In the past few days, a whole list of things have made me want to hold my nose. Just for starters:

Toilet texting on the rise

Neal Augenstein, wtop.com

WASHINGTON — With today’s smartphones, more people are taking their work and personal lives wherever they go — even to the toilet.

A new study of mobile phone habits shows 75 percent of people have texted, emailed, used apps or surfed the web while nature calls.

More than 90 percent of people between 28 and 35 will return a call or text while sitting on the toilet.

One in five men joined a conference call while sitting on the toilet, despite the possibility of people on the other end hearing noises or accidentally hitting the FaceTime video conferencing button…

How about leaving your cell phone in your pocket or, better yet, at your desk?
If you use your cell phone on the toilet, you will most likely contaminate the phone. (All the more so if you DROP the phone.) Suppose you wash your hands, then pick up that phone again. You’ve just gotten the germs back on your hands.

McDonald’s drops use of ‘pink slime’ ammonium hydroxide in hamburger meat

Kristin Annable  Jan 26, 2012 – 9:24 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 27, 2012 11:13 AM ET

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver can claim one more victory in his food revolution after McDonald’s stopped using what he called “pink slime” in its burgers.

On Thursday, McDonald’s USA announced it was discontinuing the use of ammonium hydroxide in its beef.

The Naked Chef had publicly denounced the use of the additive on his show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. He questioned how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could allow the compound to be used in foods.

Ammonium hydroxide is made of water and ammonia and is used to kill bacteria. Typically it is used in household cleaning products.

On one episode of his show, Mr. Oliver said that beef producers take beef “trimmings” that would normally go to dog food and wash it with the compound until it is fit for human consumption.

“Imagine how happy an accountant is, you just turned dog food into what can potentially be your kids’ food,” he said on the episode…

Yep, ammonium hydroxide is household ammonia – the stuff you use to clean windows, and janitors use to clean floors. It isn’t McDonald’s decision to stop using the ammonia “meat makeover” treatment that bothers me, but rather, the fact that they sold adulterated food to begin with. All of that nanny-state “nutritional labeling” has proven to be useless, when we aren’t even told the truth about what the ingredients are. How many people would buy a burger if the label disclosed that it contained meat scraps treated with ammonia?

More details from Yahoo News.

Breitbart: Hate Radio Host Berates And Belittles Black Republican

Memphis talk radio host Thaddeus Matthews insulted and humiliated Republican congressional candidate Charlotte Bergmann during a recent interview. He ended the interview by saying, “get your stupid, ignorant ass up out of my studio.” As Bergmann was leaving the studio she extended her hand to the host and Matthews refused to shake hands because he didn’t want the “whiteness” to “rub off” on him.

Note: The video of the incident was clearly made by someone who doesn’t favor Republicans or members of the Tea Party.

Commenter claspur links to Thaddeus Matthews’ rap sheet.

Further details at The Blaze. See comments for contact information. (h/t: Sara Dipindy)

Jesus said, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” (Matthew 15:11 KJV) Indeed, Thaddeus Matthews defiled not only himself and his talk show guest, but also the entire citizenry of Memphis. I question the judgment and common sense of anybody who would advertise on Matthews’ show or even listen to it more than once.

I found this link about a serious violation of privacy in the State of Michigan in a worrisome Blogmocracy article about another significant threat to our electronic privacy, namely Apple iPhone secretly records owners’ every move. It followed another article, Exiting Detroit, about the endless and evidently irreversible decline and fall of the city of Detroit. It sure looks as though there are fewer and fewer reasons to visit, do business in, or live in, Michigan, and more and more reasons to avoid the entire state.

Similarly, if Apple shows so little regard for their customers’ privacy, I would suggest buying from a competitor until such time as Apple changes its ways. Vote with your wallet and vote with your feet!

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

(h/t: Da_Beerfreak)

ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.
[...]
A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

“Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,” a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device’s capabilities. “The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps.”

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

“With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity,” Fancher wrote. “A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched.”
[...]
Read it all.

But that’s not all, folks!

(Updated 9:33 AM EST April 22, 2011)

Jury to decide if Pastor Terry Jones can protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. Last I checked, the First Amendment is not subject to jury disapproval.

Just for fun, click this link to see the Meowmania application by Jacqueline Steck. It is available on the iPhone and on the Internet.

Launch Meowmania

Triggered by cellular phones?

Remember all of the discussion in the summer of 2007 about wildfires in California and in Greece? Many people raised questions about whether some of those fires were, in fact, ecoterrorism. There was also some evidence that devices made from cellular phones may have been used to ignite wildland fires. This is plausible enough, considering that remote bombs triggered by cellular phones have been used in other terrorist attacks. But after the fires were extinguished, the story disappeared from the news.

These mysterious remote cell phone bombs have now surfaced – in California.

Undercover Op Leads To Cell Phone-Triggered Bomb

San Jose and Santa Clara police chiefs announced Wednesday the results of a massive sting operation in their cities. Operation Meltdown, as the joint effort was called, netted investigators hundreds of criminals, tons of stolen copper, dozens of stolen cars and weapons, and in one case, homemade bombs.

A Fremont man was arrested in October as part of Operation Meltdown. He is accused of trying to sell the officers improvised explosive devices capable of being denoted remotely by a cell phone. During a news conference at San Jose Police headquarters Wednesday morning, police showed a video, recorded by hidden camera, of the suspect demonstrating the technology to officers by detonating a bomb for them.

Operation Meltdown was begun in March 2007. Undercover officers from both departments opened a fake metal-recycling business in the city of Santa Clara called Jose Clara Co-Op.

Within days, San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis said, customers started showing up offering to sell what appeared to be stolen copper. Over the course of the next year, the undercover officers purchased 14 tons of copper with a street vale of almost $100,000. Soon after the officers began buying the copper, though, Davis said visitors to the recycling shop started offering to sell other stolen goods. The officers eventually purchased 40 stolen vehicles and 74 firearms, including 21 assault weapons.

Over the life of the operation, Davis said, 273 suspects were investigated, 63 of whom were arrested over the course of the investigation. Another 73 suspects were picked up during a sweep Tuesday. There are still another 70 suspects with outstanding warrants yet to be arrested…

Vehicle theft was also part of the picture, including some mighty fancy rides:

40 stolen vehicles were purchased. The vehicles include a BMW, Porsche Carrera, Nissan 350Z, Audi, Toyota MR2, SUV’s, sedans, motorcycles and a new Ford Edge SUV.

Who is involved?

The article mentioned that “many of the suspects were identified as gang members,” but no suspects were named, nor were the gangs identified.

In case you have any doubts:

Forest Fire Jihad Being Threatened on Terrorist Websites

U.S. officials monitoring terrorist web sites have discovered a call for using forest fires as weapons against “crusader” nations, in what may explain some recent wildfires in places like southern California and Greece.

A terrorist website was discovered recently that carried a posting that called for “Forest Jihad.” The posting was listed on the Internet on Nov. 26 and reported in U.S. intelligence channels last week.

The statement, in Arabic, said that “summer has begun so do not forget the Forest Jihad.”

The writer called on all Muslims in the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia to “start forest fires.”

The posting quoted imprisoned Al Qaida terrorist Abu Musab Al-Suri, as saying “Jihad is an art just like poetry, music, and the fine arts. There are people that draw and there are others that are jihadists. They both act upon inspiration.”

(h/t Scarlett Crusader)

That’s right: Air France to begin study of inflight cell phone use.

But don’t get too excited. The test will run for just six months, only within Europe, and only on the Airbus A-318. And the experience will be just as regimented and micromanaged as everything else having to do with air travel in the twenty-first century:

During the first three months of the study, passengers will be allowed only to send text messages and e-mails. But during the second three months (originally the study was scheduled to last a year), passengers will be allowed to make voice calls. According to Wi-Fi Net News, calls can only be made above 10,000 feet and depending on passenger feedback, cabin crew can disable the service at any time. As you may expect, the satellite calls will be $2.50 per minute. Also, passengers will not know they’re flying on the test aircraft until after they board.

Hmmm…wonder what would happen if a flight attendant were to overhear a passenger using a cell phone to complain to someone about the airline, the plane, or the flight crew?

Also see:

• Air France and OnAir launch World’s First In-Flight Mobile Phone Service on Board International Flights

• Cell phones on planes: Part three

  Since cell phone towers don’t reach thousands of feet into the air the cellular signals will be converted into satellite communications that will vault into space and then connect to a ground network.

• Computerworld: Why cell phones are still grounded

This just in (1/8/08):

How a backseat driver could bring terror to new Dreamliner

The technology used by the new generation of aircraft is now so advanced that aviation officials fear that terrorists could use it to fly the plane.>

Aviation regulators have refused to certify Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet until it redesigns its computer system to protect against such an event, The Times has learnt.

The Federal Aviation Authority is concerned that terrorists could use the Dreamliner’s in-flight internet system to connect to “systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the aircraft”.

In a report released last week, the FAA said that Boeing had left the pilots’ computers open to attack by connecting the Dreamliner’s entertainment system to the pilots’ controls.

A hacker with a computer and some IT training potentially could hijack the system from his seat.

(Updated 11/17/07)

Click here to view the embedded video.

What the Google Phone is, and what it is not

• No, you can’t go to the Google menu and order a fancy new phone! Google is not providing cellular phone service at this time, nor is Google manufacturing or selling phone handsets.
• The Google Phone is a project under development. No new products or services are ready to be offered to consumers.
• The Google Phone project, code-named Android, is to create a new cellular phone software platform. This will consist of a cell phone operating system, together with mobile applications, that will run on many different cell phone handsets offered by various major service providers.
• Unlike proprietary products such as the Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Nokia/Symbian, and RIM’s Blackberry, Android will be based on Linux and other open-source software.
• At this time, 34 vendors are involved in the Android consortium.

What will Google’s Android project mean to you?

The Android project will introduce more competition into the cellular phone marketplace. To keep their market share, other smartphone vendors that are not part of the Android consortium will have to lower their prices, open up their proprietary software to outside developers, or both.

This project will undoubtedly encourage more experimentation and innovation in terms of what can be done with cellular phone devices.

Google to bid on wireless spectrum – What does Google plan to do with it?

CNET News: Don’t expect Google to take on AT&T

Google is lining up financing to bid on wireless spectrum in the Federal Communication Commission’s upcoming 700MHz auction, and it’s already built a small high-speed wireless network at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to test out what it could do with the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Journal cited sources saying the company is planning on bidding in the auction, set to take place early next year. Google has obtained a test license from the FCC that it’s using to test technology on a small wireless network on its campus, the article said. And it’s supposedly using prototypes of handsets that use the company’s newly announced Android software…

After all the fuss and hoopla surrounding Google and the auction, it would seem ridiculous if the company didn’t bid. Google lobbied the FCC hard for rules to be passed as part of the auction that would require license winners to allow open devices on that part of their network.

CNET News suggests that Google will probably lease this spectrum to other wireless providers to use with the Android project, rather than attempting to build its own wireless network from scratch.

Google’s Android Project – Media Coverage

• Bold Investors: Hello, Android! (The Google Phone)
• ZDNet News: From Danger’s realm come Android’s makers
• ZDNet Blogs: Google launches Android SDK and $10 million contest
• ZDNet Blogs: Here are six reasons why Google could buy Sprint-but the BIG reason they won’t
• WSJ: Can Google-Powered Phones Connect With Carriers?
• WSJ: Google Phone: A Business-Tech Nightmare Waiting to Happen
• WSJ: Google, Bidding For Phone Ads, Lures Partners
• Engadget: Symbian, Nokia, Microsoft, and Apple downplay Android relevance

Learn More From These Official Sites

• Android – An Open Handset Alliance Project
• Android Developers’ Channel on YouTube
• Open Handset Alliance
• Google Groups – Android Developers
• Android Developers Blog

Technorati : Google, cellular, mobile computing, mobile web, tech industry
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Think It Couldn’t Happen Here?

Hat Tip: bamapachyderm

Also see:

• Burma-Myanmar stories on 1389 Blog
• Resource Page: Stop Blog Censorship!
• Censorship articles on 1389 Blog

Technorati : Burma, Myanmar, activism, blog censorship, cell phone, censorship
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Maldives Explosion Triggered by Cell Phone Card

Minivan News has been covering the Male’ Explosions, the arrests, and the aftermath. The important thing to remember, of course, is that Islam is not to blame (?!)

This is yet another way to do evil. It wouldn’t surprise me if there are terrorist training videos on YouTube or sold on DVD to show how to do this. Next time, they’ll use a stolen card so that it will not be traced back to the perpetrator, but to the rightful owner of the phone. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you!

Take-Home Lessons for Everyone:

1. If your phone is lost or stolen, report it immediately.
2. Send unwanted or obsolete cell phones to a recycling facility that will wipe out all of the information in the phone pertaining to you, and either resell or destroy the phone.
3. Be on the lookout for suspicious videos. See the 1389 Blog Reference Material Page for where to report them.

Technorati : IED, YouTube, cellular, jihadism, terrorism
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Myanmar: Virtual revolution via Internet

Credit for this goes not to international media but to the efforts of hundreds of Myanmar’s citizens using the Internet and mobile phones to send first hand accounts, photographs and video footage to the rest of the world…this time technology is playing a crucial role in helping subvert the Myanmar government’s attempts to control the media meaning that the eyes of the world are on Myanmar and its oppressive regime like never before.

US Blasts Myanmar for Silencing Internet

The White House criticized Myanmar on Friday for cutting off Internet access and called on “all civilized nations” to pressure the military-run government to end its violent crackdown on protesters.

“They don’t want the world to see what is going on there,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said….(more)

Myanmar’s main Internet link not working: official

…Myanmar’s Internet service is tightly controlled and only sporadically available even in the best of times, but the military has tightened its controls amid anti-government protests.

In Bangkok, an official at a Thai telecom that provides satellite services to Myanmar also said some Internet service inside the country had been cut….

Myanmar: Internet Blocked

There have been massive support from Myanmar bloggers for the current protest activities, and the whole Myanmar blogosphere is overwhelmed with news and photos. Because of that, Myanmar Junta got chickened out and banned the political blogs, almost immediately followed by banning the whole blogger domain hence all other Myanmar blogs. A few bloggers tried to bypass proxy and blog using email-to-blog techniques….

Junta tries to shut down internet and phone links

The Burmese junta was last night desperately trying to shut down internet and telephone links to the outside world after a stream of blogs and mobile phone videos began capturing the dramatic events on the streets.

In the past 24 hours observers monitoring the flow of information have noticed a marked downturn, with the reported closure of cybercafes and the disconnection of mobile telephones.

Yes, but Myanmar is a Socialist nation, we’re all thinking…that could happen waaaay over there, but not here, in the west, where we have freedom of speech. You think? The methods may be different, but the results are the same. Check out these ongoing updates about internet censorship:

• FHK – resist! censorship
• Burma-Myanmar articles on 1389 Blog
• Resource Page: Stop Blog Censorship!
• Censorship articles on 1389 Blog
• :Gates of Vienna: Modoggies
• Foehammer on Censorship
• My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• Burma or Myanmar: That’s not the question
• Real Citizen Journalism in Myanmar

Update – for Facebook users: Consider joining or supporting the “Support the Monks’ Protest in Burma” group. More info on Mashable.

Technorati : Burma, Jenn Sierra (author), Myanmar, blog censorship, cell phone, censorship, censorware
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Arson by cell phone?

We don’t have all the evidence in yet, but we need to be asking a lot more questions. Just because a few of the local outbreaks of fire appear to have been caused by simple carelessness does not mean that all of them were.

Greek broadcasting station SKAi reported that arson devices triggered by cell phones were found. Where have we heard of that before?

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Who is setting Greece on fire?
• Greek Fires Blamed on Arson, Olympic Antiquities Saved
• Are Greek Fires a Terrorist Attack?
• Greek government points to arson for fires
• 63 dead in Greek forest fires
• Foreigners help fight Greek fires
• Greek fires blamed on “culture of arson”

Photos from Space

Here are some photos from space, showing how widespread these fires are:

• Scientific Blogging: The Fires In Greece As Seen From Space
• My Way News Photo: Greece Fires
• Der Spiegel: Satellite Photos of the Greek Catastrophe

Updates:

• Wildland Fires in Greece Blamed on Terrorism – Could it Happen in the US?
• Is there a terrorist connection with the California wildfires?

Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
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For quite a while, I’ve been keeping a separate “scratch pad” blog, called 1389 Message Blog. Throughout the day, I post various links, along with comments and messages, sometimes through the blog editor, but mostly by cell phone. I use this later on as raw materials for other writing that I do, including articles on 1389 Blog, the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki, and other places.

Well…I finally realized that I am not going to get around to using all of this material myself, so I’ve decided to open it up to public viewing.

Please don’t expect anything fancy! I treat 1389 Message Blog as a workspace, so it’s always “under construction.” The posts that come directly from my cell phone might not have titles or tags. If I happen to be testing something new, I might change or delete a blog post. If I’ve used the material in an article, I may move everything to another blog or to a Wiki page and link to the new article from the post in 1389 Message Blog, so that I don’t have to update it in two places.

Thus, if you find a link on 1389 Message Blog to something interesting that you want to do some serious writing about, I suggest that you link directly to the source, not to the post in 1389 Message Blog.

Here’s the 1389 Message Blog feed.

Other 1389 Message Blog features:

• Both 1389 Mobile Blog and 1389 Message Blog are on Technorati. However, individual posts on 1389 Message Blog are not tagged or labeled by subject matter. In fact, the subject matter on that blog can be literally anything at all!
• Comments on 1389 Message Blog are open, so feel free to communicate!

Technorati tags:
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1389 Message Blog
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Here’s a roundup of tools and techniques for bloggers who use WordPress.

Rolling updates follow the main body of this article.

New items are being added to the list as the information becomes available. Your comments and suggestions are invited!

• Economy Size Geek offers Postie, an add-on for independently-hosted WordPress blogs. It lets you e-mail blog posts, including photos and video clips.
• Andy Moore offers a downloadable plug-in to create a mobile web interface for your WordPress blog. WordPress Mobile Plug-In works well with PDAs and ordinary cellphones, and even allows editing through the mobile web interface. (Stein hoist and lots of good tweets to fellow Twitterer WiredPig for telling me about this and the above plug-in.)
• Alex King offers a collection of WordPress tools.
• eMoms at Home explains how to future-post blog entries in WordPress.
• William Teach at The Pirate’s Cove offers several blog posts that discuss WordPress tools:
  • List of Plug-Ins
  • Blog Post Editors
  • WP-PDA and Kate’s Sideblog
• Imthiaz Blog offers WP-PDA, another downloadable plug-in that lets PDAs and cellphones access your WordPress blog through your existing blog URL. This is the interface used at The Pirate’s Cove.
• Bill Hartzer describes One Simple Way to Protect Your WordPress Plugins.

Rolling Updates:

• Dev.Mobi plug-in for WordPress (Posted 6/30/07)
• Caveat: Make sure your plugins are installed correctly, so that search engine crawlers don’t receive error return codes at your site.
  WordPress Plugin Hurting Google Rankings? (Posted 6/30/07)

Technorati tags:
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tech tips
WordPress

Get 1389 Blog Delivered!

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“What’s an RSS feed, and why should I care?”

Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”

One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

“That is cool! Umm… What’s RSS?”

All right! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

“What’s a feed reader?”

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

“Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a feed?”

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.

Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!

Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.

Learn More

• How to use the little orange square to get your news anywhere!
  
• What Is RSS: A Guide To Really Simple Syndication Benefits, Best Uses And Applications

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See Introducing Twapper 2.0b: Mashing 30boxes and Twitter on the 30boxes blog. 30boxes is an “identity aggregation” service for Web 2.0.

They’re offering another way to access Twitter from the mobile web that has some advantages over Twitter’s own m.twitter.com interface. In a nutshell, Twapper lets you view expanded URLs, more photos, and other things that you can’t view directly through Twitter Mobile. If you already are a 30boxes user, you can mesh Twapper in with the other features of 30boxes. It works on a PDA or on a conventional cell phone, subject to memory and other limitations of the device.

Click here to access Twapper. Access to the basic display features is free and no registration is required.

Technorati tags:
cellular
mobile web
social media
tech tips
Twitter
Web 2.0

We’ve all been told that we can’t use a cellphone on an airliner because it would interfere with aviation electronics, or perhaps with cellular towers on the ground. To put it bluntly, both of those excuses are hogwash.

This Computerworld article points out that any technical issues associated with cellphones could be resolved easily enough, and explains why it has been more convenient and more profitable for the airlines, the cellular carriers, and the government to keep the ban in effect.

Too bad they can’t be honest enough to admit that they might consider dropping the ban – just as soon as they can figure out a way to extract enough money from us to make it worth their while.

As an ironic, and only slightly off-topic, footnote, the TSA has lost 100,000 employee records. Oops…

Also see:

• FCC: In-flight cell phone ban to continue (4/3/2007)
• Air France to allow cell phone use on planes?

Technorati : TSA, U.S. law, airlines, airport, cellular, corruption, government regulation, mobile web
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