Google As A Carrier. It’s Not A Question Of “If They Will”, But Rather “When They’ll Try”

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qtzfqlKF_qw/

"Without the net neutrality safeguards in place, the carriers will make moves to restrict certain services down the road. YouTube is one example. Google Voice is probably another. There will likely be a dozen others.

Interestingly enough, it’s none other than Google who will share a big part of the blame for this happening. Not only did they leave Android so open so as to allow for the carriers to do whatever they want, but they also teamed up with none other than Verizon to dream up the current bogus non-rules the FCC just voted to adopt for wireless access.

But what if it is just a big “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” scenario? What if Google saw teaming up with Verizon as the only way to move at least part of the net neutrality debate forward (as Google CEO Eric Schmidt has more or less stated) and realized that it was inevitable that they’d be competing with them in wireless down the road? It can’t be ruled out. And at the very least, the partnership may be a bit of bet hedging — a way to ensure continued money-making just in case they can’t enter the wireless space down the road."

Pulse: awesome Android app

Sized perfectly for tablets, Pulse is a visual rss feed aggregator. Unfortunately, it is limited to 25 feeds but it has a great Widget for your Android desktop that shows the last 3 posts for the chosen feed. On my Android desktop I have a widget for Engadget, and a widget for a Google news search for the term "CES".

What you need to know about the Gawker breach (FAQ) | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20025558-245.html

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Device

Mobile Future: Mobile Year in Review 2010 Video | Mobile Future

http://mobilefuture.org/content/pages/mobile_year_in_review_2010

"Watch our rapid-fire tour of 2010's key consumer and technology mobile trends showing the staggering growth in consumer mobile usage across a dizzying array of applications and social media platforms."

FoxNews.com - Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile That Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/

. . . was designed to jump from computer to computer until it found the specific, protected control system that it aimed to destroy: Iran's nuclear enrichment program. The target was seemingly impenetrable; for security reasons, it lay several stories underground and was not connected to the World Wide Web. And that meant Stuxnet had to act as sort of a computer cruise missile: As it made its passage through a set of unconnected computers, it had to grow and adapt to security measures and other changes until it reached one that could bring it into the nuclear facility. When it ultimately found its target, it would have to secretly manipulate it until it was so compromised it ceased normal functions. And finally, after the job was done, the worm would have to destroy itself without leaving a trace. That is what we are learning happened at Iran's nuclear facilities --both at Natanz, which houses the centrifuge arrays used for processing uranium into nuclear fuel, and, to a lesser extent, at Bushehr, Iran's nuclear power plant.

Charting the Rapid Rise in Mortgage Rates. 4.75% Still Best Execution

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/187959.aspx

The other reason we bought this year - at the end of Nov we almost achieved rock bottom interest rate. 4.25 for a point made us very happy. Interesting chart of buydown vs time for a given interest rate.

Google Zeitgeist 2010: iPhone Beats Android, Twitter Beats Facebook, Chatroulette Beats All

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RZSQQhNE_Mc/

"am i bipolar or an overachiever?"

AP News : Authorities burn down explosive-laden CA house

http://www.apnews.com/ap/db_45578/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=MO4LvYql&src=cat&dbid=45578&dbname=Top+News&detailindex=3

The home was so cluttered with unstable chemicals that even bomb-disposing robots couldn't be used to enter it, for fear of setting off an explosion. Nearly every room had piles of explosive material and items related to making homemade bombs, prosecutors said. A coffee table was found cluttered with documents and strewn with detonators, they said.

In the backyard, bomb technicians found six mason jars with highly unstable Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, which can explode if stepped on. Prosecutors said they did not know of a commercial use for it in the U.S.

The jars were discovered after a gardener accidentally set off an explosion by stepping on a byproduct of the chemical that had been on the ground, prosecutors said. Investigators said Jakubec told them he had been dumping the byproduct in the backyard.

Our Banana Republic - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/opinion/07kristof.html?src=me&ref=general

"The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home almost 24 percent of income, up from almost 9 percent in 1976. As Timothy Noah of Slate noted in an excellent series on inequality, the United States now arguably has a more unequal distribution of wealth than traditional banana republics like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guyana."

From WikiChina - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/opinion/01friedman.html?src=me&ref=general

"Most of the Republicans just elected to Congress do not believe what their scientists tell them about man-made climate change. America's politicians are mostly lawyers —not engineers or scientists like ours —so they'll just say crazy things about science and nobody calls them on it. It's good. It means they will not support any bill to spur clean energy innovation, which is central to our next five-year plan. And this ensures that [China's] efforts to dominate the wind, solar, nuclear and electric car industries will not be challenged by America."

Extra Calcium and Vitamin D Aren’t Necessary, Report Says - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/30vitamin.html?src=me&ref=general

"Some labs have started reporting levels of less than 30 nanograms of vitamin D per milliliter of blood as a deficiency. With that as a standard, 80 percent of the population would be deemed deficient of vitamin D, Dr. Rosen said. Most people need to take supplements to reach levels above 30 nanograms per milliliter, he added. But, the committee concluded, a level of 20 to 30 nanograms is all that is needed for bone health, and nearly everyone is in that range."

The Big American Leak - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05friedman.html?src=me&ref=general

"Fifty years ago, the world was shaped in a certain way, to promote certain values, because America had the leverage to shape it that way. We have been steadily losing that leverage because of our twin addictions to Middle East oil and Chinese credit —and the WikiLeaks show just what crow we have to eat because of that. I know, some problems —like how we deal with a failing state like Pakistan that also has nukes —are innately hard, and ending our oil and credit addictions alone will not solve them. But it sure would give us more leverage to do so —and more insulation from the sheer madness of the Middle East if we can't."

Wikileaks: 5GB of Dirt on Bank of America | The Big Picture

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/11/wikileaks-5gb-of-dirt-on-bank-of-america/

"Here is the sad reality: Can you really embarrass any of these banks? They were incompetently run, with criminally inept risk management. They blew themselves up and exist today only due to the largesse of the taxpayer. They gratefully took all they could grab and more. What else can you release to embarrass them? Unless they have 5GB of video showing their CEOs engaging in bestiality, its hard to imagine Wikileaks embarrassing the big banks."

I love The Big Picture. Why did I stop reading it?

Employment trends

From one of my favorite blogs The Big Picture

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/12/employment-chart-roundup-4/

Seems one could easily extrapolate time to recovery of the employment rate, based on historical behavior.

Fast Food Maven » 2 restaurants to open at Irvine Spectrum

http://fastfood.ocregister.com/2010/12/02/2-restaurants-to-open-at-irvine-spectrum/81890/

Capital is soon to open at Irvine Spectrum. It's part of a string of well known dim sum eateries in Orange and Los Angeles counties. While the menu will boast classic dim sum fare, the decor is modern.

We want Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand & Amazon Kindle Apps? - Android Help

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=1a482a70cd6664f0&hl=en

Seen in a comment thread in an Android discussion group: spam from a Chinese tablet maker:

"Dear Robert H, How are you today, This is Ant, a general manager of a Chinese factory, we are producing Electronic book reader with E-Ink. Regarding to the E-Book reader, we have two series. . .I attached the specification of it. Please remember we can produce it with your brand name. . ."

Now that ive seen this, i dont know why i havent seen more of this kind of spam!

And then there's - HP Slate sales top out at 9,000 units [iPad Rival] | Touch Reviews

http://touchreviews.net/hp-slate-sales-top-9000-units-ipad-rival/

"Can hardware selling just 9000 units really be a success?"

Samsung sells one million Galaxy Tab units (update: confirmed) -- Engadget

http://m.engadget.com/default/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/03/samsung-sells-one-million-galaxy-tab-units-throws-an-android-pa/&category=classic&postPage=1

"Either way, one million's nothing to scoff at, particularly when you consider that only 600,000 had been sold as of November 22nd."

Half a mil sold during Thanksgiving week!

Top 10 Must-Have Android Apps - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/technology/personaltech/02smart.html?src=me&ref=general

Cyber Monday breaks 1B in sales, thanks to your employer

http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/01/record-breaking-cyber-monday-surpasses-1-billion-in-u-s-online-spending/

Half of all dollars spent at US websites occur on work computers.

And someone bought a $250k rolls royce on ebay. . .from a mobile phone. A gold plated one no doubt.