It looks like the FDA is poised to ban the painkillers Percocet (essentially Oxycodone with Acetaminophen) and Vicodin (Hydrocodone with Acetaminophen) because they both contain Acetaminophen.

Acetaminophen has been proven to cause liver damage, and is the leading cause of Acute Liver Failure in the United States.

Smart of the FDA to take this action then, right?

Yes!

From what I understand, if doctors need to prescribe Percocet in the future, they can simply prescribe Oxycontin and Tylenol separately, or other Oxycodone compounds. Similarly, in place of Vicodin, they could prescribe other Hydrocodone compounds with other drugs, such as Ibuprofen.

However, unlike Oxycodone, doctors cannot prescribe Hydrocodone by itself plus a Tylenol prescription separately.

This is because in the US, you cannot prescribe Hydrocodone without it being combined with another drug.

Why Hydrocodone is not available without other drugs such as Acetaminophen is the dark side of this story.

Up until now, the FDA has prohibited Hydrocodone (the opiate in Vicodin), from being sold in the United States *unless* it is combined with another drug as a compound - far and away, Acetaminophen being the most popular (and most dangerous).

The question is why did the government insist that, unlike the more powerful opiate Oxycodone (which is available standalone, as Oxycontin), Hydrocodone not be prescribed by itself?

From my amateur research around the net, the answer seems to be some unusually sinister legislation originating from The War On Drugs.

In some patients, Hydrocodone can be habit-forming, and its a popular drug of abuse. The FDA wanted to make sure there was something else in the drug that people *wouldn’t* want to take too much of to discourage abuse.

Introducing Acetaminophen.

Its been known since 1970’s that too much Acetaminophen causes the unwanted side effects such as stomach upset and liver damage. So the FDA figured if that was in there too, people wouldn’t want to take too much of it.

Basically, for all intents and purposes, the FDA made an important and popular drug more harmful to discourage abuse.

Besides the fact that this was completely unethical and has probably resulted in the unnecessary liver damage and deaths of countless Americans (the vast majority legitimately ill patients to begin with), there is yet one more irony to this approach:

Many Vicodin users and addicts likely have no idea whatsoever that the government put Acetaminophen in there in the first place, nor what the reason and consequences of the Acetaminophen component are.

In other words, instead of being dissuaded from abusing the drug as intended, most Vicodin users were likely just thoughtlessly destroying their liver.

Now, if your a drug addict, I’m sure you know that drug addiction can have serious consequences on your health and perhaps even cause death - the insidious point is that the devastating liver damage they were experiencing was a conscious and deliberate act of the US government, and not intrinsic to their addiction.

Of course, there are some savvy Vicodin addicts who know how (and why) to chemically remove the Acetaminophen before taking Vicodin (and why they should), but the complexity probably makes this a tiny and fortunate minority.

Now, this isn’t to say that up until now Vicodin would not have been a popular compound with doctors anyway even without the government ban (its very effective as a combination) - plus, Hydrocodone is available as a compound with other alternate drugs besides Acetaminophen as well (such as Ibuprofen).

The real problem is all of the people who destroyed their liver who might have otherwise been prescribed Hydrocodone standalone (as Oxycontin is today), and all of the drug addicts who destroyed their liver with Acetaminophen because there is absolutely no standalone Hydrocodone available on the black market.

In a sense, Acetaminophen was used similarly to the way the government used Paraquat on Marijuana farms - stop people abusing drugs by making them poisonous.

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Why the FDA Deliberately Poisoned Vicodin With Acetaminophen

A while back, a ruling came about that set a precedent for states insisting online retailers to charge state sales tax for online sales to residents in their state.

In a nutshell, if the business in question does not have operations in the challenging state, they don’t need to charge sales tax.

(In most states, the customer is expected to report and pay the sales tax on online purchases via their annual state tax return - don’t you? Obviously, having the retailer collect the tax is far more ‘efficient’).

The 800 lb gorilla in this argument is Amazon.com, the largest online retailer, which obviously prefers not to charge its customers sales tax.

Recently, NY passed a law insisting Amazon charge NY sales tax, arguing that Amazon has an affiliate program which effectively places Amazon sales operations in every state in the union.

A little background…

Amazon’s affiliate program - ‘Amazon Associates’ - enables bloggers and other websites to link to products within Amazon’s site. If a customer purchases something after clicking the link, the website (the ‘associate’), gets a commission from Amazon.

I use this on StationStops all the time. I like to write a lot of gadget reviews on the site, and have no problem linking out to Amazon from them. I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon every year, and love their service, selection, and pricing. Not only that, but after reading my review of a product, there is no other place I would recommend to readers for more information on that product than its product page on Amazon.

It doesn’t get me rich, but Amazon sends me a little gift card for the amount each month and its a great little treat for my work.

So, NY state insisted Amazon charge NY state sales tax for this reason, and Amazon begrudgingly did it.

Why? It was NY state, an important and large population for US online sales - and affiliate sales as well.

Unfortunately, North Carolina didn’t catch that last part.

North Carolina recently insisted Amazon charge NC sales tax as well, under the same argument that there were bloggers in NC actively ‘affiliating’ for Amazon.

Same threat, different response.

Amazon, rather than cow-towing to North Carolina’s demands, simply said goodbye to ALL of its North Carolina affiliates, which would nullify the legal argument.

Oops.

This is not good for North Carolina. Amazon Affiliates is the one of the largest affiliate programs there is, and Amazon easily injects millions of dollars of affiliate commissions - and supports actual jobs within the state for people and websites who rely on Amazon Affiliates for part or all of their online revenue generation.

Those millions in taxable revenue are now gone.
Those jobs are now gone.
Amazon just took its ball and went home.

The net effect is as if North Carolina simply stepped up to a thriving multi-million dollar business employing hundreds of people within its borders, and drop-kicked it to Georgia.

Want more chilling effect?

Given this experience - how interested would you, as an online publisher, be in setting up (or continuing) a business in North Carolina, knowing you are not eligible to utilize one of the most lucrative online revenue tools in that state?

No thanks!

North Carolina now has a reputation for having a contemptuous relationship with online retailers in general. That doesn’t bode well for setting up shop there either.

As a NH native, I’ve never appreciated sales tax anyway.

Federal income tax? Sure. The feds provide a lot of services I enjoy every day.
State Income tax? Sure, I get state services as well.

But sales tax?
That one has never made any sense to me.
Sales tax is just gratuitous.

I mean, you taxed the money I earned.
Then you taxed the money I spent.

That’s just double-dipping.

If I were to choose one or the other though, I would choose sales tax, since that would absolve the need for almost all residents to file a state tax return.

On Leo Laporte’s TwiT podcast last night, someone threw out a figure that 55% of all money Americans earn is eventually paid out in taxes - income, sales, property, specialty (e.g. cigarettes and gasoline, luxury), or state fees (like car registration etc).

That’s insane, but sounds about right.

This whole story reminds me of whats going on in a lot of other states regarding taxes right now.

For example, Long Island has been grumbling about seceding from New York, because Long Island pays about $3B more in taxes then it gets from NY state in services.

In California, a lot of businesses have sought to leave the oppressive taxes and requirements of California employers behind, by moving to the business-friendly neighboring Nevada.

But my favorite example is Maryland, which couldn’t balance its budget, so they decided to soak their wealthiest residents with an (up to) %6.25 tax rate.

The result? ONE THIRD of all of the millionaires in Maryland moved, directly resulting in $100M LESS in collected taxes.

The moral of the story?

States, please remember - anyone who makes enough money to pay a lot of taxes in your state can *easily* afford a moving truck.

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North Carolina Shoots Own Foot By Threatening Amazon To Charge Sales Tax

I haven’t heard Howard Stern since he moved to Sirius radio, and so haven’t a lot of other people - that’s bad for him, that’s bad for us, and its going to get worse. There is a solution.

Originally Howard Stern’s moved to Satellite radio was met with mixed reaction. Fans were excited they were going to finally hear a completely uncensored Howard without commercials, but they were going to have to get one of those new expensive satellite radios and a monthly subscription to hear him.

In the final analysis, Stern got rich, but his audience is getting screwed.

Recently, thanks to the iPhone Sirius player, I was going to be able to hear Howard without buying a new satellite radio - or so I thought. Turns out that, even if you buy an internet subscription from Sirius, the iPhone app still only delivers a subset of stations, and no Howard. Why? Sirius is dying a slow death and milking its cash cow for every dime - they want you to buy hardware and get a more expensive hardware subscription (it also saves them money on bandwidth if you listen over satellite)

Now, when you get the internet subscription, you can listen on the awkward Sirius media player webpage, which is klunky and makes you enter your password and solve an annoying captcha often then anyone should be asked to do that.

The media player isn’t all that reliable either - I have it open on Vista now and cannot connect - it just keeps saying ‘ready’ or connecting to ‘media’. Firefox keeps asking me to install a Windows Media plugin I have installed at least 3 times.

Now, I did find out there is an $10 iPod App called ‘Pocket Tunes’ which will (again klunkily) hijack the Sirius web player’s stream from Mobile Safari and let you listen to Howard with your subscription, but I have found its ability to hold a connection to be very unreliable. Oh, and if you think solving captchas frequently on IE is a drag, don’t even get me started on Mobile Safari.

Now that I have got the interminable hurdles to actually hearing Howard on the internet without a satellite radio out of the way, let me digest the issues with hearing him even IF you manage to get it working.

First off, when I turn on Howard 100, there is maybe a 33% chance you will actually hear Howard Stern when you turn on the radio.

33% of the time you will hear promos and ads - and sucky ads too, like for debt recovery and somesuch. Yes Satellite radio promised us commercial-free programming, but when it comes to talk stations, it doesn’t deliver.

The other 33% of the time you will be listening to other cast members of the Stern show without Howard. These guys add a lot to the show, but IMHO only when Howard’s there.

As far as I can tell, Howard never appears on Howard 101, I dunno what that channel is.

OK, now let’s get down to my major complaint, and that is, I can never hear the show in its entirety. A lot of us who have listened to Howard for years have never been able to hear his show in its entirety, despite the fact that podcasting makes this totally possible.

The odds that you are getting in your car when the show starts, and arrive to work at the end, is pretty slim, and if you do, then I don’t envy your commute.

The only way to do this, as far as I can tell, is to purchase a $230 SIRIUS Stiletto 2 portable satellite radio receiver with recording capability and make sure it is outside every morning for the total duration of Howard’s show

Seriously, a $99 iPhone can get about 100x as many podcasts and radio stations (without subscription) than the Stilletto, and even works indoors, makes phone calls, and a zillion other tasks - where is the value in this hardware?

The iPhone (and similar smartphones) are big trouble for Sirius, although I don’t see people discussing this alot yet. The iPhone can run circles around Sirius in just about everything their hardware does, and then some, and it doesn’t require spacecraft circling the earth to do it.

What it lacks is the talent - talent is rare. It is still very difficult on the iPhone to find talk radio as entertaining as Howard, Opie and Anthony, even Ron and Fez. That’s why these guys get big bucks - its a rare talent and few are interested in who’s #3 or #4.

A much better solution, which would simply crush Sirius, would be for Apple to allow the iPhone to *subscribe* to commercial podcasts over-the-air and download them automatically (currently you need iTunes to do this). For example, I would gladly subscribe to such as a service for Howard Stern for $5/mo, and be able to listen to the Stern show from the beginning to end whenever I have time.

Now you’ve eliminated all the overheard of Satellites, the consumer hurdle of new hardware (and carrying more than one device), and Howard and can take the all the revenue for himself with minimal overhead.

So there you have it, my proposal for Howard Stern getting the hell off of Satellite Radio and onto the iPhone.

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Why Howard Stern Should Switch to Subscription Podcasts

Since the original is better, it holds up better to a little Photoshop polishing as well:

Here is a link to the unedited original side-by-side photo - keep in mind that in order to do this, the iPhone 3GS image had to be resized from its native resolution of 2048×1536 to 800×600, the size of the iPhone 3G photo.

Here is a link to the original iPhone 3G Photo, straight out of the camera.

Here is a link to the original iPhone 3GS Photo, straight out of the camera.

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iPhone 3G Vs iPhone 3GS Photos Side By Side [iPhone 3GS Camera]

My aging 42″ Panasonic 720p HD Monitor, which is a 2001 model I purchased in 2003, was getting a little long in the tooth. It’s been a great TV, but lack of HDMI, 1080p, and a dimming screen was making it a little tough to live with. It was time to send it to the bedroom and get a new TV.

I sat on this purchase for a while, waiting for 1080p prices to come down. I was rewarded for this patience with the release of the Panasonic VIERA G10.

The Panasonic VIERA G10 had everything I was looking for - 50″ screen, 1080p, great connectivity, and a great price. What I wasn’t expecting was that it is also THX-certified, which is a qualitative spec on the best HDTVs.

Ordering from Amazon was easy, and the next day the delivery guys called to schedule delivery just a couple days out. When the driver came, he not only brought the box into my house by himself, but unpacked it, assembled the pedestal base, put it in my living room, waited for me to test it, and then took away all the packaging. A+

On the back, I plugged my PlayStation 3 and TiVo HD DVR into the HDMI ports, which officially made it the simplest hookup in the history of my life as a television owner. One big issue for me is noisy switching - this isnt an issue at all with this TV - switching inputs is silent and quick.

The speakers sounded fine, but I used the optical digital audio out to pass-through to an Onkyo TX-SR606 Receiver. As far as picture goes, I couldn’t be more pleased - DVDs look great, Blu-Rays look fantastic, and PlayStation 3 games look simply amazing.

The anti-reflective properties of the set are probably the best I have seen. This was important to me, along with the brightness level, as my TV room can get pretty bright during the day. While watching in the daytime I cannot perceive any reflection at all unless the screen is black - and even then, the reflections are very muted and indistinct.

The set also features some built-in internet features known as VieraCast. This requires you to connect your internet router to the ethernet jack on the back of the TV (there is no WiFi option - I tested it via the Netgear MCAB1001 MoCa Coax Ethernet Bridge, which I highly recommend for entertainment systems).

After you have it connected to the Internet, just click the ‘VieraCast’ button on the remote, and the VieraCast display will appear. Among the features are some really rudimentary weather and stock displays, plus YouTube, Amazon Video On Demand, and Picasa browsers.

The interface is just a *little* slow, but its totally usable. The YouTube and Amazon Video On Demand features are great for people who don’t have an HD TiVo, although there doesn’t seem to be an ‘HQ’ option for YouTube, which you really want, because, you know, its a 50″ 1080p TV and YouTube default video isnt so hot.

The Picasa browser is also cool. I am a Flickr user, but am considering switching to Picasa because of the cost of Flickr Pro plus this feature.

Sadly, one of the content slots on VieraCast is labeled ‘Coming Soon’, which is sad, because they really should have come up with *something* to round out the interface before launch.

Another nice feature of VieraCast is that your main program just becomes a PIP window, so you don’t need to stop watching to use it. If you leave it on, it will turn into a screensaver to protect your screen.

But enough about VieraCast - lets talk about VieraLink, which is one of my favorite features.

Put an SD card in the slot on the side of the TV, and VieraLink starts up instantly, offering to let you browse through the photos on the card. But even better, if you have an AVCHD camcorder, such as the Canon VIXIA HFS10 , you can also playback HD video from the card as well.

Although the video from an Canon VIXIA HFS10 played back flawlessly on the set, AVCHD from an older Canon HG10 did not, so you might want to ask around before assuming your video files will be compatible.

This is such a great feature, since you do not have to hook your camcorder up to the HDMI, hope it has enough power or connect it to the wall, and find the camcorder remote in order to watch your HD movies. Its very satisfying to be able to instantly browse your 1080 HD video in native resolution from the original files.

Finally, there is the VieraLink Network Camera feature, which will allow you to watch your internet-connected security camera on the TV - again, a great feature. Unfortunately, the special Panasonic cameras which work with this feature are not yet available.

The Panasonic VIERA G10 is a fantastic television with some really unique and useful features at a great price. I heartily recommend this set to anyone looking to upgrade to a new HD set.

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Panasonic Viera G10 Review [Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P50G10 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV Review]

The Mophie Juice Pack is the newest entry in the growing market of supplemental iPhone 3G batteries, and in my opinion, its the best of the bunch.

The iPhone 3G is fantastic, but lets face it - the battery needs help. I’ve tried a couple of other solutions, including the Brando iPower (clunky case, horrible speaker, decent battery) and the the stick-on-the-bottom kind (awkward), which both ‘get the job done’ of improving battery life, but both have their own drawbacks.

The Mophie Juice Pack does not have these drawbacks - its simple, its well-made, its elegant.

Just slide your iPhone into the sleeve, and your ready to go - the included mini-USB cable charges both the iPhone 3G and the Juice Pack itself (in that order), and your iPhone will use the Juice Pack before draining its own battery.

The mini-USB cable will also allow you to sync with iTunes, so theres no need to remove the pack.

Posting battery life specs with the Mophie Juice Pack is kind of pointless - battery life on the iPhone can vary so much based on the age of the iPhone 3G’s internal battery, local reception, and what you do with the phone.

All I know is that the Mophie Juice Pack has more than enough juice for me - I never have to worry about it dying over the course of a day or two.

The form factor is so small I don’t mind it at all, it actually makes the iPhone handle better when using it as a phone.

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Mophie Juice Pack Review [Mophie Juice Pack iPhone 3G Battery Review]

As an iPhone developer, I wanted to add to the din with some points on the pricing controversy, and unique features of the iPhone 3GS.

Pricing

There has been a lot of screaming about iPhone 3GS pricing for existing iPhone 3G owners. I actually saw a story on it on CNN’s Situation Room yesterday(!) Depending on how early you got the iPhone 3G, you may or may not be eligible to extend your contract and get an upgrade discount from AT&T.

The best way to find out is to go walk through the process of replacing your iPhone 3G with an iPhone 3GS on the Apple website. I’ve been through the complete process from start to finish, and can assure you that you can check the specific pricing offer for your account without committing to anything first.

New AT&T Customers can buy the new iPhone 3GS for $199/$299 (16GB/32GB).

AT&T Customers who are far enough into their contract for early upgrade pricing pay $399/$499.

Both of those pricing tiers assume a 2-year contract (or extension).

If you are an AT&T customer who is not eligible for early upgrade pricing, or simply do not want to enter into a contract with AT&T, the price is $599/$699.

The reason for this is obvious - its a $599/$699 mobile phone - anyone paying less is financing the cost with a 2-year contract. Its been like this since the beginning of time, people, its not a phenomenon that’s specific to the iPhone or AT&T.

Features

Now lets get to the good stuff. For some people, news from WWDC may have been somewhat confusing as they introduced both iPhone OS 3.0 and iPhone 3GS in the same keynote.

Its important when evaluating whether to buy the iPhone 3GS as to which features are unique to the iPhone 3GS, and which are features of iPhone OS 3.0, which will run on the older iPhone 3G.

For example, iPhone OS 3.0 has features such as Spotlight search and cut-and-paste, which will work just fine on your iPhone 3G. You don’t need to buy an iPhone 3Gs for these features.

So, what does the iPhone 3GS bring that is unavailable on the iPhone 3G?

Let’s take a look:

1. Much Better Camera.

Let’s face it, the iPhone camera is decent for a phone, but its not competing with most of the cameras in newer phones like the Pre. The new 3.0 megapixel (2048 x 1536) autofocus camera in the iPhone 3GS seems set to change that. Not only is it higher res and lower light, but you can also selectively focus on different subjects in the picture with a touch of your finger.

Some have griped that the camera should be at least 5MP, but 3MP is an image larger than all but a 30″ monitor, so I think its a good choice. Any bigger, and you are going to get a save lag which is more annoying.

2. Video recording. Again, the iPhone gets up to speed with its peers and then some. Previously, hackers had managed to get the iPhone to record acceptable 15 fps video through jailbreaked apps. The new iPhone 3G will blow this away, as it has full VGA (640×480) resolution at 30 fps. Not only that, but it can upload that video to sites such as YouTube as soon as you finish recording, which is great.

3. Faster processor, better battery life.

Now here’s a magic trick that is sure to please every iPhone user - the new iPhone is not only 2x faster than the iPhone 3G, but it has significantly better battery life as well. The one downside is that 3G standby and talk time are the same - but playing games, video, audio, and using 2G/Wifi internet can all be used much longer - in many cases hours longer - which is fantastic.

4. Voice control.

Here is another one the iPhone 3G crowd is getting a bit in a fuss about. The new iPhone 3GS has a new Voice Control system which can not only voice dial, but can also control stuff like music playback as well. Its pretty slick. Now, most people seem to think that there is no reason the iPhone 3G could not do this with the same hardware, but Apple seems to be inferring that the upgraded hardware on the 3G is necessary.

5. Digital Compass

At first I thought ‘why the hell does a GPS phone need a digital compass?’ As an app, I would agree that the digital compass is not very appealing to the average user. However, as an augment to GPS navigation applications, its great! When looking at a Google map, it can now orient the map in the direction you are facing, which alone qualifies its value.

I also look forward to having it on hand when exiting an unfamiliar subway in Manhattan - sometimes its a bitch to figure out which way ‘downtown’ is.

Whether you decide to go with the iPhone 3GS or not is a tough decision that each user needs to make individually based on their needs and individual pricing options.

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iPhone 3GS Pricing and Features [Apple iPhone 3GS]