Greg In The Desert

An article on Gizmodo about how Apple tracks down leaks is very interesting, assuming it’s true.

“Apple has these moles working everywhere, especially in departments where leaks are suspected. Management is not aware of them,” he told me, “once they suspect a leak, the special forces—as we call them—will walk in the office at any hour, especially in the mornings. They will contact whoever was the most senior manager in the building, and ask them to coordinate the operation.”

USDTV was a service that gave out a set top box and sent cable channels over the air, using digital TV signals. Albuquerque was one of the few cities to have this service. They have announced the service is dead.

An Open Letter from USDTV

Dear USDTV Customers, Colleagues and Friends;

We are deeply saddened to inform you that we are ceasing operations and closing down the USDTV service. We are doing this after nearly four years of pioneering efforts to bring you a low-cost family friendly alternative to cable TV.

The closure is due to a funding withdrawal from our major investor, who has experienced a financial setback in another business.

We are giving you the option of keeping or returning your USDTV receiver.

We have made arrangements with a third party installation company to convert the USDTV set-top box so as to continue receiving free over-the-air local digital and high definition TV channels without the USDTV cable service.

For more information on the set-top box conversion or other items please visit: www.usdtv.com/customer_service/stb.html.

We have made arrangements with other TV service providers to provide you with a special offer if you choose to subscribe to another service. Go to: Special TV Service Offer for more details.

If you have any questions please email us at: customerservice@usdtv.com

We want to thank you for your loyalty and apologize for any inconvenience this closure may cause you or your family.

We also express appreciation to our colleagues and friends for their support and belief in us. They’ve helped our Utah-based team accomplish many historic firsts in the broadcasting industry. As a result thousands of you have enjoyed and benefited from the savings and family friendly programming USDTV provided.

Our passion was to help families save money on their cable TV bills and provide a service that had a higher quality of cable networks. We were and still are concerned about the increased availability of extremely violent and pornographic content now available on cable & satellite services.

Again, we thank you for your support and belief in us.

Sincerely,

The USDTV Management Team

Autoblog discusses the Ford Ranger from this Forbes article.

Ford sold 75,673 Rangers to Nissan’s 42,229 Frontiers in the first seven months of the year. Forbes brings up the dismal crash test scores and owner satisfaction. What is the explanation for this sales volume? American loyalty for domestic trucks, deep discounts, and the Ranger name are all cited. There are some serious discounts on this truck, even before the Ford Family Plan you could get $3000 in rebates. The Ranger nameplate still has some solid value, and Ford would be wise to heavily revise this vehicle before they totally destroy its goodwill.

I have a 1996 Ford Ranger, so I read these things with interest. The Ranger is a good truck but it’s hardly changed. It would be cool if they came out with a hybrid version.