ChainTrade

Little Buddy' GPS device keeps tabs on your kid

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:53:00 +0000

Best Buy is selling a transmitting device that lets parents keep track of their children. Parents can place the device in a child's backpack or lunch box, for example.

The "Little Buddy Child Tracker" retails for $100 (far less than other devices that sell for $200 to $500). It combines global satellite positioning and cellular technology to signal the child's whereabouts to a computer or smartphone.

Parents can program the device to set up specific times and locations where the child is supposed to be -- in school or at home, for example -- and the device sends a text message if the child leaves the site in that time.

Rise of the Facebook Zombies!!!

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Death doesn't erase the online footprints that people leave in life and Facebook won't either, though it will make some changes.

The five-year-old social network will "memorialize" profiles of the dead if their friends or family request it.

Such accounts will be different from regular Facebook profiles.

For example, the site will remove any contact information and bar people from logging in. The person's profile also won't appear in the "suggestions" section of Facebook, and only the deceased person's confirmed friends will be able to find them in a search.

The development comes as Facebook becomes an important social hub for its more than 300 million active users worldwide to keep up with friends and family.

The Great Debate: netbooks vs. notebooks

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Netbooks are one of my favorite gadgets and as their popularity continues to grow a lot of people are wondering which is better: netbooks or notebooks? In reality one isn't necessarily better than the other because they have different functions. A netbook is a companion device that is great for keeping your bag nice and light while you travel but still allow most of the functionality of a regular laptop (among other things), while notebooks have more storage space and are nice for more complex tasks like gaming and creating large documents.

Intel Insider Frank Gruber's (somewhatfrank.com) recently took on the netbook vs. notebook debate. Check out the video below to hear more about what Frank thinks each device does best and his take on the netbook vs. notebook debate:

Oracle Buys Sun - Now Owns MySQL

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:56:00 +0000

Database giant Oracle announced Monday that it will buy Sun Microsystems for $9.50 per share—roughly $7.4 billion. The two companies reached an agreement after an unsuccessful bid by IBM fell short at $9.40 per share. Oracle has significantly expanded its reach over the past decade through a series of major acquisitions which include PeopleSoft, Hyperion, Siebel, and BEA. The addition of Sun to Oracle's roster will have far-reaching implications and a profound impact on the technology industry.

One area where the effects could be strongly felt is in the open source software community. Among Sun's most prized assets are some large-scale open source software projects that could see some major changes under their new ownership.

The acquisition raises serious questions about the future of MySQL, a popular open source database system that Sun acquired last year. It's not clear if Oracle will see any incentive to continuing development of an open source alternative to its core database offerings. There are several factors, however, that would make it difficult for Oracle to kill off MySQL—and it could be profitable to continue investing in the system's advancement.

Google tips FCC about new YouTube comment filtering system

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Google has told the Federal Communications Commission that the search engine giant is working on a new filtering mechanism for YouTube. The site's engineers are developing "a number of initiatives designed to give users and families greater control to moderate their YouTube experience, including the ability to filter video comments they find inappropriate," Google wrote to the FCC on April 16.

"This new feature, which is currently being tested in the United States, gives users control to set their own comment preferences by enabling them to choose whether to see all video comments, no comments, or filtered comments," Google added.

"As a leading site for online video, YouTube has a special responsibility to protect kids," the advocacy group declared. "While these measures represent an important step in protecting children from inappropriate content online, they don’t go far enough. YouTube's new policies also need to extend to user comments, links, and InVideo advertisements. These new policies should be further augmented by formulating and adopting a thorough, accurate and transparent content rating system which would allow a parent to block a child from viewing age-inappropriate material."

Socking It to Small Business - The Obama plan is an incentive to hire fewer workers.

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:18:00 +0000

From the WSJ.com

Mr. Obama's tax increase would hit the bottom line of small businesses in three direct ways. First, because 85% of small business owners are taxed at the personal income tax rate, any moderately successful business with an income above as little as $165,000 a year could face a higher tax liability. That's the income level at which the 33% income tax bracket now phases in for individuals, and Mr. Obama would raise that tax rate for those businesses to 36%.

Second, the Obama plan phases out tax deductions (the so-called PEP and Pease provisions), thus raising tax rates imposed on this group by another 1.5 percentage points. Finally, Mr. Obama would require many small business owners to pay as much as a four-percentage-point payroll tax surcharge on net income above $250,000. All of this would bring the federal marginal small business tax rate up to nearly 45%, while big business would continue to pay the 35% corporate tax rate.

Joe the Plumbers Greatest Hits

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:32:00 +0000

I AM JOE

I hope you will join me in expressing a simple bit of solidarity with this guy, Spartacus style. I AM JOE. I am a Wal Mart schlub in flyover country who changes my own oil and unclogs drains without a license. I smoke and drink beer and toss the football in the front yard with my kid, and I figure I can fend my way without handouts from some Magic Messiah's candy bags. Most everyone in my family and most everyone I grew up with is another Joe, and if you screw with them, you screw with me.

Are you a Joe? Say it proud. Leave it on every goddamn newspaper comment section and online forum. Let these pressroom and online thugs know you won't stay silent when they try to destroy the life of a private citizen for speaking his mind -- because for every one of them, there are a million Joe Wurzelbachers. And for that we should all be thankful.

With 15 minutes of fame comes 15 hours of “gotcha” scrutiny -- especially if you’re a voter who has dared to criticize Barack Obama, the liberal media’s Chosen One for president.

Neverfindout.org ad Campaign from Let Freedom Ring

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:20:00 +0000

"Let Freedom Ring" is a non-profit, grassroots public-policy organization. Our mission is to promote "Constitutional Government, Economic Freedom and Traditional Values." We sometimes say that Let Freedom Ring operates "at the intersection of faith and politics."

New RNC Ad Claims Obama “Guilty by Participation”

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:57:00 +0000

Hundreds of Economists Sign Letter Opposing Obama's Tax Plan

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Hundreds of economists (including Nobel Prize winners Gary Becker, James Buchanan, Robert Mundell, Edward Prescott, and Vernon Smith) have signed letters opposing Barack Obama's economic and tax plans. We are equally concerned with his proposals to increase tax rates on labor income and investment. His dividend and capital gains tax increases would reduce investment and cut into the savings of millions of Americans.

His proposals to increase income and payroll tax rates would discourage the formation and expansion of small businesses and reduce employment and take-home pay, as would his mandates on firms to provide expensive health insurance. After hearing such economic criticism of his proposals, Barack Obama has apparently suggested to some people that he might postpone his tax increases, perhaps to 2010. But it is a mistake to think that postponing such tax increases would prevent their harmful effect on the economy today.

The prospect of such tax rate increases in 2010 is already a drag on the economy. Businesses considering whether to hire workers today and expand their operations have time horizons longer than a year or two, so the prospect of higher taxes starting in 2009 or 2010 reduces hiring and investment in 2008.

read more | digg story

30,000 Felons Illegally Registered to Vote in Florida...

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:15:00 +0000

More than 30,000 Florida felons who by law should have been stripped of their right to vote remain registered to cast ballots in this presidential battleground state"Of the felons who registered with a party, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one."

read more | digg story

Liberal Outrage: A Pro-McCain March In Manhattan

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:13:00 +0000

A Pro-McCain march on the Upper West Side in Manhattan on Sunday, September 21, 2008. A group of McCain-Palin supporters dare to march through the Upper West Side - infidels in the liberal Mecca. Local "progressives" boo, jeer, and flip fingers at them with a rage they never display even to this country's enemies. The left will tolerate many things, but dissent is not one of them.Tolerance!

read more | digg story

Obama's Plan Is To, You Know, Spread The Wealth Around

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:44:00 +0000

"It's not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody that is behind you, that they have a chance for success too. I think that when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Everybody but the person who's money this clown wants to spread around. Check out Obama admitting he wants to give our money away.

read more | digg story

Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Barack Obama & John McCain

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:32:00 +0000

Burning Down the House - Financial Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:30:00 +0000

Updated with new video since the first was hit with copyright complaints:

Target to pay $6 million to settle site accessibility suit

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:14:00 +0000

Target to pay $6 million to settle [web] site accessibility suit

Target has settled a class action lawsuit with the National Federation of the Blind over accessibility complaints with Target.com. Despite the law being unclear as to whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to websites, the company will pay a substantial fee and update its web site to make it accessible to the blind.

Is your website ADA-Compliant?

Google Gadget for Watching Your Ebay Auctions

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Add this gadget to your iGoogle page:

Angry customer sues Time Warner over forced cable box rental

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:15:00 +0000

Angry customer sues Time Warner over forced cable box rental

Cable companies shouldn't force subscribers into renting cable boxes when they could just purchase one outright and save money, a new lawsuit alleges. Kansas native Matthew Meeds has filed what he hopes will become a class-action lawsuit against Time Warner Cable and parent company Time Warner over what he considers to be an illegal tying arrangement that violates antitrust laws and hurts customers.

...attorney John Edgar likened Time Warner's behavior to the days when AT&T used to require customers to rent phones from the company instead of using their own equipment. "I think it's very similar to the cases brought back in those days, where slowly but surely, the courts whittled away at that kind of protectionist activity by AT&T," Edgar told the paper. "I think the same thing is present here. You have a lot of companies out there manufacturing these boxes, and there's nothing necessarily proprietary about them."

Indeed, it has now been 40 years since the FCC ruled that AT&T could not force customers to rent specific handsets directly from the company as long as other devices don't harm the phone system, and the landmark case has been used frequently to shape modern FCC rulings.

Cablevision wins on appeal: remote DVR lawful after all

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 22:32:00 +0000

Cablevision wins on appeal: remote DVR lawful after all

Does it matter where a DVR's hard drive lives? Hardware from outfits such as TiVo records shows onto a local disk, but the cable provider Cablevision decided to dispense with dedicated hardware and a local drive, and instead it rolled out a service where users could record shows through their existing cable box; those recordings stayed on a remote server in the central office for storage and playback.

There's little doubt that the copies that end up in the users' storage space are copyrighted material, but the question here revolves around who "owns" that copy. The court notes that the hardware is provided by Cablevision but used by others to make the copies, and it says that "mere ownership" of the hardware does not establish liability.

MPAA: Don't limit our ability to close analog outputs

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:23:00 +0000

MPAA: Don't limit our ability to close analog outputs

The Motion Picture Association of America took its crusade for selectable output control (SOC) to the next level on Thursday, responding to critics in the FCC's proceeding on the matter. The MPAA's July 31 filing takes particular exception to suggestions that the agency lift its prohibition on SOC on a two-year trial basis, and makes it clear that the group won't take kindly to other limitations, either. If consumers want to see movies on TV earlier than they appear on DVD, the MPAA says, they had better be willing to allow movie studios to remotely shut down some cable box outputs.

ValueClick agrees to $1m settlement fund over adware

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:21:00 +0000

ValueClick agrees to $1m settlement fund over adware

A preliminary settlement has been approved in a class-action case against ad network ValueClick and its subsidiaries Commission Junction and Be Free. The case, which originated as two separate cases brought on behalf of the publishers and advertisers that worked with ValueClick, focused on the presence of adware within the Commission Junction/Be Free network and the company's inaction when it came to holding publishers to a code of conduct. As part of the settlement, ValueClick doesn't admit to any of the allegations, but it has agreed to pay $1 million into a settlement fund that will be used to compensate class members.

YUM Brands Launch Feed Bag Initiative

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:05:00 +0000

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

eBay opens up to developers as users look for alternatives

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:29:00 +0000

eBay opens up to developers as users look for alternatives

Facing auctioneer unrest and wary buyers, eBay is attempting to entice developers by opening up its platform and introducing a marketplace for add-ons and auction applications. These are both great changes that were a long time coming, but they aren't likely to go very far toward solving eBay's fundamental problems.

Australia calls shenanigans on eBay PayPal-only policy

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Australia calls shenanigans on eBay PayPal-only policy

Last month, eBay announced that it would require all payments made through the popular auction site in Australia to be done through PayPal beginning June 17. Both users and financial institutions were up in arms over the decision, saying that it would reduce competition and force users to either agree to the new terms or leave the market altogether. eBay responded by saying that going PayPal-only will make transactions safer, and that users are free to go elsewhere (you know, the thousands of other, popular online auction sites) if they don't want to use PayPal.

A Walnut Blog: The 26th Annual Walnut AMVETs Antique Show June 13-15

noreply@blogger.com (SG) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:42:00 +0000

A Walnut Blog: The 26th Annual Walnut AMVETs Antique Show June 13-15