Will Google+ get your +1?

June 30, 2011

I can’t bring myself to write a headline that involves the words “Google+,” “Facebook killer” and a leading question mark. But that’s no doubt what they’re hoping for with this announcement, isn’t it?

Let’s review the contenders up until now. MySpace, aka The One Before Facebook (depending on your age and perspective), is in the throes of a slow death scene. Diaspora, the open source hopeful, flopped. And even Google’s own employees admit Buzz went badly.

If you read my Diaspora posts, you know I’m ever-optimistic. And Google+ has some promise. Unlike Buzz, it’s not being foisted onto unwilling users. And one can hope that Buzz was also a lesson in privacy concerns for Google–and that the lesson stuck.

It also may be coming at just the right time. Facebook has recently seen significant drops in US and Canadian users. Some point to the fact that the site has essentially reached ubiquit...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Technology 

Obama vows to keep pressure on crippled Al-Qaeda

June 30, 2011

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed to keep pressure on the Al-Qaeda terror group following the death of Osama bin Laden in last month’s daring US raid in Pakistan.

US military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan have served to “severely cripple Al-Qaeda’s capacities,” Obama said at a White House press conference.

“Osama bin Laden got the most attention, but before that we decimated some of the upper ranks of Al-Qaeda,” he said.

The terror group is “having a great deal of difficulty operating and financing themselves. We’ll keep the pressure on,” Obama said.

He stressed that it was in the US national interest “to make sure that you did not have a collapse of Afghanistan in which extremists elements could flood the zone once again, and over time Al-Qaeda may inbound a position to rebuild itself.”

US military forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan “in a responsible wa...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Politics 

The Remarkable Story Gay Marriage in New York

June 29, 2011

Cuomo knew to win enough Republican votes for passage he would have to follow the money.

In the 35th-floor conference room of a Manhattan high-rise, two of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s most trusted advisers held a secret meeting a few weeks ago with a group of super-rich Republican donors.

Over tuna and turkey sandwiches, the advisers explained that New York’s Democratic governor was determined to legalize same-sex marriage and would deliver every possible Senate vote from his own party

Would the donors win over the deciding Senate Republicans? It sounded improbable: top Republican moneymen helping a Democratic rival with one of his biggest legislative goals.

But the donors in the room — the billionaire Paul Singer, whose son is gay, joined by the hedge fund managers Cliff Asness and Daniel Loeb — had the influence and the money to insulate nervous senators from conservative backlash if they supported the marriage measure. And they were inclined to see the...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Politics 

More Free Storage in Picasa Web for Google+ Users

June 29, 2011

Picasa Web Albums offers more free storage if you are a Google+ user. According toPicasa Web’s help center, “photos up to 2048 x 2048 pixels and videos up to 15 minutes won’t count towards your free storage”. If you upload photos from Google+, they’re automatically resized to 2048 pixels on their longest edge, so they don’t use the 1 GB of free storage that’s available in Picasa Web Albums.

Most people can’t use Google+ because it’s invitation-only, so the current rules still apply to them: only the photos up to 800 x 800 won’t count towards their free storage quota.

Like Google Buzz, Google+ uses Picasa Web Albums to store photos. You can upload photos from the Google+ interface and even automatically upload the photos taken with your Android phone. Google+ lets you add captions and name tags to your photos, rotate them and apply different filters using the built-in image editor. Now your friends can tag your p...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Technology 

CBO Releases Daunting Long-Term Outlook

June 28, 2011

Increasing federal debt will be a growing burden on government action, crowding out lawmakers’ ability to adopt tax and spending priorities in good times and reducing flexibility during recessions, all while making a fiscal crisis more likely and hindering long-term growth, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

In the annual Long-Term Budget Outlook, the legislature’s budget scorekeepers said that the ratio of debt to GDP this year will be 69 percent, 7 percentage points higher than last year. In 2021, the CBO predicts debt will reach 76 percent of GDP, but under a more dire—and more likely—scenario, the public debt will be 101 percent of GDP 10 years from now, well into the economic danger zone of 90 percent or more.

Last year, that worst-case scenario predicted a debt-to-GDP ratio of 87 percent in 2020, demonstrating that the public debt picture has worsened considerably, in part due to a bipartisan tax deal last year that reduced expected...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Politics 

Germany’s Cyber Defense Center Goes Online

June 28, 2011

Germany’s new Cyber Defense Center was officially opened by Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich at a ceremony in Bonn on Thursday.

The Center, which has actually been operating with a small staff since April, is tasked with spotting and evaluating cyber-attacks and with developing counter-strategies. Most importantly, Friedrich said at the ceremony on Thursday, that means protecting institutions that are important for society as a whole, such as public utilities.

“The core of cyber security is the protection of crucial infrastructure,” he said. “We must recognize that the danger of an attack on these systems is growing.”

As of Thursday, the now fully-functioning Cyber Defense Center will bring together specialists from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Criminal Police Agency, the German Intelligence Agency, the customs office, the Federal Office for Civil Protection, and the military. It operates under t...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Technology 

Gaming Industry Moving towards Excellence

June 27, 2011

The Gaming Industry has changed a lot, from games like minesweeper and Tetris to MMOs and Mobile Apps. The advancing technology is clearly reflected by new and current games. Every year games get more exciting, realistic, visually stimulating with amazing gameplay. But all the credit doesn’t go to just advancing technology, using technology properly and implementing changes to suit the needs as well as expectations of players is more important. This concept is not new and it is technically known as game quality assurance.However the gaming industry is not what it used to be, it has spread its wings and moved on to many platforms. In the current age you can find games being published on many platforms with most common ones being the PC, popular game consoles, mobile phones and smart phones and now the ever expanding online MMOs and social games. While there are still some very good and interesting single player games available...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Entertainment, Gadgets, General, Technology 

Here’s to the FBI – they’ve finally nabbed Whitey Bulger…

June 27, 2011

It took 16 years with James “Whitey” Bulger on top of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, but yesterday they grabbed the former gang leader, alleged murderer (wanted for 19 killings) and all-around bad Bostonian in Santa Monica, CA.

Bulger had a $2 Million reward on his head… the highest ever offered on an FBI wanted criminal. His girlfriend, Catherine Greig, also captured had a $100 Thousand reward attached to her.

At one time Bulger was an FBI informant and used that position as a means of actually committing robberies and murders and getting his competition out of the way. His brother, William “Billy” Bulger had been a well-known Boston politician and, later, the President of the University of Massachusetts, and admittedly withheld information on Whitey for years, eventually costing him his job.

However, it was only recently after years of embarrassment with books and movies made about Whitey that the FBI actually stepped up it’s investigation. Re...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Social 

US Tweets China Air Pollution, Again

June 27, 2011

Following on the success of the US Embassy Twitter feed on the air pollution, BeijingAir, the US Consulate in Guangzhou this month followed suit, with Guangzhou_Air.

Launched with little fanfare last week, the US Consulate has installed air quality monitoring equipment that now Tweets at 9am and 2pm each day.

Why is the US government doing this?

The official statement says it is “an unofficial resource for the health of the Consulate community”. Unofficially, it is because there is skepticism about the numbers produced by the Chinese government.

My suggestion: It would be great if the US government set up a similar Twitter feed in Hong Kong and then created a “Compare the Air” app which allowed people to see which city suffered the worst air pollution on a given day.

Clearly a single pollution monitor on top of a single building does not represent the city-wide state of pollution, but these Twitter feeds show the power of trusted data...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Politics 

Nuclear plants leaking radiation

June 24, 2011

Fears are rising as steadily as the Missouri River is flooding areas of nuclear power plants these days as new studies and reports about America’s nuclear facilities prove their radiation is causing people harm and about unresolved safety hazards under which the plants operate. Water tests from around 37 of the 104 United States nuclear facilities contained radioactive concentrations exceeding U.S. drinking water standard according to the Associated Press new study report. Sometimes, radiation in the drinking water was hundreds of times over limit.

Dangerous radiation has leaked from three-quarters of all U.S. nuclear power stations yet people have not been warned about this in most cases. The country’s water supplies not already contaminated could be one day in the not too distant future if the situation is not turned around.

The number and severity of radiation leaks has increased because there many old and unsafe plants across America, a the new Associated Press i...

Written by Jo & Ray · Filed Under Politics 

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