Breakdancing Is No Match For Project Natal’s Sensors [Natal]

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It's possible that you've been reading reports of Microsoft's body-capturing Project Natal with some skepticism, wondering, "how well can this cockamamie setup possibly work?" Well, going by this video of it perfectly tracking a guy breakdancing, pretty damn well.

As best we can guess, Natal will be making its way to Xboxes sometime this fall. That means we've still got a good deal of waiting ahead of us, so every once in a while it's nice to have a reminder of why we're so excited. February's reminder: this video of Natal perfectly tracking a dude dancing during the requisite playground ball demo game.

The video isn't as much of a slam dunk on the lag factor. At some points it looks like there's a definite delay between the dancer's movements and those of his avatar on screen, and at other times the lag seems imperceptible. It's hard to say for sure. But as for the motion capture itself, even in low light situations, it appears to be undeniably smooth. [Project Natal Games - Thanks, Jordan!]


Microsoft Employee Shows Off Prototype Windows Phone 7 Series Smartphone From LG [Windowsphone7]

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Aaron Woodman, the director of consumer experiences for Microsoft's mobile division, was a guest on today's Engadget Show, and he had a nice surprise for everyone: a prototype of LG's Windows Phone 7 Series phone.

There's not a whole lot in the way of details—it's a slider that's a bit thicker than the iPhone, it has a 5MP camera, and sports six hardware buttons—but it's still exciting to see the new operating system on a branded device for the first time.

Woodman wouldn't confirm nor deny if Windows Phone 7 Series would support Mac OS, only mentioning that it was a topic the team was currently discussing. Hey, at least the notion hasn't been shut down out of hand, so we'll take this as a no news is good news type of thing for now.

Head over to Engadget for more pictures and a quick video clip of the LG phone in the round. [Engadget]


The Pot (Microsoft) Calling the Kettle (Google) Black

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Microsoft Corp made its most vehement and public attack on Google Inc on Friday, calling its internet rival's actions potentially anti-competitive, and urging victims to file complaints to regulators.

The irony of  Microsoft trying to squelch competition via the antitrust laws is amusing. 

But the incident illustrates one key negative of antitust: companies that are losing in the marketplace encourage Justice or the FTC to prosecute competing firms, often with dubious justification.

Toroidal Choke Choke

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Hi to all

I have a a toroidal choke core ( RadioShack #273-104),it has AL 175 mh/1000 turns.

So i can make 1.19 mh choke by using 82.5 turns.

My question now:

Can i use it for any current by selecting the right wire size ?

Does a high current could take i

What Comes After the iPad? [Humor]

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When the iPad was unveiled in January, everyone could agree on one thing: it did look a lot like a big iPhone. Begeek.fr extends Apple's consistent design to its logical conclusion in the company's next two revolutionary devices.

I hear the iBoard's going to implement twenty finger multi-touch and the iMat's even going to support Flash. [BeGeek.fr]


Wireless Printing

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Hi, I have a wireless network set up, and have 2 computers on it; Mine (which has the printer attached), and the other one. I have set it up for file and printer sharing, and I can access the shared docs on the other computer, but the other computer can't print wirelessly. Every time you try to

Do You Honor Parking Chairs in Your Culture?

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This morning, Tom and Ray on Car Talk got a call about parking chairs. The gist of their answer was that it depends on where you live. In North Boston, apparently, it is considered good manners to slash the tires on anyone who violates a parking chair, but in other cities, it's unheard of.

1995 Dodge Caravan – Engine Stalls

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I recently put a new transmission in and now my engine stalls when it is running for about 20 minutes. If I let it sit for about the same amount of time it will again run for about 15 minutes and the does it again. I pulled the codes and got 12,43,34,55. I've replaced the coolant sensor but the p

Haleron iLet Mini HAL Is a Modest Tablet With a Modest Price [Tablets]

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If the iPad seems a bit extravagant and the JooJoo's sordid past turns you off, the 7" iLet Mini HAL might be up your alley. It's no powerhouse, but at least you'll be able to say you own a tablet.

The 600MHz VIA CPU isn't blazing fast and the 7" touch screen isn't luxuriously wide. The 2GB of flash memory isn't great. The Android 1.6 OS isn't ideal.

But if you just want a tablet without all the bells and whistles for doing some surfing from the couch or reading some documents in bed, the HAL seems like a fine option, especially considering the $199 price tag.

And anyway, the storage is expandable via SD card and the OS is upgradable. It has Wi-Fi, 128MB of RAM, a USB port, and claims a 16 hour battery life. Best of all, Haleron says it's shipping the HAL on March 1st. So, if only for a few weeks, you can be the first of your friends to be officially on the tablet bandwagon. [Haleron via Ubergizmo]


New Jersey: One State where "Change" really is making a difference

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by Paul Jacob

Seems the recent gubernatorial election made a difference in New Jersey. There’s change there. Also hope.

Last November, running on a platform of fiscal sanity, Republican challenger Chris Christie defeated the Democratic Governor Jon Corzine. And it seems that, unlike a certain U.S. president, Christie has every intention of following through.

In early February, Christie told lawmakers that the state’s finances remain a mess and that the budget passed eight months ago is full of “all of the same worn out tricks of the trade” that have driven New Jersey to the edge of bankruptcy.

He said that the legacy of “irresponsible budgeting of the past, coupled with failed tax policies which lie like a heavy, wet blanket suffocating tax revenues and job growth” require extraordinary steps to bring the budget back into balance.

So on his own initiative, Christie is freezing spending across an array of programs. For example, he is cutting the subsidy to New Jersey Transit and urging managers of public transportation to “improve efficiency . . . revisit its rich union contracts,” be more fiscally responsible and efficient. He’s also targeting bloated government pensions and education funding.

Can Governor Christie complete the pivot to fiscal common sense despite the hurricane of opposition he faces? Time will tell. But it would be hard to imagine a better start.

Editor's Note - Paul Jacob is the former National Director for the Libertarian Party, and former longtime President of US Term Limits. His blog is ThisisCommonSense.

Libertarian condemnation of Muslims burning Christian Churches across Africa

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by Clifford F. Thies

The systematic attack on Christians around the world is mostly under the mainstream media's radar screen. The mainstream media goes crazy over church burnings when they perceive it's white on black violence, and this is a good thing. Hate, in all of its expressions, is to be surpressed through the legitimate use of force by the state.

But, what about Muslim on Christian violence, Muslim on women violence, and Muslim on gay violence?

Reports on the increasing violence in Nigeria are just starting to come in. From The Christian Post, Feb. 27:

The Redeemed Christian Church of God building in Tudun Wada was partly burnt on Jan. 25, and Christian Faith Bible church and the Living Faith Foundation Chapel, both in Gusau, were partly burnt in attacks on Jan. 20 and 24 respectively. Zamfara state, one of the predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria, was the first in the country to implement Islamic law (sharia).

The association alleged that those who attacked the Zamfara churches were emboldened because officials made no serious move to arrest those who carried out the Jos attacks. Two pastors and 46 other Christians were killed in the outbreak of violence in Jos on Jan. 17, triggered when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church; 10 church buildings were burned, and police estimated more than 300 lives were lost in the clash.

Concerning these things, are we supposed to be in denial?

Here's what is going on: The radicals within the Muslim community are not being policed by their co-religionists. The "silent majority" within the Muslim community is still ambivalent about ratting out their fellow Muslims to non-Muslims. The critical uncertainty is if and when the current "silent majority" within the Muslim community will actually do something about the radicals, more than merely blather how Islam is a peaceful religion, as though Christianity being a peaceful religion means we didn't have to actually do something about the KKK. If they do, then this is not "a conflict of civilizations," but merely another police matter, albeit on a global level, as we will always have to deal with violent elements within our midst. If they do not, they we will have to see how many of them we can convert.

We cannot have a billion people within an open, global society, who condone and harbor, if not out-rightly support violence against peaceful, law-abiding persons. There are indications that increasing numbers of Muslims are getting with the program, that all peaceful and law-abiding people must stand together against all who are violent. Mainly, this is because of Arab-Persian animosity that predates Islam, scaring the bejesus out of the Arabs.

We are working in both overt and covert operations with Saudi, Iraqi, Jordanian and Gulf State Arabs to counter the growing threat posed by Iran which has joined with Al Qaida and spontaneously-arising radical Islam. The radical Muslims in Northern, Western and Eastern Africa, most notably in Nigeria and Darfur, are something of a side-show to what is going on in western and central Asia. I suspect that, at some point, when we are no longer concerned about their Arab and Chinese protectors, we will just crush the radical Muslims in Africa like so many cockroaches.

Photos of church burning in Kenya, 2008, by Muslim extremists connected with current Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and a church burning by Muslim radicals in Pakistan.

More evidence of Saddam’s atrocities: Mass graves of Kurdish children found

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It is estimated that more than 800,000 Kurds were murdered under Saddam Hussein's regime. Many of them were gassed during the Iran/Iraq war during the 1980s. Now, the Kurdish provincal government has located three mass graves of genocidal victims.

The Hawler Tribune, (Iraqi Kurdistan) Feb. 27:

Three mass graves were discovered in the sub district of Dubiz in Kirkuk. Announced the Kurdish daily news paper ASO on Sunday, Feb.21st. These graves are to be excavated by the Ministry of Anfaled and Martyrs of Kurdistan regional government in a near future.

“The graves are holding remnants of children from both Chamchamal and Garmyan areas”. Sayd Fazil Amin the head of KRG martyrs office in Kirkuk told ASO, these kids were taken into captivity during 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds.

Anfal genocide was a campaign against the Kurds in 1980s. It was aimed at the elimination of the Kurds in Iraq, by destroying and burning Kurdish villages down. Killing and burying alive the people of these villages. It costed over 200,000 lives of innocent Kurds.

All U.S. Android Phones Reportedly Getting the Bump to 2.1 [Rumor]

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We recently heard that Android 2.1 was on its way to the Droid, but now sources tell AndroidandMe that all U.S. Android phones will be receiving Android 2.1 firmware in coming months, though some will require a wipe to upgrade.

As we've heard is the case with the Droid, some niceties like animated wallpapers probably won't make the jump, but if the updates come to fruition, increased text-to-speech support and enhanced widgets will likely come along with them. The price of getting up to date, Androidandme explains, might be wiping your phone clean. A bummer, but that's life.

Google has shown its awareness that fragmentation is a serious issue for Android, so it wouldn't be surprising to see them try to make things a little more even across the board. The G1 and MyTouch are supposedly candidates for the first wave of updates, so keep an eye out for confirmation in coming weeks. [AndroidandMe]


Vote on Armenian Genocide before Congress: Muslim Rep. Keith Ellison says he’s undecided

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The US House will vote on a resolution in committee on March 4 recognizing World War I-era killings of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks as "genocide," according to sources on Capitol Hill.

Pamela Geller from the libertarian/human rights blog Atlas Shrugs gives some background, "Muslim Congressman Ellison won't call Armenian Genocide" Feb. 26:

It was the genocide that preceded the Holocaust. The Mufti of Jerusalem practiced genocide first in the Armenian genocide -- the systematic genocide of the Armenian population under the Islamic Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. The use of massacres and deportations involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees led to a total number of Armenian deaths of one-and-a-half to two million. Mufti Amin Al-Husseini swore allegiance to the Ottoman Empire during the Armenian genocide [i] . [ii] He was an officer stationed in Smyrna and participates first-hand in the Armenian genocide. One and a half million Christians were slaughtered under the sword of Islamic Jihad by the Ottoman Army. Allegiance to Ottoman Empire and Islamic world take-over was echoed by Osama Bin Laden in his post-September 11 declaration. Osama Bin Laden makes direct reference to the end of Ottoman Empire and thus proclaims his allegiance to its notion of Islamic dominion.

Now from the (Turkish) Hurayet, Feb. 19:

A resolution calling for U.S. recognition of World War I-era killings of Armenians as “genocide” will likely be endorsed in an early March vote in a U.S. congressional committee, according to analysis of domestic politics.

The non-binding resolution would call on President Barack Obama to ensure that U.S. policy formally refers to the Armenian killings as “genocide” and to use that term when he delivers his annual message on the issue in April – something Obama avoided doing last year...

This time the measure is expected to pass. In 2007, it failed due to opposition from some Republican concerned with relations with then Iraq War ally Turkey.

Continuing:

amid the political fight between the Democratic Obama administration and the Republicans, some Republicans on the committee might be tempted to vote for the “genocide” measure.

Ironically, Rep. John Murtha's death seems to have given the Armenian lobby renewed optimisim. Democrat Murtha was the leading proponent in Congress for Turkey, and against the resolution.

There's some controversy over how the only Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota will vote. He is the only Muslim in Congress. He happens to sit on the House Foreign Relations Committee. He recently said, "I am still developing my position..."

Mike Mann on How to Fight the Deniers | The Intersection

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There were many quotable moments in my Point of Inquiry interview with Michael Mann. I’ll be posting those, and further reflections on the interview, throughout the coming week. But I’ll start with a particularly memorable exchange that occurs around minute 34:

Mooney: Can the scientific community fight harder, or must it draw the line somewhere? You’ve got someone out there like Marc Morano, who is incredibly effective at doing what he does, his website is ClimateDepot, it is very high traffic….the scientific community does not have its equivalent. And the question is, should it, or is that crossing some sort of line?

Mann: Well, it’s the old line about getting into a fight with a pig: “you’ll get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.” There’s some truth to that.

Listen to more of the interview–and subscribe–here….also, the CFI forums are getting pretty active now in discussing the interview.


Jenny McCarthy still thinks vaccines cause autism | Bad Astronomy

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drjennymccarthy_250

The web is abuzz about an interview antivax activist and public health threat Jenny McCarthy did with Time magazine. A lot of folks seem to think that McCarthy is backtracking on her claims that vaccines cause autism.

Let me be very clear: that simply isn’t true. McCarthy is still making the same debunked, discredited, and dangerous claims:

Each of these theories [proposed by antivaxxers] has been thoroughly discredited by scientific research, but that has done nothing to silence McCarthy and her Generation Rescue colleagues. "Come and see our kids," says McCarthy. "Why won’t the CDC come and talk to the mothers, talk to the families? Then tell us there isn’t a link."

Sounds to me like she’s up to the same old health-hazard hijinks. So why are so many people saying she’s changed her mind? In some of the emails I’ve received and on a few websites, they’re claiming that McCarthy has admitted that her son never was autistic, and instead had Landau-Kleffner syndrome, a neurological disorder. But that’s wrong; she never admits that in the article — the author suggests that Evan’s symptoms are similar to Landau-Kleffner, but that’s it.

As recently as three weeks ago, McCarthy and her equally deluded boyfriend Jim Carrey both publicly defended Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced doctor credited for starting the modern movement claiming vaccines cause autism. You can find that statement on the Natural News website, run by the equally wrong Mike Adams, who couldn’t find reality with three sherpas and a GPS.

So why is this misinformation that McCarthy has changed her mind being spread so much? Part of the problem is an article in Hollywood Life, which obviously mischaracterizes the Time interview, saying:

And she is also reversing her initial position that the MMR shots caused Evan’s autism.

Nowhere in the Time interview does she reverse her position! Hollywood Life is wrong, plain and simple. In fact, the Time article author says plainly:

…[McCarthy] blames the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine for giving her son autism.

I don’t see how this could be any more clear.

[Note: the URL for the Hollywood life article is even a misstatement: "http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/02/26/jenny-mccarthy-says-her-son-evan-never-had-autism/"; McCarthy said no such thing in the interview.]

So she is still standing by her earlier claims. Mind you, she still says she "cured" her son of his disorder by putting him on a gluten-free diet, which, to be clear, is nonsense. In fact, a lot of people have wondered if her son was ever autistic, and is now simply doing better as he ages; many disorders mitigate with time.

Also, this is a person who claims we are injecting our kids with too many vaccines, but has no issue injecting herself with the most dangerous protein known to humanity, so clearly her viewpoint is somewhat skewed from reality.

I urge people to read the article from Time magazine in its entirety; the author is clear he thinks McCarthy is wrong, that all of science and reality are stacked against her, and he even states simply that she is "dangerous".

I agree. She is a terrible influence on people; her science is wrong, her medical advice is dangerous, and she gives people false hope.

There is hope for parents with autistic children, but that hope comes through understanding the situation, using real evidence and data, and in knowing that thousands upon thousands of doctors are trying to understand autism as well. If there’s hope, it’s through science.

I know that McCarthy loves her son, and I do think she’s trying to help. But I also know that her claims about vaccines and autism are completely wrong, and instead of helping she’s making things far worse — not just for kids with autism and their parents, but for the population as a whole because vaccinations rates have dropped and we’re seeing a resurgence of preventable diseases.

This misinformation being spread about her isn’t helping. Her stance has not changed, and she is still a force for antireality. People listening to her are not helping their own children, and if they don’t vaccinate their kids they are putting everyone else in danger as well.

[Update: Surly Amy at Skepchick has similar thoughts on this.]


Apple Reports Discovery of Child Workers In Their Factories [Apple]

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February has not been a good month for the Apple supply chain. After the assault, the arson, and the poisonings, now Apple's annual supplier report reveals that this year 11 minors were found working in factories that manufacture their products.

The 24-page report is full of bad news. The worst of it: three different factories Apple uses to manufacture parts employed 15 year old workers, 11 minors total, in countries that had a minimum working age of 16.

Other unsavory findings include over 50 factories keeping workers on the job for longer than the maximum 60 hour work week and at least 24 factories paying workers less than the minimum wage. Stuff that would be bad normally but doesn't seem quite as bad in light of the child labor: only 61% of the factories Apple uses were following correct safety regulations and only 57% had the necessary environmental permits for operation.

Apple didn't reveal which factories were culpable, or the nations in which these facilities were located—they contract independent factories in China, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the Czech Republic and the United States—but they are still using them to manufacture their products. Apple confirmed that the child laborers are no longer employed.

Apple's no stranger to supply chain controversy, and all of these details come right from their own supplier responsibility report. You'd imagine that at some point people would stop gawking at Apple's supply chain scandals and actually put pressure on them to make some significant changes in their manufacturing. Hopefully these latest discoveries are enough to start that process. [Telegraph and Bloomberg]

Update:
Many commenters have made some good points about Apple's report and how it should be received. To be fair, these discoveries did come from Apple's own audits of the factories it uses. I changed the title of the post to better reflect that. But the reason they're performing those audits in the first place is to rectify their image when it comes to overseas labor. It's great that Apple's putting more resources into finding these problems, and it's admirable that the company is making this process public. But with such a long running history of ugly supply chain incidents, it's discouraging that the audits found conditions to still be as unfavorable as they are.

We got an eye-opening look at Apple's attitude toward manufacturing when a tipster recently told us Steve Jobs' mantra circa 1996: "Apple will be the Nike of consumer electronics." I'm glad that the company's trying to clean up their act, but with a legacy like that, it's hard for me to applaud them for admitting they found underage workers.

Image credit gnta