 At Milipol, I was walking around FN Herstal's booth, playing with futuristic-looking P90s, Five-Sevens and F2000s when I noticed a camera-toting tourist pretend-blasting with something very very cool: The Armatronics "Black Box" suite with Moving Red Dot Fire Control.
They'd taken a SCAR assault rifle, and put a "black box" inside the handgrip, networking it with the soldier ("with a kind of Bluetooth" according to the PR guy), and also to home base. The grip is a sealed, 10-year unit that logs the number of bullets fired and remaining ammo a la Aliens. They're also working on pairing to specific soldiers, perhaps using biometrics. Deactivating it if the Taliban get it, for instance? "In the near future," said PR man enigmatically. More...
U.S. National News
The House Oversight & Government Reform Committee approved the Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act, which would offer the same benefits, including health insurance and pensions, to same-sex partners of federal workers and to opposite-sex spouses. (This news comes via the DC Agenda, the reincarnated Washington Blade.)
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals [...]
As both Kevin K. and Dave Weigel noted earlier today, Sarah Palin angered and disappointed fans in Noblesville, Indiana yesterday when she abruptly left a book signing promotion even though there were many fans still waiting in line to receive her signature on their newly purchased copies of Going Rogue. Here’s a video compilation of reaction from fans stiffed by Palin broadcast by local Indiana news outlets: More...
- Tenants are still "Lost in the Shuffle" when the foreclosure notices arrive.
- Facts are stupid things department: Testifying as an expert on the stimulus Thursday, Dick Armey admitted before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he not only had not read the piece of the stimulus bill being discussed, but that he had actually not read any of the bill:
Ironically, as part of an effort to obstruct and derail the bill, Armey launched an online petition called “ReadTheStimulus.org.” In another bit of irony, although he postures as a fierce ideological opponent of the stimulus, Armey actually worked as a lobbyist to help businesses gain from the stimulus. According to disclosures, he was paid to lobby on behalf of Cape Wind Associates and the Medicines Company on the stimulus. His son, Scott Armey, who runs his own lobbying shop, has also worked with businesses to gain stimulus funds.
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(My laptop situation is currently 'up-in-the-air'; my apologies for any errors or incomplete listings. Please add any other vigils you know of in "comments"- thanks! ~Louise~)
PLEASE NOTE- THE ONE IN PHILLY IS TONIGHT- all others at this time are on Sunday.
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 I get that this Flo TV iPhone demo is just a proof of concept. That's fine! I'm just a little confused as to what the concept is.
Is it just what they're showing us? A Flo TV app, that requires some kind of accessory to tune into broadcasts? That's possible, but given how well the iPhone can stream video over 3G, it'd be a hard sell, even with Flo TV's cable-like channel selection. It would also help if said accessory wasn't larger than the actual iPhone. More...
For Sen. Blanche Lincoln, the moderate Arkansas Democrat, the nation’s health-care woes may lead to more headaches than any medicine could alleviate.
Lincoln is a pivotal vote on the motion to begin debate on Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s health-care legislation; if the motion passes, she could be the swing vote on the eventual motion to close debate. Her decision isn’t simply a calculation about winning the right number of concessions, as perhaps President Obama and the Democratic leadership hope; it’s about her political survival.
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Don't Arizonans know that he's a war hero? Senator John McCain’s future in the U.S. Senate may be a little less assured than previously thought. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters in Arizona finds the longtime incumbent in a virtual tie with potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. McCain earns 45% of the vote, while Hayworth picks up 43%. More...
 Attention, people who like to maintain a complete mental taxonomy of every processor: Cedar Trail has been outed as the new Atom platform for 2011, with the name Cedarview going to the processor itself. Along with 32nm fabrication, some goodies:
According to Fudzilla, the platform will include a new memory controller to accommodate DDR3 RAM which, despite supporting two slots, will remain single-channel. Pineview, the next Atom before Cedarview, hasn't even shipped yet—that's expected to be the beginning of next year—so it's interesting to glimpse this far into the future, where Atom, such as it is, will remain positioned almost exactly where it is now. Oh well! [Fudzilla—Disclaimer: That Atom sitting on the penny up there is an older version (not that the new one will look any different, at all)]
Attention, people who like to maintain a complete mental taxonomy of every processor: Cedar Trail has been outed as the new Atom platform for 2011, with the name Cedarview going to the processor itself. Along with 32nm fabrication, some goodies: According to Fudzilla, the platform will include a new memory controller to accommodate DDR3 RAM which, despite supporting two slots, will remain single-channel. Pineview, the next Atom before Cedarview, hasn't even shipped yet—that's expected to be the beginning of next year—so it's interesting to glimpse this far into the future, where Atom, such as it is, will remain positioned almost exactly where it is now. Oh well! [Fudzilla—Disclaimer: That Atom sitting on the penny up there is an older version (not that the new one will look any different, at all)]
This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label "Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.
Over the last two weeks, we've made improvements across Google Apps, some geared for individuals, others meant for business customers.
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In the 2008 presidential race, John McCain often dueled with Barack Obama over health care. Over a year later, Obama is in the White House and McCain finds himself back on Capitol Hill. The battle, however, continues.
With the president and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) making a final push to pass Obamacare in the upper chamber, McCain tells NRO that it is crucial for Senate Republicans to make every effort to defeat Reid’s 2,074-page blueprint, which is expected to come to a cloture vote on Saturday night. That vote will determine whether the bill can move to the Senate floor for a final debate. Reid, who leads a caucus of 58 Democrats and two independents, needs to secure 60 votes in order to proceed.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from The First Assassin, by John J. Miller.
Saturday, February 23, 1861
When Lorenzo Smith heard the chugging of the train, he felt for the revolver at his side. His fingers met its smooth handle, hidden beneath his black coat. Then he found the short barrel and the trigger below. Smith had reached for it a dozen times in the last hour, but he wanted to be certain that the gun was still there. It will make me a hero, he thought. It will change history.
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As I mentioned yesterday, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission nominee Chai Feldblum had her hearing at the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Clifford Stanley had a confirmation hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee. First Clifford Stanley's...
Theme chosen to address critical need to protect human rights and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support.
The first floor vote on the Senate HCR bill will happen Saturday evening, after a long day of speechifying, but without having to hear bill read aloud. Chances are pretty good the 60 will be there to at least allow the bill to be considered. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has agreed to relent on his demand for Senate clerks to read aloud the 2,074-page bill and allow the chamber to take a critical test vote, said the aide. Reading the bill on the Senate floor was estimated to take as many as 30 hours or longer, raising the possibility of the Senate staying in session into next week.... More...
The President nominated Marine General Clifford Stanley (Ret.), to serve as Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, a position that would be responsible for implementing a reversal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the Pentagon. There were high hopes that Dr. Stanley's testimony would shed light on how he would handle the change in policy, but it's clear that the following was not what Servicemembers Legal Defense Network expecting. More...
 Like the prior model, the new Pogoplug allows for USB drive sharing over the Internet. It'll run for $129, still have no service fees, take up to four USB drives, and have Twitter and Facebook integration.
Aside from automatically syncing content with a Mac or PC, you can share and watch movies, listen to music, or view photos directly through the Pogoplug website and even on an iPhone. Since we looked at the original version, Pogoplug has apparently made some upgrades to add a drag-and-drop interface and sharing over social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook. But as we mentioned back then, while this is a great interface and solution, you are going to be relying on the company staying in business in order to be able to share data. More...
 I know Microsoft has only recently broken ground on Internet Explorer 9, but why would you ever release a graph in which you were the admitted worst at a task?
The graph above is a JavaScript performance comparison in which the same machine ran the SunSpider test (so shorter bars are better). Microsoft is comparing one, specific (but incredibly important) browser task to the competition's numbers, and as you can see, boy has IE improved over the years! More...
HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is calling for people across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin to get involved in World AIDS Day (December 1) this year, either by attending an event, making a donation to support local HIV services, or wearing a red ribbon to raise awareness. World AIDS Day, which has been running every December since 1988, is dedicated to raising awareness of HIV and AIDS.
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