Brian Gongol
A formula for success in 2014
Time with books > time with Facebook. Facebook claims that the average user spends almost 20 minutes per day with their site. At an average reading pace of about 300 words per minute, that would equate to reading between 2.1 and 2.2 million words per year. A novel aimed at adults is usually in the neighborhood of 100,000 words. So anyone who spends equal time with books as with Facebook can expect to read 20 books a year or more. Make those the right kinds of books, and you're talking about some serious potential for personal development.
A backwards understanding of "work" isn't helping American workers
Self-repairing teeth could be available in three years
Stimulating minerals to aggregate at the site of damage could allow teeth to be rebuilt without fillings
We need more weather radar installations
Of all the things on which we could choose to spend Federal tax dollars, additional weather radar sites should be near the top of the list. Tonight's severe weather struck in several places where the nearest Nexrad is 100 miles away, which means there's very little effective coverage anywhere close to the ground...in other words, where the real dangerous action is. In Iowa, Mason City, Waterloo, Storm Lake, and Ottumwa all get peripheral coverage at best. Very few things make better sense for public expenditure than tools to help the National Weather Service detect and warn about severe weather that affects everybody, even in less-densely-populated areas. They're probably too polite at the NWS to ask for the funds, but the need is self-evident.
Whooping cough is at "epidemic" proportions in California
Yes, whooping cough. That thoroughly preventable disease. But since there's a vocal and self-encouraging anti-vaccination movement afoot, people's lives are being put at risk. Two infants have already died. Immunization works.
Ikea makes the ill-advised choice to go after its most enthusiastic consumers
People who "hack" Ikea products to do new and unusual things have been told to stop calling themselves "Ikea hackers". It's one thing to protect your brand...it's quite another to slap the people who adore your brand with threats.
Russia cuts off natural gas to Ukraine
This should surprise exactly nobody. Gazprom says Ukraine is on a cash-and-carry basis, and is rumbling that the EU might not get what it expects if the gas has to travel through Ukraine. The EU gets about 15% of its natural gas via that route, but a marginal 15% in the middle of a cold streak in winter could be back-breaking. Virtually all wars and international disputes come down to matters of resources and how far opposing parties are willing to go to get them. This one doesn't have the makings of a situation that ends well.
Digital files can rot
It's called "bitrot" -- the process by which digital files, susceptible to the chance failures of physical components in a computer storage system, become unreadable due to the loss of individual bits and bytes. And it can claim entire files...and does. That's why good backup procedures are a must. (That advice, by the way, applies to Federal agencies like the IRS, which had a faulty system for backing up email and computer files that, coincidentally enough, led to the loss of two years' worth of emails to and from Lois Lerner, who's the subject of a Congressional investigation over whether some groups were scrutinized differently than others when they applied for tax-exempt status.)
When you work across the street from a party-bus company
Is China coming after the US in space?
Russia and its neighbors are upgrading their military powers...fast
How to read Doppler radar
The first Photoshop
How a governor stays visible
Terry Branstad's travel log of Iowa
Chinese-built Volvos are coming to the United States
Probably within 12 to 24 months
Union intimidation rubs electronic composer the wrong way
(Video)
"Danger Mouse" is being revived
Applying the irrational anti-vaccine rationale to car seats
The best Brian Williams rap yet
(Video)
Social media as terrorist soft power
Or, "Why terrorists tweet about cats". Do you beat them by blocking them? Drowning them out? Outmaneuvering them?
Amazon's new Fire smartphone is out...for $200 to $650
The camera takes 13-megapixel shots and 1080p video. The OS is based on Android, and the processor runs at 2.2 GHz with 2 Gb of RAM. Their Siri imitation is called "Firefly", and they claim the phone employs "one-handed" shortcuts (like tilting the phone to navigate on the screen) -- we'll see how well that works in practice.
Omaha police are getting wearable cameras
The technology is impressive. The implications could be interesting.
Wages aren't rising in Manhattan
Chelsea Handler is moving a talk show to Netflix
Court says police need a warrant to get your cell-phone location data
Meanwhile, the Federal government is trying to keep local police from admitting to the surveillance they're doing. What part of "civilian oversight" do these people not understand?
Is Google really trying to get 24/7 closed-circuit monitoring of the entire globe?
That would be one way to interpret their recent decision to purchase satellite-imaging company Skybox
YouTube is about to close the door to indie artists
The site evolved into a huge source for music. But because Google/YouTube wants licensing deals with the artists, the unsigned ones aren't being invited to play on the same terms as the major-label artists. And many will probably end up off YouTube altogether. SoundCloud may benefit.
GE will probably get most of Alstom for less than Facebook paid for WhatsApp
And there are about 20-to-1 odds that GE made the better deal
Mudslide in Minneapolis threatens riverside hospital
Backing up your email isn't hard to do
Someone should tell the IRS, which is making excuses for losing administrative emails -- excuses that wouldn't pass muster in an IRS audit