(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...Get those fat, lazy kids away from the computer!
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Well, maybe it isn’t, because it’s so prevalent: kids spend too much time in front of monitor screens, whether it’s to surf the Internet, play games or watch TV, according to a recently-published report card from Active Healthy Kids Canada. (Of course, if its brand reflected reality, Active Healthy Kids Canada would be known as Chubby Sickly Kids Canada.)
“Among Canadian youth in Grades 6 to 10, screen time on weekends worked out to seven hours and 25 minutes per day, while weekday time amounted to five hours and 56 minutes a day,” CP reported. Sounds like they’re ready for jobs in tech support. Assuming they don’t have heart attacks first.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(1 votes, average: 1 out of 10) Loading ...Dell has to be more direct with people, N.Y. judge says
Dell was given a stern dressing-down by a State Supreme Court Justice over “false and deceptive advertising of its promotional credit financing and warranties.”
According to AP, Dell ads “offered promotions like free flat-panel monitors, additional memory, rebates, instant discounts and financing with no interest or no payments for a period to ‘well qualified’ or ‘best qualified’ customers. However, Cuomo’s submissions indicated as few as seven per cent of New York applicants qualified for some promotions.”
At this point, the way its overall sales are going vis-a-vis HP, Dell might want to take whatever customers it can get.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Nortel: Alberta boom? What Alberta boom?
Rising oil prices are turning Calgary into an economic juggernaut, but that’s not good enough for Nortel Networks, which announced it would be pulling out of the city by the end of next year.
At least 400 will be out of a job as the company focuses more attention on Toronto and Ottawa. This was primarily an R&D facility. Guess it’s hard to brainstorm new ideas when you’re too busy counting all the money flowing into your province.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Pointy-headed Premier McGuinty longs for luddite motorists
Having successfully made the lives of thousands of Ontario smokers absolutely miserable, Dalton McGuinty is considering a ban on the many technology devices and services that allow us to communicate and manage information while driving.
According to the Globe and Mail, the unpopular premier has found a new crusade that could see not only cell phones but BlackBerries and other equipment on the “forbidden” list of Ontario cars.
“I’ve always said I’ll do what the police think is important and make our roads safer,” he said. “What about people who are tapping on the GPS system? What about the next gadget that they haven’t invented yet?” he asked.
Too true, fearless leader! Then again, this is becoming trend with McGuinty. First they ban BlackBerries in government meetings, and now in cars? It’s going to get harder and harder to reach our premier when he’s on the go. Though at this rate, who would want to?
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Self-confessed online dating addict scores a book deal
Because we all know unpopular people have nothing to do but read (no offence, readers), Jane Coloccia has decided to make the most of her failed love life by publishing a book about what it’s like to date online. Which is great, because absolutely no one has ever offered any advice on this topic, and certainly not online.
Coloccia confesses to going on dates for breakfast, lunch and dinner all in the same day, but with limited success. Although she’s now managed to keep a man for more than a year, it was a journey fraught with peril.
“She was once pawed on a first date, stood up on another, but over the years Coloccia said she honed her technique to ensure she did not waste time on men that were not suitable,” an AP story said. Good for her, but what’s with the old school approach? If you’ve found a way to pick the Web losers, honey, don’t write a book. Write an algorithm.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Indiana Jones and the Magical, Lazy Approach to Filmmaking
If you sit through a viewing of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and feel the whole thing looks a little, well, fake, that’s because it is.
As an AP story notes, “(Indiana Jones) hasn’t been around for 19 years, a time in which special effects has mostly migrated from soundstage to server.” Although Steven Spielberg considered going back to this old-school approach, a visual effects supervisor says, “we realized we could serve the story better by using our digital tools.”
Of course, if there are any more Indiana Jones sequels after this one, the biggest special effects will be making an geriatric Harrison Ford appear to walk without a cane.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Don’t egg Steve Ballmer on, he’ll just stick around longer
Microsoft president and fatboy Steve Ballmer made a visit at a Hungarian University this week where he was pelted with three eggs by a young man who demanded the company return the money it had stolen from his people.
Clearly not realizing that the man was referring to the amounts Hungary’s early adopters have spent on Windows Vista, Ballmer cowered in the corner until the offending visitor was escorted out.
Ballmer’s speech, incidentally, was called “You can change the world.” And you know what, kids? You can change the world — just don’t change your operating system.
A clip of Ballmer’s egg incident comes after the jump.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Mobile phone-based coupons offer even greater opportunity for cheapskateness
Tired of fishing through their wallets for wrinkly, smudged (and, more often than not, expired) coupons, telecom providers in South Korea are offering retail customers the ability to access discounts electronically, through specialty bar codes that can be scanned at checkout.
The money you save can then be passed on to someone else, according to Reuters.
“SK Telecom rolled out a service a little more than a year ago called a ‘gifticon’ that allows users to send gift vouchers for items such as convenience store merchandise and pizzas via mobile phones. The sender is billed for the cost of the goods.”
Whoa, pizza and pack of smokes from the variety store? Thanks, big spender! Then again, the way data rates are going in Canada it won’t be long before we’re all more interested in clipping coupons, too. That’s why they always say that love — which is free — is the greatest gifticon of all.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...My broadband stinks
Ever the innovators, the English have gone where no broadband provider has gone before. H2O is installing fibre in Bournemouth, U.K., that will deliver 100-Mbps service to 88,000 homes. That’s enough bandwidth for on-demand HDTV, DVD quality downloads and high-definition gaming services.
And they’ll deliver it without digging a single trench or boring a sinle hole. They’re using the existing sewer system.
(Perhaps we should amend that bit about “where no broadband provider has gone before,” huh?)
I’ve always wanted 100 Mbps direct to my john. Imagine the work I’d get done.
There will always be the complainers, of course: there’s enough crap on TV; my connection stinks; flush twice, it’s a long way to the central office. However, thumbs up, says we. It’s a largely unused right-of-way (and with good reason) that could extend super high-speed access well into suburbia. Flush that fibre, boys!
Our rural neighbours are out of luck, however. At least until we can offer LTE-to-the-septic-tank connections.
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg IT | Furl | Google | magnolia | StumbleIT | Wink | Yahoo! Technorati
(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...“Iron Man” IT
“Iron Man” did big-time boffo box office business this weekend, but also showcased some top-notch IT instances.
In the olden days, characters that needed to hack into a computer system had to deal with plenty of pesky coding and important-looking typing and commands. In “Iron Man”, USB technology has made espionage easy: in one scene, the intrepid Pepper Potts simply sticks a “ghost drive” in the USB port and downloads all the secret files she needs for her boss, Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man).
In the same scene, more futuristic technology is showcased when she’s viewing a secret video. It’s in a Middle Eastern tongue, so she simply presses the “Translate” button for an instant decoding of what they’re saying (surprisingly, the translated voice sounds just like the non-translated one).
Now if only we could harness that technology to translate those wacky Japanese music videos that are all over YouTube…
