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Posts Tagged ‘Macworld’

10 Interesting Links From January 29th

January 30th, 2010 Greg Smith No comments
  • Demolition of 107-year-old home in Denver historic district angers neighbors – The Denver Post – About two weeks ago, a neighbor, Camille Palmeri, noticed that the north wall of the brick structure had been broken through, leaving a gaping hole roughly 10 feet square exposing the entire interior to the elements. Burbano told the city the wall fell down on its own.
  • KOB.com – ‘How-to’ sex article raises eyebrows – The column that appeared in the campus paper last week is essentially a graphic, how-to-guide for having anal sex. It's more than 700 words dedicated to a subject you would expect to find in an adult book store.
  • Rank-and-file county staff reveal fear of Sheriff Joe Arpaio – Fears first spiked in December 2008, when county administrators spent $10,000 to sweep county offices for illegal wiretaps they worried had been installed by Arpaio. None was found. But rank-and-file workers still became terrified of possible surveillance, lawsuits or even arrest. Arpaio's frequent retort to critics that the innocent had nothing to worry about did not allay their concerns.
  • Southwest taking Wi-Fi fleetwide – Dallas Business Journal: – Dallas-based Southwest (NYSE: LUV) is scheduled to begin installing the equipment in the second quarter of 2010. It will do so on about 15 aircraft per month, with the goal of fitting Southwest’s entire fleet of 540 plans with Wi-Fi service by early 2012.
  • 500 Internal Server Error – 500 Internal Server Error
  • Apple A4 SOC unveiled – It’s an ARM CPU and the GPU! – Bright Side Of News* – A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore i.e. Multi-Processing Core, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali 50-Series GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon – not unlike what Intel is trying to achieve with its future "Moorestown" Atom processor that debuted inside LG's Smartphone.
  • Target says no to farmed salmon – Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal: – Target consulted with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif., on a better option, and decided to go with wild-caught salmon from Alaska, which is certified as sustainable to the standard of the Marine Stewardship Council.
  • The 2010 Sonic Blast – Intel blew out the fourth quarter and is firmly on the way to historic high earnings in 2010. Wall Street initially bid the shares to a new 16-month high but reversed into a long weekend presaged by Friday's options expiration. A record 65% gross margin and 29% higher revenues than the year previous were ignored as investors decided this is as good as it gets; that its all down hill from here. Looking at the nation's dismal political news, steamrolling a health care bill few want and ignoring China's blatant attacks on American high technology, it's easy to put on the dark glasses. However alluring it is to take the past year's gains to the bank and seek safer haven, this ignores an expansive global economy and multiple technology product cycles from which Intel and other chipmakers will handsomely benefit these next several years.
  • What analysts should ask Apple | Mac | MacUser | Macworld – The point is that Apple isn’t just being contrary when it fights to keep its plans secret. If you announce a good idea a year before you can implement it, you had better be the only company in the world that could implement something that customers will think is a “good enough” version of what you promise. “Good enough” plus “cheaper” or “for sale sooner” is how the world got stuck with Windows. Apple has some precedent here. Enough said.
  • Clearwire submits flurry of wireless permits in Chandler – A company's flurry of requests in Chandler for wireless communication permits could be a sign the city – and perhaps the Valley — will soon become part of the first nationwide WiMAX wireless broadband network planned by Kirkland, Washington-based Clearwire Corporation. But company officials aren't talking.
  • MacWorld Reviews Online Backup Services

    September 9th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments

    How convenient that MacWorld reviewed 8 online backup services for Mac. Perfect timing for me since I just dumped Mozy, my online backup service since fall of 2007.

    Since using Mozy, I rarely have had to restore files. When I have it hasn’t been an issue, until recently. It was the end of July 2009 that I needed to restore a file. It took until the end of August 2009 that I was finally able to restore the file from their web based interface but could never get the native Mac restore application to work properly.

    MacWorld’s review of Mozy mostly agrees with me.

    PROS
    Terrific initial backup selection set; simple approach for basic use.
    CONS
    Controls and status windows are split into too many pieces; restore software failed on one computer; backup halted due to bugs for four weeks on one computer (fixed in a subsequent release).

    My next pick, which I have been testing locally for several months, is CrashPlan. It’s also MacWorld’s pick. I like it when MacWorld agrees with me.

    What I like about CrashPlan is it lets you back up to your own server for free and has an inexpensive family plan.

    CrashPlan has worked great until I upgraded to Mac OS X 10.6. The non Mac OS X 10.6 version of CrashPlan caused my Mac to freeze. Reasonable enough I tried to upgrade to the Snow Leopard approved version. The CrashPlan installer fails to install the application citing errors of an unknown kind: “There were errors with the installation. You may want to try installing again” and “The Installer encountered an error that caused the installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance”.

    InstallerScreenSnapz001.jpg

    At the moment I am without a offsite backup option. Hopefully CrashPlan responds to my support issues.

    10 Interesting Links From July 12th

    July 13th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • Crazy Croc’s, Rio Rancho, New Mexico – It's a long haul from the east side where I live, but tonight I made the journey to Crazy Croc's on Unser in Rio Rancho. From what I heard tonight, Crazy Croc's has come a long way from their historical reputation as a very dark biker bar. New owners have gutted the place and redone everything inside and out. With a dance floor, Techno programmable music, 3 pool tables, and a large outdoor patio, Croc's is set up for success.
    • Deseret News | ‘Love advocates’ plan ‘kiss-in’ at Main Street Plaza – Former Salt Lake City Councilwoman Deeda Seed is organizing a "kiss-in" at Main Street Plaza on Sunday following an incident in which two gay men were cited for trespassing on the LDS Church-owned property.
    • The Official Site of Rio Rancho, NM – Rio Rancho Isotopes Night – Special $6 tickets for the Tuesday, August 11, 2009, Albuquerque Isotopes game are on sale now for Rio Rancho residents and businesses. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. as the Isotopes face the Tacoma Rainiers.
    • Dispute over flag protest erupts in Wisc. village – Yahoo! News – An American flag flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it — an Iraq war veteran — claims the officers trespassed and stole his property.
    • Southwest tops, US Airways near worst in passenger complaints in May – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Southwest Airlines Co. ranked best and US Airways Group Inc. ranked next to last for consumer complaints among the 19 top U.S. airlines, according to May data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
    • May semiconductor sales show slight increase from April – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Sales of semiconductors in May showed a slight increase from April, but year-over-year sales fell as the industry remains in the grips of the recession. The Semiconductor Industry Association reported sales of $16.5 billion in May, up from $15.6 billion in April. Still, those numbers were down from $21.5 billion in what the SIA uses as a three-month rolling average.
    • TomTom for iPhone en route | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld – Macworld recently had a chance to talk with with Tom Murray, Vice President of Market Development for TomTom, and while the company hasn’t yet announced a release date or final pricing information, Murray was able to expand on some of the information presented at WWDC.
    • Why Intel’s Processors Aren’t Big on Cellphones | Gadget Lab | Wired.com – Intel is being held back in the mobile sphere by its inability to offer power consumption on par with ARM’s chips, say analysts. Add to that the notion that Atom is untested for mobile phones and the fact that many proprietary mobile-phone operating systems are not compatible with Intel’s x86 architecture, and it makes breaking into the cellphone market an uphill climb.
    • Canon “G”MOS [CR2] – I received an email that Canon does indeed have an APS-C sized sensor “G” camera being tested/developed.
    • www.KOB.com – Lightning strike kills one, hospitalizes several – Lightning in Rio Rancho turned deadly on Saturday after one man was killed and the rest of his family was injured after being hit by lightning while waiting to watch fireworks.

    10 Interesting Links From June 9th

    June 10th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • jfleck at inkstain » What a Housing Bubble Looks Like – Here’s what a housing bubble looks like. Housing prices. Red is Arizona, green is Nevada, blue is us here in New Mexico. The three states track together since the 1970s (off to the left of what’s displayed in this graph). Prices in Arizona and Nevada shoot up beginning around 2004, then collapse pretty dramatically. Click through for larger image. Data from St. Louis Fed.
    • Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Tops U.S. Car Sales – Auto – FOXNews.com – The Cozy Coupe sold 457,000 units in 2008, topping the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. In the '90s, it outsold both the Accord and Ford Taurus.
    • Lightyear Sunken Bath Episode 6 – Storage from Nothing – Most Arizona houses are slab on grade. This means that changing plumbing is challenging or expensive. Slab on Grade houses are laid out, and the plumbing, both waste and supply lines are buried in the ground before the slab is poured. You see some interesting bottom plates here. On the remodeling end, this means that you either get creative or you get to spend really large amounts of money time and noise to move things around. (Nothing screams remodeling to the neighbors like someone with a concrete slab saw in your bathroom.)
    • The Official Site of Rio Rancho, NM – June 20th: Hazardous Waste – Saturday, June 20, 2009 Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful will hold a Pharmaceutical Take Back and Household Hazardous Waste Collection from 9am to 2pm at at the Santa Ana Star Event Center upper west parking lot. This event is for Rio Rancho Residents only, please remember to bring proof of residency, such as a drivers license with Rio Rancho address!
    • Oprah responds to Newsweek cover story | TV, movie and music news | Current Affairs | EW.com – In a statement today, Oprah Winfrey responded to a Newsweek cover story which suggested that some of the non-traditional medical advice advocated on her show poses a danger to her legions of viewers
    • Final release of Safari 4 tweaks interface from beta version | E-mail and Internet | MacUser | Macworld – The most controversial new feature of Safari 4 was the placement of tabs on the top of the Safari browser window instead of below the bookmarks bar. At first, I was against this new UI quirk, but the more I used the Safari 4 Beta the more I liked the placement of the tabs on top of the window. Sadly, in the shipping version of Safari 4 tabs have returned to their traditional place
    • Wild horses victims of recession, too – The Denver Post – Wild horses are feeling the effects of recession, as federal authorities find fewer horse owners willing to take on extra animals.
      At a wild horse auction run by the Bureau of Land Management in Eagle Saturday, only 10 of 39 horses were adopted. Most went for the minimum bid of $125.
    • McCullough-Price House – This 1938 Pueblo Revival style home was donated to the City by the Price-Propstra family, renovated and opened to the public in 2007. It is home to the Chandler Visitors Center and includes gallery, office and meeting spaces, plus a catering kitchen. The facility can be rented for intimate weddings and receptions, luncheons and banquets, meetings and seminars.
    • Chandler cuts access to historic ‘38 home – Doors will be locked at Chandler's historic McCullough-Price House after June 30.

      The move comes two years after the city spent $850,000 to renovate the 1938 pueblo revival-style home near Chandler Fashion Center to open it to the public as a visitors center and museum.

      The building at 300 S. Chandler Village Drive will remain available for special events, tours and private-party rentals, city officials said. It didn't attract enough visitors to justify 40-hour-a-week staffing in tough economic times.

    • Review: NeatDesk and NeatWorks for Mac | Unclutterer – A few weeks ago, the Neat company sent me their new NeatDesk for Mac scanner and its NeatWorks software to review. I have been a Fujitsu ScanSnap loyalist for the past two years, so I wasn’t super excited about doing the NeatDesk review. In fact, I tested one of their mobile scanners a year ago and was so disappointed with it that I didn’t even post the review to the site (why clutter up your time with an awful review?).

      To my surprise, however, I liked the NeatDesk for Mac. Specifically, I really liked the NeatWorks software. (If you buy the scanner, the software comes with it. The software also sells as a stand-alone product.)

    10 Interesting Links From June 6th

    June 7th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • YouTube – Leo Laporte Blows up at Mike Arrington on the Gillmor Gang – June 6, 2009 – Leo Laporte calls out Mike Arrington of TechCrunch after Leo got mad at him for implying that his opinion of the Pre was effected by the fact he had a free review unit.
    • Bachelorette Contestant Has Rio Rancho Roots – Albuquerque News Story – KOAT Albuquerque – The season premiere of ABC's hit show 'The Bachelorette' aired Monday night.
      One of the contestants on the show is a New Mexico native looking for love on this season's bachelorette.
      Greg Bilbro, 31, grew up in Rio Rancho, where his mom Haz Brown still lives.
    • Police: Handgun handed off at airport, gets on plane | Philadelphia Inquirer | 06/04/2009 – A U.S. Airways employee was being questioned by authorities this morning after a bag containing an unloaded gun apparently circumvented security and made it onto a plane at Philadelphia International Airport, police said.

      A passenger waiting to board Flight 1195, destined for Phoenix, noticed another passenger handing a carry-on bag directly to the airline employee, said Officer Christine O'Brien, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman.

    • ABQJOURNAL NEWS/METRO: El Nino Might Drench Your Plans in New Mexico – A rapid warming in the Pacific Ocean during the past few weeks led climate watchers Thursday to issue their first forecast in three years for an El Niño, a climate pattern that favors wet weather for the Southwestern United States.
    • Ex-State Dept. employee arrested for spying for Cuba – Washington Times – A former State Department official and his wife have been arrested on charges of serving as illegal agents of the Cuban government and conspiring to provide classified U.S. information to the Cuban government.
    • Family wins $6.5 million settlement from city – Six-year-old Adrian Trevino was asleep in bed next to his 3-year-old sister, Aletse, when he was jarred awake by loud noises outside his window: a helicopter flying overhead, yelling, then rapid gunfire.

      Just as Adrian sat up in bed, a stray bullet pierced his Maryvale home and struck him in the back, permanently paralyzing him from the belly button down.

    • MacGourmet organizes and helps find new recipes Review | Software | Mac Gems | Macworld – If you’re a recipe geek and need a place to store, organize, and categorize your current and potential meals, look no further than MacGourmet. From the program’s recipe box metaphor to its flexible visuals, plug-in architecture, auto import functions, and smart searching, this is one of the most versatile and extensible programs available for any cook.
    • Fatty foods — not empty stomach — fire up hunger hormone | Science Blog – New research led by the University of Cincinnati (UC) suggests that the hunger hormone ghrelin is activated by fats from the foods we eat — not those made in the body — in order to optimize nutrient metabolism and promote the storage of body fat.
    • TidBITS Media Creation: iMovie ‘09 8.0.3 Adds New Hidden Features – Apple released iMovie '09 8.0.3 this week, a seemingly minor update that "addresses general compatibility issues, improved overall stability and fixes a number of other minor issues." However, I've discovered that this small iteration turns out to have two new features, along with some other undocumented changes.
    • Don’t expect DEA raids on N.M. medical marijuana dispensaries – The nation’s top cop said Friday that marijuana dispensaries participating in New Mexico’s fledgling medical marijuana program shouldn’t fear Drug Enforcement Agency raids, a staple of the Bush administration.

      U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking in Albuquerque during a meeting focused on border issues, including drug trafficking, said his department is focused “on large traffickers,” not on growers who have a state’s imprimatur to dispense marijuana for medical reasons.

    10 Interesting Links From April 25th

    April 26th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • News : Master Gardeners win national honor – Rio Rancho Observer – The garden has received the International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Award, which is a cooperative effort of the Sandoval County Master Gardeners through New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension program and several City of Rio Rancho departments, partnering with the Rio Grande Basin Initiative, local businesses and community volunteers.

      The award was presented on March 23 to Master Gardener Linda Poe, project coordinator, at the International Master Gardener Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.

    • The Consumerist Hive Helps You Buy A Diamond [Jewelry] – What are the things you should know when going diamond shopping? Our reader Justin needs to buy one.
    • Realtors: Existing-home sales in West up 19% in March from last year – New Mexico Business Weekly: – The West, including New Mexico, was the only part of the country to see sales of existing homes increase in March from the same month of 2008, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
    • Electronista | EU steps toward fining Intel in antitrust case – The European Union has prepared a draft decision in an ongoing antitrust case against Intel that appears to be approaching completion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unnamed sources familiar with the matter claim the EU will seek a fine against the company, although the draft can be modified as it continues through the process.
    • Thirteen year-old revealed as winner of Apple’s billion app contest | Software | Macworld – Apple on Friday revealed the name of the winner of its billion app countdown contest. It’s Connor Mulcahey, a 13 year-old who hails from Weston, Conn.
    • The Simple Dollar » Thoughts on Work, Personal Life, and Frugality – If you hate your job, today’s the day to start going frugal. Don’t go home tonight and follow the same old routine. Your future doesn’t have to be like this. Here are 100 ways to get started. Most important: when you’re tempted to spend on something unnecessary, think twice about it. Make the choice not to spend until it becomes familiar and comfortable – then use that money you’re saving to get out of debt and build yourself a future you can be happy with.
    • The GOP: divorced from reality – Los Angeles Times – By Bill Maher

      If conservatives don't want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments.

    • Advanced Composite Structures: Flying high – New Mexico Business Weekly: – The Rio Rancho company, which makes thermoplastic air cargo boxes, reorganized operations through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the past two years.

      Now, it has emerged from the process with $16 million in new capital from a New York-based investment firm and a $6 million contract with Northwest Airlines.

    • Spider "Resurrections" Take Scientists by Surprise – rs in a lab twitched back to life hours after "drowning"—and the scientists were as surprised as anyone.

      The bugs, it seems, enter comas to survive for hours underwater, according to a new study.

    • Chrysler unveils new electric minivan for U.S. Postal Service duty – Chrysler is celebrating Earth Day today by unveiling the first four of what will be a fleet of 250 battery powered minivans for the US Postal Service. The U.S.P.S. will be using the vans for variety of duties at locations around the country – including daily home delivery.

    10 Interesting Links From April 6th

    April 6th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • Incredible journey of a dog called Sophie Tucker | smh.com.au – A canine castaway lost at sea has been reunited with her owners after spending more than four months living off goats on a Queensland island.

      Owner Jan Griffith said her family were devastated when their cattle dog, Sophie Tucker, fell off the side of their boat in choppy waters off the Mackay coast in north Queensland in late November.

    • Home Again – The best time was spending time in a museum that reminds one that times never change. They just repeat. The LBJ library is a step back into the 60s. It traces LBJ's career from childhood to death, but it really emphasizes the political turmoil and change of that incredible decade. Walking through the exhibits and arriving at the year 1968 I was reminded of the horrible events of that year. Every time something happened that would make you think things couldn't get any worse, they then promptly got worse. The Tet Offensive in Viet Nam, Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Chicago Riots….sheesh.
    • ABQJOURNAL UPFRONT: LANL Still Waiting for News on Future – In 1989, the Department of Energy told Congress that the old building was contaminated, with widespread corrosion, and asked for money to build a replacement.

      A year later, Congress killed funding, saying the federal government needed to come up with an overarching plan for its nuclear arsenal and the infrastructure needed to maintain it.

      In the two decades since, we have planned and replanned, formed commissions and task forces, that have never quite settled the question of what U.S. nuclear weapons are for, how many we need, and what sort of manufacturing and research infrastructure we need in response.

    • Rumors suggest slew of new iPhone features | iPhone | iPhone Central | Macworld – If the latest crop of speculation is to be believed, the next-generation iPhone (unofficially dubbed “iPhone 4G” or “iPhone 3.0”) will have pretty much every new feature under the sun: a 3.2-megapixel camera will support video recording; there will be rudimentary video-editing software included; support for 802.11n Wi-Fi networking; and—get this—a built-in FM radio. Let's dive a little deeper into all this rumor and hearsay.
    • globeandmail.com: RIM rocks a new tune – "I'm very excited about this," Bono told Mr. Cross about the RIM deal. "Research In Motion is going to give us what Apple wouldn't — access to their labs and their people so we can do something really spectacular."
    • Credit Scores for Apartments and Other Rental Properties  on One Project Closer – bad tenants are more trouble than they’re worth. A bad tenant can cause so much damage to a property that even if they do pay their rent, you’ll be left in the red. After we decided to start renting out one of our properties, we heard countless horror stories of people who had rental situations go bad. Every time we heard of a story, I asked if the people had performed credit checks on their tenants. Many times the answer was no.
    • pr_040609a.html – As part of the initiative, AP will develop a system to track content distributed online to determine if it is being legally used. AP President Tom Curley said the initiative would also include the development of new search pages that point users to the latest and most authoritative sources of breaking news.
    • Sallie Mae To Create 2,000 US Jobs Over 18 Months – SLM Corp. (SLM) said Monday it plans to create 2,000 jobs by bringing its overseas operations to the U.S. "This is the right thing to do," Chief Executive Albert Lord said during a conference call.
    • Intel ‘Unthinkable’ Exit Leaves Philippine Cooks Without Jobs – Bloomberg.com – The world’s biggest maker of semiconductors will close its chip-assembly factory in General Trias later this year, leaving 1,800 workers jobless. The township south of Manila will lose its largest employer, which Intel says accounted for 36 percent of the region’s real domestic production in 2004.

      “This is the worst thing that has happened to our municipality,” Maglalang, 42, said as she took a break from cooking chicken adobo, a Philippine delicacy. “It’s unthinkable.”

    • U.S. warns mortgage fraudsters are eyeing rescue| Reuters – Fraudsters are using the publicity around foreclosure-prevention plans to lure desperate homeowners into costly scams, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Monday.

      As the housing crisis has intensified and the government has hatched several plans to aid troubled borrowers, the number of mortgage scams has mushroomed, several government agencies said at a press conference.

    10 Interesting Links From March 23rd

    March 24th, 2009 Greg Smith Comments off
    • Review: NeatReceipts for Mac Review | Scanners | Macworld – NeatReceipts ships with a small portable scanner that you use to scan documents into the NeatWorks application. (NeatWorks works with several other scanners and is available for purchase separately from the NeatReceipts package. The Neat Company has a list of scanners that work with the program.) When a scan is complete, NeatWorks begins performing optical character recognition (OCR) on your documents; depending on the size of and amount of information on your document, this can take anywhere from a few seconds to just under a minute to complete. When the OCR is done, NeatWorks does two things: it tries to determine the type of document you’ve scanned (text document, receipt, or business card), and then populates data fields with information it finds on your document based on the document type it has selected.
    • New gel is stronger than steel – Latest News – MSN Tech – Scientists have created a gel that acts like muscle when charged with electricity but is far more powerful.
      The "aerogel" is almost as light as air, as stretchy as rubber, and stiffer than steel by weight.
      Made with ribbons of carbon "nanotubes" – tiny hollow tubes of carbon – the material can expand to 220% of its original length or width in milliseconds when electrically charged.
    • Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | How To Make Finger-Licking Fried Chicken It’s Not As Scary As It Seems – After getting married, one of the first things we learned to make was fried chicken. With a husband whose Grandmother had award-winning chicken frying skills, it was a quick realization that we too would soon be learning the trade. Even though a fryer lives in our pantry, we don't bother. With techniques that are simple and are sure to produce perfect results each time…just make sure to lock the front door so you don't have neighbors following their noses into your kitchen!

      There is a fear of frying. We know… and it's ok, we're here to help you overcome just in time for picnic season!

    • Identity Theft and the Economy – After four years of steady declines in identity theft cases, the new report found a 22% increase in the past 12 months. This adds up to 1.8 million more victims in 2008 than 2007. Identity theft is making a comeback.
    • News : Rio Rancho trying to get share of federal stimulus money – Rio Rancho Observer – Rio Rancho officials are making sure their city gets its piece of the pie.

      Earlier this month, the city got news from the Mid Region Council of Governments that it would receive $14 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to extend Paseo del Volcan from Iris Road to US 550.

    • News : Presbyterian still on hold – Rio Rancho Observer – The construction of Presbyterian Hospital in Rio Rancho is still on hold, but Elizabeth Brophy, a spokesperson for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, said the company is still committed to building a hospital in Rio Rancho.

      “We are very committed to Rio Rancho and the residents of Rio Rancho,” Brophy said. “We want to be able to provide services needed in that community and we will continue to focus very hard on that.”

      The construction of the $230 million hospital is on hold because of the bad economy. Presbyterian Health Services’ board of directors decided last year to hold off on issuing $200 million in bonds until the economy improves and there’s more clarity in the economy.

      “It’s frustrating for all of us on every level,” Brophy said. “We want to fulfill our promise but we are still coming to Rio Rancho, it’s just frustrating.”

    • News : Secret bases and UFOs on Rio Rancho man’s mind – Rio Rancho Observer – The Northern New Mexico town of Dulce has long been associated with rumors of UFO sightings and an alleged secret military base underneath a mesa, but Rio Rancho resident Norio Hayakawa is hoping to provide the town’s residents with an opportunity to dispel those rumors, or perpetuate them.

      For a one-day conference, Hayakawa is bringing together residents, former police officers and Jicarilla Apache (Dulce is on a reservation) officials to discuss the rumors and to give people an opportunity to come forward with new information

    • Mexico’s woes draw renewed focus now by the United States – A maelstrom of drug-related violence. A brewing trade war. A wheezing economy.

      The United States has sometimes treated its southern neighbor like an afterthought, but Mexico's growing problems are taking center stage now as a parade of U.S. Cabinet members descends on Mexico City ahead of an April 16-17 visit by President Barack Obama.

      This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit, trying to find common ground on contentious issues such as border violence and trade rules before Obama's trip.

    • Land use may have been responsible for the 1930s dust bowl – Ars Technica – The dust bowl can be attributed in part to natural climatic patterns such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation; however, a recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science suggests that the agricultural expansion of the 1920s my have played an important role in amplifying the drought.
    • 10 business lessons from ‘Battlestar Galactica’ | Topics | Macworld – You think your business has it rough? The people of Battlestar Galactica have lived through a recession you wouldn't believe. With dwindling resources, a skeleton crew, enemies constantly lurking out of view, and a pervasive threat of annihilation, Admiral Adama navigates the vast unknown. Like any leader, he makes his share of mistakes–sometimes with devastating consequences. But regardless of the fate of that ragtag fleet, the tale of Galactica is rife with lessons that can benefit any business leader.

    links for 2009-01-30

    January 30th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments
    • The U.S. Chamber said foreign companies employ 5 million workers in the U.S. and the business group worries about such trade restrictions mirroring what happened in the 1930s, when the U.S. hiked tariffs during the Great Depression and global trade dipped by 50 percent.
    • Hewlett-Packard’s new facility in the Rio Rancho City Center is a 218,000-square-foot, three-story office building which will house the company’s New Mexico operations. HP will initially employee 1,350 with the ability to expand within the building. The design of the facility incorporates many attractive features and amenities for employees, and will be an integral part of City Center.
    • There are the copy-protection issues around CableCard, mandated by content owners who are terrified of piracy. There's Apple’s lack of interest (at least, so far) in creating a CableCard-ready Mac. There are access issues with the new DisplayPort connection.
    • The only thing better than setting up red light cameras and watching the cash flow in is doing so without collecting the required data to prove that the cameras are useful and accurate. Right? Okay, maybe not so much. This is, however, the situation unfolding in Denver, Colorado, where a local newspaper's detective work has revealed that the contractor hired by the city to manage the cameras has failed to submit contractually-required documentation. What's more, the city wasn't even asking for it.
    • Telecom gear maker Nortel (NT), which filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks ago, is finally putting an end to one of its big wireless bets. Toronto-based Nortel (NT) is killing off its mobile WiMax business, ending a joint venture with Israel's Alvarion.

      WiMax, a super-fast mobile Internet technology, hasn't taken off the way some of its backers had hoped, as many telcos — like AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), and T-Mobile (DT) in the U.S. — opt for a competing technology called LTE.

    25 Years Of Macintosh

    January 24th, 2009 Greg Smith No comments

    I can’t let this day go by without mentioning that January 24th is the 25th anniversary of the Macintosh computer. If you keep up with any Apple news you would have known this weeks ago.

    Macworld magazine has several articles to read on the anniversary. However I recommend you watch the “Steve Jobs showcases Macintosh” video on YouTube, which is the first introduction of the Macintosh in 1984.

    Then watch the 1984 Superbowl commercial

    I’m looking forward to another 25 years of Macintosh.