Almost 100 radio amateurs participated in TNCAT '07, the largest and most comprehensive exercise ever conducted by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA). The exercise, conducted over a 3 day period from June 19-21, was based on a presumed 7.7 magnitude earthquake along the New Madrid Seismic Zone. TEMA's Operations Chief Hank Koebler, Jr, N3ORX, said he was very impressed with the response from the amateur community. "I anticipated a top-notch performance from them, but they exceeded those expectations by far." Throughout the exercise, ARES and MARS continued to provide the bulk of the emergency communications. At the State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville, ARES and MARS operators were set up side-by-side to handle the communications load -- ARES handled voice on VHF/UHF and HF links into the disaster area, while MARS handled all Winlink traffic via HF. In the affected counties in West Tennessee, ARES operators performed damage assessments, provided the sole means of communications for the county Emergency Operations Centers and were the communications workhorses for TEMA's Regional Center in Jackson, Tennessee.

Amateurs Play Key Role in Tennessee Earthquake Exercise

"If you arrange to provide patent protection to some of the people who get the software from you, that protection is automatically extended to everyone who receives the software, no matter how they get it," Smith said in a statement. "This means that the patent protection Microsoft has extended to Novell's customers would be extended to everyone who uses any software Novell distributes under GPLv3."

Microsoft sees things differently.

Microsoft tries evading new GPL grasp | Tech News on ZDNet

But a new federal rule set to take effect Friday could mean that radios built on "open-source elements" may encounter a more sluggish path to market--or, in the worst case scenario, be shut out altogether. U.S. regulators, it seems, believe the inherently public nature of open-source code makes it more vulnerable to hackers, leaving "a high burden to demonstrate that it is sufficiently secure."

If the decision stands, it may take longer for consumers to get their hands on these all-in-one devices. The nascent industry is reluctant to rush to market with products whose security hasn't been thoroughly vetted, and it fears the Federal Communications Commission's preference for keeping code secret could allow flaws to go unexposed, potentially killing confidence in their products.

By effectively siding with what is known in cryptography circles as "security through obscurity," the controversial idea that keeping security methods secret makes them more impenetrable, the FCC has drawn an outcry from the software radio set and raised eyebrows among some security experts.

What I do not understand: What is the security problems they see?

Feds snub open source for 'smart' radios

I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to AT&T NSA. The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work. Stay tuned!

He never seems to fail to astound me. Good Job...

iPhone Has Its Own Independence Day byJon Lech Johansen (DVD Jon)

DB2 Express-C is a no-charge edition of DB2 for Linux and Windows. It is free to download, develop applications, deploy into production, and even redistribute. DB2 Express-C supports development of database applications using XML, C/C++, .NET, JDBC, ODBC, PHP, Ruby, and more. It is optimized for systems with up to 2 processors and 4 GB of memory, and does not impose artificial restrictions on database size, number of databases, or number of users.

IBM DB2 Express-C : Free to build, deploy, distribute ... No limits.

S.704
Title: A bill to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit manipulation of caller identification information.
Sponsor: Sen Nelson, Bill [FL] (introduced 2/28/2007) Cosponsors (4)
Latest Major Action: 6/27/2007 Senate committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.

Call centers do this all the time. :p

Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

For several years we have offered a free TV listings service to hobbyists for their own personal, noncommercial use. In October of 2004 we posted here an open letter saying the future of Zap2it Labs was at risk because of certain growing misuses of the Zap2it Labs data. Unfortunately this misuse has continued and grown. These misuses, combined with other business factors have led to the decision to discontinue Zap2it Labs effective September 1, 2007.

We thank those users who have honored the terms of the agreement, and we suggest you consider the many TV listings options offered by the commercial licensees of TMS TV listings data.

If you would like to discuss how to license TV listings for commercial use, please let us know by e-mail (labs@zap2it.com) and include your company name, telephone number and the best time to reach you. We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.

We anticipate this decision will generate discussion and invite you to respond via the Zap2it Labs forum. We will do our best to respond to relevant questions posted on this forum in a timely manner.

Oh well that is the internet for you... bad apples kick the bunch...

MythTv will hurt and almost every other DVR software ...

Zap2it Labs Kills Public TV Data...

Although the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season had yet to begin, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) alert for the fictitious "Hurricane Susan" in late March sent special teams of Army Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) emergency responders scurrying to duty stations from Miami to Houston and beyond. Dubbed "Operation Sidewinder," the drill aimed to test a new HF digital backup communication link for airports in case a weather or terrorist event ever compromised conventional telecommunications, as Katrina did in 2005. For this first comprehensive trial run, Army MARS mobilized a new Winlink digital communication system, with Air Force and Navy-Marine Corps MARS members providing active support.

Kick ass... who ways ham radio is dead?

Army MARS HF E-Mail System Passes the test....

NOW talks to director Chris Paine about his upcoming documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The film looks at the hopeful birth and untimely death of the electric car, an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving salvation to some, but a profit barrier to others.

In a film that has all the elements of a murder mystery, Paine points the finger at car companies, the oil industry, bad ad campaigns, consumer wariness, and a lack of commitment from the U.S. government.

"[The film] is about why the only kind of cars that we can drive run on oil. And for a while there was a terrific alternative, a pure electric car," Paine said.

In 1996, General Motors (G.M.) launched the first modern-day commercially available electric car, the EV1. The car required no fuel and could be plugged in for recharging at home and at a number of so-called battery parks.

Many of the people who leased the car, including a number of celebrities, said the car drove like a dream.

"...the EV1 was a high performer. It could do a U-turn on a dime; it was incredibly quiet and smooth. And it was fast. I could beat any Porsche off the line at a stoplight. I loved it," Actress, Alexandra Paul told NOW.

After California regulators saw G.M.s electric car in the late 1980s, they launched a zero-emissions vehicle program in 1990 to clean up the state's smoggy skies.

Under the program, two percent of all new cars sold had to be electric by 1998 and 10 percent by 2003.

Photo of Alexandra Paul in her EV1, G.M.'s electric car.
Actress Alexandra Paul in her EV1, G.M.'s electric car.
But it was not to be. A little over 1,000 EV1s were produced by G.M. before the company pulled the plug on the project in 2002 due to insufficient demand. Other major car makers also ceased production of their electric vehicles.

In the wake of a legal challenge from G.M. and DaimlerChrysler, California amended its regulations and abandoned its goals. Shortly thereafter, automakers began reclaiming and dismantling their electrics as they came off lease.

Some suggest that G.M. -- which says it invested some $1 billion in the EV1 -- never really wanted the cars to take off. They say G.M. intentionally sabotaged their own marketing efforts because they feared the car would cannibalize its existing business. G.M. disputes these claims.

Take a trip with us this week as we find out more about why the electric car slipped off the road. Next time on NOW.

Dam I would kill for a call that would let me drive the low 60 miles per charge. I drive less than 20 odd miles to work each day so what is the big deal? And they said that 100-120 miles per charge if GM would have started with, what at the time was new, the NMH battery.

My father wants to build an electric motorcycle but we would have to find a sponsor. I see that it has already been done, but this would be a good way to get to and from work.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

Kodak’s new sensor technology provides a 2x to 4x increase in sensitivity to light (from one to two photographic stops) compared to current sensor designs. Image sensors act as the “eye” of a digital camera by converting light into electric charge to begin the capture process.

This breakthrough advances an existing Kodak technology that has become the standard in digital imaging. Today, the design of almost all color image sensors is based on the “Bayer Pattern,” an arrangement of red, green, and blue pixels that was first developed by Kodak scientist Dr. Bryce Bayer in 1976. In this design, half of the pixels on the sensor are used to collect green light, with the remaining pixels split evenly between sensitivity to red and blue light. After exposure, software reconstructs a full color signal for each pixel in the final image.

Kodak’s new proprietary technology adds panchromatic, or “clear” pixels to the red, green, and blue elements that form the image sensor array. Since these pixels are sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, they collect a significantly higher proportion of the light striking the sensor. By matching these pixel arrangements with advanced software algorithms from Kodak that are optimized for these new patterns, users can realize an increase in photographic speed, directly improving performance when taking pictures under low light. Kodak’s new technology also enables faster shutter speeds (to reduce motion blur when imaging moving subjects), as well as the design of smaller pixels (leading to higher resolutions in a given optical format) while retaining performance.

Cool can't wait to see a demo....

Kodak’s new sensor technology....