What else is new?

[url]http://www.apple.com/ipad/[/url]

Is it just an iPhone without the phone?

1. No apps that have not been approved by Apple. By which I mean, you can't download your favorite apps off some web site somewhere. You are strictly limited to the app store.

2. No camera.

3. Microphone, but apparently... no voice calls.

4. eBook reader only through iBookstore. No word about loading your own books/PDFs.

5. Network is GSM-based. That rules out Verizon for your choices.

6. No multitasking. This isn't OSX. It's not a laptop. Or a mini-laptop. Or even, apparently, a netbook. It's the stripped-down iPhone OS.

7. 16 GB for $500. 64 GB for $700. Some are complaining about the price because of the limited functionality.

8. No video out? Does that docking station allow video out, or is it just for the keyboard?

9. Apple doesn't like to sell apps in the app store that duplicate apps it already has. So does that mean that Ray Kurzweil will NOT be able to run the Blio ereader software on this thing because it already has Apple's iBook?

10. no full internet just crappy mobile safari (i know i own a touch)

11. no usb ergo no cheap memory expansion (external HDs)

12. itunes syncing (no drag and droping files from pc to ipad) pain in the ass

13. no webcam, awkward IMing

14. no VLC. i regularly watch movies in my netbook, no way i could wait 3-4 hours to trascode them to stupid apple codec.

15. no Flash. Redundant but without flash you don't have Internet you have a crippled and frustrating experience specially cause it means no streaming FREE PORN.

16. underwhelming specs. 1ghz CPU unknown RAM (doubt it is more than 1gb) unkown GPU . kiddie apps. no full blown OS ergo eternal app store and assorted crapware tie in.

17. The only netbook that cant multitask.

18. I am curious about the battery times. I wonder if that's 'standby' like sleep or active standby. I'm guessing it's more like sleep where it can't receive information over air. And if that's the case, then I wonder if the 10 hours is on but idle or actually using the processor.

19. This seems like it lives in a no-man's land of devices. If you want portable access to do "basic" stuff, like check e-mail, get directions, and things like that, a smart phone is a much better idea. It fits in your pocket and is truly portable.

as for the games? i say WTF? that FPS looked like something from 2003.

TSA, that bastion of morality, issued a security directive which states that starting on Jan 4, 10, anyone flying into the US "traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," thought "enhanced screening" is not defined. The 14 countries are: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and Yemen. Fair enough, but what is that going to change? And where is North Korea on the list? Cuba a state sponsoring terrorism? Really? Presonally, I think its really dangerous to be labeling innocent people terrosts just because their country supports terrorism.

Wall Street banks have had profitable quarters. JPMorgan Chase reported $3.6 billion in profit (more than $1 billion per month). Goldman Sachs was only slightly behind, at $3.2 billion. These profits supposedly came from “trading.” I asked a friend who has worked in the money business how this was possible. “For someone to make money trading, there has to be someone on the other side of every trade who is losing money. Where does each bank find someone who can lose $1 billion every month?”

He explained that “carry trade” would be a more accurate description of what they’re doing. Because of the Collapse of 2008 financial reforms, the big investment banks are able to borrow money from the U.S. government at 0 percent interest. Then they can turn around and buy short-term bonds that pay 2 or 3 percent annual interest. Now they’re making 2 percent on whatever they borrowed. They can use leverage to increase this number, by pledging some of the bonds that they’ve already bought as collateral on additional bonds.

I asked if they were taking any risk in order to earn this return. “If interest rates went up to 20 percent, even though the bonds are short-term, the price of the bond could fall enough to make the trade a money-loser.” (Though since the banks are too big to fail, they would simply be bailed out with additional taxpayer funds.)

What kind of bonds are they buying? Are they investing the money in American business? “No, they are mostly buying Treasuries.” So the money is just being shuffled from one Federal bank account to another, with each Wall Street bank skimming off $1 billion per month for itself? “Pretty much.”

[An more old-fashioned way of making supranormal returns is insider trading, which was perfectly legal until the Crash of 1929 (history). The New York Times ran a story yesterday on Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager who invested heavily in inside information. Rolling Stone published "Wall Street's Naked Swindle" on October 14. The story is much more sensational and entertaining than anything from the Times. It covers a guy who spent $1.7 million on out-of-the-money put options on Bear Stearns on March 11, 2008. The options would become worthless on March 20, just 9 days later, unless Bear Stearns basically went bust. Bear Stearns collapsed the next day and the guy made a $270 million profit. He has never been identified by the SEC.]

British Airways passengers will have to pay to choose their seats before they travel from October, the airline says. The charges will affect those seeking to ensure they sit together on a flight and people with a preference for window, aisle or emergency exit seats. People will pay from 7 October. Prices range from £10 per person for European economy flights, to £60 for long haul trips in business class.

BA said it would "give customers more control over their seating options".

The airline currently allows passengers to reserve seats in the 24 hours prior to departure. The new charge - aimed at passengers wanting to reserve seats earlier than this - will be £20 on long-haul economy or short flights in business class, while a seat in an emergency exit row will cost £50.

This can be booked between 10 and four days before take-off.

A BA spokeswoman said: "Customers frequently request specific seats, but in the past we've only been able to confirm them 24 hours in advance or on the day. "We know people want to secure them in advance and have real control over their flying experience. This will allow them to do that."

Parents who install a leading brand of software to monitor their kids' online activities may be unwittingly allowing the company to read their children's chat messages — and sell the marketing data gathered.

Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

"This scares me more than anything I have seen using monitoring technology," said Parry Aftab, a child-safety advocate. "You don't put children's personal information at risk."

The company that sells the software insists it is not putting kids' information at risk, since the program does not record children's names or addresses. But the software knows how old they are because parents customize its features to be more or less permissive, depending on age.

Five other makers of parental-control software contacted by The Associated Press, including McAfee Inc. and Symantec Corp., said they do not sell chat data to advertisers.

One competitor, CyberPatrol LLC, said it would never consider such an arrangement. "That's pretty much confidential information," said Barbara Rose, the company's vice president of marketing. "As a parent, I would have a problem with them targeting youngsters."

The software brands in question are developed by EchoMetrix Inc., a company based in Syosset, N.Y.

In June, EchoMetrix unveiled a separate data-mining service called Pulse that taps into the data gathered by Sentry software to give businesses a glimpse of youth chatter online. While other services read publicly available teen chatter, Pulse also can read private chats. It gathers information from instant messages, blogs, social networking sites, forums and chat rooms.

EchoMetrix CEO Jeff Greene said the company complies with U.S. privacy laws and does not collect any identifiable information.

"We never know the name of the kid — it's bobby37 on the house computer," Greene said.

What Pulse will reveal is how "bobby37" and other teens feel about upcoming movies, computer games or clothing trends. Such information can help advertisers craft their marketing messages as buzz builds about a product.

Days before "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" opened in theaters on July 15, teen chatter about the movie spiked across the Internet with largely positive reactions.

"Cool" popped up as one of the most heavily used words in teen chats, blogs, forums and on Twitter. The upbeat comments gathered by Pulse foreshadowed a strong opening for the Warner Bros. film.

Parents who don't want the company to share their child's information to businesses can check a box to opt out.

But that option can be found only by visiting the company's Web site, accessible through a control panel that appears after the program has been installed. It was not in the agreement contained in the Sentry Total Home Protection program The Associated Press downloaded and installed Friday.

According to the agreement, the software passes along data to "trusted partners." Confidentiality agreements prohibit those clients from sharing the information with others.

In recognition of federal privacy laws that restrict the collection of data on kids under 13, the agreement states that the company has "a parent's permission to share the information if the user is a child under age 13."

Tech site CNet ranks the EchoMetrix software as one of the three best for parental control. Sales figures were not available.

The Sentry and FamilySafe brands include parental-control software such as Sentry Total Family Protection, Sentry Basic, Sentry Lite and FamilySafe (SentryPC is made by a different company and has no ties with EchoMetrix).

The Lite version is free. Others range from $20 to download and $10 a year for monitoring, to about $48 a year, divided into monthly payments.

The same company also offers software under the brands of partner entities, such as AmberWatch Lookout.

AmberWatch Foundation, a child-protection nonprofit group that licenses its brand to EchoMetrix, said information gathered through the AmberWatch-branded software is not shared with advertisers.

Practically speaking, few people ever read the fine print before they click on a button to agree to the licensing agreement. "Unless it's upfront in neon letters, parents don't know," Aftab said.

EchoMetrix, formerly known as SearchHelp, said companies that have tested the chat data using Pulse include News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting and Dreamworks SKG Inc. Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures recently signed on.

None of those companies would comment when contacted by the AP.

EchoMetrix has been losing money. Its liabilities exceeded its assets by nearly $25 million as of June 30, according to a regulatory filing that said there is "substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."

To get the marketing data, companies put in keywords, such as the name of a new product, and specify a date range, into Pulse. They get a "word cloud" display of the most commonly used words, as well as snippets of actual chats. Pulse can slice data by age groups, region and even the instant-messaging program used.

Pulse also tracked buzz for Microsoft Corp.'s "Natal," a forthcoming Xbox motion-sensor device that replaces the traditional button-based controller. Microsoft is not a client of Pulse, but EchoMetrix used "Natal" to illustrate how its data can benefit marketers.

Greene said children's conversations about Natal were focused on its price and availability, which suggested that Microsoft should assure teens that there will be enough stock and that ordering ahead can lock in a price.

Competing data-mining companies such as J.D. Power Web Intelligence, a unit of quality ratings firm J.D. Power and Associates, also trolls the Internet for consumer chats. But Vice President Chase Parker said the company does not read any data that's password-protected, such as the instant message sessions that EchoMetrix collects for advertisers.

Suresh Vittal, principal analyst at Forrester Research, said EchoMetrix might have to make its disclosures more apparent to parents.

"Are we in the safeguarding-the-children business or are we in the business of selling data to other people?" he said. If it's the latter, "it should all be done transparently and with the knowledge of the customer."

1. If you were designing your own superhero costume, how would you accessorize?
a. Cape
b. Scarf
c. Sidekick
d. Gun
e. Stack of fliers saying you are a superhero


2. What part of Canada would you most like to sleep with?
a. Victoria
b. Regina
c. Moosejaw
d. Calgary
e. Prince Edward Island



3. Burrito is to Chimichanga as
a. Jonathan Silverman is to Matthew Broderick
b. Gary Busey is to Nick Nolte
c. Paul Rieser is to Richard Lewis
d. Kelsey Grammar is to anyone else with an enormous freaking forehead


4. What's the worst thing you can say to a mugger?
a. Mom?
b. Don't forget to check my other shoe.
c. I don't think you're man enough to fire that gun
d. Now that you mention it, there may be something in my rectum


5. Your butler tells you that your yacht cleaner will take two hours longer than expected. What do you do?
a. Shoot them both in the face.
b. Shoot just the yacht cleaner in the face, cause hey, it's not your butler's fault.


6. You fall into a space-time portal and land in Hitler's 7th birthday party. What do you do?
a. Devote the rest of your life to mentoring him, so that he'll grow to be a right and just member of society.
b. Molest the shit out of him.

1. You just got change, and you have a Canadian penny. What do you do?

a. Demand a real penny, damn it, not one of these cheap knock-offs

b. Check with those nearby to see if you really are in Canada, and if so, find out why

c. Swallow it, quick, before they find you

d. Unwrap it and eat the chocolate


2. You find an eclair in your sock drawer. You:

a. Put on a pair of socks

b. Put on the eclair

c. Look for the other eclair, cause there must be a pair

d. Pinch yourself cuz you must be dreaming


3. What can I say to God to get into heaven?

a. Do you have any idea who I am?

b. I just need to get in for a minute I want to see if my friends are there.

c. I can make your life very difficult

d. Come on god, be cool, man, be cool


4. If you were a tree, where would you go out to eat?

a. Miracle-Gro Casino Sunday Morning Champagne Brunch Buffet

b. Taco Bell because trees always seem to be broke

c. Tree food court at the tree mall

d. Red Lobster

e. Anything off the trunk of a $1000-a-night tree hooker


5. You catch your lover in bed with C-3P0. You:

a. Congratulate the better man.

b. Ask for a C-3some-0.

c. Get really C-3P.O.'ed.

d. Ask him to autograph the VCR.

e. May as well watch, because it's hard to picture how this goes down