Monthly Archives: November 2009

iPhone vs Android : a close race except in one important area

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In case I haven’t mentioned it in the last two posts, I think AT&T’s cell phone service sucks. And now an article on Consumer Reports confirms it. When they compared the Andriod phone against the iPhone, the iPhone won in most everything… except in the all important phone network category. No surprise there. AT&T’s busted-ass broke-down no good network is so bad, even Consumer Reports laughs at it!

And what damn good is any phone without a reliable network? It’s like saying a car has a great interior, a smokin’ engine, carbon fiber detailing, top of the line sound and premium suspension system, buuuuut you can’t drive it on 90% of the roads out there.

On a related note, I’m loving the new Verizon ads. This one especially…

iMobsters, WorldWar, Racing Live, Kingdoms, Ninjas Live, Zombies, Rockstars, or Vampires games steal your iPhone information

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Do you play iMobsters, WorldWar, Racing Live, Kingdoms, Ninjas Live, Zombies, Rockstars, or Vampires on your iPhone? Chances are your phone number and personal contact information has been stolen by the game company that made all those games, Storm8.

In a lawsuit filed recently, Storm8 has been accused of writing the games… “in such a way that it automatically accesses, collects, and transmits the wireless telephone number of each iPhone user who downloads any Storm8 game.”

Storm8 makes these games and hands out a “free” crippled version of the games as well as a paid “full featured” version. You pretty much level up in any of their games by slaving away at it throughout the day doing menial tasks or pay real cash to buy things to get ahead in the game.

The article on BoingBoing also says “The number farming was not disclosed to players until an acknowledgment in August that described it as a “bug.” The lawsuit claims that only “very specific and specialized software code” could do so, however, and seeks injunctive relief and damages.”

A bug? A bug crashes your game. Causes little discolored artifacts to appear on screen. A bug might even suddenly close the app and send you back to the iPhone home screen. But to grab your specific information? To go that protected area of the iPhone consistently by mistake? No. I’m not buying it.

So why does a game company want your wireless phone number and your contact information? And especially without your permission?

Here’s the main article from BoingBoing here.

a followup on the CONSUMERIST website here.

and a link to a PDF file of the lawsuit here.

BoingBoing says Storm8 “hasn’t returned inquiries” since this story broke a few days ago.

So if you have any of these games on your iPhone, delete them now. You never know what other information their “bug” has been looking at.

Recall : Some Liposyn and Propofol products may contain itty bitty pieces of stainless steel

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Little shards of stainless steel aren’t too good for your bloodstream the last time I checked.

This voluntary recall from Hospira is for “85 lots of Liposyn II 10%, Liposyn II 20%, Liposyn III 10%, Liposyn III 20%, Liposyn III 30% and 73 lots of Propofol Injectable Emulsion 1% products that begin with the lot numbers 79 and 80… The affected lots were distributed between July 2009 and October 2009, and no other lots are affected by this recall.”

The reason for this recall is that… “some of the containers may contain particulate matter. The source of the particulate matter has been identified as stainless steel equipment used in the manufacturing process.”

In the list of things this particulate matter might do to you is “…potentially act as emboli and impede blood flow.  Particulates may also cause mechanical damage to the body and may escalate damage through the Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS).  Restriction in blood supply to tissues could lead to stroke, respiratory failure, kidney failure, liver failure, heart attack and/or death.”

You know. The usual side effects.

Fortunately nobody has been hurt by this, and Hospira is asking that “anyone with an existing inventory should quarantine the product immediately and call Stericycle at 1-866-654-0725 to arrange for the return of these products. For medical inquiries, please contact Hospira Medical Communications at 1-800-615-0187 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday.”

Here’s the link to the official FDA recall.

Recall : CLASS 1 : Edwards Lifesciences’ CardioVations EndoClamp Aortic Catheter

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When you make a product that’s designed to clamp down on the aorta and drip solution to stop the heart during cardiopulmonary bypass procedures, you really should have that product go through some ruthlessly insane levels of quality control. Then test the product again, retest it, and then test it some more.

Well, today’s FDA recall is for a product that does just that. The official CLASS 1 recall is for “Edwards Lifesciences CardioVations EndoClamp Aortic Catheter ” and is specifically targeting “CardioVations EndoClamp Aortic Catheter, Model Numbers EC1001 and EC65”.

The problem? According to the recall notice, “The balloon catheters may spontaneously rupture during surgery.”

Oh yeah. That’s FUBAR. Big time.

The recall was started by the company on September 24th, but the FDA just issued the public notice today.

The CLASS 1 bit on FDA releases is “the most serious type of recall and involve situations in which there is a reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”

If you have CardioVations EndoClamp Aortic Catheter Model Numbers EC1001 and/or EC65, you can “contact the company’s Customer Service Organization at 1-800-424-3278, Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Pacific Time.”

Here’s the link to the official FDA recall.

David Haye and Nikolay Valuev results

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Remember that World Boxing Association’s heavyweight division fight scheduled for the 7th of this month? Between 6′ 3″ tall David Haye and 7′ 2″ Nikolay Valuev?

World Boxing Association Title Bout for Nov. 7

World Boxing Association Title Bout for Nov. 7

Haye won! By decision!

An article in the DAILY MAIL shows Haye after the fight. For going toe to toe with a giant that’s almost a foot taller than him, he doesn’t look bad!

Haye after the fight

Haye after the fight


There’s a few stills of the fight out there if you Google “Haye and Valuev”.

You got something on your chin

Haye saying howdy to Valuev

Even better, there are some youtube clips of the fight still up as of this post. The one below is of the last round.

Northwest Flight 188’s potential search areas

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As a pilot in training from long, long time ago, I think it’s hilarious the two commercial pilots from Northwest Flight 188 who overshot Minneapolis airport by 150 miles in an Airbus A320 want their licenses back. Just because they were playing on their laptops and overshot an airport by 150 miles doesn’t mean they are bad pilots, right?

Here’s my problem… overshooting an airport by 150 miles doesn’t sound so bad. Until you see it on a map. As a frame of reference, from the Minneapolis airport to Prentice, Wisconsin is about 149.540 miles in a straight line. That’s close enough to the 150 miles they missed the Minneapolis airport, so I’ll use that city as a reference point.

Northwest Flight 188 A

Northwest Flight 188 A


That’s a hell of a search area if you map it out from the airport, assuming they would have slightly altered course once they passed the airport and continued flying in a North-Eastward direction from the airport.

Northwest Flight 188 B

Northwest Flight 188 B


But if you assume worst case, that they diverted anywhere in a 360 degree arc – 150 miles in any direction – from their intended destination? Using the airport as the center and Prentice, Wisconsin as the edge, you get…

Northwest Flight 188 C

Northwest Flight 188 C


That’s a big search area.

But that’s not the best part. The best part is that “ATC (Air Traffic Control) lost radio contact with the Airbus A320 near Denver, Colorado” That was the last time anyone really knew where Northwest Flight 188 was at in the United States and that everything was OK with them. (Map and flight path courtesy FLIGHT AWARE)

Northwest Flight 188 D

Northwest Flight 188 D


So looking at the official flight path with FLIGHT AWARE with Google Maps, passing Denver Colorado heading to Prentice…

Northwest Flight 188 E

Northwest Flight 188 E


And assuming they stayed on Denver’s radar for a while and they maintained a north-north-eastward direction from their last radio contact and continued up to Prentice, Wisconsin as before, and ballparking their last radio contact near Denver, this would be the search area.

Northwest Flight 188 F

Northwest Flight 188 F



But assuming the worst case? Assuming they had maintained radio silence and had altered their course in any direction from their last known contact near Denver?

Northwest Flight 188 G

Northwest Flight 188 G



Wow.

A few questions…

* This missing airplane didn’t count as a “wake the president” kind of emergency?

* You could argue that since they showed up on a few Air Traffic Control radars along the way and since they were heading in the correct general direction nobody thought anything was wrong. Even with complete radio silence, that’s a big stretch, but I might sorta buy that. But nobody at Minneapolis airport thought to sound even the tiniest little alarm bell when Flight 188 roared right on by?

*Norad? FAA? This is your kind of thing here. You know. Airspace. Jets. Planes going off course in complete radio silence. Do you all need an official gold embossed invitation to show up to the party next time?

* And what exactly was on the pilot’s laptops that was so captivating?

Recall (warning) : FDA coming down on flavoerd cigarette sellers

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This didn’t take long. The FDA is now pursuing online sites that are still selling flavored cigarettes. The FDA is specifically enforcing the “cigarette ban provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) by issuing several warning letters to companies continuing to sell illegal flavored cigarettes to consumers in the United States through their Web sites.”

Flavored cigarettes were banned around the 22nd of September, so it’s been a good month and some change for these companies to get their products in order. Right now, pretty much any cigarettes with flavor in them are illegal. Flavored cigars may or may not be included, depending on who’s interpreting the law at the moment.

What really gets me is the justification for this ban. Lawrence R. Deyton, M.S.P.H, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products said in the release that the… “FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously. These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.”

So…. if this is for the kids, how about a real simple solution. ID everyone buying tobacco. Wouldn’t that solve the whole problem? Leave the flavored cigs to the few adults who like them, and just bust the people selling them to children. Doesn’t that work for regular tobacco? And alcohol?

Anyhow, I ranted about this already when it first popped up. I’ll push the horse back into the closet now.

Oh, and if you look at the link that shows the sites that got the warning from the FDA about selling the flavored cigarettes? When I checked, most of them were 404… completely gone.

Here’s the link to the official FDA warning / recall.

Recall : Jelly Belly’s cylinder-style 49 Flavors jelly beans

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Jelly Belly announced today that they are voluntarily recalling the… “7.5-ounce cylinder-style packages of 49 Flavors Jelly Belly jelly beans because the package is incorrectly labeled. The mislabeled packages failed to list peanut butter and peanut flour in the ingredient statement.”

Wait… they use peanuts and peanut butter to make jellybeans? Seriously?

The recall says… “The Jelly Belly 49 Flavors cylinder packages were… packaged in a clear 7.5-ounce acetate cylinder with white label on the bottom of the package with lot codes 090925, 090928, 090929 or 091001. UPC code 071567989398”

Here’s the link to the official FDA recall.

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein : Mini Book Review

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Plato and a Platypus

Plato and a Platypus

10 words or less: Fun. Like throwing a skipping stone over deep philosophical waters.

Long version : This book was a impulse buy at the local bookstore this weekend. Normally I only hit the bargain bins, but this book looked interesting and was reviewed well based on everything all over the jacket cover, so I grabbed at at face value.

It was a fun and breezy read. Just tapping on the cusps of philosophical ideas and ideologies, the authors take a few moments on each topic being serious, and turn right around and make a joke in contrasting boldface that illustrates the type of philosophy and/or topic being discussed.

For example, when talking about existentialism…
“The extentialists’ emphasis on facing the anxiety of death has given life to a new mini-industry, the hospice movement, founded on Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s twentieth-century bioethical philosophy that encourages the honest acceptance of death.
Customer in a restaurant: How do you prepare your chickens?
Cook: Oh, nothing special really. We just tell them they’re gonna die.”

At the end of the 215 page book, the authors gently point to “suggested reading” list for those who found the shallow end fun and want to try something a little deeper next time. Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Foucault, Hume, Locke and more are on the list, so there’s a fair chance someone starting on this book may just find something wonderful waiting for them should they choose to follow some of the abbreviated suggestions in the list.

This was a fun book that was pretty much philosophy 099. OK, maybe philosophy 101. A quick glance into the basics of philosophy, an overview of some major ideas, and a few nuggets to chew on. All easily digestible.

I’m probably going to head back and pick up their sequel “Heidegger and a Hippo walk through the pearly gates: Using Philosophy (and jokes!) to explain life, death, the afterlife, and everything else in between.” If nothing else, for the title alone!

Four out of five stars.

Apple to launch Verizon iPhone q3 2010

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Glory hallelujah! In a report posted on Apple Insider, Apple is preparing to move the iPhone to Verizon around July of 2010, as well as make the iPhone an official “global” phone by adding CDMA2000 network compatibility.

Buh bye AT&T!

For those of you who have contracts with AT&T that expire soon, DO NOT renew your contract with AT&T when your current contract ends. Just keep going month to month until July-ish of 2010. Then you can jump to Verizon free and clear when the new service (and probably some new iPhones) come out around then. You should be able to keep your iPhone and all the apps you have on it intact during the transition. Plus by staying on month to month, you won’t get popped with a $250-ish breach of contract fee from AT&T.

All I can say is that it’s about damn time. In case I haven’t mentioned it in the last two posts, I think AT&T cellular service sucks ass. I’ve never had such pathetic phone service as I have with the iPhone. Constantly dropped calls. Robotic sounding voices. Horrible coverage (1 bar most of the time. 2 bars once every blue moon). Piss poor 3g. And even a CEO who admits his company’s busted ass network can’t keep up with all the iPhone users.

The article says AT&T has… “a year to improve its 3G network and roll out the 3G MicroCell before being hit with mass defections from iPhone users irate over service issues.” Yeah. Right. AT&T spending money to improve their customer’s service? When they had all this time to get it right? That’s not gonna happen.

At least AT&T’s “busy network” problems will disappear when every iPhone subscriber jumps to Verizon. But I’m sure all the money AT&T saved by not upgrading the network to handle iPhone traffic will easily offset any losses in q3 2010. What’s the iPhone income for AT&T? 1%? 5%? It’s gotta be something ridiculously low for the service to be this bad.

Good riddance to bad rubbish!