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Ian Rowan

Key West - http://www.notthemotorcyclediaries.com

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Customers Find Rocks, Bricks Instead of Nintendo DS, MacBook Pro

by Ian Rowan on April 30, 2009 at 09:12 AM


There seems to be a recurring theme here: person goes into store to buy expensive new electronic item, goes home, opens package and finds rocks instead. According to Tampa's WTSP-TV, Lake Wales, Florida resident Jodi Wykle's son got quite a birthday surprise when he ripped open the wrapping of his new Nintendo DS, only to find assorted rocks and a Chinese newspaper. Wykle immediately took the box o' rocks back to Wal-Mart and demanded a refund but, as she put it on TV: "They don't want to do nothing."

According to the report, Wal-Mart told her to take it up with Nintendo, which told her to take it up with Wal-Mart, of course. Turns out that the same item had already been returned by another customer for the same reason. Once this surprising fact was brought to its attention by 10 Connects, Wal-Mart begrudgingly gave Wykle a refund and $20 gift card.

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Dutch Artist Gives New, or Old, Meaning to 'Notebook' With Video

by Ian Rowan on April 28, 2009 at 04:28 PM



Earlier today, we stumbled upon Evelien Lohbeck's animations via PSFK.com and found them to be right up our alley. Shunning the whole netbook craze, the recent Academy of Arts, St. Joost graduate has turned to her trusty artist's notebook to sketch her own Windows XP interface, YouTube channel, and Xerox machine -- all in one. Something tells us that her version of XP doesn't crash.

With a degree in animation, Lohbeck blurs the boundaries between drawing, the digital, and the real; her notebook can make toast and cheese, show her reflection, produce candle light, and play the opening refrain of the White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' on a drawn guitar. If only our drawings of stick-figure ninjas could come to life. [From: EvelienLohbeck.com, Via: PSFK.com]
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New Alarm Clock Recalls Rubik's Cube

by Ian Rowan on April 28, 2009 at 03:35 PM


A truly puzzling alarm clock, the Cube Clock (which is available for $24) resembles a mixed-up Rubik's Cube, with an LED screen smack-dab in the middle. When it starts emitting a robotic, electronic alarm, all you have to do is twist the top of the cube to snooze. You can also set the display to show the current temperature (shown), current time, alarm time, or the day's date.

Just don't confuse the Cube Clock with your original Rubik's Cube. Then you'd have to tell your boss that it was your Rubik's fault you didn't wake up. She's not going to believe you. [From: Chocosho, Via: Dvice.com]
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Taser Sues 'Second Life' for Trademark Infringement

by Ian Rowan on April 24, 2009 at 09:28 AM


'Second Life' has reached another virtual milestone -- it's being sued by Taser, the world's largest manufacturer of stun guns, for trademark infringement. 'Second Life,' run by Linden Research Inc., is a virtual online community of users that use avatars to 'live' and 'work' within a user-generated world. According to Bloomberg, Taser is claiming trademark infringement, since users can buy 'Tasers' from virtual vendors within 'Second Life' and use them on other avatars (or on their own, if they're so inclined).

Since 'Taser' is a brand name, and the virtual product is being bought and sold with real currency in virtual shops that also sell pornographic material, the company contends that its brand is being tarnished and diminished. Lodged in Phoenix, Arizona, the complaint states, "All of the defendants that sell virtual weaponry like plaintiff's real ones, under the mark Taser for use in the Second Life programs and grids, also sell adult-only explicit images and scenes."

According to the Second Life first quarter economic report, its online economy is booming with user-to-user monetary transactions projected to be $450 million this year (a $100 million increase from last year). Seems like Taser wants its cut, since the 'Don't tase me bro' fiasco probably hurt sales. [From: Bloomberg]
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FBI Spyware Used to Gain Access to Suspects' Computers

by Ian Rowan on April 22, 2009 at 01:24 PM


A recent Wired.com story reports that the FBI has been using a proprietary spyware program to snoop on alleged ne'er-do-wells since at least 2004. According to heavily redacted documents that Wired obtained by invoking the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI has developed a sophisticated program it calls 'computer and Internet protocol address verifier,' or CIPAV, that can infiltrate target computers and report information back to an FBI server in Virginia. The software has been crucial in the investigations of many cases that include extortion schemes, terrorist threats, illegal hacking, bomb threats, and electronic bank robbing.

The documents describe how the software is delivered to the target user -- via MySpace Chat messages containing links to an FBI-run Web site loaded with CIPAV. Apparently, the software gains access via the user's system vulnerabilities and runs 'silently' in the background. After logging the computer's IP Address, MAC address, open ports, a list of running programs, the operating system, internet browser and version, and the last-visited Web address, CIPAV sends the information back to the FBI database and switches to a stealth "pen register" mode, with which CIPAV can continually monitor the computer's Internet use.


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Stalk Your Family With AT&T's FamilyMaps

by Ian Rowan on April 22, 2009 at 05:20 AM

Attention worry-prone parents: AT&T is now offering location-tracking for their subscribers with FamilyMap. The service is similar to Sprint Nextel's Family Locator and Boost Mobile's Loopt. FamilyMap utilizes built-in GPS and cell-tower triangulation to locate users. AT&T's offering is limited to those within a family plan and allows members to track one another online or on their phones. You can only track persons within your 'family' plan, though, so stalking a dishonest ex won't work (unless it's incestuous).

For those of you not with AT&T and not in a family plan there is, of course, an offering from Google that provides a similar service. Dubbed Google Latitude, the free opt-in service allows you to locate your linked friends via Google Maps on your cellphone or computer. You can update your status message, locate nearby friends, and chat via Google Talk all for free (carrier charges may apply).
FamilyMap will run you $9.99 a month to keep tabs on yourself and another family member, or $14.99 a month to stalk as many as five. FamilyMap isn't supported on pre-pay phones or AT&T Go Phones.

If this is the creepy way technological advancements are headed, we think the phrase 'Keeping up with the Jones' should be redubbed, 'Keeping up with the Bates.' [From: CNET]

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Text-Message Commentary Coming to the Movies?

by Ian Rowan on April 20, 2009 at 01:28 PM


Thought movie hecklers were annoying? Well, if a new project takes off nationwide, prepare to be uber-annoyed by heckling via texting/Twittering projected directly onto the movie screen. MuVChat creator Rien Heald describes his Frankenstein-like creation to the Chicago Tribune as "a mash-up of 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' and Twitter."

At MuVChat screenings (currently only in St. Charles, Illinois), ADD-afflicted Gen Y-ers and Millenials can text their thoughts and heckles to a central number, and then the comments are displayed via a live scrolling feed at the bottom of the screen. So far, the screenings have been cult comedy neo-classics like 'Zoolander' and 'Office Space,' but there have been calls for torture-inducing screenings of Mariah Carey's 'Glitter' and the Ben Affleck/J. Lo opus, 'Gigi.' According to Heald, most people at the screenings send about 40 comments per movie. An example comment? During 'Zoolander,' one commenter wrote, "I want a comb-over like Trump." Now, imagine 8,000 snarky comments popping up on the screen during a film (we're estimating an audience of 200).

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Increasingly, Police and Fire Departments Turning to Twitter

by Ian Rowan on April 15, 2009 at 05:25 PM


Twitter has not yet ceased to amaze us. A growing number of law enforcement agencies have taken to the 140-character tweet to aid in serving and protecting their citizens, according to an AP report. The Milwaukee Police Department has been tweeting about homicide suspects, community improvements, robbery surveillance footage on their YouTube channel, gang arrests, missing persons, Milwaukee's Most Wanted, and even what the police chief is eating for lunch. Departments around the country have taken to Twitter like cops to a donut shop, those of Boston, Massachusetts, Boulder, Colorado, Richmond, Virginia and Mount Pleasant, South Carolina among them.

Not wanting to be left behind, fire departments have begun using the service, as well, as a way of transmitting and receiving alerts. Fire departments in both Napa, California and Mesa, Arizona have tweeted in regards to fires and other concerns relating to their jurisdictions. The FBI Press Office has been tweeting regarding missing persons, cold cases and their high-profile busts. We especially like the soothing purple the FBI folks chose for their page's background (pictured above).

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Computer Consultant Allegedly Siphoned $1M From Utah Bank

by Ian Rowan on April 14, 2009 at 02:10 PM


When consultant jobs are few and far between, you have to make the most out of the ones you can get. Take, for instance, Zeldon Morris. When the Family First Credit Union in Orem, Utah hired the Provo man to fix some bugs in a recent computer upgrade, Morris decided to take some liberties with a few of the accounts, according to Provo's Daily Herald.

According to recently submitted court documents, Morris made false deposits via several electronic transfers into his personal and business accounts from June of 2008 to January of 2009 -- all to the tune of over $1 million. He allegedly used the money to remodel his home, pay off his two car notes, and cover a few mortgage payments. (At least he's propping up Sallie Mae!)

All of this came to the attention of the credit union last month when Morris' business partner, Eunyong Lee, blew the whistle after seeing some suspicious transactions and suspecting that they were related to fraud. Many technology business analysts have been predicting that, as the recession gets worse, more IT professionals will turn to fraud as a means of making money. Court documents say that Family First Credit Union would not have discovered Mr. Morris' scheme if it had not been for Mr. Lee. With that in mind, who knows what other scams we'll hear about long after they've been committed?

Morris was arrested last Wednesday, and arraigned the following day, entering a plea of not guilty. The alleged swindler has been charged with one count of bank fraud. [From: Daily Herald]

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Half of Microsoft Staff Uses Google Rather Than Live Search

by Ian Rowan on April 14, 2009 at 10:35 AM



About half of Microsoft's full-time stateside employees use Google search instead of Microsoft's own Live Search, reports CNET. Although that seems like a laughable percentage, it's actually a vast improvement from a year earlier, when about 80-percent of employees used Google exclusively. According to Microsoft senior vice president Yusuf Mehdi, the software giant is still struggling to get employees, let alone consumers, to take wholeheartedly to its Live Search. Google dwarfs the search market with close to a 65-percent market share. Yahoo comes in second with 15.8-percent and Microsoft Live Search trails in third with a little over 10-percent.

But Microsoft has been internally testing the next version of its search, codenamed Kumo, and is set to unfold a major $100 million public relations offensive to support its mid-year launch of the revamped search engine. Mehdi hopes that, once Kumo launches, Microsoft will be able to gain ground against Yahoo. It also helps that Microsoft has inked deals with Lenovo and Dell to make its search engine the default for the companies' factory-shipped PCs.

It always helps to have a monopoly behind your faltering technology. [From: CNET Via: PaidContent]

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Jobless Techies Will Turn to Crime: From IT to GTA?

by Ian Rowan on December 13, 2008 at 12:01 PM

Nick Heath from Silicon.com (over in the UK) is warning that another recession woe will lead to the inevitable rise of cyber crime. It makes sense; the Internet Technology (IT) sector employs quite a few folks that know their way around security measures, they may have installed them in the first place. Some of these disgruntled, soon to be ex-employees are going to be a bit more prone to ... Read more »
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Self-Healing Rubber May Lead to Crack-Proof Roads

by Ian Rowan on December 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM

The science journal Nature reports that some enterprising French scientists have come up with a revolutionary new rubber that 'heals' itself when broken. According to the Nature article, the science behind it is fairly simple: "In striking contrast to conventional cross-linked or thermoreversible rubbers made of macromolecules, these systems, when broken or cut, can be simply repaired by ... Read more »
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Woman Mortgages Away Everything to Nigerian Scammers

by Ian Rowan on November 18, 2008 at 09:44 PM

This would be funny if it weren't so sad. Sweet Home, Oregon woman Janella Spears, surprisingly not related to Britney, fell victim to the oldest scam on the Internet. We are all familiar with the Nigerian e-mail scam that attempts to extort money from would-be victims with promises of millions of dollars if we would just send a nominal transaction fee via untraceable sources. Well, not all of ... Read more »
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Use Your Phone to Save Time and Money

by Ian Rowan on June 28, 2008 at 12:50 PM

While few of us have actually received a cell phone bill as large as this poor fellow, we've all been privy to the occasional shockingly huge cell phone bill. It's no surprise, considering the ways in which carriers can hit us with hidden fees, exorbitant rates for going over our monthly minutes, or extra charges for seemingly innocuous extra feature such as call waiting. Fool us once, shame on ... Read more »
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How to Make Your Cell Phone Battery Last Longer

by Ian Rowan on April 29, 2008 at 12:29 PM

Cell phones have come a long way in terms of features and styling, but the issue of battery life, or having enough of it, remains strong. Yes, you can keep your battery juiced up for days if you don't talk on the phone ever, but what's the use of that? And sure, you can carry your admittedly portable charger with you to work, but try taking it out with you for a night out on the town -- it's ... Read more »
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