States
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FTC sues Frontier for 'misrepresenting' internet speeds
The FTC and six states have sued Frontier Communications for misrepresenting internet speeds to consumers.
EARN IT Act amendments transfer the fight over Section 230 to the states
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an amended version of the EARN IT Act, which will head to the Senate floor for debate.
Foreign hackers attacked two state election systems, FBI warns
Hackers outside of the United States attacked two state election databases in recent months and the FBI is warning voting officials across the country to bulk up security and investigate their own systems for similar malicious activity, Yahoo News reports. The twin hacks were outed in a "flash" alert from the FBI's Cyber Division. The alert does not say which states were targeted, though Yahoo reports that it likely refers to attacks in Arizona and Illinois.
16 states unveil privacy protection measures
While US lawmakers and Congress beg tech companies to give them encrypted user data access, many states are going in a different direction. With help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sixteen of them including New York, Alabama, Illinois and Alaska are launching bills to protect residents' private data. The proposed laws differ from region to region, but focus on several areas. Most states want to prevent schools from gathering private student data, and Hawaii wants to ban employers from accessing workers' private social media info. Other measures are aimed at limiting "stingray" cellphone snooping and license plate data collection.
US Army breaking up with A160 Hummingbird drone-copter, says it's too high maintenance
It's not me, it's you. The US Army's dalliance with Boeing's A160 Hummingbird drone got one step closer to Splitsville after the military branch issued a stop-work order for the project. Initially scheduled to see action in Afghanistan starting this July, the chopper-drone turned plenty of heads thanks to a DARPA-developed Argus-IS imaging system with a 1.8-gigapixel camera capable of spying on ground targets from 20,000 feet. The honeymoon period between the Army and the A160 is apparently over, however, thanks to a host of issues. These included wiring problems as well as excessive vibration that caused an A160 to crash earlier this year due to a transmission mount failure. The problems not only increased risk and caused delays, but also led program costs to helicopter out of control -- a big no-no given Uncle Sam's recent belt-tightening. In the meantime, the Army is reportedly checking out the K-MAX, though it's important to note that this unmanned chopper specializes in cargo and doesn't have the A160's eyes.
US Army's A160 Hummingbird drone-copter to don 1.8 gigapixel camera
Starting in July of 2012, the United States Army will deploy three Boeing A160 Hummingbird drones to Afghanistan as part of a one-year trial program. Unlike the Predator drones already in combat, the A160 is a rotor-based aircraft capable of vertical take-offs and landings. What's more, the craft will be affixed with the DARPA-developed ARGUS-IS imaging system -- which boasts a 1.8 gigapixel camera the Army says can "track people and vehicles from altitudes above 20,000 feet." The A160 Hummingbird platform will provide the Army with the ability and flexibility to: take off and land without a runway; fly for twelve hours or more without refueling; and monitor up to 65 enemies of the State simultaneously. Test flights of the unmanned chopper are scheduled for early 2012 in Arizona, but residents hoping to get a glimpse of the A160 in action best have great eyesight -- the ARGUS-IS system can see targets from almost 25 miles down range. Oh, and don't forget to smile when you look up. You want to look your best for the eye in the sky, right?
Nissan Leaf branches out to an additional six states, plus one Island
The Nissan Leaf is inching closer to national ubiquity, with the addition of seven new markets across the continental US. In a statement issued yesterday, the manufacturer announced that its EV will soon be available within Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, with the first deliveries scheduled to roll out in Spring 2012. This expansion, which comes nearly one year after the Leaf's grand debut, means that the plug-in is now available in a full 30 US states (including Washington, DC), though Nissan hopes to bring it to the full 50 by March of next year. Rustle past the break for the full PR.
Visualized: Google charts the rise and fall of United States revenues
Where would we be without Google? Well, we wouldn't have pretty charts to gawk at, for starters! The Mountain View squad has pulled 10 years' worth of fiscal data from the US Census Bureau and compiled it into some gorgeous, infinitely sortable, and re-organizable graphs. They inspire both our admiration and apprehension, as their lines illustrate most starkly the shrinkage that replaced US economic growth over the latter half of the last decade. We've only picked out a few of the big states here, but all 50 are in Google's public database -- why not hit the source link and check up on your local governors' pecuniary (mis)management skills, eh?
iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big city
The end of this week has brought a little flurry of information about the differences between iPhone and Android users. First up, Admob has released the results of a survey that says the iPhone is twice as popular as comparable smartphones in both young and old demographics. Unfortunately, we can only guess as to why (it would be a little more interesting if either age showed a preference for one phone over another), but it seems the iPhone has yet another remarkable trait: appealing to users of all ages. No wonder Apple is jumping in on the iPad -- they really do have a pre-release audience. But they can't sit on their laurels for too long -- according to a report at Myxer's Boombox (via Fortune), the Android OS is picking up the pace, especially in what city folk call the "flyover states." Android use of the program has actually surpassed iPhone users in Montana, the Dakotas, and Arizona and New Mexico, and the numbers are close in the Midwest, including Kansas and Missouri. That's interesting -- that could have something to do with the distribution of Apple retail stores, or maybe just more urban center dwellers are drawn to the iPhone. DC seems to be the exception, as Virginia and Maryland are much more Android, but otherwise, if you're in a state with a big population center, odds are that you own an iPhone. Fascinating.
iPhone musicians invited to perform live with indie legends Good Night, States
Good Night, States, it seems, are a trusting lot. These indie rockers have not only supplied Noise.io soundbanks for their songs, but if you check 'em out at Mr. Small's in Pittsburgh this Friday you can plug your iPhone or iPod into the house sound system and jam along with the group. Noise.io, if you've not seen it before, bills itself as a "highly advanced sound synthesis workstation," with a unique touchscreen interface and all kinds of features sure to make softsynth fans positively giddy. Ready for your fifteen minutes of fame? Pick up your copy at the App Store for $8.99, and then proceed to the read link to get started -- but not before you peep the video demonstration after the break.[Via Speed of the Pittsburgh Sound]
States add K-12 educational content to iTunes U
Users of iTunes U, the free educational content channel inside iTunes, will have a lot more elementary education material to choose from -- the states of Arizona, Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Utah have all added some of their K-12 material to the mix, and a number of school districts and museums from those states have also contributed videos and audio recordings.The content is being uploaded by the SETDA, or the State Educational Technology Directors Association, which has been working with educators in member states to make more use of educational technology. This is definitely a great idea -- not only does it make this material much more accessible to educators and students alike, but anyone on iTunes can view and check out these resources through Apple's program.Plus, it's a great way to distribute student work to a much larger audience. You can find most of the new content under the "K-12" tab on the iTunes U homepage within iTunes.[via Macworld]
States want court oversight of Microsoft for another five years
Even with its highly visible attempts to clean up its image, "embrace" open standards and play "nice" with the Linux kids, Microsoft is still in the dog house as far as a California-led coalition of states is concerned. They want to extend court oversight of Microsoft, which is currently set to expire this November, for another five years, to make sure the software giant continues to comply with the anti-trust settlement reached back in 2002. Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia are all in on the action, no word yet on how it'll all play out.
More item tweaking going down on the PTRs
If you thought the item stats tweaking was over, think again. When players were amazed that the new Tankatronic Goggles saw a nice buff (that could actually compete with Tier 6), Kalgan showed up with a firebomb: the current build on the PTRs only has about a third of the item changes coming down. He says "nearly every level 70 epic item in the game is in the process of being updated."Curse has a few of the changes already-- blacksmithing weapons and armor have been boosted, arena weapons saw a buff, and (most exciting for me, since I'm not a blacksmith or a good PvPer), the Badge of Justice stuff has been improved a bit. So expect a lot of changes (for the better, so far) whenever the patch does come out. In fact, with all these buffs, I'm wondering if something is going to give. Hopefully, the devs decided to buff the high end stuff, rather than nerf the more obscure items.Oh, and the look of the Mongoose enchant has changed yet again. I'm glad that whoever's job it is to design that enchant is really taking the time to make sure it's exactly right.
i-mate's JAQ3 heading stateside
Barely two weeks after i-mate's JAQ3 got previewed, and just a single day after some other firms caught the smartphone blues, the now-dull looking device is headed to American shores. Presumably hoping to grab the business of those who just can't wait for an iPhone, our textual begging was apparently heard, as now we US lads can get a little JAQ in us, too. As expected, this Window Mobile 5-powered device will sport a full QWERTY keyboard, massive D-pad for navigating those menus, 802.11b/g, two-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch touchscreen LCD, 128MB of onboard ROM, 64MB of RAM, a microSD slot, and four hours of reported talk time to boot. You'll also find quad-band GSM and Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP) connectivity, EDGE, and a side-mounted scroll wheel for one-handed navigatin'. So if the nicely-featured JAQ3 was everything (keyword: was) you wanted in a smartphone, you can rethink your decision to pick one up when they land here later this month.
WoWEconomy.com tracks the AH online
Curse points to an interesting new site that's taking on an idea a lot of players, I'm sure, have considered, if not hoped for: WoW Economy is a site that tries to finally monitor, and mirror on the web, real-time prices in the AHs on the different servers.Unfortunately, they're going uphill trying to implement something like this-- first and foremost, prices are different all over the servers, and that means that even if they come up with a price for something, there's no guarantee it'll sell for that on your server. They say they scan all the auction houses every day and provide information for trends, but if they only scan all the houses every day, the small collection of info they have is still pretty close to useless. (Not to mention the site is full of ads and a few spelling errors, but we'll give them a pass on that one-- buy any jewelry or mess around with a Flash paper doll lately?).On the other hand, I do have to give it to them: if you search for an item, they'll give you a price, right or not. They've even got a list of Most Traded and Most Valuable items (and it's kind of close to Blizzard's list... kind of). And they'll even track an item's listing over a period of time.But while it's the not most complete or worthwhile resource, it's one of the only resources we have on auction items on the web, so if you haven't yet installed the Auctioneer alpha, you might get a little use out of it. I'd like to see a few fewer ads and a few more pieces of valuable data, but I'll give them a B for effort... so far.
