Patnox Systems International

EFF Wins Protection For Time Zone Database

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:08:00 +0000

First time accepted submitter TempestRose writes "The trials and tribulations of the time zone database sued by an astrology software company are finally over. From the article: 'The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is pleased to announce that a copyright lawsuit threatening an important database of time zone information has been dismissed. The astrology software company that filed the lawsuit, Astrolabe, has also apologized and agreed to a 'covenant not to sue' going forward, which will help protect the database from future baseless legal actions and disruptions.'"

The Kinetic Desktop [Featured Desktop]

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Living proof that you don't have to hunt for a great wallpaper to build a sharp-looking desktop, Flickr user Jonathan F Miller took his own photo, added a little Rainmeter magic, and came out with a desktop that's informative, lets him monitor his system's health, and keeps the widgets out of the way. More »

NEC jumps the gun, debuts its MWC smartphone lineup ahead of Barcelona

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:56:00 +0000

2012 may prove to be a very good year for NEC, which has launched two smartphones and a tablet in the past month alone. Having not missed a beat, the Japanese firm has gone ahead and revealed its lineup for Mobile World Congress a full week ahead of the show in Barcelona. Rather than actual shipping models, you can think of each of these as prototypes for the carriers, where the only fixed specification is the screen size. Most interesting among the bunch is without a doubt the "Best Cloud UX Device," which offers two 4.3-inch displays that open and close like a book -- a hell of a lot better than Kyocera's attempt, if you ask us. Also among the mix will be a 5-inch "Large Screen in One Hand" model, along with another 4.3-inch "Stylish" unit. Unlike previous products, the latest trio fully embrace the design philosophy of Ice Cream Sandwich and eschew the dedicated navigation buttons from bygone days.

NEC jumps the gun, debuts its MWC smartphone lineup ahead of Barcelona originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge | Impress Watch (translated), Gadget Haishin (translated) | Email this | Comments

Schedule a “No Spend” Day and Challenge Yourself to be Frugal [Saving Money]

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000

It may seem silly to try to go a single day without spending any money at all, but think about how frequently we use credit and debit cards on a day-to-day basis. Whether it's a cup of coffee on the way to work, or lunch out with coworkers, or even an impulse buy at Amazon, it's no surprise many of us have trouble managing our daily finances. Take back control by scheduling "no spend" days, where you commit to not spending a dime unless you absolutely have to. More »

ViewSonic ViewPad G70 with ICS launching at MWC?

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Word on the street is ViewSonic's getting ready to unveil a fresh, ICS-equipped 7-inch tablet at MWC (along with everyone else). The ViewPad G70, which would be a follow-up to that budget-friendly E70 we showed you at CES, is rumored to carry a slightly heavier $350 price tag than its sibling. While the slate's best feature could be Google's 4.0 treat, ViewSonic's also purportedly hoping you'll be enchanted by some more humdrum specs, including a 1024 x 600 display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 3G radio. We'll know more once Mobile World Congress gets rolling, and you know we'll be taking it for a spin as soon as we get a chance.

ViewSonic ViewPad G70 with ICS launching at MWC? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Economist Notices That The US Is Getting Buried Under Costly, Useless Over-Regulation

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:01:14 +0000

The US is often talked about as a major supporter of the "free market," but as we've seen over and over again what we have is really crony capitalism, with lots of efforts being made to protect certain industries through regulation. This hasn't gone unnoticed. The Economist has an article more or less mocking the US for pretending to be all about small government free markets, while really being buried in pointless, confusing and unnecessary regulations:

But red tape in America is no laughing matter. The problem is not the rules that are self-evidently absurd. It is the ones that sound reasonable on their own but impose a huge burden collectively. America is meant to be the home of laissez-faire. Unlike Europeans, whose lives have long been circumscribed by meddling governments and diktats from Brussels, Americans are supposed to be free to choose, for better or for worse. Yet for some time America has been straying from this ideal.

The article points its finger at two key culprits, both of which make sense: politicians who think they can craft perfect legislation to account for every eventuality... and the lobbyists who provide them language to make that possible:

Two forces make American laws too complex. One is hubris. Many lawmakers seem to believe that they can lay down rules to govern every eventuality. Examples range from the merely annoying (eg, a proposed code for nurseries in Colorado that specifies how many crayons each box must contain) to the delusional (eg, the conceit of Dodd-Frank that you can anticipate and ban every nasty trick financiers will dream up in the future). Far from preventing abuses, complexity creates loopholes that the shrewd can abuse with impunity.

The other force that makes American laws complex is lobbying. The government’s drive to micromanage so many activities creates a huge incentive for interest groups to push for special favours. When a bill is hundreds of pages long, it is not hard for congressmen to slip in clauses that benefit their chums and campaign donors. The health-care bill included tons of favours for the pushy. Congress’s last, failed attempt to regulate greenhouse gases was even worse.

These two things are connected, rather than independent, as the article seems to imply. The first one is the key problem. To legislators, creating legislation is the only hammer in their toolbox, so they see every issue as a nail, even when that's rarely the case. And that hubris of being able to create perfect legislation to account for every eventuality is the opening for the lobbyists. Politicians who want to think through every possibility ask the lobbyists to help -- and the lobbyists then have every opportunity to tilt the playing field to their clients, and against the public interest. And that's exactly what happens all too often.

And, of course, if you have any familiarity with these issues, you know that it's incredibly costly:

Complexity costs money. Sarbanes-Oxley, a law aimed at preventing Enron-style frauds, has made it so difficult to list shares on an American stockmarket that firms increasingly look elsewhere or stay private. America’s share of initial public offerings fell from 67% in 2002 (when Sarbox passed) to 16% last year, despite some benign tweaks to the law. A study for the Small Business Administration, a government body, found that regulations in general add $10,585 in costs per employee. It’s a wonder the jobless rate isn’t even higher than it is.

The Economist presents some recommendations on how to fix this. The first is that every law should have a cost-benefit analysis from "an independent watchdog" rather than the current efforts by the CBO. I'm not really convinced that will have much of an impact. We already have CBO estimates, and even if they're not accurate, very few people pay much attention.

They also suggest "the rules need to be much simpler." They suggest that it would be "better to lay down broad goals and prescribe only what is strictly necessary to achieve them." I'm pretty skeptical about this suggestion too. Vague, broadly drafted language leads to uncertainty, and uncertainty can lead to risks and liability... and fear to do things. That wouldn't help. I understand the reasoning here, and if the "broad goals" really are binding, then perhaps this could work somehow, but I think that a better response might be that if the law needs to be so complex, perhaps the law is attacking the wrong issue.

There is one suggestion that makes sense to me, but I don't think it goes far enough:

"All big regulations should also come with sunset clauses, so that they expire after, say, ten years unless Congress explicitly re-authorises them."

We should take that much, much further. First, I don't think it should just be "big regulations." Let's sunset everything, and force Congress to re-evaluate laws already on the books. Along those lines, all new laws (and any re-authorizations of old laws) should come with clear and stated metrics that will be used the next time around to determine if the bill was successful. If the metrics are not met, then the bill should not be allowed to be re-authorized without significant changes. It seems like rules like that might actually take us in a reasonable direction towards passing effective regulations, rather than the mess that we have today. It still amazes me that legislation doesn't already come with metrics to determine if they actually do their job.

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AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devices

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Today, AT&T revealed that it's working on a new home monitoring and automation platform known as Digital Life. While it'll be marketed toward service providers, the IP-based system will allow business and residential users alike to remotely monitor cameras, lighting, thermostats, motion detectors, window and door sensors, along with a litany of other devices. It'll be demonstrated next week in Barcelona as part of the GSM Association's Connected Home experience. As you'd expect, we'll be there to bring you a peek of AT&T's handiwork.

The company has also announced that, later this year, customers will find eco-rating labels on AT&T-branded mobile devices. With this initiative, shoppers may evaluate criteria such as a product's energy efficiency, the percentage of recycled materials used in manufacture, and the inclusion of metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury. These factors and more will be presented as a composite score that evaluates the sustainability attributes of each device -- think of it as an easy way to get your green in gear. You'll find the PR for both announcements after the break.

Continue reading AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devices

AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Real Geeks Dine at a Periodic Table Table [Video]

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

You claim to be interested in science? Do you sit down of an evening to eat your dinner at a periodic table table? No? Then be quiet. Because Theo Gray, co-founder of Wolfram Research, out-geeks you, hands down. More »

Turn Your Android Device into a Portable Workstation in a Pinch [Android]

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000

If you're lucky enough to have an Android device running Ice Cream Sandwich, like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the folks at ExtremeTech have a great walkthrough on how to turn your handset into a fairly powerful workstation. You'll need a couple of items to get started, but the end result is that your phone can turn into a desktop almost anywhere you go. More »

ASUS Transformer TF101 finally receives ICS update, Taiwan takes the first bite

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:42:00 +0000

Shortly after amending the Eee Pad Transformer Prime's locked bootloader fiasco, ASUS has just announced that the original Transformer's much anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich update is now slowly rolling out, with Taiwan being the first region to receive the home-baked Android dessert over the air. Folks around the rest of the world are told that they'll get their share soon after, which should be no later than March if ASUS's promise is still valid. Meanwhile, Hasbro remains the only Transformer fan who's still not happy about this.

ASUS Transformer TF101 finally receives ICS update, Taiwan takes the first bite originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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