Monroe

Well I can see it will be out of my price range and it's a little large to suit me ... I prefer the one that James Bond had in Thunderball ! James Bond used the Jetpack in 1965's Thunderball, to escape from gunmen after killing a SPECTRE agent. http://www.007james.com/gadgets/jet_pack.php The Jetpack In the 1965 movie Thunderball, James Bond (Sean Connery) uses Q's Jetpack to escape from two gunmen after killing Jacques Bouvar, SPECTRE Agent No. 6. It was also used in the Thunderball movie posters, being the "Look Up" part of the "Look Up! Look Down! Look Out!" tagline. The Jetpack returned in the 2002 movie Die Another Day, in the Q scene that showcased many other classic gadgets. The Jetpack is a very popular Bond gadget and is a favorite among many fans due to its originality and uniqueness. ...

Just a couple more articles dealing with XP ... from the other side. Remember I like XP and intend to stay with it well after 2014. Kill your Windows XP systems, before they kill you! http://hal2020.com/2013/08/06/kill-your-windows-xp-systems-before-they-kill-you/ August 6, 2013 Paul Thurrott just published The Coming Windows XP Apocalypse reminding us that support, including security patches, for Windows XP is coming to an end. For a more in-depth examination on why you need to run from Windows XP as fast as you can see my blog entry from two years ago. Last month I experienced just how difficult it was going to be to fully put the nail in the coffin of Windows XP. I went to the open house for a new hospital and when touring around noticed that their PCs were running Windows XP. That’s right, a new deployment of XP in a mission critical environment just months before all support for XP ends. Oh, and a new deployment in an environment with extreme privacy requirements. In an environment in which malware could quite literally cause loss of life. I tweeted about this and someone from Microsoft already went off to work on making sure the hospital had a migration plan in place. No doubt a new deployment of Windows XP is not done because the IT department desired it. All controversy about Windows 8 aside, Windows 7 is something IT can and does have a love fest with. The problem is likely ISV software, and support for specialized hardware, that hasn’t yet made the migration to Windows 7. Or perhaps in this case, the hospital’s parent organization has a migration plan but this hospital was opening before the rest of the organization was ready to migrate. Let’s just hope they complete the migration in time. There are a few points about Windows XP usage and what happens when support ends in April 2014 that I wanted to make. First, the Netapplication numbers Paul used are worldwide numbers. Netapplication wants $300 to let you filter by country, which I think is fair except that I can’t justify paying them just so I can write a blog article. Using StatCounter data we see that July 2013 worldwide XP usage is 20.45% while US usage is 11.67%. Note how StatCounter and Netapplication (37% worldwide XP share) differ dramatically because of methodology. And the truth is that actual market share may be quite different than either of them report, because lots of systems in business are not used for web browsing (which is how both gather their data). All that matters is that Windows XP usage is still quite substantial no matter what the actual number or its source. The worldwide numbers may greatly overstate the situation in individual countries or regions. For example according the StatCounter Windows XP remains the most used operating system in China at 54.69%. By contrast Australia is at about 9%. This also explains why the drop in Windows XP usage appears to be slowing. In some countries the move away from Windows XP is almost over while in others it has barely begun. And for the latter, often dominated by pirated copies, it isn’t clear that the loss of support holds much meaning. Thus they just aren’t moving! ... more to the article at the link. also The Coming Windows XP Apocalypse What will it take to get businesses off Window XP? http://windowsitpro.com/windows-xp/coming-windows-xp-apocalypse Paul Thurrott Aug. 6, 2013 The clock is ticking. In April 2014, just 8 months from now, Microsoft will finally stop supporting Windows XP, an OS that was released 12 years and three major Windows releases ago. But here’s a sobering statistic that should give anyone pause: Despite this impending deadline, XP usage has barely changed in all of 2013. What gives? If you’re a fan of numbers, head over to Netmarketshare.com, NetApplication’s site for usage share statistics. They measure web browser usage share, search engine usage share, and operating system usage share, and it is of course that latter measurement that I’m focused on this week. According to the firm, Windows XP still accounted for over 37 percent of all desktop OS usage share in July 2013, behind Windows 7 (44.5 percent) but well ahead of Windows 8 (5.4 percent), Vista (4.24 percent), or the most recent Mac OS X version (3.3 percent). What the…? No matter how you measure things, this is a disaster in the making. Over the first 7 months of 2013, usage in Windows XP has declined only 2.3 percentage points (from 39.51 percent in January to 37.2 percent in July), just behind Windows 8’s tepid rise of 3.1 percentage points (from 2.3 percent in January to 5.4 percent in July). And Windows 7 has remained at virtually the same usage this entire year. Put another way, if Microsoft’s estimate of 1.5 billion active Windows users is correct, there are over 510 million PCs still running Windows XP on this planet. 510 million. Over half a billion. While I don’t have any accurate figures on what percentage of these half billion PCs are in enterprises and other businesses, I think it’s fair to say that most of them are still in businesses. Anecdotally, XP machines are to PCs as BlackBerries are to smartphones, not systems that individuals choose for themselves but rather machines that are pushed on them by employers. With Windows 8, Microsoft is pushing a new world of the consumerization of IT and of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), two concepts that were basically science fiction in the superglued USB port days of 2001, when XP first shipped. XP has lived through three two-term US presidencies and was most notable in its day for being the OS that finally moved customers off the aging DOS-based Windows 9x codebase that dated back to 1985. This thing isn’t just venerable, it’s ancient history. But it is perhaps somewhat ironic that XP’s continued popularity—if we might call it that—is at least partially the fault of Windows 8, which does aim very high with its modern ideals: a touch-centric UI that is optimized for tablets and seems aimed at killing off the desktop environment that is so familiar and dear to Windows users. Here we are in the last year of XP’s lifecycle, and Microsoft has released a version of Windows that virtually no XP user seems particularly interested in. ... more of the article at the link

jaclaz ... well I also did some additional searching concerning DVD Recorders and these "codes" and then read what you posted. I was totally unaware of all these developments since I bought my last DVD Recorder two years ago ... should have bought a spare one then, not really sure if the newer DVD Recorders would still work the same as my 2011 model. It currently seems to be able to record everything that I might want to record. From the above article ... at this time I still prefer DVDs but am checking out some DVD Recorders that burn DVDs and also have a hard drive ... but will it work like my older DVD Recorder? "As a result, consumers are finding out quickly that newer DVD recorders and DVD Recorder/VHS combo units are unable record programs from HBO or other premium channels, and definitely not Pay-Per-View or On-Demand programming ("Record Never"), due to the types of copy-protection employed to restrict recording onto DVD. This is also filtering into some of the non-premium cable channels." ... if anyone has recently bought a DVD Recorder and still able to record what they want ... I'd be interested in knowing what brand / model you bought. ...

So you also wondered why the word "Tiny" was changed ... since I started this topic, I was curious myself why the word was changed ... it wasn't me ... but it is interesting that you noticed. I can only take a stab at it, since I have only a few years of college ... it had to be someone with a PhD or two PhD's and is well versed in "large" words. Diminutive is not a word that I use much in my daily survival on Earth, but it's always good to be more "educated" ... "Tiny" was from the article and was just fine with me in my day to day existence before the "big one" (asteroid) hits! Am glad that someone also noticed and wondered why ... may have been a "secret" government hacking group that decided they didn't like the word "Tiny" ... heck, they could be changing other words and sentences without too much notice. I just think it's funny the way you posted your "observation" !

The Drone Industry doesn't like the word "drone" ... Drone industry gives journalists not-so-subtle hint — don’t use the word ‘drones’ August 14, 2013 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/14/drone-industry-journalists-dont-use-word-drones/ “Drone” is a dirty word at this week’s drone industry convention in Washington. The sector long has opposed use of the term, which, some argue, carries inherently negative connotations and doesn’t accurately describe the awesome technology seen in today’s unmanned vehicles. Efforts to stop journalists from using the word “drone” have failed miserably over the years, but the industry hasn’t given up trying. Inside the media room at the Washington convention center, the WiFi password is the not-so-subtle phrase “DontSayDrones.” The word is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an unmanned aircraft or ship guided by remote control.” At this point, removing the term from the American lexicon — or from future news stories — will be virtually impossible. ...

Came across this article yesterday as I was searching around for a spare DVD Recorder to have on hand if my current one fails anytime soon. I bought one from Walmart exactly 2 years ago this month and at that time there were several models to choose from ... after reading the article I went to Walmart to see if any were there ... only one model that I didn't like. Amazon has some for sale but not the selection I think they once had from two years back, when I was shopping around for one. I had no idea they might be on the scarce list here in the US. Just a heads up but they must still be plentiful in the rest of the world. The Case of the Disappearing DVD Recorder Why DVD Recorders are Getting So Hard to Find By Robert Silva http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdbasics/qt/the_case_of_the_disappearing_dvd_recorder.htm Have you shopped for a DVD Recorder recently and have found slim-pickins on store shelves? It is not your imagination. While DVD recorders are thriving in other parts of the World and Blu-ray Disc recorders are all the rage in Japan, and are being introduced in several other markets, the U.S. is being left out of the video recording equation; on purpose. However, contrary to what you might think, it is not all the fault of Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and other Asian-based consumer electronics manufacturers. After all, they would love to sell as many DVD and Blu-ray Disc recorders as possible to anyone who wants to buy one. The real reason that DVD recorders are scarce in the U.S., and Blu-ray Disc recorders are non-existent, can be squarely laid at the foot of the U.S. movie studios and cable/satellite providers, which place restrictions on video recording that make the continued selling new DVD recorders, let alone providing access to standalone Blu-ray Disc recorders, in the U.S. consumer market an increasingly unprofitable venture. Copy-Protection and Recording Cable/Satellite Programming Most consumers buy a DVD recorder to record television programs for later viewing. So how are movie studios and cable/satellite program providers conspiring to limit your access to such video recording? The implementation of a copy-protection scheme that severely restricts what you can record and how you can record it. For example, HBO and some other cable and network programmers copy-protect most of their programs on a random basis. The type of copy protection that they use (referred to as "Record Once") allows an initial recording to a temporary storage device (such as to a hard drive of a DVD recorder/Hard Drive combo, a cable DVR, TIVO, but not necessarily to a permanent storage format, such as DVD). In addition, once you have made your recording to cable DVR, TIVO, or Hard Drive, you are not allowed to make a copy of the initial recording to a DVD or VHS. In other words, while you can make a recording to temporary storage format, such as DVR-type device, you cannot make a "hard copy" onto DVD to add to your permanent collection. "Record Once" means recording once on a temporary storage medium, not to a hard copy, such as DVD. As a result, consumers are finding out quickly that newer DVD recorders and DVD Recorder/VHS combo units are unable record programs from HBO or other premium channels, and definitely not Pay-Per-View or On-Demand programming ("Record Never"), due to the types of copy-protection employed to restrict recording onto DVD. This is also filtering into some of the non-premium cable channels. .... article is long so the link is above.

Hi ... not sure if this might be of help ... I just download the Kaspersky Rescue CD earlier today. It is an ISO that you burn to a CD to use before your computer actually starts. I usually get a new copy to have on hand every few months ... Kaspersky Rescue CD: Kaspersky is one of the best anti-virus company and now its providing a rescue CD absolutely free which contains the latest Kaspersky anti-virus. So you can scan your system by booting your system using Kaspersky rescue CD. ftp://rescuedisk.kaspersky-labs.com/rescuedisk/ ... when you go that page, click on the bottom folder "updatable" (08/11/2013) and you will get the latest updated ISO download which is currently dated 08-11-2013. HTH

Came across this little flash cookie cleaner a few days ago ... I know that CCleaner and other programs will also clean flash cookies but I like this one since it's a very small and quick cleaner. You can easily check while browsing for any flash cookies and delete them in a second and keep browsing or you can check web sites to see if they are adding flash cookies ... a lot quicker than going to the flash cookie folder to see what's there. It lists "Windows All" but I can't be sure ... it works OK with XP ... no install, just download and use. Flash Cookies Cleaner 1.2 http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Secure-cleaning/Flash-Cookies-Cleaner.shtml Removes every Flash Cookie from your system. Flash Cookies Cleaner is a compact application designed to scan your computer for the cookies saved by the Adobe Flash Player application in order to remove them. These cookies, also known as Local Shared Objects, are responsible for remembering the volume level on Flash video players and other settings for each website. If you are not comfortable with having these settings saved on your computer you might want to delete them. The problem is that these cookies are not removed in the same way you clean the cookies saved by your browser. Actually, completely cleaning the browser has no effect on these items. Since every Flask cookie can save up to 100 kilobytes of information, the space used for an intensive Internet user can be quite significant. It is recommended to remove them if you want to clean your hard drive and to avoid the privacy issues. The application has an easy to use interface that allows you to detect and to delete all the cookies with a couple of clicks. You can also review the detected items before deciding to delete them. Unfortunately, you cannot select the items that you want to remove since the app deletes all the detected cookies. It has a small footprint and barely uses the CPU even when scanning or deleting cookies. The response time is above average since in our tests it detected and removed over eight hundred entries almost instantly. This app detected more items than the Adobe Website Storage Settings panel and removed them with no problems. However, it lacks the ability to change the maximum disk space for each cookie and to disable the local storage. Flash Cookies Cleaner is a useful application for the users that want to completely remove the browsing traces from their computer with minimum effort. ... just to add, I run CCleaner frequently when I have the computer on but I never paid too much attention to flash cookies till I started reading more about them in the last month or so and this little cleaner lets me actually see what has been added to the Adobe folder while browsing. I'm not 100% sure CCleaner removes "all" flash cookies, it very well may ... when I have run CCleaner I think there still might have been a folder or something in that Adobe - Macromedia folder but this cleaner seems to remove everything and it's very quick. I have to recheck CCleaner again on removing flash cookies.

Found some additional information about the giant Pandoravirus virus from an article dating back three months Giant virus 'opens Pandora's box', says French team http://www.france24.com/en/20130802-giant-virus-pandora-box-pandoravirus-france-aix-science Dr Chantal Abergel is not easily surprised by the discovery of giant viruses. A director of research at Aix-Marseille University and the CNRS (France’s National Centre for Scientific Research), she has already been involved in identifying two very large viruses, the Mimivirus and Megavirus. "We were expecting giant viruses to have 1,000 genes; however, one of the two viruses we recently found had 2,556 genes, which is huge," Dr Abergel told France24.com, adding that the other virus’s gene count was around 1,500. "This discovery has opened a Pandora’s box," said Dr Abergel. "It will force us to change the way we think about viruses. The Pandoraviruses are extremely complex. In fact, 90 percent of their genes are unlike anything we have known so far. Out of the 2,556 genes of the Pandoravirus, less than 200 are known to us. This discovery is bound to make us reconsider our perception of evolutionary biology." According to the French researcher, the Pandoravirus is totally different from previously known viruses. "Normally, under a microscope, viruses look like crystals. But Pandoraviruses looked like cellular structures. First, we thought they might be special bacteria because of their size and morphology. However, further tests confirmed that they were viruses", she said. ...

dencorso ... hopefully Andromeda43 will check back in with the answer. I take it that this is purely a guess and no "crystal ball" involved at all !

Andromeda43 ... have a question (temporary off topic) about the 12 yr old computer running Windows 8. I have no interest in W-8 but I was curious for some more information on that computer. Is this one you built or just bought, find it interesting that you can run W-8 on a computer that old ... what make is it and maybe you upgraded a little? thanks ... ... also from the other posters ... thanks for all the links, never heard of any of the sites myself ... found out about Rufus from the reboot.pro site. [Tutorial] Install Windows XP From USB in a simple way http://reboot.pro/topic/17327-tutorial-install-windows-xp-from-usb-in-a-simple-way/

OK ... fair enough about your thoughts on XP and other OS's. In my case, I'm still in the "excitement" stage with XP since I've only been with it since last year. I said this before in another post ... after getting everything installed and finally setup, I was amazed at how much I liked XP. I only wish I had made the change three years earlier. I was with Windows 98SE and always planned to just ride with it ... everything worked well but when I upgraded my Netgear WiFi card in 2010, I was having problems trying to get the card to work properly ... Netgear had Windows 98SE drivers but they didn't seem to really work. Decided to give XP another shot ... had tried it 2 or 3 times before through the years, but this time all went smooth and the WiFi card worked perfect. So for me, XP and my older Pentium M notebooks will work just fine into the future. They are fast and many software programs that I used on Windows 98SE also work very well on XP. Like your input and thoughts also Tommy ... it would be nice to see the XP numbers just get "stagnant" and refuse to drop for the rest of 2013 ... drive M$ crazy. What's not to like !

Ponch ... not sure what OS you use since you have none listed but I look at it as more of a "slap in the face" to Microsoft. They have a game plan and "old XP" just won't play along ... the OS, which once made a lot of money for company, is supposed to be heading into the sunset and for sure it is ... but on it's own terms and timetable. Whether it "makes a comeback" of a point or two one month or drops a point or two another month isn't what it's all about ... the bottom line is: XP is a headache that won't go away, the XP hangover from the party that started years ago ... sure the dancing is getting a little slower, the noise makers and hats are getting old and worn but many just don't want to leave the party, after over 10 years.

This is interesting reading and so are the 90 + comments ... Uptake of Windows 8 for desktop computers – which was never particularly fast – has slowed, according to stats for July from web traffic pollsters Net Applications. But a disturbing fact for everybody else is that Windows XP - enjoying second place in the stats - had a minor resurgence during July. Net Applications found XP, first released in 2001, clawed back 37.19 of the market versus 37.17 in the month before, pausing its long-term downward trend towards its demise. Many companies moving off Windows XP are going to Windows 7, the number one most used desktop OS, and Net Applications found version 7’s use up by 0.12 points on June. OK, here is the whole article .... Win XP alive and kicking despite 2014 kill switch (Don't ask about Win 8) On track to be world's second most used desktop OS when security patches cease By Gavin Clarke, 2nd August 2013 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/02/windows_8_v_windows_xp_july_data/ Uptake of Windows 8 for desktop computers – which was never particularly fast – has slowed, according to stats for July from web traffic pollsters Net Applications. Microsoft's latest operating system held a 5.4 per cent of the global desktop OS market last month, up 0.3 points on June which was up 0.83 points on May. A glance at the Net Applications graph shows a gradually slowing trend over time. We're told the stats were gathered from the logs of some 160m unique web surfers hitting 40,000 websites in the pollster's analytics network: each visitor's browser is expected to reveal some basic information about their computer, but this can be spoofed so the usual health warnings about user-agent statistics apply. Officially released in October 2012, Windows 8 has been growing at less than one per cent a month in the desktop arena, but June was the high water market hitting nearly a whole one percentage point of growth. Last month, though, its rate of increase slumped. That's sobering news for Microsoft. But a disturbing fact for everybody else is that Windows XP - enjoying second place in the stats - had a minor resurgence during July. Net Applications found XP, first released in 2001, clawed back 37.19 of the market versus 37.17 in the month before, pausing its long-term downward trend towards its demise. Many companies moving off Windows XP are going to Windows 7, the number one most used desktop OS, and Net Applications found version 7’s use up by 0.12 points on June. These numbers are incremental changes, but momentum begins with a small shove. Is an overbearing attachment to Windows XP to blame for the revival or the fact techies are hitting the beaches for the summer break, so temporarily AWOL on the upgrade front? While the Windows 8 usage numbers are more salt in wounds for Microsoft, it’s the minor consolidation in Windows XP that should worry everybody else. ... more reading at the link and also the 90 + comments ! and also this on Windows XP Browsium Blog Time to Check on Windows XP’s Share Decline August 1, 2013 http://www.browsium.com/2013/08/01/july-windows-xp-share-decline/ Windows XP end of life has been a topic of discussion in IT circles for quite some time. This discussion always heats up on the first of each month as the various data tracking companies release their stats on browser and OS usage share. Here we are on August 1st, 2013 checking in with NetApplications to see how much Windows XP dropped this month, on its way to extinction when Microsoft ends support next April. When we last looked at Windows XP share on this blog, we used the May 1st data which had XP at 38.31%. As of July 1st, it had dropped to 37.17%. Though that drop was only a bit more than 1% in 2 months, we can surely expect the pace of decline to increase as we get closer to April 2014. We’re now only 8 months away, so let’s do a little wagering. Who wants to bet that it went down 5% this month? 3%? And for the conservative bettors, 1%? … everyone loses (and we mean everyone!). XP usage went UP this month, from 37.17% to 37.19%. How is the IT industry going to drive XP usage to zero by April 2014 if it’s heading in the wrong direction in July 2013? There’s clearly a lot of work ahead for enterprise IT. In fact, XP share has only come down 2.3% since January, for an average of 0.3%/month. That certainly does not inspire confidence in achieving the goal. ... more reading at the link and there is also a chart that I don't know how to reproduce here. Add: I just noticed that this article was already posted under "Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions" in the "General Discussions" thread by TELVM but it should probably also be in the Windows XP forum ... I didn't know it was already mentioned when I posted.

missed that line !

OK ... interesting information and links that you provided. I guess I am amazed that an early cell phone had all these "extras" in 1996 ... I didn't get interested in cell phones till about 2002 / 2003 timeframe. My current cell phone I got in Aug 2004 and it's still works great ... able to connect my notebook into it with USB. "And yes, I still own a P910i" - you still have it in service or just as a collector's item? Reminds me when I read a few years back how a small notebook computer of today has so much more processing power in the small size compared to what the Apollo spacecraft had at the time. I think much of the space used on the Apollo was for the computers since they were so much larger back then.

This is interesting ... I had never heard of it till today, maybe someone here at MSFN actually had one or actually saw one. The Gadget We Miss: The Nokia 9000 Communicator Nokia’s first Smartphone was a ground-breaking gadget for the traveller. https://medium.com/people-gadgets/ef8e8c7047ae The evolution of the modern smartphone is a complex business, with numerous extinct species that never quite made it. Some of these were just plain odd, and others were just before their time. The Nokia 9000 Communicator was one of these, a cell phone that was a smartphone before the word was invented. It rolled all of the features of a computer into a phone, putting email, web browsing, fax, word processing and spreadsheets into a single pocketable device. And it did it years before Blackberry became the iconic symbol of the mobile professional. Launched in 1996, the Nokia 9000 Communicator showed a company at the peak of its design powers: the Communicator was a mobile powerhouse, with 8MB of memory and a 33MHz processor. This combination ran Nokia’s own GEOS operating system (a predecessor to the Symbian OS used on later models), combined with a suite of business programs that could read and edit Microsoft Office files from a desktop PC. Inside the clamshell style case was a chiclet QWERTY keyboard, complete with function keys for the major features and a series of programmable buttons by the screen. This screen was a black and white LCD, with a then-high resolution of 640 x 200 pixels. This long, thin screen meant that it could offer a first: a graphical web browser on a mobile device. Previous phones had offered only text web browsing, but the 9000 Communicator could render graphics in all their monochrome glory and connect to the Internet over the built-in 9600 bits per second GSM modem, which worked with the new digital GSM phone networks that were being rolled out across the world. However, this was before the days of always-on connections: to get your email, you had to connect to the mobile network, rather like dialing up on a land line, but without the noises. The US model was launched in 1997 (the Nokia 9000i Communicator), running on the GSM 1900 frequency offered by carriers like Microcell in Canada. All of these features added bulk, though: the 9000 Communicator was over 1.5 inches thick and weighed a hefty 14oz (397 grams). Compare that with a contemporary phone like the Motorola StarTAC that weighed just 3.1 ounces, and which was half an inch thick. The screen was also not very easy to see in sunlight, with the low-contrast LCD screen getting blasted out by even moderate sun. But the real problem was the price. It cost at least $800 in the USA, and about £1000 in the UK. That price scared off many users, as did the bulk and complexity of the device. To be successful, the technology had to wait several years to get smaller, sleeker and to be easier to use. Former Nokia CEO Jorma Ollia told the Wall Street Journal that “we had exactly the right view of what it was all about… We were about five years ahead.” ... more info and pictures at the link.

Well I was just having some fun ... I guess if the "developer" or owner of the dead ostrich wants to call it a helicopter ... then that's what it is. I just thought in today's world ... calling it a flying "ostrich drone" would be more fitting or with the times ! ...

Is this really a helicopter or possibly a drone ??? The picture of it flying sure looks more like a drone. Dutch artist turns dead ostrich into a helicopter http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/dutch-artist-turns-dead-ostrich-helicopter-article-1.1414534 Bart Jansen, who had previously converted his dead cat into a similar remote-controlled device,' thought it would be funny to 'make fly a bird that can't' in his latest project. August 1, 2013 The Dutch artist who turned a dead cat into a remote-controlled helicopter is back, and this time he's using an ostrich. Bart Jansen made headlines in 2012 when he converted the corpse of his deceased puss Orville, who was killed by a car, into a chopper. Now the barmy inventor has gone one step further by combining a dead ostrich with mechanical parts to create an "Ostrichcopter". ...

Well, I may have finally found a reason to like drones ... African officials seek U.S. drones to fight elephant poachers http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/31/elephants-rhinos-lions-and-drones-tanzania-conside/ Tanzania’s storied wildlife reserves could soon get a watchful, winged inhabitant: U.S. drones. On his visit to the East African nation last month, President Obama discussed the possibility of using unarmed, unmanned aircraft to help overstretched park rangers combat the growing problem of elephant poaching in Tanzania’s vast wildlife reserves and national parks, Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States Liberata Mulamula told editors and reporters at The Washington Times this week. Wildlife groups estimate that 10,000 to 25,000 elephants are killed in Tanzania each year for their ivory tusks and the number of elephants in southern Tanzania has fallen by more than half. Much of the ivory is shipped illegally to Asian markets. “The extent of poaching is very, very, very high,” John Salehe, director of the African Wildlife Foundation’s Maasai Steppe, said in a phone interview from Tanzania. There has been sharp increase in elephant poaching over the past year, he said. ... more at the link pretty good if it can save some endangered wildlife ... too bad they wouldn't be armed with missles to blow the bums up, away from the animals of course.

JorgeA ... just by a few minutes, you provided more information and I will follow about using Firefox ... I use Firefox Portable ESR ... http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr you posted "Maybe a good reason to start using HTTPS Everywhere, even though of course it doesn't cover every conceivable website. Might drive even me to Firefox." That's interesting ... will be reading for more information. Just adding ... only started using Firefox again as a portable version in the last two weeks, had been using SeaMonkey Portable ... have been using FP ESR version but just decided to install Firefox Portable v22.0 and maybe go with it. Still experimenting with these versions to see what the difference might be. http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

Anyone have some comments on this NSA program ... XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data Wednesday 31 July 2013 * XKeyscore gives 'widest-reaching' collection of online data * NSA analysts require no prior authorization for searches * Sweeps up emails, social media activity and browsing history * NSA's XKeyscore program – read one of the presentations A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. ... more at the link. some of the members here may remember herbalist from a few years ago ... hasn't been around for awhile ... he was ahead of his time on all this, sure would like hear his take on all these developments.

Somewhat interesting ... Who Killed Barnaby Jack? Worlds Best Hacker Found Dead http://www.everyjoe.com/2013/07/26/technology/barnaby-jack-murdered-hacker-found-dead/#comment-902653 Arguably the most dangerous man on the planet, Barnaby Jack could hack everything from ATM machines to pacemakers. However, he always had goodness in his heart and never used his superpowers for evil purposes. But earlier today, the most talented hacker on the planet was found dead. He was only 35. Was Barnaby Jack murdered? That’s the question many are asking today. And I don’t think it’s an unreasonable query. He was so good at what he did that there’s no doubt that secret agencies and international governments kept an eye on the New Zealand native who was living in San Francisco, California. Without further ado, here are six groups of people who might have killed Barnaby Jack: the NSA ...

Interesting ... "FAA certifies first two drones for commercial use", more interesting are the comments below the article ... this one says anything under 50 lbs is considered a model, those two drones are just over 50 lbs (?) ... wonder if they could be under 50 lbs but were made to be over 50 lbs. The article says "both weigh less than 55 pounds" but maybe over the 50 lbs limit? Yep its sad the government is light-years behind us, FAA Modernization And Reform Act 2012 [H.R.658.ENR] SEC.336 it clearly states anything under 50 lbs is a model and not bound by the FAA rules. Lawyers can fight over that all day reality is till you hurt someone, bother someone or make money off it nobody is going to care. ...

Very nice sleek shark drone ... I really like it, also like what they say about their product with testing. "And NO, nobody else has it! And YES, it is in stock and shipping now. And we fly what we sell, this plane has been under test quite some time, and we got it to the point where we love it!" ... if anyone's interested ... "Sharknado" plays tonight on SyFy at 9pm (est) ... disaster films all day long and then the sharks!