6:43 PM
Very interesting article about the nuclear reactor situation in Japan. The nuclear reactors were designed for a maximum 8.2-magnitude earthquake, so the 8.9-magnitude earthquake was 7x stronger than the maximum it was designed to withstand. However, the reactor was fine after the earthquake...until the tsunami came and destroyed all multiple sets of backup Diesel generators! Even then, things were fine for 8 hours due to the emergency backup power from the batteries (the batteries were the backups to the backups). However, another power source has to be connected to the power plant by the end of the 8 hours. The power grid was down due to the earthquake and the diesel generators were destroyed by the tsunami, so mobile diesel generators were brought in...but the mobile diesel generators could not be connected to the power plant because the *plugs didn't fit* so after the batteries ran out the heat could not be carried away anymore:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/
Estimates place the cost of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan at between $35 bil and $170 bil, which makes it the second most expensive disaster ever (taking inflation into account)...only hurricane Katrina had a bigger economic impact:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/14/am-japanese-quake-costs-may-top-170-billion/
Verizon has made all calls, text messages, and multimedia messages to Japan *free* until April 10. Verizon's FiOS customers also are getting TV Japan for free to keep up with all of the coverage:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/14/verizon-makes-calls-and-texts-to-japan-free-through-april-10/
AT&T is giving free calls and text messages (no free MMS service, though) to Japan to its wireless and wireline customers in the US and Puerto Rico through March 31. AT&T is also giving their U-Verse TV customers free coverage of TV Japan:
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1103&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=BV&CommonCount=0
Purdue researchers found a drug approved decades ago for hypertension can be used to delay the onset and reduce the severity of MS symptoms...this could be a major breakthrough for the battle against multiple sclerosis:
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2011/110314ShiMS.html
Illinois has passed a law that requires Internet retailers like Amazon to collect the 6.25% sales tax on all Illinois internet shoppers. Amazon is threatening to terminate their Illinois affiliates, just like they have threatened California if they pass a similar law that they have been talking about. New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina already have laws that require sales tax to be collected on Internet purchases. Some states might not pass similar laws because they want internet companies to locate there, but soon Amazon and the rest may find that there aren't that many places left for them to avoid collecting sales taxes:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=47371&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology says that China won't have 4G services nationwide until 2014. He said that the Chinese government doesn't want to allow 4G service too soon since their carriers want to develop 3G services further:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/chinese-official-no-4g-china-until-2014/2011-03-13
PC World tested the 4G data rates for the 4 major national wireless carriers in 260 locations among 13 US cities. They found that Verizon's 4G laptop modems got 6.44 Mbps download speeds and 5 Mbps upload speeds, *far* faster than the next fastest 4G download speeds (T-Mobile with 2.83 Mbps) and the next fastest upload speeds (AT&T with 1.05 Mbps), with Verizon also significantly superior in terms of latency. T-Mobile had the fastest 4G data rates for smartphones--that surprises me since I thought that only Sprint had 4G service to smartphones with WiMAX, but T-Mobile's HSPA+ was far faster than the 3G/4G service from the other carriers at 2.28 Mbps download speed. AT&T actually had the fastest smartphone upload speed, at slightly slower than 1 Mbps:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/221931/4g_wireless_speed_tests_which_is_really_the_fastest.html
AT&T responded to the complaints about how their "4G" devices like the Atrix get much slower upload rates than 3G devices like the iPhone by saying that they just haven't turned on their HSUPA network yet. Two things bother me about this explanation--AT&T shouldn't be advertising 4G upload data rates if the network isn't available, and they haven't explained by the Atrix and other "4G" devices are so much slower on their 3G network than the iPhone--if everybody is using the 3G network, why are their "4G" devices slower?
http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/11/att-responds-to-allegations-of-capped-data-speeds-confirms-atrix-4g-will-get-hsupa/
Android app has been created by a security researcher as a proof-of-concept demo of how bad the security controls are for popular cardkey door control systems--the app can break through the security of any cardkey system, letting the user unlock and lock all the doors:
http://www.cybersecurityguy.com/caribou.html
Apple sold an estimated 500,000 iPad 2 tablets during its debut weekend. I bet that 99.9% of them were actually sold on launch day...I saw the *long* lines at an Apple Store and Best Buy in Encinitas on launch day:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-apple-sold-around-500000-ipad-2s-debut-weekend/2011-03-14
Cross-industry coalition of manufacturers have formed an organization to oppose the national wireless broadband network that LightSquared is proposing due to GPS interference concerns. GPS companies Garmin and Trimble have been joined by highway and transportation officials, pilots, rental car associations, equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, etc.:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381786,00.asp
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/
Estimates place the cost of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan at between $35 bil and $170 bil, which makes it the second most expensive disaster ever (taking inflation into account)...only hurricane Katrina had a bigger economic impact:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/14/am-japanese-quake-costs-may-top-170-billion/
Verizon has made all calls, text messages, and multimedia messages to Japan *free* until April 10. Verizon's FiOS customers also are getting TV Japan for free to keep up with all of the coverage:
http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/14/verizon-makes-calls-and-texts-to-japan-free-through-april-10/
AT&T is giving free calls and text messages (no free MMS service, though) to Japan to its wireless and wireline customers in the US and Puerto Rico through March 31. AT&T is also giving their U-Verse TV customers free coverage of TV Japan:
http://www.wirelessdesignmag.com/ShowPR.aspx?PUBCODE=055&ACCT=0000100&ISSUE=1103&RELTYPE=IN&PRODCODE=00000&PRODLETT=BV&CommonCount=0
Purdue researchers found a drug approved decades ago for hypertension can be used to delay the onset and reduce the severity of MS symptoms...this could be a major breakthrough for the battle against multiple sclerosis:
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2011/110314ShiMS.html
Illinois has passed a law that requires Internet retailers like Amazon to collect the 6.25% sales tax on all Illinois internet shoppers. Amazon is threatening to terminate their Illinois affiliates, just like they have threatened California if they pass a similar law that they have been talking about. New York, Rhode Island and North Carolina already have laws that require sales tax to be collected on Internet purchases. Some states might not pass similar laws because they want internet companies to locate there, but soon Amazon and the rest may find that there aren't that many places left for them to avoid collecting sales taxes:
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsDetail.aspx?n=47371&id=e9381817-0593-417a-8639-c4c53e2a2a10
China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology says that China won't have 4G services nationwide until 2014. He said that the Chinese government doesn't want to allow 4G service too soon since their carriers want to develop 3G services further:
http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/chinese-official-no-4g-china-until-2014/2011-03-13
PC World tested the 4G data rates for the 4 major national wireless carriers in 260 locations among 13 US cities. They found that Verizon's 4G laptop modems got 6.44 Mbps download speeds and 5 Mbps upload speeds, *far* faster than the next fastest 4G download speeds (T-Mobile with 2.83 Mbps) and the next fastest upload speeds (AT&T with 1.05 Mbps), with Verizon also significantly superior in terms of latency. T-Mobile had the fastest 4G data rates for smartphones--that surprises me since I thought that only Sprint had 4G service to smartphones with WiMAX, but T-Mobile's HSPA+ was far faster than the 3G/4G service from the other carriers at 2.28 Mbps download speed. AT&T actually had the fastest smartphone upload speed, at slightly slower than 1 Mbps:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/221931/4g_wireless_speed_tests_which_is_really_the_fastest.html
AT&T responded to the complaints about how their "4G" devices like the Atrix get much slower upload rates than 3G devices like the iPhone by saying that they just haven't turned on their HSUPA network yet. Two things bother me about this explanation--AT&T shouldn't be advertising 4G upload data rates if the network isn't available, and they haven't explained by the Atrix and other "4G" devices are so much slower on their 3G network than the iPhone--if everybody is using the 3G network, why are their "4G" devices slower?
http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/11/att-responds-to-allegations-of-capped-data-speeds-confirms-atrix-4g-will-get-hsupa/
Android app has been created by a security researcher as a proof-of-concept demo of how bad the security controls are for popular cardkey door control systems--the app can break through the security of any cardkey system, letting the user unlock and lock all the doors:
http://www.cybersecurityguy.com/caribou.html
Apple sold an estimated 500,000 iPad 2 tablets during its debut weekend. I bet that 99.9% of them were actually sold on launch day...I saw the *long* lines at an Apple Store and Best Buy in Encinitas on launch day:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/analysts-apple-sold-around-500000-ipad-2s-debut-weekend/2011-03-14
Cross-industry coalition of manufacturers have formed an organization to oppose the national wireless broadband network that LightSquared is proposing due to GPS interference concerns. GPS companies Garmin and Trimble have been joined by highway and transportation officials, pilots, rental car associations, equipment manufacturers such as Caterpillar, etc.:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381786,00.asp