clipped from www.pcmag.com

Your Free Phone Cost $240

11.19.09

Think you're getting a cell phone for free? No way.

Your free phone cost you at least $240. T-Mobile wants you to know that. But is anybody listening?

The toys aren't free. Their prices are invisibly baked into your phone contract and then squeezed out of you if you try to get out of the contract early.

T-Mobile, My Heroes

introduced the first plans that let you strip out the phone subsidy.

If anybody cared about long-term prices, Sprint and T-Mobile would both be doing much better than they are right now. The iPhone 3GS and the HTC Hero on Sprint both look like they cost around $200. But over two years, with an unlimited talk plan, the iPhone costs $1,200 more. Yeah, sure, the iPhone is great, but is it $1,200 better than a Sprint phone? Really? Do you want an iPhone, or an HTC Hero and a 50-inch plasma TV?

Americans will ignore useful information and take the "free phone," which costs them more in the end.

clipped from blogs.abcnews.com

Stimulus Glitch? Government Website Lists Inconsistencies

November 17, 2009 8:52 AM

One of the great curiousities in Washington involves the economic stimulus program. How many jobs does it save? How many jobs has it created? There's a government website that is supposed to track those questions -- region by region across the country. Our chief Congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl has been checking it -- and has found it puzzling.

clipped from www.pcmag.com

Windows 7: Inside Multitouch

what makes Windows 7 so exciting is that no computer operating system ever incorporated native support for multitouch before. The new breed of multitouch laptops and desktops with touch screens don't need extra downloads or plugins-- multitouch just works

Vista offered single-touch capabilities in tablet mode, and pen input is quite common as well. But as much as Microsoft would love to paint multitouch as a natural progression in its operating systems, its Apple that was the real democratizer of multiple-input touch screens.

Optical sensors are set up around the screen creating a grid. The screen reacts when your finger, pen, stylus, or any other implement break one of the beams

pen, stylus, or any other implement break one of the beams; you don't actually have to physically touch the surface to get a response.

there's no question that this interface can change the way we look at computing.

clipped from www.pcmag.com

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

CHECK PRICES

$900 - $1500

Amazon	$899.95
Amazon Marketplace	$1499.99

EditorVery Good

By�PJ Jacobowitz

With image quality that rivals capable D-SLRs and a body not much larger than a super-zoom camera, the 12.1-megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 ($899.95 direct, with lens) is the most compact model in Panasonic's line-up of Micro Four Thirds cameras. Panasonic's first two entries into the space, the $799 Lumix DMC-G1 and the $1,499 GH1, weren't much smaller than traditional D-SLRs. The GF1 is more comparable in size to the $800 Olympus E-P1, which features great image quality but a painfully slow autofocus. The GF1 doesn't perform as well as the E-P1 or D-SLR competitors in low-light conditions (ISO 1600 and higher), but in brighter shooting situations, image quality is top-notch.

clipped from www.gearlog.com

Here's a news flash: Cell-phone cameras be damned, because a significant segment of the population is actually prioritizing sharp, well-exposed images over ultimate convenience. Since the introduction of the first Canon Digital Rebel in 2003, this quality-conscious segment has been turning to interchangeable-lens digital SLRs (DSLRs) to take the best possible photos.

Wednesday�October 28, 2009

Death of the DSLR Camera

In the past few months, digital camera manufacturers have finally begun to ship non-DSLR cameras that can meet the needs of the quality-minded photographer. This has been largely driven by Olympus and Panasonic and their Micro Four Thirds system, which obviates the need for the mirrors in SLRs that are used for the optical viewfinder.

Most digital camera sales still tend towards compact units; as nice as the Micro Four Thirds cameras are, they don't slip into your pocket.

they'll become marginalized as more and more people turn toward more convenient alternatives

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

US President Barack Obama used his first UN address to urge world unity

In his first speech to the UN General Assembly, he said global problems included nuclear proliferation, war, climate change and economic crisis.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi berated the UN Security Council, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a stern warning to Iran

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has previously said he does not believe the Holocaust happened, was due to speak later on Wednesday.

Israel has called for a boycott of his appearance and the Germans have said they will walk out if he repeats the claim.

"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," he said.

MARDELL'S AMERICA Obama's speech to the United Nations was a reminder of the scale of his ambition and the intractability of the problems before him Mark Mardell BBC North America editor Read Mark's thoughts in full

clipped from www.hersheys.com

Rocky Road Tasty Team Treats

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups finely crushed thin pretzels or pretzel sticks
• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, melted
• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
• 1-3/4 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S MINI KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1-1/3 cups coarsely chopped pecans or pecan pieces

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Combine pretzels and melted butter in small bowl; press evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Spread sweetened condensed milk evenly over pretzel layer; layer evenly with chocolates, marshmallows and pecans, in order. Press down firmly on pecans.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned; cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. About 36 bars.

clipped from www.sciencedaily.com

Tools Let Public Contribute To Massive Interactive Online Biodiversity Encyclopedia

ScienceDaily (Aug. 26, 2009)

Over 30,000 still images and video, as well as local information about changing biodiversity, have been uploaded to the Encyclopedia of Life via new tools that let the public contribute as never before to a global online science collaboration of unprecedented scale.

Almost 40% of the 31,000 images so far have come from five photographers - from Portugal, Australia (2), Spain and Austria. The best of the lot, including winners of regular EOL photo contests, are showcased at http://www.flickr.com/groups/1056008@N20.

we intend to harness the eyes and collective brainpower of hundreds of thousands of users to spot intriguing new information, share observations, and enhance EOL's role as a leading provider of accurate and relevant biodiversity information,"

Since its unveiling in early 2008, the site has attracted 1.8 million unique visitors from more than 200 countries.