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07 Jul 2011 10:29

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Tech: More on “App Store” suit: Why Apple has nothing to worry about

  • 15 billion freaking downloads from the App Store; no mistaking it source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jun 2011 10:37

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Culture: Happy birthday, Cheerios. Our breakfast would suffer without you

  • And the way they’re made is fascinating: Roughly 70 years ago, the country’s most popular brand of cereal (specifically its Honey Nut variation, introduced in 1979) started puffing out of guns at hundreds of miles an hour — so fast that it turns the tiny balls of dough into the tiny little inner tubes that float around in your soy milk every morning. Kix, a fellow healthy cereal, gets made in a similar way. The cereal, notable for its health claims, recently received scrutiny from the FDA, who felt General Mills marketed the oat lumps like a drug. That case is still pending. One case that isn’t pending is the case that Cheerios are awesome. Just sayin’. (photo via Flickr user riebart) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Mar 2011 21:03

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U.S.: Tuberculosis cases reach their lowest level ever in the U.S.

  • 11,181 total number of tuberculosis cases found in the U.S. in 2010
  • 3.9% the decline in that number from 2009 — an already low year
  • 3.6 number of cases of TB per 100,000 people — it’s almost beat source
  • » Some clouds on that silver lining: While levels are at their lowest in recorded history, officials hoped to have killed TB for good in the U.S. by 2010, by having less than 1 case per 100,000 people. “The rate we have now is 36 times higher than that,” said Dr. Kenneth G. Castro, who is in charge of the CDC’s tuberculosis-defeating efforts. And certain groups — particularly minorities, AIDS sufferers and immigrants from other countries — are much more susceptible to TB. Over time, some strains of tuberculosis have gotten more resistant, too.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Feb 2011 23:47

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U.S.: Jeremy Bernard: The White House’s new gay Social Secretary

  • We don’t care how gay Jeremy Bernard is. It has nothing to do with his job. In fact, it’s awesome that Obama’s willing to appoint a gay man to be the Social Secretary position in the White House, a position which has traditionally been straight and female. This is a milestone that could only be topped if Obama made Barney Frank the next Treasury Secretary. Bernard, right, only has to do one thing to win our approval in the next Pew poll. Keep the Salahis out. That’s all you have to do, man. You can suck at every other aspect of your job. Just prevent that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 10:25

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Biz: Dow Jones touches 12,000 again, analysts dancing in the streets

  • 12k the level the Dow Jones Industrial touched today – for the first time since June 2008
  • 24% the amount the stock market has gone up in the last seven months alone (wow)
  • 83% the amount it’s jumped since we hit rock bottom in March 2009 – so are we fully rehabbed? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2011 21:14

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Tech: App Store milestone winner thought winning phone call was prank

  • The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was a genuine call. The girls were getting quite tense. They never would have forgiven me. They would have held it against me for all eternity.
  • Gail “Thank you very much; I’m not interested” Davis • Revealing that she initially hung up on Apple as they offered her a $10,000 iTunes gift card for downloading the 100 billionth app from the store. Eventually realizing that she was the winner (her daughter downloaded the app), she frantically called back the help desk, getting an unhelpful person, then later got another phone call from Apple’s VP of iTunes. The lesson of this story: In case you’re ever presented with this situation, don’t do this. Alright, interwebs? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2011 19:43

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Tech: Like milestones? Apple’s App Store just reached a major one

  • 10 billion apps have been sold as of today; we downloaded a few source
  • » And the lucky winner: Gail Davis of Orpington, Kent, UK, will be the lucky recipient of a lovely $10,000 iTunes gift card. Be sure not to spend that all on one app, OK? That Wolfram Alpha app is cool and stuff, but is it really worth it?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
 
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