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12 Aug 2011 21:09

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Tech: One of the masterminds of the IBM PC admits its decline

  • They’re going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs.
  • Mark Dean, IBM’s Middle East and Africa CTO • Talking about PCs. This is the one of the guys who originally designed the IBM PC, which has set the basic template for most desktop computers for roughly 30 years now. He goes on to say that he didn’t ever think that he’d witness its decline. “It’s becoming clear that innovation flourishes best not on devices but in the social spaces between them, where people and ideas meet and interact,” he said. And it’s true — think about all of the different devices we use today. The PC did start it all, but this article highlights why it’s evident that the PC is on its way out. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 15:17

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Culture: Guy subverts clever Starbucks Card experiment, because he’s a jerk

  • cool Mobile developer Jonathan Stark came up with this interesting idea called Jonathan’s Card, to allow people to let people buy other people coffee from Starbucks, as a social experiment. The experiment took off and drew massive media coverage, and roughly $8,700 has been spent through the card so far. Pretty good for a clever idea.
  • lame Another developer, Sam Odio, decided that this idea wasn’t interesting enough for him, so he decided to siphon money off the card using a script that transferred the funds to his own Starbucks card, which he plans to sell on eBay for charity. Hey Sam, whatever your point may be, could you not be a jerk about it? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 14:42

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U.S.: Serial killer Anthony Sowell sentenced to death by lethal injection

Sowell, from Cleveland, was convicted in the deaths of 11 women. He didn’t even look at the victims’ families during the sentencing, nor did he acknowledge the judge when asked to sign a court document. source
Posted by Justin Jones • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 12:28

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Politics: Iowa debate: Herman Cain’s favorite poet is Pokemon, apparently

  • A poet once said, ‘life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.’
  • 2012 GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain • In his closing remarks in last night’s debate. “A poet” is great and all, but it’d sure be nice to know who the poet was. Well … this is where it gets fun. See, the “poet” in this case appears to be Donna Summer, and the poet’s muse was — get this — the soundtrack to the modern classic “Pokemon 2000.” And he’s gotten the quote’s attribution wrong before, once referring to it as the theme song to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (It wasn’t.) Life can be a challenge, indeed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 11:38

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U.S.: U.S. Postal Service: Desperate times call for desperate measures

  • $20
    billion     the amount of money the struggling U.S. Postal Service has lost in the past four years — including $8.5 billion last year alone
  • 120,000 workers number of employees the struggling postal service has proposed cutting to stave off their financial issues; did your e-mails do them in? source
  • » No more federal health care? If you’ve been following the U.S. Postal Service’s financial situation closely, you might know that part of the reason they’ve been struggling involves high pre-paid health care costs, an issue that cropped up due to a federal law forcing them to set aside a large amount of money for health care. This means that they can’t use any of the money to, you know, do anything else. Now the USPS says they’d be better off getting off the federal plan and doing private health care and pensions instead. They say it’s cheaper. Was that whole thing a ploy to get them further off the federal dime? They’re independent, you know.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Aug 2011 11:19

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World: Scotland Yard takes offense to David Cameron’s take on riot response

  • I think after any event like this, people will always make comments who weren’t there.
  • Scotland Yard Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin • Offering a rebuttal to the tough comments Prime Minister David Cameron made about the police response to the riots in London and throughout the United Kingdom. Mind you, Godwin has a point — see, Cameron, top policing official Theresa May and London Mayor Boris Johnson all happened to be on vacation at the time, and only came back to the country after the crisis got out of control. British police officers have arrested around 1,051 people since the attacks began, and roughly 591 have been charged with crimes thus far. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Aug 2011 11:01

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U.S.: True justice: Corrupt juvenile court judge sentenced for kickback scheme

  • unjustified A Pennsylvania juvenile court judge who happened to have a couple of friends at some youth detention centers sentenced kids to these centers (even for minor offenses!), then received over $1 million in kickbacks from the camps.
  • justified Now former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. will have a long time to think about how much he probably screwed up those kids, after he received a harsh sentence of his own — 28 years in the clink. Oh, sweet justice. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

11 Aug 2011 10:47

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World: David Cameron’s tough words for British rioters: “We will hunt you”

  • To the lawless minority, the criminals who have taken what they could, we will hunt you. … We will punish you.
  • British PM David Cameron • Offering tough words to looters and rioters as Britain attempts to rein in a set of riots that have expanded beyond London and into other cities. While he admitted local officials were not ready for such a breakout of violence, he did praise community leaders who helped restore normalcy. Damage from the riots is estimated to top $300 million. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 21:46

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Politics: How dare Obama take a vacation! (Or thank goodness!)

  • The presidency travels with you.
  • Jay Carney, White House press secretary • Defending Obama’s vacation plans. The president is still heading to Martha’s Vineyard, despite the economic picture of America. After Standard & Poor’s downgrading of America’s credit rating, should Obama be taking this vacation? Or is a family vacation now more important than ever? Whatever the case may be, it’s not like Obama hasn’t sacrificed time off for the sake of the country already. Last year, he took part of his vacation in Pensacola, Fla. in an effort to draw attention to the Gulf Oil Spill. And he’s already called off multiple vacations this year as a result of budget negotiations. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Aug 2011 20:39

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Culture: “Lopez Tonight” gets the ax; final episode is tomorrow night

  • 40% ratings drop; George Lopez, he ain’t no Conan source
  • » “Lopez Tonight” is no more. Apparently TBS couldn’t justify “high production costs of the program given the revenues coming in.” Let’s have a moment of silence for the comedian, who let Conan take his time slot but didn’t get a ratings bump in return.
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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