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Thank you colin.
Great close-up, Sandy - and the light is perfect :).
Thank you Hanne, robryan, and annjax.
So pretty!. Thanks, chickiemama..................
Very nice chickie - looks nice & healthy too!
Perfect photo, Sandy!! The bark is formidable!! Thanks so very much!!
Thank you laura, Gary and Monica.
What an interesting closeup! Thanks!
Cool pic.
Moss always makes a great photo...and lichen! Good shot!
Thank you morris and Suzy.
Well done, chickie. You were barking up the right tree for this one!
It makes a nice puzzle. thanks, chickie!
Thank you Dottie, Graciela and shirley.
Very nicely done, Thanks chickiemama.
Love the green of the moss, beautiful chickie!! thanks
Pretty and very dramatic! Thanks, Chickie!
Thank you warbler and young man. It was late afternoon.
Was this in the morning young lady? Lovely shot with that light.
You caught the light perfect on this one Chickie! Thank you.
Thank you Patti and Leonard!
nice Lilie!
Who would think that moss on a tree trunk could be so beautiful?! Well done, Chickie!
Thank you gnt and bradjan.
very detailed, nice one
good photo on the north side of the tree too :)
Thank you Ank.
Just beautiful. Just a piece of tree bark, but a great photo.


text: Bracken Lee-Rudolph from ITF Gaming writes: got to have a few rounds of multiplayer gameplay with the upcoming first-person shooter, Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Sequel to the 2010 reboot of the Medal of Honor franchise, the new title hopes to improve on the solid base provided by the original and at the EA Games stand at rAge 2012, I had the chance to try it out. There were 8 PCs, each with a playable multiplayer component installed and we were divided into 2 teams of 4. The game mode we played was called Sport, and was effectively a capture-the-flag without respawns.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Turkish Grand Prix
Tyres key to Turkey - McLaren drivers
- In Focus:
- Tyres
- Race:
- Turkish Grand Prix
- Championship:
- FIA Formula One World Championship
- Drivers:
- Jenson Button
- |
- Lewis Hamilton
- Teams:
- McLaren
McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton expect tyre degradation to play a key role at next weekend's Turkish Grand Prix on the high-speed Istanbul Park circuit.
The Pirelli tyres have been dictating race strategy so far this year with Hamilton using a three-stop strategy in China to bring an end to Sebastian Vettel's early season dominance. High degradation levels mean that drivers who stay out too long on the same set of tyres experience a major drop-off in performance, which has the potential to be the difference between winning and finishing off the podium.
Turn eight at Istanbul puts heavy loading on the tyres and Button reckons it will force teams and drivers to take a conservative approach to race strategy.
"After the race in China, I think there'll once again be a lot of focus on tyre durability and drop-off next weekend," Button said. "Looking at the track configuration, our simulations suggest that Turkey will be a critical test for the tyres - particularly the front-right, which will be placed under considerable load through turn eight.
"It's a high-speed, multi-apex turn with a lot of loading, so I think we'll spend part of Friday monitoring the loads through the tyres to make sure we can achieve a safe and achievable balance for the race before we head into qualifying on Saturday.
"I don't think it's an under-estimation to say that tyre wear will probably determine every team's race strategy. It will be important to run the tyre within a safe operating window, and that's likely to determine when and how often we stop during the grand prix.
"The weather also looks like it's going to be a bit colder than we're used to in Turkey - the race is three weeks earlier in the season than it was last year, and that might also have an effect on how the tyre operates. It's going to be another interesting race."
Hamilton agrees that the stresses on the tyres in turn eight will play a major role in strategy, but also believes KERS will be a performance differentiator - something that McLaren's main rival Red Bull has struggled with in the opening rounds.
"For this race, I think we'll be seeing drivers working quite hard to look after their tyres throughout the race, particularly in turn eight, which is fast and bumpy; it's one of the most demanding corners for tyres anywhere on the calendar.
"This is also a circuit where KERS Hybrid will be a major benefit - most of the straights come after low-speed corners, so there's plenty of scope for using the KERS Hybrid - most notably out of Turn 10, but also out of the final corner.
"There's always quite a big chance for passing into Turn 12, because it's quite easy to stay with a leading car out of Turn 10 and duck into the tow.
"There's every reason to believe that the run of interesting and exciting races will continue next weekend."
Hamilton was victorious at last year's Turkish Grand Prix after the Red Bulls crashed in to one another while battling over first position.
"I won this race last year and Istanbul Park is a circuit I really enjoy," he added. "It's a great modern track, with a real variety of corners, plenty of high-speed stuff and a place where you really feel the benefit of having the car properly hooked up beneath you.
"Of course, everyone talks about turn eight, which is a fantastic corner, but I also love late-braking into Turns Nine and 12, because you can get the car into the corner while still carrying quite a bit of speed; and getting it right is really satisfying."


text:
Hades City Venus -- Disappointed scientists announced today there is no on extravenusian life on Earth. The space agency's ambitious Phoenix Earth Lander conducted several tests at the Blue Planet's equator and found the planet was sterile. Temperatures at Earth's equator only reach 140 degrees maximum. Scientists believe life can't exist at anything below 900 degrees.
Earth is sometimes referred to as Venus' twin because they are almost the same size. It has been locked in an Ice Age for at least 4 billion years, ever since its surface froze. The surface area is a frozen nightmare of mountains made of solid iron, lead and silica. Its pathetically thin atmosphere is filled with poisonous oxygen and nitrogen.
Excited scientists did confirm over 70% of the luckless planet is covered with "oceans" of deadly liquid dihydromonoxide (DHMO). Strange pools of the caustic liquid are found all over the planet and its polar areas are even covered with a rare solid form of the noxious compound.
Scientists were puzzled by complex carbon compounds that seem to infest Earth's DHMO oceans. Chemists believe carbon will combine with oxygen and nitrogen at very low temperatures. There are some wild theories about carbon based life. Any carbon life would be totally alien compared to the silicon life forms we have on Venus.
A probe may be sent later to investigate this strange discovery.
As far as we know Venus is the only place to support life. Its rich atmosphere of life-giving sulfuric acid and its surface of molten lead is just perfect for us! Everything else in the solar system is alien beyond our wildest imagination.


text:
Mark Buehrle has come to a decision regarding where his family will live during the six months that is the MLB regular season.
How about there's no place like home.
Buehrle, one of the ace pitchers the Blue Jays acquired during the off-season, is a proud dog owner including a two-year old pit bull named Slater.
Therein lies the problem. Given the fact that Ontario has banned that breed of dog, Buehrle had to resolve the issue of where to place Slater during the season.


text:
Virginia's Governor Terry McAuliffe: An Exit Interview
We speak to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) as he prepares to leave office after four years at the helm.
The Computer Guys & Gal have spring fever over the latest iPad, Google's new privacy policy, and the latest robot technology. They're also pondering mobile malware, the end of the DVD, and whether computer glasses are the best or worst idea ever. We explore the latest tech news and take your questions.
Public or Private – it's getting hard to tell!
There's Google new "Privacy Policy." Then there's Twitter who sold a huge archive of tweets to a data broker amounting to a treasure trove of behavioral, location, and social connection data that nearly 1,000 companies are lining up to license. And who can forget we don't trust Facebook or sneaky mobile apps that are sending back our address books and more to the mothership. Is there a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" on the horizon? Can the Federal Trade Commission help? Consumer beware!
Random House Triples ebook prices, and triples mad libraries!
Random House books sells their ebook versions of books to libraries across the country. Just this past week the company decided to "adjust" its pricing. Nothing is offered below $25, and some common titles are going for above $100. As Kathy Petlewski, a librarian in Plymouth, puts it: "The first thing that popped into my mind was that Random House must really hate libraries." And despite the obvious ugliness of charging obscene amounts for the purpose of making books available to the public, these companies are faced with the prospect of selling one book and having it lent to a hundred people at once, never get stolen or damaged, be easily duplicated, and so on. In a way, the idea of having e-books "expire" or selling them at a significant markup is easily understood. HarperCollins' e-books "expire" after 26 uses, Hachette and Macmillan only make part of their list available, and others like Penguin and Simon & Schuster don't allow library lending at all. So Random House, in a way, looks good in comparison.
Occupy Obama
Chinese are flooding a Web page of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign on Google Inc.'s social networking service with comments, after China seemingly lifted long-standing blocks. What some are calling "Occupy Obama" began early last week when Chinese Internet surfers noticed that Google's Plus service was widely accessible. Most of the comments seemed purely for fun; some asked for green cards. Many were overtly political, calling for the end of Communist Party rule. "We have no chance to occupy our president Hu," said a posting in English referring to China's leader Hu Jintao. "He hates internet and has no account on any sns website, so we can just occupy Obama, forgive us …"
Meet and Seat!
This month, the Dutch carrier KLM began testing a program it calls Meet and Seat, allowing ticket-holders to upload details from their Facebook or LinkedIn profiles and use the data to choose seatmates. KLM's service is available only to travelers with confirmed reservations who are willing to connect their social profiles to their booking. After selecting the amount of personal information they wish to share, passengers are presented with seat maps that show where others who have also shared their profiles are seated. Satisfly, based in Hong Kong, allows users to submit profile information as well as their flight "moods" — whether they would prefer to talk shop or chat casually — and other details like languages spoken and preferences about potential seatmates.
Card-sized Computer
The Raspberry Pi is a bare-bones, low-cost computer created by volunteers mostly drawn from academia and the UK tech industry. Sold uncased without keyboard or monitor, the Pi has drawn interest from educators and enthusiasts. Massive demand for the computer has caused the website of one supplier, Leeds-based Premier Farnell, to crash under the weight of heavy traffic. The device's launch comes as the UK Department for Ed considers changes to the teaching of computing in schools, with the aim of placing greater emphasis on skills like programming. The machine, which runs on open-source operating system Linux, can be hooked up to a typical computer monitor – with additional ports used to attach a keyboard, mouse and other peripherals.($35)
Kindle eBooks coming to a Barnes & Noble near you?
Barnes & Noble and other booksellers recently pulled print editions of Amazon Publishing books from their store shelves because the ebook versions were only sold in the Kindle Store, a stance that B&N said "undermined the industry as a whole." Now, Amazon has confirmed that its latest addition to the Amazon Publishing roster, a series of short biographies edited by James Atlas, will indeed be sold outside of the Amazon ecosystem in both print and ebook form. Is this the start of a new business strategy?
Do you have the Luck of the Irish? iPhone (free)
This calculator seems to add years to your age. It asks you for your age and then calculates what your "Irish age" would be. So it's rough being Irish?
St. Pat's Easter Bunny Wall Paper- Android App ($1)
Tired of spending your hard earned money on holiday live wallpapers every month? Well we got you covered in this one. This is the St Patrick's day easter bunny LWP. Once Saint Patty day is over, no need to trash or delete since this will last longer into easter for a good 2 months. Perfect for those who are on a tight budget.
Need a Leprechaun friend? iPhone ($1
For those of you with too much time on your hands – Shake the phone left and right to make a rainbow appear, or front and back to make a pot o' gold grow! The sky changes according to the time of the day, or you can swipe through to change it. You'll get fiddle music and a little green guy wandering your screen.
Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion announced with Gatekeeper application security. What does it mean?
Gatekeeper will allow application developers who distribute software outside the Mac App Store ecosystem to sign their applications. By default in Mountain Lion, when a user tries to run an unsigned application, he is warned not to. Also, should a signed application become revealed as malware, Gatekeeper gives Apple the ability to quarantine the malware even after it's distributed.
Use the anti-virus software the security pros use… none?!I'm not suggesting everyone ditch their AV software tomorrow, but it does illustrate that for end users security is often not a pure "technology" issue, and that organizations need to take a better look at other attack vectors (for example keeping web servers, databases, mail servers, etc patched and up to date).
Houston, we have a problem (yes, I pulled out that old chestnut) NASA hacked 13 times last year
Hackers working from China were able to breach the systems at NASA's Jet Propulsion Labs. It seems they pretty much had full access to sensitive documents and user accounts.
Today's internet users can't bear to wait more than 1/4 of a second
Google researchers have determined that if your web site takes 250 milliseconds longer than a competing web site, you could lose visitors. Consider all the ways we use the web and it starts to make sense: checking the web from smartphones (and over 3G), streaming audio and video. Web developers: keep it mean and lean, and don't overburden your site with ads!
We be (GPS) jammin:'GPS jamming and spoofing systems are threatening infrastructure. GPS signals are often used to keep cell phone towers the electrical grid in time sync. GPS spoofers can falsify location information. "There have been incidents where trucks carrying high value goods have been hijacked," he said, "where GPS and cell phones have been blocked."
Sexual harassment in competitive gaming:
This article focuses on a fighting game tournament broadcast as a web series. You'll need thick skin to watch some of the videos—the epithets thrown around can get pretty ugly. The reason I think this can be a challenging, fascinating, and deeper story stems from gaming culture in several ways. You've got a community built around off-color humor, dominated by posturing male teens (and man-children). Online gaming in particular can be incredibly competitive and aggressive, and grants a degree of anonymity mixed with a wide audience. It's almost like taking part in a massive, online, co-ed locker room occupied by both teams. In this case, with the Cross Assault tournament, it was especially painful, since these gamers weren't faceless and online, but on site and face to face. We're at a crossroads. Gaming is mainstream, especially for the younger generation, and it's not just boys playing. As gamers become parents, they're facing challenges raising kids to be good "gaming citizens" too.
One-quarter of work devices are Smartphones and tablets
A map to find the elusive Twitterati
Android Malware Increased 3,325 Percent in Seven Months, Says Juniper Networks
The number of mobile devices will exceed world's population by 2012
A sad day for WiFi sniffers…Twitter & HTTPS
Suggested pickup line for single listeners: "Hey, would you like to type on my keyboard?
I come not to praise DVDs, but to bury them
Windows 8: best-kept secret or move away from the personal computer?
MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5 at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Kojo Nnamdi Show," connecting your neighborhood with the world. The computer guys and gal are here. Of course, you knew that when you heard that old-school electronica. That only means one thing: The March winds have blown them in again. It's March Madness, even for non-sports fans. There's a frenzy building over the unveiling of the new iPad while everyone's going crazy trying to navigate Google's new privacy policies.
MR. KOJO NNAMDIAnd what's with our favorite programs on Twitter, Facebook, and even the apps in our phones, tapping into our private information? Maybe you're one of those who's not concerned about privacy. You might want to choose your seatmate on your next flight by sharing your Facebook information. Meanwhile, nasty programs that attack our mobile devices are being created at a dizzying rate.
MR. KOJO NNAMDIJoining us to help us stop the madness is Bill Harlow. He is also a hardware and software technician for Macs and PCs at Mid Atlantic Consulting, in addition to being our computer guy. Bill Harlow, welcome.
MR. BILL HARLOWNice. Nice to be first for once.
NNAMDIOur other computer guy is John Gilroy. He is director of business development at the Armature Corporation. John Gilroy, welcome.
MR. JOHN GILROYGreetings, my Rick Santorum supporter.
HARLOWIt's a lovely sweater vest.
GILROYShould we tell the audience that you're wearing a sweater vest? Shall we tell the audience this? OK.
MS. ALLISON DRUINHe looks like a leprechaun. He's fine. Leave him alone.
NNAMDII'm out of here. Allison Druin is the associate dean for research at the University of Maryland's iSchool. She's also the co-director of the Future of Information Alliance and the only computer individual who will be allowed to speak on the show.
GILROYMy 22-year-old son says that sweater vests protect you against pretty girls.
GILROYSo this is -- you don't have to worry about that.
NNAMDISecurity. Do we have security around here?
GILROYOh, we got the door locked. They can't come in, so...
DRUINWe can't get rid of him? Is that what you're saying?
NNAMDIAllison is the only one I'm speaking to today. I'll start with you. The big news last week, of course, was Google, rolling out its new privacy policy. What are people's concerns about the changes?
DRUINWell, this is an ongoing story, OK? Google is essentially saying to folks, look, we're going to be a little bit more transparent. Now that we have all of these different applications, areas -- you know, Google Maps, Calendar, Docs -- we're going to be comparing what you're doing between these different services. And, you know, we're going to try and figure out what you're doing to be able to bring up more appropriate ads, to be able to support you in "personalizing your applications" and so on. But what does this mean?
NNAMDIHow will this policy affect someone who uses more than Google services, like Google search, Gmail or YouTube, which is, well, pretty much everyone?
DRUINYeah. It's Google across the board. The challenge is, the more Google services you use, the more people at Google or the more the applications at Google know about you. And so if Google remains away from the dark side, that's OK. But you've got an awful lot of, how would I say, examples of many different companies going to the dark side, you know, and selling the information that -- about what you do, how you do it, when you do it. And, boy, don't advertisers and other companies want to know about this.
NNAMDIOK. Well, you pushed me. Let's go to the dark side. Let's start with Bill Harlow.
HARLOWWell, I was about to say that, you know, as the company focuses on advertising, they're on the dark side. They can only get less dark. So that's the spectrum of what you're looking at: less dark and very dark. And, right now, they're somewhere between the two.
DRUINYeah. Well, I mean -- and so the policy -- the privacy policy, which I can actually say is basically saying, folks, we're letting you know about this. But there's a lot of people that are, you know, suddenly waking up, smelling the coffee and saying, oh. Oh, my goodness. Do they really know all that about me? Isn't that amazing? So, I mean, even the French are saying that this policy actually violates European -- the European Union laws on privacy.
DRUINGoogle has special lawyers that they call privacy counsel that are -- just do nothing and thinking about policy. But, look, you've got Twitter and Facebook and tons of mobile apps that are all, you know, sucking out the information and doing something with it. And yet, I got to tell you, the academic community is really mad right now because they won't give us the information so that maybe we could actually help people understand things for the good of humanity. No, no, no. We're going to sell it so that we can make sure that we make more money.
NNAMDIAllison Druin, here for the good of humanity.
DRUINOh, come on. Now, I have to say, though, Google hasn't done it yet, but Twitter, boy, sold a huge archive of their tweets to a data broker. And now, you know, there are companies boasting that they have every tweet since, you know, January 2010, and people are going to be able to analyze them, now, not the average user. God forbid that we should be able to access our own stuff. No, we can't get at that. But Twitter's made it so that you can get it to the companies.
NNAMDIReturning to the dark side, here is John Gilroy.
DRUINSpeaking of dark villain.
NNAMDIGoogle -- you know, there was an article recently about people talking about how you can get around this. Tech experts are suggesting workarounds to protect your privacy. Any suggestions from you, John Gilroy?
GILROYWell, I think that's why Bing is searching. I think Bing is -- a lot of people are switching to Bing, using other ways. You know, I think there's -- I think people are just being naive if they think that if I start a company and say my motto is to do no evil, and they believe me, I mean, you know? I tell you, the people I know at Google -- most of the people work with what they call big data, this huge moving information back and forth.
GILROYAnd they -- they're so wrapped up in the technology, I don't think they think about it from an ethical perspective. I think human beings just have to wise up and understand what they're doing. Whenever you put a photograph online, it's going to be there for eternity, whether it's one of Bill's fraternity pictures or -- it's just going to be there forever. I think listeners are going to be naive if they don't assume someone is going to take advantage of it. No one outside of Allison is doing it for mankind.
NNAMDILet's ask some real human beings what they think. 800-433-8850.
HARLOWThere's no one in this room.
NNAMDIWhat do you think of Google's new privacy policy? 800-433-8850. You can send email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Send us a tweet at #TechTuesday, or go to our website, kojoshow.org. Join the conversation there. Bill, there was a surprising article in Wired recently, talking about the antivirus protection that computer experts use, and it was rather surprising.
HARLOWYeah. So a lot of the security experts in the industry, and a large proportion -- I'm not sure if it's the majority -- choose not to run security software on their own computers. And they stop short of saying, hey, everybody should just go ahead and ditch their security software tomorrow, but they're saying that, you know, it's not going to catch everything. A lot of the attacks that are getting out there, they're bypassing the existing security software.
HARLOWThere are actually tools out there for criminals so they can actually test their malware and make sure it gets by the most popular application. So, you know, they're -- you know, it's tested and sent out in the wild. The other thing I'm trying to point out, too, is that a lot of it isn't necessarily a technology problem. You know, smarter computing, which, admittedly, not everybody is going to engage in -- and for a lot of people, it's going to keep that software on the computers. You might be in an industry where you're required to run security software. So, obviously, you can't remove it there.
HARLOWBut they're also saying that you need to look at how you're being attacked and, you know, check, for example, the logs in your network, see where the attacks are coming from. Obviously...
NNAMDIDoes this mean we can all let our antivirus contracts...
GILROYNo, no, no, no, no, no.
HARLOWNo, no, no, no, no, no.
HARLOWNo, no, no, no.
GILROYNo, I think it's not -- it's more like distracted computing. So if Allison's at lunch with friends and something comes in on her iPhone, it's a message, she may click on it quicker than if she's sitting at home with a larger screen in front of her, and she figures this. So I think a lot of people...
DRUINOh. Yeah.
GILROYA lot of these attacks are social engineering attacks or -- you know, what they're doing with some of the Android attacks is they're selling you free applications. They're saying, hey, Bill, you get this application for a dollar, and he'll buy. But he didn't know it was free. People are being very naive in here. I think they have to listen to more Tech Tuesday and find out about what's going on.
DRUINLook, I got to tell you. All right. How many years have I been in this computer business? I fell for it two weeks ago, OK? I got a direct message on my Twitter account that said -- from a person I knew, OK, and basically said, did you see what horrible thing they're saying about you or something like that?
GILROYOh, ho ho.
DRUINOK. And I fell for it. And so, of course, I clicked the link, OK. So it was absolutely -- it got -- it had nothing to do with my virus ware or anything else. So I clicked the link and it said, you know, log in here. And I didn't think 'cause it was ten o'clock at night, just like John said, right?
NNAMDIMm hmm.
DRUINAnd I -- and so I put in my password and everything else, and then, sure enough, oh my goodness, everybody in my -- that was following me, 800-plus people got this ridiculous thing, you know, from me, basically, saying the same thing. So I was so embarrassed. You know, one of my faculty members is working at Twitter emailing me saying, Allison, what did you do? I'm like, oh. So...
GILROYBut, just for the record, there are some geezers listening, and 20 years ago, the Michelangelo virus hit in Australia.
GILROYThe anniversary, I think, today is the Australia hit. So it was back in the day with boot sector viruses. You two young'uns don't remember that. But you put a floppy drive in a machine and boot it up, and it would erase everything in the hard drive. So it was a great virus.
DRUINSo it's also -- it's just about logic, sadly enough.
HARLOWAnd not trusting anybody, ever.
NNAMDI800-433-8850. Do you think antivirus software is still useful? 800-433-8850. Bill Harlow, there's one agency that might be in the market for new security software. NASA apparently was hacked some 13 times last year...
GILROYThat's a oops moment.
NNAMDI...including breaches of mission-critical projects.
HARLOWYeah. So...
NNAMDIWhat's wrong with NASA's security protocol?
HARLOWWell, I don't know for sure. But the first thing was apparently the jet propulsion labs were hacked by an IT based out of China. He got access to the system, compromised some of the most private accounts in the network and could see a whole ton of stuff, including data that related to active space craft that are on active mission. So, you know, that's kind of a big deal, I would think.
GILROYWell, Kojo, you should have Linda Cureton on the air -- she's a CIO over there -- and have her explain it. I think it's a great topic. A lot of listeners want to know.
GILROYInquiring minds want to know.
HARLOWAnd there's another thing, too, that's, I think, you know, probably more common, which is missing laptops, and the data was unencrypted. And that's -- you know, that's not hacking. That's, you know, being a little careless with data, and that's -- you know, it's an important thing to consider that these devices are portable.
HARLOWThey're getting more portable. And, you know, the data on it -- that's on there is pretty easy to get if you take the time to protect it somehow.
NNAMDIAnd in another attack last year, an intruder stole credentials for accessing NASA's systems for more than 100 -- from more than 150 employees.
HARLOWMm hmm.
NNAMDIAnd the office has identified thousands of computer security lapses at the agency in 2010 and 2011. John, speaking of security, Malware on mobile devices is increasing rapidly at a rate of some, what, 3,000 percent at mobile devices?
GILROYWell, I read this number, and I had to reread it. And I wrote it down. I couldn't believe it. So Juniper does a study, and they looked at, you know, increases in Androids -- they're selling a whole lot of them -- parallel. All this malware's starting to pop up with the Android devices. And some companies are starting to respond, companies like F-Secure -- I guess companies in Europe more than anyone -- F-Secure is responding to this.
GILROYAnd it's just a -- I think if you have an Android -- I would be the number one flipped-out person in the world about any app I put in my machine. I mean, they're everywhere.
DRUINYou are the number one flipped-out person.
GILROYOh, I'd say about -- it's true. But, anyway, you have to -- you know, five years ago, we were speculating about hand-held devices and malware. Now, we have it, and it's, you know, the social instrument...
NNAMDIThey're coming after our mobile devices. And Twitter recently announced that it's keeping users' accounts secure with something called...
GILROYThat's HTTPS, and I love it.
NNAMDIWhat's -- what does HTTPS mean?
GILROYSo, now, when you got to the, let's say, the Starbucks and check your mail, Kojo can't sit in the next room and try to sniff that little password that you're using or whatever your bank account information. So it's a little bit more secure. There's -- you know, I haven't heard many attacks that have gone around the VP and virtual private network, but they can happen. But it's much more sophisticated than just a sniffer in the next room, trying to snag some information from your machine.
GILROYSo it's -- Lady Gaga has got 20 million Twitter followers, and Twitter's good and bad. And, at least, they're at least doing something with security.
NNAMDISpeaking of security, here is Andrew in Takoma Park, Md. Andrew, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.
ANDREWYeah, thanks for taking the call, Kojo. I had a couple of questions. Then I'll hang up. Do VPNs offer additional security? And if so, are there any drawbacks to using one?
GILROYNo drawbacks I can see. I've been there since the early VPN started up, and they take -- they create what they call a tunnel. And there have been very, very few compromised situations. The VPNs, I've heard, can -- it's possible and if you get some of the luminaries in the security community, like Alan Paller and Ron Ross and these characters, they can probably cite you chapter and verse where it's happened. But for 99 percent of us, I think VPNs are awful safe. Would you agree, Bill?
HARLOWI would. And, I mean, the only drawbacks I've seen are in some, like, you know, especially if you're, like, running a small security applying to yourself with VPN, it just might be a bit slower than if you're doing thing unencrypted. And it's a little more complicated to set up, so there are extra steps. But I think that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
GILROYThat's why Twitter is HTTPS. That's why it's got the VPN built in.
NNAMDIAndrew, thank you very much for your call. We're going to take a short break. Then we'll return with The Computer Guys & Gal, but you can still call, offering your opinion of Google's new privacy policy at 800-433-8850. Do you think we need a consumer privacy bill of rights to address privacy issues when you use Facebook, Twitter and Google? 800-433-8850. Send us a tweet at #TechTuesday or email to firstname.lastname@example.com. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.
NNAMDIIt's the first Tuesday in March. The Computer Guys are back. Allison Druin is the associate dean for research at the University of Maryland's iSchool. She's also the co-director of the Future of Information Alliance and our computer gal. John Gilroy is a director of business development at the Armature Corporation. And Bill Harlow is a hardware and software technician for Macs and PCs at Mid Atlantic Consulting.
NNAMDIWe're taking your calls at 800-433-8850. Do you think antivirus software is useful? Allison, this may be a privacy issue for some people. This month, the Dutch airline KLM started testing a program it calls Meet & Seat.
DRUINI think it's cool.
NNAMDIFrom John Gilroy's reaction, I don't know.
GILROYNo one would ever get on that plane if I was on that plane.
NNAMDII can tell he will not be meeting and seating. Please explain what Meet & Seat is.
HARLOWGet a load of yourself though, John.
DRUINThe Dutch airline KLM has this special option for ticket holders. You can upload your details, OK, from Facebook or LinkedIn profiles. But you choose to do it, not they do this and don't tell you, OK? And then you can use that data to choose your seatmates, all right? So now you can select how much personal information you want to share, and then you're presented with seat maps to show where there are other people that share your profiles and your seating. Now, I think this is a fascinating way of sitting next to people. And, in fact, other airlines and other...
NNAMDIOr not sitting next to people.
DRUINWell, that's exactly -- other airline programs, one called SATISFLY -- it's based in Hong Kong -- looks at your flight mood, OK, and whether or not you would prefer to talk, shop or chat about potentially casual things and, you know, and find out what languages are spoken and so on. So, I mean, this is a big, new thing, social networking on the airlines. This is awesome.
NNAMDIEither that or sky dating, I don't know...
HARLOWDating, that's what it sounds like to me.
GILROYThe more I think about this, the more I like to get into the system. Just like we were saying earlier, it's like make myself the most -- least interesting, smelliest, nastiest, foul individual...
HARLOWJust tell people you're John Gilroy.
GILROYExactly. Get the entire to row to myself, sprawl out.
HARLOWYes. Yes.
GILROYBut -- no, but in all seriousness, for a longer flight, it would be cool if knew that, hey, the guy next to me, he wants to chat about things I, you know, enjoy talking about, too.
NNAMDIThat's true.
GILROYIt won't be a completely boring flight where I'm, you know, buried in my iPhone, listening to music or reading a book.
DRUINYeah, yeah. But the key to this, though, is the user chooses amount of data, so that's the privacy then.
NNAMDISpeaking of traveling, here is Marty in Washington, D.C. Marty, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.
MARTYHi, Kojo. How are you today?
NNAMDII'm well.
MARTYGreat. And another great show. I have a small computer consulting firm, and one of my clients is going to be traveling to China for a couple of weeks. And I'm wondering what...
NNAMDILooking for a seatmate?
NNAMDIJust checking.
NNAMDIGo ahead, please, Marty.
MARTYThat's pretty good. No, but, basically, what we're suggesting is to take like a, you know, a small netbook that's basically been restored to factory configuration, and their connectivity back to their office. They have a VPN, which is something we've had in place for a number of years. But just in terms of casual, you know, Internet use and also some business Internet use, what do you recommend for, you know, for people traveling in China?
HARLOWWell, that's not a bad way to go as far as, like, having a clean system. I mean, just generally, especially from flying internationally -- and, you know, I'd be kind of uncomfortable flying anywhere with a lot of sensitive data on my laptop if I didn't need to. So, yeah, just be the bare minimum, maybe, you know, just, you know, in the case of these more appliance-like device, I'd like a tablet or an iPad, you know? I'd feel more comfortable with that for light use, and it also keep my activity there probably to a minimum or the bare essentials.
GILROYAnd when you come back, you know, take that notebook and put it in the trash.
GILROYI mean, I was talking to a guy in California, a security consultant. And I said, are you on the line? He said, yeah, just me and the Chinese people listening in.
GILROYI mean, I would take and burn that notebook computer. I mean, there's a lot of bad, bad things going on over there. All I'm going to say, and I limit it to that.
NNAMDIWell, Marty, you'd want to know that President Obama's re-election campaign page saw a lot of activity recently going on from an unexpected source. Allison, could you tell us where that source is?
DRUINYeah, speaking of China, the Chinese, OK, are flooding this webpage from -- his Google Plus, basically, re-election campaign page. Somehow, some way, some reason why, the Chinese actually lifted the long-standing block on this, and some people are calling it Occupy Obama. There was a quote on there in English that said, "We have no chance to occupy our President Hu." That's referring to their leader there. "He hates Internet and has no account on any SNS websites, so we just occupy Obama. Forgive us."
NNAMDIWe got to find some place to occupy.
DRUINIt was amazing. So people are just using this as a place to, you know, talk about -- I want a green card, you know, down with Communism and so on. They, you know, there are rumors that this was -- the ban was lifted when one of their leaders from China came to the United States.
NNAMDIWell, the president has a practice of responding to a few letters or emails per day.
DRUINYou never know.
NNAMDIDoes this mean that they're not going to make it into the loop? They'll get responses -- yes, you will get your green card in time for the election.
MARTYCan I ask one other question?
NNAMDIYes, Please.
MARTYWell, since my client doesn't have the financial wherewithal to just burn the laptop…
GILROYBurn after reading.
MARTY...would it be OK to -- right. Would it be OK to wipe it, you know, and sort of go back to factory reset? And also, I'll just make one statement. And I'll get off the air for the next guy, and I'll listen in for my answer. That is, I think antivirus software is really useful. I mean, you guys, you tend to forget how well-versed and, you know, the kinds of habits that you and me -- that we do this for a living.
HARLOWNot with my ego. I definitely remember this.
GILROYOh, yeah. You're right.
MARTYYou know, so, you know, the number of people -- yet, still, accidents will happen. People will answer stuff that they -- that, you know, when they -- as soon as they click the OK button, they'll smack their forehead. But it really, really -- you know, for the other 98 percent, it's really, really useful, and in my experience, it has prevented a lot of really bad stuff from happening.
NNAMDIMarty, you're absolutely correct. Thank you very much for sharing that. Here's Bill.
HARLOWYeah, the one thing I'd add to that, too, is that don't have a false sense of security if you do have a software on your computer. You still want to be careful because, you know, it is not a panacea.
DRUINYes. Yeah.
NNAMDIHow about Bill's advice -- Marty's advice for his client, Bill, about wiping his computer clean?
HARLOWIt's probably fine. Now, there are some cases where some malicious code has locked into the BIOS. But that's so …
GILROYI said probably.
HARLOWIt's just not -- or yes. The answer is yes, except for one-one millionth of the human kind that can...
NNAMDIMarty, thank you very much for your call. You, too, can call us at 800-433-8850. John, a lot of people are eagerly awaiting the new iPad 3. Apple is expected to unveil it, I think, maybe tomorrow in San Francisco or...
GILROYI think they're very considerate to wait after our show.
NNAMDIThey've scheduled a press conference tomorrow. Can we assume that's to reveal the new iPad 3?
GILROYWell, what else could it be? I mean, every spring, they come up with something, and it looks like they're going to sell 100 million iPads by the end of the year.
GILROYI mean, the success of this company, I mean, everyone's seen the news -- 25 billion downloads and 25 billion downloads from a guy in China. And they -- I think they sold, like, 40 million last year. They may sell 60 million this year. So that's just coming out. And I'll let these two folks here, the experts, say what's going to be in there. I don't know what a retinal -- what is a retinal scan?
HARLOWRetinal -- retina screen is what they call it.
GILROYRetina screen. What is that anyway?
NNAMDIThere won't be any sleeping at the Bederson-Druin household tonight. I'm sure of that.
DRUINAre you kidding? I'm waiting for mine. Yeah.
GILROYDid he take the day off, pre-scheduled to wait in line?
DRUINYeah, totally. Oh, my gosh.
GILROYSo the retina display, they're saying that because it's going to be so high resolution, like the iPhone4, at a typical viewing distance, the human retina can't discern individual pixels. It just looks razor sharp.
GILROYSo on an iPad especially, which is very popular as a reading consumption device, I think it's going to -- if they get a screen like that on there, it's going to be pretty amazing.
DRUINNow, they're talking about having a camera on there.
HARLOWYeah, a better one than what's on there now.
DRUINA better one that's on there now. And, of course, since I'm getting my delayed gift for Valentine's Day for an iPad 3...
GILROYSo you think that the lunch tray-form factor is the best way to take pictures?
DRUINI am trying to figure it out. I don't know. I'm going to have to let you know about that. But I'm psyched about it being faster and -- but it's not supposed to be that much thicker. So it's not supposed to be too much -- I was picturing this lead thing that I was going to try and lift to pick pictures with. So, anyway -- but I'm excited. Oh, my goodness.
NNAMDIBen, do you realize she's told the entire listening audience what she's expecting for her Valentine's gift?
DRUINDelayed Valentine's Day. It's important.
GILROY(unintelligible) gifts, right?
NNAMDIIf you don't come through, you're in serious trouble with thousands of people, pal.
DRUINThat's right.
NNAMDIWell, a lot of people are concerned about the privacy issues. We got an email from Marcus, who said, "What do your guests recommend as a good non-privacy invading substitute for Gmail?" We got an email from Jessica in Laurel, Md., who said, "Can you, please, ask your guests to expound on just how dark the dark side really is? At first, I was concerned about data mining by Google, Facebook and other companies, including my grocery store. But now I'm failing to see the harm in it. Now, when I shop, I'm mailed coupons for things I actually buy, and I see online adverts with things I may need."
NNAMDI"My suffered from colic, and after I did a Google search for natural remedies, I started seeing an ad on several sites for an over-the-counter product. I researched it, tried it, and it works wonders. I never would have known about this product otherwise because they only advertise online. So, now, tell me why should I be afraid?"
HARLOWOh, that's the beauty of opt-in. There may be people who want to opt-in.
DRUINThat's right. And it's, in fact -- it's also generational. They -- what we've been seeing in terms of research is that, by a certain age, people stop worrying about it. They say that's the price for what we want, OK? And, in fact, many universities across the country were trying to decide whether or not to go with Gmail as their provider. And when asked, many college students replied, I don't care. I use Gmail. That's my thing. You know, that's it. So, yeah, what the listener talks about is exactly right.
DRUINThose are the -- that's the up side. And, yeah, there's always going to be a downside to this privacy problem. But, look, as our lawmakers start to think about, you know, creating policy, hopefully, to combat the worst of it, maybe it's not going to be so bad.
HARLOWYeah, I think it's personal bias. I mean, I personally really -- I'm sick of getting inundated with advertising from all -- you know, all angles. So anything I can do to minimize that's good. But I think one of the questions was, you know, alternatives to Gmail. And I think, generally, if you're willing to pay for your mail, you know, that's how you can get around that.
DRUINThat's true. That's true. Well, you know, and then you can go back to Outlook, you know? And I hate to say this, but it's a pretty, you know, just good thing.
NNAMDIWell, as I said, a lot of people are concerned about this, so we'll go now to Andrew in Charlottesville, Va. Andrew, your turn.
ANDREWHi there, Kojo. Thanks for the show. It's a great one. I guess my -- so my story is, about four years ago, I was a student at the University of Virginia. And a friend of mine who graduated and was working for Google sent me a call. And he said -- or he gave me a call. He said to go on to Facebook, click in the search box at the top left and then press the down arrow. So he explained that what -- that there had been some issue with Facebook, some bizarre window of opportunity.
ANDREWAnd if you did this and clicked down, the six names that would appear -- it would be six names -- and it would be the six names that your profile has had the highest interaction with, either because you have been going to their page or, more scarily, because they have been looking at your page. And it absolutely was. I pulled down the six, and a few of them were sort of explicable. Two of them were my -- may be my closest friends. One of them a little more unnervingly was an ex of mine.
ANDREWThen the other two -- or, I guess, the other three made some amount of sense. But, to this day, I've always sort of looked at those people a little unusually because...
ANDREW...I can't totally understand why that was the case. And, within 25 minutes -- I told a few of my other friends about this, and it continued to be uncannily accurate. And within about 25 minutes, it no longer was working. And I talked to my friends from Google. He said that, you know, Facebook had quickly become apprised of the situation and had taken steps to resolve it. I guess my question is, you know, I assume that there was some sort of change made, some sort of update to the interface or to Facebook and that it provided this window of opportunity.
ANDREWBut I'm very surprised that there wasn't more sort of off-the-server testing. I'm also surprised by the sort of vital nature of the information that was, you know, made public to whoever -- however many people were aware of the situation. And, I guess, I'm just wondering, you know, what -- that was -- to be fair, that was about four years ago. But how often do situations like this occur? How sort of volatile, still, are the securities...
NNAMDIAndrew, I have an email from Anne that I'll read after we get an answer from one of our panelists for you.
DRUINOK. You know, it's very possible that they were using that as a test mechanism, and that internal test mechanism just didn't get turned off on one of the newer releases. And that's what happened. But what you point is really important, that information visualization, being able to see interaction, is really important for you to decide what to do about your interactions. And so one of the things -- you know, now that we're been bashing Google all day here -- is that Google's dashboard is really good at showing you your interactions on all of your Google services.
DRUINAnd you can decide -- oh, my goodness, did I leave my phone numbers up there? Oh, my goodness, let's take that down. And so it shows you all of your information that you've made public, partially public, and how much you're interacting with it and so on. So, you know, Google's dashboard is a good example of using that kind of -- actually, what was probably a test feature for Facebook and using it for public good.
GILROYFacebook is not the only the game in town. I mean, there's no gun to anyone's head forcing him to go to Facebook. I mean, it's not the only way to interact with.
HARLOWWell, the gun is that all your friends and colleagues are on Facebook.
NNAMDIAndrew, here's this email we got from Anne, "I'm not sure if you're talking about this today, but Facebook is ticking me off. I don't necessarily want to associate with the companies Facebook is partnering with. For instance, I don't like Bing, never use it. Yet it showed up under my Facebook apps along with Yelp and others that I don't use. I had to delete them. In addition, last year I must have looked at birthday cards, and today I just realized that this app has been sending greetings to Facebook friends without my knowledge."
NNAMDI"Such apps defaults are set to do this, and I must go in and change or deactivate or delete every one of them. Facebook started out to be a pleasant way to connect with people I don't often see, but it's really become intrusive."
GILROYWell, Microsoft owns part of Facebook, so we can connect the dots there. I mean, it's pretty obvious. And, I mean, I would -- you know, I personally don't have anything to do with Facebook. But I'm more afraid of Facebook than with LinkedIn. I'll do LinkedIn, but at least LinkedIn, you can find out exactly who's connecting. It's a business-type of relationship and not as informal as Facebook is.
DRUINYeah. Facebook has been flopping around on how much information they're giving away, how much -- you know, who their partners are and so on. So, yeah, it is a little bit more scary, but the enormous, you know, population that is on Facebook says, well, do you want to be left out? That's the question.
NNAMDIAnd now back to Google. We got an email from Scott. "I'm not technologically unsophisticated, but I am confused. I don't have a Gmail account. I use YouTube, but rarely log in. Of course, I use Google to search either on my iPhone or desktop PC. When I logged in to Google, it seemed to indicate I had no history to clear because I had not enabled it. So what do I have to be concerned about in all this hoopla? And, more basically, if I'm not logged in to a Google service, how do they even know who I am?"
HARLOWWell, generally, they might have -- they have something basic as far as cookies on your computer, so they can track that -- a person at that IP address on that browser, and the computer is doing something. And there is some sort of history. In my case, since I do use a lot of different Google products, there was a search history. So I had to go in there and -- the eff.org actually had a little blog post about how you can go in there and pause and reset your search history.
GILROYHow to reset the last (unintelligible), yeah.
HARLOWYeah. So worth doing.
NNAMDIThe EFF being the Electronic Frontier Foundation?
HARLOWYes, yes. So, in my case, that was good to do. And the big privacy policy thing you're seeing -- and he mentioned the YouTube account, I believe -- it's starting to unify all this stuff. So, you know, if you are using the other products and you do log in from time to time, it's still a good idea to check your privacy settings 'cause they go across all the services now. And, luckily, Google's been really good about making that obvious. I mean, they nag you incessantly to, please, read and understand the new policy.
NNAMDIAnd the indication of so many calls and emails and tweets we've been getting on these is an indication of just how many people are using these social networks and are using Google.
NNAMDIWe're going to take a short break. When we come back, we'll tell you how many people are now using tablets. 800-433-8850. You can send email to email@example.com or send us a tweet at #TechTuesday. Would you like to choose your seatmate on your next flight, or do you find that idea a little creepy? I'm Kojo Nnamdi.
NNAMDIWe're talking with The Computer Guys & Gal. Bill Harlow is a hardware and software technician for Macs and PCs at Mid Atlantic Consulting. Allison Druin is the associate dean for research at the University of Maryland's iSchool and the co-director of the Future of Information Alliance, and John Gilroy is director of business development at the Armature Corporation.
NNAMDIJohn, perhaps the bigger news than the new iPad coming out tomorrow is just, in general, how hot tablets are. Some analysts predict they could outsell PCs as early as next year. I guess the big question is whether we are now shifting into a post-PC era?
GILROYWell, it's fascinating. What I see human beings doing is they work all day at a computer, let's say, writing code. And instead of going home with a notebook, they'll take home an iPad. And this is a transition here. (word?) did a study. They studied 10,000 people all over the world, information workers, 17 countries, and then one-fourth of them use electronic devices for collecting data, which is so crucial. It's just -- it's not a transition. It's almost like a wave coming through and a wave of change.
GILROYSo, I think, it's a matter of understanding. And what's critical about this study is that about half of the people paid for the devices themselves because they thought it was of value to them. They didn't expect their companies to pay for them, but they paid for them themselves. So it's a change from many, many years.
DRUINWell, part of it is the whole e-book revolution. And, I mean, I know -- I go home, and, at night, I read on my iPad. That's what I do.
DRUINYou know, and I -- and it's -- at first, I sort of -- you know, I sort of said, that Kindle thing is for Ben, OK? It's for my husband. It's not for me. But I really gravitated to the -- reading on the iPad. And I really like it, so I'm addicted now, so...
NNAMDIWell, the stunner for me -- and each of you can offer your own explanation for this -- is that a recent article notes that the number of mobile devices will exceed the world's population this year.
NNAMDICan you, please, explain that? How can there be more mobile devices?
HARLOWI think Allison could explain that. How many do you have yourself?
DRUINOh, my goodness.
GILROYThat's the explanation right here. Allison and Ben, they have half of them in the world.
DRUINI know. I mean, you know, we only have four people in our family and probably eight devices or -- you know, I don't know.
GILROYEight hundred?
DRUINMaybe. It's maybe closer to 10 now. But, anyway, you know, I mean, but it's like, you know, you got your cellphones. You got your tablets. You got your laptops. Yeah, it's true.
GILROYSo they're projecting that around 80 percent is going to be just feature phones and maybe whatever the number is less than that is going to be smartphones. But, still, consider that, I mean, the popularity of handheld devices. I mean, anyone who's in the marketing world has to respond, and now all the websites, like WAMU, have got to have information available for mobile devices because that's how people increasingly are evaluating. Hey, let's go to my handheld device and pull up kojoshow.org and see (unintelligible).
HARLOWYeah, I wonder what the usage pattern is, like, at this point. If you look at how people -- or just, let's say, browsing the Web, is it more time spent at a the proper computer or at a mobile device? Like, what's the breakdown? I'd love to see that.
DRUINOh, that's an interesting question.
NNAMDIOf course, John Gilroy predicts the way for the future's mobile devices for our pets, of course.
GILROYThat's what I think. I think dogs will have mobile devices soon.
NNAMDIFor our companions, yes.
GILROYI mean, they'll be everywhere.
DRUINYeah. Well...
NNAMDIThey have to have something to do, too. On to the telephones, here now is Richard in College Park, Md. Richard, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.
RICHARDWell, thank you. So I was wondering, with respect to some images and/or contact books being sucked up, what precludes installing something like pretty good privacy and encrypting it and decrypting it on the fly or in the alternative (unintelligible) if people who get underneath the Android layer on Google just put all that down in a root so that the network couldn't get to it, I think?
GILROYI don't think that the concern is the device necessarily in the handheld, but it's the social information, I think, that everyone is concerned with, Richard. And there must be some information in handheld, but, mostly, the information we're talking about is your age, your location, your income.
HARLOWWell, I think he's talking about how there was this issue -- I think it infected Android as well as iOS, which was that...
HARLOW...it was possible, initially, for an application that you install...
GILROYTo reside on the devices.
HARLOWThat resides on the device to actually take your address book and simply upload it to the servers, do whatever they want with it. And it was an oversight in Apple.
HARLOWI mean, they said, look, we're fixing this. It's not how it's supposed to work. But they also found that there's another bug where, if you gave the OK to a program to access your location, like, let's say I open Google Maps on my phone, and it said, can I use your current location? I say yes. Not that it's doing it, but it then is possible for that app to grab my photos on the phone and take those as well. And there was a proof of concept commissioned by, I think, The New York Times to confirm that that was another bug.
HARLOWSo I don't know if necessarily hiding our stuff in another part of the phone's the answer. I think it's clearly a bug and that we need -- you know, we need the software to be better about this.
DRUINBut it's actually more than a bug, Richard. There was something called Path app, and they were having people opt-in to give them their information.
HARLOWWell, that still surprised a lot of people, too, didn't it?
DRUINAnd -- yeah, and what happened was the CEO of the company came out and apologized and said, we're sorry. We should have told you that -- what we were going to be doing with your information. And that was absolutely wrong. So, sadly enough, it's not like you can hide this anywhere. So if a user decides to give the information and not realize what they're going to do with it, hiding it is not going to help.
NNAMDIThank you very much for your call, Richard. And, Bill, speaking of location, another concern is GPS-jamming devices that can block someone from tracking where you are by your mobile device. But, apparently, they can also interfere with air traffic control and cellphone systems.
HARLOWWell, as you can probably imagine, jamming GPS signal -- that kind of device is illegal. So these devices tend not to be built to really be confined to a very small bubble around your person or your car. And they found that some can extend as far as 100 yards or more. And a lot of things like the electrical grid and cellphone towers, they use GPS to sync time between towers -- very important step to make sure that network keeps working.
HARLOWSo you can imagine that if you had a jammer go in there and interrupt this signal, it could actually cause problems and, you know, cause an outage. And at the University of Texas, Prof. Todd Humphreys had a lab where they actually built a -- they claim, I think -- the most powerful GPS spoofer to see if they could actually break sync between cellphone towers and actually jam cellphone calls. And they've proved that it was actually possible.
MR. ALLISON DRUINOh, they're mean.
GILROYSounds like a man-in-the-middle attack, huh?
HARLOWYeah, sort of.
NNAMDISpeaking of cellphones, here's Chris in Arlington, Va. Chris, your turn.
CHRISYeah, thank you. I was thinking this morning in your mention of everybody having cellphones, going mobile with all their data -- I was thinking about the problem of the huge numbers of cellphones for which people are mugged on the subways and other public places. And I thought, gosh, my home phone, I can answer in any of three, four different rooms, and it all connects to the same line.
CHRISWouldn't it be possible to have a identically-coded chip in a $20 phone, similar to the one you have in your $500 phone, and when you're in a public place, have your $20 phone easily accessible, maybe even visible, so that the bad guys won't even think of mugging you?
DRUINIt's so sad. Isn't it horrible that we actually can't pull out our iPads or our cellphones because, basically, if you happen to sit in your door, someone's going to grab it and run? So buyer, beware. The dean of one our colleges had this happen. Two friends of mine on the subway had their cellphones taken. You're absolutely right. But the problem is the $20 cellphone is not going to give you all the kinds of things that you love, which is being able to, you know, access the Web and get at your apps. And that's the reason why it's not a $20 cellphone, so...
CHRISBut you would have both with you.
NNAMDIBut can you have several cellphones with the same SIM card essentially?
HARLOWWell, I don't know if you can have the same SIM card, but you could have the one SIM card -- maybe an unlocked cheap GSM phone, pull it out of your iPhone, and put it in there. It sounds like a lot of work. There is that step you have to do that. And maybe during the time you're fumbling with this, someone sees you're distracted, takes both. Who knows?
NNAMDIYou have to do that in private. But, as far as I know, Chris, you can't -- that's not very easy to do right now, have different cellphones with the same number that...
GILROYThis should be the opportunity for Kojo to try something like "Mission Impossible," where they take the phone, and it blows up on them as they're running away. Now, there would be an opportunity for one of our listeners, you know?
NNAMDIChris, I don't think that's going to be happening any time soon.
CHRISWell, darn.
GILROYDarn, you see an opportunity for you, Kojo.
NNAMDIThank you very much for your call. Bill Harlow, speed has always been an issue with the Internet. Many of us can remember the days of old dial-up modems and long, long delays in searches, but, today...
HARLOWYeah, those were happy times.
GILROYHappy, happy times.
NNAMDI...even 400 milliseconds is too long.
HARLOWLess than that, actually. Two-fifty, they find, is the competitive advantage.
NNAMDIThat's too long for more -- for most people?
HARLOWApparently so, yeah, so a quarter of a second.
NNAMDIWhat's the story here?
HARLOWA quarter of a second, apparently, that's the amount of time that if you have a website and it -- if it takes that much longer than a competing website that's also popular, people tend to gravitate to that one because that really -- that's really just too long to get your information. And it kind of makes sense, too, because we were talking about this earlier. You look at a lot of stuff on your tablet or on your iPhone over 3G, and, you know, every second you spend waiting just -- it adds up.
HARLOWAnd the other thing, too, is we've got more and more stuff embedded in websites, you know, whether its ads or video or more ads, and that slows down the website.
HARLOWSo they're finding that, like, yeah, even if we have broadband and, you know, even though 3G is pretty fast and 4G is getting deployed in more and more places, you've got to have a fast website. And if you don't have a fast optimized website, people are going to leave and find something else.
NNAMDIBut people do make a distinction, apparently. They're more patient waiting for video.
HARLOWOh, yeah, if they're waiting for a video, although to a point. Like, if I go on YouTube and I'm looking for a video, if I see that spinning indicator more than a few times, like, it wasn't that important. I'm not going to watch that anyway. I'll check back later.
DRUINWell, you know, it's the multiple clickers, too, that also mess up the system because they think something's broken, so they -- or they didn't press it hard enough or something. So they're pressing it a million times, and it even makes it worse.
HARLOWOr they have 20 tabs open and downloading everything simultaneously.
DRUINWell, that's a point, yeah.
NNAMDIBut these tech companies are now working on speed, especially on mobile devices like tablets. Is there enough bandwidth to allow for all the downloading of maps and video clips and especially restaurant recommendations?
HARLOWIn fact, the restaurants are actually all made in Flash, too, kind of makes them move on a portable device, but it all adds up. And I think that is part of the problem. Everybody is on mobile devices. There's only so much spectrum to go around. So it's another reason why you need to make that site really tidy and efficient so that it loads quickly, and the next person in the queue can grab the data, too.
GILROYIt's the new gold.
NNAMDIHere's why we might need more bandwidth, John. We've seen the end of many technologies, like the eight-track tape that you refuse to give up and the...
NNAMDI...and the VHS.
GILROYYes. I have...
HARLOWOpen reel, baby.
NNAMDINetflix is now spinning off its DVD mail service. Does this signal that the DVD is on its way out?
GILROYWell, it sure does. I mean, we saw the floppy drive go away. I mean, we saw those nice bubble -- 19-inch bubble monitors that weighed 100 pounds go away. And, you know, I think I may be crying myself to sleep this weekend because I think the DVDs are going to be gone. And it sure sounds like it's going to -- and now what's going to happen to those red boxes in front of all the food stores, I don't know. They'll have to make the transition like Netflix should have.
GILROYSo we'll just have to see. I mean, it's -- and usually Apple is leading the edge on --- Apple's the first one that comes up with computer with no floppy, remember, a few years back, and I was shocked.
GILROYOh, yeah. I mean, I think -- I mean, I'm sure Apple would -- I mean, that's a rumor, too, is that a new Apple TV will come out, and they're really pushing for content for this device. And Apple only has so much control over that. They have a technology side, but, guess what, the studios still have to say, oh, yeah, we'll gladly work out a deal that's good for both of us where you can re-sell or rent out our content on your device. And there's still some pushback there.
NNAMDISpeaking of security some more, here is Shay (sp?) in Columbia Heights, D.C. Shay, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.
SHAYHi, everyone. I wonder what you think of the security for using the cloud.
NNAMDISecurity and the cloud, John Gilroy.
GILROYBig transition. You know, the federal government has come up with some recommendations to allow agencies to use clouds securely, and I think we're right in the early stages of just trying to figure out what's secure and what's not secure. And I would say we have to sit and wait and find out what's going on, but it's just that the economic input is to switch everything to cloud-based computing is going to force it to get more secure. And so, I think, in the next few years, it's going to be there.
GILROYThere's a fellow named David Linthicum. He's a very well-known cloud expert. And he talks about some of the new issues with the federal government. I don't think there's going to be much choice. It's going to be there. I think it's going to be a while before I would be confident with a lot of cloud applications, especially for security information, especially for the folks like at NSA.
NNAMDIHey, Shay, thank you very much for your call. Back to books, Allison Druin, what's going on between Barnes & Noble and Amazon over e-books?
DRUINYeah. Well, Barnes & Noble, I think they got really mad finally, you know, at the fact that Amazon, really, was owning the area with their Kindle books. And they pulled print editions of the Amazon-published books from their store shelves because, basically, their e-versions of the books, OK, were only sold in the Kindle store.
NNAMDICouldn't get them at Barnes & Noble.
DRUINNo, no. And, you know, and they said, heck, you know, we -- we're done with this. And so, well, now, shockingly, now, Amazon has confirmed that it has added, as an experiment, OK, a series of short biographies edited by James Atlas that will absolutely be sold outside of the Amazon Kindle store. So they're trying it out. It's just a matter of time before those Kindle books are everywhere.
DRUINI mean, look, they're -- the Kindle books, you have the access to those things on all of your different appliances. They were very smart to create Kindle book readers on any book reader. They didn't care, and now it's coming -- it's -- now, it's helping them.
NNAMDIIn other e-book news, Random House tripled its e-book prices, which makes libraries, which acquire new books that come out, particularly unhappy. It seems the industry is still kind of sorting these questions about pricing out.
DRUINYeah. Well, if you think about it, OK, you know, traditionally, a book, a physical book, gets lent out to any number of people. Well, boy, when you have an e-book, that -- you know, that never has wear and tear. That can be sent out to a billion different people at the same time. And that certainly cuts into their profit. So Random House decided, yep, they were going to triple their -- the prices to libraries.
NNAMDIYou only got 10 seconds.
DRUINOK. And, you know, it's rough, but you got to do it.
NNAMDIAllison Druin is the associate dean for research at the University of Maryland's iSchool, looking forward to her Valentine's Day gift.
NNAMDIShe's also the co-director of the Future of Information Alliance.
GILROYOf the future.
NNAMDIBill Harlow is a hardware and software technician for Macs and PCs at Mid Atlantic Consulting, and John Gilroy is director of business development at the Armature Corp. Together, they are the Computer Guys & Gal. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.
We speak to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) as he prepares to leave office after four years at the helm.
Native Washingtonian Rosalind Wiseman went to school with mean girls, then grew up to study them and the wider social dynamics of young women. She joins Kojo with former student Alexandra Petri to discuss the complexities of womanhood at different stages of life.
We discuss the Montgomery County school board decision to shorten spring break by two days and look at the challenges local jurisdictions face when developing academic calendars.
The end-of-year holiday season often inspires Washingtonians to donate time, money or talents to their communities. Kojo explores different opportunities to give back in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.


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One of the few redeeming pleasures of the Clinton presidency was watching morality czar Bill Bennett galumph onto the talk shows and bray, Wheres the outrage? I guess I shouldnt have laughed at him. Only seven months into the Bush Era, Ive started braying the same thing.
Last week, the L.A. Times ran a piece by Judy Pasternak that paints a damning portrait of our new administration. Titled Bushs Energy Plan Bares Industry Clout, this devastating expose demonstrates that the White House energy task force, headed by Dick Cheney, was little more than a game preserve for Republican donors and lobbyists. Pasternak reveals levels of logrolling, back scratching and legalistic pussyfooting that might lead an uninformed soul to believe he was reading a dispatch from Mobutus Zaire or Suhartos Indonesia.
If revelations like this had come out about Clinton, everyone from Drudge and Fox News to The Wall Street Journal wouldve pounded the war drums 247 until we begged for mercy. But this story of Bush administration corruption sank as quickly and surely as a Soviet sub, ignored by the mainstream media (isnt it supposed to be liberal?) and unmentioned by Democratic congressmen who were eagerly hopping on camera to talk about Gary Condit (whose real crime was supporting Bushs tax cut).
Now this abject lack of attention to a major piece obviously reflects badly on the L.A. Times precise standing in the national media hierarchy and the East Coast bias of news media in general. Had Jeff Gerth broken exactly the same story in The New York Times, it wouldve gotten a lot more play. But this failure to pick up on Pasternaks story also underscores another, larger truth: The media have been giving Bush an easy ride. Never was this more obvious than during his recent vacation at his 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas, a trip that his press staff officially termed Home to the Heartland (which sounds a bit like a tour by Eddie Rabbit).
Like nearly everything presidents do these days, Bushs holiday was all about symbolism, with each dawn sprouting a carefully calibrated new piece of iconography for Today or the Nightly News. Here was virile Dubya clearing a path, playing the Reaganesque rancher; there he was toting around that fat bio of John Adams, to display his inquiring mind. One day, he flaunted his blue-jeaned decency by pounding some nails (and bloodying his finger) with Habitat for Humanity; another he proved that hes an ordinary guy by sitting in the snack bar at Target. Hoping to shore up support in swing states, he flew off to Albuquerque and read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to schoolchildren and stood before a location-scouted Colorado Rockies vista waxing Green for a crowd as stocked with Republicans as the tourist fishing streams are stocked with trout.
Naturally, the reporters who follow any president know such events are PR fictions -- they exist only to be put on TV -- and they talk about such meaningless photo-ops with the weary cynicism of streetwalkers discussing a lovestruck john. Im still haunted by the image of the honorable old CBS veteran Bill Plante standing in front of a barn and some bales of hay, while the dust whipped around in the background. His mouth may have been talking about the president, but his tired eyes were saying, What the hell am I doing here?
The answer, of course, is that he was helping create the official version of the Bush presidency. Year after year, the networks and big papers still cover these pseudo-events as if they were actual news. They never show the messy or unscripted stuff you get on Jon Stewarts The Daily Show, where you can see the unguarded Dubya picking sod from his golf-shoe cleats with arrogant disdain as he babbles to reporters about the Middle East. No, showing such a thing on the news would be considered disrespectful, a sneaky form of editorializing. The closest any real reporter got to revealing the truth of Bushs vacation was Frank Bruni in The New York Times, who described how those New Mexico schoolchildren wouldnt let Bush get away with saying he came from the Heartland. Each time he asked them where he was from, they shrieked, Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- er, Washington, D.C. -- Bushs cowhands were showing how little compassion and conservation actually fit into compassionate conservatism. Even as the presidents road show led the newscasts, the back pages of daily papers carried what was really going on. How his administration has zapped its plans to provide medical aid for uninsured children. How his nominee for director of the Bureau of Land Management, Kathleen Burton Clarke from Utah, is gung-ho for opening public land to energy companies. How his secretary of health and human services wants rollbacks on Clintons policy of Medicaid for the poor and the disabled.
And the front-page vacation headlines were far worse. Not only did Bush announce his desire for a $33 billion increase in defense spending -- the biggest since Reagan sought to topple the evil empire with his arms buildup -- he termed it incredibly positive news that his $1.35 trillion tax cut had completely wiped out this years budget surplus. As one who opposes government programs (unless they assist corporations), he was delighted that there will be no extra money for such suspect activities as building schools, honoring his promise to provide medicine for the elderly or getting up-to-date radar systems into our airport towers.
It wasnt supposed to be this way. When Bush took office in January, he was viewed as an unqualified lightweight, whose ascent to the presidency was somewhere between a fluke and a crime. I expected that from the moment the Supreme Court anointed him the liberal media would sic the bloodhounds on him as the right had on Clinton. I thought Gerth would be looking into his dodgy National Guard record or the sweetheart deals that made him his millions. I thought the Washington Post would be crying foul each time a contributor entered the Oval Office. But this scrutiny never materialized. The media got distracted by Clintons pardons and jaunts in Harlem -- ol Bill was always a juicier story, anyway -- and just about the hardest-hitting piece on the Bushes was that tacky article in Talk that nailed his daughters for being party-girls.
As for the president himself, the coverage has long centered on the most cartoonish aspects of his personality, and its easy to understand why. The very qualities that made him a perfect consensus candidate for the Republicans -- his loyalty, wariness and lack of curiosity -- are precisely the things that make him the very nightmare of dullness for the media, especially in the wake of the garrulous, promiscuous Clinton, whose name could open an episode of Hardball the way Cruise can open the first weekend of Mission: Impossible. The only way Bush could be made colorful was by being made to look foolish.
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And so the media have done him the great favor they once did Ronald Reagan: Theyve refused to take him quite seriously. Bush has been cast as a clown -- Dick Cheneys stooge, the Christian Rights finger puppet, Ernest Goes to Washington -- whose most memorable moments come not when he announces a policy but when he serves up another deliriously fatuous Bushism. Did you hear that he said Brie and cheese? Haw, haw.
But Bush has made a career of being underestimated, and since assuming office hes quietly done a superb job in the role that his backers cast him for. Unfettered by principle, hes played the overgrown frat boy to scary perfection -- hiding his viciousness with self-deprecating jokes, keeping on-message with a sharks single-minded tenacity, and not giving a damn whether the elite media think him a dope. Bush knows that, like Clintons taste for doughnuts and big-haired women, his own garbled language helps to humanize him. It also provides a handy smoke screen. As Mark Crispin Miller points out in The Bush Dyslexicon, Bushs inarticulateness is far from innocent: It helps mask the meaning of what hes actually saying.
While the countrys had fun laughing at George W., its finally begun to dawn on people that the jokes really on us -- the guy we thought was Jim Varney is actually J.R. Ewing. Talk about cunning. Without ever once seeming intelligent, hes pushed through a tax cut that will shape America for the rest of the decade. Hes unilaterally changed our foreign policy (and kneecapped potential rival Colin Powell to boot). Hes managed to triangulate so perfectly on an issue like stem-cell research that The New York Times Frank Rich only half-jokingly spoke of him as a genius. And though hes done all of this against the will of the majority, his approval rating remains solidly in the 50s.
Could we be witnessing the advent of Teflon II?


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Mark Richt is offended.
How dare a reporter, at the beginning of Georgia's press conference, have the audacity to ask this:
"To get this business out of the way, any suspensions that we need to know about? Are there any injuries?"
Richt actually said he didn't think the question was "professional." Yes, he's become that sensitive. Cue people rushing to defend Richt against the big bad media and its sinister inquiries.
Can you blame a reporter for asking? Late last week, Richt suspended three running backs, including star freshmen Isaiah Crowell, for last Saturday's game against New Mexico State after failed drug tests.
But Richt, like at least one of his SEC coaching counterparts, isn't going to take any perceived guff from the media even if the question asked is a valid one given the circumstances a week ago.
"To answer your question, I'm not going to answer that question because I don't like it," Richt said. "Anyone else got a question?"
- - -
Curtsy (female version of the hat tip) to redandblack.com
Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham.
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Not Clear On Ovulation Vs Pregnancy
November 14th, 2006
Since last Dec. I had a normal period and then did not have another until May. I went to the dr. for my yearly exam last Monday and she really did not have a answer for me. I had been on Ortho-Cept from last years exam but we have decided to start trying to conceive since last Dec. and I told her that I really did not want to go back on BC but she switched me to Ortho-Tri-Cyclen anyway and said that to try this for 3 mts and to come back and see if I had a period. She also gave me a pregnancy test to confirm negativity. But since about last Wednesday I have been having really, really light bleeding. Not enough to even where a pad. Could I be pregnant and have light bleeding from that? I don't want to be taking pills if so? Desperate for a Answer-Jamie
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replied December 7th, 2006
Pregnancy Answer A1887
Birth control pills are used to prevent pregnancy but they can be also used to treat irregular menstrual cycles. In your description, it is not clear when and for what purpose you have used birth control pills.
If you have ever used birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, you should know that after you stop taking them, you might experience a lack of period(s) called "amenorrhea", or irregular cycles for some period of time. During that period, fertility decreases. The duration of the infertile period varies in different women (usually 3-4 months but the maximum length is 2 years).
Women with irregular cycles usually donât ovulate and thatâs why they canât conceive. Birth control pills are administered in such cases to establish regular cycles. Pills can only establish a regular cycle, but the a cycle while on birth control is still without ovulation. It is the medical practitioner's hope that a woman stops taking OCPs (oral contraceptive pills), her cycle will remain regular and that ovulation will re-establish itself spontaneously. Hormones found in contraceptive pills can alter the functional status of the axis hypothalamus-pituitary gland-ovaries to induce normal cycles (with ovulations), but not in every case. If this doesnât help, some women seek treatment via ovulation stimulators, like clomifen.
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Flashlight and mount
I was reading some other threads about using flashlights as headlights and thought about using two $15-20 flashlights (I haven't decided on anything yet, and I'm not sure how to compare light outputs). Is it realistic to get something that would allow me to see debris on the road at/right before sunrise for this price? I could go higher but don't want to spend more than $30 per light.
As for the mount, most people recommended lockblocks, which seemed to be around $15 for two which seemed expensive considering the flashlight itself would only cost twice as much. Has anyone tried fashioning something out of velcro or rubber bands or something? Would something like this be stable enough for the light to not fall off or constantly shift while riding?
I'm sure you can jury-rig any sort of mount you want. But the Twofish lockblocks from the Fenix store/4sevens.com are hard to beat, imo.
They are easy to mount, secure and let you easily insert/remove the flashlight.
For ~$16 shipped for 3, I think that's a terrific value.
For your flashlight needs, it could be that one of the driving factors is the cost of consumables (batteries). If you already have a stash of rechargeable AA NiMH batteries and a good charger, that may influence your choice of flashlights.
I looked into this a few weeks ago and bought the Fenix L2DPremiumQ5. I'm extremely happy with it. Not to say that I wouldn't be happy with other solutions, but from my research, this was the AA powered LED flashlight to beat.
But it's not gonna make your $30 limit.
Would the Fenix be reliable enough that you'd regularly ride in the dark without a backup light? I had the impression that flashlights failed pretty often, but then again, I doubt my parents ever bought ones that were more than $10. If there's really no point in getting two lights, I'd probably get one more expensive one.
My other thought is, would this be better than two cheaper ones in terms of visibility and brightness and stuff?
I would depend on it, just be sure to carry a couple x-tra batteries.:thumb:
I'll second the Fenix.. (or would that be a third?) ... Good light. I use it as a back up on my Rivendell and as a primary on my Bike-Friday. This is in addition to a LED mounted helmet light such as the Princeton Tec "EOS-Bike". Actually the EOS is a good light too and could get you home if your primary light failed.
There are some other options, you should go over the candle power forums. There is a bike specific thread and lots of discussions about various flashlights in addition to some home brew stuff. Some even post beam shot pics ... very useful. But I'll save you some time, the Fenix is most popular.
Also check out this link. A good discussion on flashlights and a nice homemade mount utilizing two conduit clamps.
Rubber bands, such as cut out cross sections of old inner tunes have been used successfully too. Google "Kent Peterson" and look at his website. If you look closely at some of his pictures you will see he uses this method.
Another method is to just simply interlock two hose clamps and attach one to the handlebars and the other to the flashlight.
Also...if you're a helmet wearer, you'll have the option to put a light on the helmet or on the handlebar or both (both is what I prefer).
I think that failure rate on newer LED flashlights is probably a lot lower than with older style flashlights (the LED itself will last a LONG, LONG time compared to a bulb, typically tens of thousands of hours)...and most often failure is due to owner mistakes of leaving old alkaline batteries in for so long that they corrode and take the light with them. If you're riding regularly and using good rechargeable batteries and keeping up with your lights, you likely won't have failure problems (but I think it's always a good idea to have a backup light, even a small and inexpensive one as opposed to nothing at all).
As to lockblocks...they're secure and won't let a small flashlight fall off your bike. They're inexpensive, easy to put on and take off, and they do a great job for the price. Won't scratch up your bike or flashlight, either. ;)
I dropped one (totally my fault) cruising over railroad tracks and the thing just bounced along the road for a little while. It still works perfectly to this day.
Go with the LockBlocks or BikeBlocks. They simply are the best thing out there.
Fenix flashlights are capable of running while fully submerged in water.
$15 for three lockblocks is not expensive. Bless the industrial revolution.
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I've been trying to change the code, could anyone help me do 2 things:1. Invoke ALT + TAB when at the right edge of the screen2. Have the program work not on the whole edge, but on a certain part (eg. the middle)Thanks
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A new book — Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate — aims to analyze 20 years of data to bust myths and provide new insight into property values.
Stan Humphries, author and chief economist at Zillow, a web-based real estate service, used data collected from the website to examine common assumptions about how to invest in property.
"Up to now, our real estate behaviour has been an area that's been driven by hunches and un-examined assumption as opposed to facts and data," said Humphries.
Here are some of the myths Humphries examines:
Myth 1: Buy a home in a great location
When buying a home, many people look at neighbourhoods that are already trendy. But Humphries said homes in those hot spots have typically maximized their real estate values.
Instead, Humphries suggests to "wait for the cool kids to come to you" and buy a home close to those hot spots.
This insight was gleaned by noticing a radial pattern of increase in real estate values that he calls the Halo Effect.
Myth 2: Buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood
A common misconception is that the worst house in the best neighbourhood will ultimately reach the same value as nearby properties.
Humphries and his team looked at homes valued in the bottom 10 per cent of their neighbourhoods, and how they fared over a 20-year period. Over time, they didn't close that gap.
"Generally, it's the worst house for a reason," said Humphries.
Myth 3: The Starbucks Effect
Humphries looked at markers like parks and cultural amenities that could indicate if some homes would appreciate more than others.
Looking at data over a 17-year period, he found that homes within a quarter of a mile of a Starbucks appreciated 96 per cent, whereas homes in the same neighbourhood but outside that quarter-mile radius only went up 65 per cent in value.
Homes within a quarter mile of a Dunkin' Donuts increased 80 per cent in value over the same period.
To listen to our full interview with Stan Humphries, click on the audio labelled: Busting real estate myths with data
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text: quick question - today my trainer pulled out a ball bucket with about 150 balls that seemed like a century old. dirty grey, no bounce, sounded like flat tyres. i mean these were dead-as-dodo balls! we had to hit the life out of the ball to get it across, and there was only a tiny bounce, he said it was gr8 for rallies. i recalled reading an interview in which Bartoli said she often practices with dead balls. is this a good idea? any thoughts?