6:21 PM
Man is going to prison for 20 years after trying to sell UAV parts on eBay. The winning bidder was an undercover investigator for the Department of Homeland Security. eBay actually took the auction off its site because selling military items violates eBay rules, but the seller e-mailed the undercover agent to tell him that he could sell the UAV to him whether or not he was a licensed broker:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/what-not-to-sell-on-ebay-drones/
Singapore is considering buried small nuclear reactors--if Singapore had a nuclear reactor problem like what is happening in Japan, their entire island would be contaminated and there would be no place to evacuate to. If the reactor was underground, then if any problem occurred you could just cement in any access tunnels to the facility and the granite that the reactor is buried in will naturally contain the radiation. Right now Singapore depends on natural gas imported from Indonesia and Malaysia for its electricity:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/singapore-considers-buried-small.html
Donald Trump is probably the most high-profile figure now who is openly claiming that he doubts that Pres. Obama is a US citizen...and he's going on multiple TV shows and making his statements much more direct about his claim that Pres. Obama is not a citizen:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/donald-trump-defends-birther-claims/2011/03/29/AFFIqIuB_blog.html
Researchers recently concluded that facial biometric technologies were not accurate enough to distinguish between identical twins under real world conditions:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/can-biometrics-id-an-identical-twin
Four Senators recently asked Apple, Google, and RIM to remove all apps from their app stores that helps drunk drivers or other criminals evade police. Smartphone apps use GPS to alert the driver of any active law enforcement personnel near them, warning of checkpoints, speed cameras, and speed traps. RIM agreed to stop selling those types of apps after hearing from the Senators:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/senators-target-apps-help-drunk-drivers-avoid-police
Attorney Generals are lobbying Google and Apple to stop selling apps that reveal where the drunk driving checkpoints are:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=13245477
Sprint announced its plan to attack the AT&T/T-Mobile deal:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-announces-plan-attack-attt-mobile-deal/2011-03-28
IDC predicts that the smartphone market will grow 49.2% this year, with Android owning 39.5% of the market, Nokia with 20.9%, Apple with 15.7%, RIM with 14.9%, and Microsoft with 5.5%. I think that IDC's 2015 predictions are *very* questionable--they say that Android will have 45.4% of the smartphone market in 2015, with Windows Phone having 20.9%, Apple around 16% and RIM around 15%. They seem to be assuming that Nokia users will go for Windows Phone 7, but I think they will go to Android/Apple:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/idc-windows-phone-7-pass-apples-ios-2015/2011-03-29
Amazon's Cloud Player music service allows users to upload their mp3 and AA3 files and play them on any computer or Android device, with 5 GB free and any music purchased from Amazon being stored for free. You can also buy a 69-cent album and get 20 GB storage free for a year:
http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-launched-cloud-music-player-works-any-computer-or-android-device
The music industry is *very* upset with Amazon because Amazon launched their music service WITHOUT getting a license for music streaming! Some in the music industry say that Amazon's music service is illegal. Amazon just let the music labels know about their plans last week and has only started negotiating licenses a few days ago...so, Amazon launched their service before they got their license to do so, and Amazon says that they are negotiating to get a license to do what they are doing. Isn't that like driving a car and saying that you'll get a license to do so sometime in the future?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Amazon-faces-backlash-over-rb-3699819521.html
Commentary on how the BlackBerry PlayBook will run Android apps only using an emulator, so Android app performance will be poor and the tablet-optimized apps running on Android 3.0 won't run on the BlackBerry tablet:
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/rim-embraces-android-apps-playbook-what-cost/2011-03-28
Woman heard a rumor that her husband was having an affair with another woman, so she threw pepper spray or something similar in the woman's face (making it hard for her to see and defend herself) and BIT OFF the tip of the woman's right ring finger. All three people work at the same Florida WalMart and both the husband and victim deny they were having an affair. The woman bit off the finger of her coworker because she heard a rumor that she wasn't even sure was true!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42258368/ns/us_news-weird_news/
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/03/what-not-to-sell-on-ebay-drones/
Singapore is considering buried small nuclear reactors--if Singapore had a nuclear reactor problem like what is happening in Japan, their entire island would be contaminated and there would be no place to evacuate to. If the reactor was underground, then if any problem occurred you could just cement in any access tunnels to the facility and the granite that the reactor is buried in will naturally contain the radiation. Right now Singapore depends on natural gas imported from Indonesia and Malaysia for its electricity:
http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/singapore-considers-buried-small.html
Donald Trump is probably the most high-profile figure now who is openly claiming that he doubts that Pres. Obama is a US citizen...and he's going on multiple TV shows and making his statements much more direct about his claim that Pres. Obama is not a citizen:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/donald-trump-defends-birther-claims/2011/03/29/AFFIqIuB_blog.html
Researchers recently concluded that facial biometric technologies were not accurate enough to distinguish between identical twins under real world conditions:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/can-biometrics-id-an-identical-twin
Four Senators recently asked Apple, Google, and RIM to remove all apps from their app stores that helps drunk drivers or other criminals evade police. Smartphone apps use GPS to alert the driver of any active law enforcement personnel near them, warning of checkpoints, speed cameras, and speed traps. RIM agreed to stop selling those types of apps after hearing from the Senators:
http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/senators-target-apps-help-drunk-drivers-avoid-police
Attorney Generals are lobbying Google and Apple to stop selling apps that reveal where the drunk driving checkpoints are:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=13245477
Sprint announced its plan to attack the AT&T/T-Mobile deal:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-announces-plan-attack-attt-mobile-deal/2011-03-28
IDC predicts that the smartphone market will grow 49.2% this year, with Android owning 39.5% of the market, Nokia with 20.9%, Apple with 15.7%, RIM with 14.9%, and Microsoft with 5.5%. I think that IDC's 2015 predictions are *very* questionable--they say that Android will have 45.4% of the smartphone market in 2015, with Windows Phone having 20.9%, Apple around 16% and RIM around 15%. They seem to be assuming that Nokia users will go for Windows Phone 7, but I think they will go to Android/Apple:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/idc-windows-phone-7-pass-apples-ios-2015/2011-03-29
Amazon's Cloud Player music service allows users to upload their mp3 and AA3 files and play them on any computer or Android device, with 5 GB free and any music purchased from Amazon being stored for free. You can also buy a 69-cent album and get 20 GB storage free for a year:
http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-launched-cloud-music-player-works-any-computer-or-android-device
The music industry is *very* upset with Amazon because Amazon launched their music service WITHOUT getting a license for music streaming! Some in the music industry say that Amazon's music service is illegal. Amazon just let the music labels know about their plans last week and has only started negotiating licenses a few days ago...so, Amazon launched their service before they got their license to do so, and Amazon says that they are negotiating to get a license to do what they are doing. Isn't that like driving a car and saying that you'll get a license to do so sometime in the future?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Amazon-faces-backlash-over-rb-3699819521.html
Commentary on how the BlackBerry PlayBook will run Android apps only using an emulator, so Android app performance will be poor and the tablet-optimized apps running on Android 3.0 won't run on the BlackBerry tablet:
http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/rim-embraces-android-apps-playbook-what-cost/2011-03-28
Woman heard a rumor that her husband was having an affair with another woman, so she threw pepper spray or something similar in the woman's face (making it hard for her to see and defend herself) and BIT OFF the tip of the woman's right ring finger. All three people work at the same Florida WalMart and both the husband and victim deny they were having an affair. The woman bit off the finger of her coworker because she heard a rumor that she wasn't even sure was true!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42258368/ns/us_news-weird_news/