5:06 PM
The Obama Administration marked the end of the combat mission in Iraq. Pres. Obama had promised to withdraw all but 50,000 US troops by today and US forces are already below 50,000 in Iraq, and all US forces are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of next year:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-31-iraq-obama_N.htm
Police in California used Homeland Security grants to buy robots that go into dangerous places to look for criminals. They can send the 25-pound robot into an area with a hidden suspect and it can climb stairs, run on grass and gravel, and even get up if it flips over. The $12k robot is not bulletproof, but it is better to risk the robot instead of having police officers have to make the search:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/police-robot-seeks-out-bad-guys
Apple is reportedly seriously considering using biometric heartbeat sensors to verify authorized users. So, a future iPhone could identify users by heartbeat, voice, or facial recognition and then Apple could remotely wipe data from the phone or render it useless if the user is not authorized. This would also give Apple a way to identify users that jailbreaked their iPhones and prevent them from owning any future iPhone:
http://innovya.com/category/news/
Full-body scanning technology isn't just being used at courthouses and airports...it is now being used in 500+ vans that can be driven past vehicles to see inside of them. The DOD has been using this in Afghanistan and Iraq and law enforcement agencies in the US are using these vans also:
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/08/24/full-body-scan-technology-deployed-in-street-roving-vans/
The University of California retirement system faces a $20 billion shortfall! This is mainly due to how they decided to stop paying into the retirement system 20 years ago because they thought it was overfunded...20 years of not contributing to the retirement fund resulted in not having enough for pensions now:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-pension-20100831,0,5013982.story
Study found that exercise can reduce the genetic tendency towards obesity--in other words, exercise overrides the "fat gene":
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-09-01-fatgenes01_ST_N.htm
Phoenix is saving over $220k per year by using Tropos to manage their network. The network enables traffic operators to make real-time changes to traffic light signal timing to reduce travel times for commuters and to enhance traffic safety:
http://www.tropos.com/news/pressreleases/08_31_2010.php
Cisco is apparently "in talks" to buy Skype at a premium price. Last year a majority of Skype was sold to investors and that deal valued all of Skype at $2.75 billion, and now Skype is trying to get $5 billion from Cisco:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=46620&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Federal investigators went to the 2 Iowa chicken farms that recalled 550 million eggs and found filthy, disgusting conditions. Chickens and rodents crawling up massive manure piles, flies and maggots 'too numerous to count', etc., makes me cringe:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-eggs-20100831,0,7203070,full.story
LightSquared plans to expand its LTE service to up to 9 US metro areas next year, challenging Clearwire for the lead for 4G wireless services. This hedge fund-back venture plans to expand to Dallas, Chicago and Minneapolis next year and then go to 20 cities in 2012 including NY, SF, and LA:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-31/falcone-s-lightsquared-to-take-on-clearwire-in-chicago-dallas.html
Paid apps make up 70% of Apple's App Store apps while only 36% of Android apps are paid apps. One possibility for this is that a significant number of Android developers may come from the open source world where free software is normal, but it should be noted that payment options are only available in 13 of the 46 international markets where Android smartphones are used while Apple's App Store supports paid downloads in 90 countries:
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/paid-apps-70-percent-app-store-and-just-third-android-market/2010-08-30#ixzz0yCnatmaa
Microsoft is charging $15 per smartphone that uses Windows Phone 7, but argues that Android smartphone developers end up paying more than that despite getting the OS for free:
http://www.businessinsider.com/android-costs
Samsung has already shipped 1 million Galaxy S smartphones in the US market and will be focusing on its Android-powered tablet during the holiday season. However, analysts say that Samsung not releasing any new phones for the rest of the year will hurt them when new high-profile smartphones rack up sales during the Holidays:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/samsungs-smartphone-strategy-has-q4-hole/2010-08-31
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-08-31-iraq-obama_N.htm
Police in California used Homeland Security grants to buy robots that go into dangerous places to look for criminals. They can send the 25-pound robot into an area with a hidden suspect and it can climb stairs, run on grass and gravel, and even get up if it flips over. The $12k robot is not bulletproof, but it is better to risk the robot instead of having police officers have to make the search:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/police-robot-seeks-out-bad-guys
Apple is reportedly seriously considering using biometric heartbeat sensors to verify authorized users. So, a future iPhone could identify users by heartbeat, voice, or facial recognition and then Apple could remotely wipe data from the phone or render it useless if the user is not authorized. This would also give Apple a way to identify users that jailbreaked their iPhones and prevent them from owning any future iPhone:
http://innovya.com/category/news/
Full-body scanning technology isn't just being used at courthouses and airports...it is now being used in 500+ vans that can be driven past vehicles to see inside of them. The DOD has been using this in Afghanistan and Iraq and law enforcement agencies in the US are using these vans also:
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/08/24/full-body-scan-technology-deployed-in-street-roving-vans/
The University of California retirement system faces a $20 billion shortfall! This is mainly due to how they decided to stop paying into the retirement system 20 years ago because they thought it was overfunded...20 years of not contributing to the retirement fund resulted in not having enough for pensions now:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-pension-20100831,0,5013982.story
Study found that exercise can reduce the genetic tendency towards obesity--in other words, exercise overrides the "fat gene":
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-09-01-fatgenes01_ST_N.htm
Phoenix is saving over $220k per year by using Tropos to manage their network. The network enables traffic operators to make real-time changes to traffic light signal timing to reduce travel times for commuters and to enhance traffic safety:
http://www.tropos.com/news/pressreleases/08_31_2010.php
Cisco is apparently "in talks" to buy Skype at a premium price. Last year a majority of Skype was sold to investors and that deal valued all of Skype at $2.75 billion, and now Skype is trying to get $5 billion from Cisco:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=46620&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
Federal investigators went to the 2 Iowa chicken farms that recalled 550 million eggs and found filthy, disgusting conditions. Chickens and rodents crawling up massive manure piles, flies and maggots 'too numerous to count', etc., makes me cringe:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-eggs-20100831,0,7203070,full.story
LightSquared plans to expand its LTE service to up to 9 US metro areas next year, challenging Clearwire for the lead for 4G wireless services. This hedge fund-back venture plans to expand to Dallas, Chicago and Minneapolis next year and then go to 20 cities in 2012 including NY, SF, and LA:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-31/falcone-s-lightsquared-to-take-on-clearwire-in-chicago-dallas.html
Paid apps make up 70% of Apple's App Store apps while only 36% of Android apps are paid apps. One possibility for this is that a significant number of Android developers may come from the open source world where free software is normal, but it should be noted that payment options are only available in 13 of the 46 international markets where Android smartphones are used while Apple's App Store supports paid downloads in 90 countries:
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/paid-apps-70-percent-app-store-and-just-third-android-market/2010-08-30#ixzz0yCnatmaa
Microsoft is charging $15 per smartphone that uses Windows Phone 7, but argues that Android smartphone developers end up paying more than that despite getting the OS for free:
http://www.businessinsider.com/android-costs
Samsung has already shipped 1 million Galaxy S smartphones in the US market and will be focusing on its Android-powered tablet during the holiday season. However, analysts say that Samsung not releasing any new phones for the rest of the year will hurt them when new high-profile smartphones rack up sales during the Holidays:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/samsungs-smartphone-strategy-has-q4-hole/2010-08-31