An agglomeration of my social networks BS

Oh, Steve -- you should've known better. You show up and remove a laptop from a manila envelope, and Earth's most creative go and create a case fashioned out of one. You go and suggest that Eminem could "come out with a band-aid that goes over the corner" of your controversial iPhone 4, and well... this happens. You could wait for a free case, or you could buy six of these Antenna-aids for five bucks. The choice is obvious.

Antenna-aid bandages your iPhone 4 reception issue, hopes for role in next Eminem video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Part of the key selling point of the whole concept of Android-based smartphones was that they were open to tinkering. Apparently, Motorola thinks somewhat differently about that. paperbag was the first of a whole bunch of you to point to variations on the story that Motorola has put a thing called "eFuse" on the Droid X which will effectively brick your phone if you try to mess with the software.

If you look around, a lot of people who said they would originally buy a Droid X are saying they won't do it now, just on principle. Bricking a phone that someone bought, just because they want to change the software themselves is pretty abhorrent. Motorola's response to the concerns isn't winning over many people either. They flat-out say that if you don't like it, you should buy another phone:

We understand there is a community of developers interested in going beyond Android application development and experimenting with Android system development and re-flashing phones. For these developers, we highly recommend obtaining either a Google ADP1 developer phone or a Nexus One, both of which are intended for these purposes. At this time, Motorola Android-based handsets are intended for use by consumers and Android application developers, and we have currently chosen not to go into the business of providing fully unlocked developer phones.

The use of open source software, such as the Linux kernel or the Android platform, in a consumer device does not require the handset running such software to be open for re-flashing. We comply with the licenses, including GPLv2, for each of the open source packages in our handsets. We post appropriate notices as part of the legal information on the handset and post source code, where required, at http://opensource.motorola.com. Securing the software on our handsets, thereby preventing a non-Motorola ROM image from being loaded, has been our common practice for many years. This practice is driven by a number of different business factors. When we do deviate from our normal practice, such as we did with the DROID, there is a specific business reason for doing so. We understand this can result in some confusion, and apologize for any frustration.

I think they're missing the point. The fact is most consumers won't tinker with the underlying software of their phone, but if they do want to, they should be allowed to do so without having Motorola destroy the device.

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The crazy American TV series “Wipeout” is ranked as the third most popular game show in the world¹, and for a long time its exact outdoor filming location remained a mystery. Thanks to updates in Google’s satellite imagery, the insane obstacle course that sends the contestants flying through the air has finally been revealed.

The show itself has two different versions (and locations) depending on where in the world you’re watching. The original American version is filmed on a ranch outside of Los Angeles, California in a community called Canyon Country.

The British version of the show, known as “Total Wipeout”, is filmed on a set located in Argentina. Regardless of where you look, both sets are remarkably similar when viewed from above and interestingly, they’re both within 5 km of each other in latitude, but in opposite directions from the equator!

Since the resolution of the American set is higher (and your slightly biased author is from the states), lets take a look at the set in California. Numerous blue, empty pools can be seen forming a circular pattern that follows the same flow as the show. The set in Argentina is composed to two nearly identical sections running in opposite directions.

The first set of pools is where the contestants compete in the “Wipeout Qualifier” round. The blue pools are all obviously filled with water when the show is taping, but the brown ones to the left and middle are filled with thick mud!

The next empty pool contains a set of planks that rotate in opposite directions during the second round of the show. Contestants must get from the platform on the northern side to the opposite side without getting knocked into the water by the rotating beams. They rarely make it over successfully!

By comparison, the rotating planks on the “Total Wipeout” set look much less ferocious than their American cousins.

Round three of the show usually takes place on the south side of the set in either the spinning platform to the left, or the baseball influenced obstacle course on the right. Watch out for those spinning baseball bats!

The show ends with the “Wipeout Zone”, and the obstacles look very similar in both versions. The large “launching” platform is clearly visible on both sets in the southeastern corner. The pool base is not blue like the other ones because this scene is filmed a nigh.

Other sites on the set include what appear to be cast and contestant trailers, and to the northern side you can see the prop and maintenance buildings.

Regardless of which version you watch, Wipeout (or Total Wipeout) is a hilarious show and I highly recommend giving it a try.

Thanks to Tim and Neill for the links!

Locations: Argentina, California / Categories: Movie Locations, Stadiums and Sport

View in Google Earth

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You're reading an entry from Google Sightseeing, which is copyright © 2010 Alex Turnbull & James Turnbull and must not be reproduced without permission.

If you've got any plans to ever visit any beaches on the east coast, best get them in this summer before it's too late. That's the conclusion you can draw if this simulation by researchers of how the BP Gulf spill will look 360 days after April 20th comes to pass.

The simulation, which is only one possible scenario, was created by a team of researchers at the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, the Department of Oceanography, and the International Pacific Research Center Hawaii. They caution that it is not a detailed forecast and does not take into account effects like coagulation, tarballs, dispersion and microbial degradation.
Here's what they said of their science:

For the simulations, 5 million buoyant particles were released continuously from April 20 to September 17, 2010, at the location of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The release occurred in ocean flow data from simulations conducted with the high-resolution Ocean General Circulation Model for the Earth Simulator (OFES). The paths of the particles were calculated over 360 days from the beginning of the spill. The simulations were conducted with surface ocean circulation data of 5 typical years rather than the actual flow fields...

The animations show the calculated surface particle concentrations for grid boxes about 10-km-by-10-km in size into April 2011. For an estimated flow of oil from the Deepwater Horizon well of 50,000 barrels per day over a 150 day period, a concentration of e.g. 10 particles per a grid box corresponds roughly to an oil volume of 2 m3 per ~100 km2 area. The animations show the initial spreading of oil into the Gulf of Mexico followed by its entry from the Loop Current into the narrow Florida Current and then the Gulf Stream. Transported by the Gulf Stream, the erratic paths of the particles in the Atlantic are due to strong current instabilities associated with ocean eddies and recirculations. This leads to a high degree of particle dispersal and dilution in the open Atlantic away from the coast.

These computer simulations suggest that the coastlines near the Carolinas, Georgia and Northern Florida could see the effects of the oil spill as early as October 2010.Quick, someone drop some Philip Glass on the soundtrack.

The iPhone 4's antenna issues have sparked off a firestorm of debate as to the root cause -- Apple says holding the phone differently or buying a case are the best answers, while other are going down a more voodoo path -- but our friends at AnandTech have done some more scientific testing of the problem and come up with a few interesting results. Turns out the iPhone 4 actually performs slightly better inside a case than a phone like the Nexus One, which has had similar issues crop up, but it's slightly worse when held in the hand, reporting an average signal drop of 20dB. Here's where it gets a little wacky, though: the signal meter in iOS 4 is logarithmic, so that 20dB drop can either leave you looking steady at five bars or drop you all the way to zero, depending on what the actual signal level in the area is like. Take a look at the chart above and you'll get it: the range of values between one bar and four spans just 23dB, while the range for five bars is 40dB. That means holding the phone in an area with a strong five-bar signal will have no apparent effect -- you can lose 20dB at full signal and still see five bars -- but holding the phone in an area with weaker coverage will easily drop the meter to one bar, since the 20dB signal drop covers almost the entirety of the remaining 23dB scale. Oops.

Of course, that's just the on-screen display, which Apple can and likely will tweak in a future iOS update. The real question is whether the reported signal has anything to do with performance, and Anandtech agrees with our general experience, saying that the iPhone 4's improved signal to noise ratio means it actually does a better job of hanging onto calls and using data when there's low signal than the iPhone 3GS. In their words, "this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS." However, there's no getting around the fact that we've definitely dropped a couple calls with the iPhone 4 by holding it the wrong way, and Anandtech says the only real solution to the antenna issue will be for Apple to either subsidize free bumpers or add an insulative coating to the antenna band. We'll see what happens -- we've got a feeling an iOS update is on the way, but we'd definitely love to see Apple pursue a more aggressive solution to this problem.

iPhone 4's antenna problem looks worse than it is, but it's still bad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you're following the iPhone 4, you've probably heard about its issues with left-handed calling. Since the antenna is built into the edge of the phone, it's a seemingly tough problem to tackle. But as one Photoshopper shows, the solution is actually pretty simple.

Submitted by: majortom via Submission Page

Here in the U.S., you can name your kid almost anything, but that’s not the case everywhere in the world. Let’s take a look at some countries with pretty strict or otherwise fascinating baby-naming laws.

1. Germany

In Germany, you must be able to tell the gender of the child by the first name, and the name chosen must not be negatively affect the well being of the child. Also, you can not use last names or the names of objects or products as first names. Whether or not your chosen name will be accepted is up to the office of vital statistics, the Standesamt, in the area in which the child was born. If the office rejects your proposed baby name, you may appeal the decision. But if you lose, you’ll have to think of a different name. Each time you submit a name you pay a fee, so it can get costly. When evaluating names, the Standesamt refers to a book which translates to “the international manual of the first names,” and they also consult foreign embassies for assistance with non-German names. Because of the hassle parents have to go through to name their children, many opt for traditional names such as Maximilian, Alexander, Marie, and Sophie.

Rejected names: Matti was rejected for a boy because it didn’t indicate gender.
Approved names: Legolas and Nemo were approved for baby boys.

2. Sweden

Enacted in 1982, the Naming law in Sweden was originally created to prevent non-noble families from giving their children noble names, but a few changes to the law have been made since then. The part of the law referencing first names reads: “First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.” If you later change your name, you must keep at least one of the names that you were originally given, and you can only change your name once.

Rejected names: “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116″ (pronounced Albin, naturally) was submitted by a child’s parents in protest of the Naming law. It was rejected. The parents later submitted “A” (also pronounced Albin) as the child’s name. It, too, was rejected.

Also rejected: Metallica, Superman, Veranda, Ikea, and Elvis.
Accepted names: Google as a middle name, Lego.

3. Japan

In Japan, one given name and one surname are chosen for babies, except for the imperial family, who only receive given names. Except for a few examples, it is obvious which are the given names and which are the surnames, regardless of in what order the names have been given. There are a couple thousand “name kanji” and “commonly used characters” for use in naming babies, and only these official kanji may be used in babies’ given names. The purpose of this is to make sure that all names can be easily read and written by the Japanese. The Japanese also restrict names that might be deemed inappropriate.

Rejected names: Akuma, meaning “devil.”

4. Denmark

Denmark’s very strict Law on Personal Names is in place to protect children from having odd names that suit their parents’ fancy. To do this, parents can choose from a list of only 7,000 pre-approved names, some for girls, some for boys. If you want to name your child something that isn’t on the list, you have to get special permission from your local church, and the name is then reviewed by governmental officials. Creative spellings of more common names are often rejected. The law states that girls and boys must have names that indicate their gender, you can’t use a last name as a first name, and unusual names may be rejected. Of the approximately 1,100 names that are reviewed each year, 15-20% of the names are rejected. There are also laws in place to protect rare Danish last names.

Rejected names: Anus, Pluto, and Monkey.
Approved names: Benji, Jiminico, Molli, and Fee.

5. Iceland

The Iceland Naming Committee, formed in 1991, is the group that decides whether a new given name will be acceptable. If parents want to name their child something that is not included on the National Register of Persons, they can apply for approval and pay a fee. A name has to pass a few tests to be approved. It must only contain letters in the Icelandic alphabet, and must fit grammatically with the language. Other considerations include whether it will embarrass the child in the future and how well aligned it is with Icelandic traditions. It must have a genitive ending or have been previously adopted. Also, names should be gender specific, and no one can have more than three personal names.

Surnames in Iceland usually follow an interesting tradition. They are not family names, but are rather patronymic, or occasionally matronymic, with part of a person’s last name including their father’s name. If a father’s name is Eric, then his son’s surname would be Ericsson (or Eric’s son), and his daughter’s surname would be Ericsdóttir (or Eric’s daughter). [note: According to one of our Icelandic _flossers, since 'C' is not an Icelandic letter, the correct spelling is 'Eiríkur' and his offspring would be Eiríksson/Eiríksdóttir, e.g. Leifur Eiríksson] Occasionally, there are true family names in Iceland, that are passed down to each generation. But they are usually in families originally from other countries, or in families where a family name was adopted at one point.

6. New Zealand

New Zealand’s Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 doesn’t allow people to name their children anything that “might cause offence to a reasonable person; or [...] is unreasonably long; or without adequate justification, [...] is, includes, or resembles, an official title or rank.” Officials at the registrar of births have successfully talked parents out of some more embarrassing names.

Rejected names: Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy, Sex Fruit, Satan, and Adolf Hitler

Approved names: Benson and Hedges (for a set of twins), Midnight Chardonnay, Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence

7. China

Most new babies in China are now basically required to be named based on the ability of computer scanners to read those names on national identification cards. The government recommends giving children names that are easily readable, and encourages Simplified characters over Traditional Chinese ones. Parents can technically choose the given name, but numbers and non-Chinese symbols and characters are not allowed. Also, now, Chinese characters that can not be represented on the computer are not allowed. There are over 70,000 Chinese characters, but only about 13,000 can be represented on the computer. Because this requirement is a new one, some citizens are having their name misrepresented, and some have to change their names to be accurately shown on the identification cards.

Rejected names: “@”: Wang “At” was rejected as a baby name. The parents felt that the @ symbol had the right meaning for them. @ in Chinese is pronounced “ai-ta” which is very similar to a phrase that means “love him.”

8. Norway

If you read this post earlier this morning, we said that first names, but not middle names, were governed by Norwegian law. Well, thanks to a Norwegian _flosser Solvi, who was kind enough to send over a Web site (written in Norwegian, of course), we now know that these laws were changed in 2002. Apparently, there used to be an official government list of all allowed names. Last names could not be used as first names, and foreign names that were religious in nature, such as Jesús, or that were insulting would not make the cut. Last names also used to adhere to certain rules. If you wanted to change your last name, you would have to show that you were very close to someone else with that last name, such as when you take your spouse’s last name or your mother’s maiden name. Last names that were shared by 500 or fewer people were also protected. It seems that one would have to get the permission of all of the people with that last name if one wanted to adopt the name. Talk about oy to the vey!

Previously rejected names: “Gesher” was rejected as a boy’s first name to the point where the child’s mother was jailed for refusing to pay the $420 fine.

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The coupon code “edvard” works for all our 60+ t-shirt designs. (Offer ends Tuesday, June 29 at 11:59pm EST.)

Actual footage from news broadcast on North Korea State Television. Recorded from a TV set in Pyongyang 36 hours after the game finished. Brazil win but North Korea claim victory. Leader Kim Jong-il has not commented on the teams performance. His biscuit factory visit went ahead though.

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