minister David Cameron pledged to commit £1bn to the smart grid project in his manifestos for both the European and UK elections.

This isn't the only benefit for utility companies. It will also cut their costs on two fronts. First, they won't have to foot the bill for staff to go out and read the meters. Second, as first:utility, the Midlands-based energy company discovered, more than 80 per cent of the queries handled by its call centres used to be about billing queries. Now, with smart meters installed, “that figure just falls off a cliff”, according to Mark Daeche, chief executive of first:utility. “The customer can see how much they're using and when they're using it, so it really has reduced the number of disputes quite dramatically,” he adds.

 But it is this detailed information that is at the centre of concerns about privacy. If the energy consumption data collated by a smart meter fell into the wrong hands, it could be useful to burglars, as they would be able to easily deduce whether a property's occupants were likely to be at home or not.

Remote control of your heating

“This is where I see issues of security on the roll-out of smart meters,” admits Daeche. “We know how important it is that this information stays private.” To reduce personal data theft, first:utility, which has more than 20,000 smart meters installed in the UK, encrypts information at the ‘head-end' servers that manage the data collection before it is sent via an SMS packet. It is then decrypted when it reaches the utility provider's system, which manages and monitors the meters.

Trevor Niblock, who is head of security for British Gas smart metering, agrees that privacy is “a really big challenge. We have the potential to collect a lot of information about our customers,” he admits. That could be the least of his worries. By Niblock's own admission, attacks on the head-end system are also a pressing concern. They could cause wide-scale outages – a denial-of-service attack. “If someone were to take control of the head-end, the potential is there to turn off a number of meters,” he says.

British Gas, and parent company Centrica, has gone to some lengths to help mitigate such threats. It employs two full-time staff with experience in security dedicated to the project, as well as a central policy and governance team that establishes the policies and practice standards Centrica has to conform to. It also partners with Deloitte & Touche, which helps the company with things such as penetration testing and risk assessment of its supply chain.

Concerns around security become even more pressing as the proliferation of smart meters paves the way for the implementation of a national ‘smart grid'. “For me, the main concern is that whole areas of countries or cities could be taken out,” explains security expert – and a Jericho Forum founding director – David Lacey. “Not only would the amount of disruption caused be massive, but it also makes you very vulnerable to other forms of attack.”

A main cause for concern is the remote connect/disconnect feature. It pretty much does what it says on the tin: it will allow the utility companies to turn the power on and off without actually having to access the property, as would have been the case previously. And because UK providers want to have this feature across all three main utility services – electricity, gas and water – that will mean all three services can be shut off remotely via a communications channel (such as GPRS) that has been plagued with security issues in the past.

further reading:
http://www.energyhelpline.com/fri/fri/domesticenergy/news/article/800325042

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2010/03/two-million-homes-to-get-british-gas-smart-meters-208159/

0 Crocodile Dundee star to sue Australian government for £51 Million

'Crocodile Dundee' star Paul Hogan is to sue the Australian government over accusations of tax evasion.

The actor, who has been investigated for five years by the authorities over claims he has used off-shore bank accounts to conceal his earnings, has blamed the government for damaging his reputation. 
His lawyer Andrew Robinson said, "His earning potential and reputation has been decimated."

The case by the Australian authorities was eventually dropped late last year. Hogan is now reportedly seeking up to £51 million for loss of earnings.

"We already have a film producer and financier who are prepared to testify Mr Hogan's loss of income during the period of investigation has been in the range of $10-15 million (£6.4 - 9.6 million) per annum," added Robinson.

Hogan previously called on the Australian Crime Commission to publicly apologise for branding him "a criminal, a fraud, a money launderer and tax evader".

0 Dogs don't care if their owners are a little nutty

A new study shows that a pet dog doesn't care if its owner is nutty. Researchers at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and at Harvard University have claimed that dogs don't really pick up on rationality.

 

Tell that to these guys

Behavioural researcher Claudio Tennie and his colleagues said that previous experiments that proved dogs can differentiate between rational and irrational behaviour assumed that dogs are able to learn by copying behaviours, which is not at all proven. 

"There doesn't seem to be any social learning in dogs. We couldn't find imitation in dogs. Dogs completely failed to do that," Discovery News quoted Tennie as saying.

 

His team have tried to find such behaviour in dogs - like whether a dog can learn a dog-human ball game by watching - but found none.

 

To examine the matter more closely, Tennie and his team duplicated an earlier experiment to see if it was just the presence of a ball-a highly interesting object to most dogs-that was actually causing dogs to seem to distinguish between rational and irrational acts.

 

"(Tennie and his colleagues) have convincingly shown that ...it is the sight of the ball, rather than assessing rationality of choice of means as a function of the context, that primes the mouth action," said Gyorgy Gergely of Central European University's Cognitive Development Center in Budapest.

 

They then tested whether dogs could distinguish between a human pointing to food with their toe or fingers, with and without hands free (rather like the original experiment with human children).

 

What they found is that the dogs didn't notice the rationality of the act, but took the clue in a more pragmatic way and found the food either way.

 Their experiments are reported in the January issue of the journal Animal Behaviour.

0 9/11....What Hijackers?....the alive ones mabey? (VIDEO)

This very well produced video thoroughly examines the FACTUAL reasons the " Official 9/11 story" will never add up, the fact that most of the Hijackers of the planes that day are very much ALIVE and WELL today.

It also goes on to examine a video the world were told (by the CIA) was of  Bin Laden " Accepting Responsibility"  for the attacks...
in reality he NEVER HAS he was in fact only talking about the event.

Further Reading: 

http://911research.wtc7.net/mirrors/guardian2/september-eleven/hijackers-alive.htm

0 Bloomfield Police Seek Man In Theft of Nuclear Device...from pizza delivery man.

Police have made one arrest and are seeking a second man in connection with the holdup of a pizza delivery man last week that also netted the bandits a nuclear device.
Bloomfield police are looking for Vaughn Gresham, 19, of 685 Blue Hills Ave., Hartford, in connection with the Dec. 29 robbery.

Gresham and a 17-year-old are accused of robbing the man, then taking his car, which had in it a nuclear density gauge. Police recovered the car and the gauge Dec. 30.

The pizza delivery man was working a second job when he was robbed Wednesday night. His primary job was with MT Group LLC, which owned the nuclear density gauge. The company, concerned radiation would be released if the gauge was tampered with, offered a reward for its return.

Bloomfield police have an arrest warrant charging Gresham with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, third-degree robbery and carrying a dangerous weapon. Police are asking anyone with information about Gresham's whereabouts to contact them at 860-242-5501, ext. 0.

Police charged the 17-year-old, whose name was not released because he is considered a juvenile, with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, third-degree robbery, carrying a dangerous weapon and second-degree assault.



http://www.courant.com/community/wallingford/hc-bloomfield-nuclear-pizza-0106-20110105,0,3784759.story

Expect this to happen alot more often in the future.....

0 Another US missile test seen in Guilf of Mexico? (VIDEO)

Missile? seen off Texas coast - 1-2-2011

0 Mass Bird & Fish Die-Offs Go Global, Spark End Times Panic

Brazil, Sweden and New Zealand hit with strange phenomena as speculation rages

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com Wednesday, January 5, 2010

The mass bird and fish die-offs that have affected parts of the U.S. over the last week have now gone global, with Sweden, Brazil and New Zealand becoming the latest countries to experience a phenomena that has sparked both scientific intrigue and apocalyptic panic in equal measure.

Following the sudden deaths of thousands of birds that fell over Beebe Arkansas on New Year’s Eve, in addition to 100,000 dead fish found along a 20-mile stretch between the Ozark Dam and Highway 109 Bridge in Franklin County, 500 dead blackbirds and starlings were subsequently discovered in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

The mass bird and fish die-offs that have affected parts of the U.S. over the last week have now gone global, with Sweden, Brazil and New Zealand becoming the latest countries to experience a phenomena that has sparked both scientific intrigue and apocalyptic panic in equal measure.


Following the sudden deaths of thousands of birds that fell over Beebe Arkansas on New Year’s Eve, in addition to 100,000 dead fish found along a 20-mile stretch between the Ozark Dam and Highway 109 Bridge in Franklin County, 500 dead blackbirds and starlings were subsequently discovered in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana.

Large numbers of dead birds were also found in Kentucky around Christmas and more were found in the following days. Earlier this week, tens of thousands of small fish were found washed up in the Chesapeake Bay area. Despite their deaths being blamed on a cold snap, experts are bewildered that the fish didn’t swim to warmer waters as would be their normal response.

In a separate report emailed to us by an Alex Jones Show listener, more dead birds were seen near St. Louis, Missouri.

“I just wanted to let Alex now that I encountered over a hundred blackbirds killed on Christmas Day. This was about 30 miles south of St. Louis, MO near highway 55. The intersection was covered with them,” states the email.

The phenomenon has now gone global, with dead jackdaw birds falling to their deaths across central Sweden shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

In New Zealand, hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches. The fish looked fat and healthy, ruling out the weather or starvation as a cause of death.

“People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, 100 tons of fish (sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead off the coast of Parana over the course of the last week.

“Apart from Paranagua, (Edmir Manoel) Ferreira said the dead fish are starting to appear in other coastal towns,” reports Parana Online. “The dead fish are going to Antonina, and Guaraqueçaba. We need an urgent solution to this,” he warned.

The number of different cases of dead birds and fish around the U.S. and globally has been matched by the myriad of different explanations as to the cause of their demise. While some theories are rooted in scientific verbiage, others have taken on an altogether more spiritual and apocalyptic context.
Large numbers of dead birds were also found in Kentucky around Christmas and more were found in the following days. Earlier this week, tens of thousands of small fish were found washed up in the Chesapeake Bay area. Despite their deaths being blamed on a cold snap, experts are bewildered that the fish didn’t swim to warmer waters as would be their normal response.

In a separate report emailed to us by an Alex Jones Show listener, more dead birds were seen near St. Louis, Missouri.

“I just wanted to let Alex now that I encountered over a hundred blackbirds killed on Christmas Day. This was about 30 miles south of St. Louis, MO near highway 55. The intersection was covered with them,” states the email.

The phenomenon has now gone global, with dead jackdaw birds falling to their deaths across central Sweden shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

In New Zealand, hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches. The fish looked fat and healthy, ruling out the weather or starvation as a cause of death.

“People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, 100 tons of fish (sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead off the coast of Parana over the course of the last week.

“Apart from Paranagua, (Edmir Manoel) Ferreira said the dead fish are starting to appear in other coastal towns,” reports Parana Online. “The dead fish are going to Antonina, and Guaraqueçaba. We need an urgent solution to this,” he warned.

The number of different cases of dead birds and fish around the U.S. and globally has been matched by the myriad of different explanations as to the cause of their demise. While some theories are rooted in scientific verbiage, others have taken on an altogether more spiritual and apocalyptic context.

Read full artical here :PRISON PLANET

 

0 Police Getting What They Deserve For Acting Like Thugs (VIDEO)

0 Very Strange Happenings is Arkansas

Jan 1st...2,000 black birds fall from the sky in Arkansas, 

Then today 100,000 Dead Drum fish fill local rivers.

2 US drones alone killed 2,043, mostly civilians, in Pakistan during last five years

Islamabad, Jan 2 As many as 2,043 people, mostly civilians, were killed in US drone attacks in northwestern parts of Pakistan during the last five years, a research has revealed.

The yearly report of Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) has termed the CIA drone strikes as an 'assassination campaign turning out to be revenge campaign', and showed that 2010 was the deadliest year ever of causalities resulted in drone-hits in Pakistan. 

According to the report, 134 drone attacks were reported in Pakistan's FATA region in 2010 alone, inflicting 929 causalities. December 17 was the deadliest day of 2010 when three drone attacks killed 54 people in Khyber Agency.

Regarding civilian causalities and attacks on women and children, the report said: "People in the tribal belt usually carry guns and ammunition as a tradition. US drone will identify anyone carrying a gun as a militant and subsequently he will be killed."

"Many times, people involved in rescue activities also come under attack. The assumption that these people are supporters of militants is quite wrong," The Nation quoted the CMC report, as stating.

The document cited the Brooking Institute's research, which suggested that with every militant killed, nearly ten civilians also died.

It also mentioned a related research report of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), which underlined that at least 2,100 civilians were killed and various others injured during 2009, in the ongoing war on terror and drone attacks.

 

"It is unclear whether CIA counter-checks human intelligence with other available sources or not. Because in Afghanistan and Pakistani tribal belt people use to settle their personal enmity by accusing their opponent as militant and passing wrong information to US forces," it stated.

The CMC report also revealed that Pakistan and US were deliberately concealing civilian deaths, and that they lacked any proper mechanism to ascertain civilian deaths, and it also accused the FATA Secretariat for overlooking civilian causalities.

 "Civilian casualties were deliberately overlooked to avert the public reaction," the report said. 
http://newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/198413

0 Chris Rock Roasts Elitists Oprah, Obama and Paul McCartney at the 'Kennedy Center Honors' (VIDEO)

Chris Rock makes his true feelings known....and watch those elite scum squirm,

All Hail Chris Rock!!.

0 Oldest human remains ever found unearthed in Israel

Researchers say teeth go back 400,000 years; others say claim is premature 

JERUSALEM — Israeli archaeologists say they may have found the earliest evidence yet for the existence of modern humans.

A Tel Aviv University team excavating a cave in central Israel said Monday they found teeth that were about 400,000 years old. The earliest Homo sapiens remains found until now are half that old, and were discovered in Ethiopia.

Archaeologist Avi Gopher said Monday further research is needed to solidify the claim, which is detailed in the December edition of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. If the claim is borne out, the discovery would change "the whole picture of evolution," he said.

Accepted scientific theory is that Homo sapiens originated in Africa and migrated outward about 80,000 years ago.

Sir Paul Mellars, a prehistory expert at Cambridge University, said that the find is "important," but that it was premature to say the remains are from modern man. He said the teeth are more likely from ancient relatives of Homo sapiens, such as the Neanderthals or their ancestors, which are thought to have left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago.

The teeth were found in the Qesem Cave, which was uncovered by Gopher and a colleague at Tel Aviv University, Ran Barkai. An international team of experts analyzed the teeth, using CT scans and X-rays, and determined that their sizes and shapes were similar to those of modern humans, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Other artifacts found in the cave — including flint blades as well as animal bones that appeared to be cut in a characteristic way — led the researchers to conclude that modern humans lived in the cave. Radioisotope dating suggests that the cave was occupied between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago.

more info http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348103/ns/technology_and_science/

0 Technology could turn cellphones into wallets

For many people, smart phones are almost as indispensable as wallets. And soon, your smart phone could replace your wallet.A collection of the biggest wireless carriers, handset makers and software developers are putting their weight behind a technology called near-field communication. 
 
That standard will allow your cellphone to make payments at a cash register, scan computer chips embedded in ads and posters for discounts and product info, and eventually incorporate driver's licenses and other forms of ID.

"This isn't just about payment," said Jaymee Johnson, director of strategic development at T-Mobile USA Inc. "It's fundamentally focused on transforming the ways customers shop, save and pay."

T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and Dallas-based AT&T Inc. recently launched a joint venture called Isis to standardize and promote near-field communication technology and applications.

The technology enables a variety of new applications.

For example, a retailer could embed a paper-thin NFC chip in the price tags on its shelves.

When you wave your NFC-enabled phone over the tag for, say, a digital camera, it will direct the Web browser on your phone to a site with more info about that camera.

The tag could also wirelessly transfer a coupon for that camera to your phone.

So you pick up the camera and take it to the register to pay.

No need to dig out your credit card or cash.

Just swipe your phone, which also contains all your credit card info, over the NFC-enabled register, which recognizes the coupon, applies the discount, and debits your bank account.

Voilà, the digital wallet.

Or tap on a tagged movie poster to bring up the YouTube trailer to the film.

Or imagine any of the other hundreds of possibilities once individual app developers start tinkering with the software and writing programs for the phones and chips.

NFC tags could be easily, inexpensively and invisibly embedded in magazines, for instance, to bring up videos or animations related to an article, or in the automobile stickers on a dealership's lot.

DVD cases could have tags attached to let you quickly catalog every disc in your personal library. No need to photograph bar codes or other markers. Just swipe.

Faded technology

If this dream sounds like you've heard it before, it should.

Near-field communication is similar to another short-range wireless technology that was heavily hyped a few years ago but then faded: radio frequency identification, or RFID.

While RFID is used in a few niche consumer applications – TollTags and a small percentage of credit and debit cards, for example – NFC is poised to flood the market.

In fact, if the wireless carriers have their way, widespread adoption of NFC devices might take only a year or two.

Nokia has been supporting near-field communication for a few years, but the company's smart phones have limited market share in the U.S.

Now, a host of other manufacturers that do have a big presence in America are about to jump in.

While it will be months before major retailers start including NFC chips in their cash registers and displays, NFC-equipped smart phones are already rolling out.

The first handset maker with a big U.S. presence to adopt NFC is Samsung, whose U.S. telecom operations are headquartered in Richardson.

Samsung last week released the Android-powered Nexus S smart phone with a built-in NFC reader.

In fact, it's the first version of Android from Google Inc. to support NFC, and Google is making freely available the tools needed to tinker with that capability.

"We're open sourcing the NFC software stack, and we've provided Android developers with [application programming interfaces] that will allow them to build applications that take advantage of NFC," a Google spokesman said.

Owners of smart phones with the NFC hardware are able to scan the chips with their handsets to see whatever data the retailer has encoded in the tag.

Johnson at T-Mobile, who's also a spokesman for the new venture Isis, noted that the three carriers have more than 200 million customers among them.

And the turnover rate on the phones those customers own is fantastically high.

"You think about how quickly handsets turn over now, if you have your handset for a year, you're ready to upgrade," Johnson said. "That's a cycle that really works to our advantage in really rapidly turning over a new technology."

Apple Inc ., one of the biggest drivers in smart phone trends, is rumored to be implementing NFC hardware in the next version of the iPhone.

NFC requires additional hardware in the device, meaning older phones can't simply get a software upgrade to enable the capability.

But there are workarounds.

Visa Inc., for example, is working on a standard with Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and U.S. Bancorp to develop microSD cards with built-in mobile payment capability that could simply be inserted into certain existing phones.

Retail support

But pushing NFC into the hands of consumers is only half the battle.

The other half is persuading retailers to install the high-tech cash registers and networks needed to connect with these wireless wallets.

Johnson said Isis will piggyback on Discover Financial Services' payment network, which is already accepted at more than 7 million locations nationwide.

But a far smaller number actually accept so-called contactless payments.

Johnson acknowledged that rustling up retail support is critical to making NFC a success but said Isis is pitching NFC as not just a payment tool.

It's also a way for companies to launch interactive loyalty and rewards programs for their customers, and get better, faster data on what products their customers want most.

"That's a story that we're eager to tell and that merchants have been very receptive to," Johnson said.

So far, Isis has not yet announced any merchant partners, but Johnson said they're coming soon.

"First half of next year we'll be making a drumbeat of announcements," he said.

Johnson declined to say how much money the carriers have invested in building out the Isis network but said it's a top priority.

"This is a big bet," he said. "This is a big opportunity for the carriers."

The one major carrier that's not on board with Isis yet is Sprint Nextel Corp.

Sprint said it is looking at a variety of options for enabling mobile payments, which could include joining Isis.

Near-field communication on handheld devices will initially focus on providing interactive information and mobile payment. But the technology could also one day allow documents such as driver's licenses and passports to be stored digitally on a phone.

"That is the next frontier," Johnson said.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/ptech/stories/122310dnbusdigitalwallet.3044eaf.html 

Further reading : http://www.mavromatic.com/2006/07/nfc-chip-will-turn-your-cellphone-into-a-credit-card/

0 And 1 day later....

A snowman was left standing Thursday afternoon at the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign on the Las Vegas Strip. Most of the snow along the Strip had melted as temperatures climbed into the 40s a day after snow blanketed the valley.

Las Vegas was digging out Thursday from one of the biggest snows in its history — anywhere from 3 to 8 inches fell throughout the valley Wednesday through early this morning.

The rare, heavy snow led to delayed flights at McCarran International Airport and traffic problems and accidents throughout the valley Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. However, flights resumed this morning at McCarran. And snow-covered streets, parking lots, sidewalks and highways were melting off by late afternoon under mostly sunny skies and temperatures hitting 40 degrees.

 

 

 

 

0 RECORD SNOWFALL SLAMS LAS VEGAS

School district calls off classes for first time in 30 years, flights canceled,

Snow comes down on the New York-New York, as seen from the roof of the Tropicana Hotel and Casino on Wednesday.

A rare snowstorm blanketed the Las Vegas Valley on Wednesday, delaying flights, causing widespread fender-benders and canceling events. As much as 8 inches of snow fell in parts of the valley, forecasters said this morning.


The rarities continued Wednesday night with the Clark County School District's announcement that students are getting a snow day today. It's the first snow day for Clark County students since 1979, when a storm dropped 9.9 inches of snow in January that year.






The National Weather Service finally lifted a winter storm warning at 6 a.m. today. The weather service said its Las Vegas office had reported 3.6 inches of snow by 9:50 p.m. Wednesday. And there was a report of 8 inches measured in Henderson shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday.

0 Global Warming cult takes another hit....Polar Bears are "threatened" NOT "endangered"

London, Dec 23 (ANI): The Obama administration has confirmed an earlier Bush-era decision that polar bears are merely 'threatened'  NOT 'endangered'.

The US Department of the Interior has upheld a decision to classify the bear as 'threatened' - a status that gives them less protection under the law, reports the BBC. 

The government said it did not find that polar bears were on the brink of extinction, needed to qualify for the status of 'endangered'.
 Under the Endangered Species Act, the status of 'endangered' requires the government to assess the impact of greenhouse gases on the bears' Arctic homelands.
When the government is considering permits for oil development in northern Alaska, it must include greenhouse gas emissions in its decision.  When the polar bear was listed as 'threatened' by the administration of former US President George W Bush, officials invoked a special rule saying the Endangered Species Act could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
 So an 'endangered' listing is a more powerful tool for limiting industrial activity that causes greenhouse gases.
 Meanwhile, environmental campaigners have said they will challenge the decision.
 The Centre for Biological Diversity - one of the groups trying to get the polar bear listed as 'endangered' - said the ruling showed that the administration of US President Barack Obama was continuing to defend Bush-era 'anti-science decisions'.
 It said polar bears face an 80 percent chance of extinction within 40 years and it will continue to challenge the US government in court. (ANI)

In other words....YES they can swim... and NO their numbers are NOT dropping anywhere near the former "Official" numbers.
The Scam is falling apart.....

0 South Korea to hold largest-ever live-fire drill....on the Norths border.

South Korea says it will hold its largest-ever live-fire drill near the military border with North Korea on Thursday, just as tension on the peninsula eases after Pyongyang's attack on a southern island.

The drill, involving artillery, fighter jets and the largest number of personnel in a peace-time exercise, comes after the South's live-fire artillery exercise on Monday on the island of Yeonpyeong and is bound to infuriate the North.

North Korea this week offered to re-admit UN inspectors concerned about its nuclear weapon program, leading to speculation of a resumption of six-party disarmament talks and a general sigh of relief around the world that the crisis had passed.

"Yes, it will be a show of force against that," an army officer said when asked if the shelling of Yeonpyeong last month was a factor in the drill's planning.

He added similar drills had been staged previously on more than 50 occasions, but the scale this time is unprecedented.

It will take place in Pocheon region, less than 50 kilometres north of downtown Seoul.

The Korean crisis peaked when the North shelled Yeonpyeong, just south of the disputed border, killing four people in the worst attack on South Korean territory since the end of the 1950-53 war.

The South carried out live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong on Monday, which provoked only a verbal reaction from the North.

North Korea had vowed to strike back if the South went ahead with the drills, prompting fears of all-out war.

China, North Korea's only major ally, has continually urged dialogue to resolve the crisis and urged Pyongyang to follow through on its offer to allow UN inspectors into the country.

The Chinese foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the planned drill.

Seoul's Joongang Daily said South Korea should practice "nimble diplomacy" and forge a closer relationship with China.

"As long as there is a constant threat from the North to launch a surprise attack, we must be on high alert from a military perspective," the newspaper said.

"But such preparations should be combined with diplomacy. We should reduce our diplomatic dependence on the US and strengthen our ties with China and Russia."

- Reuters

The South are doing all the provoking , but the North are getting Media blasted for threatening to retaliate....

0 Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse'

Japanese scientists said Tuesday they had produced a mouse that tweets like a bird in a genetically engineered "evolution" which they hope will shed light on the origins of human language.

A team of researchers at the University of Osaka created the animal in their "Evolved Mouse Project", in which they use genetically modified mice that are prone to miscopying DNA and thus to mutations.
"Mutations are the driving force of evolution. We have cross-bred the genetically modified mice for generations to see what would happen," lead researcher Arikuni Uchimura told AFP.

"We checked the newly born mice one by one... One day we found a mouse that was singing like a bird," he said, noting that the "singing mouse" was born by chance but that the trait will be passed on to future generations.
"I was surprised because I had been expecting mice that are different in physical shape," he said by telephone, adding that in fact the project had also produced "a mouse with short limbs and a tail like a dachshund".
The laboratory, directed by professor Takeshi Yagi at the Osaka University's Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences in western Japan, now has more than 100 "singing mice" for further research.

The team hopes they will provide clues on how human language evolved, just as researchers in other countries study songbirds such as finches to help them understand the origins of human language.
Scientists have found that birds use different sound elements, put them together into chunks like words in human languages and then make strings of them to sing "songs", that are subject to certain linguistic rules.
"Mice are better than birds to study because they are mammals and much closer to humans in their brain structures and other biological aspects," Uchimura said.
"We are watching how a mouse that emits new sounds would affect ordinary mice in the same group... in other words if it has social connotations," he said, adding that ordinary mice squeak mainly under stress.
Considering that mutant mice tweet louder when put in different environments or when males are put together with females, Uchimura said their chirps "may be some sort of expressions of their emotions or bodily conditions."
The team has found that ordinary mice that grew up with singing mice emitted fewer ultrasounds than others, which could indicate that communication methods can spread in the same group like a dialect.
Uchimura dreams of further "evolution" of mice through genetic engineering.
"I know it's a long shot and people would say it's 'too absurd'... but I'm doing this with hopes of making a Mickey Mouse some day," he said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ef9a9f0039fc069765a1d48a270a6be2.31&show_article=1

I would imagine singing like a bird would  probably be the last thing a mouse would want..... 

0 Cancer-causing chemical found in US tap water...the reason the US have not taken to the streets yet?

LOS ANGELES - Hexavalent chromium, a cancer-causing chemical, is found in the tap water of 31 cities out of a total of 35 tested by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), it was reported on Monday.

The chemical was detected when EWG researchers made the first nationwide analysis of hexavalent chromium in tap water in the US, according to USA Today.
It is estimated that at least 74 million people in 42 states regularly drink chromium-tainted water, and a considerable proportion of it is in the carcinogenic hexavalent form, the report quoted the EWG as saying.
Analysis showed that highest levels were present in the tap water in Norman of Oklahoma, Honolulu of Hawaii, Riverside of California, Madison of Wiscosin and San Jose of California, the report said.
Hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6 in drinking water shows "clear evidence of carcinogenic activity" in animal studies, significantly raising the likelihood of the development of gastrointestinal tumors, according to EWG.
In 2008, the US National Institutes of Health deemed chromium a "probable carcinogen." The chemical has been linked to leukemia and other cancers in animals, as well as liver and kidney damage, according to the report.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is weighing whether to set a limit on levels of hexavalent chromium in tap water, the report said.
Despite growing evidence of the dangers of hexavalent chromium in tap water, the EPA has done nothing about legal limit requirements, while water utility companies don't even have to test for levels in their tap water, scientists say.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-12/21/content_11733568.htm

0 Mind Mouse Allows You To Control Your Computer With The Power Of Your Mind.

Mind Technologies will begin selling the Emotiv Headset on January 1 for $299. What’s perhaps more interesting is that, when used with the company’s software, you can control your computer with the power of your mind. Is Psycho Mantis or Jesse Ventura the president and CEO of Mind Technologies.

There’s three main piece of software: Master Mind, Mind Mouse, and Think Tac Toe. The little blurb on their Web site says of Master Mind: “Existing PC games such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty can now be played with the power of your mind, rather than using the traditional computer keyboard and mouse.”

Or if gaming’s not your thing, there’s also Mind Mouse, which “is a revolutionary thought-controlled software application which allows the user to navigate the computer, click and double click to open programs, compose email and send with the power of their mind.”

I have no idea what to make of any of this—MIND CONTROL?!—, but I did laugh at the guy in the above embedded video playing Modern Warfare 2. What’s the mind control method of uninstalling that nonsense?

Then we have Mind Mouse, which is more for everyday software applications.
The narrative is nice and all, helping disabled folks use their computer a little more effectively, but I think it’s only prudent to be skeptical here. 

http://bit.ly/etKU9m 

Further reading : http://www.slashgear.com/emotiv-epoc-brain-reading-gaming-headset-ships-december-21st-for-299-0365021/