9:46 PM
Very interesting article about why so many Americans in their 20s are taking so long to grow up:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
DARPA is investing in giant space nets to catch all of the junk that is orbiting the Earth. All of that space trash threatens the feasibility of a space elevator and endangers satellites and astronauts in space:
http://news.techworld.com/sme/3235495/darpa-invests-in-giant-space-nets-to-catch-trash/
The US-led strategy in Afghanistan relies on training enough of their local forces to let the Afghans take over their own security. The big flaw in the plan is that only 18% of the 243,000 police and soldiers have more than a Kindergarten-level ability to read, making it hard for them to do things such as keep track of their gear and follow a battle plan. The US General leading the effort says that if the Afghans cannot be taught to read at least at the 1st grade level, the US strategy will not work. Another problem is that the US needs to get 141,000 recruits to end up with 56,000 soldiers and police officers because of the drop out rate:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/u-s-hopes-afghan-troops-can-pass-1st-grade-someday/
US court put a temporary stop to federal funding of stem cell research that Pres. Obama has authorized, saying that it involved the destruction of human embryos:
http://www.physorg.com/news201800584.html?goback=.gde_1731397_news_177852082
Researchers have successfully used a drug to reset and restart the body clock of mice, making it possible for a drug to ease the effect of jet lag:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/08/Life-Science-Biotechnology-Body-clock-drug-could-ease-jet-lag/
Study found that astronauts can become as weak as 80-year-olds after spending 6 months at the Space Station, raising serious concerns of the health of astronauts as NASA considers long trips to asteroids and Mars:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/08/Space-Biology-Study-Astronauts-as-weak-as-80-year-olds-in-space/
Experts have come to a consensus that Intel bought McAfee because it wants to build directly into its hardware the kind of security features normally provided by software like McAfee's. Building security features into its hardware would be an excellent way for Intel to distinguish its hardware from its competitors:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/intel-wants-security-built-directly-silicon
Security vendors have warned that Intel's plan to embed security in chips has many difficult technical challenges and may upset existing partners. With Intel buying McAfee, Symantec buying PGP, IBM buying BigFix, and HP buying Fortify, security firms are being bought at a historical rate, and Intel's competitor AMD may need to buy a security company to keep up with Intel:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/20/intel_mcafee_security_industry_reaction/
Dell agreed to buy data storage provider 3Par Inc. for $1 billion last week...and today HP outbid them, offering $1.5 billion!
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1008&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=CO&CommonCount=0
Mobile chip makers are fighting for the lead in the LTE market. Qualcomm is trying to be the leader in the market but others are not far behind and the competition will be fierce:
http://lteworld.org/blog/lte-chip-makers-fight-lead
Apple filed for a patent to disable jailbroken iPhone, iPods, and iPads. Apple wants the ability to shut down telephone service, wipe personal data, and even permanently kill the devices if they are jailbroken. Apple even wants the ability to take control of the iPhone's camera, geotagging the image, and uploading it to an Apple server:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/20/apple_jailbreak_patent/
Analysis about how Huawei is willing to jump through hoops to crack the US market. I happen to know that Huawei is playing their entire R&D in North America instead of China...because one of their recruiters contacted me through LinkedIn asking me if I would be interested in an R&D position with Huawei in San Diego (or they would relocate me to New Jersey if I preferred to work there), even though I hadn't indicated any interest in getting a new job:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/huawei-willing-jump-through-hoops-when-it-comes-national-security-concerns/2010-08-23
Research report says that Clearwire will have a hard time implementing FDD-LTE and should use TDD-LTE. The reports notes that Clearwire doesn't have enough spectrum for FDD for between 50% and 60% of its markets, but Clearwire might use FDD-LTE in markets where they have enough spectrum:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-clearwire-best-served-moving-tdd-lte/2010-08-23
Wall Street analyst says that the deal between Apple and Verizon is still being negotiated and the iPhone might not get to Verizon until 2012 if Apple decides to put the iPhone on T-Mobile and Sprint first in 2011. The analyst says that Apple has a strong incentive to get the iPhone on Verizon as soon as possible, as that would be Apple's best way to address the increasing success of Android phones:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/23/verizon_apple_iphone_talks_continue_toward_possible_2011_launch.html
Samsung is looking to hire engineers for their Android LTE development. Samsung didn't have many GSM or CDMA patents when compared to Nokia or Qualcomm, but Samsung has more LTE patents than any other company right now. Samsung already makes numerous key components of mobile phones--LCDs, OLEDs, application processors, system memory, microSD cards, etc., so when you combine that with their LTE royalties they are in a strong growth position for the future:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/08/20/samsung-looking-for-engineers-to-add-lte-support-to-googles-android-operating-system/
The developer of the Advanced Task Manager app for Android released numbers showing how Android apps can make a decent amount of money. He is getting about $10,000 after Google's 30% cut and when combined with his full-time job at IBM he's doing well. It is interesting that at times his free version actually earned him more than his 99-cent version because of the ad payments from AdMob. He talks about Google Checkout and the Market app are the biggest things holding back revenue--but having PayPal added as an option to Google Checkout and the creation of a website to browse Android apps and send it to phones for installation will generate more app revenue. Note that Google gets 30% of the paid app revenue and the free apps with ads all use AdMob (which Google owns):
http://arronla.com/2010/08/android-revenue-advanced-task-manager/
Study found that nearly half of AT&T's iPhone users would switch to Verizon if Verizon got the iPhone. Slightly more than half of Verizon's subscribers said that they were likely to get an iPhone if it was available for Verizon...that could be a serious blow to Android's momentum and a huge sale bonanza for Apple:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/finally-iphone-users-have-given-att-371
Virgin Mobile (owned by Sprint) is going to be offering an unlimited voice/data plan for just $40 per month, undercutting Verizon and AT&T by $20 per month:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/08/22/virgin-mobile-unofficially-confirms-its-new-40-unlimited-mobile-broadband-plan/
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg cannot be blocked by any Facebook user:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/22/you-can-block-any-facebook-user-except-mark-zuckerberg/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all
DARPA is investing in giant space nets to catch all of the junk that is orbiting the Earth. All of that space trash threatens the feasibility of a space elevator and endangers satellites and astronauts in space:
http://news.techworld.com/sme/3235495/darpa-invests-in-giant-space-nets-to-catch-trash/
The US-led strategy in Afghanistan relies on training enough of their local forces to let the Afghans take over their own security. The big flaw in the plan is that only 18% of the 243,000 police and soldiers have more than a Kindergarten-level ability to read, making it hard for them to do things such as keep track of their gear and follow a battle plan. The US General leading the effort says that if the Afghans cannot be taught to read at least at the 1st grade level, the US strategy will not work. Another problem is that the US needs to get 141,000 recruits to end up with 56,000 soldiers and police officers because of the drop out rate:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/08/u-s-hopes-afghan-troops-can-pass-1st-grade-someday/
US court put a temporary stop to federal funding of stem cell research that Pres. Obama has authorized, saying that it involved the destruction of human embryos:
http://www.physorg.com/news201800584.html?goback=.gde_1731397_news_177852082
Researchers have successfully used a drug to reset and restart the body clock of mice, making it possible for a drug to ease the effect of jet lag:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/08/Life-Science-Biotechnology-Body-clock-drug-could-ease-jet-lag/
Study found that astronauts can become as weak as 80-year-olds after spending 6 months at the Space Station, raising serious concerns of the health of astronauts as NASA considers long trips to asteroids and Mars:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2010/08/Space-Biology-Study-Astronauts-as-weak-as-80-year-olds-in-space/
Experts have come to a consensus that Intel bought McAfee because it wants to build directly into its hardware the kind of security features normally provided by software like McAfee's. Building security features into its hardware would be an excellent way for Intel to distinguish its hardware from its competitors:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/intel-wants-security-built-directly-silicon
Security vendors have warned that Intel's plan to embed security in chips has many difficult technical challenges and may upset existing partners. With Intel buying McAfee, Symantec buying PGP, IBM buying BigFix, and HP buying Fortify, security firms are being bought at a historical rate, and Intel's competitor AMD may need to buy a security company to keep up with Intel:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/20/intel_mcafee_security_industry_reaction/
Dell agreed to buy data storage provider 3Par Inc. for $1 billion last week...and today HP outbid them, offering $1.5 billion!
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1008&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=CO&CommonCount=0
Mobile chip makers are fighting for the lead in the LTE market. Qualcomm is trying to be the leader in the market but others are not far behind and the competition will be fierce:
http://lteworld.org/blog/lte-chip-makers-fight-lead
Apple filed for a patent to disable jailbroken iPhone, iPods, and iPads. Apple wants the ability to shut down telephone service, wipe personal data, and even permanently kill the devices if they are jailbroken. Apple even wants the ability to take control of the iPhone's camera, geotagging the image, and uploading it to an Apple server:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/20/apple_jailbreak_patent/
Analysis about how Huawei is willing to jump through hoops to crack the US market. I happen to know that Huawei is playing their entire R&D in North America instead of China...because one of their recruiters contacted me through LinkedIn asking me if I would be interested in an R&D position with Huawei in San Diego (or they would relocate me to New Jersey if I preferred to work there), even though I hadn't indicated any interest in getting a new job:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/huawei-willing-jump-through-hoops-when-it-comes-national-security-concerns/2010-08-23
Research report says that Clearwire will have a hard time implementing FDD-LTE and should use TDD-LTE. The reports notes that Clearwire doesn't have enough spectrum for FDD for between 50% and 60% of its markets, but Clearwire might use FDD-LTE in markets where they have enough spectrum:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-clearwire-best-served-moving-tdd-lte/2010-08-23
Wall Street analyst says that the deal between Apple and Verizon is still being negotiated and the iPhone might not get to Verizon until 2012 if Apple decides to put the iPhone on T-Mobile and Sprint first in 2011. The analyst says that Apple has a strong incentive to get the iPhone on Verizon as soon as possible, as that would be Apple's best way to address the increasing success of Android phones:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/23/verizon_apple_iphone_talks_continue_toward_possible_2011_launch.html
Samsung is looking to hire engineers for their Android LTE development. Samsung didn't have many GSM or CDMA patents when compared to Nokia or Qualcomm, but Samsung has more LTE patents than any other company right now. Samsung already makes numerous key components of mobile phones--LCDs, OLEDs, application processors, system memory, microSD cards, etc., so when you combine that with their LTE royalties they are in a strong growth position for the future:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/08/20/samsung-looking-for-engineers-to-add-lte-support-to-googles-android-operating-system/
The developer of the Advanced Task Manager app for Android released numbers showing how Android apps can make a decent amount of money. He is getting about $10,000 after Google's 30% cut and when combined with his full-time job at IBM he's doing well. It is interesting that at times his free version actually earned him more than his 99-cent version because of the ad payments from AdMob. He talks about Google Checkout and the Market app are the biggest things holding back revenue--but having PayPal added as an option to Google Checkout and the creation of a website to browse Android apps and send it to phones for installation will generate more app revenue. Note that Google gets 30% of the paid app revenue and the free apps with ads all use AdMob (which Google owns):
http://arronla.com/2010/08/android-revenue-advanced-task-manager/
Study found that nearly half of AT&T's iPhone users would switch to Verizon if Verizon got the iPhone. Slightly more than half of Verizon's subscribers said that they were likely to get an iPhone if it was available for Verizon...that could be a serious blow to Android's momentum and a huge sale bonanza for Apple:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/the-industry-standard/finally-iphone-users-have-given-att-371
Virgin Mobile (owned by Sprint) is going to be offering an unlimited voice/data plan for just $40 per month, undercutting Verizon and AT&T by $20 per month:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/08/22/virgin-mobile-unofficially-confirms-its-new-40-unlimited-mobile-broadband-plan/
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg cannot be blocked by any Facebook user:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/22/you-can-block-any-facebook-user-except-mark-zuckerberg/