GPS uses satellite communications, just like satellite TV; it's been well-documented that satellite TV can be hijacked by simply broadcasting on the same frequency at a higher power, smothering the satellite signal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion). There are different subcarriers used by the military that are encrypted, but perhaps those, too, can be hijacked with a higher power signal.

Hmm....'replicators' 'printing' components out of raw materials... I'm continually amazed by how many things from 'Star Trek' appear in everyday life...

Kind of like when Howard Stern staffers call in to serious talk shows...

The FCC should have mandated GSM for the entire U.S. at the outset, as Europe and many other countries did. That would have ensured interoperability, and provided the opportunity for customers to have an actual competitive marketplace. Denial of this merger is going to continue to hobble the U.S. mobile marketplace, and simply leave two strong and one three so-so operators out of four. If the merger goes through, and Verizon subsequently picks off Sprint, then we would have two extremely strong competitors duking it out. Admittedly, Sprint needs T-Mobile more than AT&T does, but it really doesn't matter who wins T-Mo, as magenta will be going away regardless. Everyone has their own opinion on which carrier sucks balls the most, but in the end, the real measure is the technology they use. Sprint and later Verizon Wireless started out with a really innovative technology, then stripped out all that was good and innovative out of it. PCS had a chance to give GSM a run for its' money, but the fractured U.S. marketplace left behind after the breakup of Ma Bell, along with the lack of a unified national communications policy, disincentivized companies from investing in PCS, all while Europe continued to cement their centralized market together and develop multi-national unified policies on many fronts, including telecommunications, resulting in GSM. This is one specific example of why the AT&T consent agreement was ill-timed and poorly thought out.

Looking a bit to the southeast of the area of the 'etchings' you can see what seems to be a huge salt deposit. I bet they've uncovered their own Bonnevill Salt Flats type of area. It's pretty obvious that this is an overflow area for a couple of rivers in the area. They used some bulldozers or scrapers to uncover some of it, most likely to aid in assessing the extent of it. You can also see that dirt or sand has blown back over sections of it. The only other explanation is that they've intentionally spread some salt or chalk over these tracks. i do see one area that looks like they 'painted' over the side of a hill.

Julian has all these documents ready to go to blow the lid off the financial crisis, the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the sexual proclivities of one nominal political figure or another, and yet because he's not getting enough money donated to his 'cause' he can't publish them? Sounds more like to me that he's strictly in it for the shakedown, if not of the people who are the objects of the leaks, then the sheeples who think they'll learn something by reading them. I guess he needs to try and maintain his undeserved high profile lifestyle somehow...

This will be very useful in the Enterprise space, with no need to resort to HP iLO or Dell's DRAC, or IBM's management processor.

I attended the NAB show in Las Vegas last year, and speaking with representatives of dozens of television manufacturers and content producers it was clear that 3D, even last April, was already a dead issue with no significant consumer uptake. The only people talking it up were the major studios. It's pretty clear the only group that benefits from 3D is theater operators, who charge higher prices for the showings. The major studios were pushing 3D to the home only to leverage their investment in producing the content. Nobody wants to wear the stupid glasses, and if you have a bunch of people over to watch a special event like the Superbowl, it's either impractical or downright impossible to accomodate everyone. Glasses-free 3D has a problem similar to 1st-gen LCD panels in that the viewing angle is extremely narrow. 3D is not driving the road to 4K and beyond. Military usage, as always is the big driver, as the NSA especially needs higher and higher resolution monitors for their analysis. The other off-shoot that is a big driver is cinema-width TV's. 1920x1080p is insufficient to view many of the CinemaScope and similar titles that were produced in their full glory, at a large enough size to make any difference from DVD resolution. Simply making 1080p sets larger only makes the pixels larger, and produces perceived graininess. They had a wonderful 200" Panasonic LCD television on display, but it was no where near as good as the 40" 4K set directly across from it. The bigger problem is that Joe Sixpack on average doesn't know the differences between 720p, 1080i and 1080p. DVD's look great on 720p sets, but BluRays do not. Even worse, Joe Sixpack doesn't know that there are different HD's at all! Joe Sixpack goes mostly on price, which is why the low-end sets are selling well, but the more expensive 55-70" 1080p 240/480Hz sets are not, and why the manufacturers are struggling right now. And why they're trying to change the focus to 4K sets. HDTV's have become a commodity, and they need to introduce something new to keep their sales momentum. Unfortunately, the consumers haven't been cooperating.

My daughter went to parochial school through Junior High, and would have continued in that system but for the lack of a Catholic High School where we lived at the time. She excelled, and when she switched to the public high school, was far ahead of her peers. Now in college, she continues to achieve high marks. Part of it is parenting, yes. Parents need to be involved and encouraging, but also motivated by the fact that they are paying real money for their child's education. Too many parents view public education as 'free', when it is most certainly not. You pay for public education through property taxes. More importantly, you also pay for the kid down the street in the apartment who's parents think that public education is 'free'. Because of the perceived cost, IMHO, some parents don't pay nearly enough attention to their child's education. You don't have to be the model PTA mom or dad, but you do have to be informed about what is going on in your kids classrooms, their school and the school district. This seems to be more the case at private and parochial schools, perhaps, again IMHO, because we lay out real money every month to ensure our kids get a better education. And we still pay property taxes so the kid down the street in the apartment gets their 'free' public education. If the funding system were turned inside out, and people were required to pay for public education, you bet your ass parents would be sitting up and taking notice. The voucher system is one piece of it, as are scholarships for economically disadvantaged students, but the whole system needs to be privatized, getting rid of the bloated administration overhead, the special education/secondary language mandates that suck up an inordinate amount of a school district budget, and tenure. It's also not enough to send your kids off to school, and attend a parent-teacher day once a year. You have to engage your kids in the home, with something other than XBOX and PS3. Look at your friends' homes and see the correlation with how their kids behave and the presence of actual books in the home. Encouraging reading, even if it's just Harry Potter, makes a huge impact on behavior and intellectual curiosity.

At this level, you basically get all the free booze you want, as well as complimentary lunch/dinner in the Platinum lounge. This isn't First Class, this is Royal Class.

Apparently they were cribbing their techniques from the Global Warming blokes over in the U.K....

This would mean that if Safeway trademarked the term 'Grocery Store', then Kroger, Albertson's, A&P et al would not be able to call themselves grocery stores. Apple needs to be slapped down on this one. Steve Jobs needs to slap someone on the inside down, too. 'App store' may or may not have been used prior to Apple's usage, but the concept has been around as long as updating over the Internet has been feasible. 'iTunes App Store' can be trademarked, 'app store' cannot.

Privacy is also a basic human right. But of course anyone who is not a nimrod understood that.

Access to knowledge and information (in whatever form) is already a basic human right. That's one of the things that separates us from the lower animals. It's up to the individual to assert his or her own liberty and freedom.

Is anybody really surprised at this? China is a communist country. They are in the business of world domination. They will never stop trying to steal technology or stop attacking their political enemies using whatever methods at their disposal. A lot of people complain about our (the U.S.) government. We're amateurs at invading privacy and interfering with commerce compared to those guys...