6:54 PM
http://news.softpedia.com/news/UAV-to-Get-Improved-Vision-141240.shtml
A device called a blowout preventer (BOP) is being blamed for the massive oil spill in the Gulf. The BOP was supposed to close off the well to prevent the spill, but instead it is sitting paralyzed on the sea floor doing nothing. The sad thing is that BOPs are what the oil industry relies on for safety and industry insiders and outside critics have been saying for nearly a decade that they are not safe! An engineering report concluded in 2002 that shallow water technologies are inadequate for deep water drilling, and other studies found that BOPs did not reduce the disasters in the Gulf:
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/technology-behind-gulf-oil-spill-disaster
Georgia Tech scientists have found a way to manipulate genes in a developing embryo to change the brain of one type of fish to resemble a brain from another type of fish:
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=55519
H-1B workers typically do not carry their valuable and hard-to-replace paperwork with them at all times (since it could be lost or stolen), but the new Arizona law could result in their being arrested when taking or walk or going to a restaurant. There are a number of ways in which a H-1B worker can be in the US legally but not have any paperwork to prove it (such as when waiting months for new paperwork from immigration authorities to replace an expired I-94 card). This article also states that foreign national students may be discouraged from attending college in Arizona and businesses might decide not to expand or locate in Arizona:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176019/Arizona_s_new_papers_please_law_may_hurt_H_1B_workers
This report about how many Verizon customers are anxiously waiting for the iPhone to show up on Verizon notes that they expect Verizon to get the iPhone in March 2011. 53% of Verizon's customers says that they are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to get the iPhone if it is available on Verizon. 45% of Verizon's customers are "very satisfied" with their service while only 15% of AT&T's customers are "very satisfied", with the report stating that AT&T's low churn rate is due to their being the exclusive option for the iPhone:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176349/Verizon_customers_lust_for_iPhone_says_survey
Clearwire released its 1Q results with better-than-expected financials and they promised to have two Clear-branded WiMAX smartphones by the end of this year--Android-based smartphones from Samsung and HTC. Clearwire also announced that they revised their WiMAX-exclusive agreement with Intel and they now have the option of leaving WiMAX and adopting LTE:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/solid-q1-footing-clearwire-promises-two-wimax-smartphones/2010-05-05
T-Mobile is in talks with Harbinger Capital to use Harbinger's proposed network for its 4G service:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/report-t-mobile-talks-harbinger-4g-play/2010-05-06
Ericsson estimates that the number of mobile broadband users will increase from 400 million today to 3.5 billion in 2015:
http://www.ericsson.com/thecompany/press/releases/2010/05/1412069
Woman won a $1 million jackpot in the NY lottery just 1.5 years after her brother won $1 million a year for life in the NY lottery, with both tickets bought at the same gas station. What is most interesting to me is that her brother is a London resident who gave his Mom $100 to buy lottery tickets during a visit to the US, which means that he does *not* have to pay federal tax on his lottery winnings. So, he gets $930k per year from his winnings--that is the lowest % of tax I've ever heard of from a lottery winner:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/family_win_win_CrGhzRwHBs8rYXhqAZ1jJI