Technology Slice Blog

"An eighth-grader was charged with wanton endangerment after allegedly putting crumbled peanut butter cookies in the lunchbox of another student with a severe allergy to peanuts. The allergic student, also an eighth-grader, did not eat the cookies and did not suffer a reaction ." What is the world coming to when eighth graders are virtually trying to kill each other. This may have been the act of an immature mind but it is shocking none the same. The student obviously knew that the student would have had a violent reaction to the peanuts, else he wouldn't have put them in his lunch box. It boils down to premeditated malice. This child should be severely punished and made an example of. With the amount of violence occurring in high schools and colleges this kind of thing needs to be curbed as soon as possible. This can be attributed to a lack of discipline at home. This child was obviously never taught the important lesson of right and wrong. The parents should be punis...

"An e-mail scam aimed squarely at the nation’s top executives is raising new alarms about the ease with which people and companies can be deceived by online criminals. Thousands of high-ranking executives across the country have been receiving e-mail messages this week that appear to be official subpoenas from the United States District Court in San Diego. Each message includes the executive’s name, company and phone number, and commands the recipient to appear before a grand jury in a civil case." Some people are just way too gullible. They think because they are online the same rules of privacy and preparedness does not apply. The amount of people that have willingly given their private banking details is astounding. The solution to this problem is education. These people that are fooled by these phishing scams are not educated in how to protect themselves online. Most banks are helpful but there is only so much they can do. People need to be pro active and learn themselv...

" California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent." You would think with an advanced warning of such a catastrophic even there would be measures put in place to limit the loss of human life and the destruction of services such as gas and electricity. With studies like this confirming that the is a very good possibility of such an even more needs to be done to handle it. We are a technologically advanced race, at least compared to what we used to be hundreds of years ago. We can travel in space, invent super computers and spend millions upon millions of dollars on war, but every time an earthquake hits we seem to be caught unaware. Every ti...

"Yahoo and Google, the world's two biggest search engines, have announced a two week experiment that will see them share advertising space. During the pilot, Google will be able to place ads alongside 3% of search results on Yahoo's website. Analysts say the move is designed to frustrate Microsoft, which has offered to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.6bn), or extract a higher offer. Microsoft said any lasting deal would not be in the consumers' interests." Microsoft seem to be really sweating it out. Yahoo is doing everything it can to make sure it gets a higher price for it's shareholders. And it seems to be working. Microsoft has no other choice but to increase their bid to gain ownership of Yahoo. Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo to increase it's web presence and dive into the online advertising industry. Yahoo has made it very clear that if Microsoft tries to play hard ball and back Yahoo into a corner, Yahoo will turn to Google giving even more of an advant...

"The skies over Europe may be getting chattier after the European Union opened the way for travelers to talk, text or send emails on mobile devices using European GSM technology while in the air. Air France-KLM's Air France unit said is has run successful trials in which customers could send text messages and emails, but not talk, on phones. Now, along with partner OnAir, a unit of plane maker Airbus, Air France is running a trial of in-flight voice calling on an Airbus A318 operating on routes in Europe. Customers are informed about the service via seat-back leaflets and cabin crew announcements." This is a good idea to a degree. I would limit the use of mobile phones to only text messaging and emails. I cannot imagine anything worse than sitting next to someone speaking on a mobile phone at the top of their voice for 3 hours straight. This would be unbearable. Text messaging and emailing is sufficient to communicate with anyone really. Nearly every person on the plan...

"More than 200 women and children have been removed from a Texas ranch that's home to members of a polygamist sect , but authorities have not identified the girl who called them with allegations of abuse. The 16-year-old girl, who called authorities last week with allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the compound, may be in the group and using a different name, Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services, said at a news conference Sunday." More and more of these cults and sects are springing up everywhere. These so call prophets or leaders manage to pull the wool over people's eyes and prey on the emotionally weak or the desperate. They put their " followers " into a trance by supplying a false sense of purpose and security. The government needs to do more to combat these so called leaders. It seems every man and his dog is setting up a religion or cult, reaping tax benefits by taking advantage of the weak. More often than not...

"MOBILE phone and computer time settings have been thrown into chaos by the extension of daylight saving in the east – and the confusion is set to continue with the country now divided into four time zones. Phones, computer programs and even Telstra's speaking clock service reverted to standard time a week too early in some eastern states yesterday, after the end of daylight savings was extended to 3am on April 6. But someone didn't tell the phones, some of which had a mind of their own. Telstra spokesman Peter Taylor said new-generation mobile phones and BlackBerry handsets were affected most because they had software that could override their systems." Personally I don't understand the need for daylight savings . As far as I can see, the only purpose it serves is to confuse people. I think they should just keep the times the same all year round instead of causing difficulty for people. It's hard not to be confused with the times constantly going forward a...