Access All Of Your Favorite Internet Stations Now!

Like listening to internet radio? You would like to find some great online radio stations on your computer but are unhappy with what you’ve found lately? Here it is!

I have been experimenting with a website called miRoamer. I immediately found a great local station that I never knew existed. The internet connection and sound of the station was very good. Not to be redundant, but I was very impressed with the ease of locating radio stations in my local area, other states, as well as global stations.

Can you listen to miRoamer on your mobile phone? Yes you can! Very soon, miRoamer is going to launch the miRoamer application for both the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry mobile device. That’s if it hasn’t happened already.

You have an internet radio device, and you want to get miRoamer on it? miRoamer aims to be on as many devices as possible, please email your device manufacturer to request for the inclusion of miRoamer’s content onto your device.

If you have signal you now have continuous radio with miRoamer. Browse by location, genre, and language. Isn’t that the cat’s meow! Browse global AM/FM stations. Marvelous! Oh yeah, and it’s free!

Go to miRoamer and get yours! I don’t think you”ll be disappointed.

New Bumpers Fix Reception Problems and Add Style

After the release of Apple’s iPhone 4, many consumers noticed problems with reception. Holding the phone the wrong way can result in losing your signal.

The good news: Apple has came up with a solution to fix these reception issues. The company is offering free bumper cases to anyone that purchases an iPhone 4 before September 30th. These cases will be available in six different colors – white, black, blue, green, orange, and pink.

These bumper cases only costed Apple $175 million, compared to the $1.5 billion they would’ve paid if they had done a full product recall. Apple’s mistake was costly on their part.

The bumpers can be purchased for free at the Apple Store, as soon as the product becomes available. Apple is expected to offer more details on how to order later today.

Wet Circuits are the safest power strips you can find. They resist water, overheating, sparks, fire, and last four times as much as normal power strips.

A company named Wet Circuits has developed a power strip that is waterproof. Water can get on the power strip without damaging machines plugged in or electrocuting yourself. The power strip can resist being submerged into water for two hours; the special material will wear off after too much exposure to water. This is useful in case of accidental spills, rain, wet hands, and temporary flooding.

The power strip does more than just resisting water. It also prevents less injuries from occurring. Statistics show that 4,000 injuries are treated in the emergency room from electrical outlets every year. About 33% of those injuries happen when little kids try inserting metal objects in the power strip. With this product, a proper plug must be inserted before electric power is conducted. This product is poison free; so if a pet or baby accidentally lick the socket, they won’t be harmed.

The strip prevents overheating also. There’s a circuit breaker that stops the flow of electrical power when it passes over 212°F. This prevents a fire hazard.

Sparks are a problem when it comes to ordinary power strips. But with the special designed material in this power strip, sparks will not occur. Wet Circuits prevents carbon from building up and overheating. This also prevents a fire hazard.

Most power strips can only withstand 5,000 times of plugging and unplugging. This can handle four times as much; that’s 20,000 times. With Wet Circuits you can unplug three times a day and it’ll last for 18 years!

Wet Circuits are the safest power strips you can order. If you want one, the cost is $35. You can order right from their website. They offer a 60 days no questions asked 100% Money Back Guarantee. Order now.

Are Newspapers Obsolete?

Google Newspass is a new platform that is expected to materialize later this year. Newspass will be a news aggregate for news publishers to monetize their online news publications. Google will be that news infrastructure highway that charges the fee.

Features may be similar to Facebook, allowing universal access in a global arena. Users will access via computer, laptop, mobile phone, and iPad. The content will add a variety of uses. From text to video.

News corporations are already applying “paywalls” to various newspapers. The UK Times paper will start charging for content, probably this coming Friday. The newspaper website had already required viewers to register for free. The site lost half of its viewers after the registration wall was applied.

The New York Times already announced earlier in the year that it will charge for online content in January of 2011. Starting in January, online viewers can view a limited amount of articles for free. To read more, a flat fee will be charged for unlimited access (The Guardian). Will the New York Times join other publishers at Newspass? No doubt?

Should newspapers charge for online content? If they do, will it help their bottom line? The move is surely risky because of the heavy traffic that Google generates. Heavy traffic that newspapers will lose when they charge for content.

But the real question is this. Will the paid content strategy save the newspaper business? Is the newspaper industry obsolete anyway?  Do new technologies surpass old ones? Are we leaning more toward opinion columns?

Are we willing to pay for online journalism? Is do-it-yourself journalism replacing old school journalism? I would say that journalism is evolving into another creature. For better or for worse.

It seems that the internet has become extremely efficient in gathering information and news, just maybe too efficient (mmm, can you say Google hegemony?). In the great new age of Wiki, internet surfers demand free information. But, will so called loyal readers pay for online news? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Broadband And Mobile Subscriptions Keep Growing

Investment in telecommunications is the key to broadband growth. Telecommunications investment increased 9% from 2005 to 2007. Investment grew over the past four years, compared to the decline of investment in years past. Despite the growth in 2007, the current global economic downturn may create a dampening effect on investments (Source: OECD).

That being said, there has been a 6% growth every year since 1990 in telecommunications. Economic downturns do not seem to have a heavy impact on markets. Families desire the need to interact socially, and are more capable of doing so as no generation in the past could have imagined.

Mobile and broadband markets have seen the biggest growth. Mobile accounted for 61% of subscriptions, while standard landline phone users dropped to 26% of all subscriptions. This is very significant if you think about it, just a few years ago traditional phone usage was much greater than mobile.

While traditional phone usage is down, broadband is helping phone companies to compensate some on losses. Broadband has seen phenomenal growth, especially when economic times parallel with the Great Depression. From 2005 to 2007, dial-up usage decreased from 40% to 10% of all internet connections worldwide. In Korea for example, if you’re on dial-up, you are 2 out of every 1000!

As the net infrastructure evolves, it is evident that online video will be enjoyed by mass audiences on a scale never before obtainable. Visual experiences are enhanced by broadband, opening up a whole array of options for television and video users. Even though the average American home has a television in almost every room, users are enjoying videos more and more online. Television is not the only means of transportation any longer.

While broadband and mobile subsriptions have risen, prices have fallen on all platforms. Government regulation will play a huge role in future market developments.

Here are the top ten countries that have the most broadband internet users consecutively: China, United States, Japan, Germany, France, United Kingdom, South Korea, Italy, Brazil, and Canada (Wikipedia). And yes, the United States trails against competitors in broadband usage.

In 2014, Internet Four Times Larger Than 2009

According to Cisco, in the year of 2014, the internet will become four times larger than it was in 2009. Where is internet traffic growing the fastest? Traffic is growing fastest in Latin America. Traffic in Latin America will grow 51% between 2009 and 2014. The Middle East plus Africa will grow 45%, and Central Europe will grow 38%.

What is the hottest news? Internet video! Global video users will surpass 1 billion by the end of 2010.

Internet video is now over one-third of all consumer Internet traffic, and will approach 40% of  internet traffic by the end of 2010 internet. Video will account for 57% of all traffic in 2014.

By 2014, Internet TV will be over 8% of Internet traffic, proving that real-time video is growing.

Global mobile video is expected to double every year going into 2014.  This will be an increase of 39 times!

Urgent: Project 25 Certified, But Still Not Working

May 27, 2010 - “Today the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation held a hearing to review the status of interoperability for public safety communications systems that enable first responders from multiple agencies and jurisdictions to communicate. Specifically, the hearing discussed the status of the technical standards for public safety land mobile radio (LMR) systems.”

“We’ve learned an important lesson from September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, and other disasters: interoperable communication is critical to effective emergency response. When time is of the essence and lives are at stake, a clear flow of information is essential. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for police officers and firefighters from a single region, or even a single city, to be using incompatible communication systems. This lack of interoperability has contributed to the deaths of first responders and hindered the ability to rescue people in harm’s way,” stated Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR).

The reason that the communication system is inoperable is because that in 1989, Project 25, or APCO 25 was implemented, and  since then multiple problems have resulted from this. New digital radio became available, and federal, state, and local agencies were more than ready to adopt the new system. The transition from analog to digital has not been a smooth one.

Why adopt the new digital system? The main reason was to upgrade from outdated analog to modern digital radio standards. Initially, the rational thinking was that the more modern digital modes were supposed to perform much better than analog radio because the digital packets could tranfer more data than analog could. Analog systems use CTCSS, or tones, to break the squelch, and then talk.

But, there were many problems during the implementation of the Apco 25 system. One major problem was the cost; especially at a time in history when federal and state budgets were in the red. Another problem – overall functionality.

“The most important question for the first responders who rely on this equipment is “does it work?” In addition to being mission-critical technology, these systems represent major expenditures for government agencies across the country. Particularly at a time of uncertain and dwindling budgets, cost-effective procurement enabled by an open-architecture is essential,” added Wu.

Project 25

In theory, all P25 equipment is interoperable. In reality, interoperable communications isn’t possible without effective coordination. While new digital technology has the potential for better transmission capability, many P25 features present interoperability challenges. And primarily, too much bureaucracy will not allow for desperately needed standardization of new technologies available.

Basically what this means is this –  after 9/11,  after Katrina, and forwarding on to the next responder red alert, America’s first responders still do not have a standard, reliable, compatible communications system available for deployment. Standards needed to ensure interoperability in public safety communications equipment remain unattainable, especially when Congress is in charge of the project : )

Analog versus Digital

Analog equipment is less complex than digital equipment. Example:

Advantage:  In high-quality equipment, better ability to communicate in cases where a received signal is weak or noisy.
Disadvantage:  Only one conversation at a time can occur on each channel.

Digital communication modes are available.  Example:

Advantage:  More simultaneous talking paths are possible and information such as unit ID, status buttons, or text messages can be embedded into a single digital radio channel.
Disadvantage:  Radios must be designed to the same, compatible standard, radios can become obsolete quickly, cost more to purchase, and are more complicated.

Here Are Your Webby Winners

NEWS
1. Webby Award Winner: The New York Times
2. People’s Voice Winner: BBC News

SOCIAL NETWORKING
1. Webby Award Winner: Twitter
2. People’s Voice Winner: Twitter

MAGAZINE
1. Webby Award Winner: NewYorker.com
2. People’s Voice Winner: National Geographic

RADIO/PODCASTS
1. Webby Award Winner: TED.com
2. People’s Voice Winner: NPR

TELEVISION
1. Webby Award Winner: Colbert Nation
2. People’s Voice Winner: Colbert Nation

BEST COPY/WRITING
1. Webby Award Winner: NewYorker.com
2. People’s Voice Winner: The New York Times

BLOG-BUSINESS
1. Webby Award Winner: Mashable
2. People’s Voice Winner: Mashable

MUSIC
1. Webby Award Winner: Pandora
2. People’s Voice Winner: Pandora

EDUCATION
1. Webby Award Winner: We Choose The Moon
2. People’s Voice Winner: We Choose The Moon

MOVIE AND FILM
1. Webby Award Winner: Mubi
2. People’s Voice Winner: District 9

WEIRD
1. Webby Award Winner: Selleck Waterfall Sandwich
2. People’s Voice Winner: FAIL Blog

CELEBRITY/FAN
1. Webby Award Winner: Jim Carrey
2. People’s Voice Winner: Jim Carrey

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
1. Webby Award Winner: Philips Cinema 21:9
2. People’s Voice Winner: Engadget.com

GAMES-RELATED
1. Webby Award Winner: TheBeatlesRockBand.com
2. People’s Voice Winner: Game Informer

POLITICS
1. Webby Award Winner: FactCheck.org
2. People’s Voice Winner: FatcCheck.org

TRAVEL
1. Webby Award Winner: I wanna go there
2. People’s Voice Winner: Lonely Planet

SCIENCE
1. Webby Award Winner: Mind Lab
2. People’s Voice Winner: NASA Global Climate Change

LIFESTYLE
1. Webby Award Winner: All About Birds
2. People’s Voice Winner: Epicurious.com

HUMOR
1. Webby Award Winner: The Onion
2. People’s Voice Winner: The Onion

BLOG-POLITICAL
1. Webby Award Winner: Truthdig
2. People’s Voice Winner: The Huffington Post

Source: The Webby Awards

Foxconn Working Conditions Blamed For Multiple Suicides

The Foxconn Technology Group is the world’s largest manufacturer of electronics and computer components. Foxconn manufactures the iPad, iPod, iPhone, and the Mac mini for Apple. Foxconn also makes products for other companies: Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Zoostorm, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Motorola, Amazon, and Cisco.

Foxconn is headquartered at Tucheng, Taiwan. Its largest plant is located in Shenzhen, which is part of the Guangdong province in southern China. This is just north of Hong Kong. The main plant in Shenzhen employs over 300,000 workers.

Foxconn has attracted a great deal of media attention because of  multiple suicides within the past several months (Shenzhen Post). Just in the past week, a 19-year-old man jumped to his death, yet adding another suicide to the list (Huffington Post).

Workers in Shenzhen are paid a minimum wage of $130 a month. The workers often work 10 hours a day and the speed is very fast. Workers mostly share dorms with other employees they don’t know, and their roommates usually speak other Chinese dialects. This barrier makes it hard to understand what their roommates are saying (Time).

Earlier in the year, a journalist went undercover in Foxconn for 28 days (China Digital Times). The same story was translated into English (engadget).

Also, video here shows Foxconn security guards beating workers at a Beijing plant (tudou.com). More info at (shanghaiist.com).

Unfortunately, this tragic story has no happy ending and no easy solution.  Although Apple is getting much of the spotlight, this is an ongoing problem in Asia, and has been for decades.

Have our short-term memories already forgotten about Nike? In 1984, Nike closed its last U.S. factory and moved its entire production to Asia (clrlabor.org). The publicity was overwhelming.

As Nike was not the only shoe company doing this, it attracted the most publicity due to its tremendous success. Can the same thing be happening to Apple in the high-tech industry? Is Apple taking the fall for the entire industry?

Our hearts and compassion go out to the victims and their families that grieve over the horrible incidents. Employee abuse does not only apply to Foxconn and China. Employee abuse  is a worldwide problem that desperately needs to be addressed.

As unemployment levels in the United States reach a 26 year high, employers may find it is a prime opportunity to take advantage of employees. This leads to mental health complications among employees (associatedcontent.com).

The Development Of Global Navigation

Who really invented GPS?

As with most inventions, there is usually a race to receive the credit, and time later unravels a collection of contributors. The invention of the GPS was no exception to this rule.

The technology is similar to radio systems that were developed in the 1940′s.

In 1960, the U.S. Navy successfully tested the first satellite navigation system, called Transit.

In 1963, the Space Division of the U.S. Air Force initiated a project, known as Project 621B. The 621B Project would eventually evolve into the Navstar program. The 621B system was tested using aircraft between 1968 and 1971. It was Ivan Getting who was in charge of the 621B Project.  He was the first president of  Aerospace.

In 1964, the Timation satellites were conceived and developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, in Washington, D.C.  On May 31, 1967, the Timation-1 satellite was launched, which placed accurate clocks in space.

Although many ideas had been proposed, it was the Cold War that actually justified the cost of further research, which would run into billions of dollars. The Sputnik Rocket was launched at 19:28:34 UTC, on October 4, 1957. The launch of the Sputnik (The New York Times) created a panic in America and initiated the Space Race to come. The Russians had scored big time with the launching of the Sputnik. The Americans were embarrassed and were hard pressed to get back in the race.

On Labor Day weekend of 1973, 12 officers would meet to plan the creation of the Defense Navigation Satellite System (DNSS), later in the year would be called Navstar-GPS; now simply known as GPS. Bradford Parkinson was going to be the program manager.

Bradford Parkinson would play a significant role in the development of the GPS, but many others should be recognized for their contributions as well. Roger Easton, who was head of the Naval Research Laboratory team, deserves attention for the invention of the GPS. While Parkinson rightfully should get the credit for successfully developing the program, it is clear that others should be rewarded for their contributions. (Who invented the Global Positioning System? by Richard Easton, The Space Review, Monday, May 22, 2006)

In 1978, the first experimental Block-I GPS satellite was launched.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced that the GPS would be made available for civilian uses.

By January 17, 1994 a complete constellation of 24 satellites was in orbit.

Full Operational Capability was declared by NAVSTAR in April 1995.

On May 19, 2009, the U. S. Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that some GPS satellites could fail as soon as 2010.

Now the Global Positioning System (GPS) is undergoing an $8 billion upgrade, which will make it even more accurate. The new system is designed to pinpoint someone’s location within an arm’s length, compared with a margin of error of 20 feet or more today (LA Times).

Under the $8-billion upgrade, Boeing Co.’s Space and Intelligence Systems in El Segundo is building 12 satellites the size of sport-utility vehicles, and 18 others will be assembled by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Denver. Twenty-four will go into orbit and six will be reserved as spares.

The new satellites will also triple the amount of signals available for commercial use and will have atomic clocks that are even more precise — keeping time to a fraction of a billionth of a second.