from youtube
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Dad Posts Meddling Note Sent Home by Teacher over Packed Lunch
from abc
A fed-up Missouri father posted a photo of the letter he received from his daughter's substitute teacher who criticized the girl's lunch.
One problem: the teacher didn't see her whole lunch.
Dr. Justin Puckett was asked to sign a note sent home with his daughter Alia after the teacher saw her eating marshmallows and chocolate at lunch earlier this week.
He refused to do so, and posted it online instead, saying that it was just the latest in what he sees as a growing trend of overreaching by authorities.
"I think that this was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me," Puckett told ABC News.
The substitute teacher wrote in the note sent home on Tuesday that a cafeteria employee said that her lunch consisted of four chocolate bars, a bag of marshmallows, Ritz crackers and a pickle.
"Please see that she packs a proper lunch tomorrow," the teacher wrote. An attempt to reach the teacher for comment wasn't immediately successful.
Puckett told ABC News that, since the note was addressed to "Dr. and Mrs. Puckett," it was clear that the teacher knew he was a physician which he said "just adds to the irony of it all."
What the cafeteria worker and the substitute missed, however, was that the 8-year-old also had four pieces of ham and a low fat string cheese rather than a sandwich, since "we don't eat a lot of bread," said Puckett, who is double board certified in osteopathic family medicine and obesity medicine.
"We leave it up to her and she looks at the school menu and she packs her own lunch and she's a very independent second grader," he told ABC News.
"Sure, I'd liked her to pack a few more veggies and maybe a piece of fruit, but we compromise on pickles occasionally," he wrote in his original Facebook post.
Kirksville, Missouri, school superintendent Damon Kizzire has apologized for the incident and said that the way it's "being blown out of proportion is way out of line with how it was intended. It was all meant with the best of intentions."
Friday, January 23, 2015
Google is becoming a wireless carrier
from money.cnn.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Imagine one day buying an Android smartphone not through Verizon, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile -- but with Google Wireless. That day could be coming soon.
Google (GOOGL, Tech30) will start selling cell phone service along with its Android phones, according to multiple news reports. This has been a long time coming.
For years, Google has been assembling just about all the pieces it needs to become a mobile provider.
The search giant already makes the most-used mobile software on the planet, it designs and sells phones online, and it has become an Internet service provider with its Google Fiber initiative. It even has its own VoIP phone service called Google Voice, which allows people to get a Google phone number and call people through Gmail or Hangouts over Wi-Fi.
The missing link has been the cell towers needed to build out a nationwide network.
Rather than spending the tens of billions of dollars it would cost to create a wireless network, Google reportedly will carry its service over Sprint (S) and T-Mobile's (TMUS)networks. Google declined to comment.
Google is expected to pay those carriers just $2 per gigabyte, according to Macquarie Securities analyst Kevin Smithen. That means Google could choose to provide super-cheap service that gives Verizon (VZ, Tech30) and AT&T (T, Tech30) something to worry about.
Adding Google to an already competitive field that is in the middle of a major price war isn't likely to make the big carriers very happy -- that's why smaller carriers Sprint and T-Mobile are helping Google.
But T-Mobile and Sprint, in particular, are being cautious about the deal. Sprint worked a usage cap into its contract with Google that would allow the wireless company to renegotiate its deal if Google signs up a ton of customers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
That could happen. In 2018, Smithen believes Google will pay Sprint $750 million and T-Mobile $250 million for its service. That means even if Google chooses to break even, it could sell $1 billion in wireless services just three years from now.
But the chances of Google surpassing any one of the Big Four wireless carriers is practically nil. Existing carriers don't want wireless service to become a commodity. Short of building out its own wireless network, Google will have to go through one of the Big Four to get national coverage.
Still, the plan makes sense for Google.
Google makes money on Android by licensing the software to smartphone makers and by driving customers to use its apps and search services. Rather than relying on wireless companies to provide service, Google Wireless would give the search company the ability to deal directly with its customers.
There have already been a few skirmishes between Google and the cell phone companies that threaten Google's business. Over the past few years, Verizon has banned Google's Wallet app and made Microsoft's Bing the default search engine in some of its Android phones. Also, Google has spoken out against the data caps AT&T and Verizon put on customers, as well as T-Mobile's slowing of customers' speeds once they reach a certain limit.
Google is hardly the first to try its selling wireless service. Best Buy (BBY), Staples (SPLS)and Wal-Mart (WMT)all offer wireless plans to their customers. LightSquared, a failed wholesale 4G carrier, tried to become the backbone for so-called mobile virtual network operators around the country. (The FCC determined that its spectrum interfered with GPS signals, and it ultimately went bankrupt).
If successful, Google's plan could pave the way for Apple (AAPL, Tech30) to sell its own wireless service with every iPhone. And Facebook (FB, Tech30) and other companies with a vested interest in connecting people to the Internet could get involved too.
But there's a lot of risk associated with being a wireless carrier too. When service inevitably goes down or connections fail, customers will blame Google -- not Sprint or T-Mobile -- for the disruptions.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Former Tesla Motors Inc Employees Launch EV Taxi Startup
from bidnessetc.com
Amid growing popularity of Uber and Lyft, a new ride-sharing service that only uses electric vehicles has emerged in Cincinnati, Ohio. The service is known as “Drivr Green Personal Transportation” and has been created by two former Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) workers.
In addition, Drivr facilitates seamless door-to-door service and the Tesla cars offer LTE Wi-Fi, smartphone-charging, a 17-inch navigation-screen for the passenger to observe the route-taken, and a 200-watt sound-system, the usage of which is free for all customers.
Drivr Green Personal Transportation was founded last year in February through the joint efforts of Brandon Beard, a digital product design specialist, and Nick Seitz, who has on previous occasions collaborated with several startups. At that time both individuals were working for Tesla Motors in a part-time capacity.
Two ex-Tesla Motors employees have launched a green ride-sharing taxi service, called Drivr Green Personal Transportation, which uses Tesla Model S electric sedans rather than gasoline vehicles
According to an article in Green Car Reports, Drivr is positioning itself as a premium alternative to the likes of Uber and Lyft, whereby consumers will get to ride in luxurious fully-equipped Tesla Model S sedans instead of regular gasoline-powered taxis. Drivr charges customers $2.50 per mile with a minimum payment of $15 per journey. It can cater to a maximum of four persons at a given time and much like other competing services, users can search and hail cabs online and on-the-go using the mobile application.
Currently, Drivr has only three Tesla Model S electric sedans as part of its fleet with around seven drivers, but plans to grow rapidly. The startup is in the process of leasing ten more Tesla vehicles in the next few months as well as increasing the number of its drivers to 30.
Drivr’s co-founder Brandon Beard notes that the company is targeting consumers inclined toward on-demand service. He added that the target market includes a substantial amount of consumers whilst mentioning that its drivers do around ten airport runs on a daily basis.
Mr. Beard previously noted that he was a huge fan of Tesla and along with Nick Seitz saw great potential in green transportation given the rising popularity of ride-sharing apps. Drivr subsequently began operations in August 2014.
Friday, January 16, 2015
2014 was Earth's warmest year on record
from latimes
2014 was Earth's warmest year on record, scientists say
Earth's average surface temperature was the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
December also was the warmest month ever recorded, and was among five months that set records, the agencies reported Friday.
The combined land and ocean surface temperature was 1.24 degrees above the 20th century average of 57 degrees, according to NOAA. December's average global temperature was 1.39 degrees above that 20th century average. The four other months that set records were May, June, August and September, NOAA said. October tied for warmest, according to the agency's report.
The data add to a two-decade string of record warmth planetwide. Except for 1998, the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2002, according to NOAA.
The increase in global average surface temperatures was driven in part by an all-time record year for ocean temperatures, and it came despite a decidedly colder winter driven by a "polar vortex" in much of the U.S., according to the agencies. That cold anomaly was overwhelmed by many other hot anomalies planetwide, agency officials said.
"This was very clearly the record warmest year in the ocean records," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. "It wasn’t quite the warmest year in the land records, but combined, this did actually give the warmest year” for the planet surface.
Notable areas of unusual warmth included Alaska, the Pacific Coast of the U.S., Europe, Siberia and Australia, he said.
The scientists said the rising trend can be attributed to the warming effect of human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels that add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
“Greenhouse gas trends are responsible for the majority of the trend that we see,” Schmidt said. Because such emissions continue to rise, he added, “we may anticipate further record highs in the years to come.”
Last year's high bested three years that were influenced by the ocean circulation phenomenon known as El Niño, which usually pushes land temperatures upward, according to the agencies. Last year was not considered an El Niño, year, although the Japanese Meteorological Agency has said December appeared to be the beginning of a mild El Niño. U.S. agencies have not agreed.
“It’s unlikely we’ll have anything more than a weak El Niño as the year progresses,” said Tom Karl, head of NASA's National Climatic Data Center in North Carolina.
Snow cover in northern latitudes during season transitions was of particular concern, Karl said.
“We see significant decreases in spring and early summer months," he said. "It’s important because that’s when the sun is high. A lot of additional heat is gained because there’s less snow to reflect the sunlight back to space.”
Sea ice levels were at record lows in the Arctic, but remained high in the Antarctic, Schmidt noted.
“This last year was about the sixth lowest annual anomaly for Arctic sea ice,” said Schmidt. “In the Antarctic, 2014 was actually the highest Antarctic sea ice extent, which is a little surprising given the warmth on the rest of the planet.”
Antarctic sea ice extent is not as closely linked to surface temperature trends, and is influenced by many local factors, including winds linked to the hole in the ozone layer and additional fresh water from melting land ice sheets, Schmidt said.
Interested in climate? Follow me on Twitter: @LATsciguy
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesUPDATES
10:37 a.m.: This article has been updated with information about El Niño and snow and ice levels.
9:50 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional comments from Gavin Schmidt of NASA.
9:25 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional comments and details.
8:34 a.m: This article has been updated with background information on ocean temperatures.
This article was originally published at 8:14 a.m.
Monday, January 12, 2015
CENTCOM Twitter Account Hacked By Individuals Claiming To Be Part Of ISIS
from huffpost
Posted: 01/12/2015 1:01 pm EST
The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender
Posted: 01/12/2015 1:01 pm EST
The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender
The Twitter account for U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) was hacked on Monday by individuals claiming to be part of the Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as ISIS.
"ISIS is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base," read a message posted to CENTCOM's account by the hackers. "With Allah's permission we are in CENTCOM now."
Information tweeted out from the CENTCOM Twitter account by the hackers included contact information for high-ranking military officials. Pro-Islamic State messages were also tweeted from the account.
See images of some of the hackers' tweets below:
CENTCOM's YouTube page was also hacked:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)