More Than A Number

The United States is putting more pressure on China as evident in the country’s latest statements which accuse Chinese officials of helping North Korea in their quest to enrich uranium. A senior US government official further says that the Chinese government allowed the North Korean attack on South Korea, attempting to increase further the diplomatic push on China. As a result, Washington is moving towards redeveloping US ties with South Korea and Japan which may lead to putting up a bloc against China in the northeastern part of Asia.

The US official says such a bloc is not wanted by the government, but may be needed given the current threats forwarded by North Korea. In discussions between the US and China held in Beijing and Washington since the North Korean artillery attack on a South Korean island, officials from the US administration are placing charges against the Chinese for purposely ignoring North Korea’s disobedience to the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, international agreements, as well as the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean war wherein China put in efforts to ease negotiations.

The continued diplomat pressure put on China by the US is a clear indication of deteriorating relations between the two countries. It also pre-empts a meeting between President Barack Obama with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Meanwhile, another high ranking US official, who chose to remain anonymous due to the subject’s sensitivity, says that with China helping the North Koreans over recent months, the Chinese government is taking all means to prove to North Korea their allegiance against its political opponents.

The usefulness of the International Space Station has been called into question by scientists all over the world since its inception. Now, scientists have gathered again to assess what the International Space Station has to bring to the table in terms of scientific development.

NASA justifies the existence of the Station by arguing that it is a near-perfect zero gravity lab, but most scientists aren’t convinced that the lab will actually have any long term use for the foreseeable future.
Gregory Petsko, a renowned international science scholar and biochemist noted that the only time he had ever heard of a zero-gravity lab being useful in scientific study is when it is used to study the structure of proteins, but Petsko is still worried about the application of this science.

“I haven’t seen any really important structures yet that absolutely required the space station for crystal growth, and there are a heck of a lot of structures out there,” Petsko said.

David Leckfone, the former senior project scientist for the renowned Hubble telescope told SPACE.com in an interview that he hopes that the space station will be used for something more beneficial. 

Leckfone and his colleagues believe that it is time to use the International Space Station for what it was intended for: useful research. The ISS has cost US taxpayers over $50 billion since the early stages of its creation, but its price tag has been set at a hefty $100 billion. To compare, the Large Hadron Collider, which is a device that will hopefully one day discover the “God Particle”, cost a measly $9 billion.

The mobile handset world is on fire. Microsoft has announced the preliminary plans for their Windows 7 Mobile platform, which has high hopes of competing with Google’s hit Android system, deployed on over 17% of mobile devices across the world, thanks to the magic works of HTC and in part due to customer enthusiasm from nearly Android-exclusive carriers like T-mobile, who will betray their pact in the next fiscal year to bridge the iPhone onto their networks for the first time.

With news of the Windows 7 Mobile platform drowned out by the ceaseless an bloody battle between Android and iPhone, will Microsoft be able to pull off a successful enough marketing campaign and better yet, excite users with new features that will bring a significant amount of converts?

Top Android bloggers echo, “Unlikely,” but ego and bias often obstruct analysis. In the endless strife that is journalism, creating bias-free stories is a perennial struggle.

As Timmothy Hughes pounds away at the keyboard, he watches rising and falling stocks from all of the mobile carriers with the precision and attention of a hawk, fixating his unwavering gaze upon the green numbers flashing across his screen in a volley.

“It works like this: new features, trendy designs, and finally development and solid capacity,” he explains, in a tangle of lexicon and mobile dev jargon, “Basically, trendiness and fashion first, and solid features and development quality last.”

The cynicism within Hughe’s voice indicates the opinionated nature of a hardcore developer, who would sacrifice a hot casing and new (yet buggy) touchscreen features for a stable OS without question

Sometimes something can be invented which makes no sense whatsoever at the time but later becomes indispensable. Leonardo da Vinci’s helicopter design is one example and Corning Inc.’s Gorilla glass is another.

Although the name may sound new to many people, Gorilla glass has been in use for almost five years now. From 2006 to date, Gorilla glass has proudly acquired over 100 customers including LG Electronics (in the X300 notebook) and Motorola (for their Droid smartphones).Gorilla glass is extremely tough and scratch resistant. It is also much stronger even at half the thickness of the current glass that is used in LCD TV displays. These factors look like surefire winners and that is exactly what Corning is banking on.

The company has already started full blown production in its Kentucky factory and is starting production in it Japanese plant as well. The plan is a good one as the market is just beginning to bloom and having ready supplies will give them a jump start over rivals.

Corning has always employed good strategies which have seen it rise to the top as a leader in glass technologies.For example, Gorilla glass was developed in 1962 as a result of the company’s search for a glass which had the strength of steel. Since a proper application could not be found for the product they kept it under wraps till the time was right for it. They have done this in the past with optical fiber which was invented in 1934 but was not required till 1970’s where it helped bring about the Internet revolution.

So what must one do to be able to have the capability of internet credit card processing?

Just get a merchant account with the best merchant services provider in the market today.
Does that sound easy? Most merchants will accept that there is no such thing as the ‘best merchant services provider’.

Yes, but there is. For one, if it allows you to accept credit card payment whether over the internet or in the real world without any glitches whatsoever. Another factor that can come into play is the personalized treatment of any merchant, whether big or small, while also providing one with benefits without any distinction whatsoever.

Credit card payment processing over the internet is prone to fraudulent activity and so one must be cognizant of the fact that your ecommerce software used to accept customer payments are conducted safely and with a system that focuses on privacy and security.

However, one must not forget that every once in a while this does occur and the best you can do is to minimize these setbacks is by being careful with transactions that are made. Verification at every stage is vital to both the customers and the business involved.

One way or another, internet businesses are here to stay and there’s a lot of money to be made. The only thing is one must be able to safeguard customer information at all costs.

The GPS tracking system has been opened to the public by the United States military ever since it began to use GPS as its primary navigation system since 1973. All one needs to get their GPS system to work is to be in the direct line of sight of four or more satellites (no, this isn’t some radio transmitter technology!) and a GPS tracking device.

Of course, since the system employs the use of an antenna and contact with satellites, one can detect the position and time of any person, asset or vehicle with a great degree of accuracy at any time and in any weather conditions. And this is what makes the GPS so special in terms of tracking technology.

Apart from just being able to track any particular asset or vehicle in question, one can also use GPS technology in circumstances where it is required to keep tabs on several vehicles, also known as commercial fleet tracking.

Imagine what this will do for an owner of a transportation company that needs to deliver its products on time, and in doing so, not only will he profit greatly from a good job done but also lower insurance rates by 35%. Yes, an insurance company lowers these rates as soon as it is aware that one has GPS tracking device installed on the vehicle.

Posting compliments of Tommy Landis

When I was in high school I knew that things weren’t always what they seemed. I knew that the history books and stuff weren’t exactly giving us the whole story. Now that I’m older I know that that’s just how a lot of things in life are done. I prefer hearing the good, bad, and ugly about topics, that’s why I just love watching Pen & Teller’s: Bullshit! on direct tv satellite. That show is the whole reason I have Showtime!

It doesn’t matter what the subject matter is, I’m completely sucked it. There isn’t an episode that goes by where I don’t learn something new. Pen & Teller really seem to know their stuff and have really done their research. I like that no matter how bad the other side of a topic might be, they want the information out there so people can really judge things for themselves. I’ve been called a skeptic myself so there’s another reason I take so well to the show. I still have a few topics myself that I’d love to see them cover. Maybe I should find a way to submit them, see if they decide to go with them for future seasons.

Guest post written by Johnny Young

If you are ever out of town, you will occasionally begin to worry about how safe your home will be while you are away. It’s hard to really enjoy your vacation and have peace of mind as lingering thoughts surrounding the safety of your home persist. This is why you should reach out to a neighbor, and request that they keep an eye on your property while you are away.

People often overlook the importance of having a relationship with neighbors within their community. It’s important to make an effort to build some sort of a rapport with some of the neighbors around you. Statistically, neighbors are more likely to report a crime and look out for one’s home, if they feel some sort of connection to the individual. It is beneficial to make a consistent effort to build a relationship with a neighbor in your community.

Once you have built a relationship with a neighbor, you will be able to count on them to be an extra set of eyes on your property in your absence. Of course, you will be able to return the favor in their absence when they travel. Remember, it’s hard to reach out to a neighbor, and request that they keep an eye on any suspicious activity going on around your home in your absence, if there’s no relationship.

In addition to setting your home alarm system prior to traveling, be sure to reach out to the trusted neighbor and inform them of your travel plans. You should click here for reviews of ADT to see how much safer you will feel with a security system.

With all the hype (and controversy) surrounding the new iPhone 4G, it is easy to forget that having a smartphone is not everything. Yes, it is nice to be able to browse the web on your phone while listening to some music or even have a dictionary or books stored on your phone. But the primary use of a phone really is to make calls and send texts.

This is exactly what Just5 is focusing on. The manufacturer has come out with a line of phones that have… nothing. No this is not a joke, Just5 is focusing on the bare basics and has a target market in mind which it hopes will make these models a success. The phone allows you to make calls and send texts. Apart from this it has large buttons, a moderately large screen, has very loud volume levels and allows you to store five emergency numbers which can be accessed via an SOS button.

So who are they targeting? Seniors, Children and those with vision & hearing impairment. The idea seems rather sound and with the price of the phone expected to be far cheaper than any other phone in the market, it could succeed. It could even find a willing market in Asian countries, as it would be an extremely cheap alternative for companies who provide phones to their sales force.

Just 5 are not planning to release anything more complicated than this in the future. Designs may differ, but the features will remain more or less the same. The success of the idea will be well worth watching.

Since radar guns are used to measure speed, they can be used for a variety of purposes. Almost every baseball fan would be familiar with the radar gun that is used to measure the speed of every ball that has been pitched.

On the other hand, law enforcement personnel use implements otherwise known as police radar guns to detect the speed of vehicles that are either far away or nearby with virtually near perfect precision. After all, the obsession with speed that some people have has to be kept under control for the safety of others who are not so ‘driven’.

And with the game of cops and robbers that goes on, people also use devices that can tell them if a cop nearby has one of these radar guns or not. Well, of course, technology has a large part to play with it all.
When it comes to baseball radar guns, the pitcher is the center of attention, and with the speed of every ball pitched being a vital statistic for fans to suck up, the role that any baseball pitcher plays is indeed a vital one.

With these uses, there’s no doubt that radar guns are here to stay, and will continue to evolve in terms of sophistication as long a ball is used in any game or a professional sport has training sessions and last but not the least, cops are on the lookout for robbers.