Portlandia has some very clever bits, this emergency cell phone purchase is too close to home.
It’s a free service once you pay for it.
It’s a one time charge because it’s only charged once a year.
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Do You Suffer from Nomophobia ?
File this under Things People Research When They Have Too Much Time.
The following research was sent to me by securenvoy.com, I thought I would share it.
First identified in 2008, it would appear nomophobia – the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, is sharply increasing in the UK. A recent survey of 1,000 people in employment, conducted using OnePoll, discovered two thirds of respondents fear losing or being without their mobile phone. The study, sponsored by SecurEnvoy reveals that 41% of people interviewed, in an effort to stay connected, have two phones or more. When asked if they’d be upset if a partner looked at the messages and texts on their phone almost half said that they would.
Digging a little deeper, more women worry about losing their phones than men – 70% of the women surveyed compared to 61% of the men, yet it is men that are more likely to have two phones – scoring 47% and 36% respectively, perhaps in an effort to stay connected. When split by age it is the younger age group (18 – 24) that are more nomophobic at 77%, with the 25 – 34 age group second at 68%. Perhaps a little more surprisingly is that third most nomophobic are the 55 and overs!
“The first study into nomophobia, conducted four years ago, revealed that 53% of people suffered from the condition and our study reveals this has now risen to 66% in the UK and shows no sign of abating. A reversal on the 2008 findings is that, back then, it was men that were more afflicted yet today it’s women. I’d be inclined to draw the conclusion that, perhaps because more men have two phones, they’re less likely to misplace both and therefore be left phone-less,” said Andy Kemshall SecurEnvoy CTO and co founder. “There is another study into mobile phone use that found people check their phones, on average, 34 times a day so it wouldn’t take long for you to realise if you’d misplaced your device.”
Another interesting revelation from this study is that, with 49% of people getting upset if their messages and texts were viewed by a partner, they’re still lax at securing these devices. Forty-six percent do not use any protection at all; 41% use a four pin access code; and just 10% encrypt their device. A security conscious 3% use two factor authentication. Andy suggests, “With 58% of the respondents using at least one device for business use, this lack of security is a worrying trend that needs addressing.”
Parlez-vous L33t?
You are most likely familiar with numbers being used to implicate letters, phrases or even symbols. In SMS (txting) shortcuts, for instance, 2 can also be used for “to”, 4 can mean “for” and the 8 spells “eat” in gr8, meaning great. This is called SMSish or textese or simply SMS language.
When numbers instead of letters are used to spell a whole word it is called leet – which, in leet, is written as 1337. Another example is n00b, a term for newbie. Andsoforth.
Leet originated in the 1980s in relay chat services and on bulletin boards. If you look at it for the first time it might seem difficult to understand but you’ll be surprised how quickly you will catch it. Train your brain with this example of leet:
7H15 M3554G3
53RV35 7O PR0V3
H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N
D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5!
1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5!
1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG
17 WA5 H4RD BU7
N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3
Y0UR M1ND 1S
R34D1NG 17
4U70M471C4LLY
W17H 0U7 3V3N
7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,
B3 PROUD! 0NLY
C3R741N P30PL3 C4N
R3AD 7H15.
Glad you caught that! As you’ve noticed, you can also combine the use of leet, textese and normal spelling or even morph it. It isn’t a bad way to come up with some creative pa55w0rd5 either.
5p34k1ng 0f wh1ch, a1s0 c: Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch
See: Numbers as letters
Nest and HoneyWell
Nest hit a nerve.
Thermostats are not the most popular topic for high-tech and Internet blogs – but Nest hit a nerve.
Nest offers a thermostat for the home. Probably because it’s a San Francisco start-up, possibly because it has some leadership that once worked at Apple, or possibly because it has a nifty display – it became an instant darling of the high-tech blogosphere. It became the most boring got-to-have item in consumer tech. I love high tech gadgets, including thermostats, and have more than my share in my current home – more on that below. I found the Nest thermostat interesting, but hardly worth blogging about (initially). It took several characteristics of high-end thermostats and made it round and used a clever digital round display. I don’t believe it has any unique features compared to whats available on the market. This post lists several alternatives available.
I’ve heard people excitedly talk about the Nest thermostat. Continue Reading →
What Happened in Vegas?
The advertising campaign “whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” was absolutely brilliant. Come to Vegas and be naughty – everyone does. It gave Vegas a classy mystique, an improvement over the City of Sinners. That kind of advertising is a tough to follow – and attacking social media may not be the ticket.
The campaign refers to the code. Breaking the code – posting shenanigans on Facebook or talking them up on Twitter – is a big, Las Vegas no-no. There are several ads, and they show the theme of the problems that occur when one violates the code. It’s a legitimate concern because if people post their naughty exploits, it isn’t staying in Vegas.
Whatever Happens here, posts here.
But here’s the problem. Those that take on Facebook, Google, and Twitter will probably lose. Besides, what’s the point of being naughty if you don’t share it? In fact, did it really even happen at all if there isn’t a Facebook trail to prove it?
Happy Independence Day
This is a follow-up post from last Summer’s proclamation that Halloween and Independence Day should be swapped.
See: Have a Scarey Fourth of July
In that post, I made some compelling, dare I say brilliant, reasonings why these holidays should be flipped. Rather than repeat myself here, I will just offer you all a happy Independence Day. Unfortuantely, I forgot to buy/save fireworks even though they are safer now.
October was a very important month in 1776:
12th - British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in Bronx
18th - Battle of Pelham: Col John Glover & Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx
26th - Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
28th - Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ
Not to mention:
The Battle of Valcour Island 11 October 1776
October 11th is the anniversary of the most important naval battle of the American Revolution. It was fought on a fresh-water lake (Lake Champlain) by an American force consisting of fifteen small vessels, commanded by an army general, Benedict Arnold, who became America’s most notorious traitor. Opposing it was a larger British flotilla, firing a weight of metal almost twice that of the Americans. Not surprising, therefore, the British destroyed the American fleet and decisively won the battle of Valcour Island.
Why then is it such an important battle? Because to deal with the threat posed by this rag-tag American fleet, the British expended precious time to assemble their own naval force, costing them the opportunity to invade the United States along the route of the Hudson River during the campaign of 1776. After their victory, they retreated to Canada, regrouped, and waited until the next spring to begin driving southward. By then the Americans were better prepared and the invaders were unsupported because the main British army in America had left New York. As a result, the Americans forced the surrender of the invading force at Saratoga, New York. This victory, in turn, convinced France to ally itself with the United States, broadening the American Revolution into an international conflict and stretching British resources to the breaking point. Thus a little-remembered naval battle changed the course of the war and led directly to American victory.
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In 1789 (the year the Consititution was ratified) it was Oct 2nd that George Washington transmitted the proposed Constitutional amendments (The United States Bill of Rights) to the States for ratification. He also declared the first national Thanksgiving to take place in November 1789.
So October is a fine month to celebrate Independence day.
Credits:
http://www.navalhistory.org/2010/10/11/the-battle-of-valcour-island-11-october-1776/
Have a Scary Fourth of July
The Fourth of July is a fine holiday.
- It’s a real holiday – no work.
- It’s a casual holiday - hot dogs, really?
- It’s a summer holiday – parks, pools and picnic areas are the places to be.
- And it is NOT a retail holiday – no real obligation to shop or buy presents.
- Best of all – it’s a holiday with few obligations… light a sparkler and be done.
But the Fourth of July has two annoying characteristics – it doesn’t get dark until late – and the fire danger makes lighting fireworks a bit … well playing with fire.
I have a solution. But have so far been unsuccessful in selling it. My solution is to switch observance of the Fourth of July and Halloween.
Lighting fireworks during the height of fire season is just silly. Plus having to keep the little ones up so late is also ridiculous. October is cooler, low fire danger, and it gets dark earlier thanks to Day Light Savings Time and the tilt of the earth. Celebrating US independence on October 31 makes perfect sense – but what about Halloween?
Halloween is also quite inconvenient. It is cold in October, and nothing ruins a great costume more than a jacket. Sending our kids out to wander the streets in October makes no sense whatsoever. Halloween interferes with school, it’s cold and often snowy or rainy- and the kids often have to dodge snow or mud on the ground. Halloween has summer written all over it. Let the kids run around on a warm summer night – stay up late with no concern for school and enjoy all the candy without fear of catching pneumonia.
Halloween is more of custom than a holiday. There is little historical association with it needing to take place in October. As for Independence day, the colonists declared independence on July 4th, 1776, but the revolutionary war lasted for years. Plus the US Constitution wasn’t signed until 1787. That’s quite a window. It is wrong to say the US declared independence in 1776 as it wasn’t even created until 1787. Regardless, of the actual day – it isn’t unreasonable to move the observance to a different day or date. Several holidays are celebrated on a specific day rather than a specific date (Easter, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day to name a few). Labor day and Memorial Day were intentionally designed to extend the weekend – and President’s day rarely falls on Abe’s or George’s birthday even though it was created to replace those observations. The point is moving a holiday around for sake of convenience is with precedent.
Halloween will be fine in July, but Independence Day will require some changes. Perhaps Hot Dog Soup will become a new tradition. We can enjoy fireworks with hot chocolate and remember the perils of fighting a war through the dead of winter.
I am not proposing the elimination of either holiday -that would be unAmerican. I just want to swap when we observe them for the sake of convenience, safety, and enjoyment for all. It’s really about the pursuit of happiness.
Please join me in my cause. Send your kids out to trick or treat tonight. Put scary decorations on your porch, carve up a spooky watermelon, and have a great Halloween.
My Keychain
A lot of things are changing these days – books, newspapers, retail, communications, etc. But this one snuck up on me. Take a look at my keychain:
Look ma, no keys. I have my car fob which is a remote with RFID, a handy USB thumb drive from the folks at Nokia, and a box cutter key for opening all my bills.
I no longer carry a house key – it has a keypad instead. My last office (now I work at home) had a card reader. If I take a different car, I grab those keys instead.
I didn’t realize that how keys were becoming a thing of the past. More and more things are becoming secure thru wireless – toll booths, smartphone apps, even blue-tooth.
Keys never really made any sense – they provide terrible security as anyone can use them and they are easy to lose. Plus they become heavy when they travel in packs. I think the smartphone has a lot of potential as a keychain (and wallet, mirror, map, or just about anything else you carry in a pocket, purse, or glove box).
If you are nostalgic like me, start saving keys as presents for the grandkids.
Happy Halloween
It is Halloween. The inexplicable holiday where we let our kids become monsters, run around in cold weather, and get a ton of sugar.
Halloween and telecom have a long history together. There are plenty of scary spooky stories involving the telephone.
One recurring story is the killer that calls from the house. The earliest version I remember went something like the killer calling and saying how close he was “I’m 50’ from the house” and the next call being “I’m 40’ from the house” and so on until there is a knock. It was a spooky story – but even as a kid I knew there weren’t payphones all around the house (ironically I have a payphone in my yard now). Of course, cell phones would make is a possible reality today – yikes!
The next version started with the killer in the house. I think it came from the movie, “When a Stranger Calls,” which features harrowing calls originating from “inside the house”. In one version, the police trace the call and notify the heroine the killer “is in the house”. This made no sense because the killer was calling the house. Everyone knows you can’t call the house from the house. Of course, cell phones would change this too.
Though I do like this Scary Movie parody of this scene:
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There was a terrifying Twilight Zone called “Night Call” about an elderly woman receiving static calls at night and the phone company finds it impossible because of downed lines… but the lines were down in the cemetery. The calls were being made from the grave of a man she was to marry, but who, due to her reckless behavior, died.
Of course, I have to mention Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” where the phone becomes the enemy and Jimmy Stewart accidentally reveals his identity and location to the killer while imprisoned in a wheelchair in his apartment. .
How about “Dial M for Murder” or the telephone distracting Doris Day to her death in “Midnight Lace”. In “Sorry, Wrong Number” Barbara Stanwyck overhears plans for her own murder. Another Hitchcock masterpiece, the Birds: Tippi Hedren finds herself trapped in a phone booth when the fine feathered fiends launch their first all-out attack.
On the newer side, there is “Murder by Phone” where a telephone employee develops a device that murders when the victim answers the phone. 
Even Newer: “One Missed Call”: In this remake of the Japanese horror film “Chakushin Ari”, several people start receiving voice-mails from their future selves — messages which include the date, time, and some of the details of their deaths.
Well, enough of this, a comprehensive list would be very long. Despite all these warnings I find myself in a cahoots with this instrument of death.
Happy Halloween
They Are Dead Jim
I read lots of serious stuff. But sometimes I come across serious stuff that strikes me as nonsensical. Really?!
So I come across this serious article about how research at John Hopkins University concluded that the warp engines on the Enterprise (any of the Enterprises) would kill all passengers on board. Really?
I posted my initial thoughts here on Examiner.
Combined with the recent news of Patrick Stewart being knighted by the Queen – it stirred some Trek emotions (yes, contrary to popular belief, I am not Vulcan).
Now, I was never really a hardcore treky, but I can hold my own in most reasonable conversations on the topic. And I know that that these researchers at John Hopkins are full of crap.
I remember when I my neighbors got a microwave oven. The fact that it made food hot in seconds wasn’t the magical mystery… it was that the microwave oven itself didn’t get hot. My neighbor told me he would make something in it so hot it could not be touched, and he would then touch each wall of the oven without burning his hand. It defied all known logic.
I can’t predict the future, but I know not to apply presently known science to future fiction.
By the way, somewhat unusual movie but very clever is Free Enterprise.