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Apple will reopen stores in four US states next week
The company will employ temperature checks and physical distancing measures.
Idaho inmates hacked prison tablets and stole $225,000
Inmates in five Idaho prisons exploited a vulnerability on their JPay tablets to steal almost $225,000 worth of credits, according to officials. The Idaho Department of Correction said 364 prisoners boosted their JPay account balances, according to The Associated Press. The department unearthed the issue earlier this month, and noted taxpayer dollars were not affected.
Solar road tiles get their first public test
No, that's not an elaborate new Lite-Brite kit-- that's the possible future of energy. After years of work (and some last-minute delays), Solar Roadways has installed its first public energy tiles in Sandpoint, Idaho as part of a test. On top of producing a light show, the panels will generate power for the fountain and restrooms in a public square. They have heating elements, too, so they should keep running even in the heart of winter. And if you're not sure how well they'll work in practice, you can check on them yourself -- Sandpoint has a live webcam pointed at the tiles.
Teen arrested for breaking an entire school district's internet
A teenager from Idaho has landed themselves in hot water after arranging a takedown of their school district's internet access. KTVB News reports that the 17-year-old student paid a third party to conduct a distributed denial of service attack that forced the entire West Ada school district offline. The act disrupted more than 50 schools, bringing everything from payroll to standardized tests grinding to a halt. Unfortunate students undertaking the Idaho Standard Achievement test were required to go through the process multiple times because the system kept losing their work and results.
Your internet is probably slower than advertised
When it comes to internet speeds, "you get what you pay for" is pretty far from the truth a majority of the time. The Wall Street Journal used Ookla's speed-testing data to survey some 800 US cities and 27 ISPs in terms of advertised transfer rates and what customers are actually getting, and the results are pretty surprising. A vast majority of providers give their customers the short shrift on speed (Verizon Internet Services and AT&T Uverse are among the most prominent offenders), while a handful of ISPs including Charter, Earthlink and Midcontinent Communications actually exceed promised speeds by eight percent or more. A probable reason for the latter is because those listed are smaller providers, with likely lighter user-loads than, say, Comcast or CenturyLink.
Regional carrier Strata Networks to carry iPhone 5
After earlier news today that you can move your unlocked iPhone 5 to the Solavei network for some US$49 all-you-can-eat lovin', we've heard of a new regional carrier -- Strata Networks -- that will soon carry the iPhone 5 and provide another alternative to the blue, red, yellow and magenta networks. Utah-based co-op Strata Networks provides local service in the Uintah Basin, the Western Slope of Colorado and parts of Idaho. The carrier recently lit up an LTE network covering the population centers of Utah, and provides 2G/3G service for customers across the rest of the US. At this time, Strata is just taking names for current or potential customers who wish to be notified when the iPhone 5 arrives.
Steve Appleton, CEO of Micron, dies in plane crash at 51
Sad news to report this Friday. Steve Appleton, the CEO and Chairman of Micron, died this morning in an airplane crash shortly after takeoff from the Boise, Idaho airport. He was the only one aboard, and was piloting a fixed wing, single engine kit aircraft. Appleton started working at Micron in 1983 shortly after graduating from Boise State University, first working the production line and eventually rising through the ranks to become the company's COO in 1991. He took the reins of Micron in 1994. The plane crash wasn't Appleton's first. In 2004, he and a flying partner walked away from an accident, having sustained only scrapes and bruises. He later commented on his life's passions, which included aircraft aerobatics, "I'm very fortunate, lucky to be able to experience the kinds of things that I do. If my life were to end tomorrow, I've had a full life." Steve Appleton leaves behind a wife and four children. Comments from Micron's Board of Directors, as well as Boise's mayor, Dave Bieter, can be found after the break.[Thanks, Fazzitron]
Satellite-borne lasers tracking woodland happenings, who knows what else
It may shock your senses, but this actually isn't the first time we've heard of lasers being used to track birds and their habitats. But this go 'round, an Idaho University team is using a satellite-borne laser in an effort to "predict in which part of a State Forest the birds might be living." In particular, the crew is developing methods that'll help them track the North American pileated woodpecker, namely because these creatures are pegged as being great indicators of overall bird diversity. Currently, the laser is only capable of analyzing vital characteristics of a woodland, but scientists are using this information to take a stab as to where the aforementioned birds would be. Essentially, this laser spotting approach enables gurus to spot highly dense sections of forest -- plots where the pileated woodpecker loves to hang -- from above, dramatically cutting down the hide-and-seek that would previously take place on foot in much larger areas. Now, if only they could get lasers onto the birds, we'd have an all new brand of rave to consider.
US mineral companies to tech industry: drill, baby, drill
Even if your favorite gadget isn't flaunting them, rare earth metals are vital to all sorts of high-tech gizmos, from your flat-panel TV and computer hard drive to the hefty batteries that power the Toyota Prius. But over 95% of the world's rare earth comes from China; and late last year, China told the world that they'd like to keep the lion's share all to themselves. What will we Westerners do? Well, we could let China continue producing mountains of e-waste on our behalf. But we could also find plenty of rare earth just by digging in our own backyard. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States has over 13 million metric tons of rare earth with concentrated deposits in Mountain Pass, California and Diamond Creek, Idaho. But since the private firms that control those deposits aren't willing to spend the requisite eight years and minimum $500 million to construct a chemical separation plant, Idaho-based U.S. Rare Earths is just sitting on their ore for now, while California's Molycorp Minerals is forced to send their material all the way to China (once again) for processing. "No one wants to be first to jump into the market because of the cost of building a separation plant," former USGS rare earth specialist Jim Hedrick told LiveScience. Should China's export dwindle and the U.S. feel the pinch, that may change, but for now it's good to know that when the global game of StarCraft tells us "not enough minerals," we'll know exactly where to look.
Clearwire goes live with WiMAX service in ten new markets
Just as we expected, Clearwire has lit up its CLEAR WiMAX services in ten new markets. Beginning today, those with a thirst for ultra-speedy mobile broadband can sink their teeth into those delicious 4G airwaves so long as you call one of the following locales home: Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; Bellingham, Wash; or Boise, Idaho. We fully expect a smattering of other markets to see similar launches as the Fall progresses, but if you just can't wait, well -- there's always vacation.
Leaked Sprint WiMAX roadmap names new cities for 2009 rollout
Well, what do we have here? One of our readers sent us a screenshot from Sprint's Sales Portal that included the above roadmap for its WiMAX rollout this year. A number of the yet-to-be-launched cities we've already heard about -- Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Charlotte -- but to the best of our knowledge, the rest of them are brand new entries. Additionally, Baltimore residents can look forward to some sort of coverage update in the fourth quarter. We'd be lying if we said we weren't jealous that Salem (population 3,000) and Milledgeville (population 19,000) are getting the wireless network before most of us on staff, but the service has to start somewhere, right? No indication here of 2010 plans, but last we heard that included Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Update: As tipster Carlos points out, Clearwire's website already has some coverage maps for some of the cities listed in the third quarter, as well as some markets not listed here.
DirecTV lights up HD locals in six new markets
DirecTV's a few months behind on finishing up its summer HD locals expansion, but we're pretty sure subscribers in six new markets are willing to forgive the delay now that their favorite broadcast networks are in shining high-def. As of now, customers in Boise, Idaho; Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen, Texas; Macon, Georgia; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Traverse City-Cadillac, Michigan; and Fort Smith, Arkansas can tap into HD locals via DirecTV, and the satcaster can now claim that over 86% of US households are within range of 'em.
NBC Universal to carriers: add temporary HD channels or live without Olympics streaming
For a whole slew of individuals across America (particularly those with lackluster Time Warner Cable lineups), the addition of two new temporary high-def stations has been quite the treat. Just prior to the start of the Beijing Olympics, many cable carriers opted to add in an HD Soccer and HD Basketball channel, but if you thought they were just doing so to be nice, you thought wrong. After scads of CableONE subscribers in Idaho were flat shut out of live online streaming, a bit of digging revealed the problem: NBC Universal bundled online streaming into a "premium package" with the previously mentioned stations, which CableONE declined to offer. For the CableONE users, the story does end in on a high note -- they are getting three permanent HD channels instead. For everyone else loving the convenience of online streams, at least you can sleep easy knowing that minor increases in your future bill will likely be used to pay for it. Then again, what is free these days?
