4:49 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/business/global/30flight.html?src=busln
The Government Accountability Office states that the NOAA's tsunami detection buoys are expensive (28% of NOAA's budget), difficult to maintain, and not reliable:
http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/maintenance-us-tsunami-detection-buoys-difficult-and-costly-gao-reports-007108
The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter. Billions of honeybees have died worldwide and scientists do not understand what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives-collapse
The US imposed a 500% tariff on honey from China 2 years ago because the Chinese government is subsidizing Chinese honey makers so they can drive US producers out of the market. China is getting around the tariff by labeling the honey "Product of Thailand" or "Product of Indonesia", but a honey specialist determines the nectar sources and origin of the honey. Unfortunately, some foreign exporters mix honey from different countries while others add up to 50% high fructose corn syrup into the honey to avoid the tariff:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/texas-am-scientist-tracks-origins-bootleg-honey-china
The LG Ally will be available on May 20 and they will be getting a HUGE promotional push with the Iron Man 2 movie...I believe this is the first smartphone to be featured in such a big movie before it is available to the public:
http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-ally-said-be-available-may-20-though-no-carrier-officially-announced
It appears that Google's direct-to-consumer sales model for the Nexus One is dead in Europe and may soon end everywhere else. Goldman Sachs had projected 3.5 million Nexus Ones would be sold this year, but ended up cutting their projection to 1 million. Reports estimate Nexus One sales at between 135k and 500k phones:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/it-game-over-now-verizon-vodafone-thwart-googles-direct-consumer-plans/2010-05-03
Abode is really supporting Flash on Android phones-to get their employees as familiar with Android they are giving Android phones running Flash to all of their employees!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20003922-94.html
App has been created for the iPhone, iTouch, or iPad to enable people with communication disabilities to "speak" clearly. This could help people with autism, cerebral palsy, other developmental disabilities, and stroke or accident victims who have lost the ability to speak:
http://live.psu.edu/story/46427
Some iPad Apps are dramatically scaled back or even blocking their video when used on the 3G iPad. YouTube's video quality is poor on the 3G iPad and ABC's TV viewer doesn't even allow video over the 3G iPad unless it is using WiFi:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/04/30/ipad.app.devs.scale.back.3g.features/
Study for the hotel industry found that a growing number of hotel guests demand that the hotel they stay at have WiFi access. A majority of hotel guests feel that WiFi is a must-have amenity and should be free:
http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2010/4/25/185731/065/hotels/HotelChatter_s_Annual_Hotel_WiFi_Report_2010